Naruto: World of Warcraft - chapter 53 (Patreon)

The war continued without much problem, so I focused on teaching my team more and more, for example Duy could open the first door of death, although he still could not use it for more than two minutes, but being able to open it was already a great step forward. As for my missions, well, since I killed the Raikage, I had not been sent on solo missions anymore, which worked for me.

Speaking of the war, after the death of the Raikage, Kumogakure unofficially withdrew from the battle, on paper, they were still at war with us, but in reality, they were no longer on the battlefield. Which made this war a thousand times easier to fight.

Level fifty-nine, so close to sixty, yet so far away. Being close to my maximum level brought a series of worries to me since I didn't really know what it would mean to be level sixty. Would that be the limit of my strength? Oh, there would be something beyond sixty.

It worried me sick, knowing that perhaps I would cap my power soon. Training, while helpful, didn’t increase my power as exponentially as leveling up. I suppose, I will find out when I get to level sixty, which I will soon enough when this war ends.

As I pondered over my mortality, Duy approached me with a big smile, “Sensei! I managed to hold the first gate open for two minutes and one second!”

I looked at the fourteen-year-old and smiled, “Impressive,” it was weird to have people so close to my age calling me sensei, then again if I count my life before this, it’s okay.

“I shall continue my training to increase that to two minutes and two seconds!” Duy declared happily going back to train.

“Bro,” Nawaki, who had been waiting for Duy to leave approached me, “I… do you think you could teach a new Jutsu?” he asked, with… puppy eyes?

“Sure, maybe a water style Jutsu would do fine,” I nodded, creating a clone to teach him a basic water style Jutsu to add to his arsenal, as he left, I sat down, but before I was able to get, too comfortable, a man entered the cave I was currently using as a tent with my team, his presence was… it shouted danger.

“Kids, the seeds that will become the fruits of the future, don’t you think, Raiden?” The man inquired, and for a moment the world around me froze, as I, in shock wondered what was going on, I was scared, when was the last time I… got scared.

[Isshiki Otsutsuki - LEVEL 60 {**} -ERROR- BODY FAILING]

He was one level ahead of me, no… those stars beside his level meant something, a part of me knew it, but it couldn’t be anything good. “Your eyes see beyond what they should, don’t they?” the man in front of me asked, his tone polite and calm.

“Who are you?” I asked, taking a step back. I had to do something about this, but what, think Raiden, think… what can you do about this man, what can you do to win.

“Jigen, that is my name,” Jigen? I see, he is lying, for what purpose, is beyond me.

“So, Jigen, what do you want… as you can see, I have a war to fight,” Think Raiden, every enemy has a weakness one can overcome with the brain alone.

“I came to ask you a favor of sorts,” Jigen smiled, taking a seat on one of the rocks in the cave.

“A favor?” I asked, wondering where this was going.

“I need assistance resurrecting someone, or healing it… it all depends, and your skills… well, they seem to be up for the task,” Jigen elaborated.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you,” I answered.

“Is that it? Too bad,” Jigen smiled, getting up, “As I am now, I can’t force you, it would… damage this body beyond repair, it would also alert that traitor of my moves...  in a few years perhaps I would have the power at my disposal to do so without risking my well being or my plans, besides, it would be terribly rude to force you… don’t you think?” the bastard was talking about why he couldn’t force me right now, in front of my face. I should attack him, but something primal within me is shouting at me to let him go, to avoid confrontation now.

“I agree,” I nodded, readying for battle, just in case.

“Well, until next time… Raiden, oh… and don’t tell anyone about our meeting, lest you want to lose some of your friends...” And with that, he walked out of the cave, disappearing as soon as he turned out of my sight.

As soon as he left, I noticed I was sweating, like never before. Whoever this guy was, he was dangerous, more so than anyone I had ever encountered.

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Stars, why did that man have stars on his level, what did they mean, in wow they never existed, unless this was a new feature, like that of some games, where one can level up multiples times to max level, in some games, that is called a reset, you get to keep all your powers and stats, but you reset your level to level one if that was the case with Jigen or Isshiki, then, in reality, he was level 180, which didn’t make any sense, if he was level 180… if that even existed… Anywho, if he was level 180, he could’ve taken me down quite easily, then again… perhaps his reluctance to do so had something to do with the ERROR message close to his level that stated his body was failing.

The worst part of all of this was… that I was truly alone with this problem, whoever Isshiki was, I would have to find a way to take him on, before he… fixed whatever was ailing him, otherwise, I would die at his hands like a piece of trash.