Chapter 32: The "Land of Waves" Dungeon
That evening, in the Great Elder's residence.
As soon as Kyosuke returned home, he was informed by a secret operative that the Great Elder wished to see him.
His mind racing, Kyosuke followed the operative to the Great Elder's home.
Upon entering, he saw the four elders, along with Fugaku, already seated in the living room, waiting for his arrival.
Before he could even sit down, the Great Elder asked impatiently, "Did you go to the Root base with Orochimaru today? What for?"
So they found out, Kyosuke thought to himself. He replied, "Orochimaru, due to his duties, has handed me over to Danzō."
"Handed you over? What do you mean?" the Great Elder asked, hesitating for a moment before pressing further.
Kyosuke knew what he wanted to ask and gave him a confirming nod.
"You've really joined the Anbu?" the Great Elder's voice rose several octaves.
Kyosuke nodded again in confirmation.
"Hahaha! Good! This is great!" The elders exchanged glances and then burst into laughter.
After a while, they looked at Kyosuke again. "You've done well. But remember one thing: if the Anbu make any major moves in the future, you must report to us immediately. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Kyosuke replied.
"Very good. You can go back and rest now," the Second Elder said with a smile.
Just as Kyosuke was about to turn and leave, the Great Elder spoke again. "Remember, no matter what, you are a member of the Uchiha clan. Don't forget that."
Kyosuke paused, turned, and bowed before leaving.
Behind him, the four elders and the silent Fugaku began to whisper amongst themselves again.
Phew. Lying on his bed, Kyosuke finally let out a sigh of relief.
His entry into the Anbu was now a done deal. No one could stop it. This meant he could start reaping experience points again.
But before that, there was one more thing he needed to do: challenge a dungeon again, something he hadn't done in a long time.
The reason for this decision was simple. He was about to begin his life as an Anbu. It was obvious that as a young child, there would be a huge power gap between him and his teammates. To avoid being looked down upon, Kyosuke had to find a way to further increase his strength through the "dungeons."
He couldn't do the "Challenge of the Strong" dungeons yet. Besides the young Itachi, the other characters were at least elite Chunin level. Kyosuke had no desire to get beaten up. The characters listed as "strong" by the system couldn't be judged by their "level" alone. He only had to think of the previous Itachi to know that.
So, until his strength improved further, Kyosuke wouldn't be looking for a beating in the "Challenge of the Strong" dungeons.
However, the normal "story" dungeons had a similar problem. The lower-level dungeons no longer offered him much in terms of rewards. To get high-quality loot, he had to choose a higher difficulty.
Thus, Kyosuke skipped the D-rank dungeons and set his sights on the C-rank "covers."
After some consideration, he finally chose a dungeon called "The Land of Waves."
He was very familiar with this dungeon. It was the first high-difficulty mission undertaken by Team Kakashi. There, they had encountered the rogue ninja from the Village Hidden by the Mist, Momochi Zabuza, and his young ward, Haku of the Yuki clan. After a fierce battle, they had each defeated their respective opponents, and the Great Naruto Bridge in the Land of Waves was successfully completed.
As the first exciting battle in the original story, several of the characters were very popular. Kyosuke himself was quite fond of the two very human-like villains.
But that didn't stop him from thinking about how to kill them.
Having decided to enter this dungeon, Kyosuke first got up and carefully washed his hands.
Because in a moment, he would have to make a crucial "gamble."
Starting from D-rank, there were no more "original" dungeons. All of them were recreations of "scenes" that had actually happened.
This presented a problem.
In many of the dungeons, regardless of whether Kyosuke was there or not, as long as events followed their original course, victory would be achieved in the end. If that were the case, couldn't Kyosuke just participate in the "Kaguya Unsealed" battle right now?
So, the system had added another restriction.
When entering a dungeon, Kyosuke had to replace one of the key characters from the "original story."
This meant that in the upcoming Land of Waves dungeon, he would replace one of the four: Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, or Sakura.
That was why Kyosuke had washed his hands earlier, hoping this act would help him successfully replace Sakura.
He even thought that if he replaced Sasuke, his chances of successfully completing the mission wouldn't be too bad either.
Although the twelve-year-old Sasuke was much stronger than the current Kyosuke in terms of physical fitness, chakra, and mastery of several fire-style jutsu, all of his abilities were at a disadvantage against Haku. So, when fighting Haku, the key to victory was having an ability that could counter her speed. Otherwise, no matter how powerful the ninjutsu, it would be useless if it couldn't hit the target.
Soon, having prepared himself, Kyosuke pulled up the system menu, ready to begin his long-awaited dungeon journey.
Dungeon: The Land of Waves
Description: The Land of Waves is a nation without shinobi. It has been taken over by a man named Gatō. To build a bridge and bring prosperity to his country, Tazuna has come to Konoha to make a request.
Completion Conditions: Defeat Zabuza and Haku, and protect Tazuna.
Attempts Remaining: 3/3
[Notification: Enter dungeon?]
Kyosuke looked at the completion conditions and chose to enter without hesitation.
Instantly, a series of system notifications flashed in his mind.
[Notification: Screening list of replaceable personnel... Please wait.]
[Screening complete. Replaceable personnel: Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura.]
[Randomly replacing one person... Please wait.]
[Notification: The person replaced in this dungeon is Uzumaki Naruto.]
Feeling rather speechless, Kyosuke vanished from his bed.
(End of Chapter)
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We cross the 200 power stone goal and as promise here the bonus chapter
Next goal 300 power stone, good luck guys.
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