A layer of blue light rapidly spread outward from Hyuga Arin's body, sweeping past countless trees and patches of grass, passing over every Iwagakure ninja in the forest.
Everyone could clearly see this blue light membrane—and its speed was terrifying. By the time they reacted, everything was already over.
"What is this?"
"What just happened?"
"My chakra is decreasing?!"
All of them looked around warily, yet all they felt was their chakra slowly draining.
"Is it absorbing chakra?"
But the rate at which their chakra was disappearing was roughly equal to their natural recovery rate.
It didn't count as a real loss at all, which left everyone confused about what kind of attack this was supposed to be.
"No—look above your heads!" one Iwa ninja shouted, staring at his teammates.
Above each of their heads were two glowing bars—one blood-red, one blue—with a red title label attached.
Both bars displayed numbers.
The blood-red bar showed only 100/100.
As for the blue bar—
For jōnin, it was around 10,000/10,000.
For chūnin, around 1,000/1,000.
[Iwagakure Jōnin]
[Iwagakure Chūnin]
Every single person also had a red hostile-title marker above their head.
"What the hell is this?!?!" Everyone stared at one another's heads in utter confusion.
They looked into the distance and realized that the blue light membrane had formed into a hemispherical dome, covering all of them.
"Welcome to my world."
A clear, calm voice echoed in everyone's ears.
"This is my ability—Game Dungeon World."
"This game dungeon has three factions. The first faction is the Player. There's only one member—me.
The second faction is Monsters. All of you belong to this faction.
The third faction is NPCs, but no NPCs have appeared this time, so I won't explain them."
"This game dungeon is formed using chakra provided jointly by me and all of you. Until the dungeon ends, no one can leave."
"And the way to end the dungeon is simple. Either I kill all of you, or you kill me. Either outcome will end the game."
"However, because of faction differences, this is a player-challenges-monsters dungeon—not monsters challenging the player. Therefore, the monsters' actions are restricted."
As Hyuga Arin's voice fell—
A glowing ring appeared beneath each Iwa ninja's feet. A powerful repulsive force erupted between them, forcibly separating everyone.
Each person now stood alone within their own circular zone.
"If you want to attack me, two conditions must be met.
First, I must enter your attack range—meaning the circle beneath your feet.
Second, I must make an attack on you first. Only then can you counterattack."
"Of course, for the sake of balance, the first attack I make on you—no matter what—cannot take your life."
"At the same time, as a proper game dungeon, both sides receive rewards for victory.
If I kill you, I will temporarily obtain your chakra to recover part of my injuries.
If you kill me, everyone present will permanently gain my chakra."
"With that—the game begins!!"
Although everyone had clearly heard the rules, they still tried to break free.
No matter how they struggled, they couldn't leave the white circle beneath their feet—let alone test the boundaries of the dungeon itself.
"What kind of bullshit game is this?!"
"Who's the monster here?! You're the monster!!!"
…
Hyuga Arin didn't explain the rules because he wanted to.
For the Awakening Skill Game Dungeon to fully activate, everyone inside had to understand the rules.
Otherwise, it would merely be a confinement barrier with HP and chakra displays.
The true power of Game Dungeon was to bind all enemies and allies within a certain range together—
Until one side achieved total victory.
Once activated, it was a fight to the death. They couldn't get out, and outsiders couldn't get in.
And while the reward structure didn't seem particularly friendly to Hyuga Arin, there was actually a hidden rule.
If Hyuga Arin won—
The chakra of the monsters that died inside the dungeon would strengthen this Awakening Skill.
In its current state, the skill was only a half-finished product. It could only enclose an area.
Later, it could evolve to reshape terrain, spawn dungeon items, and more.
All of that required ninjas to die within the dungeon, supplying chakra to upgrade it.
Once the dungeon system was fully completed, the Awakening Skill could undergo a second awakening.
That would happen at level 72.
Which was still very far away.
Level 70 already corresponded to Super-Kage tier—who knew how much experience that would take?
Hyuga Arin didn't attack immediately. Instead, he sat calmly on a tree branch and waited.
The game dungeon was restoring the chakra he had spent.
And the chakra replenishing him—
Was being provided by these Iwagakure ninjas.
When the recovery was nearly complete, he stood up from the branch.
His Byakugan activated instantly, sweeping across the forest full of "monsters."
Although everyone knew the rules and the dungeon enforced a degree of balance—
This game dungeon was still overwhelmingly favorable to Hyuga Arin.
With the Byakugan, he could see every corner of the dungeon.
As a long-range sniper, he didn't even need to move to attack the monsters.
He picked up a kunai, aimed at a chūnin, and slapped it forward with Bear Palm.
In the next instant, he drew a second kunai—
This one enhanced with Bear Palm, Substitution Technique, and Unknowing Fire.
A blue fireball vanished from its original position.
…
A chūnin was carefully observing his surroundings. The white ring beneath his feet restricted his movement, and his comrades stood not far away.
"Are we just going to wait here to die?!"
He slammed himself against the edge of the white circle, only to be bounced back as if he'd hit an invisible wall.
In theory, as a Nen-based ability, the game dungeon could be destroyed by overwhelming external force.
But his strength wasn't nearly enough.
Perhaps only someone like Ōnoki could break it.
Nen abilities weren't invincible—their defenses had limits.
It was just that no one here could exceed those limits.
Just then—
Whoosh!
A fireball pierced through the trees and flew straight toward him.
"It's that fireball guy!!"
The chūnin raised his kunai and blocked it, his expression twisting viciously.
They had finally found the culprit.
This fireball wasn't nearly as large as the ones on the battlefield. Blocking it wasn't difficult at all.
At the same time, the white ring beneath his feet vanished—
A sign that he was free.
He turned, intending to help his comrades.
"Watch out!!!" someone shouted in rage.
The chūnin spun around instantly—
Another fireball had already appeared right in front of him.
Chzz!
It pierced straight through his head.
The 100 HP above his head dropped to zero in an instant.
The headless corpse took two more steps forward—
Then collapsed onto the ground.
✨ Bonus Chapter Goals ✨
10 Reviews = 1 Bonus Chapter
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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