"Konoha Maru, Konoha Maru, Konoha Maru..."

  Counting the three fragments of Konoha Maru that he pulled in his first ten consecutive pulls, Kaya Shihōin couldn't help but feel a little speechless.

  "Is it really fate that I'm pulling so many Konoha Maru fragments...?"

  In a pool of hundreds of C-rank ninja, the odds of getting a single fragment were already slim, let alone pulling three in a row.

  He zily gnced at Konoha Maru’s inherent abilities and couldn’t muster any excitement.

  A smoke-based active skill, and a passive skill that increased camoufge abilities—while these could be useful in certain situations, they didn’t really do much to enhance his personal battle power. Especially for Kaya, who didn’t have much use for them at the moment.

  Even in the future, if he ever found himself on the battlefield and needed survival skills, there would surely be better options among B-rank or even A-rank ninja. So overall, it was a pretty underwhelming character card.

  "System, what's this universal C-rank ninja fragment for?"

  A moment ter, Kaya’s eyes shifted to a special fragment.

  "This is a fragment that you receive after every ten consecutive pulls. It can be converted into any C-rank ninja fragment."

  "I see..."

  Kaya raised an eyebrow. This system didn’t seem completely out to scam him. With the cost of forty fragments to form one character card, even if his luck was terrible, after four hundred pulls, he’d still be guaranteed a C-rank ninja he wanted.

  If each draw cost 1,000 ryo... that meant 400,000 ryo would guarantee him a C-rank ninja. It was still pretty expensive, but with this feature, at least he wasn’t completely at the mercy of bad luck like before. It was definitely an improvement.

  Without lingering too long, Kaya clicked on another set of ten pulls.

  Though there were no more annoying Konoha Maru fragments this time... there was still no full card either.

  "Is my luck just this bad... or did the system exaggerate the chances of getting a full card?"

  Thinking to himself, Kaya clicked for another ten pulls.

  Today, Kaya had prepared a full 100,000 ryo, enough for ten sets of ten pulls. This was nearly all of his savings, a rge portion of which had come from Tsunade's generous sponsorship.

  Though Tsunade hadn’t said anything, Kaya really didn’t feel like borrowing more money from her. If he kept borrowing, he’d worry it might affect their friendship.

  For a moment, Kaya felt a bit of pressure. If he could just pull a useful full card, it would guarantee his strength and allow him to continue his current "fight-for-pay" lifestyle.

  With his earnings from these battles, along with a little from his parents, he’d be able to sustain his training and even save some extra if his business expanded. But if he couldn’t, his development speed would definitely slow down significantly.

  A moment ter, Kaya clicked for another ten pulls, then another five.

  "Still nothing..."

  Although he had pulled some decent C-rank ninja fragments, they were still far from the required forty. Without that, they were just useless fragments.

  Rubbing the eight universal fragments in his hands and looking at the five or so C-rank ninja fragments he had gathered, Kaya sighed. He was still quite far from his goal...

  "One more time!"

  Finally, perhaps luck was on his side. A glowing full card appeared in front of Kaya.

  "It’s this card...!"

  This character card was indeed special. It had one of the most promising passive abilities of any C-rank card, potentially even surpassing some B-rank ninja. Unfortunately, its active skill was one of the most useless ones.

  The C-rank ninja, Uzumaki Naruto, had the passive skill "Uzumaki Cn," which slightly boosted stamina and chakra recovery speed, increased injury healing rate, and raised the chakra limit by 20%.

  Though this passive skill seemed inconspicuous, its actual effects were strong. Especially when the card’s star level increased, the recovery effects could improve, and the chakra limit could even go up to 50%.

  Such a chakra boost, when paired with a few ninjutsu-based cards, could easily turn someone into a mini mobile cannon. The injury recovery speed was also an excellent skill for survival on the battlefield.

  But the active skill, "Seduction Technique," was utterly useless, enhancing one’s charm when dressing as a woman.

  While it was effective on some people, especially on those not experienced in battle, any seasoned ninja would see through it. If someone could survive countless life-or-death situations, they wouldn’t be so easily swayed, no matter how beautiful or seductive the person trying to fool them was.

  "Guess I’ll just store this one away..."

  In Kaya’s view, that skill was truly useless. There was no way he’d need to dress up as a woman for a mission in the future, so he’d probably never use it.

  After a moment, Kaya finished the st of his ten pulls. With no further rewards, he exited the system feeling somewhat satisfied.

  All in all, he’d gained something. While this card might not offer the same immediate strength boost as an offensive card, it would definitely give him an edge. In the short term, he was probably going to leave the rest of his cssmates far behind.

  Days ter, in a training ground in Konoha, Kaya was panting heavily as he sparred with a talented young Uchiha cn member.

  "Dammit... no chakra left..."

  The young, handsome Uchiha with the Uchiha cn’s distinctive fan symbol on his back gred at Kaya in frustration.

  On the opposite side, Kaya was breathing heavily but responded with a grin.

  "Uchiha Aki, I have to admit, you're one of the strongest opponents I’ve ever faced. If I didn’t have more stamina than you, I would’ve lost."

  "More stamina than me?"

  "That’s right. Actually, I ran out of chakra a while ago, but I didn’t want to lose, so I kept pushing myself. People’s potential is limitless. If you don’t keep pushing yourself, how would you ever know your limits? If I hadn’t been determined, I’d have lost today."

  "Is that so... I lost because of willpower..."

  The young Uchiha named Aki lowered his head, thinking for a moment. Then, he looked up with a determined expression.

  "I’ve learned my lesson. You truly are the lifelong rival I’ve been looking for. Next time, I’ll win!"

  "Haha, winning me isn’t going to be easy, but I welcome the challenge. It’s because of challengers like you that I keep surpassing myself and getting stronger!"

  As he spoke, Kaya gave the young man a thumbs up.

  A moment ter, watching Aki’s retreating figure, Kaya muttered to himself, "It’s rare to see a passionate young man from the Uchiha cn."

  Without a doubt, the young man had fallen into Kaya’s trap. While the battle had seemed even at first, with Kaya having a healing buff, the truth was that Kaya had been holding back. The young Uchiha didn’t stand a chance.

  "These kids are so easy to fool," Kaya thought. Every time he used his motivational speeches, they’d come back even more eager to "challenge" him, bringing money along with them, thinking they had a special bond.

  Well, as Kaya would say, it was a win-win.

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