Chapter 5: This Nine-Tailed Creature Is Enormous

First Recharge Gift Pack?

Seeing the golden gift pack, Naruto instinctively glanced at the price.

Only 10 taels?

Converted, that’s just about one yuan. Is this a perk?

He had thought this item would be priced like most others, at least 100 taels.

Only 10 taels? Sold.

[You have purchased the First Recharge Gift Pack. Please check your backpack.]

Opening his backpack, he found a gift pack lying inside. Its design was strikingly similar to the novice pack—clearly cast from the same mold.

Naruto selected the pack and opened it.

[You have obtained: Clone Technique, Premium Kunai x10, Premium Shuriken x100]

This...

“The drop rates seem to have normalized.”

Maybe the initial bug in the game had been fixed?

What a waste of expression.

Naruto had expected a repeat of the novice pack’s rarity—a unique item and two limited ones.

He was ready to celebrate.

But this?

Naruto looked back at his backpack.

It wasn’t large—nine by nine slots, capable of holding 81 items.

However, the backpack appeared to stack items.

The kunai and shuriken he just got only took up two slots, with a small number indicating the stack count.

‘Is this the ninja world’s weaponry?’

Looking at the two types of weapons in his backpack, Naruto pondered.

The kunai’s shape was odd, resembling a spearhead with a handle, while the other was the four-pointed throwing star he recognized.

Naruto pulled out a kunai and held it.

The blade was sharp, but the handle felt a bit large for his small hand.

Wait, are the names reversed?

Naruto was momentarily baffled.

The kunai looked more like a shuriken.

Could it be a translation error?

He tucked away the shuriken... or rather, the kunai. Such details didn’t matter much; all he needed was to know the name.

His gaze shifted to three scrolls in the backpack.

These had appeared alongside the kunai and shuriken—likely the basic ninjutsu Clone Technique the old man mentioned earlier. Naruto had thought it was some kind of ‘divine skill’ and had exchanged three grilled fish for detailed seal instructions.

Naruto took out one scroll to verify if it matched the old man’s description.

As soon as he unrolled it, a prompt appeared.

[Do you want to learn: Clone Technique?]

A skill scroll?

Naruto decisively chose: Yes.

[You have acquired skill: Clone Technique 1/100 (Beginner)]

[Your Clone Technique proficiency +3600]

As proficiency increased, a flood of knowledge and techniques surged into Naruto’s mind. It was as if he had trained this skill thousands, even tens of thousands, of times—utterly familiar.

+3600?

Ah, that’s the SSSSSS talent kicking in.

A glance at the skill:

Clone Technique: 3601/5000 (Master)

“Just as expected.”

Seeing this, Naruto immediately chose to learn the other two skills.

The SSSSSS talent continued to boost.

Substitution Technique: 3601/5000 (Master)

Transformation Technique: 3601/5000 (Master)

Gazing at the three newly acquired ninjutsu, Naruto was self-satisfied.

Ninjutsu? Child’s play!

However, these three skills seemed rather useless.

Clone Technique: produces only shadows to confuse others—no physical form, no attacks.

Substitution Technique: only useful for taking hits.

Transformation Technique: can impersonate others, but even if he transformed into the Hokage, his own power level would remain unchanged.

Pulling out a throwing star... no, a shuriken from the backpack.

Naruto toyed with it in his hand and then... couldn’t hold back a smirk.

He had gotten a unique talent from the novice pack and thought this was the game’s standard. Opening the game with high hopes, and this is what he got?

No, man.

Three useless ninjutsu, and this little thing he couldn’t even use properly. Even if he could, so what?

Could this tiny shuriken really take a life?

“I should’ve chosen C. Nine-Tails isn’t bad either,” he mumbled, suddenly recalling something.

Quickly, he opened the status panel.

Status: Yang·Nine-Tails (Sealed) (Recyclable).

The green “Recyclable” label gleamed brightly.

Naruto didn’t know how this recyclable Nine-Tails had come into existence.

Since it was inside him, it was his.

He had seen it in the shop.

That crimson creature with nine tails—an animal neither cat nor dog—called Nine-Tails.

Its price was 200,000 yuan, or 2 million taels.

Earlier, he marveled at the game’s pay-to-win nature and the rich guy’s wealth. Now, he no longer envied.

Because this money would soon be his!

200,000 yuan, 2 million taels— even if recycled at half price, it would still be a million taels.

With that money, he could buy every skill in the skill house.

But.

Gritting his teeth and resolute, Naruto resisted the temptation.

It stemmed from his life principle:

[When circumstances are unclear, maintaining the status quo is the best choice.]

He didn’t understand how this Nine-Tails appeared, but since it was sealed within him, it must serve a purpose.

Naruto decided not to touch it until he understood why.

“But where exactly is this thing?”

He searched up and down but found no trace of the creature.

Finally, his gaze settled on his abdomen.

There lay a cluster of cryptic symbols.

At first, Naruto thought they were some unknown tattoos. After learning about sealing techniques, he realized they were seals.

“Seals? Necessary?”

Recalling the demonstration video, where the creature was only slightly taller than grass—at most the size of a large dog—Naruto was puzzled.

Was that little thing really so destructive?

“Whatever,” he sighed.

His understanding of this world was still too limited.

Putting the shuriken away, Naruto reopened the skill house.

If he remembered correctly, today was April 30th.

Tomorrow, he would receive a living allowance of 30,000 taels—enough to buy revival coins and several powerful ninjutsu.

By then, his safety would be assured.

Naruto closed the skill house, finding the four available functions rather dull.

Without money, the shop and skill house were just teasing him.

The duel arena was locked; the description said the minimum rank to enter was Genin.

Only the training ground remained.

Naruto decided to check out the training ground.

Clicking to enter.

The loading screen popped up with several options.

Map sizes included 1x1, 10x10, 100x100, and a paid 1000x1000, units in kilometers.

Naruto decisively chose the free, largest 100x100.

Terrain options were abundant. Naruto randomly selected plains, islands, hills, mountains, forests, lakes, and ocean.

For the specific map, he chose random generation.

The next moment, darkness enveloped him.

Then, the ground solidly supported his feet, and fresh air filled his nostrils again.

Naruto opened his eyes to a vast plain, with forests in the distance.

Turning his head, not far behind was a huge lake, connected via a large river to the sea beyond.

“The sunlight, the air, the breeze, the texture—what’s the difference from reality?”

Naruto absorbed everything in the training ground, feeling dazed.

If not for the changed surroundings, he would have thought he was still in the real world.

As he further immersed himself in the experience,

A terrifying roar echoed—

A sound so immense it startled Naruto.

He had never heard such a colossal, dreadful roar.

This booming sound seemed to take him back to his previous life.

It was like the first time he witnessed the launch of the Long March 5 rocket—the unforgettable thunderous blast.

The resonance of sound waves and air, even kilometers away, pounded his chest in waves. That was when he truly understood sound as a wave.

That single event triggered his fear of gigantic things. If not for the rocket being an inanimate object, he would have turned and fled.

Now, this equally massive roar seemed to rip through the air, shaking him to the core.

Thud, thud—

The earth trembled as if an earthquake struck. Naruto knew well: that was the monster moving.

Soon, from the forest’s edge, a colossal creature appeared. Behind it fluttered nine tails.

This was... the Nine-Tails?

Naruto was incredulous.

Was the Nine-Tails really this huge?

Quite impressive.

Why, then, did it look so small in the shop?

He opened it again for a closer look.

Damn!

He had assumed the lush green beneath the Nine-Tails in the demo video was grass. Now he realized—those were trees.

He had underestimated it.

At that moment, the creature noticed Naruto and began to approach.