The Game Merchant Who Started from the Ninja World

Chapter 22: War of Words

Outside the ruins of the castle,

most players still fighting against the Wraith Army suddenly noticed that the ghostly enemies were no longer spawning like a relentless tide.

Instead, they were appearing at intervals, condensing from wraith energy like normal monsters.

As soon as the announcement dropped, the chat exploded.

"The Wraith General was actually hunted down?!"

"Purple greatsword and a blue-tier set—who got the god-tier loot?"

"The Wraith Sorceress is going to attack the Novice Village?"

"There's a castle dungeon now? It drops fixed gear too? Does that mean we can get top-tier loot too?"

Merchant players in particular quickly caught wind of opportunity.

Though weak in combat and unable to compete with ninja players, buying low and selling high was their natural talent.

Several merchants had already stocked up on materials ahead of the life system update and made a killing.

Every announcement and system update in the Reincarnation Game was a chance to earn.

"Buy dungeon tickets! We need to figure out what this castle instance is!"

Countless players moved fast.

Then, posts began appearing on the server's announcement board.

[Kirigakure Alliance successfully hunted the Wraith General—now recruiting all solo players, no restrictions.]

[Kumogakure Alliance landed the killing blow—recruiting solo players now.]

The two biggest player factions were both claiming credit for slaying the Wraith General.

No one was dumb.

Publicly showing off a victory like this was guaranteed to sway countless undecided solo players.

"Miss Mabui, we clearly killed the Wraith General. Isn't it a bit much to deceive the public like this?"

"You Kirigakure people just got into the castle first. Without our Cloud team stepping in, you couldn't have taken it down."

Neither side would back down. Both wanted the glory.

They even took their argument to the announcement board, where it quickly escalated into a public flame war.

[Kirigakure has always been sneaky. Didn't you once steal a Byakugan and end up as sworn enemies of the Hyūga Clan?]

[Heh, and Cloud Village dares to throw shade? Didn't you abduct the Hyūga heiress too? You think people forgot?]

[That's bullshit. Konoha killed our envoy first, that's why it happened…]

[This is Sarutobi Asuma, Jōnin of the Hidden Leaf. I object. Konoha did not kill the envoy from Kumogakure.]

...

Players were allowed to post one message to the announcement board every two hours.

If they wanted to post more during cooldown, each message cost 20 reward points.

Now, with the question of who killed the Wraith General in dispute, the Kirigakure and Kumogakure alliances began a full-on verbal war, each side throwing down points while trying to undermine the other's credibility.

Eventually, it became a contest of pure wealth.

[Cloud's a land full of rocks—how dare you bark on the announcement board? Keep talking and you'll burn through your mission fund.]

[Say that to our faces. Are Kirigakure's water ghosts only good at yapping? Every war, we sent you running with your tails between your legs.]

Every player was watching, thoroughly entertained.

The flame war lasted for a full two hours, earning Fang Yi nearly two thousand reward points in pure profit.

When players bought items and skills from the shop, Fang Yi still had to spend reward points to create the gear—he only made a markup.

But spamming announcements? Pure profit.

Every single point earned went straight into his pocket.

Fang Yi stroked his chin, thinking, Looks like in the future, I should secretly incite faction wars. Even if they don't fight, just flaming each other in chat is profitable.

Eventually, Kumogakure ran out of funds and went silent.

[Dear players, here's proof Kumogakure killed the Wraith General: [Bloodbane Greatsword].]

The message included an item link:

[Bloodbane Greatsword (Purple)]

Type: Greatsword

Durability: 45/45

Attack: 50

Requirements: Lv. 10, Strength 8, Constitution 10, Melee Proficiency Lv. 5

Special Skill:

Bloodbane Dance (Active) – Consumes 5 HP per second. Each slash deals 10 bonus Bloodbane damage and reduces enemy defense by 15.

Note: The Wraith General's left-hand sword, forged through countless campaigns.

"It's a purple-tier weapon! One like that in the shop would go for tens of thousands of reward points!"

"Crazy damage, and it weakens enemy defense? Whoever equips this will walk through hundreds of players like it's nothing."

Players were stunned by the stats.

Shop gear was one thing. Everyone knew it was too expensive to buy.

Even the wealthiest ninja villages wouldn't dump points on shop gear that would soon be outleveled.

Since no one could afford it, there was no envy.

But now it was different.

Kumogakure had actually obtained a purple weapon and posted it publicly.

That hit differently.

It was like internet nerds who claim they're immune to beauty, then turn into stuttering wrecks when faced with a real woman.

[Kumogakure, you're shameless—looting the Bloodbane Greatsword in the chaos after the kill. Think we from Kirigakure have nothing to show? [Bloodstained Shoulderplates], [Bloodstained Iron Boots], [Bloodstained Armor], [Bloodstained Greaves], [Wraith General's Malice Blade].]

A barrage of gear links followed.

The Malice Blade was also a purple-tier weapon, and the bloodstained set was the Wraith General's guaranteed fixed loot.

For bosses like the Wraith General,

Fang Yi didn't use a last-hit mechanic. Loot was distributed based on contribution.

If a player didn't meet the contribution threshold, they couldn't pick up the item—even if it was right in front of them.

Terumi Mei hadn't been lying.

Kumogakure had taken advantage of the chaos at the moment of the boss's death. With Mabui's psychic perception, they grabbed the Bloodbane Greatsword.

But because they focused on that one item, their contribution score dropped too low to collect the rest.

The two major alliances continued their cold war in-game.

Asuma clenched his fists.

The Hokage and senior advisors' apathy had left them powerless to compete.

Konoha had been shoved to the margins—alongside the impoverished Sunagakure and Iwagakure, whose players had such bad luck not even one ninja had logged into the game.

Logging out of the game,

Asuma looked up at the dark, cloudy sky and made his way toward the Hokage Tower.

They hadn't come away empty-handed.

In his hand was a flag radiating dense wraith energy.

He had spent 800 verification points to make it usable in the real world.

Its special ability to summon wraiths shocked him in a way the beginner sword never could.

It could be compared to the relics Kumogakure had once used to ambush the Second Hokage—items said to be left behind by the Sage of Six Paths himself.

Seeing was believing.

Asuma hoped this equipment would finally change the Hokage's stance on the Reincarnation Game.

Suddenly—

A slender figure appeared up ahead.

Asuma tensed for a moment, but relaxed when he recognized the man. He smiled, "Kabuto—it's just you. You're also here to see the Hokage? That's perfect. With you there, I might finally convince him to—"

Splurt.

The sound of a kunai piercing flesh.

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