Kei Yamanaka felt mildly pleased from the power boost granted by his purple keyword [Water Release Master].
But the failure of the Water Release Rasengan had poured a bucket of cold water over his excitement.
Still, Kei wasn't one to back down easily.
Cross-legged on a rock, he gazed vacantly toward the distant horizon.
While slowly replenishing his chakra, he continued pondering the Water Release Rasengan in his mind.
It had been over a decade since he'd been reincarnated into the Naruto world.
Back then, pressured by survival, he'd never slackened during training.
Yet ever since acquiring the system,
he hadn't studied or trained this hard in quite some time.
The idea of the Water Release Rasengan had rekindled that familiar passion for training within him!
Time passed, tick by tick.
The setting sun cast golden glimmers across the once-blue sea.
The eight surviving researchers from the facility, who had worked nonstop from noon until evening, had finally moved all detachable lab equipment outside.
Years' worth of research data had also been categorized and packed away neatly.
The three-masted sailing ship that had originally remained stationed over ten nautical miles offshore had now docked into a bay along Summoning Island.
Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Honoka finally reappeared outside the research facility just as the last rays of sunlight dipped below the horizon—holding a stack of so-called 'research documents' barely three fingers thick.
"Three seconds?"
Kei gave Minato a look of disdain.
"W-well… something came up."
Minato stood there awkwardly, as if he could dig a hole into the ground with his toes.
His whole body looked like a boiled shrimp, red right from his neck to his ears.
He didn't want to be late either—but given the circumstances, he really couldn't leave earlier!
"Oh yeah, sure, I get it."
Kei smirked knowingly.
Seeing Honoka hiding behind Minato's back, too shy to even show her face—
how could Kei not understand?
Even if these two hadn't acted on it yet, things clearly were moving forward fast.
"Well, uhm, it's getting late. Let me take care of this equipment—we should set off soon."
Minato nervously fidgeted, trying to change the subject.
When Kei merely waved dismissively,
Minato immediately grabbed Honoka and summoned the frogs of Mount Myoboku for help transporting the lab equipment and documents back to Konoha.
"Real lovebirds, huh..."
Kei muttered enviously.
Just as he was about to activate his Keyword Copy ability to steal Minato's purple keyword [Hyper Reaction],
his gaze shifted to Honoka's keywords—and paused slightly.
...
Name: Uzumaki Honoka
Occupation: Researcher
Keywords: [Abundant Energy] (Purple), [Mind's Eye of the Kagura] (Blue), [Sealing Proficiency] (Green), [Beauty] (Green), [Mutual Devotion] (Green)
...
What?
This was new?
Earlier inside the research facility, when Kei first saw Honoka after Minato rescued her, he had checked her keywords before.
If he remembered correctly…
Honoka should only have four skill listings: Abundant Energy, Mind's Eye of the Kagura, Sealing Proficiency, and Beauty.
The Abundant Energy listing is exactly the same as Kushina's. Its effect dramatically increases the amount of chakra within one's body.
Most likely, it was because Honoka belonged to the Uzumaki clan with pure blood, which granted this ability as a natural-born talent.
The Mind's Eye of the Kagura was also an innate ability of the Uzumaki clan.
Earlier, Honoka had made her voice appear in both Minato Namikaze's and his mind—most likely due to this very ability.
As for Sealing Proficiency and Beauty, there wasn't much to explain.
The key issue lay in this newly-added Mutual Devotion.
[Mutual Devotion (Green)]: When you share a sincere emotional bond and are deeply cherished by someone whose abilities surpass your own, your own abilities will slowly improve over time, gradually approaching those of the beloved.
"Fine, I get that the world's system gives its chosen ones special advantages, but how does it even drag in the girlfriend of the chosen one's father?"
Kei Yamanaka helplessly cast his gaze toward the horizon.
He really couldn't wrap his mind around it.
If it was because Minato saved Honoka, and the little girl, naive about love, developed feelings for him under the influence of the bridge effect—well, that might be understandable.
What the hell was Mutual Devotion?
How did these two manage to achieve perfect synchrony and mutual affection after knowing each other for less than a single day?
"Damn! What exactly did they do this afternoon?"
Kei's heart, still reeling from being blasted by Water Release Rasengan earlier, took another hit.
Granted, it was only a green-tier skill listing.
But the implications were amazing, and the effects were insanely powerful!
At present, apart from possessing an impressive amount of chakra, Honoka Uzumaki's combat strength barely matched that of some seasoned Chunin.
What about Minato?
He was among the most notable young powerhouses in the ninja world!
Although he might not yet rival terrifying powerhouses like the Third Raikage A, he was definitely at Kage-level strength.
With this skill listing, though...
It probably wouldn't take long before Honoka began growing rapidly.
"Thank goodness! Thank goodness! My own advantage is greater!"
Kei glanced at the unclaimed rewards on his Personal Panel.
After comforting himself for a moment, he resolutely turned his attention to Minato Namikaze, who had once again summoned frogs from Mount Myoboku, asking them to transport various research tools and materials to Konoha.
"System, I want to copy Minato Namikaze's 'Hyper Reaction Speed'."
[Keyword Copy successful. Congratulations, Master, you've obtained the Purple Keyword 'Hyper Reaction Speed'.]
[Hyper Reaction Speed (Purple)]: An inborn ultra-fast nerve reaction speed that makes the world seem like slow motion to you. It significantly enhances physical reaction speed, hand seal speed, chakra manipulation speed, and overall ninjutsu release speed.
The system notification echoed through Kei's mind.
As soon as Kei chose to activate the keyword, his scalp tingled slightly.
The world before his eyes began to slow down.
Whether it was Minato constantly using Summoning Jutsu or the researchers moving equipment,
everything seemed like it had been hit with a slow-motion filter.
Bullet Time?
Kei's eyes widened.
He hadn't expected Hyper Reaction Speed to be this overpowered.
Lifting his arm, he began forming a hand seal.
Originally capable of forming five hand seals per second, the speed surged even further with the boost from Hyper Reaction Speed, leaping straight to seven per second!
Yamanaka Kei could clearly feel it.
This hand seal speed was no longer constrained by his neural reaction time—it had now hit the physical limits of his fingers and wrists!
Glancing toward the distant figure of Minato Namikaze, who was still immersed in his work,
Kei was about to head back early to the three-masted sailing ship to test the other enhancement effects provided by [Hyper Reaction].
Yet again, the system's voice notification chimed in.
[Detection: The purple skill listings "Shout-to-Summon" and "Hyper Reaction" are compatible for fusion. Proceed?]
"Fuse them!"
Kei chose to fuse without hesitation.
The green skill listing [Somewhat Understands] and the blue skill listing [Memory Palace] had been fused before.
The new skill listing, [The Expert King of the Ninja World], had a name that sounded a bit odd.
But it had brought him tremendous help.
Just the memories he had recalled—long forgotten ones—were priceless to him.
Now, two purple skill listings were being fused.
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