Two days later.
Torifu was woken up by the system as usual.
[Ding—Congratulations, host, on living peacefully in Konoha for another day. Reward: 100 Calmness Points.]
Torifu could now automatically ignore the first half of the system's stupid opening line, which it repeated every morning, and listen only for the reward.
After all, the system congratulated him every day for living peacefully, but Torifu didn't feel even a little peaceful. He was either earning Calmness Points or on his way to earning Calmness Points!
What's more, Madara Uchiha would attack Konoha today. How the hell was that supposed to be peaceful?
Torifu remembered that when he watched the anime, Madara Uchiha had launched his attack at night.
So there was probably still a full day for him to prepare.
After all, quite a few things in this world had already changed compared to the anime, so no one could predict what today would bring.
"I wonder if anyone will die tonight," Torifu said worriedly.
This was reality, not an anime. Even if Konoha reacted as quickly as possible to Madara Uchiha's attack, there would definitely be some casualties.
If Konoha suffered too many casualties in this attack, there was no doubt that the Dog System would go on a crazy spree of racking up Chaos Points.
Of the five Chaos Points he'd gained from completing the first Chaos Event, four still remained! He'd only managed to pay off one in an entire year!
If he wound up with seventy or eighty Chaos Points, he'd probably still be paying them off when he died of old age!
"I need to find a way to minimize Konoha's casualties."
The best solution would be to spot Madara Uchiha immediately and hold him off.
But Konoha's sensor ninja couldn't stay on duty twenty-four hours a day. They'd definitely need to sleep at night.
After all, apart from Torifu, the entire village still thought this was just an ordinary day. What sensor ninja would randomly get the urge to go stand guard in the middle of the night?
And even if they spotted him, they'd still need to survive long enough to send a warning.
The thought gave Torifu a headache. "Maybe I should just have my master sleep at the gate tonight!"
Of course, he was only joking. Torifu didn't have to train today, which gave him more time to make preparations.
It was better to rely on himself than on anyone else. There was no other choice.
If he wanted to make it through this Chaos Event, he'd have to handle it himself.
After tidying up, Torifu headed out.
It had only just gotten light, and the streets were nearly empty.
Only a few middle-aged women were buying breakfast at the little shops selling it. They probably wanted a hot meal ready for their husbands and children when they woke up.
Torifu smiled warmly and headed toward Konoha's gate.
"Good morning, Torifu. Heading out this early to take a mission?"
The ninja guarding Konoha's gate knew Torifu well. After all, Torifu was always busy, taking all sorts of missions.
"No, Big Brother Kozichi. I'm just going out for a walk," Torifu said with a smile, striking up a conversation with Kozichi.
"Big Brother Kozichi, are you on day shift today?"
Kozichi grinned, his bright white teeth almost dazzling. "Yep. We just switched shifts, and here you are."
Torifu nodded, his expression growing a little serious. "Big Brother Kozichi, when the guards change shifts tonight, make sure the on-duty ninja stay alert. Things might get rough."
Kozichi stiffened. Seeing that Torifu didn't seem to be joking, he cautiously asked, "Is someone coming to cause trouble in Konoha?"
Torifu shook his head. "My master told me. Just tell them to stay alert and be careful. Whatever you do, don't tell a fourth person, or you might cause a panic."
It was true that tonight would be anything but peaceful, but Hashirama hadn't told him. Torifu just didn't want to waste too much time explaining for no reason.
Who in Konoha wouldn't believe what Lord Hokage said?
Sure enough, when Kozichi heard that Lord Hokage had told Torifu, his expression immediately turned serious. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone except the ninja taking over my shift."
"Mm-hmm." Torifu nodded and left Konoha, satisfied.
Why had he warned the guards? Even ninja couldn't help getting sleepy during the night shift. If Madara Uchiha attacked through the main gate, they'd probably be the first to become cannon fodder.
Torifu headed into the woods outside Konoha. This was where his dream had begun.
It was here that Torifu had encountered the Busy Work System, which might stay with him for the rest of his life. From then on, it had conned him into a life of hard work.
These woods encircled all of Konoha, forming a natural barrier. Supposedly, Lord Hokage had created them with Wood Release, though that claim had yet to be verified.
Torifu took a diamond-shaped crystal block out of his Space Ring, crouched down, and pushed it into the soil.
"Crystal Release: Crystal Connection Technique."
The diamond-shaped crystal he'd just buried began to grow rapidly. In just half a minute, it had grown into a Crystal Flower.
The Crystal Flower's shape was not much different from an ordinary flower, except that it was made entirely of crystal.
But on closer inspection, there was a tiny, inconspicuous hollow tube in the very center of its flower's core.
"Cloud Release: Cloud Mist Sensing Technique."
He finished forming the hand seals, but Torifu didn't release any Cloud Mist from his mouth or sleeves.
Instead, the newly formed Crystal Flower began to puff Cloud Mist from its center.
Though the flower was fragile and tiny, it released a surprisingly strong flow of Cloud Mist, no different from what Torifu could normally produce with his ninjutsu!
That was one of Torifu's achievements from the past year!
With the Crystal Connection Technique he'd developed, he could remotely control upgraded Crystal Creations and use them to release ninjutsu.
It wasn't just Cloud Release. With the exception of Taijutsu, almost any kind of ninjutsu could be unleashed this way.
All he had to do was plant Crystal Seeds in advance to catch his enemies off guard! Before they even realized what was happening, Torifu would already have started bombarding them with ninjutsu!
Whenever that happened, Torifu was grateful for his Genius buff. It had helped him a great deal.
But as useful as the ninjutsu was, planting the seeds wasn't nearly as easy. Konoha was nothing like the valley last time—it wasn't some tiny place where a Crystal Explosion could scatter the seeds everywhere.
Konoha was huge, and Torifu had no idea where Madara Uchiha would launch his attack from. He could only plant seeds all around the village.
"Am I seriously being treated like a workhorse? A few months ago I was out chasing clients, and now I'm a farmer?"
Torifu gazed at the endless woods and let out an indignant roar. "This forest is so damn huge! How long is it going to take to plant all these seeds?"
"Damn it, give me a raise!"
There was no way he could plant them all himself. If he really planted them one by one, Madara Uchiha would be right in front of him before he could finish.
Just then, Torifu spotted birds flying freely among the trees, and an idea suddenly struck him.
"Why not use the birds to spread the seeds? I'm such an idiot."
"Cloud Release: Flowing Cloud Flying Bird Technique."
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