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The excitement belonged to others; Seiryū only found them noisy.
Since no one challenged him, Seiryū felt he had painfully missed out on an opportunity to receive a System mission.
However, he figured the System probably wouldn't keep handing out these "Challenge Missions." A challenge only had meaning if the strength gap wasn't too large.
Even if someone too weak challenged him, it likely wouldn't trigger a System mission.
Why did he think that?
Seiryū claimed he hadn't read all those novels in his previous life for nothing; the tropes were always the same. It was normal to get more easy missions during the beginner phase, but once that phase passed, the mission difficulty would likely double.
That was the price of growth.
Even the System couldn't escape that trope!
Hmm, maybe not. The System is highly abstract. I should try to exploit a bug…
Then again, the System was abstract. The fact that it treated the Naruto world as if it were the Bleach world already felt wrong no matter how he looked at it.
It was entirely possible for it to go completely anti-trope.
Seiryū decided to give it a try. Trying to exploit a bug didn't cost anything, so why not?
Looking at Kurenai beside him, Seiryū began coaxing her. "Kurenai, why don't you challenge me? I'll treat you to dango after school—double portions!"
"Challenge you?" Kurenai gave Seiryū a suspicious look and replied warily, "What are you up to now? Still not over failing to make me cry last time? How can you be so mean!"
Recently, Seiryū had been acting strangely more and more, often doing things she couldn't understand.
She was starting to get used to his occasional weird behavior.
After all, geniuses were always a bit different from normal people. She wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
Also, Seiryū had mentioned something about having "obsessive-compulsive disorder," where unfinished things would constantly weigh on his mind and make him uncomfortable.
So she had every reason to suspect that Seiryū was still fixated on making her cry… How could she not be wary!?
Seiryū: "…"
What was this little girl thinking?
He felt like Kurenai had completely misunderstood him. How could he possibly want to make her cry?
Seiryū reached out to rub Kurenai's head—it felt nice—and, putting on his best older brother expression, smiled warmly. "What are you talking about? Why would I make my adorable little sister cry? I should be doting on her!"
"Ugh…" Kurenai shivered, instinctively stepping back, even more on guard. "Seiryū, act normal! You're creeping me out!!"
Seiryū was definitely up to something. That was her conclusion based on everything she knew about him!
Seiryū: "…"
Seriously, was stepping back really necessary?
"Come on, just challenge me… wait, hear me out… that's not it either… just do it!"
"No way!"
Seiryū sighed helplessly. Since persuasion didn't work, he tried temptation. "Come on, I promise I won't make you cry. I'll even give you money. You know I'm rich now!"
Kurenai shook her head like a rattle drum. "No! You're definitely planning something shady. I'm not stupid—I won't fall for it!"
"Nyah, nyah, nyah…"
Kurenai stuck out her tongue at Seiryū, then ran off to chat with Rin.
In the past few days, since Rin had occasionally asked Seiryū for help solving problems, she and Kurenai had grown closer…
"How did this little girl get so smart? She used to be so easy to fool. She was cuter back then…" Seiryū sighed.
People really do change.
Only a few months had passed, and yet Kurenai wasn't as easy to handle as before.
There was nothing he could do. Since he couldn't trick her, Seiryū had to give up on the idea.
However, the situation suddenly shifted…
A passionate voice rang out: "Seiryū! I heard your conversation with Kurenai! This is the essence of youth!"
Guy charged over to Seiryū, struck his signature pose, flashing his bright white teeth and giving a thumbs-up and declared excitedly, "You want to spar with someone, right? Then let me, Guy, challenge you!"
"…." Seiryū was still not fully used to Guy's abstract personality.
But an experimental subject delivering himself to the door?
Seiryū thought this was great. Deserves a thumbs-up!
Without thinking, he blurted out, "I'm very interested in the Taijutsu of your Might clan's Eight… Besides, you put quite a bit of pressure on me, and I don't want to lose to anyone!"
He stopped himself before saying Eight Gates. Hatake swordsmanship could still be explained, but not many people knew about the Eight Gates… He couldn't expose himself!
"Oh, oh! I'm fired up!!" Guy felt like he had heard those exact words somewhere before, but couldn't remember where.
He just assumed Seiryū was acknowledging him as a "worthy opponent"!
This was youth! His voice was filled with burning passion. "Then let's have a youthful, passionate spar!!"
Kakashi, who overheard from nearby, fell silent. "…"
Seiryū's words sounded familiar.
Thinking back… wasn't that exactly what he had said to him earlier?
So he was just reusing lines!
And he took it seriously… This Seiryū guy…
"All right, I accept your challenge." Seiryū didn't mirror Guy's passionate pose. Guy might be a bit unreliable, but being that abstract wasn't necessary.
He still had his pride.
'System, someone challenged me! Hurry up and generate a mission!'
Seiryū called out to the System in his mind, but there was no response…
'System!?'
[Ding. This System is present!]
'…Someone challenged me. Shouldn't a mission be generated?'
[Ding. This System does not possess the function of actively generating missions for the Host. Missions are automatically generated based on the Host's encounters and possess a certain degree of randomness.]
'Who are you trying to fool? Aren't you the one issuing the missions?'
[Ding. This System only strives to assist the Host in achieving the Soul King status. It does not possess the function of deceiving. Please understand, Host!]
'…'
Seiryū felt genuinely ashamed of his own System. Everyone transmigrated with a System, so why was his so useless?
Just leave the group chat already.
Forget it. Seiryū decided to let it go. At least having a System was better than not having one. As long as it didn't give him any annoying missions, it was still manageable…
He turned his focus back to the spar with Guy. He couldn't back down now. Besides, Seiryū already knew he lacked combat experience.
He needed to find ways to compensate for that.
Sparring and actual combat were naturally the fastest methods!
And maintaining a good relationship with Guy had its benefits.
Who wouldn't be interested in the Eight Gates technique?
He had practically kicked the story to its ending! It was far too powerful.
Aside from the side effect of dying after opening the final Gate, it was basically a power-bursting artifact. Seiryū couldn't possibly not be interested.
If he could learn it, it would become another trump card.
With one more trump card, his chances of surviving would be much higher. In the upcoming Third Great Ninja War, where even Kage-level shinobi could fall, Seiryū dared not be careless in the slightest…
(To be continued.)
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