"Card has been bound."
In the end, the Metabolic Accelerator card was never retrieved. Gin had searched every inch of the brat's body — short of his underwear — and came up empty. Only then did the system belatedly inform him of the binding.
Who would've thought little Itama would accidentally activate the Hextech card and become its first — and only — owner?
Well, it was just a yellow Hextech after all, nothing special. Worse than any of his other equipment, and since you could only bind one card anyway, it was basically useless to Gin. Fine. Consider it his cleaning fee.
"You feel any different?"
Gin pressed a finger against Itama's forehead, his curiosity piqued.
"Let me go! I'll bite you to death, you hentai gorilla!"
Ignoring the question entirely, the brat bared his teeth and lunged at Gin's evil hand.
"Still full of energy, huh."
Gin casually dodged and rubbed his chin. If only I could see this kid's chakra…
The thought had barely formed when a sudden chill ran through his eyes. His vision sharpened drastically, and when he glanced at the flailing little Senju again, he nearly jumped.
Now, the kid's chakra pathways and every glowing stream of energy were clearly visible.
What the hell? He raised his own hands — his eyes now worked like X-rays, showing his internal chakra flow and even each pressure point in exquisite detail.
"What's up with your eyes? Why do they look like you've got cataracts?"
Itama, who'd been too angry to notice, froze when he saw Gin's eyes glowing faintly bluish-white.
Cataracts?
Gin rushed to the washroom and stared into the mirror. Sure enough, his eyes were glowing pale, though without the bulging veins characteristic of the Hyūga's Byakugan.
What… was this? Not quite a Byakugan, but clearly possessing its power.
Still confused, Gin stepped back out and glanced again at Itama — his chakra heart was blazing, supplying energy to his whole body.
That was it. The Metabolic Accelerator was working. As long as the brat didn't burn himself out recklessly, he'd live a very long time.
That thought calmed Gin. Originally he'd been worried — if he failed the "Save Senju Itama" task, his own life would end too. Even if the brat died of old age, the system would still count it as a failure.
But now, thanks to the card, Itama could live a long, long time. Which meant Gin could drag this mission out forever if he wanted.
He'd even checked the mission list recently — since upgrading, the system's mission board had been dormant for years, showing nothing but that single "Save Senju Itama" task, labeled as "prerequisite." Without finishing it, nothing else would unlock.
"Kid, may you live a thousand years and never die."
Resolved to keep piling life-saving gear on this little brat whenever it dropped, Gin patted the sulking boy's head and said sincerely.
Itama: ???
The following days passed in rare leisure. Aside from his two cousins occasionally visiting, no one else came to bother him. Gin was quite happy to relax.
"Well done, Izuna. Your shuriken work really is better than mine. Your cousin bows to your talent."
Gin yawned and clapped lazily, leaving Izuna red with frustration.
"Cousin… does teasing me every day really make you that happy?"
At first Izuna had been proud when Gin kept saying "I'd call you the strongest," but eventually he realized — this guy was just mocking him.
"Come on now, how could I possibly tease you? A genius like you beating me is perfectly normal."
Gin couldn't let his favorite sparring partner quit.
"Hmph! I'm not sparring with you again."
Izuna pouted but passed on a message from his father before storming off.
"Oh right. Father said to come see him today."
On his way to Tajima's office, Gin wondered what this was about. Could it finally be about the sealed thing?
Knock knock knock.
"Come in."
Gin opened the door to find Tajima hunched over documents. Only after glancing up at his nephew did he put down his pen and say:
"Gin. You've recovered?"
"I'm fine now."
"Then it's time you got back to work."
Oh. Just calling him back to the archives. He'd already conned Uchiha Rikka into doing the paperwork anyway, so it was no big deal.
"Got it. I'll report in tomorrow."
Tajima stared at him for a long moment, then lowered his eyes and waved him away. Whatever he'd been about to say, he didn't.
He clearly had something on his mind, Gin thought as he scratched his curls. Eh, he'll tell me when he's ready. No point overthinking it.
Time flew by.
In the years that followed, Gin settled back into his jailer's duties. He got Rikka transferred in as his "secretary," leaving him free to laze around while Rikka updated the files. Meanwhile, Gin devoted himself to grinding in Cell One and Cell Two.
On the clock, he ground his stats. Off the clock, he hit the backyard to farm NPCs. Over the years he encountered over a hundred versions of young Sasuke, collecting over a hundred Indra Chakra fragments, several C-rank Katon techniques, and even his coveted Chidori.
Sometimes it wasn't Sasuke who spawned — sometimes it was one of the instructors of the original Konoha Twelve, who'd drop rare elemental and secret techniques. Once, even a certain masked silver-haired jonin appeared, dropping a [Kamui Fragment], though he mostly just dropped his silly Earth-style walls.
In the backyard now, Gin raised his hand. Lightning crackled and chirped in his palm as he faced the buxom, elegant kunoichi who'd just spawned. Without hesitation, he thrust his Chidori at her chest — only to have it stopped cold by her graceful white arm.
He glanced up at her striking face and long blonde hair and frowned. Wait a second. That's not the usual script. Before, I'd always skewered her instantly and got [Mystical Palm Fragment] or [Chakra Scalpel Fragment]. How come she's fighting back?
Then her diamond-shaped forehead mark flared, black seals spreading rapidly across her skin. Seeing her "casting bar" fill up, Gin's eyes flashed blue as his Byakugan activated, scanning her vitals.
"There you are. Your weak spot."
(End of Chapter)
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