Within the borders of Pennsylvania, a Ford Explorer was driving smoothly and quickly along the highway.
Anna was driving. Olivia, with her legs crossed, was leaning back in the passenger seat, eating the cupcakes Max had hand-made for them before departure. Uh... although they were mainly prepared for the boss, Shane, he couldn't finish them all himself. As her senior, was there any problem with her eating two cupcakes?
The restaurant matters were handed over to Max on her first day. Olivia had observed for a few days. Although Max might have had some gaps in knowledge, her attitude was very serious. She was the first to arrive and the last to leave every day. She followed almost the entire process of material selection and price negotiation for the renovation. She even did her homework privately, trying her best to understand the market price of each material, then haggling with suppliers to save Shane money.
Yesterday evening, Shane read a newspaper. Then, ignoring the restaurant, ignoring the house, and abandoning art lessons, he taught Serena the Chakra Refining Method and told her not to come back. Early this morning, he went to the diner, left a large sum of money for Max, accepted the cupcakes she gave him, and had Olivia drive him out of Brooklyn, leaving New York.
Before leaving Brooklyn, Shane used a Shadow Clone transformed into Anna to execute a feint. Then, without any scares or dangers, they drove uneventfully from Brooklyn, New York to Pennsylvania. Later, Anna offered to switch shifts with Olivia, giving Olivia a rare experience of being a passenger.
Since becoming Shane's driver, she hadn't sat in a car driven by someone else, except for taxis.
Brushing cupcake crumbs off her clothes, Olivia picked up the newspaper Shane had read yesterday. The only news that met the criteria involving supernatural forces was the mysterious crash of a plane.
British Airways, Flight 2485. The plane took off from Pennsylvania, flew 200 kilometers south, and suffered a sudden malfunction forty minutes into the flight. Only seven passengers survived, including a captain and a flight attendant.
"A demon in the sky? If something happens in the air, I wonder if he has any ninjutsu that can save lives." Olivia turned her head to glance at Shane, who was resting with his eyes closed in the back seat, then closed her own eyes to cultivate the Chakra Refining Method.
Shane had given her the Chakra Refining Method after mentioning it last time. She practiced according to the method but couldn't sense the existence of chakra at all. There was absolutely no progress.
"Demon in the sky... Phantom Traveler... Although the Winchesters solved the demon in the end, what if a butterfly effect occurs? Not having flight ninjutsu is still unsafe." Shane opened his eyes and opened the System Panel.
Buying the restaurant, buying the house, renovation, plus the shopping and daily expenses during this period, he had accumulated 16,153 points.
Upgrade or lottery? The multiple-choice question appeared again.
Shane really wanted to try upgrading, but he also hoped to possess flight ninjutsu.
Flight ninjutsu, or methods to achieve flight effects, came in several varieties. For example, Sai's Super Beast Scroll eagles, Gaara's sand control, Deidara's clay birds, Konan's Dance of the Shikigami, Ohnoki's Earth Style: Super Lightened Boulder Jutsu, Six Paths Sage Mode, the Otsutsuki clan, Seven-Tails Chomei, and so on.
"Stop thinking. Nothing can stop my yearning for the sky. Lottery. Must draw the lottery!"
Ten times. Ten consecutive draws.
Ding ding sounds rang incessantly, rising and falling.
The lottery ended. Shane skipped over the shuriken and Kunai, directly counting the important rewards.
Three words to describe this harvest: A Bountiful Harvest!
Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu x1
Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu x1
Earth Style: Earth Flow River x1
Wind Style: Great Breakthrough x1
Water Style: Wild Water Wave x1
Mind Transfer Jutsu x1
Dance of the Shikigami x1
Chakra Refining Method x1
Just the ninjutsu category alone had eight items—a probability of nearly one-tenth. Although most were common ninjutsu, a single Dance of the Shikigami was enough to make Shane dance with excitement. Talk about getting what you wish for! The flight ninjutsu problem was solved.
However, was there something strange mixed in here?
Chakra Refining Method x1. What did this mean?
The very first "ninjutsu" Shane drew was the Chakra Refining Method. This technique was even more basic than the Three Body Jutsu; it couldn't even be called a ninjutsu, just a method to refine chakra. Of course, that wasn't the point. The point was, could ninjutsu be drawn repeatedly?
Shane looked at the Character column on the System Panel. The ninjutsu he drew were listed in the Ninjutsu column in order of acquisition. The Chakra Refining Method at the very top didn't have a "x2" symbol. Instead, he saw the name "Chakra Refining Method" in the Item column.
What did this imply?
Would repeated ninjutsu turn into something like a Skill Book?
Since the attribute changed from Ninjutsu to Item, it meant it could be extracted. If it could be extracted, it meant others could use it. So... repeated ninjutsu could be given to others to use, allowing them to master the ninjutsu instantly?
Damn, the System is ruthless!
If ninjutsu became Skill Books, then without the Skill Book, one couldn't learn or cast ninjutsu. In other words, one couldn't independently research or learn ninjutsu either. And... without a ninja forehead protector, the System wouldn't recognize their identity as a ninja. If they weren't a ninja, they couldn't use the Skill Book.
Yet he could get rewards and rebates by cultivating ninjas through the System. In other words, all the ninjas he cultivated would be his downlines. Those he recognized would be ninjas; give them a Skill Book, and they master the jutsu. Those he didn't recognize, those not given Skill Books, wouldn't learn ninjutsu even if they worked themselves to death.
Using useless duplicate rewards to cultivate ninjas, developing them into downlines to boost himself... not to mention having power over life and death in his grasp, everything would follow his will. And given the System's nature, if it restricted even him, the host, wouldn't it restrict the cultivated downlines even more?
This really was a system of interlocking rings.
Although he hadn't tried it yet, Shane was certain the System would restrict native ninjas while increasing his own growth speed and upper limit. So this set of designs could also be considered novice protection for him, the host?
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