"If I told you I was just wiping off the dust, would you believe me?"
Maruyama Shin withdrew his hand and casually wiped it on his clothes.
Kakashi's usually emotionless face suddenly showed a trace of alertness. Combined with Shin's earlier words and the position of his hand, his actions looked incredibly suspicious.
Yeah right, like anyone's gonna believe that!
Kakashi actually knew Maruyama Shin. They weren't in the same class, but they had seen each other a few times at the Ninja Academy. That wasn't important though—after all, Shin had only stayed at the academy for about half a year.
What mattered more was that after Kakashi became a Chūnin, he had finally earned the right to lead a squad of his own. Under his command, his team's mission success rate was exceptionally high.
Though… the mortality rate? Heh.
Let's just say Kakashi was a regular visitor to the morgue.
"Shin, you… sigh… I get it." The medical-nin patted him on the shoulder.
Too much pressure.
In the face of constant blood and death, everyone carried their own share of psychological burdens. Little habits and strange behaviors emerged from the stress—it wasn't all that hard to understand.
Especially for someone like Maruyama Shin, who dealt with corpses on a daily basis. It was only natural that his personality might become a little warped.
Sure, most people just turned to alcohol or violence. His particular "habit" was admittedly a bit... unique.
You don't get a damn thing!
Shin screamed internally in frustration.
"By the way, Shin. The Hokage has instructed Chūnin Kakashi to escort the remains of his comrade back for burial."
Back to business.
"Oh."
The medical-nin patted him on the shoulder again. "You two handle the handover."
Then, leaning close to Shin's ear, he whispered:
"Shin, remember, the dead deserve dignity."
Most fallen shinobi still had families in the village. If word got out about what had just happened, someone might come knocking.
"…"
Shin rolled his eyes, utterly exasperated.
With that, the medical-nin turned and left.
Now only he and Kakashi were left, staring at each other.
Kakashi was the village's renowned genius, someone everyone knew. Shin, of course, knew who he was and in fact, probably understood Kakashi better than the boy himself.
But what Shin really cared about wasn't Kakashi's genius reputation. He was more interested in where Kakashi's father was buried.
The remains of the legendary White Fang of Konoha... surely they'd yield something incredible, right?
"Ahem. Let's stick to procedure."
Kakashi glanced at him again, tossed him a scroll, and stepped into the tent.
No way he was going to be friendly to someone who had just groped a corpse—especially one eyeing his own father's body.
Shin didn't bother defending himself.
Necrophile? Fine. Whatever. With the kind of cheat system he had, he figured he'd be dealing with corpses plenty in the future anyway. The more he explained, the guiltier he'd seem.
He gave the scroll a quick glance—it was a death notice sealed with the Hokage's official stamp.
Thirty minutes later.
As he stood in the now-empty morgue, Shin felt a bit deflated.
All the corpses that remained either had white glows or no glow at all. After experiencing the rush of looting yellow and green corpses, the thrill from white corpses just didn't cut it anymore.
He sat down in his chair.
Shaking off the disappointment, he focused on reviewing the system interface and the items he'd just acquired.
There wasn't much to study when it came to the earrings or the underwear. The real value lay in the cards.
Name: Random +2 Stat Boost Card
Description: As a proper Chūnin, every aspect of him is worth learning.
Effect: Randomly increases one stat by 2 points.
Note: Trust me, you'll need more.
"Of course I need more. The problem is finding that many corpses…"
He took out the card, a solid green with a large embossed "2" on the front. It had a faint metallic feel, its surface textured like it held real power.
His eyes gleamed.
He knew exactly how bad this body's natural talent was. Cards like this… were his only path to strength.
Following the system's instructions, he activated it.
A hexagonal roulette appeared before him, each segment labeled with one stat: Body, Mind, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Control, Seals.
These represented the core abilities of a ninja, physical strength, chakra reserves, ninjutsu skill, genjutsu proficiency, chakra control, and hand seal speed.
The pointer spun and stopped at Body.
Body +2!
A surge of heat exploded from deep within, spreading rapidly through his meridians. The energy soaked into every cell of his body.
Shin clenched his fists.
He could feel it—his body felt lighter, his arms stronger. The sensation was so pleasant, it was almost euphoric.
He reopened the system panel:
Name: Maruyama Shin
Age: 13
Affinity: Fire
Rank: Genin
Stats:
Body: 12
Mind: 12
Ninjutsu: 12
Genjutsu: 5
Control: 15
Seals: 15
Known Jutsu: Clone, Substitution, Transformation
Items:
Konoha Jōnin Miura Ichigō Experience Card (Rare) ×1
Diluted Uchiha Bloodline Card (1/3)
Standard Kunai ×1
Elegant Earrings ×1
Women's Undergarment ×1
A two-point increase might not seem like much, but when your base stat was only 10, that was a full 20% boost. The improvement was obvious.
"I really do need more of these. This isn't about indulgence, it's all about strength. That's right, strength!"
He turned to look at another card—the special one depicting Miura Ichigō.
Name: Konoha Jōnin Miura Ichigō Experience Card (Rare)
Description: A rare card that allows you to unleash power beyond your physical limits for a short time.
Effect: Temporarily enhances and transforms your attributes, techniques, and perception by combining your current abilities with those of Miura Ichigō.
Note: A Jōnin-level card. Save it for when your life is on the line.
This was valuable.
Just a glance at the description was enough for Shin to know this card was a treasure.
Based on his own abilities, it would temporarily fuse the strength of a veteran Jōnin into his body. It wouldn't be permanent, but it could push him far beyond what he currently had.
Used at the right moment, it could save his life—or change the tide of battle.
He didn't know exactly how much it would boost him, since he hadn't tested it yet.
But he guessed that even if it didn't reach true Jōnin levels, getting him close to Tokubetsu Jōnin (Special Jōnin) shouldn't be an issue.
His job might seem safe—just gathering corpses behind the lines.
But anyone who had seen a real battlefield knew, there was no such thing as a "safe zone."
Even the main base camp could be ambushed without warning.
If someone dropped a wide-area jutsu on them, it wouldn't matter where he hid—he'd die just the same.
And even without huge-scale attacks, stealing corpses, intelligence, and bloodline secrets was a constant game played by all hidden villages.
If every side had corpse retrieval squads, then naturally, they'd also have corpse raiding teams.
Even the tiniest fragment of critical intelligence could turn the tide of a war.
That's why the survival rate of corpse collectors had always been low—only marginally better than that of front-line fighters.
Luckily, for now, the world was at peace. He was still relatively safe.
He sat quietly in the morgue, watching the shadows flicker and dance with the candlelight.
Thank goodness there were no ghosts in the Naruto world, or he would've developed PTSD by now.
But he had to admit... he was already addicted to looting.
Looking at the corpses around him, he felt a strange sense of affection.
He was itching to go again. Even the white-glow corpses would do.
But he couldn't, not today. He had already used up his daily attempts.
With a sigh, he stood, locked the door with a chain as thick as his arm, and double-checked that everything was secure.
The bodies in there were treasures.
Opening his umbrella, he stepped into the night and headed home.
Well, "home" wasn't far. Just next door.
*********
Hey everyone! I'll be dropping an extra 1 chapter once we hit 200, 400 power stones! If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to spend some power stones. I'd really appreciate the support. Thanks a bunch!