The Hokage Used a Pebble to Shoot Down the Moon

In the 45th year of Konoha, Sunagakure of the Land of Wind hosted and organized this year's joint Chunin Exams. By Shinobi World custom, Konohagakure of the allied Land of Fire was among those invited.

In addition, several small and medium-sized shinobi villages near the Lands of Wind and Fire, such as Rain Village, Grass Village, and Star Village, also received invitations and would send their own teams to participate.

On the day of departure, dawn had only just broken when a team of more than thirty people had already gathered outside Konoha's main gate.

Aside from Jiraiya, the overall leader, most of them were Genin registered for this examination and their squad captains.

Jiraiya stood before the group, clearly distracted, as though he had been forced into the job. Listlessly, he began a brief address:

"Ah... well, everyone, this trip to Sunagakure is for the Chunin Exams. Remember, you represent Konoha's honor, so you must... forget it... safety first. Know your limits. Sunagakure has lots of sand and little water, so take care of yourselves." There was nothing stirring or encouraging in his words; it sounded more like a perfunctory routine. Afterward, he waved his hand. "All right, let's go."

The group immediately set out on the road to Sunagakure.

After traveling for three straight days, they finally crossed the border of the Land of Fire and entered the Land of Rivers, situated between the Lands of Wind and Fire.

The journey was tedious, but Shinichi maintained his usual diligence. Whenever the group stopped to rest, he would always find a secluded corner near camp and train without fail.

This day was no exception. After finishing his training, he wiped the sweat from his brow and headed back toward camp.

Along the way, a thought stirred in his mind, and he summoned the Personal Panel visible only to him.

Name: Higashino Shinichi

Occupation: Genin/Swordsman

Talent: Slightly...

Compared to when he had first become a Genin half a year ago, the panel had not changed much.

Other than [Affinity] upgrading into [Charisma], it had only gained [Medical Basics].

Looking at the panel before him, Shinichi frowned slightly as he realized that he was now facing two obvious bottlenecks.

First, the threshold of recognition had risen sharply. He was already a publicly acknowledged Genius in Konoha. Many displays that would have been astounding coming from others were simply taken for granted when they came from him.

People's expectations for his excellence had been raised, causing the same effort and achievements to earn fewer impression points and less recognition.

Second, there was the halo effect. Certain overly prominent talents acted like spotlights, drawing away most of the attention and making it difficult for the outside world to clearly perceive and remember his abilities in other areas.

For instance, his martial arts should not still have been a basic white Trait.

Yet beneath the overall impression of him as a Genius—especially under the dual halos of being a swordsmanship Genius who had "defeated the White Fang Sword Style" and a ninjutsu Genius who had "independently developed an A-rank Sealless Jutsu"—his solid and exceptional attainments in martial arts had instead been obscured and diluted.

It was like Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage. Ninety-five percent of the world's knowledge and legends about him focused on his miraculous Wood Release, to the point that the fact that he was also a top-tier master of all five Chakra natures, and even a master of medical ninjutsu, was concealed by that excessively dazzling halo and became little known.

"If only the Shadow Clone's disguise could also..."

Shinichi had put considerable effort into that line of thought, but he had ultimately figured out the system's seemingly simple yet stringent rule: a Shadow Clone could help him gain recognition, but only if the outside world clearly knew that the Shadow Clone was "Higashino Shinichi."

That meant he could have Shadow Clones conduct activities with different focuses while using his original appearance and identity—for example, one practicing martial arts and another practicing medical arts—in an attempt to disperse attention and gain recognition in multiple areas.

But in essence, that merely divided his own time into several portions. All recognition would still ultimately stack onto the single identity of "Higashino Shinichi." The efficiency was slightly better, but it could never solve the problem of the halo effect.

He had also considered a more opportunistic method. During missions over the past half year, he had once made Shadow Clones transform into entirely different appearances and identities, creating reputations in specific fields under brand-new identities in the cities and surrounding areas where his missions took him.

For example, he had created a composed "Genjutsu Ninja A" with decent Genjutsu skills. This Genjutsu ninja, whom he called Crow, acted with Calmness and employed refined methods. Through deliberately arranged encounters in several cities he passed through during missions, Crow had displayed respectable Genjutsu attainments and steady qualities.

Based on Shinichi's previous estimates of the conditions required for a white Trait to form, the level Crow displayed and the attention he received should have been enough to condense a white [Genjutsu Basics] Trait, perhaps even push the [Calmness] Trait to upgrade.

Yet after more than half a year of attempts, the panel remained utterly silent.

No matter how deep an impression Crow had left behind locally, or how much praise and speculation he had earned, that recognition was like duckweed without roots. It could not form any connection to Higashino Shinichi. No Genjutsu-related Traits had ever appeared, and [Calmness] had not budged in the slightest.

This meant the core rule of recognition was that name and reality had to match. Recognition had to clearly point to the true name and true body of "Higashino Shinichi."

Disguise meant severing the chain of causality between recognition and the original body.

Thus, his idea of using Shadow Clones to create alternate identities and build independent Trait pools had completely failed. He could not be both "Genius Ninja Higashino Shinichi" and "Genjutsu Rising Star Crow," or "Martial Arts Expert B."

All recognition of his abilities had to be borne by the sole identity of "Higashino Shinichi," an identity already shrouded by the halo of a Genius.

"What should I do?"

Shinichi silently pondered.

One option was to focus on a single breakthrough and build toward the pinnacle. He could pour all his resources and image management into reaching the summit in one field first, achieving accomplishments recognized throughout the Shinobi World and using that to push for higher-level Traits.

But the drawback was obvious: the growth of his Traits in other areas would inevitably be delayed or even stagnate, and the basic boosts brought by those Traits were crucial to him.

Besides, even if he became a godlike existence in one field, he would probably still fall into the First Hokage's predicament—the public's attention would be firmly drawn to that most dazzling halo, while his talents in other areas would still struggle to gain enough recognition to support Trait upgrades.

The other option was to advance along multiple lines and seek balance. But that required more intricate planning and longer-term management. With time already tight and the recognition threshold having risen, efficiency was a problem.

"When I become Hokage, the first thing I'll do is establish a propaganda department. Then I'll buy up every major newspaper and radio station in the Shinobi World. There'll even have to be a special section about my deeds in every nation's textbooks."

Shinichi thought viciously, and that was not all. His calculations became even more detailed.

For example, he could change the propaganda focus every few years. For the next few years, he would emphasize physical strength and extraordinary power; a few years later, he would promote his benevolent medical skills; a few years after that, he would highlight his strategic brilliance. He had to make the people of the Shinobi World form a complete impression of him as an "all-around super Genius."

An absurd scene even flashed through his mind: in a future classroom, a teacher pointed at a textbook.

"Students, today we will study a new text—The Hokage Used a Pebble to Shoot Down the Moon..."

"...The Hokage bent down, picked up a pebble from the flower bed, and looked at the sky. 'Damn Otsutsuki.' He hurled the pebble upward with all his strength. Soon, the moon in the sky suddenly erupted with a dazzling flash of light, then fell..."

"Waaah, the Hokage is so great!"

"We can never repay the Hokage's kindness..."

In the brightly lit classroom, a group of little children raised both hands, jumping excitedly with tears streaming down their faces.

Attention! The classroom lights were not on at this time.

Damn!

Shinichi shuddered and hurriedly flung the increasingly absurd image out of his mind.