"Exploitation"

"Exploitation"

"Clang~"

Lin Ke tossed the crushed drink can into a distant trash bin. Beside vending machines in Japan, there were recycling bins specifically for PET bottles and aluminum cans.

He let out a long breath, stood up, and said, "If there's nothing else, I'm heading back."

"Okay." Uzumaki Naruto stood up with him. In the end, he still did not voice his request. Seeing how his two classmates had grown after being taught by Lin Ke, he was somewhat tempted.

It was not that he was eager to become stronger. In truth, he was vague about whether he even wanted to grow stronger. He shouted about wanting to become Hokage, yet had never considered what kind of strength becoming Hokage required...

Otherwise, he would not have been uninterested in school, skipping class every day to pull pranks everywhere.

What he felt now was more like seeing two familiar peers get new toys, and wanting one himself—

That toy was being taught how to grow stronger.

Uzumaki Naruto watched the peer who had never shown him any disgust or negative emotions gradually walk away. Even at the end, he said nothing to make him stay. He did not know how to face a peer who had shown him kindness.

He could only stand alone before the bench opposite the vending machine, holding his drink and not leaving for a long time.

At that moment, perhaps he wanted to cry.

Lin Ke left without looking back, silently sighing to himself. At first, he had not intended to have much contact with Uzumaki Naruto, and that remained true now.

He would not take the initiative to interact with that guy, but when the guy had stepped forward to challenge him, Lin Ke had known that he would inevitably enter the Third Hokage's field of vision.

Then he realized that perhaps this was a very good opportunity.

An exceptionally good opportunity.

Talent alone was far from enough if he wanted to advance. What mattered most was letting his superiors know that he was talented. And while being talented, he also needed to have a good personality. Otherwise, who would be willing to cultivate a cold-hearted ingrate? In a military organization like Konoha, which emphasized the Will of Fire and comradeship, the Third Hokage probably valued character and will even more.

If it were Danzo, it would not matter. Who cared what your personality was like? Brainwash first, then serve up the curse mark.

What Lin Ke had thought at the time was that he would most likely become a genin remembered by the Third Hokage. Even if he could not compare to the Konoha Twelve, he would certainly stand out from the other unknown genin.

When he had enrolled in the Ninja Academy, he had displayed his mutated ninjutsu. Then, at school, he had gone all out to build himself up as a genius, earning himself early graduation—

This was a time of peace, and there were not many who graduated early. A genius with a secret technique (Kekkei Genkai) who had graduated early should be memorable among more than a hundred students, no matter what.

As everyone knew, a persona could not be flawless. The more perfect someone was, the harder they were to get close to. He needed to display some flaws in his character, exaggerate things he cared about, and reveal them in front of others.

Preferably in front of the Third Hokage.

What did people remember best?

Labels.

He wanted to label himself as: a genius, someone who hated being called short, someone with a difficult personality, childish in strange ways—labels like those that were easy to remember.

It was true that Lin Ke did not dislike Uzumaki Naruto. It was true that he cared about being short. Even many of his emotions were real—

Only Lin Ke himself knew that everything he displayed had a purer purpose behind it.

He wanted to climb upward, become a chunin, become a jonin, and, if possible, become a candidate for Hokage, with a chance of becoming Hokage someday.

Whether it was the Third Hokage or the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, both were people he could best "exploit," and had to "exploit."

Using others with falsehood devoid of emotion could never last, but if he mixed in too much emotion, he feared being affected himself. So the best method was to shape his own persona, make others develop feelings for him, keep a slight distance, and restrain his own heart.

It was shameful to say, but from beginning to end, what he feared most was truly having bonds. Once he had bonds, he would no longer be invincible—just like his mother, who had died of illness in this life, and his father, who had inexplicably died while carrying out a mission.

This was enough with Uzumaki Naruto for now. I still don't have the ability to handle the trouble brought by becoming "friends" with him, and...

Acting required commitment. Lin Ke could not stay immersed in it at all times. His personal contact with Uzumaki Naruto had made him realize that he was softer-hearted than he had imagined, so he needed to put some distance between them. Even now, using half-truths and half-lies to exploit such an innocent guy still made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

But this was a step he had to take.

He was not a true genius. Without his mutated ninjutsu, with his meager amount of chakra, he would probably just be cannon fodder. Even with mutated ninjutsu, in the early stages, fighting alone would at most make him a glass cannon, unable to keep the initiative in his own hands.

Lin Ke had planned that if he could not find a method among the ninjutsu he was able to learn and cast that could truly change and strengthen him, then he would shift his focus to increasing his chakra.

Whether that meant tailed beasts, modifications that granted chakra-absorbing abilities, or finding a power bank—such as the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki model.

With sufficient chakra, he absolutely believed that he could change any battle.

But capturing a tailed beast himself, or finding someone to perform some kind of modification, was far too risky. It would be better to proceed steadily, rise to a high position, and have Konoha capture a tailed beast for him to use. Or perhaps, in the future, persuade the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki to become his power bank.

He had never intended to solve every problem purely by himself. People used tools; they needed to use their brains.

Even in a supernatural world, so long as one had not reached a certain level, the collective was still immensely powerful.

Keep going, Lin Ke. One day, you'll be able to hold your own fate in your hands.

He walked down the road alone, wiped away the discomfort in his heart, and continued forward with determination.

Perhaps there had been a moment in this life when he, too, wanted to cry.—Back at the Seventh Training Ground, Lin Ke glanced at his two teammates, who were training hard, and began training as well.

His training was simply physical exercise. He had reached a bottleneck in developing his ninjutsu long ago.

Among the ninjutsu he had mastered, the Clone Technique's greatest effect was allowing him to become immune to a certain degree of damage—though he did not dare test the exact threshold too much. It was highly suitable for preserving his life, and splitting apart and reforming at critical moments was an especially effective tactic in taijutsu combat.

In his battle with Hatake Kakashi, he had gained a considerable advantage through Kakashi's head—in every sense of the phrase—only to be fooled by that Shadow Clone trick.

In fact, during the initial development, he had considered far more extreme possibilities. For example, not merely splitting apart limbs, but dividing himself into chunks, or taking the idea even further and splitting himself into cells or atoms.

But it would not work.

After repeated testing, he had reached a conclusion: all mutated ninjutsu relied on the amount of chakra supplied to extend their duration and enhance their effects.