Pov: Kenzo

  Ive decided.

  'Lightning Wire'

  Ninja wire... metallic wire I can use to fight with by enhancing it with my nature chakra, and since it is so thin I should be capable of not wasting so much Mana on it just so I can use it.

  Also I don't need to secretly store a super exotic weapon in my apartment that can instantly out me as 'the lightning guy', wire can be bought almost everywhere and I can use it in the challenges without dragging a Warhammer to a very public space.

  I blink and enter into that familiar orange box.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  I look to the wall and see what is written by the helper entity.

  'Apply your wire with finesse a hundred times, fail to perfectly do so will add another hundred times'

  Apply...?

  I watch as a mannequin suddenly shoots up from the ground it holds a bundle of ninja wire in its hand.

  *Shoo!* *Wrap!*

  Suddenly the mannequin moves and the wire wraps around his forearm, it flicks his wrist and the wire rotates around- making it stick tightly to the ends of its arm.

  Hmmm...? sparks fly when he did that?

  It flicks his wrist once more and the wire rotates the opposite way and becomes loose and dangles from his hand... he holds out the wire to me and I grab it.

  That was a use of Lightning mana... he flicked his wrist and the wire span around his arm and became an arm band of sorts.

  So I need to flick my wrist... and apply lightning mana into it- so it speeds up and quickly wraps around me?

  I make a first attempt.... *Swish*

  The wire sps at the ground as I flick my wrist... obviously that didn't work... and I am certain I just added another hundred of these till the system lets me go.

  Infuse... Lightning mana... shape it... much easier when you are holding the shape instead of producing your own like the breath weapon.

  Instead of a forge making the lightning mana a unique shape... its more like... soaking the metal in lightning chakra... inefficient and zy- hopefully I am taught a much better way to coat weapons ter.

  *Zzt*

  The metal wire starts to spark and I flick my wrist- forcing the mana to rotate around my arm.

  *Woosh!* *Slice!*

  ...

  I look down at my arm... it got cleanly sliced off with one rotation.

  ...

  I blink and it returns- I am gd that I have gotten used to the pain, that was more shocking than it being painful however.

  Too much mana to use... wait, its not going to teach me a more effective method to soak a weapon is it? I have to figure it out? How? This may be the longest E-rank task yet...

  If it was 'wire wrap' it would teach me how to do this without mana, and then have the next rank be a guide onto how to soak my weapons and the next would be combining them into the same thing to execute an amazing wrap that could probably be used to hit and wrap other enemies.

  So complicated and more vague skills have a better start than simple ones.

  Simple- 0

  Complicated- 1

  And yet they are much more annoying to learn, a lot more guess work so I can figure out some simpler things that need to be built upon ter.

  Simple-1

  Complicated- 1

  ...

  I infuse the wire again.

  Over the course of days I try many different methods- Soaking with a lot less mana, wrapping my palm in mana and sliding it across the metal, bleeding over the metal and infusing it directly, pre shaping the wire shape which takes forever and then applying it onto the ninja wire, Burst breathing and sending waves of mana over the wire, dripping the mana onto the wire slowly and even wrapping my mana around it without technically touching it.

  The best quality was the pre shaping like my dragon breath, unfortunately that would take many, many years to hold that form and summon it naturally like it took me lifetimes to form and shape it instantly within a storm.

  The quickest was definitely soaking my mana over the wire, but I had way less control over how much the wire soaked up, sometimes it would be powerful enough to cleanly cut through bone, other times it would only shave my hairs.

  So I need to soak it with more control, I am thinking of trying to shape the soaking method- think of a changing hose head, where you can make it shoot like a jet or have it in a cone or mist shape, right now I have it on the 'full' option where a bunch of water comes out and impacts the dirt while it soaks it.

  I want to switch that to a calmer option, mist would spread it too thin and more pressure would be too powerful- I need an in-between... something like a 'shower' option but tighter, a smaller circle to follow- from the hole head of the hose extension to the size of a nail.. or even smaller if possible.

  So instead of shaping my mana in the forge of my blood, I need to reshape a portion at the palm of my hand so it comes out naturally like that- less powerful but we don't want to slice cleanly through dense metals like my breath can.

  I focus my mana... onto the tips of my fingers, I have been using it so often that i understand how to flow them through each individual finger. I have the mana start seeping from the ends and it bursts forth with intensity... I need to calm that flow down.... we already have separated the mana into separate sections like the hose, we just need to turn down the tap more.

  Less like a beam... more like a... stream?

  An electrical current and not a strike of lightning that happens within a blink and causes devastation.

  Much... less...

  The mana boils in my blood, but unlike before when it pushed it into a much higher temperature it instead boils at a simmering one- something lower, something cooler.

  Orange sparks fly from my fingers and infuse into the wire... which starts to hum and glow a simple orange with multiple strands of electricity flowing through it like a cable.

  Rotate.

  *Whip!*

  The metal follows my command and spins rapidly at my command- like a river meeting stone it stops and redirects until the wire has fully wrapped around my hand.

  My forearm has been wrapped in a live wire.

  ...

  Damn. I spent days getting that right, now I need to spend hours completing the thousands of wire wraps.

  ... it should be quick... I spent a lot of time thinking and trying a new method for hours instead of every second... no more than a day.

  *ZZZT!*

  -One Day ter-

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  I turn to my side as I unravel and wrap my wire with intense speed, I managed to get it wrapping within a second now.

  'E-rank section complete'

  I nod my head as more writing is scratched into the wall.

  'Stiffen the wire until it is straight- unbent even with your strength- slide across the palm into a long straight wire'

  The mannequin holds out his hand and I unwrap my wire to hand it to him.

  He wraps it around himself and sticks the end of the wire through his palm and out the hole between his thumb and pointer finger.

  *Shhhiiiiii!*

  It suddenly slides out with intense speed- and doesn't wobble or bend in any way as it pierces the air in front of him, the lightning arcs around the wire as it stands tall.

  *Shiii!*

  He then slides it back through his palm and wraps it around his forearm smoothly.

  Nice.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'Kill the thousand birds above with this technique'

  Suddenly small variations and species of birds start fpping around above me in the orange box, the wire is handed to me and I immediately start practicing.

  It doesn't take me long to figure it out, especially now that I know how to infuse it properly, all I needed to do past that is give it properties.

  Use the lightning mana to straighten it and copy the sudden strikes from above like in nature- this time the lightning strikes emerge from my palm and pierce the sky instead.

  I look up to the birds...

  Each different species is teaching me a different application of wire piercing.

  the humble sparrow speeds by at the eye level and stays thirty five feet away, my ninja wire is only thirty five feet long... so lunges? Applying both the body and the wire at once?

  *Zz* *Thck!*

  My wire outstretches as I lunge and pierces a bird on the rear end... not perfect but I could be worse.

  I look around and there is ten... twelve... sixteen different breeds of bird here.

  Not enough to master these techniques taught... but just learn them- I think I understand the fw of complicated skills- I get taught the stuff but don't get the ability to master them within here.

  At least I have training within the challenge scrolls to master them ter... I have been running out of ways to train I suppose... but I would rather master them in here and perfect them out there.

  I finish hunting every bird with lunges, leaps and more... it leaves me feeling unsatisfied that I have not mastered these things but inly done them a few hundred times.

  Yuck. After this skill no more... simple skills are better, I understand I would be more powerful right now if I learnt stuff like this. But I am in it for the long game, that's why I put up with the adults in this world, barely any are trustworthy around here... I need to be prepared for Naruto when they push too far.

  I would rather learn two separate skills belled lightning wire wrap and lightning wire pierce.

  Tsk- I will master it ter and remove this stain from myself.

  *Scratch* *Scrawl*

  'D-rank portion complete'

  'Flexible and sharp. Used like a whip- to cut cleanly or entangle'

  The mannequin holds out his hand and I give the wire over.

  He wraps it around his hand and then shoots it outwards- not straight but with a movement simir to a whips, it sshes at the air and the orange lightning sizzles as the air whistles in appreciation of the sharpness...

  I see. Same thing different story, I will learn this easier than before.

  I take back my wire and wrap it around tight, I then swish my wrist and the wire shoots out and sshes around.

  See... simple to learn, something I would have save for D-rank Lightning wire ssh skill.

  I swish it around and eventually I blink- suddenly I am with a modern city, much like home with skyscrapers that are much more taller than I remember... grass and vines are overgrown and no human is within sight.

  ...?

  Buildings decay and I hear slight groaning down the street... oh shit- this is a zombie apocalypse- I get to test out my wire techniques on zombies!

  *Scrawl* *Scratch!*

  The road scratches a message.

  'You will grow experienced with the piercing and sshing within this city, use of other skills is forbidden and when you do- the city will reset. Kill all zombies within the Undead City'

  Woah.

  Okay.

  I can do that.

  Grow experienced? If there is limited amounts of dead in here... maybe I wont get to master the skills but I will learn well.

  ...!

  I could also defeat a bunch and then breath dragon breath to reset and learn more! Alright...! Still don't like that I have to cheat the system in order to master my skills but that is fine.

  Simple- 2

  Complicated- 1

  Lets spend... at least one or two lifetimes mastering this wire.

  ...

  Okay.

  Lets get a list of things to learn.

  Firstly it said wrap and ssh- perhaps I can learn them well enough to grapple hook around things, might work wonders with my burst breathing.

  I need to up the speed on my piercing and retracting so I can use it more close ranged like multiple one foot stabs rather than a longer leap and pierce.

  Learn to mix and match so I may fight with combos and ease, making sure I don't mess up any piercing, sshing and crossing my 'wires'... pun intended.

  Dual wielding- lets use two at a time in order to maximize my wire usage, will probably spend first lifetime using one and then mastering the dual usage in the second.

  And then master the four basics while doing above.

  Slide.

  Wrap.

  Peirce.

  Ssh.

  Easy right? Lets hope so.

  -Ten days ter-

  *Zz!* *Ssh!*

  I decapitate a zombie and leap over it to reach the chandelier above him... I wrap my wire around it and use it to climb up... shit.

  I look below where around fifty zombies swarm... outside the window I can see many more, whenever I use my lightning mana they go into a craze and start wildly chasing me- when I use it they can suddenly sense me.

  I understand now, but maybe its too te.

  Lightning mana is actually nature chakra- Life.

  Undead... can sense the life in order to wat it.

  Annoying but that's fine.

  *Hoo* *Hoo* *Hoo*

  Three quick breaths and I am at my starting point again, the zombies are reset as well.

  I am so gd this reset option was pced in here... I can learn so much easier, I also understand that I can only do so with skills like this- skills that require mastery over an item.

  So I don't punch my way through the zombies and technically win... but haven't even learnt the skills.

  I would take more skills like this if it where to happen just like this scroll... but I don't want to learn a weapon. I get what I need out of that category with this skill...

  Haaa-

  Lets continue.

  -One year-

  I could defeat all the zombies within a year if I rushed it... there are three yers, the sewers, the buildings and the outside.

  I have spent the past year memorizing the correct route in order to beat them easily with wires... its just a lot more grindy than learny.

  Lets do something crazy next time... maybe rally up all the zombies so I can try to face them in rger hordes? Or maybe stealth my way through and don't even use mana... like a game with multiple options in combat.

  -Ten years-

  *Ssh!* *Wrap!*

  I wrap my wire around a fg pole on a skyscraper and run across the wall over the zombies- pretty easy to handle zombies when your superpowered, I am kind of disappointed in the system for something so easy.

  I leap off the building and ssh downwards.

  *Zzz!* *Graaagghhhh!*

  Zombies fall as I overcharge my wire and cut them cleanly in half... I have been fighting the outside horde for two hours... I have managed to master whittling them down with speed as I do run out of mana over a long battle.

  I need ten minute meditations every twenty minutes usually, but twenty minutes of combat is plenty in a ninja world.

  -Thirty years-

  *Zzzt!* *Shick!*

  The metal wire pierces a zombie within the sewer... trying to fight hordes down here is almost impossible.

  I run out of Mana quick.

  And I get swarmed even quicker- zombies are just corpses, easy to beat. But more than one zombie and more than one horde creates an army. Armies are hard to beat.

  -Sixty years-

  Its probably morning now outside... in the real world I mean.

  I can spend another few decades and leave then- that way I will wake up mid-day, Naruto can tell sensei I was sick and I wont miss Danzo's torture bull crap.

  I yawn and eat my canned beans, I always make this penthouse my own. Lovely stone carved walls with intricate patterns, royal red carpet and bck marble walls and pilrs.

  A big bed and so many luxuries that sometimes I forget I am in a zombie apocalypse- it is strange living a life in this fake world... usually I just spend decades thinking or doing exactly one thing and nothing more...

  I don't grow and I don't hunger or thirst... but I do want to taste and sleep nonetheless.

  ...

  I... miss human interaction.

  I miss feeling human.

  Feeling weak.

  Feeling hungry.

  Feeling thirsty.

  Feeling tired.

  ...

  -One hundred and twenty years-

  *Peirce* *Ssh!*

  I pierce a zombie with one wire and ssh with the next, I found some wire to use on my other arm and have been learning it well.

  I feel empty and robotic as I cleave through the zombies, I have gotten extremely efficient with my use of them- less overpowering the zombies and a whole lot of manoeuvring around them.

  When I leave I need to learn how to incorporate this skill with my other two lightning ones.

  I run from the horde and enter an elevator within my building, it doesn't work and I put a hole in the top- I aim my wire upwards and slide it across my palm and wrap it around one of the metal bars in the wall.

  *ZIP!*

  I pour Mana into the wire and slide my body upwards- retracting the wire the opposite way so I get dragged to it instead of it coming to me.

  This does drain my mana levels however...

  Haaa- maybe I will sleep and then finish off the zombies tomorrow.

  I want to hug Naruto and eat some ramen.

  I climb the elevator shaft until I reach the penthouse room... I enter into it and walk onto the balcony.

  I need to water these... I have multiple pnts around here that I have been taking care of, sorry guys- I am going to leave forever soon.

  After watering them I take off my clothes and lie on the bed made for a king... no, an emperor.

  I shut my eyes.

  Tomorrow I will leave.

  Thanks for reading :)