NOVEL WEB Chapter 36: Reflex Surge
Yako carefully studied the three spin options:
[1 - Reflex Surge (One-time Breakthrough);
2 - Chūnin-Level Chakra Reserves (Stackable);
3 - Wire-Controlled Shuriken Technique (Basic Level)]
The Wire-Controlled Shuriken Technique seemed to be a skill related to manipulating ninja tools with steel wire.
Just like the Longsword: Sewing Needle, which was trailed by wires that could pierce an enemy and slice through limbs—it was formidable.
As for the Chūnin-Level Chakra Reserves...
The one who killed him was Kuriarare Kushimaru. Yako had hoped for Jōnin-Level Chakra Reserves, and was disappointed to get something so minor.
Perhaps his body couldn't yet handle Jōnin-level chakra. Maybe that's why the system substituted it with a Chūnin-grade version.
After all, he'd been out on missions for months, living off food pills—just enough to stay alive. His body had slimmed down significantly.
Chakra was a combination of physical and mental energy. With a weakened body, it was impossible to generate more.
But the first option—Reflex Surge—truly intrigued him.
A one-time boost to neural reflexes.
A human's average reaction time ranged between 0.2 and 0.4 seconds. Yako had measured his own—it was about 0.2.
Kushimaru was a speed-type shinobi, with incredibly fast movements. His manipulation of sewing needles and wires was near-instantaneous.
If Yako drew this option several times, he could become a speed-type ninja himself.
He created a shadow clone and had it hold a rock.
The clone dropped the rock without warning, and Yako tried to catch it.
After several tries, he calculated the average height at which he could catch the falling rock.
Then he selected Reflex Surge.
A sharp jolt hit the back of his brain. His skin tensed and his muscles spasmed as a current surged through his nervous system.
Something changed in his reflex pathways.
He repeated the rock test.
This time, the stone seemed to fall slower.
Simultaneously, his muscles responded faster.
He caught the stone significantly higher.
After multiple trials, Yako concluded his reaction time had improved by 0.05 seconds—down to 0.15s.
Olympic athletes, he'd heard, had reflexes in that range.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Ninjutsu could be learned. Taijutsu could be trained. But raw reaction speed—true, innate quickness—was rarely improved so dramatically.
It was said that Namikaze Minato had the fastest reflexes in the entire shinobi world.
Most shinobi could learn the Flying Thunder Technique, but if their reaction speed didn't match the teleportation, they'd just get swatted out of the air.
Minato could pursue targets over a thousand miles.
Others would just deliver themselves to the enemy.
The story was unfolding just as it had in his last life.
Two more Konoha Anbu squads reached the desert and met with Hippo's squad.
The Uzumaki Guardian Captain no longer wished to live—he jumped straight into Konoha's ranks.
This time, Yako was smarter. He stayed far away from both the captain and from Kushimaru's direction.
The battle erupted instantly.
The Mist-nin surged into Konoha's formation, desperate to retrieve the Guardian Captain.
Yako saw Kushimaru.
Just like before, he used the Longsword: Sewing Needle to rip a hole in the Anbu formation, letting the Mist-nin flood in.
But he didn't enter. He remained still—casting, retrieving, dancing in place like a grim puppeteer.
Yako's enhanced reflexes allowed him to see the wires crisscrossing the battlefield.
Sewing Needle stabbed into a nearby rock, coiled around it, and zipped back to Kushimaru's hand.
Between several boulders, wires created a deadly framework. The needle danced within it, weaving a massive net.
Some Konoha shinobi spotted the attack, but even Anbu armor couldn't block it.
Kushimaru gave a savage pull.
A shrill slicing noise rang out.
The anchored rocks snapped—and the wire net snapped tight.
Yako kept his eyes on the ground.
The wire net severed the legs of two nearby Anbu—clean off at the shin.
He leapt just in time.
His speed now surpassed the others—he dodged death by inches.
In a single strike, over twenty Konoha Anbu had their legs cut off.
They fell screaming, half of their legs still upright, while blood gushed from what was left.
Kushimaru threw his needle again.
This time, he used the wounded Konoha ninja as anchors for his next web.
One by one, the crippled shinobi were pierced and strung up.
Horrifying.
Kushimaru had elite Jōnin-level strength, and his cruelty was chilling.
The punctures from Sewing Needle were small. The victims didn't die immediately—they just screamed.
The wire cuts were surgically clean. The ninja looked like broken marionettes.
Captain Hound charged to flank Kushimaru, trying to stop the next net.
But Kushimaru evaded easily, disrupting Hound's Fire Release barrage with his wire-and-needle precision from blind spots.
Yako weaved through rocks and fallen comrades, staying at the edges of the chaos.
In the heart of the battle, the Uzumaki Guardian Captain was overwhelmed, struck by multiple blades.
Before dying, he pulled out the scroll.
"You'll never get the Uzumaki sealing arts!"
He bit down on the scroll—and the explosive tag attached to it.
He was about to blow both to pieces.
But Captain Black Ant made his move.
A Nara clan shinobi—his shadow had already reached the captain's feet.
Shadow Possession Technique—success.
The captain's hand raised involuntarily—he tore off the tag and threw the scroll.
The tag detonated near his face, blasting the scroll into the air.
Yako had already moved, standing right in the scroll's trajectory.
As it flew, the scroll unfurled midair.
He leapt up and caught it.
So close… just a glance at a sealing jutsu would be worth a fortune.
He glanced at the scroll—then quickly rewrapped it and tossed it to Black Ant.
Black Ant caught it, opened it—then froze.
He looked up at Yako in disbelief.
Behind his fox mask, Yako nodded slightly: It's real.
The scroll was blank.
Completely blank.
Of the eight Uzumaki Guardians—four Jōnin, four Tokubetsu Jōnin—not one had the real scroll.
Their entire group had been a diversion.
The true sealing scroll… had likely already escaped the Land of Waves.
The Uzumaki remnants had played both Konoha and Kirigakure like fools.
Black Ant refused to believe it.
He barked at a subordinate, "There may be invisible ink. Get a specialist to decipher this immediately!"
Yako watched Captain Hound and the others hurling immense Fire Release jutsu.
Suddenly, a sense of urgency bloomed in his chest.
His next priority—
He needed to draw the Water Chakra Affinity.
Not all his enemies came from other hidden villages.
Konoha had always been good at turning on itself.
You had to guard against your own village most of all.