Over the next few weeks, not much happened at the Ninja Academy.
To Seikyū Hikaru's disappointment, no one had challenged him again.
He'd hoped to use them as walking loot chests and wring some more materials out of his classmates, but it seemed word of his rooftop massacre had taken root deep in their hearts.
Cowards.
Still, at least Uzumaki Kushina trained with him daily.
On average, he could squeeze at least one material out of her each session.
Of course, it wasn't guaranteed.
There were off days—days where nothing dropped.
That was the nature of the system. Normal material drops had limited chances, and special materials? Even worse.
Despite Kushina being a "special character" in system terms, after half a month of continuous sparring, he'd only managed to scrounge up five fragments of Nine-Tails Chakra.
It would take time—lots of it—to gather enough to form a complete item.
That said…
Her normal drops weren't bad either.
Besides the previously acquired Kagura Mind's Eye, he'd managed to farm:
Uzumaki Bloodline (×3)
Sage Body (×2)
Chakra (White) (×7)
He hadn't synthesized them yet.
Not because he didn't want to, but because he wanted to play smart.
He could've gone all in with his 7 white chakra materials, but decided to wait and see if he could farm more for a higher synth rate.
As for the higher-grade materials?
Despite all three being blue-tier (Kagura Mind's Eye, Sage Body, and Uzumaki Bloodline), they weren't created equal.
Frankly, Hikaru wasn't very impressed with the bloodline drop.
Sure, the Uzumaki Bloodline offered enhanced vitality and a longer lifespan. Some rare cases even awakened passive abilities, like powerful healing.
Karin's infamous "bite to heal" technique was one of them.
But that ability? It basically turned the user into a walking blood bag.
Thanks, but no thanks.
He had zero interest in becoming someone else's chew toy.
That left Sage Body.
Now that—that was a real prize.
With it came massive chakra reserves and ridiculous stamina.
Even Hatake Kakashi, a prodigy in his own right, once said that Naruto's base chakra—without Kurama—was already four times his own.
People made fun of Kakashi for tiring out fast, but that was only because his Sharingan drained him like a battery-powered flashlight in a hurricane.
Once he lost the Sharingan?
He was a monster.
So yeah—if Hikaru could synthesize a Sage Body, it would be a game-changer.
—
Back at the Academy…
It had now been a full month since classes began.
And finally, they'd reached the moment he'd been waiting for:
Combat training.
The announcement alone sent a jolt of joy through Hikaru's spine.
Forget "training."
This was farming season.
So far, Kushina had been his only drop source, and her output—though solid—was too slow. Now with class-wide combat matchups?
He could gather a boatload of white-tier materials in one day.
If he was lucky, maybe even another blue-tier or two.
His chakra hadn't grown much lately thanks to low material stock, but that was about to change.
Time to load up, synthesize a few Chakra Fruits, and push myself past Genin-level reserves.
Mid-chūnin would be ideal.
The instructor, a stern-looking chūnin, stepped forward with a clipboard.
"All right, I'll begin calling out sparring pairs from this list. Each match—"
"Sensei," Hikaru raised his hand. "If my opponents are too weak, can I fight multiple at once?"
The classroom went still.
The instructor's face darkened.
A troublemaker, huh?
"You think you can handle it?" the man said coldly. "Fine. I'll give you multiple opponents. Let's see if you can even last."
He wasn't taking the boy seriously.
Every year there was one—some loudmouthed punk with a chip on their shoulder.
They usually got stomped by their second fight.
This'll be a good example for the rest.
Time to cut this arrogant kid down to size.
"Sensei, please arrange it right away." Hikaru stepped forward with a calm, confident smile.
Internally?
He was grinning ear to ear.
More enemies = more drops.
And today?
Today was going to be a very, very good day.
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