A Crushing Defeat After Taking the Initiative; Politely Declining the Hot-Blooded Thick-Browed One

The next morning, before dawn, Takuma opened his eyes.

He had spent half the night tossing and turning, trying to figure out how the system worked. Based on what had triggered a witness event yesterday, the system only reacted to "iconic moments" he witnessed with his own eyes. In other words, if he staked out the locations where events from the original story took place, he could reliably score a chance to draw when they happened.

And when it came to the most iconic everyday scene from the start of the original story, one event was impossible to overlook—Naruto vandalizing Kage Rock.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt like a genius. Other transmigrators had to toil away at training to grow stronger. All he needed to do was find a good spot and watch the show. One spin of the lottery wheel, and he'd have top-tier gear. What did it mean to win without lifting a finger? This was it.

He climbed out of bed as quietly as he could, slipped out of the house, and ran toward Kage Rock. He climbed the hill opposite it, found a leafy tree, and settled in for a long wait.

The sun climbed from the east to high overhead. Takuma's legs went numb, and his stomach started rumbling—he'd rushed out without breakfast and was starving.

Just as he was about to give up, a flash of orange appeared on the path below Kage Rock.

Takuma perked up at once. The blond kid was carrying an iron bucket and sneaking up the stone steps. A few brushes and several cans of paint were inside. Yesterday, he'd stumbled upon an event by chance and won the Wolverine Healing Factor. Today's iconic scene was even bigger. Surely the minimum prize would be on the level of Captain America?

Naruto climbed up to the faces of the previous Hokage and started painting them one by one.

Takuma saw the entire thing, from the first stroke to the last, without missing a second.

The system panel stayed quiet. It didn't even make a peep.

The smile froze on Takuma's face. He blinked hard, then rubbed his eyes, thinking his vision had failed him or the system was delayed.

The system panel remained completely blank. There was no detection prompt, no witness confirmation, not even an "invalid" notification.

Crouched stiffly in the tree, Takuma's expression shifted from eager to confused, then dazed, numb, and finally utterly despairing. A leaf drifted down and landed on the tip of his nose.

"...I watched the whole thing from beginning to end!!!"

He slid down from the tree in a daze. His legs gave out, and he nearly fell to his knees. After leaning against the trunk to recover for a while, he started down the hill on unsteady legs. He thought he'd figured out the system: events he deliberately staked out didn't count. They might as well rename this Witness System the "Leave-It-to-Chance Lottery."

Just then, a booming shout rang out ahead.

"Youth!!!"

Takuma shuddered, almost reflexively thinking the system had finally chimed in—but this time, the voice hadn't come from inside his head. It came from about thirty meters ahead, along with a rapidly moving green blur.

Might Guy—the Blue Beast of Konoha, the Emperor of the Eight Inner Gates, the man whose kick had nearly ended the story. Another, smaller green figure followed behind him, running upside down. It was Rock Lee, with his thick eyebrows and bowl cut. The two of them looked like they'd been made from the same mold. Running upside down, they were faster than ordinary people running upright, their four palms slapping the ground in turn and kicking up dust behind them.

Guy skidded to a stop beside Takuma, his palm scraping two little furrows in the dirt.

"Oh! You're the bookstore owner's boy!" Guy's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, and his teeth flashed their trademark white in the sunlight. "Would you like to join our training in the springtime of youth?"

"Come on, young man! Set your youth ablaze! We'll start with a hundred upside-down laps! I'll personally guide you through every move!"

Takuma thought it over, then decided against it. He gazed into the distance, his eyes full of resolve and responsibility. "My family needs my help at the bookstore. I'll devote my youth to my family!"

Guy froze. Lee froze, too.

A breeze swept by, stirring a few fallen leaves.

Then Guy's eyes grew damp. He sprang to his feet—this time, using them—and gave Takuma a thumbs-up with all his strength. His teeth flashed a perfect white in the sunlight.

"What a moving display of youth! Giving up the chance to grow stronger to help your family—that's what it means to be a true man!!"

He clapped Takuma hard on the shoulder, then turned to Lee, his voice thick with tears. "Lee! Did you hear that? This is another side of youth! Not all youth has to burn on the training field. The youth spent quietly giving to one's family shines just as brightly!"

Lee was already in tears, wiping at them with his sleeve, but they wouldn't stop. "Teacher Guy! I'm so moved! I never knew youth could take so many forms!"

"Exactly, Lee! Today, we'll do five hundred more laps in honor of youth devoted to family!"

"Yes, Teacher Guy!"

They flipped upside down again and vanished at the end of the dirt road, moving even faster than before.

From that day on, the Eight Inner Gates were officially removed from his training plans. What a joke. That wasn't training; it was punishment by suicidal exercise.

He dragged his weary body back to the village and turned onto the street where his family's bookstore stood. Then he noticed that the shop next door seemed to have a new tenant. Several large crates were piled at the entrance, and a middle-aged man was carrying them inside. Takuma looked up at the new sign hanging above the storefront: "Tenten Ninja Tool Shop."

So this was Tenten's family's shop. Tenten was the only kunoichi on Team Guy and a future master of ninja tools.

He pushed open the bookstore door, and the familiar scent of books washed over him. He picked up a rice ball left over from yesterday on the counter and ate it as he headed toward the back courtyard. As he passed through the hallway, which was crammed with old books, he caught a faint whiff of smoke.

Takuma slowed his steps.

The door to the little study in the back courtyard was ajar. His father, Mori Kazuki, sat behind the desk with a cigarette between his fingers, blissfully puffing away. Completely unaware that his son was approaching, he deftly blew a perfect smoke ring.

Takuma pushed the door open without hesitation.

Mori Kazuki jumped, then hurriedly tried to hide the cigarette behind his back.

"T-Takuma! You're up so early—no, wait. Why didn't I hear you walking?"

Takuma looked at his father without expression. "Mom told me to tell you the cigarettes are hidden behind the bookshelf."

Mori Kazuki went deathly pale.

"S-She knows?"

"Mom said you should smoke less. People can hear you coughing from two streets away, and you still think you're hiding it well."

In just two seconds, Mori Kazuki's face went from pale to an awkward red. He slumped into his chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Takuma quietly left the study. Just then, the system's notification chimed unexpectedly in his mind.

[Event detected: Daily life of a Senju descendant]

[Witness status: Confirmed valid]

[Witness event complete—Lottery chance ×1]

Takuma froze. That could trigger the system? He'd gotten up before dawn and spent three hours watching Naruto vandalize the Kage Rock, and the system had played dead. He'd run into Guy's suicidal training and nearly been dragged into it, and the system hadn't reacted. But he came home and caught his dad in a mortifying moment, and suddenly it was awake.

Takuma chose to start the lottery. The wheel turned slowly, and the pointer eventually came to a stop on a white space.

[Congratulations, host. You have won: A case of milk that never expires]

[Item description: Twelve cartons of high-quality whole milk from a New Zealand farm. It can be stored forever without spoiling, solidifying, or producing any harmful substances. Its rich, delicious taste will always be as fresh as the day it was made.]

[Note: This isn't some divine-grade item. It's just a case of milk. Its only selling point is that it won't go bad. Please don't try to use it in combat.]

Takuma stood in the hallway as a heavy cardboard box appeared out of thin air in his hands. Printed on the box was a green pasture with several cows grazing, and a blond, blue-eyed foreign boy giving a thumbs-up to the camera.

A case of milk.

He'd staked out the place for three hours and got a case of milk.

Takuma carried the box into the living room one step at a time, set it on the table, and sat down in a chair to stare at it. The foreign boy on the box had such a bright smile that it seemed to mock all the effort he'd wasted that day. In silence, he opened the box, took out a carton, stuck in a straw, and took a sip.

"...It's pretty good."

Whatever. The lesson was clear: he couldn't game the system. Staking out events didn't work. If he tried to trigger them on purpose, the system wouldn't budge. There was no way to exploit the system with his knowledge of the story. This leave-it-to-chance lottery followed one rule: go with the flow and take whatever came along.

Tomorrow was the first day of the Ninja Academy. No matter what, a new life was about to begin.