Chapter 12: An Enemy With a Title
After Uehara Naraka and Konan entered the deep mountains, purple poisonous gas could be seen lingering in some areas with the naked eye, and withered bushes were everywhere.
Those areas had already been contaminated by the poisonous gas unconsciously released by the Salamander.
This place was so toxic; no wonder few people set foot here.
Konan frowned and said in a low voice, "The Salamander grows a poison sac inside its body. Once it leaks the toxins within, if accidentally inhaled, one would almost instantly die from the lethal poison."
"Hmm..."
Uehara Naraka nodded.
The Salamander's poison was very potent. Even Hanzō, who had the highest poison resistance, could potentially be poisoned. It was said that besides Konoha's Tsunade and Sunagakure's Chiyo, no one else could quickly counteract the Salamander's lethal poison.
"First, let's go over our plan."
Konan observed the surrounding terrain and began explaining her tactics to Uehara, "I'll first scout the Salamander's location, attract its attention, and lead it far away to kill it. You'll be responsible for delaying the outpost ninjas' actions, or just kill them directly."
"Understood."
Uehara nodded.
There were no flaws in this plan.
The only trouble with this mission lay in the Salamander's poison sac. If it caused a widespread release of lethal poison before dying, it would force ninjas from both sides to withdraw from the battlefield.
Because in combat, the obstruction from a gas mask is very detrimental to observing the battle situation or tracking opponents.
Moreover, the mask itself is quite fragile and can easily be destroyed by an enemy during a life-or-death ninja struggle.
If a Jonin, due to visibility issues, failed to notice a Genin's shuriken, resulting in their gas mask being torn, they could consequently be counter-killed by the Genin.
Before taking action first, Konan turned back again and softly instructed the boy, "Naraka, I'll handle everything, the mission won't have problems. Remember, you must protect yourself well."
"Yes."
Uehara Naraka nodded seriously. Perhaps because he was the child of a first-generation Akatsuki member, he received more care from Konan.
The operational plan proceeded very smoothly.
Following the spread of the toxin, Konan quickly found the Salamander's hiding place, planted several exploding tags in the ground, and swiftly detonated them.
Rumble!
The deep mountain trembled a few times.
A massive Salamander leaped out from the ground. Its brown body was covered in bumps, looking somewhat ugly and sluggish.
But its movements were not sluggish at all!
Facing Konan's attack, the Salamander opened its huge mouth and violently spewed a cloud of purple poison mist, forcing Konan to unfold her paper wings and evade the mist's assault.
However, the commotion just now was so loud that the Ame (Rain) ninjas stationed here quickly reacted, rushing out of their outpost fully armed.
At least twenty Ame ninjas emerged.
These Ame ninjas stood densely packed on a large rock. They quickly spotted the attacker—a ninja wearing a black cloak with red clouds, currently luring the Salamander away from this area.
"Someone is attacking Lord Hanzō's summoning beast!"
"No, they want to lure the Salamander away!"
"Quick, stop them!"
The Ame ninjas quickly jumped down, wanting to pursue Konan and the Salamander, but several cards blocked their path!
First, three cards pierced through the bodies of three Ame ninjas. The last card landed on the ground and exploded violently, forcing the other Ame ninjas to halt their pursuit plan.
"Take cover, there's another enemy!"
The leading Ame ninja waved for his subordinates to disperse, then turned his head and saw a boy wearing a gas mask, "Hmph, so it's just a kid..."
"..."
Uehara Naraka was still recalling the 'ding' sound in his brain—the sound of mission completion. He had just killed three Ame ninjas, which should have completed the Advancement Quest.
Advancement Quest 2: Kill ten official Genin (10/10). Reward: 500 Life Energy, 500 Chakra Energy, 500 Gold Coins.
This reward was quite generous.
Uehara Naraka frowned. In the previous month, he had killed many harmful wandering ninjas. After completing Advancement Quest 1, the system only rewarded 100 points of Life Energy and Chakra Energy.
Now, after completing Advancement Quest 2, the system generously rewarded 500 points of Life Energy and Chakra Energy, and even an extra 500 gold coins.
If his guess was correct, the 100 points value likely corresponded to an ordinary ninja academy student promoting to Genin; the 500 points value likely corresponded to a Genin promoting to Chunin.
In other words, as long as he completed the Advancement Quests, like killing ten official Genin, even without completing those weird side quests, the system would 100% ensure he reached Chunin-level stats.
The extra 500 gold coins reward after completing Advancement Quest 2 should be considered a bonus, probably intended for him to buy some enhancing equipment from the shop, so he wouldn't just blend in with the crowd.
Now his stats were finally getting interesting.
Life Energy: 1201
Chakra Energy: 1850
Health Regen: 2/sec
Chakra Regen: 1.5/sec
The amount of gold had also increased quite a bit. Losing to Uchiha Itachi gave 100 gold, becoming Konan's disciple gave 150 gold, plus the 500 gold obtained today.
Remaining Gold Coins: 2070
Unfortunately, this gold could only buy some useless trash equipment from the shop. Uehara Naraka still planned to save up honestly, because he wanted to buy a powerful piece of equipment that could increase Life Energy, called Warmog's Armor.
Hidden behind the mask, Uehara Naraka licked his lips. Now that his Life Energy had significantly increased, his strength, speed, and physical durability should reach the standard of an ordinary Jonin.
Although, it might just be the minimum standard for a Jonin.
For example, a certain Konoha female Jonin named Kurenai Yūhi was listed by otaku like them as the minimum standard for Jonin.
The boy's gaze slowly shifted, stopping on the group of Ame ninjas who were looking down on him. There were still over a dozen of these Ame ninjas left, including at least four or five Chunin captains, possibly even more.
Advancement Quest 3: Kill ten official Chunin (2/10). Reward Unknown.
Uehara Naraka's Advancement Quest 3 was to kill ten Chunin. In the month after he first transmigrated, he had eliminated an Ame squad and killed one Chunin captain; a few days ago, while carrying out the outpost destruction mission, he killed another Chunin captain.
"Hey, kid! If you obediently surrender, tell us where that person in black clothes went and why you attacked the Salamander, maybe we'll give you a quick death, or perhaps spare your life..."
The leading Ame ninja looked at the boy standing motionless and continued contemptuously, "If you dare to resist, when we catch you, I'll let you witness the cruelty of the Thorn of Amegakure!"
(End of Chapter)