"Grand Wood Style Gift Pack!"
Kazekaze's pupils dilated as he stared intently at the reward, not daring to blink. As if blinking even once would make the reward disappear before his eyes. He even— Pinched his thigh hard.
Ouch.
Ow ow ow.
That really hurts.
It wasn't a dream. He had actually drawn the Grand Wood Style Gift Pack!
"Calm down. Calm down." Kazekaze tried to suppress the excitement in his heart, but no matter what, he couldn't hold it back.
There was no doubt—Wood Style was one of the most powerful kekkei genkai in the entire Naruto world! Across the entire shinobi world, only a handful of people had the strength to counter it. And— Some of those few hadn't even been born in this era!
Kazekaze could already foresee his goals being drastically accelerated— Becoming Hokage!
If… Shadow Clone Jutsu and Rasengan had brought a qualitative leap to his strength— Then this Wood Style would be a world-shaking transformation.
"What's most important is… Wood Style isn't just a symbol of powerful ninjutsu—it's a symbol of status!"
When Hiruzen Sarutobi succeeded the position of Third Hokage, the very first major initiative he pushed— Was restoring Wood Style to the village. He and Danzo were immediately aligned and began conducting human experiments. That fact alone showed just how highly Konoha's shinobi regarded Wood Style!
Although Kazekaze was the eldest grandson of Hashirama Senju, the village's most privileged bloodline—bar none— If he gained Wood Style on top of that— Then he would be the undisputed successor.
Kazekaze also noticed a detail— All his previous check-in rewards had shone with a white glow. But this time, it was golden! This meant even the check-in system acknowledged how rare and valuable Wood Style was! Thinking that, Kazekaze's breathing grew even more rapid.
"Open the Grand Wood Style Gift Pack!"
It took him quite a while to collect himself emotionally before activating the reward.
[Grand Wood Style Gift Pack opened!]
[Congratulations, Host has received: ]
[Wood Style: Four-Pillar House Jutsu, ]
[Wood Style: Wood Human Jutsu (Lv.10)]
[Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu (Lv.10)]
Aside from the Four-Pillar House Jutsu, which was mostly useless to him— The Wood Human and Wood Dragon Jutsu had him completely fired up! These two techniques had extremely high combat utility. Even the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb could be blocked head-on!
Most importantly— He wasn't like Yamato, whose chakra reserves were too limited to fully display the terrifying potential of Wood Style. Which was why people joked: Hashirama used Wood Style to conquer the world, Yamato used it for landscaping.
"I may not have massive chakra reserves, but… I have Hashirama's chakra."
Hashirama's chakra. Plus Wood Human Jutsu and Wood Dragon Jutsu— What did that mean? That meant Hashirama's level Wood Style! At that moment, Kazekaze was dying to find someone to test it out on.
"Right… Uchiha Kagami would be perfect." Kazekaze muttered to himself.
But the moment he thought of the Uchiha name, another person came to mind— Uchiha Madara. Because just before drawing the Wood Style, Kazekaze had made a joke: If he drew Wood Style, he'd sacrifice ten years of Uchiha Madara's lifespan. Back then, Kazekaze had thought there was no way he'd really draw Wood Style.
'What were the odds of that happening?'
But ironically— He did draw it! And not just any Wood Style— Two of the most powerful techniques within it!
"Surely… it's not actually that mystical, right? Maybe I just have insane gacha luck." Kazekaze couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Eh, I'm Hashirama's grandson. I'm sure Madara wouldn't mind."
In truth, Kazekaze knew very well— Uchiha Madara hadn't died at the Valley of the End. He was still alive, just hiding in the shadows. But Kazekaze believed Madara wasn't the type to be petty over something like this.
Besides, he was going to be resurrected anyway. A decade more or less wouldn't make a difference. Just like that, Kazekaze composed himself and walked toward the border outpost. From far off, he spotted Kagami and waved at him.
"Kagami!"
"Hm?" Uchiha Kagami put down what he was working on and turned to Kazekaze. Noticing that not only was Kazekaze walking with a spring in his step, but he also had a bright smile on his face.
It was obvious— Kazekaze was in a very good mood. And that wasn't something you saw every day. Patrolling and training were dull daily routines. And Kagami's cooking followed a strict "as long as it's edible" philosophy. Kazekaze had complained about that many times.
"What's up, Kazekaze-taichō? You seem pretty happy today." Kagami asked with a smile.
Life at the border outpost was indeed boring. If Kazekaze had something good to share, that would be a welcome change.
"Nothing particularly special." Kazekaze replied, but the big grin on his face betrayed him completely.
"Nothing special"? This was super special!
"You're not busy right now, are you, Kagami?" Kazekaze asked cautiously.
"No..." Kagami frowned slightly, giving Kazekaze a once-over, confused by his tone. "I just got back from patrol. Dinner's still a while away. I was going to clean my ninja tools and rest a bit."
"Perfect." Kazekaze nodded. "Since you're free, let's spar a bit."
"Combat training!"
Let's face it—Sakumo and Kosuke were still only genin level. Even together, they weren't a match for him when he only used taijutsu. If he used Wood Style, they'd probably be scared stiff. What fun would that be?
After thinking it through, Kazekaze decided— Uchiha Kagami was the best sparring partner. Meanwhile, Kagami was left completely confused. A bad premonition stirred inside him. His instincts screamed— Something was very off about Kazekaze today.
Because normally, Kazekaze's training methods came straight from Might Bai's devilish playbook. Now, all of a sudden, he wanted to spar?
"Kazekaze-taichō… can I say no? You could just train with your shadow clones instead." Kagami offered an alternative.
But Kazekaze clearly had no intention of letting him off the hook. He shook his head—training with clones wasn't satisfying. And besides—
"Kagami, it's been a while since you had a proper match, right? As a shinobi, you should—"
But before Kazekaze could finish that sentence, several figures suddenly descended from the sky, surrounding the entire border outpost. Kazekaze instinctively looked around— The intruders were none other than shinobi from Kumogakure. Among them— Kinkaku and Ginkaku were faces he recognized all too well.
"Kinkaku? Ginkaku?"
Uchiha Kagami gasped in shock beside him.
"What are you doing here? This is the Land of Fire's border!Are you trying to start a war between our nations?!" In his urgency, Kagami quickly shouted.