Chapter 42

"You see that kid? All alone."

"Yeah. I heard there's a monster locked inside him."

"Stay away from him. Who knows when he'll go crazy."

Naruto squatted on a swing, his feet dangling as he watched ants moving house on the ground.

He had long since grown used to those words.

It had been this way ever since he could remember. Adults treated him like a plague, pulling their children away whenever they saw him.

Sometimes, he really wanted to rush over and shout—I'm not some kind of monster!

But he never did.

There was no point. It would only earn him more contemptuous looks. "Hey, Naruto!"

A voice called out from afar. It was an old man who sold dumplings.

The old man walked over carrying a plate with several steaming skewers of dumplings on it. "These are for you."

Naruto looked up, his eyes lighting up. "Really?"

"Of course. Go on, eat."

Naruto grabbed a skewer and stuffed it into his mouth, his cheeks puffing out roundly.

The old man watched him, sighed, patted his head, and left.

As Naruto chewed the dumplings, his nose suddenly stung.

He knew why the old man had sighed.

Everyone in the village knew, except him—that man he called the "Fourth Hokage" was his father.

And that man had sealed the Nine-Tails inside him to protect the village.

Then he died.

Leaving Naruto alone, branded a monster by the entire village.

Naruto swallowed the last bite of dumpling and jumped down from the swing. "I'm not going to cry." He wiped his eyes. "I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!"

"Lady Hinata, please slow down."

"Yes, I understand."

Hinata kept her head lowered as she followed several adults.

She was twelve now, a little shorter than other children her age, with jet-black hair and large, round eyes.

But her gaze was always evasive, like a timid little kitten. "Lady Hinata, Lord Hiashi said you must not slack off in training today."

"I wasn't slacking off..." Hinata said softly.

She really had not been slacking off.

Every day, she got up before dawn to practice Gentle Fist until her hands swelled.

But she simply could not defeat her younger sister, Hanabi.

Hanabi was two years younger than her. "Look at Lady Hanabi. She has such a bearing of the Hyuga Clan."

"Now look at you, so timid and hesitant. How are you supposed to be the heir of the main family?"

Hinata bit her lip, her eyes starting to redden.

She did not want to be like this either.

But she was scared.

Scared of embarrassing herself, scared of losing face, scared of disappointing her father.

The more afraid she was, the more nervous she became. The more nervous she became, the worse she performed. "Lady Hinata, are you about to cry?"

"I'm not..." Hinata blinked hard.

Then a voice suddenly rang out from the side—

"Hey! You grown men ganging up on a little girl—have you got no shame?"

Hinata looked up to see a blond-haired boy standing there with his hands on his hips.

Naruto. "What's it got to do with you?" The adults frowned. "How is it none of my business?" Naruto strode over and stood in front of Hinata. "You're clearly bullying her!"

Hinata froze.

She knew Naruto.

The boy everyone in the village disliked, the boy who always sat alone on the swing.

But now, he was standing in front of her. "You..." Hinata parted her lips.

Naruto turned back and flashed her a broad grin. "Don't be afraid. I'm here!"

"System, quit playing dead and get to work."

Lin Feng leaned back on the sofa with both legs propped on the coffee table, not even bothering to raise his eyelids.

His mind went quiet for three seconds. "Ding—Host, please issue a specific command."

The voice was as mechanical as ever, sounding like an emotionless customer service representative.

Lin Feng tugged at the corner of his mouth and tapped the armrest with his fingers. "Cut the crap. List every task for me, including the hidden ones. Don't hold anything back."

The system fell silent for a moment.

Then a row of translucent blue panels appeared before his eyes, densely packed from top to bottom.

Many of the tasks were gray, marked as locked.

Lin Feng scanned them from beginning to end, his gaze settling on an inconspicuous line at the very bottom. "Side Quest: Slap Back—Completion: 0%."

He smiled.

This was it. "Start it."

The system paused. "Host, please note that this quest offers extremely low rewards. It is recommended—"

"I said, start it."

The system said nothing more.

The next second, the number on the panel flickered and changed to "100%." "Ding—Side Quest completed. Reward obtained: Experience +1, Taunt Points +1."

Lin Feng nodded and patted his knee as he stood up.

The lackeys beside him stared in confusion, having no idea why their boss had just been grinning at thin air. "Boss, are you okay?" a blond-haired guy asked cautiously.

Lin Feng waved a hand. "I'm fine. Just dealt with that blind idiot in my head."

Meanwhile, warnings were flashing frantically in the system backend.

A red notification swept across the interface: "Warning! Host behavior logic has deviated from the original trajectory. Estimated deviation: 87%."

"System, immediately activate the correction program."

But another line popped up on the screen: "Correction program activation failed—Host authority level exceeds the current system's intervention range."

The system fell silent.

Lin Feng had already reached the door. He looked back at the lackeys standing there dumbfounded. "What are you all standing around for? Hotpot tonight. My treat."

Zhang Quandan narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze across everyone present. "You people?"

His voice was not loud, yet it silenced the entire room.

The people who had been shouting moments ago were all stunned.

The burly man at the front stepped forward, puffing out his chest. "What, you don't like it?"

Zhang Quandan did not answer.

He merely slowly raised a hand and pointed at the humming equipment around them. "Have any of you touched these?"

The burly man's expression shifted. "You don't understand any of it." Zhang Quandan continued, "You haven't even figured out the basic operations, and you want to challenge me?"

Someone muttered quietly.

The burly man glared back at them, then turned to stare at Zhang Quandan again. "Don't get too cocky, brat!"

"Cocky?" Zhang Quandan laughed. "I'm just telling the truth."

He walked over to the control console and tapped a few keys on the keyboard.

A string of data appeared on the screen. "Whoever understands it, step forward."

Silence.

The group looked at one another.

Not a single person spoke.

The burly man's face flushed crimson. His mouth opened, then shut again.

Zhang Quandan turned around and leaned against the control console. "You can learn if you want," he said. "But first, understand who calls the shots here."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Zhang Quandan said, enunciating every word, "you're not qualified to challenge me yet."

The air suddenly froze.

The burly man clenched his fists, his teeth grinding audibly.

But he did not move.

Because he knew full well—he truly could not understand that pile of data.

Zhang Quandan glanced at him and turned to walk out.

At the doorway, he paused. "Come find me after you've thought it through."

With that, he disappeared around the end of the corridor.

Everyone left in the room stared blankly at the screen.

The burly man slammed a fist onto the table. "Damn it..."

But no one dared to chase after him.

Zhang Quandan returned to his workstation and turned on his computer.

That file appeared on the screen. "Zao Yue Project."

He clicked into it.

The contents were filled with densely packed text and blueprints.

Zhang Quandan slowly scrolled downward, growing more alarmed the further he read.

This proposal was not something an ordinary person could have created.

From material selection to structural design to the energy system, every step was precise to three decimal places.

He took a deep breath.

If this could really be realized...

His phone rang.

Big Brother. "Where are you?"

"At the company."

"How's that matter going?"

"I've made some progress," Zhang Quandan said. "But I need more time."

The other end of the line was silent for several seconds. "Be careful."

"I know."

After hanging up, Zhang Quandan stared at the screen for a while longer.

Then he stood and walked to the window.

Outside, the city was ablaze with lights.

This city kept running every day.

But few people knew that, in some inconspicuous corner, a project called "Zao Yue" was quietly underway.

Zhang Quandan touched the USB drive in his pocket.

It was a backup.

He decided to take a gamble.

Naruto stood there, his calves trembling.

Ahead of him, the black-and-red chakra sphere kept growing larger, like a living sun. The air around it was being torn and twisted out of shape.

But this time, he neither retreated nor ran. "Are you insane, kid?" Jiraiya's voice came from behind him, frantic and exasperated. "You think you can catch that thing with your bare hands?"

Naruto ignored him.

There was only one thought in his mind—he had already figured out the nature of this thing from that earlier slap.

So what if it was a Tailed Beast Ball?

It was just a ball of chakra.

Something he could slap away.

The black sphere finally left the tailed beast's mouth and hurtled toward him with world-destroying pressure. The ground cracked, rubble was swept into the air by the current, and even breathing became scorching hot.

Naruto took a deep breath.

He pressed his palms together before his chest. Two utterly different powers within him surged toward his palms at once—one warm, one cold. They entwined and collided, twisting together like two snakes.

He stared at the incoming Tailed Beast Ball, his pupils abruptly contracting. "Give it to me—"

The power in his palms exploded.

He raised a hand, spread his fingers, and grabbed directly for the black sphere.

Boom!

The instant they touched, it was as though all the air had been sucked away.

Every sound around him vanished, leaving only the weight in his palm, nearly enough to crush his bones. Veins bulged across Naruto's face, and his teeth ground together.

But he did not let go.

The Tailed Beast Ball spun wildly in his palm, black-and-red arcs of lightning scattering in every direction, yet it could not advance even an inch further. "What?!"

In the distance, the Third Hokage shot to his feet in the observation station. He failed to hold onto his pipe, and it smashed directly onto the table. "He caught it?"

Jiraiya sucked in a sharp breath, his voice cracking. "Are that kid's hands made of iron?"

Naruto had no time to care what they were shouting.

Every bit of his focus was fixed on the violent energy in his palm. The Tailed Beast Ball was still struggling, like a snake gripped at its vital point, thrashing desperately.

He bared a mouthful of white teeth in a grin. "I'll—send it back!"

The force in his palm erupted. He forcibly reversed the Tailed Beast Ball's direction, sending it flying back while skimming across the ground.

The Eight-Tails' pupils shrank to pinpoints.

It did not even have time to dodge. It could only cross several tails in front of itself.

Rumble—!