After Three Years of Bitter Waiting, I Finally Lasted

Land of Fire, Konoha.

It was deep into the night; the pitch-black sky was like spilled ink, obscuring even the faintest glimmer of starlight.

"Swish!"

In a wooden shack on the outskirts of Konoha, a figure clad in dark ninja garb leaped out from a window.

After scanning left and right to ensure no one had spotted him, he sprinted toward the edge of the village and dove into a dense forest.

The figure's name was Lin Mu.

Tonight, he was going to do something that would change the course of his entire ninja life.

He was going to obtain the key to unlock his cheat, a day he had waited three full years for!

That's right, Lin Mu was a transmigrator. He had arrived in this Naruto world three years ago, and like all transmigrators, he had received a cheat: the Naruto Template System.

But what frustrated Lin Mu was this:

The templates within the system required a "key" to unlock, or he had to pay an exorbitant amount of system gold coins to purchase the template characters.

Lin Mu's transmigrated body was only a six or seven-year-old child, and the missions issued by the system were simply impossible for a child to complete.

With his current level of strength, let alone the vicious rogue ninjas outside the village, even a fierce beast in the forest could take his life!

"Today, I must obtain the Hashirama Cells!"

Lin Mu made a firm decision in his heart, his eyes revealing a touch of determination.

His figure flickered as he dove into a dense forest adjacent to Konoha.

Hidden within this forest was one of Orochimaru's secret bases, and inside that base lay the Hashirama Cells!

If not for the system's guidance, Lin Mu would never have believed that Orochimaru would be bold enough to build a secret base right under Konoha's nose.

But perhaps the most dangerous place is the safest; this secret base had likely been here for quite some time, yet the ninjas of Konoha had never discovered it.

Although Lin Mu had long known that the key to activating his system was hidden here, he had not acted rashly.

As a veteran fan of Naruto, he was very familiar with the entire world, and he was well aware of Orochimaru's cunning and cautious nature.

After careful thought and planning, he had set the date for his operation to today.

The Chunin Exams were currently underway, and the majority of the event had already passed.

According to his memory, during this exam, Orochimaru would disguise himself as the Kazekage and lead the Land of Wind and Otogakure to launch an invasion on Konoha, throwing the village into chaos.

And now was the eve of Orochimaru's full-scale invasion plan, which was also the perfect opportunity for Lin Mu to obtain the Hashirama Cells.

Guided by the system, Lin Mu wove through the dense forest, his dark figure appearing and disappearing in the night.

This forest was only a few miles from Konoha, and he hadn't been idle these past few years; he had already mapped out the terrain, so navigating to the secret base now was second nature to him.

Lin Mu moved quickly, leaping and bounding between the trees.

When he was still a few hundred meters from Orochimaru's base, Lin Mu stopped abruptly, finding a large rock to conceal his figure while scanning his surroundings with vigilance.

Years of experience had taught him that even near Konoha, it was never truly safe.

After observing carefully for a long while, Lin Mu let out a sigh of relief. He stepped out from behind the boulder on tiptoe and slowly approached a large tree a few hundred meters ahead.

During this time, he looked left and right; at the slightest sign of trouble, he would immediately abandon his plan.

Upon reaching it, Lin Mu circled the tree several times, carefully comparing it to the system-prompted map he had studied countless times.

"That's right, this tree is the entrance to Orochimaru's secret base shown on the system map, but how exactly do I get in?"

Lin Mu scratched his head and observed the tree again, suddenly discovering a hollow on its side.

Feeling a surge of joy, Lin Mu quickly climbed the tree and leaped into the hollow.

"It really is here!"

After entering the hollow, Lin Mu discovered that the interior of the tree had been hollowed out, with a secret passage leading straight underground.

Beyond his surprise, he couldn't help but marvel at Orochimaru's high intelligence.

This tree was unremarkable in the vast forest, and tree hollows were common sights; no one would ever guess that a secret base lay beneath it.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu suppressed his inner excitement and jumped down the hollow. After landing softly, he scanned his surroundings and only let out a breath of relief once he was certain there was no danger.

He moved forward a few quick steps and cautiously pushed open the door, revealing a laboratory over a hundred square meters in size!

Once he saw the appearance of the laboratory, Lin Mu couldn't help but gasp, marveling once more: "Orochimaru is truly the most formidable scientist in the entire Naruto world!"

The entire laboratory was filled with various precision instruments, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of chemicals.

Along the walls of the laboratory stood massive glass tanks, two meters tall and a meter wide, filled with dark green liquid. When he walked over to take a closer look, Lin Mu felt his scalp tingle.

Inside were monsters that were neither human nor beast—likely Orochimaru's experimental subjects.

Seemingly sensing Lin Mu's gaze, the monster inside suddenly opened its eyes, baring its fangs and slamming frantically against the glass tank as if it wanted to break out and tear him to shreds.

"Bang, bang, bang" sounds echoed, and the other monsters in the surrounding tanks began to stir as well.

Lin Mu was startled and quickly retreated a few steps.

"What on earth are these monsters? I didn't expect this laboratory to be so dangerous even without anyone around. I'd better hurry up and find the Hashirama Cells."

Lin Mu steadied his heartbeat and began to search the laboratory.

"But I don't know what these Hashirama Cells look like, so how am I supposed to find them?"

As Lin Mu pondered, his wandering gaze suddenly caught a glass bottle in the corner, and a flash of inspiration crossed his mind.

"Given Orochimaru's cunning nature, he certainly wouldn't leave something as precious as Hashirama Cells out in the open, nor would he likely lock them in a safe. So then..."

Thinking this, Lin Mu stepped forward quickly and reached out to pick up the glass bottle.

"Ding, host detected having obtained Hashirama Cells. Shall this be used as the key to fully activate the Hokage Choice System?"

"Yes!"

Hearing the system prompt, Lin Mu was overjoyed; he hadn't expected to hit the mark on his first try.

"Ding! The Naruto Template System is activating. Estimated time: ten minutes."

As soon as the system prompt faded, the glass bottle in his hand suddenly shattered, and what appeared to be a small piece of flesh flew toward Lin Mu, sinking into his chest and vanishing.

Lin Mu was stunned, but there was no time to overthink it. Since he had already obtained the Hashirama Cells and activated the system, there was no need to remain here any longer.

After all, every extra minute spent here meant an extra measure of danger!

With that thought, Lin Mu turned and quickly retraced his steps, crawling out of the tree hollow and returning to the forest.

Breathing in the fresh air of the forest, Lin Mu could no longer suppress the joy in his heart.

He had spent three full years planning for this moment; the system was finally about to activate!

Before Lin Mu could emerge from his joy, his ears suddenly twitched; there was a sound coming from the dense forest nearby.

"Someone's coming!"

Lin Mu was alarmed, but it was already too late to run!

He scanned his surroundings quickly, then dove without hesitation into the bushes beside the tree that served as the base entrance.