Actively seeking out even more powerful opponents is naturally one way to achieve a breakthrough. However, Naruto wanted to carve out a different path.
As for the alternative method, it naturally meant utilizing the system. Naruto had never forgotten that he was a time-traveler who possessed a system cheat.
Opening the system interface visible only to him, aside from the title directory, the unlock time and cooldown countdown for another system feature had officially entered the final seconds.
Just a month ago, the system detected that Naruto had already acquired three intermediate titles upgraded to Level 2. Building on this foundation, the Supreme Title System unlocked an additional new feature: the "Adventure Quest."
According to the system description, Adventure Quests would appear at random intervals. As long as Naruto successfully followed the quest guidelines to complete every stage, he would unlock a brand-new title!
Unlocking new titles simply by completing quests was far more reliable than Naruto leaving it to pure luck and passively unlocking new titles during his experiences across the Shinobi World.
However, the cooldown period for this new feature lasted a full month; only after the cooldown expired could the "Adventure Quest" feature be officially used by Naruto.
Now that the one-month period had arrived, this new feature should finally be ready for active duty, right?
His gaze fell upon the locked "Adventure Quest" feature, where the cooldown timer was now counting down the final ten seconds.
Ten, nine, eight... two, one!
As the very last second ticked away, a dazzling, blinding golden light suddenly burst forth across Naruto's open system interface, forcing him to close his eyes and loudly accuse the system of launching a sneak attack without any martial virtue.
A moment later, Naruto opened his eyes and saw that right beneath the newly unlocked "Adventure Quest" feature on the system interface, a freshly minted quest had appeared.
Adventure Quest Stage 1: Open the scroll gifted by Jiraiya, and the host will reap an unexpected surprise.
"Huh? The scroll given by the Pervy Sage?" After reading the contents of the Adventure Quest, Naruto recalled the life-saving scroll Jiraiya had given him before he left the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
"Speaking of which, I haven't had a chance to use that life-saving scroll to this day. If the system hadn't reminded me, I honestly would've forgotten about it." After casually humble-bragging, Naruto pulled out the palm-sized scroll Jiraiya had given him back then, placing it in his hand to examine closely. "Should I open it?"
The answer was a resounding yes. With the system finally unlocking a new feature and a different path to growing stronger right before his eyes, how could Naruto possibly not give it a try?
Without the slightest hesitation, Naruto channeled his Chakra directly into the scroll. The next second, the scroll snapped open, and Naruto saw a large character written inside: "Seal."
The moment the character "Seal" unfolded, a harsh, piercing frog croak abruptly rang out from within, indiscriminately washing over everything ahead, behind, to the left, and to the right. Since Naruto was the closest, caught completely off guard, his head was left ringing in absolute dizziness.
Immediately afterward, a strange surge of Chakra was released from inside the scroll, instantly wrapping around Naruto and pulling him in.
..........
The Shinobi World, Mount Myoboku, one of the Three Sage Regions.
When Naruto's consciousness returned to clarity, he found himself standing beside a row of toad statues. Behind him was a waterfall formed by a current of dark brown oil.
A rich natural energy rushed over him, causing Naruto to feel an involuntary wave of physical and mental relaxation.
"What a great place." Subconsciously, Naruto first let out a sigh of admiration, and then, as if suddenly remembering something, his face abruptly darkened.
First, his eyes had been stabbed by the golden light released when the system unlocked its new feature, and then, guided by the system's Adventure Quest, he had completely defenselessly opened the scroll Jiraiya left him, resulting in an unprovoked baptism of frog screeches. To be honest, Naruto still hadn't fully recovered his wits.
He had to admit, this Supreme Title System could sometimes be damn wicked.
Though, come to think of it, what on earth was wrong with the life-saving scroll Jiraiya gave him? Opening it like this inflicted self-damage eight hundred times over before even managing to harm the enemy a thousand times.
"Hey, kid." Just as Naruto was silently grumbling to himself, an old voice suddenly sounded beside him.
Looking down, he saw two cloaked toads standing by his feet. Naruto recognized them at a glance as the two great sages of Mount Myoboku, Fukasaku and Shima.
And the place he was currently standing in was none other than Mount Myoboku, known as one of the Three Sage Regions of the Shinobi World.
"Was I reverse-summoned here?" Naruto's thoughts shifted, and he quickly arrived at a guess.
At the same time, Sage Shima's voice rang out: "Are you Naruto, the one little Jiraiya mentioned?"
"Ah, yeah. Where is the Pervy Sage right now?" Naruto asked with a nod.
The next moment, before the two great sages Fukasaku and Shima could speak, Jiraiya's figure came into Naruto's line of sight. He, too, had been reverse-summoned to Mount Myoboku.
"Naruto, did you run into some kind of crisis?" Jiraiya asked the very moment he saw Naruto.
"Let's not talk about that for a second. What on earth is going on with that scroll? That frog croaking almost scared the life out of me," Naruto complained speechlessly.
"That is the Senjutsu: Frog Call that I sealed inside it," Sage Fukasaku chimed in from the side.
..........
A few minutes later, following an explanation led primarily by Jiraiya, Naruto finally understood. The scroll Jiraiya had given him before leaving the village actually sealed a use of Sage Fukasaku's Senjutsu: Frog Call, with the purpose of trapping enemies with the frog croak whenever Naruto encountered a crisis.
In addition, the scroll itself was also a reverse-summoning contract scroll, which could directly reverse-summon him to Mount Myoboku using the Chakra Naruto channeled into it.
While this was indeed a decent life-saving scroll, Sage Fukasaku's Senjutsu Frog Call was an indiscriminate attack that made no distinction between friend and foe. Since Naruto had been the closest, he had ended up taking the brunt of the old man's attack.
"Naruto, you still haven't told me, who was the enemy you encountered this time that forced you to even use this scroll?" At the moment, rather than explaining the scroll's functions to Naruto, Jiraiya was far more eager to know what kind of enemy Naruto had run into.
Come to think of it, nearly half a year had passed since Naruto left the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Faced with an earnest-looking Jiraiya, Naruto was silent for a moment before offering an awkward smile. "Well, if I said I simply opened the scroll out of sheer curiosity, would you think it was a waste?"
Jiraiya: "......"
Fair is fair, Jiraiya was completely left speechless by Naruto this time.