Training Hell Neverending Ze

Chapter 28: Training Hell Neverending Ze

Are you sure you are prepared for this? Once it starts, it won't be stopped until the designated time

I eyed the floating box in front of me, standing at the entrances to the training grounds. It was the morning after the second exam concluded, and I had everything squared away for Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan, and all of my personal matters were put on hold.

"I am sure," I assured my 'friend' as I took in a deep breath, this training was going to essentially be one long gauntlet run, consisting of hordes of enemies coming at me, with every kill I make spawning an additional two enemies, meaning that many of my 'crowd clearing' jutsus would actually be to my detriment as there wouldn't be periods of 'rest' unless I managed to hide myself away from my enemies long enough to rest.

If you are sure, I will now transport you to the location… please, do be careful, I do not wish for one so interesting to die so soon.

I chuckled a bit in response as I relaxed by body, closing my eyes as I felt a brief sense of vertigo. "No worries, I don't plan on dying any time soon," I assured him as I opened my eyes again to find myself in a clearing of a forest consisting of massive trees as hundreds of what looked like White Zetsus began to come out of the foliage.

Quest Alert

Survive in the Zone for 25 days

With every White Zetsu killed two more shall take his place.

Kill too many in a single go and a special enemy shall appear.

Be warned, while the Zetsus are less active at night, it does not mean that there isn't a hunter that isn't active when the sun sets.

Bonus Objective

?

?

?

?

?

Quest Reward

1,000,000 EXP

+500,000 bonus EXP per bonus objective

EXP from Kills will be tallied at the end of the Quest Period

My [Sharingan] sprang to life as I looked around, thankfully, my near perfect control over my chakra, assisted by a couple of perks, reduced the cost of my [Sharingan] to a minimal amount, allowing me to keep it going indefinitely when one considered my natural chakra regeneration.

I drew out my kodachi as one of the Zetsus came up to attack me, the blade cutting through the plant like flesh of the creation, severing the arm reaching out for me as I began to backpedal away from the approaching group, looking around for any place that could serve as a good place to hide out.p

My goal here was simple; survive and do so without using my wide-area jutsu. I had been getting too much in the habit of simply blasting my enemies into smithereens with A- and S-Rank jutsu. Granted, on the regular enemies, it worked a treat, but against the real powerhouses of the Elemental Nations? Against Orochimaru, the stronger members of Akatsuki and even that bastard a of mine, Madara? No, it would not work.

By fighting against an unending gauntlet of enemies, I would be forced to think both tactically and strategically in order to ensure my survival, whilst at the same time focus on improving my situational awareness. As an Elite Jonin, it was already high enough, but as I was going to be a Kage soon, one of the Five Kage at that, merely very good was not good enough.

I had to be virtually untouchable, throw in the conflict with Akatsuki was was bound to happen in the next few years and I couldn't take things slowly.

I decapitated one of the White Zetsus as it reached out to grab ahold of my long hair as I began to retreat from the battlezone, I couldn't spend the next month fighting in a single spot.

After all, my 'friend' said that he designed it that 'Special' enemies would start appearing if I stayed fighting in a single place for too long.

I don't know what he meant by special, but considering I told him to make this as difficult as he could while being doable, I don't think I want to find out so soon.

The Zetsus chased me for a short while through the trees but they were quickly lost as I put in a bit more effort into my speed.

I spent some time exploring the area I had found myself in, it seemed to have several types of distinct biomes with a glowing blue field of some kind that kept me from exploring further than the roughly 25×25 kilometer area I was in.

Plenty of room to work with for fighting, evading and setting up some camps for resting. There was even assorted wildlife and flora for me to harvest for food and supplies.

My first focus after scouting the area out was to set up a base camp, which allowed me to flex my fuuinjutsu skills as I set them up around my camp that hid it from view. The seal, ironically named, [In Plain View] was something that Jiraiya-sama created based off of his [Transparency Technique] that warped the light surrounding the camp to make it look like nothing was actually there. There were also one-way sound dampening seals and scent obscuring seals mixed in there as well.

Something I'd have to be mindful of was that all Zetsu could use Earth Jutsu to some degree or other, so i had to focus on not disturbing the earth as much as possible, to prevent them from sensing me with vibrations in the ground.

I frowned a bit as I looked over my base camp, nothing spectacular, just a fire pit, and a hammock strung up between the trees to help prevent any movement in my sleep disturbing the ground enough to bring the attention of the Zetsu.

Looking up into the sky, I saw the sun hovering above the horizon as the sky started to streak with red. It would be best to capture myself some food before night fell, whatever the 'Hunter' was, I would rather gather some information on it first before trying to engage it, if at all.

There was one thing I learned rather quickly, the Zetsu… are fucking stupid. I mean, seriously...they make concussed lemmings on acid look smart by comparison. That's how stupid they are.

As an example...well, right here's a good one.

I had set up a small distraction and a spiked pit trap to test how reactive they were, only for a group of ten of them to fall into the trap, one right after the other.

I had no words.

Seriously, it just went to show that it was only their numbers and the surprise of their attack, along with their shapeshifting abilities, that they managed to challenge the Shinobi Alliance at all. Granted, there was that spiral-masked one who could use a form of Wood Style, but he was just about the only one who was a serious threat, out of ten or so thousand Zetsu. And he was only not stupid from hanging around Tobi so much.

So, with that, I started trapping everything using a mixture of wire-traps, pitfalls, fuinjutsu, actually I had even gotten a [Trapping] skill from the number of traps that I set up, and it was promptly levelled up nearly a couple dozen times as I continued to set them up. I even reinvented a few I'd seen in cartoons back in my original world.

Thank you, Wile E Coyote, for showing me how not to do traps.

For example, right now I was hidden away from a group of Zetsus as they dangled from the trees, struggling with the wires tightening around their throats as they were starved for air, their comrades not even noticing as the four were dragged up into the air, eight more of the plant men growing from the ground as they died.

I wasn't seriously trying to fight them at this time either, I was mostly getting a hang for their patterns and tics that could be...although with how incredibly stupid they were, I was getting diddly-squat on that front. Seriously, a sign saying 'Free Bird Seed' would draw them like moths to a flame.

I let out a sigh as I moved on, leaving them to wander into their deaths as a notification popped up.

A special enemy has appeared to investigate the number of Zetsu that have died!

I blinked at the notification as I hid in the branches of the trees, a frown flickering across my face as I considered my options.

It would be probably be best to investigate this before moving on, especially since I didn't know what these special enemies were.

Which was an question that was quickly answered as I heard a scream of rage as a man dressed in metallic armor and looked like he was wearing the entirety of a razor factory appeared with a small flash of light. "Where are those turtles!?" a gruff, raspy voice cried out angrily as he looked around wildly, my eyes widening as I finally recognized him.

It looks like my friend summoned the goddamn Shredder to hunt me down.

"All I have to do is kill that bitch and you'll give me the power to defeat those turtles?" the Shredder questioned, looking around at something, most likely talking to my friend about it. "Heh, no problems, I'll wring her neck and rip out her insides!"

Wow, Shredder is angrier than I remembered. Maybe there's been another reboot of TNMT since I died?

I ghosted through the trees as the… samurai? Ronin? Stomped through the forest, looking for me, ignoring the white Zetsus as they shambled along in search of me.

Moving stealthily myself, I was very glad that he probably didn't have any of the green ooze on him that he used in old console games. Fighting someone as skilled as Shredder was bad enough; fighting a giant monster with random abilities from mutagenic ooze was another.

Plus, even before I had died, I hardly knew much about his capabilities, the strongest memories I had of him was the bumbling fool from the really old cartoons, which this one was obviously not.

"How long do you plan on hiding from me?" the Shredder growled out as he turned around to face the direction I was hiding in, making my eyes widen a bit. "You are good at it, better than even those turtles that call themselves ninjas, but I am a master."

I let out a small sigh as I leapt down to an exposed branch and remained in a crouched position as I looked at him carefully, keeping my [Sharingan] inactive for the time being. "Better than I thought with your entrance," I commented idly, not really feeling a need to keep my usual polite demeanor. "So, out of curiosity, who are you exactly?"

The Shredder growled in response. "I am the master of the Foot Ninja Clan, woman! The Shredder!" he shouted out boastfully. "And you are my prey."

I rolled my eyes in response. "Yuriko Uchiha," I said plainly. "Head of the Uchiha clan, a Kunoichi."

The Shredder stopped his grandstanding to look at me with narrowed eyes as I met his gaze without a flinch. "And honestly… I expected more," I concluded before leaping back into the trees as the Shredder roared in anger.

I took a quick look at his stats as he began to chase after a clone I substituted myself with, hanging back a bit further as my clone led him toward a trapped area of the forest.

Oroku Saki [Level 70]

[The Shredder]

HP: 25,000

CP: N/A

Wait, the Shredder had a name? How much did I miss?

Shaking my head, I refocused on the task of taking down Oroku Saki (seriously?).

The man, despite what seems to be an anger management issue, was quite quick and nimble, especially for someone who didn't have chakra to reinforce their limbs and senses, easily keeping pace with my clone as I trailed after him. No chakra meant no flashy jutsu to worry about, but I dimly remembered that there was a branch of ninjutsu on my old world involving gunpowder, so it's possible he had something like that available. Best to be wary on principle.

It seems that the chase managed to cool his head a bit as he began to evade the traps that I had laid out as he began to close in on my clone, enough so that he began hurling shuriken with surprising accuracy, catching my clone off-guard enough for one of the blades to dig into its side, disrupting the chakra shell holding the construct together causing the chakra clone to disperse with a puff of smoke.

The Shredder, because honestly that title is cooler than his name, came to a halt as the clone dispersed, a low growl emanating from his throat as he began to look around cautiously for me. Looks like he was starting to take me seriously.

I kept above him, keeping my form hidden amongst the leaves of the trees that surrounded us, considering my options on how to handle this.

First off, I wouldn't be using any of my 'flashy' ninjutsu as it would defeat the purpose of my training if I started breaking out something like [Susano'o] for every threat I faced in here.

I soundlessly drew out my kodachi as I positioned myself, ghosting over The Shredder's head as he looked in the opposite direction. The man was definitely skilled, he moved in a way that made it difficult to get the drop on him, wary of traps, and even positioning himself in places it would be hard to sneak up on him.

There was one weakness to his plan however.

The ninjutsu I used, was much different from the one he used. Even if the principles were the same.

Reaching into my pouch I pulled out five, tri-pronged kunai with seals wrapped around the hilt and took careful aim as I began to channel my [Chakra Flow: Chakra Scalpel] through my kodachi before hurling my kunai at him.

As I expected, he whirled around at the sound of the blades cutting through the air and backhanded through the air with his blade-laden arm, smacking them out of the air with an ease I'm certain most fresh jonin wouldn't be able to show.

And while impressive, it was exactly what I was planning for as I honed in on one of the kunai that was falling behind him and activated the jutsu that made Minato-sama so feared.

For a passenger, the [Flying Thunder God] was a rather disorienting experience, being the user of the technique made it much easier on keeping our lunches down.

For me, I was simply focused on the Kunai I wanted to teleport to, and the next moment, I was holding the hilt of the kunai behind the Shredder as my chakra coated kodachi swung around, burying into the neck of the surprised shinobi.

"Sorry about this, but I plan on living," I commented as the Shredder began to grasp at the kodachi buried into his neck before I ripped it free, creating a gouging hole where his throat used to be.

He let out one last strangled gasp before he vanished in the same flash of light he appeared with.

You have Assassinated Oroku Saki!

Kuro Kabuto and Tekko-Kagi looted and stored in inventory!

Letting out a small breath swiping my blade to remove the blood from it, I then sheathed my weapon and leapt back into the trees to retreat. The Zetsu would doubtless come to investigate what had happened here.

I let out a small sigh as I stared up at the stars in the night sky above me as I relaxed in my hammock, swaying slightly in breeze as I tried to relax from the day.

I was starting to wonder if this was too easy of a challenge for me, after all, I just assassinated a special enemy, rather easily at that too.

I really shouldn't have tempted the Kami with that thought.

The only warning I had was a slight whine before a ball of blue energy was hurtling towards me.

Quickly teleporting myself, I grasped the hilt of a Hiraishin kunai I had set up for just his situation, my [Sharingan] activating quickly to scan the area rapidly, looking for my attack only to catch the barest glimpse of a blurred figure as it vanished into the forest.

A blurred figure… when I had my [Sharingan] active, I didn't even think that was possible.

I followed the direction the blur disappeared off to, planning on finding out who, or what, was attacking my camp, as well as how they managed to find my camp in the first place. It had already been three days since this little trip into the territory of the plant morons had begun and the past two nights, I had been perfectly safe in my camp…

...oh, son of a bitch. Whatever 'The Hunter' was, it obviously had the ability to upgrade its hunting techniques, or it had access to spells/equipment/other things that allowed it to track me down. A being capable of escalating its capabilities, either in tracking, combat or both, until its prey is caught.

Actually...that blur looked suspiciously familiar for some reason, although it isn't ringing any bells as of yet. My past life is somewhat blurry about a few things, although I had learned mediation techniques that sharpened my memory for precisely this sort of thing. Still, in Hot Pursuit of whatever the hell had fired what had looked like a ball of honest-to-god plasma at me was not the opportune time or place to use them.

The fact that this thing threw plasma at me definitely made it something from a Sci-Fi universe though.

The faint sound of air burning was all the warning I had. Throwing myself to one side, I narrowly dodge another bolt of blue plasma. What the hell?! It had evaded my sight, my sight empowered by an ACTIVE [Sharingan] at that, whilst simultaneously laying a trail to lead me on and then stealthed around behind me to attack me from the rear!

I whirled around and threw a handful of shuriken in a wide spread before running my hands through a short series of handsigns. "[Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu]!"

In an instant, the five shuriken I had thrown multiplied into five-hundred. Yes, it was a wide-area jutsu, but the only thing that was going to be damaged was the local foliage...and hopefully the asshole who had just shot at me.

The sight of five-hundred shuriken carving parts of a tree up really had to be seen to be believed. One minute, healthy leaves and branches. The next, the place looked like a slash-happy, crazed lumberjack had gone through the place with a double-ended chainsaw.

As the shuriken hit, I strained my ears to find a trace of something that didn't belong. In the instant that I heard it, the sharp sound of metal on metal, I turned and thrust my sword towards the source. "Kushizashi, EXTEND!"

Silently, my blade shot forwards, the blade extending to impale my target and it seems that my tactic caught the hunter off-guard as my blade stopped in the middle of a rapidly dematerializing blur that resolved itself into the shape of…

A PREDATOR!?

Oh sweet Kami why?

Okay, I completely remember this guy now, basically this dude is the pinnacle of all hunters and wielding a wide array of alien technology, one of which was heat sensors if I remember correctly.

Which also explained how he found me, considering that I had never seen the need to include protection against infrared vision in my campsite sealing array. Damn, this game had just entered 'Hard Mode' alright.

"Kushizashi, retract!" I ordered when I saw the Predator reaching for the blade in its chest. I did not want to see if a Predator's physical strength was enough to snap chakra metal, thank you very much. The green blood staining the first few inches of my weapon was somewhat satisfying to see; I had just gotten first blood on a goddamn Predator.

A rumble from the aforementioned apex hunter had me tensing up and going on full alert. From the now-clear memories I had from my past-life, this was a dead-ringer for the Predator that a certain Mr. Universe actor had taken down in the original film. Standing way over the height of even a tall man like Might Guy, the Predator had reptilian scales covering its well-muscled body. A metal loincloth covered its groin, while most of the rest of it was bare of any kind of armour, the only exceptions being the open-toed boots on its feet, the bracers on its arms, a small amount of armour over where the human heart would be and the fucking plasma gun-turret-thing mounted on its left shoulder. Oh, and a full-face helmet, with dreadlock-like hair coming from beneath it, that had dozens of nifty little gadgets crammed into it to make hiding from its wearer a major pain in the rear.

Out of all of that, it was the bracers that gave me pause, as I distinctly remembered that the Predator had a last-ditch 'fuck-you!' suicide bomb in one of them. I think it was the one on the left wrist, but I can't be certain.

Either way, he was a dangerous opponent, especially one that was going to engage me at his own choosing.

We stood there, watching each other for several moments, waiting for the other to drop their guard as a signal for an attack.

So, since he was waiting for the same thing I was, I purposely let my guard drop a bit, prompting him to launch out a ball of plasma at me as I threw myself backwards as a kunai flew out of my hand, aimed for one of the gaps in his armor as the heat from the plasma washed over my head. Dammit, I like my hair! Why is it that it keeps getting melted a bit by this guy?!

I focused on the kunai that I threw and triggered the seals attached to it, prompting my teleportation next to the Predator, only, when I arrived, he was already gone.

Which was surprising, because I only took my eyes off him for a literal heartbeat. Then again, he had seen me dodge his first plasma bolt using the Hiraishin, so he had probably recognised the specific type of kunai that I used as mediums. The Predator was certainly no fool.

I let out a tsking sound as I leapt away from the position I was in, not in a hurry to find out if he left any… surprises for me as I began to silently move through the trees, searching for my opponent.

Which, honestly, was likely to be a long shot, he wasn't a fool, and he would have reactivated his camo tech as soon as he left my sight. And if I was right, chances are, he wasn't going to push his luck on attacking me again tonight, instead, he was probably going to continue to watch me and learn from my patterns.

Which sucked, because I couldn't do the same without being able to find him.

Although…

*KRSH-ZZZAAAAP*

"Sunnova-"

Ow… seal backlashes hurt.

I let out a growl as I tried to smooth out my hair from the mess that the backlash made it into as I mentally went over where I went wrong with the seal I was developing.

It was supposed to be an augmentation seal for sight, basically I was trying to charge up the predictive nature of the [Sharingan] which was done by reading the subtle cues that the body went through when moving, it was something that no amount of training could overcome, reduced and hidden, but not gotten rid of completely.

I was trying to increase that aspect of the [Sharingan] so that I could pick up the movement of the Predator, even when cloaked.

The problem was, however, actually trying to tie the seal to only one aspect of [Sharingan] was easier said than done. As an ocular jutsu bloodline, the Copy Wheel Eye was certainly supreme, but its powers, the copying eye and the predictive eye, were very closely interlinked, to the point that trying to apply my seal solely to the predictive eye portion was like trying to separate siamese twins.

"Fucking hell," I grumbled as I placed my sealing papers into a storage seal, putting it to the side for now as I focused on the other issue at hand.

Namely, the black and yellow clothed figure that was flitting through the shadows of the forest, looking for me while I sat in a tree with a transparency seal keeping me from sight.

Hanzo Hasashi

The Scorpion

Level 85

HP: 35,000

CP: -

Oh, I remembered him alright. Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. Mr 'Get Over Here' and probably one of the first ninjas seen by western gamers, alongside Ryu Hayabusa.

Shifting my stance so that I was crouching rather than sitting, I watched as the man crept through the forest skillfully, not making a single sound, and honestly, it was only the yellow sections of his armor that I was able to spot him by.

Even then, I did lose track of him a few times as he searched for me. He was actually a really good ninja before he became an undead demon. Go figure.

I leapt to another branch nearby, ghosting through the air without a sound as I circled around him, keeping pace with his, honestly, rather impressive speed, while he wasn't on the level of someone like Gai-san or Lee-kun, the man knew how to move quickly and silently that put even some jonin to shame.

He was even able to minimize his 'tells' to the absolute minimum as he flitted through the forest, ignoring the Zetsus as they ignored him in turn, only taking an interest when they fell for one of the many traps that I had laid out in the forest.

They were brief moments, but I was counting on one of those moments to try and put an end to this before it could go too far.

Speaking of.

*CRACKTHOOM*

A minor explosion ripped through the forest we were playing out deadly game of hide and seek as Scorpion turned to look at the source, a trap-based barrier seal that entrapped a certain number of targets within it before exploding.

He located the source, just as I moved above him and dived down for the kill.

One second my kodachi was about to be driven into his neck.

The next, my kodachi was in a tree trunk as the Scorpion's fist travelled to my face at mach speeds.

I let myself drop back as the fist narrowly missed my face while I brought my foot up in an attempt to kick Scorpion in the side of the head, aiming for his temple to either, A, hit it hard enough that he would die, or B, be disoriented from the blow.

Unfortunately, he chose option C.

He blocked my kick.

The two of us quickly separated after that as we stared at one another.

I was honestly feeling a little irritated at this point, that was twice now that my attempted assassination was cut off prematurely by them sensing some part of my attack.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched Scorpion take his stance, my [Sharingan] picking up the subtle hints of his Kunai and Chain as he held his right palm open.

Oh-hoh, want to try and catch me off guard with that, huh? Two can play at that game.

I brought my kodachi up next to my face as I aimed at Scorpion, looking like I was about to charge forward with a thrusting attack.

"Get over here!"

"Kushizashi, extend!"

We launched our attacks at the same time, the kunai and chain being launched by Scorpion's throw as my kodachi shot forward like a bullet. A quick application of [Wind Release: Chakra Flow] to the blade of my kodachi allowed it to cut through the kunai as it hurdled towards me, the now cut blade falling in two different directions as the wind coated blade stabbed into Scorpion's heart.

His eyes went wide as they looked down at himself, before looking back up at me, before he finally vanished in a flash of light.

You have defeated the Scorpion!

Kunai and Chain looted and stored in Inventory!

I let out a relieved sigh as he vanished before leaping back up into the trees.

Good, now I had to start laying out more traps, because the Zetsus were going through them like kids playing with confetti.

Seriously, just how retarded are these things?

Another flash of light, not even a full 24 hours later, told me that they were very retarded.

My new opponent was a curious one that definitely caught my attention.

An older looking male human with black hair and a mustache and an eyepatch over one eye, wearing a blue uniform. A pair of military sabres hung from his hips looking very...innocuous.

I could recognize him from anywhere considering that he was from one of my personal favorite animes.

Führer King Bradley.

The Human-Homunculus Hybrid of Wrath and the wielder of the Ultimate Eye.

I will be honest, my pride got the better of me as I came out of the shadows to land before him. Calling his eye the 'Ultimate' eye in front of an Uchiha? Quickest way to piss any of us off.

"So… you are the one who I have been asked to kill," Bradley said pleasantly. "I must admit, I did not anticipate such things happening to me, and I somewhat resent being whisked away from my world like some sort of errand boy, but if I slay you, Father's plans will be secured, so I suppose that I can swallow my pride this once. It shall be curious to see if you can match my Ultimate Eye with whatever skill you possess."

I smirk at him as my [Sharingan] swirled to life, narrowing my eyes at him. "Pretty arrogant of you, to announce your eye as the Ultimate one," I commented calmly, restraining my own pride enough to not spit vitriol at him. "Perhaps in your world it is, but this isn't your world, now is it?"

Bradley hummed, looking unruffled by my comment as he pulled the sabers from his hip free of their sheaths. "I doubt it," he commented. "After all, you are only human."

I could feel the twitch of irritation on my face at his comment as I kept my polite smile up. Oh boy, was I eager to smack the smug off of this guy.

With deliberate slowness, I drew out my kodachi as I watched him. "You really shouldn't look down on humans," I commented with a twitch of my eye. "After all, not only do they kill you, but they are ultimately the origin of your creation, what with them being the reason your 'Father' even exists."

Bradley froze as he narrowed his visible eye at me, fury simmering beneath his eye as he glared. "Bold words, woman," he growled in a low voice.

I smirked at him. "I suggest you pull off that eyepatch, I actually want a challenge, and not commit euthanasia."

A vein pulsed on his forehead as, with a single delicate flick of one sabre, his eyepatch fell away. "You have better learn, human," he said before opening his eye fully. "That you should be careful what you wish for...as you may regret getting it!"

I raised my kodachi, intercepting both of his sabers as he lunged at me, holding my ground as he pressed against me. "Don't underestimate me, Homunculus!" I said back as I activated [Chakra Flow: Chakra Scalpel]. "Because I'm liable to rip your eyes out!"

King Bradley

[Wrath the Furious]

HP: 40,000

CP: -

I swing my fist forward, Bradley already moving out of the way before my swing was even a quarter of the way through the motion as he pulled back from me, long enough for my fist to pass where my head was before trying to catch me with my balance off center.

And to him it looked like his blow connected, only for my body to be covered in smoke as he sliced through a log.

Not even a full heartbeat later he threw himself forward to avoid the swing of my kodachi as he swung around with his dual sabers, forcing me to pull my kodachi back quickly to block his attacks.

Our exchange lasted several seconds, each of our eyes allowing us to predict the others movements with ease as we intercepted attacks and countered with our own, several hapless Zetsus that approached ended up getting cut to shreds as they came into range of our swinging blades.

"I must admit, for a Homunculus your sword skills are rather impressive," I commented idly as we continued our clash. "It's all the more a pity that you're little more than an enforcer for that jumped-up Dwarf in the Flask who spawned you. Truly, a waste of talent."

Another vein bulged on Bradley's forehead as he picked up the pace, swinging his blades even harder as he attempted to simply overpower me. Unfortunately for him, this had an unintended side effect of making his attacks very much easier to predict, as they lost the grace and fluidity that he possessed when he was calm.

Well, he was Father's Wrath personified, so it made sense he'd have a short fuse.

I held onto a smirk as I deflected his attacks away from me before stepping closer to him, closing the distance between us a bit, reducing the effectiveness of his longer sabers a bit while making it easier to hit him with my kodachi. "Besides, your eye is not as 'Ultimate' as you seem to believe, good at prediction, but tell me, can a glance trap your target in an illusion?"

I smirked as he quickly moved his eyes away from mine instinctively. It was unfortunate, but I wasn't actually able to use genjutsu on him, because he had no chakra to speak of, but that brief moment of lost eye contact was enough for me to make use of my off-hand, that I had been keeping myself from using, to lunge forward and plant itself onto his chest. "[Chakra Scalpel]" I announced as the chakra pooling around my hand surged into his body, shredding his internal organs into a fine mulch.

"A shame that your Homunculus side is holding you back so much," I commented as he coughed out blood, his eyes wide in shock. "Humans are much more cautious about getting injured, you should've been a bit more careful."

A flash of light pulled him away before he could reply, not that I was expecting any, as his lungs were just plain gone.

You have killed King Bradley!

[Zetsugan] looted and stored in inventory.

I blinked as I looked at the item that I had gotten after killing Bradley. Zetsugan… Ultimate Eye?

Oh… huh.

Opening my inventory, I pressed on the Ouroboros symbol that represented the [Zetsugan] and read the item description.

[Zetsugan] - A vision-based enhancement that increases one's predictive ability tenfold

I blinked before re-reading the description before grinning. "Oh yes," I chuckled as I hit the 'apply' option and confirmed it. My eyes swam a bit as I staggered before my vision came back into focus.

And holy crap was everything in focus, every little movement around me, I could predict and I just knew where it was going.

This… was going to take some getting used to.

But for now, I had some planning to do.

END CHAPTER!

Yuriko's Stats

Name: Yuriko

Level: 81

EXP: 39,047/70,000

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Title: Uchiha Clan head (+50% to all reputation gains, command of the Uchiha Clan)

Secondary Title: Equal to the Clan Killer (+50% to all stats, +200 HP & CP per level, Reputation with Konohagakure and Uchiha Clan is set to [Exalted])

STATS - Current

HP - 12,000

CP - 38,500

STR - 100 (175)

INT - 140 (210)

DEX - 160 (280)

VIT - 100 (175)

WIS -140 (210)

LUK - 45 (65)

Ryo - 39,115,254

Stat Points: 10