"Y-you're lying!"
Sasuke stiffened his neck, his face red as he retorted, his gaze shifting uneasily, unable to meet Kaito's eyes.
"Between us brothers..."
"Do we really have to calculate everything so precisely...?"
Kaito rolled his eyes, unwilling to continue this argument with Sasuke.
If this went on any longer, he feared the boy might start shedding tears.
"Let's go. Take the dog outside to raise it."
"And show me if there are any other puppies around."
Letting Sasuke keep the dog outside was a compromise born of necessity.From the moment Sasuke picked up the puppy, his father probably already knew.
In fact, this might even have been his father's doing.
Sasuke was happy because if Kaito said so, it meant he approved of his new friend.
Plus, being able to share this with Kaito made him even more delighted.
But before long, Sasuke started hesitating again—he remembered he had promised to train with his older brother that afternoon...
"Let's go!"
"If you don't move, give me back my money!"
Kaito stood at the gate, turning back to urge Sasuke, who was frozen in place.
Right now, all he wanted was to complete the beginner's mission and truly step onto the path of cultivation.
Chakra and all that...
Screw it!
Over the years, he hadn't slacked off in training. Even Itachi had once praised him as a genius of the Uchiha clan.
His Chakra reserves weren't vast—nothing like those later Hokage-era figures who could summon anything with a single hand seal.
But thanks to his past-life memories and his extraordinary mental energy, his control over Chakra was astonishing.
Even without deliberate training, his mastery of Chakra manipulation was already on par with Itachi Uchiha.
However...
Only when facing Itachi, a true genius specializing in genjutsu, did Kaito realize just how terrifying this guy was.
At the very least, in every exchange, he couldn't even detect when Itachi had cast his illusions.
From that moment on, Kaito understood that only by awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan could he stand a chance against Itachi.
But realizing that awakening the Mangekyō before the Uchiha massacre was unrealistic, he stopped training so hard.
His motto became "happy learning."
But now, with a system and a chance at immortal cultivation, no matter what, he had to fight for it.
As for why he needed Sasuke's help to complete the mission...
Mainly because puppies were easier to bully.
After all, the dogs in Konoha possessed intelligence no weaker than humans.
And they often moved in packs—he couldn't guarantee he could take on a group of ninja dogs without a scratch.
"In your dreams!" Sasuke grumbled, but he obediently picked up the puppy and followed Kaito out of the house.
The two walked through the streets of Konoha, one after the other, and after about ten minutes, they reached the outermost area of the Uchiha clan's territory—the edge of the village.
"Kaito, it's over there."
"This is where stray dogs often gather. I heard the Inuzuka clan's dogs come here a lot."
"Those puppies were probably abandoned by them."
Kaito: "..."
Was it possible those dogs were actually the illegitimate offspring of the Inuzuka clan's ninja dogs?
Young Sasuke, having few friends, was much more naive than other kids his age.
Seeing Kaito silent, he assumed his younger brother also wanted to adopt a puppy and began carefully picking one out for him.
"Kaito, what do you think of that black-and-white puppy?"
"With a little training, we could..."
Sasuke pointed at the frolicking puppies in the distance, patiently explaining the traits of each one.
But as he spoke, when he turned to look beside him, Kaito had vanished from his spot.
When he turned back, the guy was already pinning several puppies to the ground, vigorously rubbing their bellies.
"Yip... yip!!"
"Yelp—"
Bullying a few was bad enough, but the guy even wore a vicious expression while doing it. Sasuke couldn't hold back anymore.
"Kaito! What the hell are you doing!?""You... you jerk..."
"Have you no sympathy at all!"
Kaito paid no attention to Sasuke's accusations, his focus entirely on the system notifications.
[Ding—]
[Defeated Sky-Rending Demon Hound, mission progress 2/10]
[Defeated Sky-Rending Demon Hound, mission progress 3/10]
[Defeated Sky-Rending Demon Hound, mission progress 4/10]
.....
Completely absorbed, Kaito had become an emotionless mission machine. Even when Sasuke charged at him, it couldn't stop him from continuing to bully these stray puppies.
In the end, Sasuke had no choice but to cling to his thigh, finally forcing Kaito to stop his misdeeds.
Of course, the main reason Kaito stopped was because the mission was already complete...
[Congratulations, Host, on completing the mission.]
[Reward: Improved physique, 100% increase in Qi Refining initiation chance, 50% increase in Foundation Establishment success rate.]
As the mission completed, Kaito slowly closed his eyes, waiting for the system's power to descend. Improving his physique sounded incredibly impressive.
But after a full ten minutes passed, aside from two new buff lines appearing in his [Status] tab...
Nothing had changed at all!!
There was no sudden excretion through pores or shooting up dozens of centimeters in height!!
Just as Kaito was about to curse the system's ancestors, a notification suddenly rang in his mind.
[Ding—]
[Congratulations, Host, on unlocking achievement—Nemesis of Sky-Rending Demon Hounds]
[Nemesis of Sky-Rending Demon Hounds: Having continuously defeated Sky-Rending Demon Hounds, you have now become the sworn enemy of their kind. Equipping this achievement title grants a 200% cultivation boost.]
Kaito Uchiha: ?
Standing frozen in place, he carefully examined his newly acquired achievement but couldn't make heads or tails of it.
What felt even more abstract was...
Why did it seem like the mission rewards were actually worse than this so-called achievement bonus??
Look at this...
A 200% cultivation boost.
So how should he cultivate next...
Should he practice Chakra or focus on Ninjutsu?
Before Kaito could worry about how to utilize the bonus, unbeknownst to him, all the stray dogs and ninja hounds in Konoha had begun swarming toward his and Sasuke's location.
"Awooo—"
"Woof woof woof!!"
"Grrrowl!!"
Thousands of ninja hounds running through Konoha's streets made the entire village rumble, all canine creatures sharing a single thought...
Teach that reckless fool a lesson he won't forget!
Make sure he understands...
A dog's dignity is not to be trampled upon!
"Kaito, I think you've gone too far."
Sasuke trailed behind, thoroughly disgusted by Kaito's earlier bullying of the puppies.
"What's the big deal? I was just petting them..."
Kaito's tone was utterly nonchalant, until he suddenly noticed the massive dust cloud rising in the distance and the endless chorus of barking filling his ears. Terrified, he grabbed Sasuke and immediately turned to flee.
"Damn it!"
"Are they really following the cultivation world rule—beat the young and the elders come for revenge!?"
The ninja hounds' pursuit wasn't what left him speechless though.
Kaito suddenly realized his newly acquired 200% boost had started taking effect...
....