17 17. Bird of Prey
Later in the evening,
Akio closes the shop and turns to Yamato who is sitting beside him, playing with a kunai.
"Let's go out on a stroll around the village."
"Yes, Aniki! Yamato nods in excitement.
"Mom! I will be slightly late. I am going on a walk with Yamato and will later visit his new home." Akio shouts to inform his mother.
"Ok! But don't stay for too long!" Kaori nods to him as she waters some orchids in the backyard.
"Let's go!"
Akio walks out of the backdoor. Yamato chases after him.
Hmm…
Akio stares at the remaining time on the quest menu.
'I still have 4 hours and 30 minutes. I hope I will make it on time!'
The duo quickly rushes out of the shopping district and dashes towards the northern district of the village.
'There is a desolate training ground at the periphery of the northern district which is also one of the restricted areas of the village since there are various mindless beasts, mutated plants, and insects flooding the area.'
Akio purchases a few candies and sweets for Yamato while lost in his thoughts.
"Aniki, it's so good!"
Yamato licks a candied fruit and flashes a smile at Akio with his teeth laced with red syrup of the fruit
"Mm… it's delicious." Akio smiles at Yamato.
He escorts Yamato for another hour through the shopping district while purchasing various sweets and other delicacies.
'Is this how it feels like to pamper a younger brother? I was the youngest in my previous life so I never got a chance but now maybe I can relax once in a while.'
[Host should hurry or else the emergency mission will fail! The consequences of the failure might not be to your liking.]
A slightly irritated voice sounds in his mind.
"System, don't be a whiny bitch! I will handle everything perfectly." He adds.
Akio turns towards Yamato and gestures to him.
"Yamato, big brother, has something urgent to handle, so I won't be able to accompany you for the rest of the evening."
Umm…
Yamato clenches his fist and pouts.
Akio ruffles his hair and smiles.
"Next time, I will take you on a picnic for the entire day."
"Mm…"
Yamato cheers up and flashes a smile.
"Promise!"
He points his pinkie finger.
"Promise!"
Akio reciprocates Yamato's gesture.
'Also!!'
He slowly whispers in Yamato's ears.
'Don't tell mom about my early departure. It's a surprise for her.'
"Yes, Aniki!"
Yamato nods and dashes towards the orphanage.
"This guy!"
Akio shakes his head.
'Perhaps raising a younger sibling isn't that bad. If only it was a cute little sister. Sigh…'
Akio glances in Yamato's direction and turns around and dashes towards the training ground.
'My peak speed is almost on par with a normal dash of genin. Well, that's the limit of a normal human. I wonder when I will be able to break the limit.'
[Host will eventually receive missions that will grant attributes as the rewards.]
System explains to him.
[The emergency mission grants special abilities as rewards. The missions will reward attributes as the rewards. The bounty mission will reward system points. As for the rest, the host has to spend System points to purchase weapons and certain special skills.]
'I… I see!'
Akio gains a further understanding of the System's rewards.
Soon, he reaches near the periphery of the Training ground.
A giant metallic fence with criss-cross barbed wires blocks the entrance to the training ground. A giant board with huge letters 'Restricted Area' in red is nailed on the fence.
Akio ignores the board and carefully opens a gap in the fence.
Swoosh…
He enters the training area.
Fwoosh…
Suddenly, a gloomy aura assaults him. Akio's eyes narrow and he glances in the forest's depth. Even without his ability to sense chakra, he can feel a slight tingling sensation on his skin.
[Detected an isolation barrier ninjutsu.]
System informs him.
"No wonder they isolate this area from the rest."
Akio looks around.
He quickly spends 1 system point to scan a radius of 100 m around him for humans and beasts present.
Phew…
Akio sighs in relief when there is no one on the radar.
"Time to summon my pet!"
He carefully infuses 25 points of nature energy in the ring of contracts and mutters in his mind.
'A flying creature with the ability of stealth.'
Poof…
With a burst of white smoke, a four-meter-tall bird with a wingspan of eight-meter appears in front of him.
The ring of contract glows brightly and Akio forms a mental connection with the bird. He carefully scrutinizes the bird.
The bird has dark violet eyes with a curved red-black beak. It has a brown leather coat and the tips of its feathers are silvery white. There is a small silver crown-shaped feather comb on his forehead.
The giant bird stares at Akio with curiosity.
"What's the species of this bird?"
Akio questions himself and opens the system panel to scan it.
[Name: (None)
Race: The legendary Roc
Age: 7 months, 13 days (infant)
Combat Strength: High-tier Jounin
Bloodline: - King Roc
Strength: 45 Vitality: 35 Agility: 123 Dexterity: 18 Endurance: 48 Resilience: 45 Stamina: 80 Chakra: nil Nature energy: 90
Hidden Stat: Intelligence: 10 Spirit: 23 Wisdom: 5
Title: - Bird of Prey (Grants + 25 agility) Ruler of the Sky (Grants +10 strength, +50 agility, +25 stamina)
Special Skill: - Hyper Flight (Passive): - Reduces the stamina consumption for long-distance flights by 40% and increases speed by 30%.
Predator's eyes (Passive): - Can locate prey as small as a rat from a height of 5km. Improves perception and reaction during fast flights.
Sonic Scream: - Releases a piercing cry sharp enough to shred the soul of its enemies. (Mental Attack)
Guise of the Wind: - Creates an invisible barrier of wind around the user. Can conceal its presence from the surrounding world and evade detection. Wards off from vision and audial detection. (Can be detected by special visual prowess)
…
…
…
…]
Akio gasps in shock as he stares at the stats and skills of the bird.
'Did I hit the jackpot on my first attempt?'
Shoom…
The runes on the ring glow brightly with a purple light, and a similar rune circle appears around the neck of the bird.
Akio feels a burst of power bubbling inside his body.
He clenches his fist and checks his new stats.
[Strength: 17.5 (15+2.5) Vitality: 16.5 (15+1.5) Agility: 21 (15+6) Dexterity: 31 (30+1) Endurance: 17.5 (15+2.5) Resilience: 17 (15+2) Stamina: 19 (15+4) Chakra: nil.
Hidden Stat: Intelligence: 15 Spirit: 13]
'That's a lot of stats. With these stats, I can compete with a normal elite genin.'
Akio nod in satisfaction and turns towards the Roc.
"Big guy, since you don't have a name, I will call you Garu."
Garu nods in satisfaction and brushes his head against Akio as the latter has a grin on his face.
'Damn! My summon is legendary.'
Swoosh…
He hops on the back of Garu and passes a mental command to it to camouflage its presence.
Shoom…
A film of wind covers the two as both of them vanish from the spot.
"Wow! That's quite amazing."
Akio looks around in amazement.
Swoosh…
With a flap of its wing, Garu takes off to the sky.
Akio opens the map and points in the distance.
"This way!"
He points in the direction of Land of Grass.
Swoosh… swoosh…
Garu flaps its wings, and in an instant, the duo reappears on the outskirts of Konoha.
"So fast!" Akio gasps.
Swoosh…
With another flap, Garu shoots on the horizon like a speeding bullet.
"With such a speed, I will reach the borders in just under half an hour."
Akio estimates the flying speed in his mind and is shocked at the revelation.
"Damn! We are almost on the cusp of breaking the sound barrier. So, this is the speed of the legendary beast of prey."
Akio lies down on the soft back of Garu. He takes out the silver D-eagle from the system inventory and nuzzles it.
"At first, I thought that this was just a normal gun. But how can normal guns deal with a shinobi? I can infuse the bullets with the Nature energy from the Sage ring and fire elemental bullets capable of piercing through a concrete wall of 3 m thickness.
Someone with overwhelming physical strength or someone with good chakra control can still deflect them. Also, shinobis with quick reaction speed can avoid them.
But so, what? If you avoid my first bullet, I have seven more in the magazine!"
Akio chuckles and flips the gun in his hand.
