Uehara Naraku and Konan entered the deep mountains, and with the naked eye, they could see some areas with purple poisonous gas, withered shrubs everywhere.
Those areas were polluted by the poisonous gas unconsciously emitted by the Salamander.
This place is so poisonous, no wonder few people venture here.
Konan frowned slightly and whispered, "Inside the Salamander grows a poison sac, and once its toxins are released, if someone accidentally inhales it, they will be poisoned and die almost immediately."
"Hmm..."
Uehara Naraku nodded.
The Salamander's poison is extremely strong, even the most poison-resistant Hanzo could get poisoned. It is said that besides Tsunade from Konoha and Chiyo from the Hidden Sand Village, no one else can quickly neutralize the Salamander's poison.
"Let's go over our plan first."
Konan surveyed the surrounding terrain and began to explain her strategy to Uehara, "I'll first scout the Salamander's location, attract its attention, and lure it away to kill it; you are responsible for delaying the actions of the ninja at the stronghold or directly killing them."
"Understood."
Uehara nodded.
This plan didn't have any flaws.
The only trouble with this mission lies in the Salamander's poison sac. If it spreads its poison widely before dying, both ninja sides would be forced to withdraw from the battlefield.
Because in battle, gas masks obstruct observation of the combat situation or finding the opponent's whereabouts, which is very disadvantageous.
Moreover, the masks themselves are quite fragile, easily destroyed in the life-and-death struggles of ninjas.
If a Jonin doesn't observe a Genin's shuriken due to vision issues and has his gas mask cut, he could also be counter-killed by the Genin.
Before taking action, Konan turned back to softly advise the young man, "Naraku, I've got everything covered, the mission will not have problems. Remember, you must protect yourself."
"Yes."
Uehara Naraku nodded earnestly, perhaps because as the child of the first generation of Akatsuki members, he received more of Konan's care.
The combat plan progressed very smoothly.
Konan quickly found the Salamander's hiding spot along the poison's spreading area, buried a few exploding charms on the ground, and set them off promptly.
Bang!
The deep mountains trembled slightly.
A massive Salamander emerged from the ground, its brown body covered with bumps, looking somewhat ugly and clumsy.
But its movements were not clumsy at all!
Facing Konan's attack, the Salamander opened its huge mouth, quickly spraying a stream of purple poison mist, forcing Konan to unfold her paper wings and avoid the poison mist.
Just then, the loud commotion caused the Hidden Rain ninjas stationed there to quickly react, fully armed, burst out from their stronghold.
At least twenty Hidden Rain ninjas came out.
These Hidden Rain ninjas were densely standing on a high rock, and quickly found the attacking enemy—a ninja in a red cloud black robe attracting the Salamander away from the area.
"Someone is attacking Lord Hanzo's summoning beast!"
"No, they're trying to lure the Salamander away!"
"Quick, stop them!"
The Hidden Rain ninjas quickly dashed down, trying to chase Konan and the Salamander, but several cards blocked their path!
First, three cards pierced through three Hidden Rain ninjas' bodies, and the final card fell to the ground, exploding, forcing the other Hidden Rain ninjas to halt their pursuit plans.
"Stay hidden, there are other enemies!"
The leading Hidden Rain ninja signaled his subordinates to scatter and then turned to see a young man wearing a gas mask, "Heh, so it's a brat..."
"..."
Uehara Naraku was still recalling the 'ding' sound in his mind, the sound of task completion, as he just killed three Hidden Rain ninjas, it should mean completing his progression task.
Progression Task 2: Kill ten formally ranked Genin (10/10), reward: 500 points of Life Energy, 500 points of Chakra Energy, 500 Gold Coins.
This reward is quite generous.
Uehara Naraku frowned, in the previous month, he killed many plaguing rogue ninjas, and after completing Progression Task 1, the system only rewarded 100 points of Life Energy and Chakra Energy.
Now, after completing Progression Task 2, the system generously awarded him 500 points of Life Energy and Chakra Energy, along with an additional 500 Gold Coins.
If his guess was correct, the 100 points of Life Energy and Chakra Energy should correspond to a normal ninja academy student advancing to Genin; the 500 points should correspond to a Genin advancing to Chunin.
That is to say, as long as he completes the progression tasks, like killing ten formally ranked Genin, the system would certainly let him advance to Chunin in terms of stats, even without completing those strange tasks.
The 500 Gold Coins reward after completing Progression Task 2 might be an extra reward, perhaps to encourage him to buy some enhancing equipment in the store, not wanting him to blend into the crowd.
Now his stats are getting interesting.
Life Energy: 1201
Chakra Energy: 1850
Life Recovery: 2/second
Chakra Recovery: 1.5/second
The amount of Gold Coins also increased a lot, he gained 100 Gold Coins defeated by Uchiha Itachi, 150 more Gold Coins from becoming Konan's disciple, plus today's gain of 500 Gold Coins.
Remaining Gold Coins: 2070
Unfortunately, these Gold Coins can only purchase some useless trash equipment in the store, so Uehara Naraku plans to save money earnestly because he wants to buy a powerful piece of equipment that can enhance Life Energy, known as the Madman's Armor.
Uehara Naraku licked his lips hidden within the mask, now that his Life Energy has substantially increased, his strength, speed, and physical strength should be at a basic Jonin level.
Though, it might just be the minimum standard for a Jonin.
For example, there is a female Jonin in Konoha Village named Yuhi Kurenai, listed by those 2D-loving fans as the lowest standard for Jonin.
The young man's gaze gradually moved, stopping on those Hidden Rain ninjas who regarded him disdainfully. Among the remaining Hidden Rain ninjas, there were still a dozen people left, at least four or five Chunin Captains, perhaps more.
Progression Task 3: Kill ten formally ranked Chunin (2/10), reward unknown.
Uehara Naraku's Progression Task 3 is to kill ten Chunin. In the previous month after traveling through, he once wiped out a small team of Hidden Rain, killing a Chunin Captain. A few days ago, during a mission to destroy a stronghold, he killed another Chunin Captain.
"Hey, kid, if you're willing to surrender without a fuss, tell me where that guy in black went and why you attacked the Salamander, maybe we'll give you a quick end or even spare your life..."
The leading Hidden Rain ninja looked at the boy who stood motionless, spoke contemptuously and continued, "If you dare to resist, once we capture you, I'll let you witness the cruelty of Stinger of Hidden Rain!"