Lottery

The shiny things Zhang Miao took out were none other than Kakashi's Ninja Fragments.

In the past, whenever he obtained Ninja Fragments, the system would store them directly in the System Space, so this was Zhang Miao's first time taking them out.

Looking at the inch-long diamond-shaped fragments before him, glowing with white light, a smile immediately appeared at the corner of Zhang Miao's mouth.

"So these are Ninja Fragments? Do all Ninja Fragments look like this?"

"No!"

Faced with Zhang Miao's question, the system immediately answered in his mind.

"The colors represent the corresponding ninja's primary Chakra attribute. White is lightning, red is fire, cyan is wind, blue is water, and orange is earth. Ordinary Ninja Fragments are colorless."

"Oh, so that's how it is!" After hearing the system's answer, Zhang Miao immediately nodded. "All right, I get it. Then let's draw already. How does it work?"

"As long as the host holds Ninja Fragments and silently recites 'Lottery' in your mind!" At this point, the system added another reminder. "The host may only conduct one ninja recruitment or lottery draw per day. Therefore, the system recommends that the host hold more fragments from the same ninja for consecutive draws."

"Only once?"

Hearing that, Zhang Miao was immediately somewhat disappointed.

But he soon understood. The system had probably imposed this restriction to prevent him from constantly using small numbers of Ninja Fragments to recruit low-level ninjas just to increase his total recruitment star count.

From this, it seemed that the total recruitment star count was related to his permissions or rewards within the system.

As for limiting lottery draws, it was probably meant to stop him from using huge amounts of Ninja Fragments for draws. After all, the Recruitment System's main function was to recruit ninjas, not to let him gamble for fun.

At that thought, Zhang Miao shrugged again.

"Whatever. I never planned to recruit low-level cannon fodder anyway. One recruitment or lottery draw a day is enough!"

After saying that, Zhang Miao immediately picked up the Kakashi Ninja Fragments he had placed on the bed. After thinking for a moment, he took out a few more from the System Space. Once he had gathered ten, he clenched them in his hand and silently recited in his mind.

"Lottery!"

The moment that thought arose, Zhang Miao felt his palm go empty. The Ninja Fragments in his hand instantly vanished, while the system's notifications rang out continuously in his mind.

Ding—Obtained x3 limited-edition Three-Star Chunin Rin Nohara Ninja Fragments.

Obtained x3 Seven-Star Kage-Level Obito Uchiha Ninja Fragments.

Obtained x2 Seven-Star Kage-Level Jiraiya's personally signed Icha Icha Paradise.

Obtained x1 100 Land of Fire Currency.

Obtained x1 limited-edition Seven-Star Kage-Level Hatake Sakumo Ninja Fragment.

The system has stored all prizes in the System Space. Please inspect them yourself. Today's lottery draw has ended. Thank you for participating!

Zhang Miao: "..."

At first, when he heard the words "limited edition," he had been delighted, thinking his luck was pretty good. But when he later heard that it was only a Three-Star Chunin, his expression immediately fell.

What use was a tiny little Chunin?

Still, since he had drawn her, there was nothing he could do. Zhang Miao could only console himself.

"Rin Nohara is a gentle and kind girl, and she knows Medical Ninjutsu too. Recruiting her to stay by my side and serve tea, cook, and wash my feet wouldn't be bad. Fine, even if she's a little weak, I'll keep her!"

Only then did Zhang Miao feel a little better.

But when he later heard, "Obtained x3 Seven-Star Kage-Level Obito Uchiha Ninja Fragments," Zhang Miao's expression darkened again after having just improved.

As one of the culprits behind Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki's deaths, Obito Uchiha was someone Zhang Miao hated to the bone. What he thought about most every day was how he would torture Obito Uchiha with the Ten Cruel Tortures of the Qing Dynasty once Obito Uchiha fell into his hands.

And now the system had given him Obito Uchiha's Ninja Fragments. Was it trying to let him fulfill his wish ahead of time?

But Zhang Miao was not having it!

Zhang Miao was not the kind of person who deceived himself. He knew perfectly well that people recruited through the Recruitment System might possess the original person's memories and skills, but they were entirely different people.

If he took revenge on the recruited Obito Uchiha, how would that be any different from burying his head in the sand?

If he wanted revenge, he had to find the real culprit!

Still, since he had obtained Obito Uchiha's fragments, he would keep them. Recruiting him later and making him engage in genuine "blood relatives killing each other" with the real one would not be bad either.

When the third notification, "Obtained Seven-Star Kage-Level Jiraiya..." rang out, Zhang Miao's eyes immediately lit up. He thought recruiting one of the Three Sannin would be pretty good, but the words that followed—"Jiraiya's personally signed Icha Icha Paradise"—instantly sent him crashing into the abyss.

What the hell was this... this... this?

What I wanted was Jiraiya's Ninja Fragments! What use was his personally signed Icha Icha Paradise to me?

And it gave him two copies at once. Was it planning to make him study them in depth, or read one and throw the other away?

By then, Zhang Miao no longer held much hope for the system's lottery results. So when the system announced, "Obtained x1 100 Land of Fire Currency," Zhang Miao merely gave two expressionless chuckles.

"Heh heh!"

But the next notification made Zhang Miao excited again.

"Obtained x1 limited-edition Seven-Star Kage-Level Hatake Sakumo Ninja Fragment!"

Upon hearing that notification, Zhang Miao nearly burst into tears.

"Heavens, system, Kakashi—you finally came through!"

Hatake Sakumo was Kakashi's biological father and once one of the powerful ninjas who had shaken the ninja world. His mastery of a short blade was extraordinary, and he was known as the Konoha White Fang!

Unfortunately, in order to protect his comrades, he chose to abandon an important mission, causing great losses to his country and village. As a result, everyone blamed him, and later even the comrades he had chosen to protect blamed him.

Under such circumstances, Hatake Sakumo ultimately could not endure the immense pressure and committed suicide.

Hatake Sakumo's death had not been honorable, but his strength was beyond doubt. Even the Three Sannin respected him deeply.

Moreover, in the original story, when Shikaku Nara nominated Kakashi to become Hokage, the Land of Fire's daimyo's impression of Kakashi was "the White Fang's son," not "Copy Ninja Kakashi."

There were no worthless men beneath a great reputation. This showed just what kind of figure Hatake Sakumo had been.

The system's evaluation of him was also "Seven-Star Kage-Level," which further proved Hatake Sakumo's level of strength. The only regret was—

It gave too few fragments. How could one possibly be enough?

At that moment, Zhang Miao developed an enormous grudge against Kakashi.

"Kakashi is going too far! Ten Ninja Fragments! I won't say anything about the three Obito and three Rin Nohara fragments—I'll take it as you valuing your comrades. I won't say anything about the two copies of Icha Icha Paradise either—that's your personal hobby. But—"

At that thought, Zhang Miao immediately clenched his fists.

"What is this supposed to mean, one hundred Land of Fire Currency and one Hatake Sakumo Ninja Fragment? That's your biological father! Could it be that, in your heart, he's worth only one big bowl of Ichiraku Char Siu Rib Ramen?"