Chapter 20: Skill Reset and the Beauty Who Descended from the Sky

Taking advantage of the moonlight, the Uchiha squad pressed on westward at an accelerated pace. The daytime battle had already cost them too much time, and although they initially considered taking a detour, Uchiha Fūka decisively chose the direct route.

The remaining members had no objections; the shortcut would save them more than half the time.

Along the way, they encountered no resistance from the Senju clan, suggesting that the Senju were overwhelmed and unable to dispatch troops to pursue them.

“All right, let’s camp here for the night,” Uchiha Fūka ordered as they recognized the familiar path ahead and prepared to rest.

“Whew...” Uchiha Ryōichi and two others, having endured a fierce battle during the day and an intense march, were utterly exhausted, collapsing to the ground.

The three noticed, with puzzled looks, that Uchiha Gin—the weakest among them—remained energetic, showing no signs of heavy breathing and was remarkably unscathed by dust or dirt.

Sensing their strange gazes, Uchiha Gin quickly realized the need to feign exhaustion. He abruptly dropped the Senju Itama strapped to his back, flopped onto the ground, and forced himself to sweat profusely while sticking out his tongue in a display of utter fatigue, finally easing the others’ concerns.

“I’ll take first watch. You all rest up,” Uchiha Fūka, adept at stealth and still in good condition, volunteered to stand guard, allowing the others to recuperate.

After a brief rest, the others gradually stood and began pitching tents.

Once the group had moved away, Uchiha Gin rose, unpacked his tent, but recalling his peculiar skill, abandoned the idea of camping in place and instead chose a more secluded corner.

He set up the tent but, unlike before, did not tie Senju Itama outside; he instead tossed him inside, then circled around to clear an empty patch of ground, mimicking his previous method.

“Hopefully, tonight I’ll unlock some useful skills,” he muttered, recalling the Moon’s Illusion from the previous night—a skill both alluring and tormenting, especially after two days of capture and interrogation.

Praying not to draw Moon’s Illusion again, Uchiha Gin sat cross-legged, waiting for his skills to refresh.

Before that, however, he hadn’t yet checked the rewards from the daytime mission, so he decided to take a look and immediately entered the system’s mental interface.

Standing on the game board, Uchiha Gin saw the cleared game machine’s point counter at 50. Suppressing his urge to gamble, he focused on the five floating magic orbs. The mission only promised four—why was there an extra one?

“Reward for defeating Uzumaki Mito,” the system promptly informed him.

“Damn it! Then why didn’t you use that orb during the emergency escape and instead spend my points?” Uchiha Gin angrily demanded, recalling the reason for the extra orb.

“The mission orbs can only be activated by the host. The system has no authority to operate them automatically,” came the explanation.

He understood now: the points were essentially his earned currency, so the system naturally spent them on itself. The magic orbs, granted as rewards, were system inventory items and thus not used lightly.

“What a sly merchant!” Uchiha Gin muttered, ignoring the system’s antics as he examined the orbs: two blue and three white.

Except for the girl’s mission granting fixed blue orbs, the rescue mission for Uchiha Fūka and others yielded four orbs with only one blue—no purple, no gold. Truly the luck of the unlucky.

He casually tapped the first white orb, and a faint white light flashed.

[Gold Bar ×1] Universal currency, usable in real-world transactions.

A burst of gold—no loss there.

The second orb:

[Gold Bar ×1] Universal currency, usable in real-world transactions.

Again gold bars—still no loss.

The third orb:

[Gold Bar ×1] Universal currency, usable in real-world transactions.

“#?” What’s with three gold bars in a row? So the least useful orb just keeps giving gold bars.

Suppressing his rising anger, Uchiha Gin opened the first blue orb.

[Gold Bar ×5] Universal currency, usable in real-world transactions.

“*…*#@%￥%@…%￥#￥%&*@!” Uchiha Gin felt like slapping this system twice over. At this moment, he resembled an unlucky player who drew only rare cards in a ten-pull, powerless and furious.

After venting, he extended a trembling finger and, eyes closed, tapped the last orb.

[Flying Thunder God Kunai ×1] Weapon used by Minato Namikaze, imbued with a trace of space-time power. Note: Wearing it accelerates comprehension of space-time ninjutsu.

Gazing at the trident-shaped weapon in his hand, a yellow figure surfaced in his mind.

This kunai, the Fourth Hokage’s specialized weapon, bore the unique Flying Thunder God technique. Combined with space-time ninjutsu, it enabled long-distance instant teleportation.

“Wearing it accelerates the understanding of space-time skills?” He swung the kunai a few times, finding it quite handy. Even without mastering Flying Thunder God, the weapon was useful in daily combat.

Carefully stowing the hard-won kunai and the eight scattered gold bars, Uchiha Gin approached the game machine.

Glancing at the pitiful 50 points, he gritted his teeth and pulled the slot machine’s lever, hoping to turn his fortunes around.

With the slot machine’s classic BGM playing, the three characters on the panel flashed rapidly. Uchiha Gin held his breath, eyes fixed on the changing symbols.

First character: Body.

Seconds later, the second character stopped on “Body” as well.

Seeing this, Uchiha Gin’s breathing quickened. Could it be that his luck was finally turning?

“Body, body, body!” he couldn’t help but exclaim.

As his voice fell, the last character landed on “Ninja.”

“Congratulations, host, you’ve rolled the combination Body+Body+Ninja: body technique effects doubled / Body +1...”

“I choose Body +1!” Eager not to let the system settle too fast, Uchiha Gin quickly made his choice.

Riding the momentum, he spun the slot four more times but scored no critical hits—only minor combinations.

Final tally:

Body +2, Ninja +2, Spirit +1

Host: Uchiha Gin

Ninja: 9

Body: 10

Intelligence: 9

Spirit: 7

Charm: 1

Eyes: 10

Skills: Basic taijutsu, Great Fireball Technique, Uchiha beginner swordsmanship, intermediate shuriken technique.

Overall evaluation: A reasonably balanced, annoyingly tenacious Uchiha chūnin.

After allocating points, he felt his strength had significantly improved. Comparing himself to Uchiha Ryōichi and the others, he believed they were now roughly equal in power.

After tallying the spoils, Uchiha Gin exited the system space.

Opening his eyes, he found himself still enveloped in darkness. Only the Flying Thunder God Kunai in his hand offered a tangible connection to reality. Frowning, he muttered to himself,

“Why haven’t today’s skills refreshed yet?”

Before he could finish, his aura suddenly faltered. A shimmering ripple appeared overhead, and a figure descended from the sky, delivering a heavy kick to the still kneeling Uchiha Gin.

Despite some sensory abilities inherited from the Uzumaki clan that allowed him to anticipate danger, he could not evade this swift strike.

The opponent’s powerful kick slammed into his back with brutal force, sending pain coursing through him. Uchiha Gin collapsed face-down, coughing blood.

As the smoke cleared, a tall figure appeared before him: pale yellow hair tied in a large ponytail, light yellow finely trimmed eyebrows, bright brown eyes, and hands clenched, adorned with striking red nail polish.

Moonlight poured down, casting a faint glow upon her fair skin. She wore a tea-green long coat with black trim over a loose, sleeveless kimono-style top, cinched at the waist with a black cloth belt, and dark blue cropped pants.

But none of that mattered. Bloodied and gasping, Uchiha Gin’s attention fixated on two imposing mounds before him. A hot flush rose in his nostrils.

Before he could gather himself, the woman launched a straightforward punch at him. Unable to react in time, Uchiha Gin activated his Sharingan, trying to track the punch’s trajectory and twist away.

Yet, before he could turn, he found his body immobile and felt a sharp pain in his right arm.

Unbeknownst to him, she had already seized his right arm with her other hand, bending it like a dry twig until it snapped easily.

Ignoring the pain, he struggled in terror, only to find a delicate, fair-skinned fist charged with thunderous power hurtling toward him.

“Nice nail polish,” was Uchiha Gin’s last thought before losing consciousness.