Haruto Saito was running. He sprinted several kilometers, crossing rivers and escaping the dense fog. After climbing over a large grassy hill, he hid himself in a ditch at the base of the slope and finally stopped.
This place should be extremely safe. Even if the fog dissipated, the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan wouldn't be able to see him. His location was far below the horizon, and the Byakugan couldn't see through the earth itself.
With a flip of his wrist, Haruto took out all the cards he had obtained from killing Hyuga Kyokyoku.
The topmost card was the treasure card he had previously examined.
"Spirit, what exactly does this thing do?" Haruto asked in his mind.
"Ding! Answering the host's question: The treasure card is a special-type reward card. When the host uses the treasure card, it will randomly provide a location coordinate. The maximum distance from the host will not exceed 200 kilometers. Upon reaching the coordinate and digging, the host can obtain a treasure. Note that the treasure card does not generate new treasures—it only reveals the locations of treasures that already exist in this world."
"So it's basically a treasure map? Why did you say it wasn't before?"
"Not exactly. The treasure card provides a location that is directly related to the host's current position. It only reveals coordinates where a treasure exists within the region. If the host uses the treasure card in a different area, the resulting treasure will also be different."
"What if there's no treasure in my area?"
"The treasure card will automatically search for the highest-valued treasure within range."
"So that's how it works." Haruto blinked in surprise, feeling slightly disappointed.
According to the card spirit, the treasure card simply pointed to a real-world treasure. It didn't generate one. That meant if there were no real treasures nearby, the card might end up directing him to something worthless.
A 200-kilometer radius was large, but compared to the vast size of the Shinobi World, it was just a tiny area. Haruto figured there was a good chance he'd dig up some dead ninja's corpse or a pile of broken weapons instead of real treasure.
Setting the treasure card aside, he started sorting through the other rewards obtained from killing Hyuga Kyokyoku.
Most of the cards had a distinct theme—they were all related to Gentle Fist Taijutsu. There were thirteen cards with "Eight Trigrams" in their names, such as Eight Trigrams: Mountain Strike, Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, Eight Trigrams: Air Palm, Eight Trigrams: Mountain Breaker, and Eight Trigrams: Full Body Strike.
But two cards stood out the most to Haruto.
The Eight Trigrams: Rotation card and the Byakugan Bloodline Limit card!
They both dropped!
"Wait! Wait! Damn it!" Haruto suddenly jumped up, smacking himself hard on the forehead, his eyes wide with regret.
He had forgotten something!
He forgot to use the Double Drop Rate card!
The situation had been too intense. The explosion happened too suddenly, and Haruto had rushed in without thinking about it. He had only focused on killing Hyuga Kyokyoku and completely neglected the Double Drop Rate card.
"Did I forget to check the almanac today? Everything's going wrong!" Haruto muttered bitterly before asking, "Spirit, if I had used the Double Drop Rate card, would I have gotten two Eight Trigrams: Rotation cards and two Byakugan Bloodline Limit cards?"
"No. The Double Drop Rate card only increases the overall drop rate. The host cannot obtain two identical cards from the same target."
"Oh… well, that's a relief…" Haruto sighed in self-consolation. At least the card wasn't wasted—he just forgot to use it. Besides, the key cards had already dropped.
There were over twenty cards in total. Aside from the Taijutsu cards, there was a Body Flicker Technique card—the standard teleportation technique used by most Chunin and Jonin. It was a basic but useful skill.
Additionally, there were over a dozen special cards:
Three Basic Healing Cards
Four Basic Chakra Restoration Cards
Three Mental Enhancement Cards
One 3,000 Reputation Points Card
One very unusual card: Soul Fragment Card!
"Soul Fragment… what does it do?" Haruto asked while holding the semi-transparent card with blood-red text.
"Ding! Answering the host's question: Using the Soul Fragment Card grants the host partial memory fragments related to training."
"This is amazing!" Haruto's eyes lit up.
The biggest problem with gaining ability cards from fallen enemies was that he only obtained the raw ability, not the techniques, experience, or battle strategies that came with it. He had to figure those out on his own.
But the Soul Fragment Card solved this problem. By using it, he could gain Hyuga Kyokyoku's knowledge of Gentle Fist techniques, allowing him to understand their practical applications instantly.
Without hesitation, Haruto began consuming the cards one by one.
After consuming the Eight Trigrams: Rotation cards and Byakugan Bloodline Limit cards, his Rotation technique became more refined and nearly impenetrable. His defensive power doubled!
Meanwhile, his Byakugan's range also increased dramatically. Previously, he could see about four kilometers. Now, after consuming the second Byakugan Bloodline Limit card, he could see eight kilometers!
The three Mental Enhancement Cards slightly increased his total chakra reserves, though the improvement was minimal since he had already used multiple enhancement cards in the past.
The Soul Fragment Card granted him fragments of Hyuga Kyokyoku's memories, significantly improving his mastery of Gentle Fist techniques.
After finishing the cards, Haruto took out a few more from his inventory—ones he had collected earlier from two elite Sand Village Chunin and two elite Hyuga Chunin. He had only used the reputation cards before but hadn't checked the rest.
After sorting through them, nothing particularly exciting stood out. After all, they were just elite Chunin.
However, one card caught his attention—a B-rank Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet technique from an Overlevel Kill Reward Card.
It took Haruto over an hour to sort everything out. Reviewing each card individually took time.
After using all the usable cards, he had only a few left:
A few Basic Healing and Chakra Restoration Cards
Two Magic Cards
One Boss Card
One Treasure Card
One Double Drop Rate Card
One Reputation Store Lock Card
Additionally, his total reputation had reached 13,700 points—10,000 from his first Boss kill, 3,000 from a consumed reputation card, and 700 from before.
It was late at night.
After finishing everything, Haruto headed northwest.
He just needed a place to sleep. Everything else could wait until tomorrow.
The next morning, in a secluded valley within the northwestern region of the Land of Fire.
As the sun rose, Haruto woke up in a cave where he had spent the night. Stretching, he stepped outside, retrieved some dry rations from his inventory, and ate a simple breakfast before practicing his Gentle Fist techniques outside the cave.
Activating his Byakugan, he went through a series of fluid Gentle Fist strikes.
After practicing, he estimated his strength—he was likely on par with a strong Hyuga Jonin but still below the level of an elite Jonin. He had gained only part of Hyuga Kyokyoku's abilities and experience, and the other Hyuga he had defeated were too weak to provide substantial improvements.
After finishing his training, he bathed in a small lake within the valley and changed into clean clothes.
"The Uchiha guys probably think I'm dead. If they were badly injured, they'd return to Konoha. The surviving Hyuga would also report back…" Haruto mused while standing by the lake.
He suddenly realized—he was free! No one was tracking or monitoring him anymore.
"So… should I still go to the Land of Rain for my mission?" He seriously considered it, then decided to put the thought aside. He had something more interesting to do.
Taking out the Treasure Card—he ate it!
A location flashed in his mind: 160 kilometers northwest. A treasure was waiting!
"Time to dig up some treasure!" Haruto grinned.
But just as he was about to leave—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three figures approached rapidly from outside the valley.
"Someone's coming!" Haruto tensed and immediately submerged himself in the lake, using the Water Release: Hiding in Water technique.
A few moments later, three figures landed by the lake.
"This place is nice. We can rest here," said a clear male voice.
"I'll gather firewood," said a cold male voice.
"Only ten days and the mission is over? Do we really have to return to Konoha? That annoying brat might still be around…" a woman muttered.
Underwater, Haruto's Byakugan locked onto the three figures. His eyes widened in shock before his anger flared up. He suddenly burst out of the water.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru turned in shock, ready for battle.
Tsunade's face twisted in disbelief.
"How the hell is this brat here?!!"