"Tch… This is a nasty one to choose."
Staring at the three shimmering Keystone Runes, Ren rubbed his smooth chin and opened his personal panel. Under the "Equipped Keystone Runes" section sat the two he had obtained from the first two Survival Mission completions:
[Grasp of the Undying: Grants Yang-attribute chakra. If you already possess it, strengthens your existing chakra attribute.
While in combat, every 5 seconds your next attack deals additional damage based on your maximum vitality and restores 2% of your maximum vitality.
After dealing this additional damage to a chakra-bearing enemy, your maximum vitality increases slightly.]
[First Strike: When you land the first damage on a chakra-bearing target, you deal an additional 10% true damage for five seconds.
After First Strike ends, based on the damage you dealt, you randomly gain proficiency in one of the target's abilities (abilities requiring a kekkei genkai will convert into double proficiency in other abilities). The proficiency gain effect can only apply once to the same target every thirty days.]
To be honest, if he didn't already have Grasp of the Undying, Ren would've chosen Dark Harvest without hesitation.
Its growth potential in wartime was terrifying—and the ability to grant Yin-attribute chakra was simply too tempting. As someone who had… certain memories, Ren coveted all the secret arts that required Yin chakra to activate.
Besides, as a member of the Kaguya clan—a family of steel-foreheaded lunatics—his resistance to genjutsu could only be called "barely passing," even with whatever edge his soul gave him. Without some special opportunity, he would likely never obtain Yin chakra in his lifetime.
But with Grasp of the Undying—whose effects were tied to maximum vitality—and with ten years of stacking it into something downright obscene…
Time Warp, which could boost maximum vitality by more than double and massively enhance sustained combat endurance, suddenly held value not much less than Dark Harvest.
Combine that with the Shikotsumyaku's ability to take hits, hit back, and recover…
Even if he somehow found himself in a situation like the Third Raikage—being swarmed by tens of thousands of shinobi—so long as someone like Ōnoki with his absurd output wasn't present, Ren honestly felt he had a real chance to turn into a blood-sucking monster and kill them all.
As for Electrocute…
…Yeah. Pretend he didn't see it.
As a standalone reward, sure, it was tempting. But in a three-way contest against Dark Harvest and Time Warp, it simply lacked competitiveness.
This wasn't Summoner's Rift or Howling Abyss—this was the vast shinobi world. He had years, even decades, to develop and perfect his abilities.
A rune with limited growth that leaned toward immediate combat power wasn't something he needed that badly.
"Ugh… Too many good choices is a problem, too…"
After agonizing for a long time, Ren inhaled slowly and made a final decision with a pained expression—
[Keystone Rune Selected — Dark Harvest]
If even a legacy rune like Time Warp—one that had been removed long before his "other life"—could appear in the system's reward list…
Then betting that the Keystone Rune that would let him truly comprehend rune power—Omnistone—might also show up after some future mission…
…Wasn't exactly a daydream, right?
Omnistone plus Dark Harvest.
Heh. Hehehe.
When that day came—after fully comprehending the runes—if he harvested a massive number of Dark Harvest soul stacks from an army of White Zetsu…
Even if he later had to face a boss gauntlet of Six Paths Obito, Six Paths Madara, and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya alone…
He would still win.
Easily.
After deciding, Ren closed his eyes and silently felt the system attach Dark Harvest to him.
Unlike the warmth that flooded his limbs when he gained Yang chakra, the gift of Yin chakra brought only an indescribable calm and clarity to his mind.
It felt like taking a pair of old, dirty glasses that hadn't been cleaned in years… and replacing them with an upgraded set—suddenly everything was sharper, and the horizon itself seemed to stretch almost twice as far.
He shook his head, dragging himself out of that intoxicating sensation, and focused on the Growth Mission System that had just been activated.
[Mission: Capture Nohara Rin]
[Mission Description: Coordinate with Mist shinobi to ambush Hatake Kakashi's squad. Capture Nohara Rin alive. Make her a controlled Three-Tails jinchūriki. Before Uchiha Obito arrives, repel all Konoha reinforcements and ensure Rin is not taken back.]
[Mission Reward: One Lesser Rune Lottery Chance]
[Optional Mission 1: Kill Hatake Kakashi. Reward: Two Lesser Rune Lottery Chances]
[Optional Mission 2: Kill the enraged Uchiha Obito. Reward: One Keystone Rune Lottery Chance]
[Optional Mission 3: Kill the arriving Golden Flash Minato Namikaze. Reward: Two Keystone Rune Lottery Chances]
[Optional Mission 4: Escort the Three-Tails jinchūriki Nohara Rin in a forced assault on Konohagakure. Destroy over 50% of village structures, kill over 40% of Konoha shinobi, and kill any two among the Third Hokage, the Hokage Advisors, or Shimura Danzō. Reward: Three Keystone Rune Lottery Chances]
[Optional Mission 5: Find and kill the aged Uchiha Madara. Seize the Rinnegan and control of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Reward: Three Keystone Rune Selection Chances]
[Note: Completing optional missions may lead to unforeseen consequences.]
Ren rolled his eyes.
"Tch. That's enough. You want me to speedrun the main plot in one mission and send Konoha to the sky while I'm at it?"
To be fair, the base mission—and the first optional one—were both achievable for him, especially with a large number of Mist elites as teammates.
But starting from Optional Mission 2, the difficulty spiked into absurdity. And nearly all the optional missions were chained together—complete one, and the next targets would hunt him to the death.
Given that he was, at best, an extremely durable elite jōnin right now—maybe on par with Kimimaro years later, the unfortunate kid who'd become Orochimaru's fanatic…
Ren decisively abandoned the idea of chasing those optional missions.
He would complete the base objective while drawing as little hatred as possible… and shove the blame for any failure onto someone else's shoulders.
Then he narrowed his focus to the base mission description, analyzing the real difficulties with care.
"Infiltration and ambush aren't hard. Our lineup definitely includes scouts and sensors, and Konoha's manpower shortage is obvious—they're stretched across the Earth and Lightning fronts. There won't be many shinobi left guarding the Land of Fire border against the Mist…"
"Capturing Nohara Rin alive isn't hard either. Everyone wants to turn her into a Three-Tails jinchūriki to strike the Konoha village. Unless it's absolutely unavoidable, nobody will try to kill her. So all we need is to force Kakashi and the rest of his squad back during the ambush."
"That leaves only two problems: Konoha reinforcements… and how to slip away without drawing attention before that damned 'enraged kid' enters the scene—while also making sure the failure doesn't get pinned on me."
Ren exhaled.
"…What a headache."
Cold moonlight washed the roof. No one else was around.
The black-haired boy lay stretched out on the eaves, speaking to the night and the moon as he planned the debut that would truly mark his entry into the flow of this world's history.
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