Inside the city.
In front of a blacksmith shop.
A young man with an ordinary appearance, carrying a long sword, skillfully lifted the thick door curtain and walked straight in.
Suddenly, the sound of clanging iron, accompanied by a burning heat that hit his face, reached his ears.
"Hey~, sir, you are here!"
At this time, a young boy, who looked like an apprentice, quickly approached him.
"Um!"
The young man nodded, responded casually, and said nothing more, giving off a vibe that strangers should keep their distance.
However, the apprentice did not show any strange expression, as if he were used to it.
"Sir, are you here to pick up the last batch of goods today?" asked the apprentice.
"Um."
Bai Shi nodded and asked, "Is it forged?"
"It's all forged, sir. Please come this way!"
As he spoke, the apprentice extended his hand to lead the way.
Soon, the two arrived at a warehouse in the backyard.
After opening one of the boxes, the apprentice pointed to the shiny armor pieces inside and said, "Sir, this is what you wanted. There are a total of 100 pieces, each weighing one pound. Just like the previous ones, they are all made strictly according to your requirements."
Bai Shi picked up a piece of iron at random. It was cold to the touch, not even as big as a palm, but extremely heavy. It must have been made from the finest iron.
That's right; the person who came was Bai Shi, and this was not his first time here.
Over the past half month, he had come several times and received customized weight-bearing armor plates in batches. Today was the last batch.
"Good!"
Bai Shi put down the iron sheet and offered a rare compliment.
Hearing Bai Shi's praise, the apprentice rubbed his hands and asked cautiously, "Since you are satisfied, sir, how about the final payment?"
Bai Shi didn't intend to default on the debt, so he said directly, "Let's go. Take me to see the shopkeeper."
The apprentice beamed and quickly replied, "Okay, sir! Please wait a moment. I'll ask someone to move the items to the front for you."
Hearing this, Bai Shi waved his hand and said, "No need."
After saying that, he locked the box and casually picked it up with one hand.
Looking at the stunned apprentice, Bai Shi spoke again, "Let's go!"
After hearing Bai Shi's reminder, the apprentice finally awoke from his stupor, lowered his head in awe, and said repeatedly, "Well, okay, okay, sir! This way!"
Seeing the apprentice's reaction, Bai Shi secretly shook his head and thought, "The ordinary person's fear of extraordinary people is really deep-rooted!"
As he followed the apprentice, Bai Shi reflected that if the absolute gap in power could not be changed, then the so-called peace would ultimately be nothing but an illusion.
Shaking his head and not thinking any more on that topic, Bai Shi followed the apprentice and paid the balance.
After leaving the blacksmith shop, he walked into an alley, looked around, and after confirming that no one was nearby, he silently performed the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The next moment, his figure disappeared from the spot.
…
Outside the city.
In an underground secret room made with wood escape techniques, Bai Shi's figure suddenly appeared.
For safety reasons, he did not stay in the city. Instead, he relied on the Flying Thunder God Technique to travel around, which basically cut off the possibility of being tracked by others.
Maybe this was a bit exaggerated, but after the last lesson, he dared not be careless again, nor did he dare to underestimate the strength of the major ninja villages.
Since Iwagakure can come up with a 'Four Beasts Spirit-Shocking Formation,' it was likely that other ninja villages might also have some means to restrain him.
Therefore, before he became powerful enough, he planned to keep a low profile.
Putting down the box, Bai Shi released the Wood Release: Wood Transformation and revealed his true form again.
Although he was nearly nine years old and still looked childish, his height had already reached over 1.4 meters. That was why Bai Shi was not worried that a little extra weight would affect his growth.
At that moment, he was wearing a gray sleeveless vest with dozens of small pockets neatly arranged on it, all filled with armor plates.
Furthermore, there was also a strap on each of his limbs, which was bulging and obviously had weights.
In other words, he had been carrying these burdens all the time.
In fact, since the first batch of weight-bearing armor plates had been made, he had never taken them off unless absolutely necessary.
After comparison, Bai Shi had confirmed that 'weight-bearing' could indeed accelerate evolution, whether it concerned 'special enhancement' or 'basic attributes.'
"System, show my status."
As soon as Bai Shi finished speaking, a familiar translucent panel appeared in his field of vision.
[Host: Bai Shi
Age: 8/68
－－Basic Attributes－－
Strength: 21.7 → 25.1↑
Agility: 23.6 → 26.1↑
Constitution: 50.0 → 50.2↑
Intelligence: 40.5 → 40.6↑
- Special Enhancement -
Chakra Affinity: Water: VI (7.8%) Earth: VI (8.5%)
Wood Release: V (50.5%)
Mental Resistance: V (25.1%)
Spatial Perception Enhancement: V (0.1%)
Self-healing: IV (17.5%) → IV (20.3%) ↑
Five Senses Enhancement: III (45.3%)
Cell Adaptability: III (0.1%)
*Cold Resistance: II (80.4%)↑
Toxin Resistance: II (25.5%)
- Abnormal State -]
Over the past half month, he had focused his main energy on the evolution of [Cold Resistance] and had not allocated much energy to the evolution of his 'Basic Attributes.'
However, his [Strength] and [Agility] still increased by 3.4 and 2.5, respectively. The presence of the extra weight allowed him to achieve unexpected evolutionary effects with minimal energy expended.
As for [Constitution] and [Intelligence], since no effort was put into them, they only passively increased by 0.2 and 0.1.
Meanwhile, [Self-Healing] increased by another 2.8 percentage points due to the continuous exploration of the potential of [Wood Release].
Returning to [Cold Resistance], in just over ten days, it had evolved to Level II (80.4%), not far from Level III.
For reference, it took him half a month to upgrade [Spatial Perception Enhancement] to Level II.
After that, it took another half a month to upgrade it to Level III.
This was the result of wholehearted dedication.
As for [Cold Resistance], even if the initial three days are included, it had only evolved to its current level in about twenty days. Comparing these two, the difference is clear.
From all of this, it's not difficult to see the importance of the "external environment."
Given the excellent conditions, Bai Shi didn't want to waste them, so he planned to stay here for another month.
By then, [Cold Resistance] should be able to evolve to Level IV.
Therefore, including travel time, that would amount to two months. Bai Shi didn't believe that Iwagakure would keep him here for that long.
If they did, then he would accept it, but the possibility was very slim.
After all, the Third Ninja World War had been going on for nearly a year. Now was the time when battles were most intense, and Iwagakure was indeed in need of manpower. How could they waste resources and personnel on such a gamble?
Of course, the more likely scenario was that he was engaging in a battle of wits and resilience against thin air, but as long as it didn't hinder his progress, it wasn't a waste of time.
In this case, why not wait another month?
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