Chapter 080.2: Star Sand, The Power Surge of Gaara!

Meanwhile, the Golden List livestream was still distributing rewards.

At this time, Eight-Tails received a secret technique manual.

[Eight-Sword Style Technique]

[Killer Bee: Hahaha, this technique is perfect for me. I'm the Eight-Sword Style Killer Bee—this sword technique was meant for me!]

[Eight-Tails: It suits Killer Bee well. If he masters it, his strength will likely increase significantly!]

[One-Tail: I hope I get an escape tool. I don't want to stay in the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's shell any longer—it's too boring here!]

[Four-Tails: I want to escape too!]

[Seven-Tails: Give it up. This is the third time the rewards have been refreshed. They won't be that great. There's no way we'll get something that could let us escape!]

[One-Tail: I was just hoping!]

Soon, One-Tail's reward arrived.

[Star Sand]

Although One-Tail didn't know what Star Sand was, judging by the name, it seemed to be a special kind of sand.

[One-Tail: Gaara, you can control sand, so this Star Sand is probably a treasure meant for you. The Golden List must know that giving it to me would be useless, so I'm giving it to you instead!]

[Gaara: Shukaku, thank you!]

And so, One-Tail directly transferred the Star Sand to Gaara.

In the Sand Village, on an open ground, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and other Sand Village shinobi were all present.

"Gaara, what is that Star Sand? Extract it and let us see!" Kankuro asked curiously.

"Lord Kazekage, please let us witness it too!" the other shinobi chimed in.

"Alright!" Gaara directly extracted the Star Sand from the Golden List livestream.

Buzz!

Grains of sand emitting starlight appeared, gathering into a pile of Star Sand.

Gaara stepped forward and touched the Star Sand. As a shinobi who controls sand, this ability is similar to a magnet release bloodline limit, and by touching the sand, he could understand its properties. Even with Star Sand, he could learn its uses.

"Star Sand is sand infused with the power of the stars. It is indestructible, extremely difficult to destroy, and possesses formidable offensive power!" Gaara explained.

At this moment, he controlled a grain of Star Sand and threw out a kunai.

Then—

Thud!

The kunai was directly pierced by the grain of Star Sand and fell to the ground.

"What? A single grain of sand pierced through the kunai?!" Both Temari and Kankuro were utterly shocked.

Previously, ordinary sand couldn't achieve such a feat. While Gaara could use sand to form many terrifying secret techniques, it required large amounts of sand combined with chakra to create powerful effects. A single grain of sand was essentially useless.

But now, with Gaara controlling just one grain of Star Sand, the results were astonishing—far beyond their expectations.

"Let me test its defense!" Gaara controlled a large amount of Star Sand to create the Shield of Sand technique.

"Attack my Shield of Sand, all of you, give it everything!" Gaara commanded.

"Yes!" Temari, Kankuro, and the others responded.

Immediately, the numerous shinobi launched their attacks, bombarding Gaara's Shield of Sand.

Boom, boom, boom!

One after another, Wind Release techniques assaulted the shield, but all the dense attacks were blocked by the Shield of Sand, barely making it tremble.

Soon, Gaara had everyone stop. By then, he had already grasped the benefits of Star Sand.

"My defense has increased several times. If I use it to perform techniques like Sand Burial, Shukaku's Shield, and Shukaku's Spear, their power would be terrifying. Star Sand has greatly enhanced my strength!" Gaara said.

"Oh my god, just from the third refresh of the Pet Rankings' rewards, Gaara's strength has multiplied!" Temari was utterly stunned.

"This is all due to luck!" Gaara explained. "In reality, Star Sand is just an average weapon material, but since I can control sand, and such a treasure doesn't exist in the Shinobi World, it drastically enhances my power!"

"Lord Kazekage is invincible!"

"Lord Kazekage is invincible!"

"Lord Kazekage is invincible!"

The surrounding Sand Village shinobi chanted in unison.

Gaara clenched his fist, declaring, "If Deidara dares to attack me again, I will make sure he dies without a trace! What happened last time will never happen again!"

While Gaara's good fortune was noteworthy, similar cases were not seen afterward. Most of the remaining rewards were only small boosts to strength.

As time passed, the distribution of rewards concluded, signaling the end of this round of the Pet Ranking List. Following this event, the second refresh of the Dōjutsu Ranking List was about to begin.

[Uchiha Madara: The Dōjutsu Ranking List should be refreshing soon!]

[Hyuga Hiashi: Indeed, more resources are about to be distributed again. With the amount given each year, one's strength can significantly increase. Sadly, I've lost the desire to improve myself, so I'll focus on training my two daughters instead! With these resources, they've made considerable progress—Hinata has even reached Jonin level!]

[Sakura Haruno: What? Hinata is at Jonin level???]

[Hyuga Hiashi: Yes, she is!]

[Sakura Haruno: This…]

Sakura felt envious. Hinata's strength had once been inferior to hers, but now, she was surpassed. While Sakura was still at Chunin level, Hinata had advanced to Jonin, completely outpacing her!

[Hyuga Hiashi: Neji, too, has reached Jonin level!]

[Might Guy: Are we showing off our kids now? Although I don't have children, my apprentice Lee has also reached Jonin level!!!]

[Fourth Raikage: It's slow for Taijutsu users to advance. Has that Rock Lee really reached Jonin?]

[Might Guy: Why not? Although Taijutsu users progress slowly, I've received many rewards, and I've shared some with Lee. Moreover, I lent him the gravity wristbands for training. It's perfectly reasonable for him to become a Jonin! Given two more years, he might even open the Seventh Gate and become a Kage-level ninja!]

[Tenten: I'm so envious of their progress!]

[Sakura Haruno: I'm envious too!]

[Rock Lee: How's Naruto doing now?]

[Jiraiya: Naruto has also reached Jonin level. It won't be long before he has the potential to reach Kage-level strength. Right now, he's busy absorbing and refining the power of the Bone Tempering Pill, so he hasn't had time to join the livestream.]

"They're all progressing so quickly!" Uchiha Sasuke remarked seriously.

Although he had received a Blood Essence Pill from his father and training from Orochimaru, reaching Jonin level himself, it wasn't enough. He knew that his brother, Itachi, had already surpassed ordinary Kage-level strength and might even rival those of Super-Kage level in a life-or-death battle.

And Sasuke was still far from being able to compete with him!

"I must work harder, mastering the power of the curse seal, enhancing my ocular power and ninjutsu…" Uchiha Sasuke resolved.

At that moment, Orochimaru appeared.

"Sasuke, I've recently developed something that can greatly enhance your strength. Are you interested?" Orochimaru asked with a sinister smile.

Sasuke felt a tinge of fear but didn't show it. "Orochimaru, what is it?"

"It's the Monster Cell!" Orochimaru replied.

"What? Monster Cells!!!" Sasuke knew exactly what those were. Orochimaru had obtained Monster Cells from the Golden List livestream and had been experimenting ever since. Many had been used as test subjects, transforming into hideous monsters. Most couldn't withstand the power of the Monster Cells and died from their bodies exploding.

Even worse, most of Orochimaru's experiments resulted in severe side effects without improving strength.

Sasuke was concerned about maintaining his handsome appearance; the thought of turning into something monstrous was unbearable.

"Don't worry, you won't turn into something hideous. I wouldn't want to ruin such a perfect body," Orochimaru said bluntly, not bothering to hide his intentions.

"Orochimaru-sama, this won't alter my appearance?" Sasuke asked.

"No!" Orochimaru assured him. "This is my latest version of the Monster Cells. It won't change your looks, but it will increase your speed, strength, and reflexes. The only downside is the high mortality rate. I experimented on a hundred subjects, and only one survived. It's similar to the curse seal in that the death rate is high, but I believe you'll be able to handle its power!"

Sasuke hesitated for a few seconds before gritting his teeth and agreeing, "Orochimaru-sama, I'm willing to try it!"

He knew that without Orochimaru's help, there was no way he could keep up with Naruto and the others. With Naruto's rapid progress, it was only a matter of time before he became Kage-level, while Sasuke only had his three-tomoe Sharingan.

"Excellent, follow me!" Orochimaru said excitedly.