Chapter 49 (Patreon)

Naruto sat on his bed, browsing the system store. He checked his status panel, considered his options for a while, and finally made his choice.

“System, buy every Wind Style jutsu in the store that I haven’t learned yet. Then upgrade all my Wind Style jutsu, including the ones I already know, to Advanced.”

[Ding! Purchases and upgrades complete.]

[Wind Style shape transformation and nature transformation fully mastered.]

[Would you like to purchase a Bloodline Synthesis Scroll and synthesize the Wind God Body?]

“Ha! I knew it!”

Naruto stared excitedly at the prompt.

The system already offered Skill Upgrade Scrolls, Bloodline Upgrade Scrolls, and Supernatural Ability Synthesis Scrolls. That had made him wonder: with everything it could do, why wouldn’t it be able to create a new bloodline as well?

His guess had been right.

“System, buy a Bloodline Synthesis Scroll and use it!”

[Ding! Congratulations! Bloodline acquired: Wind God Body.]

[Wind God Body: Freely manipulate wind and apply Wind Style shape transformation and nature transformation without hand seals. The power of each technique depends on the amount of chakra used.]

Naruto eagerly read the description of his extraordinary new ability, then checked his remaining points.

“System, buy three Bloodline Upgrade Scrolls and use them on the Wind God Body!”

[Ding! Wind God Body upgraded to Level 4: God-Level Bloodline.]

He could hardly wait to test it.

With a thought, Naruto teleported to the sea off the Land of Waves. A shadow clone remained at home, keeping the ANBU watching him unaware of his absence.

Standing on the mist-covered sea, Naruto stretched both hands forward and spread his fingers.

Ten tightly spinning whirlwinds, each no thicker than a finger, shot into the distance like bullets.

Next, he pressed his fingers together and slashed his right hand forward like a knife.

A blade of wind more than a hundred meters long appeared. Blue-white and enormous, it sliced through the mist, then tore a deep trench through the surface of the sea.

Naruto waved his right hand as casually as if he were shooing away mosquitoes and flies.

A massive hurricane formed. It swept up seawater, creating a waterspout that grew larger and larger as it spiraled toward the sky.

He jumped, and a powerful wind wrapped around his body, carrying him high into the air.

“All right! Let’s really get this wind going!”

Exhilarated, Naruto couldn’t help shouting.

He spun, and the swirling air around him expanded outward, sweeping away the white mist.

Soon, the fog had vanished across a radius of nearly a thousand meters. A devastating storm began to form, darkening both sea and sky.

On a distant island, Tazuna, the old bridge builder with a fondness for drink, hurried home with his grandson, Inari.

“Damn it! Why’s storm season starting early this year? Run, Inari! Run!” he shouted as they fled. “A storm this big could tear our new bridge apart!”

…

Once Naruto dispelled the storm, he lay back among the white clouds, held aloft by a gentle swirl of wind. His face was full of satisfaction.

The Wind God Body was so powerful that he almost felt like a god of wind himself. It gave him tremendous strength in battle, and it let him fly.

Few shinobi could take to the air. Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, was one. Konan, Deidara, and Sai had their own ways of flying, and Naruto knew Gaara would use his sand to do the same in the future.

Now he could join them.

When I get the chance, I’ll take Hinata flying with me. We can travel the whole world.

Pleased by the thought, Naruto took out a storage scroll and unrolled it. The Sword of Kusanagi appeared before him.

He ran a hand over the blade, erasing Orochimaru’s sealing formula and the chakra left behind. In their place, he applied a special formula of his own, storing a large amount of his chakra within it and adding a Flying Thunder God mark.

Then he casually dropped the sword from high above the sea.

As it fell into the water, Naruto raised his right hand. A Flying Thunder God mark flashed across his palm.

At the same moment, the special sealing formula on Kusanagi activated, feeding the stored chakra into the mark on the sword.

Whoosh!

In less than a second, Kusanagi was back in his hand.

“Hahaha!”

Naruto pointed forward. The sword floated in front of him, then darted ahead at his command.

It was already similar to the flying swords in the fantasy novels he had read in his previous life. Still, it lacked the flexibility and power he had imagined.

“In that case…”

“System, buy three Ninja Tool Upgrade Scrolls and use them on the Sword of Kusanagi!”

He had stumbled across those scrolls while browsing the store. Like Skill Upgrade Scrolls and Bloodline Upgrade Scrolls, they improved their targets—ninja tools, in this case.

Their upgrades also stopped at Level 4.

According to the system, Kusanagi was currently only Level 1.

[Ding! Sword of Kusanagi upgraded to Level 4: Artifact—Sword of Kusanagi.]

“Ha!”

Naruto brought his right index and middle fingers together and pointed into the distance.

The upgraded Kusanagi shot forward like a bullet, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

He beckoned with his right hand, and the sword returned to his palm.

Then he tossed it into the air and swept his two fingers from side to side. Kusanagi followed every movement, wheeling through the sky.

The blade flashed through the biting wind. There was no doubt that he could now take an enemy’s head from a hundred meters away.

A hundred meters was the limit, however. Beyond that distance, he could no longer guide the sword’s movements.

The flying swords he remembered from those fantasy stories had a much greater reach. Here in the shinobi world, he had to work within this limit.

Becoming an artifact had doubled the sword’s capabilities, while its hardness and sharpness had increased several times over.

Even the original blade could hurt Enma despite his adamantine body. Naruto reckoned that the upgraded sword might cut straight through him.

By then, he had spent every point he had earned.

…

Early the next morning, Naruto’s alarm dragged him reluctantly out of bed. Dark circles shadowed both eyes as he got dressed.

He had stayed out far too late enjoying his new abilities. Instead of using the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, he had flown all the way back to Konoha from the Land of Waves while guiding Kusanagi through the air.

Today was the Third Hokage’s funeral, but Naruto still hadn’t come down from yesterday’s excitement.

He took his time getting ready. When he finally stepped outside, he looked up at an overcast sky. Dark clouds hung overhead, and a light drizzle was beginning to fall.

“Is even the sky mourning Lord Third?”

Sakura approached slowly from the distance, her voice subdued.

“No way. It’s probably glad he’s gone.”

Naruto shook his head with a sneer.

Moments later, his original body teleported outside the village, leaving a shadow clone to accompany Sakura to the funeral.

Naruto flew straight up, rising above the dark clouds. He pushed both hands forward and released most of the chakra in his body.

A tornado formed over Konoha, rapidly driving the surrounding clouds outward.

Before long, the dark clouds had dispersed. The sky was clear, and sunlight shone down on the village.

Naruto paused in thought, then grinned. He continued directing the wind, gathering a few scattered white clouds and arranging them in the sky.

The many shinobi and villagers attending the Third Hokage’s funeral looked up in astonishment. The sudden sunlight dazzled their eyes.

Then a smiling face began to take shape among the white clouds. (PS: Damn...)

Their mouths fell open.

At the funeral, Naruto’s shadow clone turned to Sakura with a smug smile.

“See? I told you.”