Winning A Heart

{A/N: Whoever comments shall have his chance of getting laid by a 10/10 baddie increased by 0.01% by the blessings of the rizzler

Btw I have created a auxiliary chapter about the power stages in both shinobi and martial worlds be sure to read it} 

Huff... Huff...

'I shouldn't have come to this fucking remote area!' The beggar cursed under his breath, frantically darting through the narrow streets in the dead of night. It was a city in the Land of Tea, but it might as well have been a deathtrap.

His left arm had already been severed, and he clutched the bleeding stump tightly, desperately trying to escape from... something—or someone.

His breath came in ragged gasps as his mind raced, regretting every choice that led him here.

He should've listened to his master, should've avoided this cursed place. But greed got the better of him, the idea of stealing some expensive and rare herbs too tempting to pass up.

If this were some protagonist's story, they would've come out of this with treasure or newfound power, breaking every rule their master set and laughing about it later.

But him? He was just another piece of disposable fodder aka canon fodder.

"You're making this difficult for me, pest," a voice hissed from behind.

Before the beggar could scream, a hand clamped over his mouth. A swift kick to his back sent him sprawling to the ground.

Desperate, he tried to bite his attacker's fingers, but the next moment, agonizing pain tore through him as the figure jammed their fingers deep into his eyes, blinding him in an instant.

There was no time to react before his head was twisted violently, the sickening snap echoing in the dark alley.

"That makes it six," Shin muttered coldly, watching the beggar's lifeless body slump to the ground.

Without a second thought, he extended his hand, and with a casual flick of his fingers, the beggar's heart was yanked out of his chest by Shin's telekinesis.

'I still need 94 more... sigh.' Shin bent down, pressing his palm to the corpse. In an instant, the body burst into flames, reducing it to ashes in mere moments, leaving behind no trace, no evidence.

You might be wondering, "What's happening now?" Well, turns out the author pulled off the most overpowered technique in storytelling—Time-Skip no Jutsu—and skipped ahead a whole week!

In the past seven days, Shin made some pretty solid progress. He mastered the basics of the Heavenly Demonic Telekinesis technique—though he's not quite at the level of yanking organs out of living people just yet.

But corpses? No problem. He's also managed to move small objects with ease. Besides that, he learned a bit of the Fist of Phoenix and Footstep of Phoenix, though he's still working on perfecting those techniques.

The only real downside? His body can only handle as much Heavenly Demonic Energy as a chunin-level shinobi's chakra right now.

Turns out, Shin was born with pretty mediocre chakra reserves, and that's holding him back. If he had more energy, he could probably hit jounin level without even breaking a sweat.

"This won't do. I need more hearts for the Hundred Heart Demonic Pill," Shin muttered under his breath as he used his telekinesis to hover in the air, leaping onto a nearby rooftop.

From there, he darted across the city, moving from house to house like a shadow in the night.

To bring you up to speed—about a day ago, Shin tried to advance the Seed of Hell's Divine Tree to the next level. That's when he hit a roadblock: his body wasn't strong enough to handle the power.

Makes sense, right? After all, only the Heavenly Demon—the big boss of all martial artists—managed to pull that off.

Shin only got as far as he did because he's the Heavenly Demon's successor, with a little hidden help from the system.

Otherwise, his body would've turned into a pile of mush the moment he tried.

So, the system suggested a solution: the Hundred Heart Demonic Pill. It's basically a cheat code. This pill can push the limits of your body, making you insanely strong—like you're on magic steroids or something.

But, as the name suggests, it needs a hundred human hearts to craft. That's not exactly easy to gather without attracting attention.

Even in the Land of Tea, where the law is pretty loose, people might notice if a hundred beggars suddenly go missing.

And even if they're not the most organized society, shinobi from the Land of Tea would eventually catch on and try to hunt Shin down.

And it would only get worse from here.

…

After running for a while, Shin reached his house in the Shonin Clan's estate. He had to admit—when it came to shinobi skills, his clan was a joke. If they ever faced a more organized or powerful clan, they'd get wiped out. But he brushed the thought aside.

He had zero interest in becoming the clan head or dealing with their weaknesses. He had bigger things to worry about.

'Time for some bloodshed,' Shin thought as he entered his room. It looked pretty standard at first glance, but appearances can be deceiving.

He moved to the bed, peeled back the large carpet covering the floor, and removed a wooden plank hidden beneath it.

What lay below were five bottles filled with a strange liquid, each containing five hearts, neatly preserved. There were ten bottles like this in total, all arranged alongside a giant jar filled with blood.

The liquid was a herbal preservation agent—pretty common in the Land of Tea and perfect for keeping the organs intact for extended periods.

Shin casually dropped the heart he had harvested earlier tonight into the jar, watching it sink into the crimson liquid.

"System, how much longer until the blood clone is ready?" he muttered as he flopped down onto his bed.

{Master, it will take approximately 5 hours and 45 minutes.}

'That's quicker than I thought,' Shin mused. He was working on creating a blood clone to stay behind at the Shonin Clan while he was away.

It was surprisingly easy to make, thanks to the manual from the Heavenly Demon's library. All he needed was a full jar of blood—something he had no trouble acquiring by killing stray dogs—and a human heart.

After a few hours of waiting and pouring some of his qi into the jar, the clone would be complete.

The technique was practically a cheat code, though it came with one significant drawback—the clone wouldn't be particularly strong.

Otherwise, Shin would have been making an army of clones to take over the world by now.