18 Chapter 18 : The Need to Choose a Task?

200 meters

150 meters

100 meters

50 meters

It was time to make a move. Akeno, sword in hand, advanced step by step towards the deer, whose scent of blood on their antlers assaulted him like a wave. In front of the beasts that towered over him by a head or two, Akeno seemed small compared to the pack, but no fear could be seen in his eyes. Only a faint smile adorned his face. "Let the festivities begin."

20 meters

Propelling himself forward, Akeno reached a furious speed. As the front deer prepared to strike with its antlers, Akeno, while sliding on the ground, leaned backward to dodge the attack, and with perfect timing, beheaded the beast with a powerful yet graceful sword strike.

Seeing one of their own fall so easily, a hint of fear crept into their eyes. Being creatures that hadn't even reached what would equate to the third level of cultivation for animals, none could stand up to Akeno.

With not a drop of blood on his attire, Akeno continued his onslaught, punching the deer in front of him, stopping it dead in its tracks and somewhat stunning the animal. With his sword, he aimed for the antlers of the deer to his right.

CLING

Their antlers were tougher than an iron block, and the deer managed to resist the sword's edge, but not the force behind the blow. Pushed back a few steps, it was enough for Akeno to finish the job with the deer he had struck with his fist. Shuttlecocking through the deer, Akeno, in a perfect choreography, eliminated them one by one as they attempted to impale him with their antlers. Speed, strength, technique—Akeno excelled in every aspect over the beasts before him.

He might not be able to move mountains, but perhaps he could kill every soul that lived there. After witnessing their kin drop like flies before this human, the rest of the deer, in a surge of terror, chose to turn back and flee as fast as possible. Wild animals, like any other, knew when to fight and when to flee—the instinct for survival.

Surrounded by five deer carcasses, Akeno remained motionless, his blade still in hand. His attire without a trace of blood. The sound—non-existent. Yang Chengwu, Yang Jun, and Xu Jié, who were ready to defend their lives, stood frozen in place before Akeno's demonstration. Faced with such a display of strength and technique, the trio, who thought they were showing Akeno a good performance with their teamwork, found themselves being the ones watching the real show.

"...Akeno, how?" Amid Yang Chengwu's mutterings, the others gradually regained their senses and began to accept the situation. Akeno, in front of the dumbfounded trio, found the scene very amusing to behold. "I thought I already told you my level."

"But... but people from big cities usually don't know how to fight," Xu Jié said. It was true that it wasn't uncommon to see many cultivators from big cities with a high level but without real combat skills. After all, with a good standard of living and money, why bother with strenuous training? Life was so simple when you had money. And the real reason for them to follow the path of cultivation? Simply the strength gained and the increased life expectancy.

"...Is that why you're impressed!? Because I'm strong AND I come from a big city!" Taking the lead, dragging two beasts by each hands, Akeno preferred to forget their shocked faces and return as quickly as possible. "Good grief, you're shocked because I come from a big city, but where are we, anyway?!"

Arriving at the entrance of Hope City, the guards were shocked at the sight of the number of wild deer the group was bringing. With a total of six wild deer, four of which were easily pulled by Akeno, the guards made way as they recognized the disciples of the Thousand Lotus Sect.

"Hey, did you recognize the young man carrying the four beasts?"

"Absolutely not..."

"...I guess the Thousand Lotus Sect has invested in someone."

Heading to the market, the group arranged to leave the beasts with some sect disciples who ran stalls, either to sell or give food to the orphans. 'Heh, with this, I'll be able to recover my lost money!' Akeno thought happily.

"Now that it's done, let's go get our reward, guys," Yang Chengwu said.

'Reward?'

In front of the Master, the trio provided their task updates that they had taken that morning before leaving.

"Ho ho ho, I see that you have brilliantly completed the hunting task." Seeing the Master hand the reward to the trio, Akeno, who was behind them, remained stunned at the small pouch of coins in their hands. "Is everything alright, Akeno? Aren't you taking your reward?"

Perplexed by the situation, Akeno was left speechless. With his hands outstretched in a begging gesture, he approached the Master. "...May I retrieve the reward for the task?"

"Of course, show me the task you took."

"Um, well... it's just that, how should I put it..."

"Hohoho, I don't recall you taking a task this morning, Akeno."

The frozen expression on his face, Akeno's mental image of a pocket full of gold coins shattered into two.

Walking lifelessly through the sect's corridors, his mind was devoid of all thoughts. Like a robot, he passed by the disciples who loitered, and those who dared to look him in the eyes might believe they were staring at a zombie.

Upon arriving in the courtyard where Chikara and Izaya were training, Akeno sat down in a corner in a meditation posture. Chikara and Izaya noticed him as soon as he entered but chose not to disturb him in his meditation. After bonding with most of the children and some of the teachers, they were well aware of the importance of meditation. Perhaps he could even achieve enlightenment on the path of martial arts.

Although they thought Akeno was in deep meditation, the reality was quite different... 'My money... Why...'

While Akeno continued to brood in his corner, Chikara and Izaya practiced martial arts between themselves, under the watchful eyes of the children and the older disciples. Their duel was grand compared to kids their age. Practicing the martial arts of this world rather than their Taijutsu, they were relatively new to these new techniques. Izaya had chosen techniques related to palm strikes, while Chikara focused on speed, footwork, and rapid strikes.

In this training, you could clearly see the exceptional talent of the two young boys. They had barely read the martial arts techniques, yet they understood the essentials and could easily demonstrate a large part of them.

Martial arts were fundamentally complex, requiring a lot of training to learn and perfect a technique. However, these two seemed to grasp the basics and more of these techniques perfectly.

Repelling Chikara's attacks with his palms, Izaya clearly had the upper hand in the duel. Chikara had learned footwork to gain speed. But facing Izaya, who was already considered a genius in his clan and had also faced deadly combat, he could only retreat in defeat.

Those who had thought Izaya was blind because of his white eyes were magically impressed by the precision of his strikes.

The teachers watching the duel couldn't believe their eyes. 'Where did they come from!? The precision, the technique, the reflexes... It's as if they've trained all their lives for combat...'

After about ten minutes, Chikara and Izaya concluded their duel and looked in Akeno's direction, noticing that he had stopped meditating and was watching them. Impressed by his "little brothers'" abilities, Akeno had forgotten all his previous problems. The future seemed promising.

Perhaps the time had come.

Getting up, Akeno was very proud of Izaya and Chikara. Worthy of the Hyuga and Uchiha clans. Finding them in a corner of the courtyard where they had chosen to rest, Akeno couldn't hide his genuine smile. "Well done, that was a good fight. With your level, I think that if you use your Chakra, you should be able to fight against Qi refinement cultivators, and that's without using Ninjutsu."

While Chikara was ecstatic about Akeno's compliments. "Awesome!" Izaya just gave a faint smile and, resuming his impassive demeanor, preferred to change the subject. "And you, are you leaving now?"

"Yes, and when I come back, I'll tell you everything there is to know." In truth, Akeno was afraid that his Chakra and the discovery of his ability to travel to another world would be revealed. To conceal all this information, he needed a protective shield, a barrier masking the Chakra and his discussions. He needed seals. He needed an Uzumaki!

"Chikara, Izaya, I'm going to open a rift in your room; make sure no one enters while you wait," Akeno said. Nodding solemnly, Chikara and Izaya got up and followed Akeno to keep an eye on the room. In the room, Akeno stood alone, staring at the wall as if he could see another world behind it.

"System, transport me to the world of Naruto."

[Warning, the host will now be transported to the world of Naruto]

And despite Akeno's efforts to resist the pressure, he couldn't help but fall unconscious once again...