In the room.
The lighting of the room slowly extended throughout while the child was heavily panting, posturing in different poses until a faint mist came out of his smeared body.
"It's getting near..."
Slowly tumbling to the ground, extremely exhausted. The child gradually started again with his weird poses in a diligent fashion as the ointment was applied deliberately once more.
Yoichi felt the cusp of realm breakthrough. As the skin became reddish, the vigorous and intangible energy within him steadily surged forth with boundless vitality. Kicks, punches, and postures were soon delivered with overwhelming willpower against the scorching burns all over his body.
The strong herbal scent of the ointment soon enveloped the tiny space. With its fragrance, the viscous ointment in his body was stirred up, alongside the mysterious vital energy skyrocketed.
In its wake, the skin became aggravated, reddened, and continuously refined under the influence of the herbal agent and the Qi Blood in his muscles including his organs.
Apart from that, the foreign blood extracted from his fallen opponents was then mobilized and turned into his bloodstream, incorporating the boiling blood cells accompanied by its tyrannical vitality.
Aside from the pain, Yoichi felt an imperceptible feeling. Crawling into his skin as if ants marched throughout the pores of his body. During the same routine of poses, his Qi Blood became stabilized and the ointment coated his body then began to permeate his skin.
Therefore, the rejuvenation of his inflamed skin was circulated. Qi Blood felt viscous like a gluttinous jelly. Skin radiating with a faint golden shimmer refracted by the luminous bulb in the room. Power greatly increased by a tremendous margin.
A breakthrough to the Golden Skin Stage.
Yoichi sighed as his mouth discharged thick vapor, taking a deep breath with never-before-seen potency. Along with a last punch to top it all, the transformation of power became evidently overwhelming.
"Thank goodness... I break through with my undying willpower." Slumping to the ground, Yoichi couldn't help but feel the strength within him, clenching his fist with delight on his fist.
[Goredrinker: 56/1000]
Should I try to collect blood as soon as possible? This demonic ability truly helped me when I was on the brink of Qi Blood exhaustion...
Yoichi mused. Without the extracted blood, it would take too long for him to concentrate again. On top of that, the Qi Blood Pills in his stash would be voraciously consumed by his furnace stomach, losing precious Qi Blood Pills in the process.
「Heavenly Demon Posture EXP +56」
In addition to his gains, Yoichi felt overjoyed by the large quantities of exp he earned throughout the refinement process. Hence, he assessed his newfound strength with some rudimentary criteria.
*Swofp!*
*Swoosh!*
For a while, Yoichi became thoughtful. His punch force was now increased by 35 jins. Adding the 95 jin in his past stage, Yoichi has 130 jin of punch force equivalent to 78 KG.
Regardless, momentum and its impact still mattered. Nobody could be seriously injured when each attack wouldn't hit the opponents. Unless he had a sure-hit technique or swiftness comparable to the speed of light.
Amongst his upgrades, his skin could essentially block or deflect sharp objects. In the last battle against Sabito and Masaru, his heart was pierced through his back even with the autonomous protection Iron Skin had provided.
In his defense, it was solely the Chakra Metal properties along with Sabito's timely momentum that penetrated his body.
Now, the friction between his radiant skin and the Chakra-infused kunai made little sparks in the air, simply scraping his arm with a slight graze.
Consequently, Yoichi cooked a large portion of food for himself. The exhaustion of his Qi Blood alongside the stress required a terrific amount of food to be circulated back into his system.
Putting down the meal with his chopsticks, Yoichi felt the silent atmosphere around him until he shook his head and ate the sumptuous food.
I chose this path not only to protect them but to give myself some time to prove or redeem myself... There's no point trying to be edgy or sad...
Yoichi's ambitions were way too far as the memories of his mother and her questions about her abandonment never cease running through his mind even after all these years.
After that, Yoichi lay down on his soft mattress and at last fell asleep from the eventful days filled with negativity.
...
...
...
In the morning.
"Are you there? Hayate-sama is asking for your presence in his office." A knock on the door then a message was soon delivered to Yoichi by a shinobi.
"I'm coming right away." In a rigorous stance, Yoichi wiped the sweat from his forehead and unhurriedly tied the back of his hair strands, dressing himself in a brand new attire.
His outfit consists of a white coat accentuating his little childish yet muscular look, a tightly fitted black shirt which he got from the roulette, baggy pants, and high top shoes.
Rolling his sleeves which revealed numerous scars over his arms, Yoichi looked like a unique and rare kind of kid alongside his slightly tanned skin.
After going out, everyone felt the unkempt yet indifferent temperament he emanated. Another thing to point out was his messy hair and outfit, constantly being eyed by the onlookers.
The shinobi who accompanied Yoichi knocked on the door and gently said, "Hayate-sama, the one you called for is now here."
"Let him come..." As Hayate ordered, Yoichi opened the door and looked towards Hayate in addition to the two unfamiliar faces in the room.
"Yoichi, introduce yourself and meet your teammates for your infiltration mission," Hayate said, raising his eyebrow at the sight of the untidy outfit of his troublesome protégé.
"Hello, both of you. My name is Yoichi. May I ask for your names?" Reaching his hand for a handshake, Yoichi revealed his politeness towards his teammates along the way.
"Name's Akizo. Nice to meet you." The chubby little guy shook his hand with brimming enthusiasm.
"Mineru. Glad you are okay in that event." The one with the glasses also shook Yoichi's hand, appearing quite curious about Yoichi's talents.
"Good. Now that we are here. I'll be briefing you three right now. So listen carefully and make a mental note in your mind." Hayate's serious face slightly flinched the two while Yoichi's ears were perked up, attentively listening.
"In one month, you three ought to socialize with the remaining Konoha children who were kidnapped by us. Then, after those 1 month, I'll be sending you all to Konoha and work with someone who was stationed there for us. Of course, the Konoha's ANBU will inspect the people coming into their village including you three. Just stay calm when that happens, understand?"
Although the process felt short from Yoichi's perspective, he gradually understood the underlying truths behind this matter.
So child labor was still there even though the Land of Fire was so abundant. No wonder Hashirama wanted to build a village where children could be at peace in the first place.
Child labor alongside prostitution and gambling was apparently rampant and continuously moving behind the scenes. 9—5 jobs, higher taxes, loan debt, student debt, and many more were deeply embedded throughout the capitalistic society while child labor, prostitution, and gambling became the top three easiest yet ruthless approaches for wealth in his past life.
In specific terms, society couldn't escape human nature itself.
Even Yoichi couldn't escape his fate mining laboriously in the past, so why would it stop once his mining sentence is finished?
Perhaps I'm only imagining things... But I wouldn't be surprised. After all, I'm also one of the victims of this child labor thing but I'm truly helpless about it.
Instead of being angered about the morality of it, Yoichi slightly shook his head. When the time comes, maybe he has a chance to change things around.
"Change into these ragged clothes, our plans mustn't be compromised by a trivial matter. After that, you're all going inside a prison cell. Remember your tasks and stay sharp."
With that being said, the three dressed in shabby clothes while the shinobi escorted them and tied them with chains as a way of temporary theatrics.
I hope this ends well...
Hayate wanted to go back into his office until a shinobi abruptly reported, "Hayate-sama, your presence is requested at Hanzō-sama's order."
Upon hearing the shinobi's statement, Hayate narrowed his eyes and said, "Hold on for a second, I'll take some valuable information and come."
Soon, Hayate went inside his office and took some scrolls. Then, he left with a shinobi accompanying him into Hanzō's state-of-the-art room.
_____________
(Current Progress)
[Heavenly Demon Posture: (Great Success) 340/500]
[Goredrinker: 56/1000] (-82)
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I made the Konoha impenetrable since it was only one year after the First Shinobi War. The attention to the foreign villages should be meticulous. It's the only rational thought here. For example, after World War 2 came the Cold War, a secret war between the USA and the Soviet Union.
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