The food at Sammiya exceeded even the expectations of Kurenai Yuhi, Maito Gai, and Genma Shiranami in terms of deliciousness.
And when they learned that the shop actually belonged to Kei Yamanaka with a forty percent stake—
not only did they not have to pay for their meals, but they also received generous monthly dividends—those three juniors immediately decided to feast without restraint.
Even Kurenai, who had always eaten with the most graceful manners, ended up so full after wolfing down her food that she could barely straighten her back.
She found herself sighing inwardly again and again.
How naive she'd been to worry about a Konoha jonin—infamous for using an Ultimate Art combination genjutsu on a mere genin—being short on money!
It really was too silly of her!
"Sensei Kei, when are we starting our mission?"
After finishing his meal and drinks, Genma Shiranami actively asked about the team's next plan.
Kurenai Yuhi and Maito Gai looked at Kei Yamanaka with shining eyes as well.
In this three-person squad, Genma and Gai hadn't taken any missions in quite some time since their previous instructor, Ebisu, had transferred to supply duties.
With their wallets flatter than their faces, they'd been surviving on strict austerity.
Though Kurenai had worked in support duties for nearly a year and still had decent savings, she hadn't completed many missions before being moved into support duties. Thus, she was equally excited about going on a real mission now.
Facing those three rookies' expectant gazes,
Kei Yamanaka, eager to complete class-specific quests to test the system's 'drop rate,' naturally saw no reason to delay.
"We can head to the Mission Assignment Office later to take a look."
"The footsteps of youth shall once again begin to race forward!"
Maito Gai leapt up from his seat, amped up with a burst of manic energy.
However, before he could even strike his trademark stance, he slightly bent over, clutching his full stomach.
Noticing the unimpressed look from Genma, Gai didn't change expression as he added,
"Youth always has its occasional stumbles! Don't worry—this afternoon, I'll dedicate two hundred percent of my passion and sweat to this mission!"
"Yeah, yeah~"
Genma let out a sigh.
Even after having been teammates for a full two years, he was still helpless against Gai's personality.
Kurenai rested her chin in her palm, grinning cheerfully at the lively pair.
Feeling deep inside that her future days would definitely be interesting.
——————
More than ten kilometers southwest of Konoha Village, within Chukichi Village,
a massive wild boar, easily half a ton in weight, charged wildly around like a moving fortress. Over a dozen kunai protruded shallowly from its body, buried merely an inch into its flesh. With wildly bloodshot eyes, it smashed through everything in sight.
Walls and simple traps along its path were shattered into pieces as easily as if they were made of paper.
Maito Gai and Genma Shiranami continuously launched feint attacks from the front, creating openings for Kurenai behind them to cast her technique.
After several attempts,
Kurenai finally used [Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique] to confuse the boar's vision,
successfully luring it into the trap they had set up earlier.
The beast crashed into the deep pit, impaled instantly by over a dozen sturdy steel pikes waiting below. After over ten minutes of shrieking and struggling, it finally fell silent.
The exhausted trio wiped the sweat from their brows and breathed out in unison.
Standing on the rooftop the entire time, observing without ever intervening, Kei Yamanaka meticulously recorded every strength and weakness the three had shown throughout the mission.
Just as he was about to descend to give his feedback, a familiar system notification echoed in his mind.
[Ding~ D-rank class-specific quest 'Eliminate wild boars destroying farmland' completed. Reward: None.]
[First-time class-specific quest completed. Reward: 2x Keyword Draw chances, 1x Keyword Gift chance acquired.]
Kei's footsteps paused slightly.
He hadn't anticipated that merely killing the boars—without even returning to Konoha to file the report—would already qualify as completing the class-specific quest in the system's eyes.
And because it was his first ever class-specific quest completion,
he had directly gained two Keyword Draw chances and one Keyword Gift chance.
As for not receiving any rewards from the standard D-rank mission, this also fell within Kei's expectations.
Probability was always about luck.
Moreover, the drop rates for various rewards were likely tied directly to mission difficulty.
If a D-rank mission, which took half a day to complete—with most of that time spent just traveling—could consistently give great rewards,
he'd probably be strong enough in a month to drag the Six Paths Sage himself out of the Pure Land just to beat him up.
"This stupid system doesn't even have a proper user manual."
Kei mentally grumbled at the system's lack of intuitiveness.
Looking at the two Keyword Draw chances on his Personal Panel, he decisively chose to draw immediately.
[Congratulations! Master obtained Blue keyword "Memory Palace" and White keyword "Fragile Skin, Tough Life".]
Memory Palace (Blue): A combination of innate talent and training develops the brain effectively, enabling proficient use of the memory palace technique. Learning speed increases. Speed-reading ability improves. Memory capacity enhances.
Fragile Skin, Tough Life (White): Before reaching Jonin-level physical strength, probability of encountering strong enemies increases slightly. Probability of life-threatening crises increases modestly. Probability of breakthroughs under pressure increases slightly. Survival probability increases marginally.
"One Blue, one White—could be worse."
Kei examined the detailed descriptions of both keywords before immediately choosing to activate "Memory Palace".
Whether studying or researching, higher memory capability was always better.
As for "Fragile Skin, Tough Life,"
for someone like him who had long since passed the newbie phase, it wasn't very useful anymore.
Besides, effects like these probably only benefited those chosen protagonists capable of enduring through their rookie phase.
After all, no matter how high the odds of surviving or breaking through during battle might be, they wouldn't counter endless waves of powerful enemies and constant life-or-death threats!
[System detects compatibility between Blue keyword "Memory Palace" and Green keyword "Somewhat Understands." Initiate fusion?]
"...Fusion."
Kei hesitated briefly but still made the choice to fuse.
Although it was his first experience with keyword fusion, both keywords related to learning ability and memory.
No matter how they merged, it shouldn't possibly end up being a disadvantage.
Suddenly, an enormous torrent of memories surged and boiled within his mind, countless scenes flashing rapidly past like slides.
Even long-forgotten memories from when he was four or five in his past life suddenly came into sharp clarity!
Preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, college...
Countless vast and intricate memories were meticulously categorized and stored within the Memory Palace!
Among them, memories of watching the Naruto anime and reading various related forum posts were stored distinctly apart.
The memories from his past life had been sorted, while those from this life unfurled like a scroll.
This included memories extracted from other ninja's minds during his time in the Analysis Team, all perfectly preserved.
The storm of memories gradually quieted down.
A moment later, the system's prompt echoed inside Kei Yamanaka's mind.
[Fusion complete. Congratulations, Master. You have obtained the blue-tier skill: 'The Expert King of the Ninja World'.]
The Expert King of the Ninja World (Blue): Mastery of the Memory Palace technique grants you near-infinite recall. The immense volume of memories from two lifetimes provides you with vast life experience, hidden secrets of the ninja world, and numerous ninjutsu and secret techniques. Your learning speed, reading speed, and memory capacity have all increased significantly.
"Holy crap! This is basically flying straight off the charts!"
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