Unrivalled - Naruto

Naruto stood on top of a tree branch looking at the dry blood stains on the forest floor. It was the blood of the ape-like creature a few days back when it was hunted by those wolves. He knew that he cannot go hunting at night. He would be at a massive disadvantage if he did so. He had picked the time as early morning since he knew that the wolves would probably be tired from hunting last night. He would have the advantage if this was the case. Everyone feels a bit tired and lethargic to move so early in the morning.

He knew he could not find them alone in this huge forest so he came prepared. For the past few days, he had gone out in all directions to track down the hideout of these wolves. Luckily, he found out that they did not live too far away.

After about fifteen minutes of jogging around the forest. He reached the location.

Around a dozen wolves were sleeping inside a forest den. Two of them were keeping an eye out for trouble but they looked tired. Naruto knew he had to thin down their numbers as quickly as possible to avoid any accidents.

Naruto quietly sneaked near them by hiding on top of nearby trees. He made sure that the wind was blowing in his direction and thus the wolves would not be able to pick up his scent. He poured a lot of qi inside his fingers as he prepared the finger drilling bullets. The lookouts instantly shouted in alarm but it was too late...

"Thud~ Thud~!"

Two fast bone bullets pierced straight through the skull of the two beasts. The two wolves died on the spot. However, they had done their job... The entire pack was now alert...

"Che- Time for plan B..."

Naruto immediately started running as the wolves chased behind him. He was jumping from tree to tree while the wolves chased from the ground.

Suddenly a wine snapped under the powerful legs of the wolf.

"Awoo..." A painful howl echoed in the jungle as a series of sharp bone spears sprang up from the ground piercing the wolves through the belly.

Naruto had carefully studied the path and placed many traps around. One after another the wolves sprang a variety of vicious traps as their numbers started dwindling. Naruto had a smirk on his face as he saw the river in front of them.

"We have reached our destination..." he said with a confident tone.

Out of a dozen wolves, only 5 were able to make it till here. Naruto jumped down the tree and onto the muddy riverbank. He had already coated his legs in chakra as he ran almost just as fast as the wolves.

A slightly bigger wolf walked out of the bushes as it glared at Naruto. Usually, if the pack suffers so many casualties, they would just withdraw and come up with a better strategy. But Naruto made sure they would not retreat. He had continuously taunted the Alpha by throwing rocks and fruits at it. In his previous life, he was a professional gamer... taunting a boss and pulling aggro is the b.a.r.e basic in his line of work. He was the Alpha and seeing his pack mates die, he was already fuming with rage.

The five wolves charged at Naruto who was running towards the river. The Alpha sneered seeing that his enemy cornered with his back against the river. However the very next second he was stunned still. The human boy was running on water!

However, the wolves could not remain surprised for long. The Alpha suddenly felt something was wrong. The ground beneath his feet was too soft. Every single wolf started sinking down below. The slippery wet mud made it extremely difficult for the wolves to walk. Naruto did not waste his chance as he fired a few bone bullets. The wolves were stuck, hence dodging the bullets was out of the question. Four out of five wolves died with a painful howl.

The only reaming wolf did something that Naruto did not expect... A coppery aura gathered inside his mouth as he released a small coppery qi ball towards Naruto. The bone pellet and the qi ball were both destroyed upon impact. The Alpha once again started to condense his aura but this time he did so on his feet. Within just a few seconds he has adjusted himself to stand on top of the mud. The wolf had used it's qi to create a foothold beneath him as fired another qi ball.

Naruto knew he was in a bad spot. He was standing on top of the river out in the open. There was no place to hide. Although he knew that he could counter the qi ball with his bone bullet but he did not want a battle of attrition. Naruto immediately picked up speed and starts running towards the other side of the river bank.

"Time for plan C" he muttered under his breath.

Seeing the human running away, the Alpha was furious. He too readied himself by concentrating all of his qi on the legs. With a single leap, he had already crossed the river. However... the very next second he just stood still. His enemy had simply disappeared... like the enemy he was chasing for so long was just an illusion.

The wolf immediately used it's a powerful sense of smell to locate the enemy and realized that his enemy was still in the area. However, it could not pinpoint the location for some reason.

Naruto sat on a branch of a tree directly above the wolf. He had coated himself in the same disgusting fungus that had saved his life a few days ago. He was hiding patiently behind the tree branch waiting for the Alpha to come into position.

Naruto immediately dropped a branch of disgusting smelling fungus on top of the wolf just as he saw the wolf walking right below his tree. The wolf immediately felt dizzy as it smelt the disgusting fungus. With its sense of smell several times stronger than humans, the wolf felt its effect a lot worse than Naruto.

Naruto did not waste the opportunity and jumped right on top of the wolf with a sharp bone spear coated in qi.

"Puchi..." The bone spear pierced deep inside the body of the wolf as blood started spraying all around him. Naruto repeatedly stabbed the wolf a dozen times before it eventually died...

Naruto gasped for air as he sat down leaning against the tree. He knew a single slip meant instant death.

"Indeed... fights in real life are a lot different than those in games... It's hard and painful but it feels a lot more rewarding..." Naruto just sat there for a few seconds as he savored the feeling of his first victory.

~~~

Naruto picked up the carcass and was about to clean it for meat when he saw a small shining gem inside the body of the wolf. The small coppery crystal was at the very center of the wolves body.

"Yuna, do you know what this is?"

[It is called a "Beast Core". When an ordinary beast awakens his qi veins and finally becomes a cultivator, it develops a crystal core inside its body. This core is the source of all the qi inside its body. All beasts are naturally stronger than humans of the same cultivation rank. Without special skills or abilities, it is very difficult to take down a Qi beast.

The wolf beast you fought was a newly awakened beast. It was a 1-star Bronze rank beast.]

"Holy shit~! you mean that guy was the weakest of all beasts?!!!"

[Yes... that is one way to look at it...]

"Damn... I am still a weakling. Yuna, you still have not explained if this crystal has any use for me?"

[The Beast Core has many uses. It can be used to make various alchemical pills and forge powerful weapons. It is also used to set up defensive and offensive arrays. However, the most basic use is in everyday cultivation. Many people like to use energy in the beast crystals to temper their own. Some beast crystals of powerful beasts can also hold the remaining essence of the dead beast. If the beast was an Ice-type beast then it's core would hold Ice-qi. Many cultivators who cultivate Ice-Qi can use this crystal core to temper their own Qi. Therefore, these crystals have a very high demand. However, given the difficulty in obtaining such a crystal... These crystals are sold at a very high price.

In your case, you may directly convert it to something called CP or cultivation points. These points can be used to upgrade your cultivation rank. Once you collect enough CP, I will be able to use the stored energy to compress your Qi and successfully upgrade your cultivation rank. Thus, as long as you have enough CP. You will never face a bottleneck in your cultivation. There is a catch, however... you cannot use Cores of cultivation level below your major realm and you cannot use the Qi-core of the same smaller realm twice. This means that if you convert the 1-star bronze core, you cannot convert another 1-star bronze core. You can, however, convert anything from 2 to 9-star. Each increase in minor level requires an increasing amount of CP.]

"I see... Please convert it then."

The beast core in Naruto's hand instantly turned into a stream of pure energy and entered into Naruto's body. However, he did not feel any different. He could tell that the entire energy has been stored in a separate corner inside his soul space.

[Added 1 CP for the core of 1-star Gray Wolf]

Naruto carefully tied the wolf meat in a makeshift package of leaf and vines. Naruto once again picked up speed seeing that there was not much time before sundown. On the way, he whispered in his mind.

"Yuna, can you show me my current status."

{{{ding}}}

[

Name: Naruto Namikaze (Tetsuya)

Age:12

EXP: 100

CP: 1/6 (to reach next level)

Bloodline: Namikaze-Uzumaki (filthy half-breed)

Cultivation Rank: 5-star Bronze Rank.

Elemental Affinity: (Wind)

Skills:

(1) Gamer's Mind (passive)

Ninjutsu:

(1) All Terrain Walking Technique [Rare] (Adept)

(2) Finger Drilling Bullet [Rare] (Novice)

(3) Transformation jutsu [Uncommon] (Novice)

(4) Clone Technique [Uncommon] (Novice).

Other Skills:

(1) Shooting (Novice)

(2) Qi Sense (Novice)

]

~~~

"Damn... Just a single digit in cultivation for that wolf crystal. I need to find more of these crystals. '~sigh~' Let's see if those wolves had anything good in their den..."

Naruto walked inside the den and was disappointed after not seeing anything good. Animal carcasses and chewed up bones were the only thing inside.

"A typical wolf den I guess…" Naruto was about to walk out of the cave when he suddenly felt something glowing near a wall. It was well hidden behind a pile of rocks but it was not a big deal for Naruto to move some rocks out of the way. A beautiful white flower of some kind gave a soft white mesmerizing glow. Next to the flower was a small black ring with a bunch of white inscriptions carved on it.

Naruto picked up the small ring and put it on his finger. From the hundreds of wuxia novels that he read, he knew that you need to pour some qi into the inscription to activate it.

The second Naruto activated the inscription on the ring, he understood what it is.

[Spacial Storage Ring]

It is a magical ring which is connected to a pocket space and can store items in it.

Naruto had a bright smile on his face when he saw what was inside the ring. A good quality sword and an odd brown book along with a few red pills. Naruto decided that he would check things out later and first go home since it was close to sundown. He picked up the small white flower and started rushing back to the cave.

~~~