[Please choose one of the following three Secondary Runes as your reward.]
[Second Wind: When you are attacked by an enemy with chakra, recover 3% of your missing vitality over the next six seconds.]
[Cut Down: Deal 8%–20% additional damage to targets with higher vitality than yours. The minimum vitality gap required to trigger bonus damage is 10%. The maximum bonus damage is reached at a vitality gap of 100%.]
[Coup de Grace: Deal 6% additional damage to targets whose vitality is below 40% of your maximum vitality.]
"Oh. Two damage-type talents this time. Not easy, not easy…"
After Rei Kaguya glanced over the three runes that had appeared this time, the first one he excluded from his selection range was the Secondary Rune [Second Wind].
If the percentage healing effect provided by [Second Wind] were based on Rei Kaguya's maximum vitality, then this talent could provide him with a rather exaggerated amount of additional kiting and attrition ability.
Unfortunately, [Second Wind]'s healing effect was based on missing vitality.
For someone like him, who could treat [Absolute Focus] as a permanent buff, that was very meaningless.
Surely he could not deliberately lower his health just to make [Second Wind]'s effect more obvious, right?
And if someone else had lowered his health to the point where Second Wind's effect became obvious, then even if [Second Wind]'s healing effect were twice as strong, it would not be able to save his life.
As for how to choose between [Cut Down], which was harder to trigger but had a higher bonus and was stronger against bosses, and [Coup de Grace], which had broader applicability but a lower bonus…
Rei Kaguya opened his personal panel and looked over the bonus effects he had obtained from his various runes.
[Grasp of the Undying] has triggered 9,467,581 times.
[Dark Harvest] has harvested 537 souls. Soul strength amplification stacks obtained: 2.
[First Strike] has obtained skill proficiency 2,459 times. Obtained LV4 skills 5 times, LV3 skills 61 times, LV2 skills 749 times, and LV1 skills 1,644 times.
[Biscuit Delivery] has obtained chakra/vitality bonus effects: 10/10.
[Absolute Focus] is active.
Looking at the capital he had accumulated over the past ten years, Rei Kaguya took a deep breath. In his heart, he already had his conclusion on what to choose.
He already had [Grasp of the Undying], a Keystone Rune that could continuously raise his upper vitality limit.
If this mission went smoothly, he could also obtain [Strength of the Ages], which could further amplify the strength of his vitality.
With these two runes in hand, he could absolutely stack [Coup de Grace]'s applicable range to an extremely exaggerated level.
Although the possibility of including the final boss of Naruto, Kaguya Otsutsuki, within that applicable range was not high, by the time he stood before her, the bonus provided by a single [Coup de Grace] probably would not be that important anymore…
But speaking of which, why did Hanabi Hyuga, the eldest young lady of the main family, still need to go outside and run missions after Naruto and Sasuke defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki and reestablished a new era and a new order?
Could there still be some ignorant fools who dared resist Naruto and Sasuke after they possessed Six Paths power?
Sigh. If I had known I would transmigrate, I should have finished watching the movies and all that nonflammable trash too…
[Secondary Rune selected: Coup de Grace.]
The instant he selected the rune, a special sensation appeared in Rei Kaguya's mind.
It was as if some special field of vision had opened for him, allowing him to very clearly sense the vitality strength of all living beings around him.
He also gained a deeper understanding of how to cause greater damage to them with the same output.
"Hiss. This rune actually has an extra effect similar to detecting weaklings?"
After discovering this, Rei Kaguya began eagerly scanning the other Kirigakure shinobi around him.
Unsurprisingly, everyone present satisfied the trigger conditions of [Coup de Grace].
Even Mei Terumi, who rushed out of the stronghold with surprise on her face to welcome everyone, was no exception.
Oh, there was still a slight difference.
At least Mei Terumi's flame of life was much stronger than those passerby-level chunin and genin.
But to Rei Kaguya, at most, it was only the difference between a flickering candle and a lonely firefly.
"Did the surprise attack succeed, Rei?"
Although Rei Kaguya still had quite a few bloodstains on him that had not been cleaned, and the uniform on his body was no longer the jonin uniform from before, looking at the slight upward curve at the corner of his mouth and the assault squad with not a single person missing compared to when they left, even if Mei Terumi's concern made her thoughts a little chaotic, she could very easily conclude that the tactic had succeeded.
"We had preparation against their lack of preparation. The commander on Konoha's side was also a greenhouse flower who hadn't fought on the battlefield for a long time. If we still couldn't succeed under those conditions, then I could only take you and put up symbolic resistance before handing Mount Kannabe's stronghold back to Konoha."
Rei Kaguya shrugged and casually made a statement that made all the Kirigakure shinobi left behind in the stronghold unable to stop themselves from cheering.
As the number two figure in the stronghold, Mei Terumi also let out a long breath.
She pulled out the summoning scroll Rei Kaguya had given her from the pouch at her waist, preparing to return it to its owner.
But before she could finish the motion, Rei Kaguya pressed it back down.
Mei Terumi raised her head and looked into Rei Kaguya's eyes in confusion.
Rei Kaguya gently shook his head. Then he turned toward the Mist shinobi in the stronghold and said:
"Arrange today's guard work properly. Those who aren't assigned can relax a little today. Konoha's unit lost one-quarter of its people. In the short term, they probably won't rashly attack us again."
"However, the offensive and defensive battle between us and Konoha over Mount Kannabe's stronghold is still far from over. We must hold this place until every Konoha stronghold on the entire front line becomes ours… If none of you want to lose your lives in the even more intense battles that come after this, then you had better maintain your daily training. Understood?"
"Yes, Lord Rei!"
Inside Mount Kannabe's stronghold, more than a hundred shinobi from various classes and clans of Kirigakure answered Rei Kaguya's instructions in unison.
Their voices rose and fell in orderly waves.
The gazes of those speaking were firm and fanatical.
At a glance, it could even make someone feel the illusion that they were responding to a speech from the current Mizukage.
"You've won over your first batch of supporters besides me. Are you happy, Rei?"
Mei Terumi silently stepped behind Rei Kaguya. Looking at the handsome, thoughtful face of the boy, she asked with smiling eyes.
"Happy? Not particularly."
Rei Kaguya looked at those faces, some young, some mature, some handsome, some ordinary, and sighed softly.
"They have to survive the battlefield first. Only then will they have the qualifications to talk about becoming my supporters."
"Then that depends on your command ability, Captain."
Mei Terumi teased him in as light a tone as possible.
"Please. My command ability is limited to things like ambushes and having people follow behind me to finish off enemies."
Rei Kaguya folded his hands behind his head, looked up at the sky, and spoke with some melancholy.
"Some things are one matter when written in books, but an entirely different matter when actually put into practice…"
"Fortunately, I'm from the Kaguya clan. I won't be expected too much in that regard like someone from the Nara clan…"
"Pfft—ahahahaha!"
Hearing Rei Kaguya's sudden self-deprecating remark, Mei Terumi failed to cover her mouth in time. Her whole body trembled as she burst into a very unladylike laugh.
"Have you laughed enough?"
"N-No…"
Mei Terumi struggled to control her laughter. Then, while wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, she asked in a strange tone:
"Are you holding a grudge because you were schemed against by the Nara clan's tactics on the battlefield, Rei?"
"You could say that."
Rei Kaguya remembered the experience of being knocked flying several kilometers by Choza Akimichi's Human Bullet Onion Chicken, and his face instantly darkened.
"To be able to turn outstanding intellect into a signature trait passed down through their clan generation after generation… The Nara clan's brains really do have something to them."
"But even if the Nara clan can come up with clever schemes, they don't have the ability to truly hurt you, right, Rei?"
"I'm not worried about them scheming against me."
Rei Kaguya paused. His tone became deep.
"What I'm worried about is them targeting the other people in the village…"