Naruto: I Am The System

After issuing the mission, Nawaki observed the reactions of the three Sannin through the mental screen.

In truth, the real challenge of this Ascension Mission didn't lie in the first phase—but in the second.

The first main quest only required defeating two A-rank opponents. Given the deceptive and lethal nature of ninjutsu, which often emphasizes swift and fatal strikes, this was relatively easy to accomplish.

Take Orochimaru and Sol for example—both were technically A-rank in strength. Yet due to the information gap, Orochimaru managed to kill Sol effortlessly.

As the weakest of the four elemental mages, Sol didn't excel in direct combat. His strength lay in psychological manipulation—reading memories and exploiting emotional weaknesses with unusual magic to dismantle an opponent's will.

Moreover, among the mages in this world, only Juvia possessed the unique physiology to fully transform into an elemental body—effectively nullifying physical attacks.

Factoring all this in, Sol—who was focused on fleeing—didn't even manage to last a single round against Orochimaru.

"Still, if they let their guard down just because the first mission was easy… well, my sister isn't that careless," Nawaki muttered to himself.

Juvia and Sol might've been weak compared to the Sannin, but what if the enemy was the entire Phantom Lord guild?

Or worse… what if both Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail became their enemies?

Lucy, after all, was the luck-based heroine of this world. The current story arc revolved around her.

Phantom Lord wanted to take her, and in the process had "incidentally" launched an attack on Fairy Tail—a move that wouldn't be easily forgiven.

More importantly, Lucy was one of Natsu's most important companions, a popular and promising new mage in Fairy Tail. If she were suddenly kidnapped by strangers, the Fairy Tail guild would explode with fury.

Surviving for 24 hours against multiple S- and A-rank enemies, while also ensuring Lucy wasn't taken?

That would be no easy feat.

"Good luck, sis."

---

Meanwhile…

"Ergh… again with the 'erasure' penalty?!"

Tsunade scowled as she read the mission's failure condition.

In most Reincarnator Missions, aside from the first mandatory beginner trial, even if one failed the objective, the punishment could be avoided by trading valuable items or deducting points.

In that sense, the Lord God System could be considered "lenient"—as long as you had enough points, you could ignore the main mission entirely, freely roam the mission world, complete side objectives, and gather resources.

This was something the three Sannin had discussed before.

But this time… the mission gave no room for error.

It was success—or death.

"This must be the nature of an Ascension Mission," Orochimaru rasped, analyzing calmly. "The side quests are more abundant, the collectible resources (in this case, magic) are richer… but failure is not an option. High risk, high reward. Though so far, we haven't seen where the real danger lies…"

He leapt to Jiraiya's side and extended a hand toward the unconscious Lucy.

"What are you doing?" Jiraiya immediately stepped between them, frowning.

"Just putting her under a sleep genjutsu," Orochimaru replied coolly. "You do realize, aside from Phantom Lord, we'll also be hunted by her allies. With the Lord God watching, there's no way to explain who we are. Better to keep her asleep so we don't give away our position."

"Oh…"

Jiraiya scratched his head awkwardly, realizing he had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Tsunade scoffed from the side.

"You think Orochimaru is as perverted as you?"

"I thought he was going to drink her blood, not anything weird! Don't twist it!"

Jiraiya defended himself, but the skeptical look on Tsunade's face said it all—she clearly didn't believe him.

Orochimaru proceeded to hypnotize Lucy without hesitation and picked up the key ring she had dropped earlier.

The moment Lucy was threatened, her first instinct had been to reach for those keys. That made their importance clear.

Even if he didn't know what they were for, they could be exchanged for points once the upload function was re-enabled.

Unfortunately, at the start of every mission, the exchange and upload features were temporarily locked by the Lord God.

That was why the Sannin always spent their points in a rush before entering a new world—they couldn't rely on exchanging mid-battle.

Tsunade, meanwhile, headed to the ruins where Juvia had crash-landed, hoping to clean up the battlefield.

But when she arrived and saw only a bloodstained patch amid the collapsed rubble—no sign of the blue-haired water mage—her expression darkened.

"She took that punch from me—armament-enhanced monster strength—and still escaped unconscious?!"

It seemed Juvia's liquid form had some differences from Logia-type elementalization in the One Piece world. Armament Haki didn't work quite the same way here. If it had, Juvia would've died on the spot, no matter how many lives she had.

It made sense, though—this was a different world.

"We can't afford to waste time. We need to go into hiding, now."

Tsunade hoisted Lucy with one arm. The three Sannin quickly found a sewer entrance and dove in, ignoring the foul stench.

If the mission required surviving for 24 hours, the simplest method… was to hide.

---

Elsewhere

At the headquarters of Phantom Lord—a massive castle-like guild hall.

Just moments ago, Fairy Tail's guild master had been ambushed there, his magic power completely drained. Critically wounded, he'd been forced to retreat.

At the castle's peak, inside a gold-adorned chamber, a middle-aged man dressed like a traditional sorcerer sat upon a throne. His entire body radiated a dark, deathly aura.

Below him, a blood-streaked orb of water began to coalesce and morph into a human figure.

Juvia reappeared, kneeling on the floor. Her hand clutched her abdomen, where her once-smooth stomach had been torn and bloodied. Her voice was weak.

"Master Jose… Juvia failed the mission. Three unknown mages appeared and took Lucy."

"Tch. Can't even handle such a simple task. Trash…"

Before Jose could reply, a cold, brutal voice interrupted.

From the shadows emerged a tall man with long black hair, clad in a sleeveless black outfit and steel gauntlets. His face was pierced with metal studs—ears, brows, lips.

He was chewing metal, casually crunching down and swallowing it like candy.

"Master, leave it to me. That fight with the Fire Dragon didn't satisfy me—I could use a warm-up."

"Fine then, Gajeel," Jose said with a cruel smile. "Just make sure to invite Miss Lucy here properly. Don't hurt her."

~~~

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Remove the parentheses btw