Sealing Jutsu Sensei

[A large wave of zombies is approaching...]

This message came from the arcade machine in front of the red-haired little girl.

Anko (Red Bean) was no stranger to this audio cue because it played at the end of every level, signalling a massive wave of zombies as the final challenge.

However, when she saw the horde of zombies pouring out of the mist from the machine's end, her eyes widened in shock.

The scale of this zombie wave was incomparable to any she'd seen before!

Among the wave were many strange zombies she had never encountered, each possessing unique skills and looking exceedingly challenging to deal with.

Seeing her shocked expression, the boy beside her introduced proudly:

"It seems you're still a beginner."

"Let me tell you, this isn't the normal mode you're used to playing. This is the Endless Mode that experts use to challenge themselves."

"This mode supposedly has no end, and with each level you pass, the difficulty increases dramatically. It's the ultimate test of a player's strategy and operational skill."

"We're all gathered here watching this 'Red Comet' because most of us barely made it through a few levels. We've just started studying this mode, and yet she's already reached over a hundred levels!"

"And judging by how easily she's playing, if it weren't for the game's anti-addiction system, she'd probably have beaten even more levels by now!"

"So everyone's watching to see the designs of the later levels and learning from her techniques, hoping to become as skilled as she is."

"Because the leaderboard for Endless Mode is displayed on the big tree in front of the main gate, and the top players each month can even win prizes."

After listening to the boy's explanation, Anko felt her blood boiling with excitement.

She had been worried that the game would lose its appeal after she cleared it.

But to her surprise, the game's designer had anticipated this and created a captivating Endless Mode!

Her excitement was hard to contain. She now wanted to quickly finish the normal mode and compete with other players, vying for a spot on the leaderboard.

However, she remembered that she couldn't play anymore today...

The fighting spirit that had ignited in her heart was instantly extinguished as if hit by a frozen pea shooter's projectile.

With a sigh of resignation, Anko felt a sense of doubt creeping in.

"You've been watching for so long; how come you haven't learned anything yet?"

In her view, it should be enough to study the opponent's formations and observe a few rounds to replicate their moves.

Though the girl's operations were quick and precise, Anko felt that with enough practice, she could probably do the same.

The boy, however, gave a helpless smile and said:

"I told you, she's one of those rare types. We can't imitate her moves."

"Hmm, it should be about time now..."

As Anko was about to grab the boy and demand an explanation, the crowd, who seemed to know what was about to happen, began to murmur loudly, drawing Anko's attention again.

She turned her gaze back to the arcade machine's screen, where the horde of zombies was overwhelming the plant-based defence line.

Frozen watermelons were flying everywhere, and plump mushrooms were constantly releasing toxic gas, attacking the countless zombies.

The girl's fingers danced across the screen, using various explosives to wipe out waves of zombies while planting cheap plants to slow their advance.

Although the girl's quick, precise actions amazed Anko, it seemed like she wouldn't last much longer. The endless wave of zombies could overrun her at any moment.

But in this critical moment, the girl suddenly smirked. Crossing her index and middle fingers in front of her chest, she called out softly:

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Poof! Poof!

In the next instant, two identical copies of her appeared—her shadow clones.

The two clones and the original quickly resumed playing the game, six small hands flying across the screen...

With four extra hands helping, the formation that required heavy manual operation finally displayed its true power. Corn rockets exploded in the midst of the zombie horde, tearing them apart.

Suddenly, the pressure on the screen lightened, and it seemed inevitable that she would clear this level without any issue.

At that moment, Anko finally understood what made this little girl special and why no one could copy her moves.

To mimic her, one would need to master the high-difficulty Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Is this the world of the strong?

Anko was stunned—who knew you could play the game like this!?

Games combined with ninja arts—it sounded like something worth trying!

The surrounding onlookers marvelled as well:

"It's the Shadow Clone Jutsu again!"

"That's high-level ninjutsu, meant for upper-level ninja. How did a kid her age master something so difficult!?"

"Who in the world is this girl!?"

Amidst the admiration and envious glances from the crowd, the red-haired little girl couldn't stop herself from smiling, even though her hands never paused.

"Haha, coming to the arcade to play games really was the best decision!"

She thought to herself proudly.

What she didn't realise was that, apart from the envious gazes of the kids around her, a look of helplessness was also fixed on her.

It was Kushina...

Who would've thought she'd fall to this level?

From a distance, Natsuhiko, who the commotion had also drawn over, quickly recognised the true identity of this "little girl."

It was one of Kushina's infant clones.

He had taught her the infant clone technique to speed up her training, but he never expected her to use it to show off in front of other kids!

Was this really necessary?

Well... maybe it was kind of fun...

Natsuhiko could somewhat understand Kushina's thinking.

With the promotion of the "Ninja Duel" card game and the expansion of the card pool, the game had matured and established a stable player community.

The combination of different effect cards had even produced reactions that Natsuhiko, the designer, could never have predicted.

Now, Ninja Duel was no longer a game where a few rare cards could dominate others.

Even Natsuhiko, the Duel King, had encountered a few close calls, only managing to turn the tables thanks to his legendary "Draw of God" and his bond with his cards.

—Alright, he was just lucky.

But due to his frequent lucky draws, other players had started to look at him differently...

If Natsuhiko had faced such challenges, Kushina would have had it even worse.

In the past, she was invincible in the Ninja Duel tavern, except when facing Natsuhiko. But her lack of strategic thinking was becoming more apparent...

Recently, Natsuhiko and Mito had been raising their standards for her, leaving her less time to improve her card game skills in the tavern, and her ranking had begun to fall. She had already dropped out of the top 30.

What's more, many players were now eyeing her as easy prey, hoping to boost their rankings by defeating her. She had become the Ninja Duel community's "big target."

Lately, every time she entered the tavern, someone would mock her with the words:

"Kushina, another loss added to your Ninja Duel record..."

So now, Kushina even goes to the tavern much less frequently. Because now, no one dares to play cards with her, and she can only ask Uncle Dai for two bowls of warm cola, along with a plate of fennel beans...

Therefore, it's not hard to understand why, even though there are machines for "Wood Style vs Zombies" in the tavern, Kushina would instead send her baby clone to this arcade, which caters to children.

After all, this baby clone may look like a child on the outside, but its intelligence...

Well, it's not much better than a child's.

However, thanks to the experience gained during the beta test, combined with some "dimensional reduction" attacks using ninjutsu, this baby clone still manages to earn the admiration of everyone here.

So, from these clueless little kids, Kushina finally finds the joy of being adored by everyone once again...

What's even better is that Kushina, using her dual identity, can continuously learn the latest strategies from expert players in the tavern and then transfer them to the kids here.

This way, she can sustain her image of superiority without worrying about the kids here surpassing her.

However, Kushina overlooked one thing.

That is, although Natsuhiko found it a bit pitiful that she had fallen to the point of seeking confidence from children...

He could not tolerate her disrupting the atmosphere of the arcade with such behaviour.

After all, the greatest fun in "Wood Style vs. Zombies" is researching various plant combinations and formations to create wildly imaginative strategies.

This is also why the original version of this game remained popular for many years in his previous life.

But by directly bringing in mature and efficient strategies from the tavern, Kushina undoubtedly stifled everyone's creativity.

More importantly, this would severely affect the game's longevity.

— Natsuhiko initially wanted to slack off, thinking the current content was enough to keep everyone entertained for a long time.

But now, with Kushina's antics, doesn't this mean he has to prepare for an update again?

It should be noted that after careful consideration and listening to beta testers' feedback, Natsuhiko had decided to cut most of the in-game purchases, especially those that affected game balance.

So, compared to Plants vs. Zombies 2, this version of the game is more like the first one.

However, considering everyone has limited playtime each day and far superior reflexes than ordinary people, Natsuhiko rapidly increased the difficulty of the endless mode, making each level noticeably harder and reducing unnecessary levels.

This is why Kushina, having reached over 100 levels, was worshipped by everyone.

But this situation will end today...

Natsuhiko let out a soft sigh and then raised his hand, snapping his fingers.

Snap.

In the next moment, the cries of three mini Kushinas rose from the crowd.

Their game screens had frozen, and two blue prompt boxes popped up above the machines.

One read:

[Game Connection Interrupted]

And the other:

[Dear Player: Due to your violation of the "Game Agreement" during gameplay, your account has been permanently banned.]

(End of chapter)

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