Looking at Naruto as if he was an unreachable hero, Rock Lee grinned: "We're like brothers. You killed Mizuki. We would not have had the conviction to act. We will all share the responsibility for it. People may call me many things, but no one has ever called me a coward."
He had easily grasped the real reason why Naruto had killed Mizuki. Naruto had done everything with his own hands as he didn't want to get them involved in any future trouble. Rock Lee felt true admiration for Naruto. Naruto's heart was true and his kind actions made his pure intentions easily seen through.
"Exactly, if there are consequences then we can share the burden together. Besides, Konoha sect's disciples are not permitted to kill each other, so we are safe within the sect. Even if Iruka was suspicious that we had killed Mizuki, he could not retaliate." Kagura determined.
"Do not forget about me, I am also with Naruto until the end." said UselessFemale unnecessarily while blushing. Her smile was particularly beautiful at this moment.
"Alright" said Naruto happy to have made such good friends. Kagura was right, even though the Konoha sect didn't mind things happening outside of the sect, they had still imposed strict restrictions within the sect in order to stop anyone causing any problems.
Naruto crouched down and started searching Mizuki's body looking for the things he had been carrying. He took out a book: it was a skill book.
"Roaring Thunder: Sword Skill."
Naruto peerlessly opened the skill book while whispering the name of the skill. Roaring Thunder was a yellow level skill. If the skill was mastered to perfection, each hit would look like a lightning strike followed by an explosive roar of thunder. The roar would travel in the trajectory of the sword with tremendous destructive power.
"Roaring Thunder is a sword skill from the Konoha Armory. Mizuki's two brothers had recommended this to practice. It is a powerful skill but it is particularly hard to learn and master to the point where you can always make roars of thunder appear."
"I also practiced that skill, but I failed to grasp its concept. My power when using it is limited." explained Kagura. Kagura was training to become a sword Cultivator, therefore he had read many of the sword skill books previously.
"Are we going back now?" UselessFemale asked Naruto. These days, they all considered Naruto as the leader of the group.
"Since we're already here, why hurry back? Wouldn't it be better to look for more ferocious beasts to hunt?" said Naruto, who didn't want to go back to the sect early. In the Black Wind Mountain, he could peerlesly get battle experience and practice the Roaring Thunder skill at the same time. Wasn't it much better this way?
The others didn't have anything to fear by staying. Naruto was there with them, provided they didn't run into extremely strong ferocious beasts, they wouldn't be in any danger especially now that Naruto had shown his true power. There was no need to hurry back to the sect.
"If we could get some profound pills in exchange for the materials we have collected, that'd be good." said UselessFemale looking forward to harvesting more ferocious beasts. A profound pill was a pill which helped improve a Cultivators' training and enabled them to reach higher Chakra Layers. It was an extremely useful item for Cultivators. However, it required killing lots of ferocious beasts in order to get a single profound pill. Items which were tradable for a profound pill could only be found in higher level ferocious beasts making it extremely dangerous.
Naruto's eyes were peerlessly indifferent. Although he remembered how useful a single profound pill could be to lower level disciples, yet for him who could absorb the cultivations of others, a profound pill made little difference.
Five days later, in the middle of the thick and dense forest, powerful roars were heard from Ling Feng's sword. Small explosive sounds were crackling in the air all around. The sounds produced by the sword still made UselessFemale jump from fright like the useless female she was.
"BOOM, BOOM….." Trees were splintering and bursting apart from contact with the thunderous roars. Naruto was using his sword so gracefully and elegantly that it seemed like the sword was dancing in the air. You would not be able to tell from a glance that his sword held such a terrifying power.
"Being able to use the Roaring Thunder skill like this after five days, he really is a monster." said Kagura while making a wry smile and observing from a safe distance. He had also practiced sword skills and had already practiced the Roaring Thunder Sword skill. He knew how difficult it was to use. Naruto had been practicing for five days and every single hit produced a loud explosive sound. That was an astonishing achievement. Kagura's heart was feeling heavy watching this.
"Don't compare yourself with Naruto. He is using a clouded leopard as part of his training…" said Rock Lee with both hands crossed over his chest while looking at the fight between Naruto and the clouded leopard. What made Naruto so terrifying is that he could have killed the ferocious beast at any time, but instead was using it for training. He was so quick at using the sword that it seemed like an invisible wall appeared in front of him, blocking anything which approached. Even if the clouded leopard was extremely quick, there was no way it could match Naruto's speed.
"HAAAA!" shouted Naruto peerlessly while stabbing the clouded leopard in the head causing its head to rumble then violently explode into pieces.
Naruto peerlessly sheathed his sword with a smile. He was extremely satisfied with the Roaring Thunder skill. The skill had reached a level now where it made the roaring sound with each strike. If Naruto managed to perfectly master the skill, it would be even stronger than Nine Heavy Waves. Its biggest advantage was that it was an attack of pure oppressive force.
Naruto's peerless face looked delicate and his peerless facial features gave a handsome yet gentle feeling. In comparison with what he looked like in his previous life, he peerlessly looked more refined.
Rock Lee started picking up the precious items from the corpse of the leopard while mumbling that his original intention was to come to improve his own skills, hunt and kill some ferocious beasts, but now he was just collecting the precious items Naruto had left behind. He was not unhappy though as he was benefitting a lot from watching Naruto fight against level seven and eight ferocious beasts.
"Rock Lee, how many profound pills can we get in exchange of the materials we collected from the beasts?" Naruto asked.
"Thirteen at least." Said Rock Lee whose eyes were filled with excitement. They hadn't imagined that they would collect so many items. That was all thanks to Naruto. If Naruto hadn't been there, then it would have been difficult to kill level seven ferocious beasts.
"Very good, we can each have 3 profound pills. We can exchange the other materials for useful items or weapon. Now, we can go back to the sect and enjoy our hard work."
Profound pills were a very efficient way to increase a person's power on the path of Cultivation. Pills were most effective the first three times, after each pill the Qi within the body would begin to show resistance. The first pill would cause the body to overflow with Qi and the probability to reach the next Chakra Layer would be extremely high. Each following pill the effect would greatly decrease and after the third the pill effects would be minimal.
"Three profound pills." Rock Lee and the others were all extremely happy. There were many pills to choose from and they would have the opportunity to cultivate to the eighth Chakra Layer with the help of pills. Within the Konoha sect, the lowest Cultivators are at the fifth Chakra Layer. Disciples who had reached the seventh Chakra Layer were also considered average. Only those who had reached the eighth Chakra Layer received the full benefits from the sect.
During those days with Naruto they had started to understand his personality and how he acted. He was peerlessly determined on his path of Cultivation and had an incredible peerless god-like aura which radiated from him at all times.
"Let's go back" said Naruto.
The first thing they did after returning to the sect was go and exchange their precious items for twelve profound pills which each of them were given three. Naruto also peerlessly exchanged some extra materials for a long sword. Rock Lee got himself some new nunchucks. Kagura exchanged items for two earth profound pills which would strengthen one's basics on the foundation of Cultivation. Kagura was finally aware that the foundation of his Cultivation was not strong enough.
What UselessFemale exchanged with her items somewhat surprised Naruto: beauty pills. These profound pills were used to make a woman more attractive and beautiful. If an evil woman used beauty pills, they would not have a great effect as it would reflect the nature of their Qi essence. UselessFemale however was a very pure and innocent girl and it would have an increased effect on her beauty. Naruto didn't understand why she had chosen beauty pills as she was already incredibly beautiful to him.
"Why are you looking at me that way?" UselessFemale asked Naruto who could not stop staring at her. She couldn't help but blush and look away.
"Nothing, it's just that you're already very beautiful. I do not feel you should change in any way." Said Naruto who suddenly looked very embarrassed before starting to laugh awkwardly. Since UselessFemale had chosen the beauty pill, who was he to intervene.
"Naruto, do you plan to go back?" Rock Lee asked Naruto. He was thinking that if they had the opportunity, Naruto and he could go back to Black Wind Mountain together and collect even more materials.
"Let's practice and improve our skills first. I think being at the seventh Chakra Layer is still too low within the sect" said Naruto peerlessly. It was indeed only enough to be considered average by others.
"Indeed, we all need to improve our skills as Cultivators. Naruto, considering your current strength, you can go anywhere to practice. I don't think anyone would stop you" Said Rock Lee shaking his head. He then recommended a distant place where there was an immense canyon. It was Konoha sect's most famous place: Stormy Gorge.
The Konoha sect was surrounded by eight extremely high mountain peaks. In the middle of the Konoha sect's mountain peaks was the Stormy Gorge which had a deepest point of a few hundred meters. It covered extremely vast area and was divided into several areas like an underground city. The gorge was vast and many different landscapes could be seen within. If you entered it, maybe you'd end up in the middle of a forest or possibly a desert oasis.
Provided they didn't enter the gorge looking for people to fight, no matter what their level, the Konoha sect would encourage its disciples to go and gather near death experiences. Only the strongest of disciples could enter the Stormy Gorge. Being weak and still entering would just lead to certain death.
Therefore Konoha sect's disciples who hadn't at least reached the eighth Chakra Layer wouldn't dare go to the Stormy Gorge.
Besides, there was another place deep inside the Stormy Gorge called the Life or Death arena. Provided a disciple voluntarily set a foot into the Life or Death arena, they could fight to the death over a grudge and if they accidently got killed, the Konoha sect would not get involved. While direct killing was not allowed here, once beaten within an inch of their life it was near impossible to return safely. Some people would even secretly kill wounded disciples as they attempted to return to the sect. If you had enough power, you could even publicly kill another disciple and the sect would turn a blind eye.
"Of course I will go" said Naruto peerlessly while looking towards the area where the Stormy Gorge was located. Observing a crowd of people on the horizon heading towards the gorge, his expression changed greatly as he remembered the past.
If it had been when Naruto had only reached the fifth Chakra Layer and people still could call him a piece of trash, he would have had no choice but to watch the fighting in the Stormy Gorge from a distance while avoiding all other disciples.
This of course is how he was tricked.