Hyuga Asana scrutinized Uchiha Yuan for a while, then said in a serious tone, "Yuan, whether you came up with that yourself or heard it elsewhere, never repeat those words to a second person."
"Don't worry! I know what I'm doing."
"Looks like Uncle and Aunt's deaths really affected you. You wouldn't have thought about things like this before."
"People have to grow up sometime."
"That reminds me of something an adult once told me: the price of growing up is loneliness."
"Which adult?" Uchiha Yuan asked curiously.
"Not telling you. Anyway, let's change the subject. I was serious earlier, Uchiha Yuan. You really have to work hard. War is brutal—if your strength isn't enough, you could die anytime."
Uchiha Yuan nodded. He understood well how dire the situation was in Konoha right now.
The Third Great Ninja War was different from the previous two.
Konoha was again fighting on multiple fronts, but compared to before, its combat strength had plummeted.
The hero of the Second Great Ninja War, the White Fang of Konoha, had been driven to suicide by malicious rumors.
Of the Three Sannin, Tsunade had left Konoha due to hemophobia and did not participate in the war.
Jiraiya, at this time, had already learned of the Child of Prophecy from the Great Toad Sage. After teaching Nagato and the others in the Land of Rain, he had wandered the world for quite some time. If not for the worsening crisis in Konoha, he likely wouldn't have returned.
Orochimaru, on the other hand, had participated in the war from the start—but by now, he was already becoming twisted, obsessed with human experimentation and the pursuit of immortality. He had joined forces with Danzo.
And anyone working with Danzo… how could they be up to anything good?
At this point, Konoha's only truly reliable top-tier combat power was the genius ninja: Minato Namikaze.
One could say that without Minato, Konoha would've long since been game over in the Third War.
Minato's rise had been meteoric—before age twenty, he could already confront the Cloud Village's AB combo, and he annihilated an elite Iwa force of fifty ninja in one swoop. His title, Yellow Flash, sent tremors through the ninja world.
In his past life, Uchiha Yuan once read an opinion: Minato was so talented that, had he lived a few more years, fully mastered Sage Mode, and refined his Rasengan, the Akatsuki would never have risen.
Of course, Minato wasn't the only talent in Konoha.
There was the new-generation Ino–Shika–Cho trio, the Hyuga Twin Stars, and the united Uchiha clan, all contributing.
And then there were Konoha's signature super genin.
Before long, Might Duy, a mere genin, would face the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and open the Eighth Gate of Death.
With what Madara Uchiha once called the ninja world's strongest taijutsu, he kicked four of the Swordsmen to death.
Thanks to such people, Konoha barely stabilized the front lines—but only barely. To expand its victories, it needed to keep throwing in more manpower.
Clearly, Konoha was now critically short on people.
Last year's forced graduation of 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-years was proof enough.
And this year, in just over two months, it would be their turn to go to war.
"Asana, are you and that Main House girl both going to the battlefield?" Uchiha Yuan asked.
"She doesn't need to. I'm her bodyguard. One of a bodyguard's duties is to fight in her place.
But you don't need to worry. For me, this is actually a good thing. If I survive the war, I'll likely be promoted to chunin.
A chunin is a core part of the village—I'll be able to apply for all kinds of jobs. Then I won't have to stick by her side all the time."
"But how will you ensure you survive the battlefield?" Uchiha Yuan asked.
"With this!" said Hyuga Asana, opening her palm to reveal a soft glow of chakra.
"That's medical ninjutsu? You have talent for medical ninjutsu?"
"I wouldn't call it talent. I spent nearly a year learning this basic healing technique—it's just the most elementary level of medical ninjutsu. I don't think I'm particularly gifted in this field.
Luckily, I have the Byakugan. With its help, I have a natural advantage in surgeries.
With basic medical ninjutsu plus the Byakugan, becoming a medical ninja shouldn't be a problem. And medical ninja usually stay in the rear, doing support work rather than direct combat.
Not having to fight on the frontlines greatly improves survival odds. It's a pity your Uchiha clan rarely has talent for medical ninjutsu. This path isn't for you. Otherwise, if we both became medical ninja, we might actually survive this war together."
"I'm not interested in becoming a medical ninja. Even if I had talent, I wouldn't choose that path," Uchiha Yuan said.
"I knew it. You Uchiha are always like this. Anyway, do your best! You have to survive! Only the living have a future!" With that, Hyuga Asana turned and left. As the Main House girl's bodyguard, she couldn't be away for long.
Watching her figure disappear, Uchiha Yuan lifted his gaze to the distant Hokage Rock, staring at the face of the First Hokage.
"Yeah… kids can only grow up if they live. Only the living have a future. But now, so many kids don't have a future. Hashirama Senju… is this the Konoha you envisioned?" Uchiha Yuan muttered to himself.
A clan's purpose is to protect its own family.
A village is made of clans. The village exists to protect everyone within it.
But if even children have to go to war… what exactly is being protected?
Why did Hashirama Senju create Konoha in the first place?
...
Uchiha Yuan didn't immediately return home. Instead, he began training by the river.
He had a golden finger, after all. According to Hyuga Asana, they had just over two months until graduation. That was more than sixty text-game attempts—he could probably grow quite a bit stronger.
In the following weeks, every day after class, Uchiha Yuan came to the riverside to train.
Three hours of training per day earned him one spin of the roulette and entry into a text-game world.
Every five days of training gave him an extra +1 Constitution point.
After nearly three weeks of training, he had entered 19 games total.
18 of them rewarded just 1 attribute point.
One game, however, gave him additional rewards.
That time, he entered the world of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, where he became part of the goat village. He survived by hiding for half a year—only to die from eating pesticide-tainted grass.
From that game, he earned 1 attribute point and two items.
The first was explosive paper invented by Big Big Wolf. In-game, it had once blown him up.
The second was a dumbbell used by the sheep-licker Afu.
Uchiha Yuan tossed the dumbbell—it was useless. The explosive paper came in a set of ten. He tested one and found it stronger than a regular explosive tag. He kept the rest—maybe someday he could catch someone off guard.
He used the 19 points to upgrade his stats, and his panel now looked like this:
Chakra: 25
Constitution: 24
Eye Power: 40
Vitality: 7
Nature Affinity: 3
Level: lv9 (9/10)
Attribute Points: 0
It's worth noting that 9 days ago, when Yuan leveled up from lv8 to lv9, he received another white box.
This time, the item was better than before—the last one held only an explosive tag; this one had a small box of soldier pills, 12 in total.
"This time, once I enter the game, I'll earn enough points to go from level 9 to 10. Big milestone upgrades usually mean good stuff, right?" he said, then closed his eyes and spun the roulette in his mind.
The next second, the roulette vanished, and a line of text appeared before his eyes.
"You have logged into the Arad Continent."
"An hour ago, while fleeing from the Pursuit Squad of Kartel, you jumped from the sky realm and landed on the legendary Arad Continent."
"You're shocked to find that a continent actually exists beneath the sky—until now, you thought it was just a legend."
"Help!"
"A woman's cry comes from the forest ahead."
"You decide to go check it out."
"You defeat the monsters in the forest and save the woman."
"She says her name is Seria. She writes you a letter of introduction to the blacksmith Linus. Before you leave, she says: 'Today is another full 70,000 day.'"
"You don't understand what 'full 70,000' means, but you don't care. You go to Linus with the letter."
"Linus reads it and gives you a task."
"Your adventure begins."
"You enter the Dark Forest, defeat a small minotaur, then go deeper and beat a large minotaur. Next up: the Thunderous Ruins."
"Linus warns that you may not be strong enough to handle Thunderstrike Kelos. But you think—he's just a goblin, even if he controls lightning. Still just a goblin."
"You enter the Thunderous Ruins alone."
"You defeat Thunderstrike Kelos and obtain his precious pelt, which sells for a good price."
"Happy with your earnings, you return to the Moonlight Tavern, splurge on the wine you usually can't afford, and even buy a drink for a scruffy drunkard."
"Your generosity catches the eye of someone with bad intentions—but you don't notice."
"After leaving the tavern, you're tailed."
"You're ambushed in an alley. You die!"
"Game over!"
"Reward: +2 Attribute Points. You have attracted the attention of Sword Saint Aganzo."
After reading the game log, Uchiha Yuan twitched at the corner of his mouth. He didn't even know where to start roasting—there were too many things to complain about.
Most ridiculous was that he didn't die in the Thunderous Ruins, but because he spent too much money too flashily and got targeted. What a random way to die.
Still, he was satisfied with the results—at least he got two attribute points. As for catching the attention of Aganzo… who knows if that meant anything. He didn't really care.
He put both attribute points into Chakra.
The level bar at the bottom went from lv9 to lv10. Yuan focused, and a golden box appeared in his hand.
(To Be Continued...)