Uchiha Qi Decides to Optimize the Genjutsu Game

Uchiha Qi was touched by Minato Namikaze's blind trust, but it also put a lot of pressure on him.

After all, he knew his own limits. How could he possibly possess the heaven-defying creative talent of someone inherently evil like Old Man Senju?

He was just a plagiarist, okay?

Who doesn't know how to copy someone else's work?

While it's true that, according to the usual tropes, being a plagiarist can be quite promising and lead to becoming a 'master,' to truly become a 'master,' you first need the talent to reproduce the copied works, right?

In the urban world, this would be an unbeatable memory, perfectly recalling and transcribing various classic works from a past life. In the Ninja World, it would be a ninja's fundamental talent.

Unfortunately, Uchiha Qi lacked that fundamental talent as a ninja. So, his so-called 'creativity' was merely a very cheap 'idea' that, once used, would be gone forever.

A person should know their own limitations. Uchiha Qi, knowing his own capabilities, naturally didn't take Minato Namikaze's praise seriously.

However, Minato Namikaze's suggestion to deeply develop the Genjutsu Game did resonate with Uchiha Qi.

Although this Genjutsu Game was by no means a secret technique unique to the Ninja World—it was a strange combination of black technology granted by the system and the Sharingan—it didn't stop Uchiha Qi from using the secret technique as a cover.

One should know that the reason "secret" is in "secret technique" is because they are usually exclusive techniques belonging to certain individuals or families and do not need to be publicly disclosed.

While some secret techniques are officially preserved and backed up by Konoha Village, these are only those voluntarily donated by the individuals or families who possess them.

Even if this "voluntary" act might not be truly voluntary, as long as one has sufficient background and strength, they can protect their own secret techniques.

Conveniently, Uchiha Qi was a noble Uchiha. Even if he wasn't well-liked within the clan, he didn't feel a sense of belonging to the Uchiha Clan. However, the Uchiha Clan was fiercely protective of its own.

His unpopularity within the clan was one thing, but if outsiders dared to bully or coerce him, that was an entirely different matter.

Within the clan, while there would certainly be some who wanted Uchiha Qi to hand over his 'secret technique' to the family, the Uchiha Clan was a proud family, inherently tsundere, and didn't have the tendency to seize the fruits of their members' training.

If you handed it over, you would receive rewards and benefits from the clan. If you didn't, some within the clan might be displeased with you, but they wouldn't force you to hand it over. Instead, they would proudly believe that once you thought it through, you would still voluntarily submit it—historically, many Uchiha who created secret techniques followed a similar pattern.

But if an outsider tried to force you to hand over your secret technique, then sorry, the Uchiha Clan was famously united and xenophobic. Anyone who dared openly bully a clan member should be prepared to be targeted by a group of red-eyed lunatics!

That was the Uchiha Clan.

Before the Nine-Tails Attack, even though the Uchiha Clan had no position in Konoha's upper echelons, their authority within Konoha was unquestionable. Even Shimura Danzo, that Pot Kage, only dared to scheme in the shadows and avoided direct conflict with the Uchiha Clan.

Did they not understand the value of being a founding family of Konoha?

It was only during the Nine-Tails Attack, when the massive Sharingan of the Nine-Tails, controlled by that scoundrel Uchiha Obito, appeared, that Konoha's higher-ups seized the opportunity. Using the excuse of "the Nine-Tails Uchiha being controlled by the Sharingan," they completely suppressed the Uchiha Clan's prestige and directly ostracized them from Konoha's core area.

Even so, the Uchiha Clan merely lost power; their family's secret techniques remained well-protected.

Konoha truly obtained the Uchiha Clan's various secret techniques only after the clan was annihilated by the "filial son" Uchiha Itachi.

With everyone dead, the Uchiha Clan's secret techniques naturally couldn't be preserved.

Therefore, for the current Uchiha Qi, protecting his "secret technique" was still very easy.

As for the future...

In a few years, he would either escape Konoha or gain enough power to protect himself through the system. Would he still need to care about the attitude of Konoha's higher-ups then?

If the rewards given by the system were powerful enough, he might even be able to tell Konoha's F4: "I just want to protect my Konoha. Did you old fogeys, who betrayed the Will of Fire, understand?"

Just thinking about it made him a little excited.

Of course, even if he wanted to transform into the beef-abstaining A-Zu, that was for the future. For now, he was still just a small fry and needed to first sort out the game's promotion.

Improvements were definitely necessary. With the current 'operation' method, only one person could play at a time, and how long they could play depended on Uchiha Qi's stamina. It was far too inefficient and inconvenient.

However, he still needed to carefully consider how exactly to proceed.

Next, the two went together to Konoha's famous Ichiraku Ramen Shop to eat ramen. After all, after playing for a while, it was almost noon.

Unlike in the 'original work' where he appeared middle-aged, the Ichiraku Ramen owner in Konoha Year 46 was still young, a man in his twenties who had only been in Konoha for a few years. His daughter, Ayame, hadn't even been born yet. At the time, it was just a small street-side noodle shop in Konoha, with little fame.

However, based on the filter of his memories, Uchiha Qi became a regular at the shop after it opened.

And honestly, the taste was quite good.

Even Minato Namikaze was led by Uchiha Qi to love Ichiraku Ramen.

After finishing a delicious meal of Ichiraku Ramen, the two began a post-meal stroll through the streets. Minato Namikaze then brought the conversation back to the game: "Qi, when can I play again?"

Uchiha Qi raised an eyebrow: "Haven't had enough yet?"

Minato Namikaze scratched his head sheepishly: "It's really interesting, and I also want to know the game's ending..." He paused, then added, "I want to know what the final outcome is for the character I played in the game."

Uchiha Qi: "Oh? I thought you were busy dealing with various traps and evil spirits, or just enjoying the combat. Turns out you were also digging into the game's story."

Minato Namikaze smiled: "I'm a Jonin of Konoha, after all, and intelligence gathering is a Jonin's most basic skill."

"Although the story hidden in the game is very fragmented, all the key information is there."

Uchiha Qi nodded: "Indeed, with your ability, it's inevitable that you'd unearth the game's story. Even fragmented narration isn't a problem for you; it's enough for you to piece together the complete plot."

This Genjutsu Game, titled Homecoming, didn't tell its story in a conventional, straightforward manner. Instead, the story was buried within the gameplay, requiring players to piece together the full narrative from fragmented texts and clues.

These elements were scattered throughout various scenes, existing as static objects that couldn't be taken away, making them easy to miss if one wasn't careful.

While it didn't affect completing the game, first-time players without the habit of gathering intelligence and researching the plot would likely finish the game in a daze, completely confused about what story it was trying to tell.

However, Minato Namikaze truly lived up to his reputation as Konoha's most brilliant man. He appeared to have gathered no intelligence, simply charging forward and enjoying the combat, no different from a novice player. But in reality, he had discovered and remembered all the hidden information within the scenes.

And now, even after leaving the game, he had directly pieced together a relatively complete story in his mind.

At the very least, the information Minato Namikaze gathered allowed him to successfully piece the story together.

In Minato Namikaze's analysis, the game character he played was a Konoha ninja active during the Ninja World War, who witnessed its brutality and accumulated a vast amount of negative emotions as a result.

These negative emotions attracted the malevolent gaze of evil spirits, and because he had indeed killed people, he was cursed by those he had slain.

Thus, when the Ninja World War ended and the 'protagonist' was supposed to return home to rest, he found himself trapped in a cursed domain created by evil spirits. He had to break through all obstacles before he could escape the cursed domain and return to his true home.

This was the story Minato Namikaze deciphered.

To this, Uchiha Qi simply said, "While it differs from the actual plot, it's not far from the truth."

Upon hearing this, Minato Namikaze scratched his head. "Huh? It's not entirely correct? Is there something else hidden behind it?"

"Hmm… I'm getting more and more interested in the truth. I wonder when I'll be able to play the later parts."

The latter was a sigh of regret. He wished he could continue playing that afternoon, but he had other commitments, so he could only promise to play "next time."

To this, Uchiha Qi merely wanted to express—Actually, you don't need a 'next time,' since you've already provided all the emotional value you can for this game. I don't need you anymore.

Yes, even though he hadn't finished the entire game, Minato Namikaze had already provided all the emotional value he could for it. In other words, for Uchiha Qi, his 'utilization value' was gone. Letting him continue to play would be like the classic idiom of "occupying the latrine without relieving oneself."

Of course, Uchiha Qi wouldn't genuinely stop Minato Namikaze from playing. After all, he wasn't one of those oddballs who would view old players as "Old Man Senju who maliciously spends money and hinders game development." Even if Minato Namikaze wasn't his close friend, he would still take good care of such loyal, supportive old players.

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