Chapter 3: The Newcomer's Gift Pack

After the old man left, Naruto began tidying up the trash.

A fire in the mountain—how the chief fell in love with me.

Ahem, no, that’s not it. Setting fire to the mountain means a long stint behind bars.

For safety’s sake, Naruto extinguished the fire with water.

Without resting, he returned to his hideout and immediately began refining chakra.

Once he managed to refine chakra, the mission would be accomplished.

Completing the mission would unlock the game.

This game was his golden key.

He was Naruto Uzumaki, a three-year-old orphan despised by the entire village. This golden key was his only hope to survive.

There was no time to rest.

Sitting on a bed made of straw and blankets, Naruto attempted his first chakra refinement.

According to the old man’s explanation, chakra was a form of energy within the human body, a blend of physical energy and spiritual energy.

If he understood correctly, physical energy referred to the energy produced by the body’s cells—was that stamina?

And spiritual energy? Mental strength? Willpower? Or something else?

The old man’s words were too vague.

And to think he ate four grilled fish and a big bowl of mushroom soup from him.

Still, considering the old man’s help, Naruto decided not to hold it against him.

Now, Naruto had to figure things out on his own.

In summary, chakra refinement was simple in theory.

Through meditation, one could sense the flow of cellular and spiritual energy within the body, mix these energies in the proper ratio, transform them into chakra, and store it within the meridian system.

Following the steps, Naruto cleared his mind and began meditating.

Gradually, he sensed something.

“Could I be a genius?”

The thought flashed through Naruto’s mind.

In the next moment, the sensation grew stronger—a warm current surged inside him, becoming increasingly distinct as it slowly flowed downward.

Then... an urge to urinate struck.

Naruto was speechless.

So that warm current was just this damn thing.

All for nothing; he had thought his cultivation was successful, that he was close to mastering it.

He went a bit further outside to relieve himself, feeling much lighter afterward.

Though he hadn’t succeeded, he wasn’t worried.

Who could cultivate spiritual energy or magic on the first day?

Chakra refinement was probably just as difficult.

He had long prepared for a prolonged struggle.

Yawning, Naruto returned to his nest.

After a whole afternoon of work, he was exhausted, especially for a little body like his—only three years old, though he sensed his vitality was extraordinary for his age.

So, Naruto prepared to sleep.

Just before drifting off, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Busy as he was, he had forgotten something.

He hadn’t yet taken revenge on the boss who had pushed him earlier that day.

Naruto held grudges.

His principle was no internal conflict; if there was a grudge, settle it immediately!

Therefore, he planned to go to the storefront where the incident occurred and throw dung.

After reconsidering, Naruto decided against it. The target was too obvious—causing a scene in the daytime and being doused with dung at night was too blatant.

Too risky. He planned to wait until he could defend himself before acting.

With this thought, Naruto got up again.

His life was not yet secure.

At this age, he truly couldn’t sleep.

He continued cultivating.

The next morning, Naruto woke early.

He didn’t remember what time he had fallen asleep, only that he had been unconscious.

Getting up so early was driven purely by a deep sense of urgency.

In a daze, Naruto felt as if he had returned to his senior year of high school.

The final hundred days.

A real nightmare.

“Damn it, I’ve transmigrated, yet I’m still reliving senior year,” Naruto grumbled as he washed up, ate, and resumed his cultivation.

On the second day, he finally felt some progress—not related to bodily functions this time.

There was improvement, though no success yet.

On the third day, was it finally done?

Naruto had little concept of chakra, so he didn’t know if he had succeeded; only when he received the mission completion prompt would he be certain.

[Initial mission completed, rewards granted, please check your inventory.]

[System loading...]

“I really am a genius,” Naruto boasted happily as he opened the panel.

The entire game interface had not fully loaded and still displayed “Loading...”

Naruto wondered if the transmigration had caused the system to lose connection with the server.

However, although online services were currently unavailable, local services continued to function.

He opened his inventory and found a clearly MMORPG-style gift pack waiting inside.

Clicking it, a new interface popped up.

[You have opened the beginner’s gift pack. Drawing from the prize pool...]

Then... it kept showing “Drawing...” endlessly.

Naruto stared at the screen for half an hour; no change, still stuck on “Drawing...”

This thing seemed as broken as before, unable to connect to the server, failing to load.

“This lousy game,” Naruto cursed, gnashing his teeth.

He had expected a grand opening of power when his golden key arrived.

And this was it?

“Forget it.” Naruto went about his business.

After taking a walk and catching three fish, the interface still showed no movement.

Until the afternoon, at sunset, just as he returned to the shelter in the tree hollow.

[Prize pool drawing failed. Drawing from the initialized prize pool instead.]

[You have bound to Naruto Online. Please select your beginner reward:

A. SSSSSS-level Talent (Unique)

B. Infinite Chakra (Limited)

C. Summoned Beast: Nine-Tails Fully Awakened Version (Limited)]

“Unique... Limited... limited. Does this game really have such high drop rates?” Naruto was incredulous at these three options.

Though he hadn’t played many games in his past life, he had heard about drop rates.

His roommate, a hardcore gamer, was notoriously unlucky, always drawing terrible cards, never hitting gold cards, perpetually relying on basic rewards.

His roommate had spent countless amounts with no luck, eventually resigning to his fate.

Usually, Naruto stepped in to help draw cards for him.

Naruto remembered his own luck was average at best; when drawing for his roommate, the rates were just normal.

So, what was this?

A bug?

Recalling the earlier message, Naruto thought it might be so.

Perhaps a blessing in disguise.

Staring at the three options, Naruto hesitated.

It seemed the game assumed he was deeply familiar with this world, but he really wasn’t.

How was he supposed to choose?

He could only try to use his past experience to decide.

In terms of rarity, one unique and two limited items—surely the unique was the obvious choice.

In terms of function:

Option A: SSSSSS-level Talent (Unique), a growth-type choice, but he currently faced a survival crisis and needed immediate power.

Option B: Infinite Chakra (Limited), basically infinite mana?

Option C: Summoned Beast: Nine-Tails Fully Awakened Version (Limited), seemed like a battle pet?

After some thought, Naruto made his decision.