The sunrise over the Land of Waves was peaceful. The sky was painted in brilliant strokes of orange and pink, while the ocean breeze carried the crisp scent of salt. It felt entirely contradictory to the apocalyptic violence that had stained this country just a week ago.
I lay in a patch of tall grass on a hill overlooking the newly finished bridge with my hands resting behind my head. We were scheduled to head back to Konoha tomorrow. But today, I was just trying to ease my mind of the whirlwind this past week had been.
It had started on the very afternoon of the massacre. We had buried Zabuza and Haku right here on this exact hill, far away from the bloodstained concrete below. The Kubikiribōchō was driven deep into the dirt to serve as a crude headstone. I had carefully placed Haku's cracked porcelain mask resting against the hilt.
"Rest easy," I whispered, patting the loose dirt.
While Kakashi and the others had stayed to pay their respects, I quickly slipped away.
I didn't want to linger.
The rest of that day had been... interesting, to put it mildly.
During a late lunch back at Tazuna's house, Kakashi had finally tried to corner me. He was professional about it, but his visible eye was sharp enough to cut glass. He casually asked how a fresh Genin managed to pull high-grade steel weaponry out of thin air, and where exactly I had learned to cast those other high-ranking jutsu without hand signs.
"It's a Bloodline Limit, big dawg," I lied smoothly. "Or something like it. That's what the Hokage classifies it as, anyway."
Kakashi's eye widened fractionally. "The Hokage knows about it?"
"Yep. He was the first one to see it a few days after I woke up in the hospital."
"Then why was I not informed about it as your commanding officer?" he questioned.
I shrugged. "It's new and different from other Bloodline Limits. Its mechanics would be extremely difficult for me to explain. Even the old man couldn't wrap his head around it, so he just said to continue to get used to it, but keep it as low-key as possible."
Kakashi didn't look entirely convinced, but he also knew better than to question a direct decision from the Hokage.
"Then we will discuss the subject with him when we get back to the village," he said, finally dropping the topic.
Nice try buddy, but you ain't getting shit there either, I thought as I nodded at him.
Kakashi's suspicion was a slight problem, but it was nothing compared to my teammates.
Sasuke had been utterly bewildered.
When Tazuna finally managed to stutter out the full story of what happened on the bridge—that I had not only beaten the guy he couldn't, but I had single-handedly slaughtered an army of over two hundred mercenaries in minutes—he dropped his chopsticks. He stared dumbfoundedly at me, his dark eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and a terrifying realization of just how massive the gap between us had actually become in such a short amount of time.
He hadn't said a single word to me since. Which was hilarious. He just spent the rest of the week in the woods, training until his hands bled.
And then there was Sakura.
She was terrified of me. Every time I entered a room, she would physically flinch. If I looked in her direction, she would start trembling, and her eyes would dart to my hands as if expecting them to still be dripping with blood.
It was getting exhausting. So, I asked the system for a remedy.
[SUGGESTION: Utilize your [Presence] to project a calming, non-threatening aura to ease the target's nerves.]
Hmm, non-threatening, huh? I mused. Might as well give it a try.
I reined in my current presence and projected a warm, harmless aura, then looked her dead in the eye.
It sort of worked. Her trembling stopped, but the glassy, uncertain look in her eyes remained.
Welp, that's the best I could do for now, I mentally shrugged. Oh well. Gotta take the bad with the good at times. And it's not like I care if she fears me or not, I just don't want her getting PTSD on a random mission out of nowhere.
I pulled myself out of my memories and sat up in the grass. The past was the past. There was no point in getting lost in it. Now was the time to look towards the future.
With the bridge finally complete, and having a quiet morning to myself, I finally had the time to properly sit down and review the mountain of System notifications I had unlocked during the course of the battle.
I mentally swiped open the backlog of system windows that had been piling up. The first few were standard level-up notifications, but the ones buried beneath them were massive.
One of them said:
[MILESTONE REACHED: LEVEL 100]
[PATH TO OMNIPOTENCE: THE FIRST CENTENNIAL ACHIEVED]
[REWARD APPLIED: +10 Stat Points allocated to ALL core attributes.]
Oh, hell yea, I grinned. I must have missed the sensation of the boost in power when my adrenaline was spiking during the battle.
But that's not all I found.
[QUEST UPDATE AVAILABLE: DAILY QUEST PARAMETERS]
[Due to the Host's advancement to the 'Monarch' tier, standard physical conditioning is no longer sufficient for progression.]
[NEW SUGGESTED DAILY QUEST: THE MONARCH'S DUTY]
Goal: Complete at least one (1) Gate of any rank per day.
Rewards for Completion: +7 Stat Points, 1 [Monarch's Loot Box]
I raised an eyebrow at that. A Monarch's Loot Box? I tapped the blue text for more information.
[ITEM INFO: MONARCH'S LOOT BOX]
Type: Legendary Items
Description: A premium reward box exclusive to the Shadow Monarch. Guarantees items of Legendary tier or higher. Maintains the Blessed/Cursed mechanic, granting items based on the Player's absolute necessities or deepest desires.
Damn, I whistled quietly. I had to actually run a dungeon every single day now instead of just doing my One Punch Man ass workout routine, but for guaranteed Legendary loot and seven stat points a day? That was an insane trade-off, I ain't gonna lie.
"Hold on, I noticed that there's no Ryo specified. Is that no longer to be given?" I asked.
[CORRECT. THE PLAYER EARNS A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF RYO FROM COMPLETING GATES ALREADY. NO FURTHER DISTRIBUTION IS NEEDED.]
It's basically telling me to stop being greedy, I chuckled mentally.
"That's fine," I waved off.
[PROPER AUTHORIZATION FOR DAILY QUEST EVOLUTION NEEDED.]
[UPGRADE TO THE MONARCH'S DUTY NOW?]: Y/N
Thankfully it didn't automatically authorize out of nowhere or I might've been suffering in one of those penalty zones this past week, I mused. I've been doing the standard or I guess previous Daily Quest routine, then putting all my effort into getting that bridge fully functional so we could leave as soon as possible. I didn't want to spend a month here like they did in the canon; I had levels to reach.
"Yes, make it happen," I said finally.
[COMMENCING INITIATION.... INITIATION COMPLETE.]
"Cool," I grinned as I opened up another tab with a very important analysis etched on it.
[CLASS ANALYSIS: SHADOW MONARCH]
[SHADOW STORAGE (PASSIVE)]
Function: The pocket dimension within your shadow where soldiers reside, regenerate health, and await orders.
Capacity Rule: 2 Points of INT = 1 Storage Slot.
Current INT: 224.
Current Capacity: 112 Slots.
[SHADOW EXTRACTION (ACTIVE)]
Function: The ability to resurrect the dead and materialize them in the physical world.
Deployment Rule: 4 Points of INT = 1 Active Slot.
Current Deployment Limit: 56 Soldiers.
"Wait, what?" I muttered, rubbing my chin in confusion. "I thought I had a base cap of 60 for Shadow Extraction from the Over-Completion bonus."
I did the math in my head. The base cap was indeed 60, but my actual [INT] stat was creating a bottleneck, restricting my deployment limit to 56. So, I needed to get it up to 240 if I wanted to max out my active summons.
I need to get that bitch up, I thought, mentally making a note to dump my next few stat points straight into Intelligence.
"System, anything else I need to be aware of?"
[NOTICE: PLEASE SELECT COMMAND PHRASES FOR SHADOW EXTRACTION & COMMAND]
Command Phrases? What is—oh, that!Right, I need verbal triggers to make my shadows function smoothly in combat.
"Can I set multiple phrases?"
[LISTENING…]
"Alright," I said as a wide, all knowing grin spread across my face.
"I want ARISE! to be the command that extracts shadow soldiers."
Old reliable, there are some things you just don't have to change.
[COMMAND ACCEPTED: 'ARISE!' LINKED TO SHADOW EXTRACTION.]
"I want COME FORTH! to be the phrase that calls my soldiers out of storage to aid me."
[COMMAND ACCEPTED: 'COME FORTH!' LINKED TO DEPLOYMENT.]
"Last but not least, I want TO ME! to be the phrase that recalls my soldiers back into my shadow."
[COMMAND ACCEPTED: 'TO ME!' LINKED TO SHADOW RECALL.]
I closed the menu with a satisfied sigh. Everything was set. I was officially the Shadow Monarch.
Just as I was about to close the interface completely, one final, pulsing golden notification popped up on the screen.
[NOTICE: THE PLAYER HAS REACHED A SUFFICIENT LEVEL FOR SURVIVAL (100).]
[THE TOWER OF TRIALS IS AVAILABLE TO ENTER.]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THE KEY AND ENTER NOW?]: Y/N
I stared at the golden text for a moment.
The Tower of Trials? I squinted, attempting to jog my memory. When the fuck?... Oh! The tower key from completing the Limit Breaker quest. So, I'm finally at a level where I won't die immediately when I attempt it, huh?
My hand hovered over the prompt. The temptation to jump in right now and see what was waiting for me was very enticing. But, we were leaving for Konoha tomorrow morning, and who knew how time flowed inside that Tower? I couldn't risk getting stuck in a multi-day raid and raising even more questions.
"Nah, not today," I muttered, swiping the golden screen away. "But soon."
I stretched my arms above my head, preparing to head back down to the house for dinner, when a sudden realization hit me like a physical punch.
"Oh fuck!" I froze mid-stretch. "Tenten's weapons!"
I had completely forgotten. If I didn't bring her back something unique from this trip and came back empty-handed I'd never hear the end of it.
That weapons nut would probably try to use me as target practice.
I quickly checked my inventory. I had five new [Gate Keys] that were ready to be used.
"I have a few hours before dinner," I muttered, jumping to my feet and brushing the grass off my pants. "Perfect time to test out these new abilities and grab some loot."
I pulled a [C-Rank Gate Key] from my inventory and activated it in my hand.
A Gate protruding with blue energy descended down in front of me. I stepped through, the peaceful ocean breeze of the Land of Waves was instantly replaced by a wall of suffocating heat and humidity.
[DUNGEON ENTERED: THE SWAMP OF SCALES]
I stood in a massive, underground cavern filled with murky, waist-deep water and towering, moss-draped trees. The air smelled like stagnant water.
TO-KAY. TO-KAY.
The surface of the murky water bubbled. Three humanoid figures rose from the depths, wielding crude, bone-tipped spears.
[ENEMIES DETECTED: Lizard Warriors]
[TYPE: Humanoid Beasts]
They were covered in thick green scales, their yellow, reptilian eyes locking onto me.
They opened their jaws, their throats swelling before they spat a pressurized jet of purple liquid directly at me.
Poison?!
I dodged effortlessly, sidestepping the acidic spray as it sizzled and melted the bark of a nearby tree.
"Too slow," I grinned.
I drew [Kasaka's Venom Fang] and blurred forward.
SLASH. SLASH. SLASH.
Three scaled heads hit the swamp water simultaneously.
[XP GAINED]
[LOOT GAINED: Antidote Herbs x3]
I looked down at the bleeding corpses. Perfect opportunity, I thought as a smile graced my face.
"ARISE!" I commanded, my voice echoing with an unnatural, dual-toned resonance.
VWOOM.
Thick, inky black smoke erupted from the lizard corpses. The shadows peeled themselves off the ground, swirling and condensing into 3D shapes. They retained the general silhouette of the Lizard Warriors, but their bodies were entirely composed of shifting black shadow. Suddenly, piercing blue flames ignited in the empty voids where their eyes should have been.
[SHADOW EXTRACTION (x3) SUCCESS]
Levels: 5
Grade: Normal
The three shadow lizards knelt in the swamp water, bowing their heads toward me in absolute, unquestioning loyalty.
I nodded in approval as I felt a mental link connecting me to them. Then, my mind lingered on something I'd been curious about since the end of the battle on the bridge.
"System, what are these grades?" I asked. "I saw them on the bodies of Haku and Zabuza too, what do they mean?"
[NOTICE: Grades are soldier rankings for your shadow army. They determine the particular strength level of your soldiers. Grades are categorized from Normal Grade to Grand Marshal Grade, which equates to the same ranking metric as Chunin to Kage level ninjas.]
[EXAMPLE]:
Normal Grade: Mid-Chunin Level
Elite Grade: High-Chunin Level
Knight Grade: Mid-Jonin Level
Elite Knight Grade: High-Jonin / Low-Kage Level
General Grade: Mid-Kage Level
Marshal Grade: High-Kage Level
Grand Marshal Grade: Beyond Kage Level
Good breakdown, I thought. That's really good to know.
I moved deeper into the swamp, my three new shadows trailing silently behind me, gliding over the water rather than trudging through it.
A few minutes later, we ran into a heavily armed patrol.
[ENEMIES DETECTED: Armored Lizard Warriors]
[TYPE: Humanoid Beasts]
These guys were much larger, sporting rusted metal chest plates and carrying heavy iron axes. They were accompanied by massive, armored boars that snorted aggressively at my approach.
"Attack!" I ordered, pointing my dagger forward.
My three shadows charged without a single moment of hesitation. They were at an equipment disadvantage, but they were relentless. When a boar gored one of my shadows, shattering its shadowy torso, it didn't fully die. It quickly regenerated from the black smoke it was made from—taking 50 chakra from me in the process—and went back to attacking.
While they distracted the vanguard, I flanked.
CRACK!
I shattered the iron axe with a chakra-enhanced kick, then drove my dagger cleanly through the lizard's helmet.
[LEVEL UP!]
[LOOT OBTAINED]:
Steel Axe (Unbound)
Iron Chestplate (Rank C)
"Perfect," I said, catching the Unbound axe before it hit the water. Tenten loved heavy weapons.
But I could do better than just a standard drop. I opened my inventory, retrieving the [Fragment of the Kubikiribōchō] I had earned from Zabuza, and I brought up the System's synthesis window.
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO COMBINE [Steel Axe (Unbound)] + [Fragment of the Kubikiribōchō]?]
Cost: 25,000 Ryo.
"Tch, spending money and using materials I should use for myself on this damn girl," I said, shaking my head. "Yes."
[-25,000 ryo]
[51,102,150 ryo → 51,077,150 ryo]
A flash of bright light enveloped my hands. When it faded, the axe was gone, replaced by a massive, wide-bladed cleaver sword with a wicked, serrated edge.
[ITEM CRAFTED: Executioner's Cleaver (Unbound)]
Rank: B
Effect: Weapon repairs itself by absorbing the blood of its victims.
"Oh, she is going to absolutely lose her mind over this," I chuckled, tossing the massive sword into my inventory.
I cleared the rest of the room in minutes. Standing amid the carnage, I didn't just see corpses anymore; I saw raw material. I raised my hand.
"ARISE!"
[SHADOWS EXTRACTION SUCCESS: 5... 10... 15...]
Black smoke hissed and peeled off the ground, coalescing into rows of loyal, fiery-eyed soldiers.
"TO ME!" I commanded as they all sank into my shadow instantly.
Some time later, I finally reached the boss room—a massive, sunken stone temple in the exact center of the swamp. Standing at the altar was a lizardman completely unlike the others. He was lean, highly muscular, and held a beautiful, long spear that glowed with a faint, toxic green light.
[DUNGEON BOSS: HUMANOID LIZARDMAN COMMANDER]
Rank: B
He hissed, his yellow eyes locking onto me. And then, he vanished seemingly out of thin air.
Huh?! What the fuck?! I thought, attempting to search for him. He's completely gone!
There was no ripple in the water, or any sound of movement.
I closed my eyes and focused on its missing signature. My [Sense] flared almost immediately, sending a sharp warning to the back of my skull.
There you are.
I ducked instantly. The glowing green spear slashed the air where my neck had been a millisecond ago, releasing a localized gust of wind.
"Fast and slippery, quite the combination," I commented, spinning around and launching a high kick at its head.
The boss blocked the kick with the shaft of his spear and skidded backward across the water. He hissed again, his scales suddenly shifting color, rapidly blending into the mossy walls and the murky water like a high-tech camouflage.
"How annoying," I muttered. "But I can sense your intent."
I closed my eyes again, and my [Sense] kicked into overdrive, feeling the subtle disturbances in the air currents and the faint spikes of killing intent.
Left.
I lunged to the left, [Kasaka's Venom Fang] leading the way.
CLANG!
Sparks flew as my dagger met his spear. When we disengaged, the boss immediately dropped into the swamp water, turning completely invisible the second he broke line of sight.
Before I could track his new position, the water exploded behind me. The blunt end of his spear slammed directly into my ribs like a battering ram.
[-15% HP]
I grunted, the sheer force of the blow launching me backward. I skipped across the water, digging my heels in to stop my momentum.
I looked up just in time to see him shimmer and vanish into his stealth again.
Ight, you annoying invisible prick, I thought, wiping a stray drop of swamp water from my cheek. If it were just me, this spamming shit would actually be a problem.
"Good thing I ain't fighting alone anymore," I smirked. "COME FORTH!"
My shadow instantly expanded, stretching across the surface of the swamp water like a pool of spilled ink. Eighteen pairs of glowing blue eyes snapped open within the darkness.
My Lizard Warriors erupted from the shadows, screeching and flooding the room.
The boss was fast, but he couldn't dodge an entire swarm in an enclosed space. Two of my soldiers lunged blindly into the empty air, and one of them collided heavily with an invisible mass.
The Boss hissed in frustration, his camouflage breaking as he was forced to materialize to swat my soldier away with his spear.
"Found ya."
I used the distraction, activating [Dash] and crossing the room in a fraction of a second. I unleashed a blinding barrage of slashes. The boss was highly skilled, but with my shadows boxing him in and hacking at his legs, he couldn't keep up with my raw enhanced speed.
I parried a desperate thrust, stepped cleanly into his guard, and disarmed him with a brutal strike to the wrist, sending the glowing spear flying into the swamp.
Before he could attempt to stealth away, I drove my dagger directly into his chest.
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[BOSS DEFEATED]
[FULL RECOVERY ACTIVATED]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[NEW LEVEL: 116]
[+75,000 DUNGEON COMPLETION RYO]
[(85% HP x 50 RYO) x 3.5 RANK BONUS: +14,875 BONUS RYO]
[TOTAL RYO: (14,875 + 75,000) + 51,077,150 = 51,167,025 RYO]
[REWARDS]:
Unique Item: Venomous Spear (Unbound)
Skill Scroll: Stealth
I picked up the spear first, inspecting the glowing green weapon.
[ITEM INFO: Venomous Spear (Unbound)]
Rank: B
Active Effect 'Toxic Bloom': On command, the spear tip releases a localized, 5-meter cloud of paralyzing neurotoxin.
"Oh, Tenten is going to have a field day with this," I chuckled, stowing it in my inventory before picking up the glowing scroll.
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN STEALTH NOW?]: Y/N
"Most def," I said. "Gimme that."
[SKILL ACQUIRED: STEALTH]
Active Skill: Hides physical presence, visual appearance, and sound.
Cost: 100 Chakra per activation, 30 Chakra/Sec in use.
"That's gonna come in clutch," I muttered, watching the scroll dissolve into golden light.
Then, I turned my attention to the Boss's massive corpse. Black, wispy smoke was already rising from his scales.
[BOSS SHADOW DETECTED]
[COST TO DEPLOY: 3 SLOTS]
Three slots?! Dang! So there's a Boss Monster tax, I thought, hovering my hand over the corpse. That's gonna be interesting going forward. I might have to be very selective in who I raise.
"ARISE!"
The Lizardman Commander rose from the dead. His green scales were replaced by shifting, pitch-black armor, and the spear he summoned into his hand was composed entirely of raging blue-black flame. He knelt before me, exuding a heavy, intimidating pressure that made the normal Lizard shadows back away slightly.
[SHADOW EXTRACTION SUCCESSFUL]
I opened my status screen to check my new legion.
[SHADOW DEPLOYMENT: 25 / 56]
1 Lizard Commander (Elite Grade)
5 Armored Lizards (Normal Grade)
19 Lizard Warriors (Normal Grade)
A pretty sizable shadow army, two incredibly overpowered weapons for Tenten, and a brand new skill.
"TO ME!" I commanded.
I watched as my newly formed legion melted seamlessly into the ground, sliding silently back into my shadow. The mental connection remained, humming quietly in the back of my mind. The weight of it—twenty-five immortal, fiercely loyal killers resting right beneath my feet—was intoxicating.
Tomorrow, we were heading back to Konoha. The Hokage, Kakashi, and the rest of the village thought they were getting back the 'new and improved' Naruto—a slightly more reserved Genin still recovering from a head injury—from a slightly chaotic C-Rank mission.
They had no idea a Monarch was walking through their front gates.