Naruto: You Call This Guy the Savior?!

As for why Tatsuya knew Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, that would likely remain an unsolvable mystery.

The man was already dead, so who was left to ask?

However, the leakage of a clan's secret technique—especially one involving the family of the current Hokage—was by no means a trivial matter. If they didn't take it seriously, they risked being slapped with a charge of dereliction of duty.

In truth, they were quite helpless. If they could actually get an answer, that would be one thing, but given the current situation, trying to use a twelve-year-old child as a scapegoat would likely never hold up.

Everyone knew how much the Hokage, who ran to the Ninja Academy every few days, valued these children.

Even though Keiichi had already graduated, he was still just a child, the future of Konoha in Hiruzen's own words; a certain degree of caution was still necessary.

"Did Tatsuya tell you who taught him this ninjutsu?"

Keiichi shook his head.

"Speak!" the interrogator slammed the table.

"No!" Keiichi jumped in fright.

Seeing his reaction, so much like an honest student, the two men felt even more frustrated.

After all...

He was still just a child.

After a moment of thought, the interrogator picked up the water glass from the table, placed it gently in front of Keiichi, and said in a soft voice, "Tell us everything you know, and this will be yours."

Staring at the glass, Keiichi gulped audibly, his throat bobbing, yet he still shook his head decisively.

"I've already said everything I know." Keiichi's eyes were clear, devoid of any trace of a lie.

"Hmph!" The interrogator was so angry he slammed the glass onto the floor, spilling water everywhere.

Keiichi stared at the puddle on the floor, unable to stop himself from licking his lips; he even had the urge to crawl down and lap it up.

The interrogator sighed. To deal with a child, they had already shamelessly resorted to certain methods. It wasn't that there weren't crueler methods available, but they weren't suitable for a child, especially a ninja from the same village.

On second thought, having been pushed to this point, even an adult would have spilled everything they knew, with no possibility of concealment.

In all likelihood, what the child said was the truth.

They felt quite depressed. There was no point in further interrogation; it was nothing more than the suspect admitting he had learned the Sarutobi clan's secret technique, a fact they had already confirmed through the testimonies of others.

Konoha's laws had never explicitly stated that learning a clan's secret technique was a punishable offense.

They wondered if their superiors would be furious enough to curse them out once they heard the results of this investigation.

It was a pity that the ninjas of the Yamanaka Clan were all out of the village on missions. If they had been here to use their mind-reading techniques, this task would have been much easier.

But that was just wishful thinking. To mobilize the Yamanaka Clan against a mere twelve-year-old child? Their superiors would definitely treat them like lunatics, and the Anbu couldn't afford to lose face like that.

About an hour later, Keiichi finally walked out of the Hokage Building, his expression pale but carrying a hint of excitement.

He had finally passed!

To kill that Sand Ninja, he had been forced to use the B-rank ninjutsu [Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet]. Although it wasn't a forbidden technique, he was well aware of the implications, so he had been mentally prepared for the interrogation that followed.

He had even prepared for the worst-case scenario: if it came down to it, he would have to become a rogue ninja wandering the ends of the earth.

Pinning everything on his deceased comrade was the best solution he could manage. Although it looked full of holes, his age would ultimately dilute any suspicion.

Moreover, he hadn't lied; he had told them the truth, it was just that they didn't believe him.

Yes, he had truly learned this ninjutsu in his previous life. After the Fourth Shinobi World War ended, Konoha had undergone many changes, especially when the Seventh Hokage took office. Many clan secret techniques began to open their doors to the commoner class, and Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was one of them—one he had earned with hard-won merit.

Only a fire ninjutsu with such immense power could have shattered that Sand Ninja's Earth Style: Earth Wall. If he hadn't seen that the Sand Ninja was planning to escape, he wouldn't have exposed his true level so quickly and invited suspicion.

Even though he had barely scraped by today, he was now on the Anbu's radar, which was a minor but persistent hidden danger.

But what he was truly worried about wasn't this; he felt deeply anxious about his tragic future.

What was a Fire Dragon Flame Bullet? It was nothing more than a B-rank ninjutsu. It might not be difficult to kill a Chunin, but what about a Jonin? Or a Kage-level ninja?

It was a total joke!

Without a few S-rank techniques, you wouldn't even have the dignity to die in the future!

He knew very well that in five years, the Fourth Shinobi World War—that battle of gods—would begin. Everyone would witness what it meant for Kage-level ninjas to be everywhere and Jonin to be as common as dogs!

In his previous life, he had been one of the masses swept up by the tide. He had barely passed the Chunin Exams, only to be shoved onto the battlefield of the Fourth War like a duck being driven to the slaughter, becoming an imperceptible pixel in an army of seventy thousand ninjas.

Forget having lines; he probably didn't even make it into a single frame. The title of "extra" would have been too prestigious for him.

Yet, this was the real ninja world!

A cruel world governed by bloodline theory!

The ceiling for a commoner's future was visibly low.

Unless you were like Jiraiya, with off-the-charts luck and a great teacher, crossing class barriers was almost impossible. Once you hit the battlefield, you were all just cannon fodder.

Reaching a secluded corner, Keiichi raised his hands to form a seal, his index finger curled beneath his middle finger. It was a gesture different from any standard seal, so when he performed it, it looked like nothing had happened.

But from Keiichi's perspective, a translucent light screen opened—

"Plot deviation: 0.00011%"

"Magic Modification Points: 10."

"[Exchange Shop](Unlocks when Magic Modification Points exceed 1. Time remaining: 00:17:23.)"

Chapter 3: Plot Modification System

This was the [Plot Modification System] that had suddenly descended upon Keiichi after his rebirth. According to the system's initial prompt, he could only earn Magic Modification Points by altering the original storyline of Naruto. The greater the degree of modification, the more points he would receive.

Seeing the Magic Modification Points jump from 0 to 10, Keiichi couldn't help but break into a joyful smile.

Although he had been forced to reveal things that should have remained hidden in order to kill the Sand Ninja, he had received a generous reward.

Just as he had expected, when he took the initiative to change the future, the degree of plot modification had indeed increased!

Yes, in his previous life, this battle with the Sand Ninja spy had also occurred.

However, that battle had been far more tragic than this one. Not only had the Sand Ninja escaped Konoha alive, but in the end, he had been the only survivor of Team 25. He had spent a full half-year in a hospital bed, nearly dying.

Because of that, he had even missed that year's Chunin Exams, losing his only chance to intersect with the main cast.

In this life, he had prepared for this battle in advance, and in the end, he had taken down the Sand Ninja spy at the cost of only one death and two injuries, successfully changing the course of history.

But this 0.00011% modification rate made Keiichi's smile look slightly bitter, as he began to understand the system's criteria for judging plot changes.

The members of Team 25 were, without exception, mere background characters—roles that didn't exist in the original story of Naruto. Therefore, no matter how this incident ended, it wouldn't change the future in any significant way.

The only slight impact would likely stem from that Sand Ninja spy. Keiichi had been gambling, betting that this spy was preparing for the upcoming invasion during the Chunin Exams.

It seemed he had won the bet; whether this spy could transmit the information back would ultimately have a tiny ripple effect on the development of the plot.

But at best, it was only 0.00011%.

Keiichi dared not hope for more. The so-called butterfly effect, where a butterfly's wings could stir up a storm in the Pacific, probably had the same probability as a gorilla typing out Shakespeare on a keyboard.

This incident gave him a realization: if he truly wanted to earn Magic Modification Points, he would have to personally participate in the historical process!

At the very least... he had to first become a background character who could actually appear in the panels!

Then, he could dream about whether he might be able to snag a line of dialogue.

One must eat a meal one bite at a time; at this stage, he dared not aim too high.

After all, his experience in his previous life had told him clearly that even as a transmigrator who knew the plot of Naruto, his civilian lineage meant that grinding out seniority to become a Special Jonin was his absolute limit.

If he couldn't even influence the direction of the plot, how could he master his own destiny?

Even if he were lucky enough to survive the Fourth Great Ninja War five years later, when the Otsutsuki invaded, wouldn't even the protagonist of the story be unable to save himself?

Fortunately, heaven had given him another chance, and this time, he was not content to just lie flat.

He needed to fully utilize the [Plot Modification System] and rely on this extra advantage to change his predetermined fate!

However, his life experience from his previous existence told him that wanting to modify the original course of the story was by no means an easy task.

Fortunately, there was still time. The Seventh Hokage was currently just a Genin on equal footing with him, and with his combat experience from his past life, perhaps he really could change something.

Calculating the time, the Naruto Bridge Incident wasn't far off...

Returning to the dormitory, the room was pitch black. His companions from Team 25 were still in the hospital receiving treatment. Keiichi sat cross-legged on his bed and reopened the system.

The moment the countdown hit zero, he impatiently pressed the [Exchange Shop] button.

In an instant, a massive amount of information flooded his mind, leaving him dazzled and deeply shaken.

After several minutes, he finally managed to sort through his thoughts, feeling increasingly excited.

The entire shop was roughly divided into several sections, mainly categorized into: [Attributes], [Missions], [Ninjutsu], [Ninja Tools], [Bloodlines], and [Gift Packs].

Under each category, there were several sub-categories. For example, Ninjutsu included [Release Ninjutsu], [Ninjutsu Arts], [Clan Secret Techniques], [Sealing Jutsu], [Cursed Seals], [Sage Arts], [Kekkei Genkai], [Taijutsu], [Genjutsu], and so on.

When he opened the [Attributes] overview, it clearly displayed his various stats—

Physical Attributes:

Ninjutsu: 4

Taijutsu: 3

Genjutsu: 1

Intelligence: 8

Strength: 4

Speed: 2

Stamina: 3

Hand Seals: 5

Chakra Nature:

Fire: 6, Water: 1, Earth: 2, Wind: 3, Lightning: 2, Yin: 1, Yang: 1

Next to each value was a plus sign. By consuming Magic Modification Points, he could directly increase his attribute values. The higher the base attribute, the greater the consumption, but that wasn't the key point.

The key was that there was a threshold for improving attributes. Even to raise a stat from 1 to 2, he had to meet the prerequisite of at least 0.1% plot modification!

It wasn't just attributes; the vast majority of items available for exchange also had plot modification restrictions.

For instance, under the bloodline category, the [Uchiha Bloodline] hanging in the first row requires 1,000 Magic Modification Points to redeem at 100% purity, along with a prerequisite of 60% plot modification.

However, he soon discovered that the purity progress bar for every bloodline could be adjusted; if one only wanted the bare minimum of 1%, the vast majority of bloodlines could be redeemed for just 10 Magic Modification Points, meaning each 1% cost 10 points.

Before the progress bar exceeded 5%, there wasn't even a requirement for plot modification.

It could be said that as long as Keiichi wanted them, he could redeem 1% purity of these bloodlines immediately.

Only the [Otsutsuki Bloodline] was different; as the ceiling of all bloodlines, the exchange rate made Keiichi close the window the moment he saw it, dispelling any inappropriate worldly desires.

But when he opened the gift pack list, he immediately changed his mind.

[Newbie Voyage Starter Pack]: 10 Magic Modification Points (Remaining 23:56:23).

[Monthly Random Pack]: 50 Magic Modification Points (Remaining 29 days).

[Annual Epic Pack]: 100 Magic Modification Points (Remaining 365 days).

[Land of Waves Arc Limited Pack]: 15 Magic Modification Points.

Although the specific contents of these packs were invisible, based on his extensive experience playing mobile games before transmigrating, buying packs was never a losing proposition!

Furthermore, he realized that simply redeeming a bloodline wasn't enough; for example, redeeming the [Uchiha Bloodline] didn't mean he would automatically obtain the [Sharingan], as he would still need to go to [Ninjutsu] → [Kekkei Genkai] to redeem it.

Yet, even to obtain the lowest-level [One-Tomoe Sharingan], it required 25 Magic Modification Points and the condition of at least 5% purity.

This meant that to obtain the [One-Tomoe Sharingan], a total of 75 Magic Modification Points would be required.

Having experienced his previous life, Keiichi knew all too well what a ninja bloodline meant for one's future, but before he could be certain of how a bloodline would affect him, he decided to gamble on the Newbie Voyage Starter Pack first.

With that, he placed his trembling finger on the redeem button.

Instantly, a line of text appeared before his eyes.

Chapter 4: The Land of Waves Arc Begins