After returning from Utakata's house, the rest of the day passed in a blur. As soon as his chakra recovered, Ren made the maximum number of chakra clones and assigned them work. Now that he had access to every elemental jutsu the village possessed, the clones for elemental practice could grind mastery at full speed. The Fuinjutsu clones would have one sole task, study Minato's seal and make it his own.
As for himself, he focused on Hardening, keeping it active constantly so the base form would improve naturally. He still needed to think about advanced applications, but with Kirishima as a solid reference point, he could start developing derivative techniques first.
The next day, early in the morning, Ren was standing in Yoru's office, pestering him about S-rank missions.
"C'mon boss-man, you know I can easily do them! My record is so bleak right now, no one would believe it's the great me if it doesn't have at least a hundred S-rank missions."
Yoru didn't even bother to look up as he countered him, "You've got a twisted imagination. If a common shinobi heard you'd done four S-rank missions already, they'd freak out. Hold your horses."
Ren whined dramatically, "But A-rank missions have become so boring! They don't give me the slightest challenge anymore, so doesn't it make sense to do S-rank missions instead?"
Surprisingly, Yoru actually agreed, "Alright then. I'll give you one. Near Kenshi Town, there's Zukoma Village, a minor settlement that used to have an elite jonin as their strongest fighter. Lately they've been acting bolder than anyone at that level should. There's suspicion an S-rank combatant has emerged there, but Zukoma Village keeps denying it.
Your mission is to determine whether there really is an S-rank in that village. If there is, eliminate them."
Ren's eyes practically sparkled, "Really, boss? You're giving me such a great mission?"
This checked every box, an S-rank mission and a chance to fight another S-rank shinobi. Yoru's tone stayed flat, "Yes, but make absolutely sure the Leaf doesn't get implicated, not even slightly. And if you fail to complete the mission, or if the Leaf's name gets out," He paused for effect. "I'll have you do D-rank missions for the rest of your life."
Ren immediately nodded, practically vibrating with excitement. He'd complete this mission perfectly if it meant avoiding that threat.
Yoru added one more thing, "Also, you won't be handling any standard Jonin duties for now, so focus on improving first and after that you'll be assigned some official duties."
Ren nodded and Yoru waved him off, and Ren left the office grinning.
Once Ren was gone, the room fell into its usual quiet. After a while, there was a soft knock on one of the hidden doors. Yoru raised his head slightly, considered for a moment, then spoke, "Come in."
The hidden door slid open, revealing a figure whose ghostly white eyes and prominent forehead veins left no doubt about his clan.
The newcomer stepped inside and spoke, "Let's talk."
Yoru's voice didn't change as he motioned for him to sit and replied,
"Yes. Let's."
~~~
After leaving Yoru's office, Ren had practically teleported back to the forest on the way to Kenshi Town. The S-rank mission was one thing, but the other was to check the rewards he had received. That's right, he didn't just get a single reward but two. One of them was obviously for his Jonin promotion, and the other was for becoming a council member (Authorized Representative).
The second reward had surprised him slightly and the "Authorized Representative" in brackets even more because if there was a reward for becoming an Authorized Representative, didn't that mean he'd get an even bigger reward for becoming a full council member in the future?
He created more distance between himself and the village before he finally opened the first reward.
[CONGRATULATIONS, USER, FOR REACHING THE JONIN RANK]
[REWARDS:
3 S-RANK POINTS.
5 INTERMEDIATE LEVEL MASTERY POINTS.
4 ADVANCED LEVEL MASTERY POINTS.
2 MASTER LEVEL MASTERY POINTS.
RANDOM TALENT UPGRADE.]
Ren grinned so wide that it hurt his cheeks. Three S-rank points were good, but the mastery points were even better, these could practically solve all his problems related to mastery progress. Still, he had his suspicions, so he asked the system:
'Hey buddy, do you like, I don't know, like me? Because even earlier the reward I got for 90% chakra control was exactly what I needed, and now this time too.'
The system's response came before even a second passed:
[THE HOST IS REQUESTED TO LET GO OF THESE DELUSIONS. THE MASTERY POINTS WERE REWARDED BECAUSE THE JONIN LEVEL IS MORE FOCUSED ON POLISHING ONE'S SKILLS, WHICH IS WHY AN APPROPRIATE REWARD HAS BEEN GENERATED.]
Ren mentally labeled the system as a tsundere and looked at the last reward:
[ONE TALENT UPGRADE]
This was obvious, but he still looked at the description:
[THE USER CAN UPGRADE ONE OF HIS TALENTS AFTER A WHEEL IS SPUN TO DETERMINE THE TALENT.]
'Of course you couldn't let me just enjoy it, could you?' Ren complained, but he was still happy.
Right now, he had five talents, Improved Chakra Control, Enhanced Reflexes (Ex), Genjutsu Resistance (S+), Fuinjutsu (Minor Uzumaki), and Space Release Talent (Ex) and he'd be happy if any one of them got upgraded. He happily spun the wheel but noticed there were only three options, Chakra Control, Genjutsu, and Fuinjutsu.
That meant either his Ex-rank talents were the limit or this upgrade was only applicable to those below Ex-rank. The wheel spun and after a few clicks, it stopped at Fuinjutsu, and a system notification rang:
[FUINJUTSU TALENT UPGRADED: MINOR UZUMAKI >> EXTREME UZUMAKI]
As soon as he received this talent, there was no pain or dramatic indicator but when he thought of any Fuinjutsu problems that he didn't understand before, he could now easily solve it and understand it on a deeper level.
He immediately made a clone and dispelled it to refresh the clone network working on Minato's seal. Now the Fuinjutsu clones in his basement would be able to study it even better.
He didn't use the stat points for now and instead opened the next reward:
[CONGRATULATIONS, USER, FOR BECOMING A COUNCIL MEMBER (AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE)]
[REWARDS: OBSERVE UPGRADE]
[OBSERVE EMOTIONS (NEW FEATURE)! - THE USER CAN NOW SEE BRIEF THOUGHTS OF TARGETS. THESE THOUGHTS WILL ONLY REPRESENT THE TARGET'S EMOTIONS TOWARD THE USER.]
Ren felt he should just remove his mouth so that it could grin alone without hurting his cheeks because this reward was just that good. With his Observe chain, he could already check the last four people his target had met, but now he could even read their surface thoughts? That was perfect for someone who'd have to play mind games in the council.
He stopped in his tracks and waited for Kimura, who soon arrived huffing and panting since Ren had increased his speed more, Kimura had to work harder to catch up. Ren used Observe on Kimura.
[KIMURA]
[LEVEL 59]
[THOUGHTS: IMPROVE TO SERVE MY LIEGE BETTER]
Ren immediately closed Observe and rushed ahead. Though he was happy that someone had this level of dedication for him, it still felt weird now that he could actually see it spelled out. But this also proved exactly how the new function worked and it was absolutely perfect.
Ren was very, very satisfied and used the s-rank points he had just got and invested them all in his vitality raising it to 88, this also caused his chakra to increase by 2 points surprisingly.
He opened his full status page and observed the changes.
[NAME]: Ren Takahashi
[LEVEL]: 76 (75 >> 76)
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: 76 (75 >> 76)
Agility: 79 (75 >> 79)
Intelligence: 81 (79 >> 81)
Vitality: 88 (85 >> 88)
Chakra: 82 (80 >> 82)
[Available Stat Points]:
[Talents]: Improved Chakra Control, Enhanced Reflexes (Ex), Genjutsu Resistance (S+), Fuinjutsu (Ex Uzumaki), Space Release Talent (Ex)
[MASTERY PANEL]:
Chakra Control - 93% (87 >> 93) (Master)
Shadow Clone Mastery - 90% (Master)
Fuinjutsu Mastery - 75 % (69 >> 75) (Advanced)
Yang Release Mastery - 89% (84 >> 89) (Advanced)
Wind Style Mastery - 79% (68 >> 79) (Advanced)
Earth Style Mastery - 89% (81 >> 89) (Advanced)
Fire Release Mastery - 69% (59 >> 69) (Intermediate)
Space Release Mastery - 51% (46 >> 51) (Intermediate)
Iryojutsu Mastery- 66% (60 >> 66) (Intermediate)
Bukijutsu (Weaponry)- 72% (38 >> 72) (Intermediate)
Lightning Release Mastery - 40% (25 >> 40) (Basic)
Yin Release Mastery - 41% (Basic)
Water Release Mastery - 18% (Beginner)
[MASTERY POINTS]:
10 Intermediate Level Points (5+5)
4 Advanced Level Points (+4)
2 Master Level Points (+2)
[NINJA PANEL]
Ninjutsu: 77/100 (67 >> 77)
Taijutsu: 84/100 (81 >> 84)
Genjutsu: 66/100 (50 >> 66)
Fuinjutsu: 75/100 (69 >> 75)
[SPECIAL STATS]
CHARISMA : 72 (55 >> 72)
PERCEPTION : 93
His level was still 76, and he didn't plan to change that anytime soon. If he invested points in it now, it would soon reach level 80, which meant that A-rank missions would stop giving him rewards and that was absolutely unacceptable to him. After all, even mosquito meat was meat to a starving person, and he'd already confirmed with the system that 10 Jonin-level points could be exchanged for 1 S-rank point.
That meant completing 100 A-rank missions could net him a full S-rank point and that was much more sustainable than begging to take continuous S-rank missions from Yoru, which wouldn't be possible in the long run.
With the addition of the new mastery points, his status page looked a bit richer now, and that made him quite happy. His Charisma had also increased a lot, it was almost a full 20 points higher than before.
'Is it because of what I did in the council hall?' Ren wondered. That was the only logical reason he could think of. After all, standing there and openly taking shots at Danzo while making some of the strongest people in the village listen to him would definitely require a whole lot of charisma. If that didn't qualify, he couldn't imagine what would.
He closed his system panel with a satisfied nod, then finally took out the map and checked his current location. If he travelled while training, it'd take him about two days to reach Zukoma Village so he decided to do exactly that.
Before setting off, he made a clone with most of his chakra and only then did he activate the training seal and begin his run through the trees, pace picking up to a blur.
Behind him, poor Kimura could only grit his teeth and push his pace even more, forced to keep up with his outrageously fast master.
Ren just grinned, humming happily to himself as the wind rushed past.
~~~~~
{With this, we are finally finished with the Village lore for now, it extented a lot longer than I expected but finally we are finished with politics.}
{A slightly shorter chapter (1950, without notes) but I didn't want to start a new arc with a cliffhanger so bear with it for now and don't curse me too much. I'll make sure that the next arc is very much fun, after all, even I need a boost after those continuous dialogue filled chapters.}
{Also, tell me what you thought about the rewards, the Chunin rank rewards were pretty boring but this time it's something good, also that Council Member (AR) reward also required a lot of thinking so that it wouldn't become too overpowered, but I guess this much was enough, after all it was obetter authorized representative and not the real council member, the rewards for that would be even better.}
{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}
{Thanks gebe678, Basillisk, hellspawn, Sabi, Aus234 and Thomo for supporting me on Pat-reon.}
{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }
{You know what else}
{280 Stones = Extra chapter}
{STONES!!!!}