Hokage: You Call This Guy the Savior?!

"Based on nothing but a mere Konoha genin?"

"This subordinate is foolish!"

"What was the result of your probing?"

Kabuto Yakushi pondered for a full ten seconds before answering, "I don't know."

This answer caught Orochimaru off guard; he had never heard such a word from Kabuto's lips before.

"Focus on our plan. Do not create unnecessary complications."

"Yes."

"Are you truly determined to launch that plan?" Kabuto asked again.

Just as Orochimaru was about to reply, his gaze flicked behind him, where an old acquaintance was approaching.

"Isn't this Aburame Tatsuma? Have you come to capture me?" Orochimaru cackled, acting as if he were completely unbothered by being discovered.

"By order of Lord Danzo, I have come to assist you in completing your plan."

He doesn't even know what plan I intend to implement. This doesn't match his usual cautious nature.

"I merely follow orders to have Root cooperate with you. I know nothing else."

Watching the dull and wooden Aburame Tatsuma, Orochimaru's eyes seemed to possess a certain penetrative power, staring fixedly at him. He then caught sight of something unexpected, his expression shifting to one of surprise before he fell into deep thought.

"My lord?" Kabuto wondered why Orochimaru had remained silent for so long.

"Sigh, a poor wretch controlled by the Sharingan's genjutsu, having lost even his own self. It truly fails to stir even a shred of interest in me." Orochimaru sighed, gazing up at the sky as if he could already see a fire sweeping across all of Konoha.

My teacher, the funeral I have personally designed for you is about to begin. Are you ready?

The moment Hiruzen announced the tournament bracket, the crowd broke into whispers; some were dejected, while others were inexplicably excited.

Neji Hyuga, however, fixed his gaze on Keiichi, for he saw that his opponent was indeed Naruto Uzumaki.

Could he actually predict the future? Is this some kind of Kekkei Genkai ability?

What he did not know was that Keiichi's brows were already tightly furrowed. Perhaps because he had also broken into the final round, changes had truly begun to emerge.

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuga.

Gaara vs. Shino Aburame.

Keiichi vs. Dosu.

Temari vs. Sasuke Uchiha.

Shikamaru Nara vs. Kankuro.

Except for Naruto's match, every single pairing had changed!

Because he had taken advantage of a direct entry into the finals, to demonstrate Konoha's fairness and impartiality, the bracket dictated that even if he defeated Dosu, he would still have to face the winner between Temari and Sasuke to advance to the top four.

He had to compete in one more round than everyone else.

The key was that according to the original plot, Temari was supposed to fight Shikamaru, which was where the seeds of their affection were sown.

Now that he had "magic-modified" it, hadn't he pointlessly dismantled a fated connection?

Do not underestimate this connection; it was precisely the marriage between the Nara Clan and the Kazekage's family that eventually prevented war between the two nations and even led to a gradual warming of relations.

Now, that was hard to say.

Of course, everything was still just speculation. Given how clever Shikamaru was, his willingness to be with Temari might not have been without the consideration of sacrificing his own charms for the greater good. What if he was actually preparing to become the Prince Consort of Konoha?

As Hiruzen ordered the dismissal, the group left the tower, heavy with worry. Among the ten qualifiers, only Keiichi appeared exceptionally relaxed, feeling not a shred of pressure.

Others saw his demeanor and assumed he was prepared to give up and slack off, their eyes filled with disdain.

You liberal arts student should just stick to your intelligence work. You're still far from being a combat-oriented fighter!

Only Keiichi knew that the exam would be interrupted halfway through in a month's time, and the enemies he would need to deal with were at most Dosu, Temari, and Sasuke.

Rounding it up, that just left Sasuke.

Don't let Temari's impressive performance on the stage fool you; it was largely because she held a type-advantage over her opponent. Once Sasuke mastered his true power in the future, there would be few among their peers capable of defeating him.

Even if he couldn't beat Sasuke then and raised his hands to surrender, would Sasuke really go for the kill?

He didn't even stop to think about who had been breaking their back over his growth plan.

Then, the crisis in Konoha would erupt, Shukaku would go "mishi-mishi," Hiruzen would go "si-si," and by then, who would care about the Chunin Exams?

Since he couldn't stop the Konoha Crush Plan launched by Orochimaru, he might as well choose to join in, and then a massive pot of blame would fall squarely on Danzo's head.

You still want to recruit me as a subordinate?

Go be a missing-nin yourself!

Although the chaos in Konoha would soon subside, they would inevitably encounter the invaders from Sunagakure, and combat was unavoidable. Thus, as soon as Keiichi returned home, he opened the system, preparing to bolster his strength.

By now, he had accumulated as many as 120 Magic Modification Points, and as the date had turned to July, the monthly gift pack had refreshed.

Sticking to the principle that opening gift packs is never a loss, he didn't hesitate to spend 50 Magic Modification Points to redeem it.

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the following rewards:"

"Obito's Goggles (Permanent Cosmetic)."

Keep going...

And then?

That's it?

What about the promised Magic Modification Points refund?

What about the "tears of joy from a massive profit" gift pack?

All I got was a piece of junk cosmetic?

This system is a total scam!

Keiichi was furious. He had never been scammed like this before. What was the point of a cosmetic? Aside from looking good, could it enhance his strength?

Besides, these goggles weren't even good-looking!

With a "might as well break it since it's already cracked" attitude, he opened the item description, and his gloomy mood eased slightly.

He discovered that the cosmetics here were not quite what he had imagined.

It seemed that as long as he wore these [Obito's Goggles], he would transform into the likeness of Obito Uchiha, and no one would be able to tell the difference.

This was practically a Transformation Jutsu that required no chakra and was permanently effective!

But thinking about it carefully, he felt it was still useless. After all, it was already the 61st year of the Leaf Village; how many people who actually knew Obito were still around?

Furthermore, even if someone could recognize Obito, if he couldn't explain where he had been all these years or what he had been doing, even a fool would know something was wrong!

So, in the end, this thing was still quite useless.

Could it be that the system discovered my attempt to use the goggles to get under Kakashi's skin?

"Plot Modification Degree: 1.19350%"

Through his relentless meddling during the Chunin Exams, the modification degree had finally broken past one percent, and as time passed, this number was still slowly increasing.

The reason was obvious: Sasuke had yet to be branded with the Cursed Seal by Orochimaru. This in itself was a key modification that changed the trajectory of the plot, so subsequent developments were gradually deviating from the original path.

As long as this state continued, the plot modification degree would grow larger and larger, either changing the story beyond recognition or triggering the timeline's self-correction mechanism.

However, this was not something Keiichi could control. He was now more concerned with how to utilize the remaining 70 points.

"Consume 15 Magic Modification Points, Speed +1."

"Consume 15 Magic Modification Points, Speed +1."

Raising an attribute from 1 to 2 required 10 points and meeting the 0.1% modification threshold;

Raising from 2 to 4 required 15 points per level and meeting the 1% modification threshold.

In this way, he raised his Speed attribute directly from 2 to 4, finally patching up a rather fatal weakness.

During his previous battle with Kabuto Yakushi, the fact that the opponent had gotten so close to him so easily made him realize his own shortcomings.

"Consume 15 Magic Modification Points, Stamina +1."

"Consume 10 Magic Modification Points, Genjutsu +1."

"Consume 15 Magic Modification Points, Genjutsu +1."

Now, when he was in the state of having his Sharingan activated, his peak attributes were as follows:

Ninjutsu: 4

Stamina: 4

Genjutsu: 3→5

Intelligence: 8

Strength: 4

Speed: 4

Chakra: 3→4

Seal: 5

Chakra Natures:

Fire: 6→7, Water: 1, Earth: 2, Wind: 3, Lightning: 2, Yin: 1→2, Yang: 1

In other words, he no longer had any fatal weaknesses in his eight attributes; the lowest was now at 4.

It was just that these points were spent way too quickly; they were gone in the blink of an eye.

He couldn't help but secretly regret it. If he had known, he wouldn't have exchanged for that monthly gift pack. Otherwise, wouldn't those 50 points have been better spent on exchanging for a bloodline?

Make trouble!

I have to find a way to make more trouble!

If I don't make trouble, where will I get more Magic Modification Points?

How can one grow stronger without Magic Modification Points?

If I don't grow stronger, can I really save the ninja world?

Thinking of this, Keiichi's eyes turned red. For the sake of the future of the ninja world, I am forced to stir up trouble. You all must understand me!

He walked to the foot of his bed, opened a cleverly concealed hidden compartment, and pulled out a notebook from within.

Recorded on these pages were the plot points of the original story that he recalled from time to time. Now, he had to study them carefully to figure out how to leverage his advantage as a prophet to stir up trouble.

The Contest Between Gluttons

"The match... begins!"

Inside Ichiraku Ramen, four people sat on a long bench, which groaned under the weight, protesting as if it could collapse at any moment—all because one of the individuals was truly oversized.

"Choji, I will absolutely not lose to you when it comes to eating ramen! Slurp, slurp!" Naruto slurped his noodles while pointing his chopsticks at Choji, who sat beside him, his competitive spirit burning fiercely.

Choji, however, paid no mind to Naruto's provocation and focused solely on the task at hand. In less than a minute, he raised his bowl and downed the broth in one go.

"Another bowl!" Choji revealed the clean bottom of his bowl, looking incredibly imposing.

Sitting on the other side of Naruto was the demure Hinata. Since the conclusion of the preliminaries yesterday, she and Naruto had grown much closer, leading to Naruto inviting her out for ramen.

She ate in a low-key manner, without the exaggerated movements of Naruto or Choji. Her face was flushed, and she used her chopsticks to guide the noodles into her cherry lips bit by bit, though the frequency of her movements was perhaps a little fast.

"May I have another bowl?" Hinata asked timidly, her head bowed.

"No problem!" The owner of Ichiraku was very generous; he had already placed a freshly made bowl of ramen in front of Hinata, grinning from ear to ear.

Every staff member at Ichiraku Ramen had been mobilized. Ayame, Nishi, and Matsu were all at their stations, running at full capacity to produce bowl after bowl of high-quality ramen to send to the "front lines."

Three small-scale gluttons were devouring the "enemy" like a whirlwind, and empty bowls began to stack up high. Ichiraku had staked his professional reputation on this, determined not to keep his customers waiting.

Keiichi watched the scene of the three crazed gluttons, his expression stiffening. He never imagined that the situation would develop like this; Naruto truly didn't treat him like an outsider!