Naruto: Building the Strongest Uchiha Starting with Gacha Pulls

"Orochimaru-sensei!"

Just as Uchiha Gen was still flipping through the books to summarize his doubts, Sarutobi Enjun and Uzuki Ruri saw Orochimaru coming down the stairs and immediately spoke up.

"This is the reward for the mission. You three can divide it among yourselves. I didn't participate in the mission, so I won't take the half that belongs to the team leader this time."

Orochimaru tossed a stack of silver notes in envelopes onto the table, indicating that the three of them could divide them among themselves.

The reward for this mission is 60,000 taels of silver.

According to Orochimaru, he would receive a full 20,000 taels.

Although it's only 20,000, which doesn't seem like much, its purchasing power is actually quite good.

According to Kishimoto's account, one ryo in the Naruto world is equivalent to ten yen, which, if converted further, is about 50 cents.

Even though prices in Konoha Village are high, with a basic bowl of Ichiraku Ramen without any extra toppings costing 60 ryo, 20,000 ryo is still a considerable sum for an ordinary person.

Ninjas possess immense power and risk their lives. Taking C-rank or higher missions is essentially trading their lives for money, so it's normal for them to have such high incomes.

Not to mention the medical expenses needed for daily training and healing, the maintenance of shuriken and kunai, and the purchase of soldier pills and explosive tags, all of which cost a lot of money. Without such a high income, it would be impossible to support such high expenses.

In the past, Uchiha Gen relied on the inheritance left by his parents, the subsidies provided by the clan to ninja academy students, and a few sets of ninja tools he obtained from the system. As long as he didn't spend money recklessly, he was still relatively well-off.

However, now he has more than a dozen mouths to feed—those psychic raven.

Considering that he will definitely need to expand the ninja crow clan in the future to coordinate the use of related secret ninjutsu, and that the frequency of battles will increase after he becomes a formal ninja, the replacement speed of ninja tools will also accelerate, relying on the old tools from before will definitely not be enough.

However, with the extra 20,000 taels of silver he earned this time, plus his savings, he should be able to find a decent ninja sword at the ninja tool shop of the Ninja Cat Clan—he needs a suitable ninja sword to practice the Uchiha-style swordsmanship.

The prize draw was quickly distributed.

"Orochimaru-sensei, are we going on a new mission today?"

Sarutobi Enjun asked.

The experience of this mission was completely different from what he had imagined.

"No, there's one more thing you need to do before you start taking on new missions."

Orochimaru looked at the three students and spoke.

"Now, assemble at Training Ground One, the Forest of Death."

Gen Uchiha closed the scroll and immediately noticed the three still-swaying bells hanging from Orochimaru's waist.

So this is what I was supposed to do.

Sarutobi Enjun also noticed the bells and frequently winked at Uchiha Gen and Uzuki Ruri.

As the son of the Hokage, he knew about the tradition of stealing the bell and had already told his two teammates in advance, but Orochimaru had never put this test on him before.

However, Gen Uchiha still has one question.

That's why there are three, not two.

One for each person?

One minute later, at the edge of the Forest of Death, Orochimaru gave his answer.

"You may have heard about the tradition of snatching bells from your father. It was a test set up by the Second Hokage to teach his disciples teamwork. Later, the Third Hokage used it to test me, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and me. However, I think this system is a bit outdated, so I made some changes."

Orochimaru threw out three bells, which were caught by the three of them.

"You have fifteen minutes to prepare. Your activity area is limited to the Forest of Death. After fifteen minutes, I will begin searching for you. The bell represents your life and must not be separated from you. Once I take the bell, it means you have died in battle."

"The first one I catch will be responsible for writing the next mission report, and you'll also need to write a tactical summary of this exercise. The second one caught will not be punished, but there will be no reward either. The last one caught will be taught a powerful ninjutsu and I will help him master it."

Orochimaru, with a sinister smile on his pale face, addressed the three of them.

In other words, this live-fire exercise was actually a survival exercise.

A more accurate description would be an escape drill.

Thinking about it this way, Orochimaru really did develop PTSD from Nawaki's death, fearing that his students might lose their lives on the battlefield in the future, so he tried his best to bring them this kind of experience.

"Now, let's begin."

Orochimaru took a watch out of his ninja tool pouch and said in a hoarse voice.

"Walk!"

Uchiha Gen immediately spoke, gathering chakra in his legs to enhance his explosive power, and instantly retreated into the forest.

Sarutobi Enjun and Uzuki Ruri followed closely behind.

Three figures leaped swiftly through the forest, heading deeper into the woods.

"Yuan, should the three of us split up? Orochimaru-sensei is no ordinary Jonin. Even if the three of us join forces, we are no match for him. It would be better to split up. If we encounter Orochimaru-sensei, we won't be wiped out. At most, we will only lose one person in a short time, which will buy as much time as possible for our comrades."

Uzuki Ruri asked Uchiha Gen, who was walking ahead.

This survival exercise is no longer, as Sarutobi Enjun had said, about teaching genin teamwork.

What Orochimaru wanted them to learn was how to survive on the battlefield.

"Of course we'll have to separate, but we'll have to wait a bit."

Gen Uchiha glanced at the bandage wrapped around his left thumb, tore it off with his mouth, and then used his canine teeth to bite open his thumb, which had just healed and still bore the mark.

Blood flowed out, hand seals were formed, and smoke rose.

A dozen or so ninja crows appeared beside Uchiha Gen, cawing loudly.

"The Death Forest is densely vegetated, and even if I use the ninja crows flying in the sky to scout, their vision will be obstructed by the trees. But at least we can still use the ninja crows for simple communication."

If anyone is captured or loses their bell, the ninja crow will automatically discontinue the summoning. I can also determine your location and situation based on the summoned beast. If something happens to me, the ninja crows that are near you will also discontinue the summoning and inform you of the situation.

As soon as Uchiha Gen snapped his fingers, two crows flew out from the flock of ninja crows and landed on the shoulders of Sarutobi Enjun and Uzuki Ruri.

"In addition, Orochimaru is skilled in snake-based ninjutsu, and snakes are good at using their tongues to distinguish scents. You should use the terrain to cover your scents. It would be best to give me some personal items that carry your own scent. I will have ninja crows carry these items to various parts of the forest to create a false impression and confuse Orochimaru."

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