Taste Buds Has Been Enhanced
"Hm? Another point of Golden Spirit? A new user? Who triggered it?"
Uchiha Kei was intrigued. He used the system to locate the source and quickly found the signal coming from the forest behind the Hokage Rock in the Hidden Leaf Village.
He blinked in surprise. "Isn't that where Root is based? Wait… could it be a Root shinobi who triggered the Golden Spirit? Among Root members, only Shimura Danzo qualifies to release Golden Spirit."
"Tch\\~ isn't that guy already crippled? How is he still popping Golden Spirit?"
Kei asked the system, which explained that once someone had reached Kage-level life tier, even if they later declined, they could still trigger Golden Spirit.
It clicked. Kei sighed and muttered, "What a pity. The other two old fossils in Konoha's F4 were only elite jōnin—even in their prime, they never reached Kage level. Otherwise, they'd have triggered Golden Spirit for me long ago."
Indeed, the other two had already played the illusion game and provided a lot of emotional value, but never dropped any Golden Spirit. Pathetic old men. They were hopeless.
It's laughable that early official data from Shueisha once claimed they were on par with the Third Hokage.
Of course, when the Nine-Tails attack arc dropped, the two geezers were immediately flattened by Kurama, reduced to sidelines commentary while Hiruzen Sarutobi took the brunt of the battle.
Just goes to show: official data isn't always trustworthy. Even canon sources may not reflect the author's true intent.
Take *Boruto* for example. If he could help it, Uchiha Kei would prefer his Naruto world ended with *Shippuden*, as drawn by Kishimoto himself. Not that soulless cash-grab sequel.
After venting mentally, Kei decisively used the Golden Spirit provided by Danzo for a ten-pull.
This time, his only hope was to draw a purple-tier item. Gold-tier drops were just too rare—utterly demoralizing. He had long stopped expecting anything decent.
But then, with a dazzling flash of color, Uchiha Kei's eyes widened in shock.
He actually pulled something!
"Holy crap! Holy crap! HOLY CRAP!"
In that moment, Uchiha Kei had no words—only unfiltered awe.
It was just too insane.
To think he actually pulled a gold-tier item using Golden Spirit dropped by Shimura Danzo, of all people. It defied all logic.
From a luck-based perspective, Danzo should be filled with malice toward the Uchiha, and naturally would curse Kei too.
There's no way that guy's Golden Spirit should yield a gold-tier reward… and yet, here it was.
"Could this be that legendary superstition—'one black cancels ten pinks'? Danzo's hatred for the Uchiha was so intense it looped around and created a miracle drop? His negative aura plus my Uchiha status triggered some kind of metaphysical reaction?"
Still muttering nonsense, Uchiha Kei inspected the gold item. It was a Skill Enhancement Card, usable on system-granted skills.
Currently, he only had a few such skills. The core one, Mental Network Mastery, was too unique—it didn't fall within the enhancement range.
Only two skills were eligible: "All-Nighter" and "Technique of Colonic Taste Buds."
The "Call of the Dead" skill was already enhanced and couldn't be boosted further.
After thinking it through, Kei chose to enhance the Technique of Colonic Taste Buds. Though the All-Nighter skill was powerful—essentially allowing infinite stamina via a bug—it already lasted long enough. Enhancing it would only slightly extend its duration and reduce side effects.
Besides, Kei had already bug-fixed the drawbacks using antidotes. No real need to buff it further.
As for the Technique of Colonic Taste Buds, while absurd, even the Nine-Tails had testified to its terrifying effectiveness.
Once enhanced, the skill became even more ridiculous. It not only retained its original effects, but—as Kei once bluffed to Kurama—it could now forcibly generate a colon in any enemy, then simulate the experience of taste buds forming inside it.
If the target had nothing inside their colon, Kei could burn more energy to simulate a buffet of horrors, maxing out the disgust and psychological trauma. It would create an overwhelming fear and hatred toward Kei.
Essentially, the enhanced version—now glowing in dark gold—became the ultimate psychological warfare skill. Just reading its description made Kei uneasy.
A true system-born skill. So over-the-top it defied imagination.
While Kei was still marveling at his enhanced skill, Shimura Danzo had revived.
He was drenched in cold sweat, needing a while to recover. Then, trembling with fury, he hissed, "Those inherently evil Uchiha… they created such a horrifying torture simulation inside that illusion game… Of course they're up to no good!"
Yep, Danzo was once again blaming the Uchiha, convinced the horrifying death he experienced was part of their grand conspiracy.
He couldn't even think straight yet—still dazed from the trauma. But he was sure of one thing: the Uchiha were up to something evil.
Grimacing with resentment, Danzo re-entered the game.
Despite his fury, he wasn't about to give up. He had to keep playing—not because he enjoyed the youthful body or the anger from repeated death, of course. No. It was purely to investigate the Uchiha conspiracy.
He was convinced the game hid unspeakable secrets. After all, the developers even included things like the "Gen Organization" and the "Indra Clan"—obvious jabs at Root and the Uchiha.
Danzo had noticed right away. But he didn't care. To him, these were mere petty tricks.
Root had never had a good reputation in the shinobi world. People knew it existed—and feared or hated it.
So Kei mocking it in-game didn't bother him. In Danzo's eyes, the Uchiha just wanted to disgust him, but if he didn't let it get to him, they'd lose.
Danzo congratulated himself on his genius.
Thus began Danzo's obsessive exploration and research inside the game.
The next time he encountered a deranged monster, he didn't try to fight back. He immediately fled—his true specialty.
After all, back in the First Great Ninja War, they ditched the Second Hokage and survived. That was legendary evasion.
The game *Survival* gave him intense déjà vu, reminding him of his lost youth.
Then, Danzo died. Repeatedly.
He thought hiding under beds or inside cupboards was too humiliating. He charged straight ahead instead. But unfamiliarity with the map often led him into dead ends… and into the arms of monsters.
Once again, he experienced the agony of being tortured to death.
Only this time, he was mentally prepared. It didn't trigger any Golden Spirit—just massive emotional value.