Taro's POV
It's been four days since my father and I have been training non-stop. At first, the training was more physical and focused on practicality, but as I used Minecraft continuously for faster progress, my father started to notice that I was an anomaly.
My muscles recover in just a day of sleeping, unlike most people who take two to three days for a full recovery. What's more, because Minecraft's time moves differently, I have already mastered the ninjutsu given by my father.
As of right now, I know four ninjutsu. The first is a C-rank ninjutsu—Great Breakthrough—a technique that allows the user to release wind from their mouth, blowing away whatever is in front of them. Depending on the amount of chakra used, the technique can be weak or strong.
The rest are also C-rank, as my dad did not think I was ready for a B-rank ninjutsu. However, I know it's just an excuse, because he wants me to master these four jutsu to their maximum instead of having a thousand techniques I can't use properly.
And finally, after my last recovery last night, my stats have reached the high Genin rank, where I could compete with my second older brother. Although his stats are still higher than mine, it's not far off.
[Name: Taro Hosai
Title: None
Rank: Genin
Chakra Affinity: Wind
Potential: Low Kage
IQ: 114
Battle IQ: 101
Strength: 36 (+7)
Speed: 43 (+9)
Durability: 55 (+12)
Chakra: 105 (+3)]
So far, the easiest stat to increase is durability, since it's easier to get your ass beat by a jonin-level powerhouse than to train all day and only gain one measly point.
I closed my stats window and was about to go to the Minecraft world until I heard a knock—and then a kid burst into my room: Nao.
"Brother? What are you doing here?" I asked.
Nao jumped around, then looked at me with gleaming eyes. "Big brother is back! Let's go see him at the main gate!"
Digging through my memories, I remembered the big brother Nao was talking about—Kise Hosai.
The original body didn't interact with Kise much, as Kise was out on missions or training most of the time. However, whenever he had time, he would visit his sickly youngest brother and bring gifts from outside the Land of Wind.
He was considered a genius among the clansmen and was the de facto leader of his generation. You could even say he held more power within his generation than the clan patriarch himself.
At the age of seven, he went to war and claimed many victories—even against seasoned ninjas. At fifteen, he led a group of his peers on hunting missions and successfully completed fourteen missions in a single year, two of which were S-rank, earning the clan more than ten million ryo.
He was like a celebrity in the clan, and from the memories, it would seem that both younger brothers idolized their big bro.
I chuckled to myself. "He's kind of like Kakashi, just a little less impressive. After all, that bastard graduated at the age of five, then became a jonin at the age of twelve."
Nao pulled me up from my bed and dragged me to the main entrance of the clan, where nearly all the clan members were gathered—and at the forefront were girls around Kise's age.
"Kya!!! It's Kise, he's coming!"
[Pause.] the system muttered.
I rolled my eyes and whispered to Nao beside me—who was also fangirling—"Hey, what's up with these clan members? Why are they all so energetic nowadays?"
Nao scoffed, paused his shouting for a moment, and replied, "It's because we have food now, dummy. You should really pay more attention to the clan, you know."
"Ah… Yeah."
As more and more clan members joined the crowd, three young men entered through the gates. From my memories, the tall burly man was Jiren, the redheaded one was Enka, and the one with slit eyes was Kise.
Just by looking at him, you could tell he was strong—probably around the same level as Father, or maybe even stronger.
Curiosity took over, and I used the Eye Spy skill on Kise.
[Name: Kise Hosai
Title: The Sly
Rank: Elite Jonin
Chakra Affinity: Wind, Lightning, Earth (learned)
Potential: Kage
IQ: 124
Battle IQ: 133
Strength: 228
Speed: 325
Durability: 218
Chakra: 250]
My eyes widened as I thought to myself, "Holy shit… His base stats are better than Dad's!"
As I gawked at his stats, he noticed my staring and smiled—and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.
I looked around, trying to find him, until a voice came from behind me. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed, Taro?"
I turned around and saw him smiling at me. "So fast!" I whispered.
He chuckled. "I am the fastest, after all."
Nao noticed Kise and jumped toward him, giving him a hug. "Big bro! Did you get anything for us?!"
Kise nodded and said, "Let's go see Dad first, alright?"
Nao didn't complain and happily followed Kise. However, Kise noticed something and patted my head. "Did you open your chakra pathway? And from the looks of it, you got your chakra reserves from Mom! Hahahahaha!"
I nodded. "Yeah, I opened it not too long ago."
Nao grumbled, "And he's being called a genius by those old geezers from the Main Hall. Even Dad calls him that." He rubbed his nose and said proudly, "But he still can't beat the great me though! Hahahahaha!"
Kise opened his eyes fully for the first time and looked at me. "Is that so…"
Chills ran down my spine as he stared for a split second before smiling again. I don't know why, but those eyes creeped me out.
After a few more small talks, the three of us made it to our parents' house, where my mom came out and gave Kise a hug while kissing his forehead.
Kise's face turned red. "Mom! Not in public! I'm not a kid anymore!"
My jaw dropped, as the image of a cold, ruthless villain vanished from my mind—replaced by that of a child still being babied by his mother.
Katsumi ignored him and continued, "I haven't seen you in almost a year!"
Before she could break all his bones from the hug, my father came out of the house and said, "Welcome back, Kise. Let's go inside and eat."
Kise thanked Dad behind Mom's back and went inside the house, where he paused at the table full of freshly baked bread.
"W-What is this? Aren't we rationing?"
Mom chuckled. "We'll tell you everything. But first, let's eat."
Kise sighed and just followed along. We could all see how happy Mom was to finally see her eldest son after months—and from gathering the family for dinner.
The dinner was nice. We talked about what we'd all been doing recently, and Kise told stories from his missions, while Nao listened like the fangirl he is. It was funny when Kise finally took a bite of the bread.
The bread was sweeter and gave more energy than normal bread. I don't know why, but it's most likely because it came from Minecraft—since, in Minecraft, you can literally heal by eating bread.
After dinner, Dad reminded me that we had to leave tomorrow morning for a mission.
The mission was a bandit extermination at the border of the Land of Rivers. It was considered a novice mission—around C-rank—with a reward of 80k ryo.
Next Morning
I woke up to a knock on my door—a knock so familiar by now that I knew it was Nao before he even spoke.
"Get your ass up already! I don't wanna get yelled at by that old geezer because of you!"
"Yeah, yeah."
I quickly got up and changed into a custom-made armor I'd gotten a few days ago. The armor wasn't flashy, but it got the job done. It was light but still offered good protection.
Nao and I made it to the main gate and saw Father talking to someone. When we got closer, the man standing beside him was Kise.
"So he'll be the assisting ninja," I muttered.
When we neared, my father frowned. "So… You two finally came. I was about to go to your rooms and drag your lazy asses here."
Kise chuckled, "Calm down, Dad. It's Taro's first mission."
Nao nodded, "Yeah, you old geezer, I didn't do it on purpose!"
"Why you…" grumbled Mashiro.
Nao hid behind Kise, and Mashiro just sighed before continuing, "Fine. We're moving out! We'll be running non-stop for eight hours."
He looked at me. "Can you do it?"
It wasn't an actual question, because he only wanted to hear one answer:
"Yes!"