"Crystal Release: Crystal Mirror."
A flawless crystal mirror appeared before Kumonaka Torikaze, reflecting his image.
"Crystal Release: Crystal Clone Technique." As the jutsu took effect, the reflection slowly stepped out of the mirror, looking exactly like the real Kumonaka Torikaze.
The two Torifus nodded to each other, already understanding what the other was thinking.
The clone immediately headed toward the Kumogakure spy, while the real one waited for an opening.
"Damn it, why is this stupid forest so winding? I should've just taken the main road. I'm just an ordinary person now, anyway." Tanabe Sanji grumbled as he complained.
"Man, if I were just a little stronger, I wouldn't have been sent to work as a spy."
Just as Tanabe Sanji was grumbling away, a child ran up to a spot not far in front of him. Caught off guard, he was badly startled.
"Whose unlucky kid is this? Popping out of nowhere is scary, you know!"
The clone Torifu smiled. "Hehe, sorry, mister. You look a little lost."
Tanabe Sanji's eyes shifted. He put on a weary expression and said, "Yeah. I'm from the capital. My younger sister married into Konoha, and I came to visit her, but I got lost in this forest."
"Then I'll lead you out. I know this place pretty well."
Tanabe Sanji immediately put on a grateful expression. "Really? Thank you so much."
Anyone who didn't know the truth would have believed he was just a poor, lost older brother who'd come to visit his sister in Konoha. Unfortunately for him, the first person he'd run into was Kumonaka Torikaze.
"Mister, I'll need a reward for leading you out. I'm hungry."
Seeing that the kid was obviously trying to scam him, Tanabe Sanji kept smiling.
"Hold on, let me see what I can find."
He pretended to rummage around in his pack. Before long, his hand stopped moving.
"Here, come closer. I'll give you a rice cracker."
Kumonaka Torikaze immediately beamed and walked over.
When they were only a meter apart, Tanabe Sanji suddenly sprang into action. He pulled a sharp kunai from his pack and plunged it viciously into Kumonaka Torikaze's chest.
"Haha! Kid, don't play ninja games like a grown-up in your next life."
Watching Kumonaka Torikaze cough up blood, Tanabe Sanji sneered. "You're a decent actor, I'll give you that. But I've lived for over twenty years. You underestimated me."
But he didn't get the look of despair he'd expected to see in the boy's eyes as his life ended. All he got was a smile.
"So you're the one who's going to die."
Crack! A clear sound of shattering crystal rang out, followed by countless sharp shards.
Each piece of crystal was as sharp as a knife, and they came down as densely as rain, leaving nowhere to dodge.
In no time, Tanabe Sanji was riddled with holes. He seemed to have a stubborn will to live and hadn't quite died yet, but he was certainly in no condition to fight back.
Kumonaka Torikaze stepped out from behind a tree and looked down at Tanabe Sanji, who was barely breathing. "I didn't underestimate you. You were the one who got a little arrogant."
"Crystal...?" Tanabe Sanji asked with the last of his strength.
"That's right. This is genuine crystal. If you'd really managed to kill me, you might've become rich overnight." Kumonaka Torikaze joked.
"P-please spare me. My d-daughter was just born."
"Sorry. There are things I have to protect, too."
"Crystal Release: Crystal Prison Technique."
A brilliant white light flashed beneath Tanabe Sanji. A huge, transparent crystal immediately formed around him, trapping him inside.
A ray of sunlight filtered through the canopy and landed precisely on the crystal prison, reflecting a dazzling rainbow. It was certainly a priceless work of art.
Tanabe Sanji's expression at the moment of death was frozen inside like an insect in amber, beautiful and cruel.
That was the Crystal Prison Technique. Anyone it hit was almost certainly doomed.
Kumonaka Torikaze snapped his fingers, and the crystal prison shattered with a crash, turning into countless specks of dust that drifted through the air—a dazzling funeral.
Kumonaka Torikaze would show no mercy to anyone who tried to disturb the peace.
"Seriously, the spy practically came right to Konoha's doorstep to attack us, and nobody noticed."
"If I, Kumonaka Torikaze, weren't here, Konoha would be doomed sooner or later!"
[The Chaos Event has ended. Completion: C. Reward: 1,400 Calmness Points.] [The host directly killed Tanabe Sanji, causing Konoha's plan to fail. Chaos Points increased by 5.]
?????
"Are you kidding me?"
"I can't kill him outright? Then what, I have to give him a bath? Take him to a restaurant for dinner?"
"You stupid Dog System, are you just messing with me? I went to all that trouble, matching wits with him and taking him down, and now you're stabbing me in the back?"
"I'm like Wu Zetian widowed after Li Zhi died! I've lost Li Zhi!"
"Now I want to see which bastard came up with this stupid plan! I'm going to see the Hokage! If I don't get an explanation today, I'll beat Senju Hashirama to a pulp too!"
He wasted no time. Fuming, Kumonaka Torikaze headed back to the village. Quite a few passersby saw him and assumed some kid had been bullied and was on his way to find his mother.
But nobody knew that the six-year-old white-haired boy was thinking about beating the First to a pulp. After all, one True Several Thousand Hands from Senju Hashirama could beat you down until you were the size of one of his kidney stones.
When he reached the Hokage Building, Kumonaka Torikaze greeted each of the ninja guards and explained that he was there to beat Senju Hashirama to a pulp... Ahem, he meant to collect his father's will.
Once he explained why he was there, the ninja didn't stop him. They let him pass without a fuss.
There weren't many guards inside the Hokage Building, either, so he soon reached the door to the Hokage Office.
But the moment he arrived, Kumonaka Torikaze put on an innocent, harmless expression.
"Mister, I'm the head of the Kumonaka Clan. I've come to retrieve my father's will from Lord Hokage."
The guard outside the office was a member of the Senju Clan, and a very kind man. "Then go on in. Lord Hokage is inside."
Although they were guards, there was really nothing for them to do.
As if anyone would dare assassinate the First! Yeah, right.
After three knocks, a deep voice came from inside. "Come in."
Kumonaka Torikaze opened the office door and finally got his first look at the First himself—the man who had brought the entire Shinobi World to heel, the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama.
Senju Hashirama was working at his desk. The moment he saw the white-haired boy walk in, he recognized him. "You're Kumonaka Yama's son, Kumonaka Torikaze, right?"
"Lord Hokage, you know who I am?"
Kumonaka Torikaze hadn't expected the Hokage to remember someone as insignificant as him.
"I remember everyone in the village. Besides, your parents were once trusted subordinates of mine. It's a shame they died so young."
"My parents sacrificed themselves for the village. As long as the village lives on, so do they."
He still didn't know what convictions his parents had held when they sacrificed themselves. The village had only just been founded, so they couldn't have felt that strong a sense of belonging, yet they had still chosen to give their lives for it.
And Kumonaka Torikaze meant those words from the bottom of his heart. Though the village would become corrupt and dark in the future, he had awakened the system now, and a lot could be changed.
Hearing Kumonaka Torikaze's words, Senju Hashirama slapped the table and exclaimed, "Well said! As long as the village lives on, so do they!"
"You came for the will, right? Yama entrusted it to me back then, waiting for this day."
He opened a hidden compartment beneath his desk and took out a yellowed envelope, then handed it to Kumonaka Torikaze.
Just as Kumonaka Torikaze was reaching out to take it, the office door was suddenly thrown open with a bang! He thought some foolish ninja really had come to assassinate the First.
"Big Brother! I need to talk to you!"
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