Only after Murakami Hana took the fat ninja away did Hyūga Akira return to the cave.
"It's fine now," he called inside.
Nagato finally emerged from the depths of the cave.
"Sensei… what just happened?"
He had vaguely sensed fighting outside—and then, suddenly, three presences vanished.
"Go take a look and you'll know," Akira said with a smile.
That smile, however, carried a faint trace of malice.
Nagato noticed it immediately and eyed him suspiciously. Akira didn't explain, simply turned and walked out. Despite his unease, Nagato followed.
The moment he stepped out of the cave, he saw them.
Two bodies lay on the ground, scorched and blackened in places.
Nagato's pupils trembled.
"S-Sensei…"
Akira crouched down, nudging one of the corpses with a kunai. Without even looking at Nagato, he spoke in a calm, almost earnest tone.
"Nagato, no matter what path you choose in the future, death will always follow you."
"If you don't want to be killed… then you must be prepared to kill."
Nagato stared at the bodies, swallowing hard. He had heard of people dying before—but this was the first time he had ever seen corpses with his own eyes.
Wasn't this kind of resolve a little too cruel to demand from a child like him?
And also—
Sensei, if you'd just stop smiling like that, this would be a lot more convincing!
Nagato shot Akira an annoyed look. That grin was practically screaming I'm mostly doing this to scare you.
Akira stood up and coughed lightly, trying to recover some dignity as a teacher. He patted Nagato on the shoulder.
"From now on, you'll have to rely on yourself."
"Sensei… I really think we don't have to rush this," Nagato said weakly, his voice trembling.
Seeing dead bodies for the first time was terrifying—anyone would be scared.
Akira looked at him meaningfully.
"The Land of Rain won't give you time."
And neither will Uchiha Madara.
That part didn't need to be said out loud.
As for Madara—Akira was far too low-level right now. If he were max level, he'd already be knocking on Madara's door, calling him "old man" and farming loot.
Madara had tons of good drops. Any one of them would be top-tier.
Unfortunately, as the penultimate final boss, he wasn't exactly easy to farm.
Akira headed back the way they came. The poisonous purple pond from earlier had already vanished.
He turned around and shouted at the still-dazed Nagato.
"Let's go."
Nagato snapped out of it and hurried after him.
Akira glanced at his status panel.
Name: I'm Hyūga Akira
Class: None
Level: Lv16 (3999 / 4000)
Chakra: 120 / 160 + 50 + 20
Skills:
Gentle Fist (Lv5)
Clone Technique (Lv2)
Substitution Technique (Lv10)
Transformation Technique (Lv10)
Eight Trigrams Air Palm (Lv3)
Byakugan (Lv3)
Fire Release: Shiranui (Lv4)
Medical Ninjutsu (Lv2)
Bear Strength (Lv4)
Endorphins (Lv8)
Two-Tiger Style: Flame Heaven Form (Lv1)
Experience Pool: 4765
Finally.
Finally.
He was about to hit level eighteen.
He'd waited far too long for this. Konoha simply didn't have enough monsters to grind. In less than a year as a ninja, he'd gone from level 12 to level 18.
Level 18 was where his real growth would begin.
Honestly, judging by the experience provided by shinobi in this world, reaching max level wouldn't actually be that hard.
The real sink was skills.
High-level skills demanded obscene amounts of experience, and many could be fused. The fusion alone cost experience—and afterward, leveling them cost even more.
Suppressing his excitement, Akira spent a small amount of experience to level up once.
His chakra instantly refilled, and his physical stats improved slightly.
Level: Lv17 (0 / 4500)
Then he dumped all 4500 experience straight in.
Level: Lv18 (0 / 5000)
Class Change Feature Unlocked
Would you like to change class now?
Yes / No
Akira took a deep breath.
While escorting Nagato home on autopilot, he focused his full attention on the interface.
"Yes!"
The status panel vanished, replaced by five images.
The first image showed a burly man with glowing red eyes. His fists had turned pitch-black, crackling with red lightning.
Above it were two words:
Pirate
A stamina-based class in the game. After changing into it, a Haki energy bar would unlock. Every level-up increased Strength and Constitution.
Related items were mainly obtained in the Land of Water, along with various Devil Fruits—though Devil Fruits themselves weren't class-restricted.
Many skills and Pirate-exclusive items, however, required this class.
High durability, fast recovery, solid damage.
In-game, it was essentially the warrior class.
If Akira didn't have special plans, this was usually his go-to choice.
The second image showed a ninja wearing a Konoha forehead protector, constantly casting ninjutsu. One eye was a Sharingan, the other a Byakugan.
Above it was the word:
Ninja
In-game, this was basically the mage class.
Akira dismissed it instantly.
He already possessed ninja skill books. Changing into the Ninja class might give unknown—or even zero—benefits.
It would overlap heavily with his existing abilities.
And besides, he didn't need a class to use ninja skills or equipment anyway.
Normally, players entered the game world with no class and no energy system. Just an ordinary human start.
Early game: hunt animals.
Mid game: fight bandits.
Late game: kill rogue ninja.
Only after reaching the required level would the class system unlock.
That was the intended progression.
Akira entering ninja school and becoming a shinobi was basically exploiting a bug—starting the game with a built-in class.
The third image showed a man in training clothes, white aura swirling around him. The background flickered between famous landmarks and wild forests.
Above it were two characters:
Hunter
This was the class Akira wanted.
In the game, Hunters were classified as assassins.
Which was hilarious.
Actual assassins—ninja—were labeled mages, while Hunters, who didn't even look like assassins, were tagged as assassin-type.
But that was all about mechanics.
Ninja fought with flashy elemental techniques—fire, water, wind, lightning. No matter how you looked at it, they behaved like spellcasters.
Hunters, on the other hand, were the best at hiding.
With Zetsu, even bloodline limits couldn't detect them.
If you didn't notice the Hunter, and you stepped into their attack range—
That was just waiting to be burst down in one combo.
If that wasn't an assassin, what was?
These three were the game's mainstream classes.
Beyond them, there were also two premium, pay-to-win classes.
Akira's gaze shifted to the final two grayscale images.
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