第2章 主动出击惨败,婉拒热血粗眉毛

Early the next morning, before the sky had even brightened, Takuma opened his eyes.

He had tossed and turned for half the night, eventually piecing together the logic behind the system. Based on yesterday's trigger, the system only reacted to "iconic scenes" he witnessed with his own eyes. In other words, as long as he camped out at the locations where original plot points occurred, he could reliably secure a chance to draw from the lottery when the events unfolded.

When it came to the most classic daily scene at the start of the original story, one event was unavoidable: Naruto vandalizing the Hokage Rock.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt like a genius. While others had to toil away training to become stronger, he only needed to pick a good spot, sit back, and watch the show. Once the lottery wheel spun, legendary gear would be his. What was this if not winning without lifting a finger?

He climbed out of bed on tiptoe, snuck out of the house, and ran toward the Hokage Rock. He climbed the hill directly opposite the monument, found a lush, leafy tree, and began his long wait.

The sun climbed to the middle of the sky. Takuma's legs went numb, and his stomach began to growl—he had left in such a hurry he hadn't eaten breakfast, and he was starving.

Just as he was about to give up, a bouncing orange blob suddenly appeared on the path below the Hokage Rock.

Takuma instantly perked up. The blond brat was carrying a metal bucket, sneaking up the stone steps, with brushes and several cans of paint inside. If he had accidentally triggered the system yesterday and received the Wolverine Healing Factor, surely this iconic scene would be of a higher caliber? At the very least, he should get something on the level of Captain America.

Naruto climbed up to the faces of the past Hokage and began painting them one by one.

Takuma watched the entire process. From the first stroke to the last, he didn't miss a second.

The system panel remained silent, not even a ripple.

The smile on Takuma's face froze. He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes, thinking his vision was blurry or the system was lagging.

The system panel remained empty. No detection prompt, no witness confirmation, not even a "failed" notification.

Takuma crouched stiffly in the tree, his expression shifting from anticipation to confusion, then to dullness, numbness, and finally, deep despair. A leaf drifted down and landed right on the tip of his nose.

"...I watched the whole thing from start to finish!!!"

He slid down from the tree, dejected, his legs turning to jelly as he nearly collapsed. He leaned against the trunk to recover for a while before walking down the mountain with unsteady steps. He seemed to have figured out the system's logic: events he actively camped out for didn't count. What kind of "witness system" was this? It should be renamed the "Random Lottery Machine."

Just then, a booming roar echoed from ahead.

"Youth!!!"

Takuma shuddered, nearly having a reflex that the system had finally chimed in—but the voice didn't come from his head. It came from about thirty meters away, accompanied by a green blur moving at high speed.

Might Guy—the Blue Beast of Konoha, the master of the Eight Inner Gates, the man who nearly kicked the final boss to death. Following behind him was another smaller green figure moving on its hands: Rock Lee, with his thick eyebrows and bowl cut. The master and student looked like they were cut from the same cloth. The two of them moved faster on their hands than most people could run, their palms slapping the ground in turns and kicking up a trail of dust.

Guy slammed on the brakes as he passed Takuma, his palms carving two small grooves into the dirt.

"Oh! The bookstore kid!" Guy's eyes flashed with passionate light, his teeth gleaming with a signature white shine in the sun. "Do you want to join our passionate youth training?"

"Come on, lad! Burn your youth! We'll start with one hundred laps on your hands! I will personally guide every one of your movements!"

Takuma thought better of it, then looked into the distance, his eyes filled with determination and responsibility. "My family's bookstore needs my help. My youth shall be dedicated to my family!"

Guy froze. Lee froze too.

A gust of wind blew, swirling a few fallen leaves.

Then, Guy's eyes welled up. He stood straight—this time on his feet—and gave Takuma a thumbs-up with all his might, his teeth flashing a perfect white light.

"What a moving display of youth! To give up the chance to become stronger for the sake of one's family—this is what a true man is!!"

He patted Takuma's shoulder hard, then turned to Lee, his voice choked with emotion. "Lee! Did you hear that! This is the other side of youth! Not all youth must be burned on the training ground; youth spent quietly contributing to one's family is just as dazzling!"

Lee was already streaming tears, wiping them away with his sleeve. "Guy-sensei! I'm so moved! I never realized youth had so many forms!"

"That's right, Lee! Today, add five hundred more laps to commemorate the youth of the family!"

"Yes, Guy-sensei!"

The two went back to walking on their hands, disappearing at the end of the dirt road faster than they had arrived.

The option of the Eight Inner Gates was officially deleted from his training plan starting today. What a joke; this wasn't training, it was suicidal physical punishment.

He dragged his exhausted body back to the village and turned onto the street where his bookstore was located. He noticed a new shop had opened next door. Several large crates were piled at the entrance, and a middle-aged man was moving them inside. Takuma looked up at the new sign hanging above the storefront: "Tenten Ninja Tool Shop."

Tenten's place, huh? The only female ninja on Team Guy, the future master of ninja tools.

He pushed open the bookstore door, and the familiar scent of books washed over him. He grabbed a leftover rice ball from the counter and headed toward the backyard while eating. As he passed through the hallway filled with old books, he caught a faint whiff of cigarette smoke.

Takuma softened his footsteps.

The door to the small study in the back was ajar. His father, Mori Kazuki, was sitting behind the desk with a cigarette in his hand, puffing away with a look of intoxication. He didn't notice his son approaching, skillfully blowing a perfect smoke ring.

Takuma pushed the door open.

Mori Kazuki jumped, startled, and scrambled to hide the cigarette behind his back.

"Ta, Takuma! Why are you back so early—no, wait, why don't you make any noise when you walk?"

Takuma looked at his father expressionlessly. "Mom told me to tell you the cigarettes are hidden in the back bookshelf."

Mori Kazuki's face turned pale instantly.

"She... she knows?"

"Mom said to tell you to smoke less. Your coughing can be heard two streets away, yet you think you've hidden it well."

Mori Kazuki's expression shifted from pale to an embarrassed red in two seconds. He slumped in his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Takuma silently backed out of the study. Just then, the system prompt in his mind chimed unexpectedly.

[Event detected: The Daily Life of a Senju Descendant]

[Witness status: Confirmed valid]

[Witness complete—received Lottery Chance ×1]

Takuma was stunned. This triggered it? He had crawled out at dawn and camped for three hours watching Naruto vandalize the rock, and the system played dead. He ran into Guy's suicidal training and almost got dragged into it, and the system didn't react. He came home and caught his dad in a moment of social death, and the system finally woke up.

Takuma chose to start the draw. The lottery wheel spun slowly, and the pointer eventually stopped on a white square.

[Congratulations, Host. Received reward: Never-Expiring Milk (one case)]

[Item description: High-quality whole milk from New Zealand pastures, twelve cartons total. Can be stored permanently, will not spoil, will not coagulate, and will not produce any harmful substances. The taste remains as rich and fresh as the day it was produced.]

[Note: This is not a god-tier item. It is just a case of milk. Its only selling point is that it won't go bad. Please do not attempt to use it for combat.]

Takuma stood in the hallway, a heavy cardboard box appearing out of thin air in his hands. The box featured a green pasture and several grazing cows, with a blond, blue-eyed foreign child giving a thumbs-up to the camera.

A case of milk.

He had camped for three hours and his harvest was a case of milk.

Takuma carried the box to the living room, set it on the table, sat in a chair, and stared blankly at the milk. The foreign child's smile on the box was so bright it felt like it was mocking his day of futility. In silence, he opened the box, took out a carton, inserted a straw, and took a sip.

"...It's actually pretty good."

Forget it. The lesson for today was clear: this system could not be gamed. Camping was ineffective, and the more he tried to force a trigger, the more the system remained unmoved. Trying to exploit the system through information gaps? Not a chance. This random lottery machine followed one principle: let things happen naturally, and take whatever comes.

Tomorrow was the first day of the Ninja Academy. Regardless, a new life was about to begin.