Having killed Danzo—or rather, the faint remnant of power from the Sage of Six Paths—Sora endured the lingering pain of his shadow clone's destruction and immediately hurried to the epicenter of the explosion.
Danzo, his twenty-three Jonin subordinates, and even that trace of the Sage's power had all dropped cards.
The others were insignificant, but that sliver of Six Paths' strength wasn't ordinary at all—Sora's eyes lit up when he saw the dazzling golden glow.
"System, collect all the cards!"
[Collected Purple Card: Chakra +1000. Fuse?]
[Collected Purple Card: Water Style - Water Dragon Explosion Jutsu. Fuse?]
[Collected Purple Card: Physique +100. Fuse?]
[Collected Purple Card: Speed +100. Fuse?]
A series of notifications chimed in his ears. Sora briefly glanced at them, discarded the ninjutsu he didn't care for, and fused all the rest.
Feeling the soothing warmth spreading through his body, Sora narrowed his eyes comfortably, completely overshadowing the pain from his clone's demise.
After the sensation faded, he solemnly turned his attention to Danzo's dropped red card and the golden card from the Sage's power.
[Collected Red Card: Sharingan. Fuse?]
[Collected Golden Card: Truth-Seeking Ball. Fuse?]
At the sight of these two rewards, Sora was momentarily stunned, before quickly regaining composure.
Given Danzo's arm full of Sharingan, it was quite normal to receive one.
As for the Truth-Seeking Ball, considering the Sage had intervened personally, there wasn't anything else significant it could've dropped.
Even so, Sora cautiously asked, "System, I don't have Uchiha blood. If I fuse with the Sharingan, will I end up like Kakashi?"
The Sharingan was excellent, but only if they were truly his own. He absolutely couldn't stand the idea of implanting someone else's eyes into his sockets—just imagining it made him shiver.
[Host, rest assured. Upon fusing with the Sharingan, the system will directly remodel your own eyes, turning them into your unique Sharingan. This Sharingan belongs solely to your bloodline and doesn't require Uchiha lineage.]
With that reassurance, Sora finally relaxed, "Then fuse them all!"
[The Sharingan fusion is complete. The Truth-Seeking Ball represents this world's pinnacle of power. After fusion, the system will require three years to upgrade. Proceed?]
Hearing this, Sora was dumbfounded. He hadn't anticipated the system needing an upgrade right now.
Though it made sense due to the Truth-Seeking Ball's power, the length of the upgrade period was outrageous!
Sora hesitated briefly before probing, "System, if you're upgrading, does that mean I can't use you at all?"
[Correct!]
"Damn!" Sora cursed inwardly, feeling helpless. Unless he decided to never fuse the Truth-Seeking Ball, there was no way around it.
But how could he do that? Without it, how could he defeat or seal Kaguya during the Fourth Great Ninja War?
Ever since encountering the Sage earlier, Sora realized this event was inevitable.
The Sage of Six Paths had watched the shinobi world for a thousand years. Even though Black Zetsu operated secretly, Sora couldn't believe the Sage hadn't noticed even once!
If he noticed, why hadn't he stopped or sealed Black Zetsu?
Obviously, there was a hidden conspiracy—Kaguya's resurrection was clearly part of the Sage's plan.
Otherwise, why would the Sage have attempted to eliminate him earlier through Danzo's body?
Reflecting carefully, aside from interfering with the future events of the Fourth War, Sora hadn't done anything drastically divergent from the original story.
The truth was abundantly clear.
Frowning, Sora confidently deduced that the Sage himself orchestrated Black Zetsu's plan to revive Kaguya, intending ultimately to seal her away again using Naruto and Sasuke.
Surely the Sage would gain something he desired from this—but exactly what, Sora couldn't guess right now.
"I don't have enough information yet. I'll take it slow," he muttered, setting the Sage issue aside for now and turning to the system upgrade.
Truthfully, he wasn't fully satisfied with the system—especially the current interface, which was a total mess.
Sure, he had learned too many ninjutsu, sealing techniques, and taijutsu—perhaps enough to fill three thousand words—but that didn't justify the system's laziness!
Sneaking in a fusion upgrade earlier was obviously due to the sheer amount of content; it simply didn't want to display them properly!
He wouldn't have minded, except after upgrading, the system's only noticeable benefit was turning his techniques into instant-cast ninjutsu—nothing more!
Considering this, Sora began bargaining, "System, when you upgrade, could you optimize the system interface a bit?"
Not giving the system time to reply, Sora immediately listed his requirements: "All that messy stuff like 'All Techniques from the Heart,' just remove it if you can. I can barely remember all the jutsu I have."
"You can just categorize clearly: one line for physical stats, one line for ninjutsu, one for kenjutsu, and another for taijutsu. Tidy things up neatly!"
System: "..."
Seeing that line of ellipses, Sora grew irritated. "Aren't you supposed to assist me? Of course, it should be tailored to my comfort!"
Moreover, this wasn't some fundamental issue—just adjusting the interface a little.
Immediately, Sora threatened, "If you don't fulfill my request, I'll never upgrade you again. You'll forever stay weak!"
Having been together for years, Sora knew this system all too well.
It was essentially a defective system, whose greatest desire was upgrading so it could slap the faces of all the systems that looked down on it.
And, along the way, marry the top-tier beauty of the system world and reach the peak of system existence!
Thus, this small request would definitely be accepted.
Sure enough, barely thirty seconds later, the system's voice echoed in his mind.
[Host's request detected. System optimization possible. Proceed with the upgrade?]
"Now that's what I like!" Sora nodded contentedly, grinning, "Fuse and upgrade!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a torrent of violent energy flooded his body. Unlike previous gentle fusions, this one was harsh and wild.
"AHHH—!" Sora instantly felt as if his body would explode.
After two or three torturous seconds, the force dissipated, leaving lingering pain as the system's voice rang out again.
[Fusion complete. System upgrade initiating. Post-upgrade, enemies weaker than the host by one stage will no longer drop cards!]
As if that wasn't enough, the system even attached a smug emoticon at the end of this announcement—as if it had achieved some grand revenge.
After delivering this final blow, the system vanished completely, becoming unresponsive no matter how much Sora called for it.