"Big Brother Goldfinger, why do you even have a newbie phase?"
"Why didn't anyone tell me?!"
If there was going to be a newbie phase, you could've said so earlier!
And it's even limited to eight skills. Most newbie phases start with at least ten!
You trying to make me rich or what?
"Couldn't you match the others? Just two more skills—is that so hard for you?!"
No matter how much he cursed inwardly, Uchiha Gin's Goldfinger remained completely unresponsive.
Though, to be fair, if it had responded, that would've been even more terrifying.
Gin sighed helplessly and began counting the techniques he had at hand:
Basic Internal Arts
The Four Styles
Cat Tongue
Spirit Ball
And this new technique he had just acquired.
Exactly eight.
Basic Internal Arts and Spirit Ball were essential—the first formed his foundation for future cultivation, and the second was his biggest long-range attack.
Even though Spirit Ball had no long-term growth potential, in the early stages, all his damage output relied heavily on it.
As for the Four Styles, the movement skill Shave and the evasion skill Paper Drawing were excellent. Iron Block, the hard-defense move, was practically useless.
After all, what kind of ninja just stands there and tanks a jutsu?
Finger Gun was even worse—a total piece of trash. Honestly, even the makeshift "Snake Play" technique he had improvised was better than Finger Gun.
He had only developed Finger Gun to complete the set of Six Styles at the time.
Cat Tongue? Completely useless now!
"If I had known, I would've spent more time developing better techniques!"
He gnashed his teeth in frustration.
If he could have thrown out some higher-level techniques early, once others trained in them, he could've skyrocketed ahead.
What a waste.
In his previous life, he had never heard of a Goldfinger that hid the newbie phase rules.
Just his luck, huh.
Gin glanced up at Orochimaru.
The man was still deeply absorbed in his experiments on Hashirama Senju's cells, completely ignoring him.
Gin turned his attention back to the update log described in the input window:
1. Removed the host's ability to instantly master skills.
2. Removed the ability to level up through others' progress.
3. Added detailed information during technique simulation.
4. Absorbs all knowledge levels of connected individuals, with free retrieval.
5. Simulates based on absorbed knowledge directly, without needing a detailed theory.
6. Increased host's comprehension by 10%.
"Hisss…" Gin sucked in a cold breath, feeling a sharp pain in his back teeth.
Such a huge change!
Orochimaru glanced over with a questioning look.
"Nothing, just remembered something," Gin quickly waved his hand to dismiss him, letting Orochimaru go back to his experiments.
Staring at the update details, Gin felt both happy and anxious.
Clearly, the newbie phase was over—and the difficulty had skyrocketed.
But the functions had also improved immensely.
Now he didn't lack for any jutsu at all. As long as someone he connected with had trained in it, the knowledge was as good as his own.
Gin's gaze drifted meaningfully toward Orochimaru.
For example, Impure World Reincarnation (Edo Tensei) in the future—while extracting the knowledge would still be tedious, it was doable.
In other words, starting today, he would never be short of ninjutsu again. As long as he knew the name or the basic idea, he could directly search and simulate it.
No more struggling to write lengthy research papers or collect tons of sample jutsu.
Now he could simply input the desired technique name and effects, and the simulation would generate the rest.
However, without the instant mastery and boost from others, even starting to learn a technique became harder!
The only consolation was that simulations would now list every step in detail, and with his 10% increased comprehension, learning would be easier.
Still—learning was definitely harder than before!
"This Goldfinger must've been designed for postgraduate students or something!"
Started as a beginner's tutorial—now ramped up the difficulty level to expert mode.
Tough to comment.
Gin could see that even if he outgrew Goldfinger one day, by then, he'd be fully capable of independently developing new techniques.
The previous phase was like writing a college thesis; this one felt like sitting for grad school exams; next up, probably a PhD!
"Guess it's really 'live and learn'."
Still—
Unawakened Uchiha + Hashirama Cell Fusion
In front of him, the input window started flashing with a series of data and conclusions—how to awaken the Sharingan, how to integrate Hashirama's cells.
The conclusion: awaken the Sharingan first, then upgrade to Mangekyō, and finally tweak the Hashirama cells for a perfect, side-effect-free fusion.
"I needed you to tell me that!?"
If he could awaken his Sharingan that easily, he wouldn't need this simulation in the first place!
The log clearly said that to awaken the Sharingan, one needed extreme emotional stimulation to generate special chakra—getting the Mangekyō was even harder.
Might as well have said nothing at all.
"Next time, don't bother telling me."
He muttered.
"Is this thing turning into Artificial Dumbness?"
On second thought, he realized: there weren't many connections yet. The people he was linked to didn't have deep enough knowledge.
"Clearly, there's a lack of foundational information."
"If only I could connect to Madara Uchiha…"
Madara, still hidden in the ninja world, was waiting for a Uchiha with Mangekyō potential to appear.
If he could tap into Madara's mind, the information on Sharingan and ninjutsu would undoubtedly be top-tier.
Too bad he couldn't.
"Damn you, Goldfinger!" Gin roared internally.
Daytime
Gin rolled up his sleeves, busy harvesting rice.
Nearby, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were already covered in mud.
Who says ninjas don't farm? There's always farmland to tend—even if it's just low-level genin work.
All these were D-rank missions—time-consuming, labor-intensive, and poorly paid. Naturally, nobody liked them.
"Jiraiya-sensei! When can we finally take on higher-level missions?"
Kushina shouted impatiently at Jiraiya, who was busy scribbling something down.
"Higher-level missions, huh..." Jiraiya paused his writing.
Technically, his squad was strong enough to qualify for more challenging missions.
Standard procedure dictated that new genin teams should first do basic missions to build teamwork.
Officially, it was about gaining task experience.
But these three were already extremely close-knit.
Looking at Gin and Minato working diligently, and Kushina who clearly wanted to slack off—
They already had natural bonds and decent teamwork.
"Alright," Jiraiya said, putting away his notebook. "Today, we'll take on a higher-level mission."
"Finally!!" Kushina cheered, eyes sparkling.
She had had enough of harvesting crops, cleaning garbage, caring for old folks, and babysitting.
They were ninjas, not servants!
"You should probably change first," Jiraiya said, eyeing their mud-streaked clothes with disgust.
"On it!"
Kushina grabbed both Gin and Minato by the neck and sprinted off.
"She's fast," Jiraiya muttered, scratching his head as he glanced at the abundant rice field.
This produce helped meet the basic needs of the Hidden Leaf Village.
Still, the village's finances largely came from the Daimyo.
After all, ninjas were expensive—eating alone wasn't enough.
Before long, Kushina came charging back, carrying the two boys like sacks.
Jiraiya sighed, covering his forehead. She really was a lot like Tsunade.
"Jiraiya-sensei, let's go!!" Kushina said, finally dropping the two.
Gin and Minato exchanged glances.
Gin: Maybe you should pick someone else... this girl's too fierce; she's definitely gonna beat up her man one day.
Minato slightly turned away, pretending not to notice.
Seeing Minato's blushing face...
"Forget it. Let the world burn."
Konoha Mission Hall
Jiraiya led the three into the bustling hall.
"Sarutobi-sensei," he greeted, approaching the long table where the Hokage sat, hat pulled low over his face.
Jiraiya slammed his hand down confidently.
"Give us a B-rank mission!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at the trio behind Jiraiya.
He recognized everyone except Gin.
The top student from the ninja academy: civilian-born genius Minato Namikaze.
And the fiery Jinchūriki, Kushina Uzumaki.
One gentle, one explosive.
His gaze paused on Gin—Gin glared right back.
Who are you staring at, old man?
Gin had no issue with ticking off Sarutobi—he had already clashed with Uchiha Hono before; another confrontation was no big deal.
Sarutobi eventually turned his gaze back to Jiraiya.
Clearly, this Uchiha kid wasn't the type to scheme secretly, but still—caution was necessary.
Uchihas with scheming minds were dangerous.
"Seems you've got a lot of faith in them," Sarutobi said.
"This is my first time leading a team," Jiraiya boasted. "Let's start with a B-rank mission!"
He had big ambitions—but better to practice with a B-rank first.
His students should handle chunin-level tasks easily.
"Hmm, there's just the right one," Sarutobi said, pulling out a scroll.
"A reconnaissance mission: confirm whether a villager is a spy. If they are, quietly assassinate them without alerting others."
This wasn't peace time anymore—there were no more bandits for newbies to practice on.
Given how tense things were, ninja wars could break out anywhere. Even the bandits had gone into hiding or fled to remote areas.
Jiraiya's eyes sharpened.
"This is no easy mission, old man."
Spy missions were among the hardest B-ranks—three steps: reconnaissance, evidence gathering, and assassination.
Not to mention, there was no guarantee the spy would be weak. Most were at least chunin; some could even be jonin-level.
A B-rank mission could easily flip into an A-rank.
Orochimaru or Tsunade would think twice.
But Jiraiya—
"Just you watch! My Jiraiya Squad will blow you away. We'll take it!"
He grabbed the scroll decisively.
After all, with the great Jiraiya-sama leading the charge—what could possibly go wrong?
(End of Chapter)