Chapter 105 - Conquer the Castle

Daichi spent his time training and improving his skills. He refined his techniques and concentrated on increasing his chakra volume. Daichi gained several points in several stats over the course of the last few months.

Kensei had returned home after 3 weeks. Daichi noticed that his grandfather was in a better mood when he returned from the trip. He didn't pay much attention to it and chalked it up to the old man's business doing well.

Daichi kept his promise and sparred with Sasuke at the end of every month. Both of them noticed the Uchiha's improvement. Daichi's goal was to subtly influence Sasuke and have him not become a threat to the village or him. It was slow but over the course of a few months there were some small changes.

Several months passed and Daichi mastered the first step of the water nature skill and was half way through the second step. He and his clones used their chakra and pushed it forward from their palms. The water in front of him stopped off for several seconds before it resumed its fall.

[Skill Water - Waterfall control technique's level has risen by one.]

[Skill Water affinity's level has risen by one.]

Daichi dispelled the clones. He felt the immediate fatigue enveloping his body.

'Level 50. Slow, but it's not a problem. By the time I become a Genin I'd have all 5 chakra natures mastered.'

Daichi sat down and meditated. He felt the cool water splashing on his body and he felt refreshed. After an hour of deep meditation Daichi got up and went back home.

He was in a bit of a dilemma. 'Now that the October exams are over I have 2 weeks before class starts for the second term… Should I do an instant dungeon or should I try the academy dungeon?'

In the Instant dungeon or Key dungeons the player can stay inside the dungeon for as long as he wants and only a few seconds would pass in the real world. The strength of the enemies would depend on the color of the keys, so one can estimate the strength of the strongest opponent they might face in the dungeon.

In a Location Dungeon, once the dungeon is activated it will be open for a year and will close after 365 days. There are several restrictions to the dungeon as well. Moreover, the enemy could be weak or unbelievably strong.

After weighing the pros and cons and the fact that he would be leaving at the end of March, Daichi decided that starting a Location Dungeon would be just a waste. He took out the key to the Kikyo Castle Dungeon key.

'This thing used to be black but now it's red. So my opponents will be 15 to 30 levels higher than me… My strength has grown considerably. I can do this!'

That night Daichi waited for the clock to reach midnight and he took out the key. He clutched it in his hand and activated it. He felt the familiar sensation and in seconds landed on the stone floor.

He looked at the hallway and he was surprised at what he saw. The hallway was much larger than the ones he encountered in the other dungeons and this had artworks and gold colored lining throughout the walls. Daichi slowly walked and brushed his fingertips against the exquisite patterns on the wall.

'Wow… It feels like I'm in some sort of a castle. But then I suppose that's stating the obvious.'

[You have reached the entrance to the dungeon - Kikyō Castle.]

[Would you like to enter?] [Y/N]

"Yes!"

The key rotated and the door opened. He stopped through the door and was surprised. Several meters in front of him stood a large castle and there was nothing else in the surroundings.

[The title 'Dungeon Warrior' is now active. All your stats are increased by 15% while inside the dungeon.]

'Observe'

[Kikyō Castle]

[This castle was created based on the one built in the Leaf village. There are several ninjas inside that guard the castle from intruders and there is a king that resides at the top floor. There are 10 floors and each floor has a certain number of guards.]

[Quest Created - Conquer the Castle.]

[Condition:]

There are 10 floors inside the castle. Defeat your opponents and climb each floor till you reach the top. Defeat the king residing on the top floor and conquer the castle.

Time limit : None.

.

[Rewards:]

55000 Exp.

Red Potion.

.

[Failure:]

Death.

[Accept] (Y/N)

Daichi accepted the quest and walked towards the entrance of the castle. But before he entered he had to do something. Daichi opened the options tab and looked at the Gamer's Mind On/Off button. Without wasting a second he turned it off.

Daichi was perfectly calm and was his usual self. Due to facing his fears he was now much more in control of himself. Both mind and body.

'With 'Unyielding spirit' skill I won't have to worry about external mental attacks. And it's not like I'm going to have a mental breakdown here. So I'm good on that front. With this I'll be able to increase my indomitable stat… But should I deliberately let myself get wounded on the chance that it would increase my 'persistence' stat?'

After thinking about it for a few seconds Daichi decided against such an idea. 'If I get myself hurt and then suddenly a new enemy comes then I'll be in trouble. It's not worth the risk.'

He looked at the giant door and pushed them open. He slowly walked inside prepared for an ambush but he didn't find anyone. Daichi looked around and found no living creatures inside.

'What the? There isn't anyone here… Then again this is the ground floor.'

Daichi then took the stairs and walked up to the first floor. The first floor was vastly different from the ground floor. It was a giant room with a wide space. There were several pillars and decorations on the wall but nothing else.

'Wow. This place is big. I wouldn't have thought that looking at this castle from the outside. But I don't see any steps that would lead to the next floor.'

It was at this moment Daichi's senses alerted him to an attack from behind.

Daichi pumped chakra through his legs and jumped. As he easily avoided the slash from a sword, Daichi took out a kunai with a ninja wire attached and sent it towards his attacker. The kunai struck the enemy ninja and as Daichi was about to unleash a fire jutsu he sensed movements and attacks coming from 4 different directions.

He yanked on the kunai stuck to the first ninja and got himself out of the way just in time.

'I really need to learn to fly or at least maneuver in mid air. I'm pretty sure if I get my telekinesis strong enough I can accomplish that.'

The first ninja took the kunai buried in his shoulder and tore it out. He disappeared from his spot and joined the other 4.

Daichi stood and looked at the 5 enemies in front of him and a second later he sensed more opponents appearing in his back.

The enemy ninjas wore a black outfit and it covered most of their face as well. The only thing notable was the silver light shining from their eyes.

'Damn! 5 in front and 5 more in the back. It looks like this floor has 10 enemies. Assuming there isn't anymore hiding and waiting to ambush me…'

Daichi was in the middle of two teams of dungeon ninjas and he was extremely cautious. He immediately used 'Observe' on them.

'All of them are Level 58. They each have an HP of a little over 6000. And their chakra is in the 4500 range. And it says here their strength lies in Taijutsu and swordplay… It doesn't say anything about ninjutsu or genjutsu… Good. That's good.'

Daichi used Mana Scout skill to make sure these were the only enemies on this floor.

Daichi smiled as he looked at the dungeon ninjas. "I'm going to the second floor and you guys won't be enough to stop me."

His enemies stood still in silence and watched him. After a few seconds of calm, chaos erupted. The moment Daichi made signs for a shadow clone the ninjas attacked.

Daichi dodged the swings of their weapons and successfully created three clones. He took a few daggers and kunais from his inventory and threw them to his clones, while he kept the sword for himself.

Daichi's clones were able to deposit items into the inventory but they were unable to take it out. It was something he found out when he was first testing the shadow clone jutsu.

"Back to back. Make sure not to get dispelled." Daichi spoke to the three clones.

'Unlike Naruto I can't use shadow clones to overwhelm the enemy. But my clones are far more skilled than him and they wouldn't easily get dispelled.'

Daichi and the clones formed two teams. One of them attacked while the other provided support.

During the last several months Daichi learned several ninjutsu and genjutsu to his ever expanding arsenal. Daichi's stats increased due to the dungeon warrior title and he also got a boost due to the executioner title. It was a title that increased his stats by 7% when fighting enemy ninjas.

As Daichi was fighting one opponent his clone kept anyone attacking at bay. The clone used disorientation genjutsu, wind style and fire ninjutsu to blow the other enemies from getting close to Daichi.

Daichi easily evaded the sword swings and slashed at his enemy. Several skills were triggered and within a dozen seconds he finished off his first enemy.

[Enemy killed.]

+700 Exp.

+105 Exp.

[Enemies killed: 01/55]

"One down nine to go."

He turned his attention to the rest and resumed his battle. Daichi and his clone used taijutsu and genjutsu in tandem to take down their opponents.

[Enemy killed.]

+700 Exp.

+105 Exp.

[Enemies killed: 02/55]

At that moment he got the notification that his two man clone team had also finished their first enemy ninja in the dungeon.

As Daichi dodged a sword swing and punched the enemy. His clone body flickered and slashed the enemy from behind. Daichi then blocked a sword thrust and sidestepped another from two more enemies.

He rushed and easily got through their defenses. He sent a kick that sent one flying while he slashed at the leg of the other enemy and severed it. He went through hand-seals and let out a small but concentrated fireball that reduced the enemy to ashes in seconds.

[Enemy killed.]

+700 Exp.

+105 Exp.

[Enemies killed: 03/55]

Daichi's senses and battle skills had been refined to the point that even opponents several levels higher than him couldn't easily wound him.

As the battle continued the number of opponents on the first floor was decreasing minute by minute. Daichi's clones worked perfectly as a team and covered their backs. They would carefully dodge or deflect attacks that would have them reduced to smoke.

But there were still moments when the attacks got through and the clones dispelled. Daichi created a new clone the second he got the memories of the vanished one. Due to his large chakra reserves this was not a difficult task.

It wasn't long before the fight on the 1st floor became a one on one battle between 8 people.

The clones primarily used genjutsu to distract or disorient the dungeon ninjas. And then they would deliver the finishing strikes.

Daichi mainly used taijutsu and swordsmanship to improve and perfect it. Due to learning advanced leaf academy Taijutsu, his hand to hand combat skills have also gotten a boost.

Daichi parried a punch and sent several strikes to the joints and weak areas of his enemy's body. It slowed down the dungeon ninja and Daichi quickly slashed and reduced his health points to zero.

[Enemy killed.]

+700 Exp.

+105 Exp.

[Enemies killed: 07/55]

It wasn't long before his clones also finished their enemies.

[Enemy killed.]

+700 Exp.

+105 Exp.

[Enemies killed: 10/55]

You have leveled up.

Daichi looked at the several notifications indicating the level increase of several skills, ninjutsu and genjutsu.

He went over them all and quickly closed the blue system message boxes.

At that moment a new notification appeared.

[You have cleared the first floor. You can now move to the second.]

A portion of the wall on the far side of the room slid open and revealed white marbled stairs.

'It looks like I'll have to defeat every enemy on the floor before I can get to the next one.'

Daichi sat down and started meditating. Once he was back to his full strength he stood up and started making his way towards his next challenge.