As for how Tatsuya knew Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, it would probably remain an unsolved mystery.
The man was dead. Who could they ask?
But the family's secret technique had leaked—and it involved the family of the Hokage currently in office. This was no small matter. If they didn't take it seriously, they might end up accused of dereliction of duty.
They were in a difficult position. If they could get an answer, that would be one thing, but with the situation as it was, they were planning to make a twelve-year-old child the scapegoat. There was no way they could justify that.
Everyone knew how much Lord Hokage cared about these children. He was always dropping by the Ninja Academy.
Keiichi had already graduated, but he was still just a child, one of the future of Leaf Village, as Hiruzen put it. They still had to show some restraint.
"Did Tatsuya tell you who taught him that jutsu?"
Keiichi shook his head.
"Answer me." The interrogator slapped the table.
"No!" Keiichi jumped in fright.
Seeing him react like such an honest student only made the two interrogators feel more frustrated.
In the end...
He was still just a child.
After a moment's thought, the interrogator picked up the cup of water on the table and gently set it in front of Keiichi. In a soft voice, he said, "Tell us everything you know, and the water's yours."
Keiichi stared at the cup. He gulped, struggling to swallow, but still shook his head firmly.
"I've told you everything I know." Keiichi's eyes were clear, without a trace of deceit.
"Hmph!" The interrogator angrily snatched up the cup and smashed it onto the floor. Water spilled everywhere.
Keiichi stared at the wet patch on the floor and couldn't help licking his lips. Just a moment ago, he'd even been tempted to get down and lick it up.
The interrogator sighed. They had already resorted to some shameful methods to deal with a child. There were harsher methods, of course, but they weren't suitable for a child—especially one from their own village.
Thinking it over, anyone who had been pushed this far would say anything, even an adult. There was no way Keiichi was still hiding something.
Most likely, the child was telling the truth.
They felt frustrated. There was no point continuing the interrogation. All they had gotten was Keiichi admitting that he had learned the Sarutobi Clan's secret technique, which they had already found out from other witnesses.
Leaf Village's laws had never explicitly stated that learning a ninja clan's secret technique was punishable.
They wondered whether their superiors would curse them out when they heard the results of the investigation.
It was a shame that the Yamanaka Clan ninjas were all out on missions. If they had been there, they could have used their mind techniques and made this assignment much easier.
But that was just wishful thinking. Calling in the Yamanaka Clan to deal with a mere twelve-year-old would make their superiors think they were insane. Anbu couldn't afford to lose face like that.
About another hour later, Keiichi finally stumbled out of the Hokage Building. His face was pale, but there was also a hint of excitement in his expression.
He'd finally made it through!
To kill the Sand Ninja, he'd had no choice but to use Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, a B-rank jutsu he shouldn't have revealed. It wasn't a forbidden technique, but he understood the implications all too well. He'd been mentally prepared for the interrogation that followed.
He'd even braced himself for the worst. If things really went badly, he'd have to become a wandering rogue ninja.
Blaming everything on his dead teammate had been the best solution he could come up with. There were plenty of suspicious holes in the story, but his young age would eventually dull their suspicions.
Besides, he hadn't lied. He'd told them the truth. They just didn't believe him.
That's right. He really had learned the jutsu in his previous life. After the Fourth Shinobi World War ended, many things changed in Leaf Village. Once the Seventh Hokage took office, many ninja clans began opening their secret techniques to the common people. Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was one of them, and he'd earned it with genuine merit.
Only a Fire Release jutsu with that much power could break through the Sand Ninja's Earth Style: Earth Wall. If he hadn't seen the Sand Ninja trying to escape, he wouldn't have wanted to reveal his true abilities so soon and draw suspicion.
Even though he'd managed to get through today, he'd still landed on Anbu's radar. That was another small but troublesome risk.
But that wasn't what worried him most. He was more concerned about the grim fate that awaited him in the future.
What was Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, anyway? Just a B-rank jutsu. It might not be hard to kill a Chunin with it, but what about a Jonin? Someone at Kage Level?
What a joke!
Without an S-rank jutsu or two, you'd have no business expecting to make it to the end!
He knew that in five years, the war of gods and monsters known as the Fourth Great Ninja War would begin. Everyone would see what it meant for Kage-level fighters to be everywhere and Jonin to be more common than dogs!
In his previous life, he'd been one of the countless ordinary people swept along by the tide of events. He'd barely passed the Chunin Ninja Exams before they'd rushed him off to the Fourth Shinobi World War battlefield. He'd been one insignificant pixel among an army of seventy thousand ninjas.
He hadn't even gotten a line. He was lucky if he'd made it into a single shot. Calling him an extra would have been far too generous.
But that was the real Shinobi World!
A cruel world ruled by bloodline!
The ceiling for an ordinary person's future was low enough to see with the naked eye.
Unless he got absurdly lucky and found a good teacher, like Jiraiya had, crossing the class divide was almost impossible. Once you reached the battlefield, you were all damn cannon fodder.
Once he reached a secluded corner, Keiichi formed a hand sign, curling his index finger beneath his middle finger. It was a gesture unlike any of the usual hand signs, so when he made it, it looked as if nothing had happened.
But from Keiichi's perspective, a translucent screen appeared--
"Plot Modification: 0.00011%"
"Magic Modification Points: 10"
"[Exchange Shop] (Unlocks when Magic Modification Points exceed 1. Time until opening: 00:17:23.)"
Chapter 3: The Plot Modification System
After Keiichi was reborn, the Plot Modification System had suddenly appeared within him. According to the system's initial message, he could only earn Magic Modification Points by changing the original story of Naruto. The greater the change, the more points he would receive.
Seeing his Magic Modification Points go from 0 to 10, Keiichi couldn't help smiling with delight.
He'd had no choice but to reveal something he shouldn't have in order to kill the Sand Ninja, but he'd also received a generous reward.
Just as he'd expected, when he changed the course of the future himself, the plot modification percentage really did increase!
That's right, the battle with the Sand Ninja spy had happened in his previous life, too.
But that battle had been far more brutal than this one. Not only had the Sand Ninja escaped Leaf Village alive, but in the end, he'd been the only survivor from Team 25. He'd spent more than half a year in a hospital bed and had nearly died.
Because of that, he'd even missed the Chunin Ninja Exams that year, losing his only chance to cross paths with the main cast.
In this life, he'd prepared for the battle in advance. In the end, he'd killed the Sand Ninja spy at the cost of one death and two injuries, successfully changing the course of history.
Still, the 0.00011% plot modification made Keiichi's smile turn a little bitter. He was beginning to understand how the system judged the degree of change.
Every member of Team 25 was just an extra, a character who hadn't existed in Naruto's original story. Whatever happened to them wouldn't change the future at all.
The only possible impact was the Sand Ninja spy. Keiichi had been gambling that the spy was preparing for the coming invasion during the Chunin Ninja Exams.
Now it seemed his gamble had paid off. Whether the spy managed to send word back would have at least the tiniest effect on the story's development.
But it amounted to no more than 0.00011%.
Keiichi didn't dare hope for more. The idea that a butterfly's wings could whip up a storm over the Pacific had about as much chance of happening as a gorilla typing Shakespeare.
This had made him realize that if he truly wanted to earn Magic Modification Points, he'd probably have to take part in history himself!
At the very least... he had to become an extra who appeared in a shot!
Then he could start hoping to snag a line or two.
You had to take things one step at a time. At this stage, he didn't dare get ahead of himself.
After all, his previous life had taught him one thing beyond doubt: even as a transmigrator who knew the story of Naruto, his ordinary bloodline meant that becoming a Special Jonin through years of service was the best he could hope for.
If he couldn't even influence the story, how could he take charge of his own fate?
Even if he somehow survived the Fourth Great Ninja War in five years, when the Otsutsuki invaded, wouldn't even the story's main characters be struggling to survive?
Fortunately, the heavens had given him another chance. This time, he refused to settle for lying low.
He needed to make full use of the Plot Modification System and rely on this extra advantage to change the fate already laid out for him!
But his experiences in his previous life had taught him that changing the original course of the story would be no easy task.
Thankfully, there was still time. The Seventh Hokage was currently just another Genin on equal footing with him. Combined with the combat experience from his previous life, perhaps he really could change something.
By his reckoning, the Naruto Bridge Incident wasn't far off...
When he returned to his dormitory, the room was pitch-black. His teammates from Team 25 were still in the hospital receiving treatment. Keiichi sat cross-legged on his bed and opened the system again.
The moment the countdown hit zero, he eagerly pressed the [Exchange Shop] button.
In an instant, a flood of information swept over him. His vision blurred, and he was shaken to the core.
It took several minutes for him to sort it all out, and by then he was even more excited.
The shop was broadly divided into several sections: [Attributes], [Missions], [Ninjutsu], [Ninja Tools], [Bloodlines], and [Packs].
Each section had several subcategories. The ninjutsu section, for example, included [Nature Transformation], [Ninja Techniques], [Clan Secret Techniques], [Sealing Jutsu], [Cursed Seals], [Senjutsu], [Kekkei Genkai], [Taijutsu], [Genjutsu], and more.
When he opened the [Attributes] page, he was surprised to see his stats displayed clearly--
Physical Attributes:
Nin: 4
Tai: 3
Gen: 1
Ken: 8
Str: 4
Spd: 2
Sta: 3
Hand Seals: 5
Chakra Natures:
Fire: 6 Water: 1 Earth: 2 Wind: 3 Lightning: 2 Yin: 1 Yang: 1
There was a plus sign next to every value. He could increase his stats by spending Magic Modification Points. The higher the base stat, the more points it cost, but that wasn't the important part.
The important thing was that increasing stats came with a requirement. Even raising a stat from 1 to 2 required at least 0.1% plot modification first!
And it wasn't just stats. Most other items also had plot modification requirements.
For example, the [Uchiha Bloodline] at the top of the bloodline list required 1,000 Magic Modification Points and 60% plot modification to unlock at 100% purity.
But he soon discovered that the purity progress bar for each bloodline could be slid back and forth. At the minimum purity of 1%, most bloodlines could be purchased for only 10 Magic Modification Points. In other words, each 1% cost 10 Magic Modification Points.
Until the progress bar went over 5%, no plot modification requirement was needed.
That meant Keiichi could exchange points for 1% purity in any of those bloodlines right away, if he wanted.
The only exception was the [Otsutsuki Bloodline]. As the pinnacle of all bloodlines, its exchange rate was so outrageous that Keiichi closed the page after a single glance, giving up on that worldly temptation.
But as soon as he opened the packs page, he changed his mind.
[Newbie Voyage Starter Pack]: 10 Magic Modification Points (23:56:23 remaining).
[Monthly Random Pack]: 50 Magic Modification Points (29 days remaining).
[Annual Epic Pack]: 100 Magic Modification Points (365 days remaining).
[Land of Waves Arc Limited Pack]: 15 Magic Modification Points.
The contents of the packs weren't visible, but judging by his extensive experience playing mobile games before he transmigrated, buying packs was never a losing proposition!
He also realized that exchanging for a bloodline alone wasn't enough. For example, obtaining the [Uchiha Bloodline] didn't mean he would get the [Sharingan]. He would still have to exchange for it under [Ninjutsu] → [Kekkei Genkai].
But even the lowest-level [One-Tomoe Sharingan] required 25% plot modification and at least 5% bloodline purity.
In other words, getting the [One-Tomoe Sharingan] would require 75 Magic Modification Points in total.
After what he'd gone through in his previous life, Keiichi knew better than most what a ninja bloodline could mean for someone's future. But until he knew exactly how the bloodline would affect him, he decided to take a chance on the starter pack first.
So he placed his trembling finger on the exchange button.
At once, a line of text appeared before him.
Chapter 4: The Land of Waves Arc Begins
Before you continue