After grinding for two straight days,
Hyūga Akira had only barely scraped together 545 experience points.
A portion of that came from Namikaze Minato and Kushina—both of whom he'd already "farmed" down to the point where they only gave 1 experience each.
The rest came from the beasts of the Forest of Death.
And by now, the beasts along the outer perimeter had basically been wiped clean.
Not a single second chakra beast appeared.
The drops were mostly useless things: wolf fur, tiger pelts, boar meat… nothing worth mentioning.
"If I want to keep grinding," Akira muttered,
"I'll have to go deeper."
In the end, he chose to stop and led Nawaki and the others out of the Forest of Death.
"We… we actually made it out alive…"
Kushina looked on the verge of tears.
Her once-pretty face was caked in dust, her clothes torn to shreds, scrapes and cuts visible all over her body.
"We've improved a lot this time," Minato said, scratching his cheek.
For him, these three days had been nothing short of a complete transformation.
Akira nodded slightly.
Minato's strength had jumped qualitatively.
His experience values had refreshed completely:
104 → 52 → 26 → 13 → 5 → 1.
Kushina had improved too, but nowhere near as dramatically.
As for Nawaki—
"I wanna eat Ichiraku Ramen," Nawaki said, rubbing his stomach with a dumb grin.
"Let's go! My treat!" Kushina declared grandly.
Akira spoke calmly from the side.
"Your allowance has already been spent. By me."
Nawaki froze.
A cold wind blew past him as tears streamed silently down his face.
Nawaki had improved as well—just not enough for a qualitative leap.
He still only gave 1 experience, though at least his alertness had gone up.
Akira glanced at him suspiciously.
He shouldn't get blown up by explosive tags anymore… right?
…Probably.
"I'll pay!" Kushina waved her hand. "I've still got money."
Ichiraku Ramen
"Boss, another bowl!"
Kushina and Nawaki shouted in unison, slamming down their empty bowls.
Minato stared at the towering pile of dishes beside them and fell into deep thought.
Akira, meanwhile, explained casually,
"Chakra is a fusion of physical and mental energy. People with large chakra reserves tend to eat a lot."
A Senju like Nawaki.
An Uzumaki like Kushina.
Both were textbook examples of chakra monsters.
"Oh… I see."
Minato scratched his cheek, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious about how little he ate.
Akira ignored him and checked his status.
Name: I'm Xiao Ming
Class: None
Level: Lv.13 (125 / 2500)
Chakra: 130 / 130
Skills:
Gentle Fist (Lv.5)
Clone Technique (Lv.2)
Substitution Technique (Lv.10)
Transformation Technique (Lv.2)
Eight Trigrams Air Palm (Lv.3)
Byakugan (Lv.3)
Fire Release · Unknown Fire (Lv.4)
Medical Ninjutsu (Lv.1)
Bear Grapple (Lv.1)
Experience Pool: 1915
Equipment:
Bandit Left Greave, Bandit Right Greave, Bandit Right Bracer, Bandit War Blade, Bandit Armor
Inventory:
Kunai (10), Explosive Tags (9), Shuriken (99), Steel Wire (10)…
He'd hoped to level up again during these few days, but reality disagreed.
The Forest of Death did have chakra beasts—but far too few.
Tomorrow, he'd be heading out on missions.
By his own assessment, he was top-tier among genin.
But against chūnin?
Still not enough.
Frontline missions might not erupt into full-scale battles yet, but encounters with chūnin—or even jōnin—were still possible.
If I can farm a little experience on the way…
Even better if I run into bandits and finish the Bandit Set.
"Nii-san, next year I'll become a ninja and follow in your footsteps!"
Nawaki said cheerfully, patting his stomach.
"Then we'll conquer the entire shinobi world!"
Akira fell silent.
Did I… corrupt this kid?
No—impossible.
He was such a kind, upright person.
Akira nodded seriously.
"First we wipe out bandits. Then small villages. Then we look down on the Five Great Nations—"
He stopped himself and glanced around.
Some things couldn't be said out loud.
The shinobi world was fundamentally distorted.
Ninja possessed power that could shatter mountains,
yet the world was ruled by ordinary nobles.
That wouldn't be a problem—
if those nobles actually governed properly.
Instead, they bullied the weak, oppressed their lands, and tore each other apart in endless infighting.
Development? Progress?
A joke.
In Akira's eyes, they were nothing but parasites.
Kushina and Minato stared at him, dumbfounded.
They'd only wanted to become Hokage.
Were dreams really this… ambitious now?
Nawaki, however, was completely fired up.
"So then we brothers will unify—"
Akira instantly clamped a hand over his mouth.
"That part doesn't need to be said."
Say that out loud and someone's political nerves would snap.
Even being the First Hokage's grandson wouldn't save him.
Akira lowered his voice.
"Some things can't be said until we're strong enough."
Nawaki nodded hard, eyes blazing with unmistakable ambition.
Before meeting Akira, his dream had been simple:
Become Hokage.
Now?
A Hokage is nothing special.
Akira looked at those shining eyes and sank into deep reflection.
I… probably did lead him down the wrong path.
Tsunade… won't kill me for this, right?
Somewhere Else
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!!"
BAM!
Jiraiya went flying, rolling several times before finally stopping, clutching his chest and howling.
From a nearby tree, Orochimaru watched curiously.
"Tsunade… why are you in such a foul mood?"
Tsunade exhaled sharply.
"My brother's 'big brother.'"
Jiraiya stood up, rubbing his ribs.
"The Hyūga kid? Hyūga Akira?"
Tsunade frowned.
"That brat's way of thinking is… extreme. I'm worried about Nawaki."
He didn't feel like a Hyūga at all.
More like an Uchiha.
Which begged the question—
Did the Hyūga go astray, or did the Uchiha cheat?
"Then just don't let Akira hang around Nawaki," Jiraiya suggested.
Tsunade shook her head.
"I don't want to interfere in Nawaki's life. I'm just… worried."
She only wanted her brother to grow up safely.
So naturally—
She took it out on Jiraiya.
Jiraiya grimaced, watching her fist tighten again.
Why is it always me…?
Orochimaru hopped down from the tree.
"Sensei plans to have me tutor Nawaki next year."
"I'll keep an eye on him."
"And make sure he doesn't stray too far."
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