Haruto who was on the ground twitching barely managed to cough out a reply.
"...I got a… dump of memories… for some reason… it hurts…"
Haruto had already realised what the reward for completing Edward's mission actually meant.
The promised reward of 'Knowledge of Seal less jutsus.' was in fact just that.
It gave Haruto memories of practicing all the seals in the Naruto world to their peak. This included muscle memory so his body was now one hundred percent ready to perform any jutsu without using any hand seals and still being faster than direct chakra control because his chakra control was pretty bad.
It was just that gaining so many memories at once was a heavy burden on his mind.
'This is what must've happened the last time when I got Megumin's fire release talent… I got her memories of practicing explosion magic but… I was probably just unconscious…' Haruto reasoned.
At the same time Megumin shouted something else, "Since you're alright then… Haruto let's get the next mission done with too! Since you completed my mission to capture Hiruko before he defected from the village, I accept the mission as completed too!!!"
Haruto felt excited for a second. But only for a second.
After that he immediately felt a grave fear.
"Wait!!! Nooo!!!!"
"Huh? Why no Haruto? Aren't you excited to gain the greatest form of magic, explosion magic?!"
"AGGGHHHHHHHH-"
Haruto ended up choking on his own spit in the end as a sudden rush of new memories burnt into his head before the previous rush had even fully integrated with him.
Complex mathematical formulae, complex compression and decompression techniques, the will of the explosion and all the complicated jargon that came with it all rushed into Haruto's head at once.
Haruto grabbed his head and rolled on the ground for a while causing Megumin to fuss around him while Edward simply smirked and laughed at his plight.
It was only after a full five minutes that Haruto was finally able to sit up straight without landing face first on the ground because of the weight of knowledge inside his head.
"So?" Edward asked, "How's it?"
Even Megumin seemed eager to see just exactly how her power had been translated into the shinobi world.
"It's a powerful jutsu alright…" Haruto mumbled out, "It's just that…"
"Just that?" Megumin asked, hanging onto every word that Haruto was currently saying.
"It's power depends on the amount of chakra I put into the jutsu… of which I don't currently have a lot of."
"Aww… so no EXXXPLOOSION!!?" Megumin asked with a sad look on her face.
Haruto nodded, "In theory if I get a ton of chakra it would be possible… but still this is a good jutsu on its own… I can at least trigger explosions at a distance from myself without having to send out a fireball there first. It would take about ten seconds to set up since it requires about forty three seals… but with the seal less jutsu reward, I can trigger it instantly."
"Instant detonation at a distance huh?" Edward said, seeing the appeal of such a jutsu. "That's going to be a pain for the others to deal with."
"It is…" Haruto nodded.
He then stood up and simply extended his hand to aim at a spot in the distance.
"Seems like the range is about one kilometer out from me for the explosion… but it has to be within my range of sight, so I can't detonate from behind cover."
"That's still very good. It'll make you an annoying long range damage dealer." Edward analysed and Haruto nodded. "True."
"And… bang…" Haruto said forming a gun with his fingers and mimicking the gesture of shooting.
BBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!
A smaller ten meter wide crater formed in the distance within the large kilometer wide crater as a small mushroom cloud rose up into the air.
"It's definitely stronger than even the clone explosion technique… about twice as strong… so whatever is in its range should definitely die instantaneously."
"Good job… you're growing stronger."
Hrauto nodded with a smile but then frowned, "But I doubt it'll be of much help against an Otsutsuki… they can absorb all chakra jutsu that are not senjutsu after all."
"One step at a time Haruto…" Megumin helpfully said and Edward nodded.
"You've got time until you meet them… so you can afford to take it slow."
"But… this mission already had them… what if I've got one of them on my back now? I doubt anyone can protect me from an Otsutsuki…"
It was at this point that Edward and Megumin looked at each other for a second as a glance of shared understanding took over both of them before Megumin spoke softly.
"Actually… Haruto…"
"Hmm…?" Haruto frowned. "You're hiding something from me?" He immediately caught on when he looked at Megumin's guilty expression.
"Was… I'm about to reveal it to you right now…" Megumin said with her tongue stuck out cutely.
Haruto's frown deepened but then he sighed and nodded for them to explain themselves… After all, he hadn't been fully truthful with them, so he couldn't expect them to do the same with him either.
"In times of difficulty… we can possess you and use our own powers…" Megumin said, causing a great deal of shock and surprise to Haruto.
"What!?" He immediately shouted.
Megumin nodded and Edward completed what she was saying, "But only once… once we do that we'll lose our chance to go back to our worlds… it'll be the end of the game for us."
Haruto's eyes widened as he realised the magnitude of what they were saying.
In the end Haruto shook his head vehemently.
"No way! You don't ever need to go that far! This is my trial to become an Author… if you were to act in place of me I'm sure I wouldn't score very high… so there's no need!"
No matter what happened Haruto couldn't imagine or even bear the thought of another human deliberately sacrificing themselves for him. He wasn't some great person. He was just someone that had gotten a second life by accident; there was no need for him to sacrifice people for him to live it.
Edward chuckled as did Megumin before they both broke out into full blown laughter.
"Don't worry Haruto… we won't interfere! I am sure my proud disciple will face any trouble and come out on top by himself!" Megumin said with a genuine smile on her face.
Haruto smiled and simply nodded. "Right… I don't need anyone's help to get to the top."
It was at that moment that Haruto calmed down and tried checking a theory he had made up when he drew a new character template card last time.
Haruto focused his mind's eye on the system space and there he saw it! Like before! A new notification over the Template Roulette Deck.
The notification had the number two written on it, probably signifying that he could draw two times.
'So for every mission I complete, I can unlock a new character template!'
'That's so broken!!!' Haruto thought, but he was giddy on the inside.
It was at this moment that someone burst into their hospital room causing Haruto to exit the Template Inventory space immediately.
It was an ANBU that rushed straight towards Kakashi causing him to feel startled and quickly put away the Icha Icha Paradise book before focusing on the masked man.
"You need to return to duty immediately, Kakashi!" The masked man said loudly, completely ignoring protocol.
"Huh? What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?" Kakashi asked calmly, sitting up in spite of the pain stinging his chest.
"The Third Hokage is dead!!!"
Kakashi froze.
Haruto froze.
It seemed like the world had just shattered in some way for Haruto as he mumbled out broken words in his mind, 'De- Dead??! How!?'
***
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