Haruto Saito possessed an uncanny ability to appear and disappear at will. Back when he assassinated Iwagakure's Sato at the rear mountains of Konoha, he had acquired the A-rank secret technique, "Earth Concealment Technique." This technique allowed Haruto to move underground, albeit at a slower speed than on the surface, but its utility was immense.
Additionally, before leaving Konoha, he had learned "Aura Concealment Technique" from Terado. This technique allowed Haruto to suppress his chakra presence to an extreme degree while simultaneously using other jutsu. In other words, when Haruto moved underground, he could completely conceal his chakra, making it nearly impossible for even sensory-type shinobi to detect him!
After retrieving hundreds of card rewards, Haruto burrowed underground once again and quickly left the scene.
—
South of Ryusui Village.
In a residential area, inside the storage room of an ordinary household.
Haruto materialized out of thin air. He clasped his hands together, his eyes tensed as wrinkles formed around them—Byakugan, activated!
The world around him turned into shades of gray and white as he surveyed the entire Ryusui Village. A quick scan reassured him—this place was very safe.
The greater the danger, the greater the safety.
Haruto hadn't immediately left Ryusui Village because he needed time to assess and consume his cards to enhance his strength.
Inside the dimly lit storage room, Haruto leaned against a pile of miscellaneous items and sat down. He reached into his inventory space and pulled out a massive stack of cards—nearly three hundred of them, forming a pile as thick as six full decks of playing cards stacked together.
Time to sort them!
Haruto moved swiftly, discarding useless cards after a mere glance.
By "useless," he meant basic E-rank and D-rank techniques, as well as most samurai skill cards. Since the strongest samurai he had killed in the explosion was Mutashi, who was only equivalent to a Jonin, the best he could have dropped were B-rank samurai techniques.
Haruto recalled something Hiruzen Sarutobi had once told him: "Mastery over a few techniques is better than having many."
At this point, Haruto had acquired an overwhelming number of samurai skills, many of which were redundant. Unless they were exceptionally unique, most samurai techniques weren't as practical as high-level ninja jutsu.
He had eliminated six samurai and six Kirigakure shinobi in total!
From them, he had obtained 137 samurai technique cards—a vast number, and almost none were duplicates. This was primarily due to the nature of samurai arts; they were easier to create and had numerous styles. Despite samurai being far fewer in number than shinobi, their techniques were more diverse.
Some of these samurai technique cards contained fundamental skills that would further refine Haruto's base-level swordsmanship and close-quarters combat.
For lower-level jutsu cards, there were over seventy, nearly twenty of which were C-rank. Most of them were water-style jutsu, and several were duplicates. According to the card consumption rules, each duplicate increased the technique's effect exponentially.
However, unless Haruto stacked at least four of the same card—giving him an 8x multiplier—the effect wouldn't be significant. After all, he didn't lack jutsu. Even A-rank and S-rank forbidden jutsu were already in his arsenal.
Given his current chakra reserves—especially with the Yin God Kunai's support—running out of chakra was unlikely, unless he faced an exceptionally powerful opponent.
That said, there was one particularly valuable card among the lower-rank jutsu—a "Hidden Mist Jutsu" card!
Haruto had already consumed five "Hidden Mist Jutsu" cards, giving him a base sixteenfold effect! With one more, it would double again—reaching a terrifying thirty-two times the normal effect! This card was a massive win!
For B-rank jutsu cards, he obtained twelve, primarily water-style techniques, as most Kirigakure shinobi specialized in Water Release.
For A-rank jutsu, he acquired six, including another "Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu" card!
As for S-rank forbidden jutsu, there was only one!
That was expected. Among the twelve enemies he had slain, only one had a chance of dropping an S-rank forbidden jutsu—Kaguya Rokuba, the peak-level Jonin.
The forbidden technique was "Summoning: Abyss of Bones!"
It was a summoning jutsu specifically designed for those who possessed the Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) Kekkei Genkai. Only shinobi with this bloodline limit could use it!
Coincidentally, Haruto also found a "Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai" card!
Lucky! Since Kaguya Rokuba wasn't classified as a Boss, the drop rate was higher, and it actually dropped!
Haruto still had a Boss Card available. Back when he completed the limited-time Magic Card mission, he had obtained two Boss Cards. One had been used on Sato under a lucky status, and he still had one left!
However, Haruto had chosen not to use the Boss Card here because it randomly selected a target to transform into a Boss. If he had used it, the outcome could have been unpredictable—perhaps the wrong enemy would have been promoted to Boss status!
He had yet to consume any cards; this was just the sorting phase.
Moving on!
He sorted out:
37 Basic Healing Cards,
8 Basic Chakra Restoration Cards,
3 Intermediate Healing Cards,
2 Intermediate Chakra Restoration Cards,
5 Mental Enhancement Cards,
2 Double Drop Rate Cards,
5 One-Thousand Reputation Cards,
1 Two-Thousand Reputation Card,
1 Three-Thousand Reputation Card,
1 Special Weapon Random Card,
1 Reputation Store Lock Card,
2 Reputation Store Refresh Cards.
That summed up the rewards.
Haruto then retrieved two additional cards from his inventory—an "A-rank Jutsu Random Card" and the legendary "Tenfold Time Card."
Both were achievement rewards.
"System, what does the Tenfold Time Card do?" Haruto asked while holding the card.
"Ding! The Tenfold Time Card grants the user ten times the efficiency for any task! The effect lasts for twenty-four hours! This card is particularly useful for training. If the user enters a training session immediately after activating the card, twenty-four hours of training will yield results equivalent to two hundred and forty hours!"
"Oh, I see…" Haruto examined the card but decided against using it immediately. There was no urgent need for it yet.
Instead, he picked up the "A-rank Jutsu Random Card" and consumed it.
"Ding! The host has randomly obtained the A-rank jutsu 'Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu'!"
"What the—?!" Haruto nearly jumped up in shock!
Another "Great Waterfall Jutsu" card!
He had already consumed two of these before. One more had dropped from his recent kills, and now he had obtained another through random selection!
That made four in total!
By card rules, consuming two granted double the effect, three granted four times, and four granted eight times!
An eightfold enhancement on an A-rank jutsu!
This was insane!
Though Water Release wasn't as immediately lethal as Fire Release or Lightning Release, its sheer force and overwhelming pressure could be devastating. An eightfold-powered Great Waterfall Jutsu…
The power would be unimaginable!
Haruto couldn't contain his excitement. "Haha! This is going to be my ultimate trump card!"
Without wasting another second, he began consuming the cards one by one.