[The mysterious ninja is about to appear——]
[A crimson killing intent walking in the shadows!]
A week had passed since the release of the High-Class Recruitment A-rank ninja [Might Guy], and now, the next A-rank was arriving.
It was a blood-colored figure, surrounded by crows spreading their wings—or perhaps, by falling feathers.
And beneath that image, there was a line of text:
[High-Class Recruitment "Might Guy" will soon be removed]
A sense of urgency spread among many players, mixed with hesitation.
"Should we pull for [Might Guy]?"
"Probably should, right?"
"But if we do, then we won't have enough Gold Coins for the next A-rank!"
"My dad always says—get the new, not the old!"
"But I want both! What if I miss him and he never comes back?"
"Simple—just top up."
On Konoha's main street, Naruto walked with his hands in his pockets, glancing around. He could faintly hear villagers by the roadside voicing their worries.
So soon already, huh? he thought to himself. He hadn't expected the era of Bushy Brows-sensei to be passing so quickly.
Perhaps, years from now, people would still look back fondly on the day the High-Class Recruitment ninja [Might Guy] was released—with excitement and nostalgia.
Naruto had just left the Hokage's office. Naturally, it was because of the Nine Tails chakra leak incident a few days ago.
That all started with his unrestricted PK match with Sasuke, which had accidentally drawn out the Nine Tails' power. As a result, Naruto had been summoned to the Hokage's office several times over the past few days.
But no matter how much the Third Hokage, Kakashi, and the others checked, they couldn't find anything wrong. Even Naruto himself felt perfectly fine.
It was bizarre!
No one could figure it out. In the end, they just told Naruto to keep an eye on himself and to come over immediately if anything unusual happened.
In truth, the solution was simple—Nine Tails could just suppress his own power.
"Heh heh~ That's the difference in skill!"
Outside, Naruto had no idea that inside his belly, the Nine Tails was grinning from ear to ear.
In his massive paw, he was holding a phone perfectly scaled to his size. On its screen was the victory page from a Ranked Match.
Two bright words stood out on the display:
[Flawless Victory]
After a sweeping 3-0 win, the Nine Tails was in an excellent mood.
The phone had been something Naruto got his hands on, though at first he'd been worried about how to get it to the Nine Tails.
Unexpectedly, the moment he thought of giving the phone to the Nine Tails, it had automatically merged into his body.
This device was truly magical—its size could adjust freely.
The Nine Tails had lived for countless years—he'd long lost count of his age—but he had never seen anything like this.
As the saying goes, the Nine Tails' body was made of pure chakra, while the phone, on the other hand, had absolutely no trace of chakra in it.
Unable to figure it out, he simply stopped thinking and threw himself back into his tense and thrilling ranked grind.
Not because he was slacking off—no, no.
If he wanted to steal Naruto's body, mastering the Ranked Match system was a necessary step. Otherwise, how could he ever tempt Naruto into losing control?
He believed he had real talent. Match after match, he was unstoppable. In his relentless 24-hour duels, it was as if he had achieved unity between fox and phone.
In human terms—it was like manipulating the phone as easily as he controlled his own chakra.
Practice made perfect!
Outside, Naruto kept wandering the village streets. Of course, he couldn't just spend the whole day playing Ninja Mobile Game.
But really, there wasn't much to do in Konoha. After all, he'd been walking these streets for over a decade—there wasn't a single corner he didn't know.
Maybe he should grab a coffee?
The thought made Naruto shiver violently. He shook his head at once—better not.
Then maybe training?
Once upon a time, when ninjas said "training," they meant practicing ninjutsu. But these days, when ninjas said "training," they meant grinding ranks in Ninja Mobile Game.
But as mentioned earlier, it wasn't good to spend all day playing.
"But… what should I train, exactly?" Naruto frowned in confusion.
Right now, he only knew the Clone, Substitution, and Transformation Techniques—and his actual strength was worse than his in-game self.
Then it hit him—this was bad! Ninja Mobile Game was corrupting his will! If this continued, it would destroy the entire ninja system!
No, that can't happen!
"Speaking of which… my organization's still short on members, isn't it?" Naruto scratched his head, remembering the Territories event was coming soon.
The Konohamaru trio had reportedly gone into seclusion. Teuchi-san and Ayame-san had directly stated they didn't want to drag the team down and chose to leave the organization.
Now, Naruto's group was short five members again—back to the same awkward state as when he first founded it.
Since he was already out and about, he figured he might as well look for potential recruits.
Funny enough—just as he thought of Ninja Mobile Game, guess what he saw?
Players—of Ninja Mobile Game!
"Eh? Isn't that Shikamaru and the others?" Naruto's sharp eyes immediately spotted the Ino–Shika–Cho trio sitting by a dango shop on the roadside.
Come to think of it, though they were all from the same village, he hadn't seen them since graduation.
"Shikamaru! Choji!"
Naruto waved and ran toward them.
But as soon as he got close—he was pounced on and immediately restrained.
Choji and Ino had clearly done this before—one grabbed his upper body, the other his legs.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!" Naruto struggled hard, but couldn't break free.
"Shh!!" both hissed at once.
Seeing their serious expressions, Naruto shut his mouth immediately—though his eyes were still full of question marks.
Choji quietly pointed toward Shikamaru, who was sitting with intense focus.
Naruto leaned over slightly—and instantly realized what was happening. Shikamaru was holding his phone tightly, eyes glued to the screen.
He was in the middle of a ranked match.
"That's… kind of extreme for climbing ranks, isn't it?" Naruto whispered after Choji and Ino released him.
"You don't get it!" Ino said solemnly. "Shikamaru's playing the ANBU Promotion Match!"
A-ANBU?!
Naruto's eyes went wide. That was such a niche term that it took him a second to process it.
"ANBU? As in… that legendary rank above Jonin? Eighteen hundred points?"
"The one where you can ban three ninjas? Only players with deep rosters can reach it—and even in the entire Land of Fire, there are barely any?"
His voice trembled with disbelief—and a spark of excitement.
"Exactly!" Choji nodded.
"So if Shikamaru wins, he'll be an ANBU-ranked Ninja Mobile Game player… Can I watch?"
After getting their silent approval, Naruto crept closer, peering from behind Shikamaru's shoulder.
But then he heard it—a low, rapid, and strangely chilling murmur.
"Enemy Substitution: 58 seconds… 43 seconds."
"His second skill—Toad Summon—was interrupted by my opening summon, cooldown 10 seconds, ready at 49."
"Super armor chasing Swamp of the Underworld… armor cooldown 17 seconds, first skill 12, lasts 3 seconds."
"Countered Shukaku but got knocked back by my outward second skill—he'll have to use his second skill to recover."
"At 40 seconds, his Substitution's back, and both first and second skills are ready."
"Substitution in 3 seconds—basic attack to create distance."
"Haku's basic attack keeps pulling in… he'll Substitution instantly, face-to-face second skill, hit by Demon Lantern—first skill blocked, Demon Lantern blocks again."
"He's out of skills—first skill into Ice Mirror for chase."
"Next round… Substitution in 23 seconds, 8 seconds for burst."
"Second skill backstep into Ice Mirror to widen distance, Substitution nearly ready, place Demon Lantern for safety."
"He used invulnerability with first skill."
"I Substitution, he's in super armor."
"Level 1 armor lasts about 3 seconds—time now 17 seconds… wait 2 more."
"Dodge Jiraiya-sama's super armor Toad Ride, he's pressing forward—0.5 seconds difference."
"Second skill's freeze chance… there!"
"Armor eaten! Substitution in 6 seconds! Game timer 8 seconds left!"
"Instant ultimate for damage! 6 seconds of output—first skill freeze! Reverse Ice Mirror retreat!"
"Use Demon Lantern for protection—stall time."
At last, during the duel of their third ninjas, the countdown reached zero.
When time ran out and neither side had fallen, the winner was decided by remaining HP.
Shikamaru's rank emblem changed—from a cross-shaped shuriken to a sleek mask.
"Ooohhh! ANBU!!"
Choji and Ino couldn't hold back and shouted in unison, tackling Shikamaru in excitement.
Caught off guard, Shikamaru nearly fell over. After a deep breath, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Naruto had already slipped away. The tense Shikamaru hadn't even noticed.
Leaving the overjoyed Team 10 behind, Naruto felt a mix of happiness for his friend and a heavy weight in his chest.
What had he been doing all this time? Had he gotten too relaxed after graduating? Just wandering around aimlessly like this?
Reached ANBU rank yet? Recruited enough people for his organization? Found a new way to train?
He hadn't accomplished anything—and didn't even know what he wanted. Yet somehow, he'd grown complacent, basking in small successes, forgetting the true meaning of growth.
He wasn't even good at Ninja Mobile Game duels. His wins so far were just luck.
What he had just seen…
That was what a true ANBU-level match looked like!