Gu Xingxi gathered a few things and made his way to the Hokage Building for assembly. (Though there wasn't much to gather since he was poor and had nothing.)
Above him, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was passionately delivering a speech. He spoke about the Will of Fire, which essentially meant, "You are the hope of the village, and you must protect it."
"Why is a child like me, who hasn't even finished six years of compulsory education, expected to protect the village? Are you out of your mind? Why don't you do it?" Gu Xingxi thought bitterly. "Look at other villages—their Kage lead the troops in battle, while here you are, just giving speeches. Damn it."
After two and a half years, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally wrapped up with a command to depart.
As they moved forward, Gu Xingxi thought to himself, "The Jonin, like Jiraiya and the others, are safely in the back with the team, while the Chunin and Genin are in the front, essentially being used as cannon fodder. Who came up with this plan?"
Gu Xingxi looked around and saw mostly children who were five or six years old, barely out of the Ninja Academy. Meanwhile, he himself had never even attended the academy. "How tragic," he sighed.
Gu Xingxi and two fellow cannon fodder were stationed at the border of the Land of Fire, instead of heading directly to the battlefield at Hidden Rain Village.
Gu Xingxi inwardly cursed, "Why am I even looking for my dear Konan? This is how I get special abilities? What a joke."
But things didn't go as expected. As soon as they arrived at the border, Hatake Sakumo sent them to a northeastern area and ordered them to guard that huge territory.
Gu Xingxi stood on a tree and muttered to himself, "So, this is how it is. Hatake Sakumo, you sly dog. You have three kids guarding such a vast area, and I can barely use a three-tomoe Sharingan. What a joke."
System: "Warning: Host may be in imminent danger. The system store is now open, and 1000 points have been credited to the host's account."
Gu Xingxi was startled. Although it was on credit, it was better than facing death without any help.
He opened the system store and found a range of items—everything from weapons to jutsu. However, Gu Xingxi quickly skipped through and navigated to the high-mobility page. After browsing for about a minute, he found something interesting.
"A three-dimensional maneuvering device? Isn't this from Attack on Titan? It's very mobile, but does it match the speed of a Body Flicker technique?"
System: "Upgrading the 3d maneuvering gear to full level requires 3000 points. The blades and gas are unlimited, and every five minutes, a Thunder Gun will be provided to the host. The Thunder Gun's power is equivalent to three Explosive Tags, and the host can control it with willpower, no aiming required. As long as you don't encounter someone like the instantaneous-body Jutsu expert, Itachi, you should be able to escape."
Gu Xingxi hesitated. Although upgrading to full level was perfect and suited his current situation, 1000 points was still a lot to spend.
Just as he was about to make a decision, one of his cannon fodder teammates came running toward him. Panting, he yelled, "Run! The Third Kazekage is coming!"
Gu Xingxi immediately turned and ran, cursing under his breath, "Are you kidding me? This is how the game starts? Encountering this guy right away? Ugh!"
He quickly realized his physical abilities weren't good enough to outrun the Third Kazekage, who could fly using sand. In a panic, he exchanged his points for the full-level 3d maneuvering gear.
System: "Ding! 3d maneuvering gear has been upgraded to full level. Outfits are being equipped. 20%, 50%, 100%. The outfit is complete. The host can now use it."
Before he could even use the device, the sand from the Kazekage blocked his way.
Third Kazekage: "Has Konoha really run out of people? You've got three children guarding such a large area."
Gu Xingxi didn't hesitate. He immediately threw a Thunder Gun at the Kazekage.
The Thunder Gun hit its target, creating a large cloud of smoke. As expected, the Kazekage was completely unharmed.
Third Kazekage: "You little brat, you want to die?"
Gu Xingxi: "Ugh, sand auto-defends? Who has their Kage acting like a front-line soldier?"
As he spoke, he used the 3d maneuvering gear to fly between the trees, quickly heading toward Hatake Sakumo's location.
The Kazekage shouted from behind, "You little brat, if you put down that flying device, you might actually live!"
Gu Xingxi threw another Thunder Gun, shouting, "Go to hell! I just exchanged for this thing!" and continued running without looking back.
Seeing that Gu Xingxi wasn't stopping, the Third Kazekage took things a step further, controlling the sand to form sharp nails and aimed them at him.
Gu Xingxi activated his three-tomoe Sharingan, dodging while gathering chakra and shouting, "Hatake Sakumo, save me!"
Upon hearing Gu Xingxi's shout, the Kazekage paused and turned back.
"This little brat finally shouted. Looks like we're near their base. It's fine. We've already captured several villages on the border of the Land of Fire. No big loss."
Gu Xingxi looked back and saw the Kazekage retreating. He wondered, "Has Hatake Sakumo's reputation already spread this far? Whatever. I need to report this situation. Hopefully, I can be assigned to the Hidden Rain battlefield. Then I can find Konan."
With that, he activated the 3d maneuvering gear and flew toward the base.