An absurd thought suddenly flashed through Shuofang Si's mind.
In this Shinobi World, there was a special group of people: the villagers.
They had no special powers, yet they dared to raise their fists against any powerful figure.
They would bully Hinata of the prestigious Hyuga Clan's Main Family, and when they saw someone from the Akimichi Clan, they would call them a fat bastard and tell them to get out of the way.
Even Konoha's White Fang, who was practically halfway to becoming Hokage, had been driven to suicide by their finger-pointing.
The neighboring Sunagakure was even more outrageous. Despite knowing that their village's Jinchūriki, Gaara, was violent and bloodthirsty, its villagers would buy expensive vegetables in the desert just to throw at him.
Some would even risk death to provoke him, telling him his mom was dead.
They were the villagers of the ninja world, with their bizarre tradition of "equal-opportunity bullying."
At that thought, Shuofang Si's breathing quickened, and a crazy idea formed in his mind.
If he wanted to do more than merely scrape by, if he wanted to avoid being eliminated by the increasingly powerful horror movies in the world of Terror Infinity, if he wanted those unparalleled, miraculous powers, he had to earn side plots and extra reward points.
Only then could he obtain enhancements and put some distance between himself and the cannon fodder.
But as an ordinary person, a Konoha villager without even a trace of chakra, how could he possibly change the plot and earn rewards?
Hey, maybe I could try putting some pressure on them with tyrant's will.
An absurd, satirical idea like that would have been laughably insane in any normal world.
But in the Shinobi World, a place that had spawned countless unruly villagers, he might actually pull it off.
Shuofang Si's breathing grew rapid. He knew just how crazy the idea was. But just as he spent his free time doing extreme sports, he was someone who craved adventure deep in his bones.
He glanced back at the purple barrier in the distance. Inside it, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was locked in a bitter battle with Orochimaru.
What if-just what if-the Main God decided that my actions had somehow altered the course of the Third Hokage's death?
Even if it was only a tiny change, even if I only made his resolve waver for an instant in his final moments.
That would still count as participating in a major plot event. How much would the side plot reward be worth?
Shuofang Si knew the Main God's mission would not be that simple.
Even if he followed Zhang Jie and the others to the shelter, given the Main God's usual bullshit, it would surely introduce some mechanism that forced the reincarnators to face danger.
Admittedly, if he charged toward a battlefield of Kage Level combatants and intervened in a clash of that caliber with his mortal body, even the slightest shock wave could tear him to pieces.
But that danger was entirely different from what he would face with the group heading to the shelter.
After all, he knew danger was unavoidable in the Main God Space. Rather than evade it, he might as well face his fear head-on.
"Hey, where are you going?" Zheng Zha called from up ahead.
Zheng Zha had noticed that Shuofang Si had veered away from the group and was running toward the purple barrier.
Zheng Zha, Li Shuai Xi, and the others all paused, staring at him as though he were insane.
"I'm going over there." Shuofang Si pointed at the rooftop shrouded in the purple barrier. His voice trembled slightly with excitement, but his tone was unusually firm.
"Are you crazy?" Li Shuai Xi blurted out.
"That's the heart of the battle! Two Kage Level fighters are going at it, and there are ninjas everywhere. We're just ordinary people. Going anywhere near it is suicide!"
Shuofang Si looked at them without saying anything. He merely waved, turned, and kept running in that direction.
Zhang Jie narrowed his eyes and said nothing, a complicated look flashing through them.
The newcomers stared at Shuofang Si with even more bewilderment and pity.
Only the refined-looking girl dressed in men's clothing gave Shuofang Si a long, searching look before continuing toward the shelter with the team.
Shuofang Si paid them no more attention. He turned and headed toward the purple barrier.
He crossed the chaotic stands and vaulted over a railing. Unconscious spectators lay all around him, and the smell of blood in the air grew stronger.
"Fortune favors the bold." Looking up at the enormous purple barrier overhead, Shuofang Si's lips curled into a slightly crazed smile.
Once, like Zheng Zha, he had rotted away in that steel forest, staring blankly at his computer screen at work every day.
He had not known what he was living for. Only after taking up extreme sports had he satisfied his craving for adventure.
It's just like extreme sports anyway. One slip, and you die. Now an even greater adventure is waiting for me. What is there to be afraid of?
Shuofang Si ran up the stone steps. The stands on either side were littered with sleeping spectators and scattered figures fleeing in panic.
The air smelled of dust and gun smoke, and muffled explosions kept rumbling in the distance.
After several dozen steps, he suddenly slowed.
Wait.
What good would charging over there alone do? What could one villager possibly change?
Those Anbu and ninjas might take me out the moment I get there. I'd probably be dead before I knew it.
He needed people. More people, the more the better. In this Shinobi World, any random villager was prime fighting material.
Shuofang Si stopped and scanned the stands, looking at the villagers who had just awakened from the genjutsu and were still at a loss.
They crouched on the ground with their hands over their heads, crying out in panic. Some were even cursing the Konoha ninjas for their incompetence in letting enemy ninjas invade the village.
"Hey! You lot!" Shuofang Si shouted at the top of his lungs.
His voice sounded rather thin amid the noisy battlefield, but it was enough for the dozens of people nearby to hear him. "What are you standing around for? Think about where you're going to run!"
The villagers turned to him with bewildered looks.
A woman holding a child said in a trembling voice, "The shelter, of course... A ninja told us to go there earlier..."
"The shelter?" Shuofang Si immediately sneered and raised his hand to point toward Hokage Rock in the distance.
"Look over there. Where are those explosions coming from? Hokage Rock! That's the main direction of the Sunagakure and Sound Ninja attack!"
"If you head over there now, are you seeking shelter or seeking death?" The villagers looked in the direction he pointed.
Sure enough, smoke billowed around Hokage Rock. They could faintly make out enormous snake summoned beasts rampaging there-the source of the tremors Shuofang Si had felt earlier.
Several people who had been about to run that way immediately stopped.
"Then... where should we go?" asked a middle-aged man in panic, though he had been cursing the Konoha ninjas only moments before.
Shuofang Si turned and pointed at the enormous building beneath the purple barrier: the rooftop of the Chunin Ninja Exams arena.
"See that barrier? The Third Hokage is inside!" His voice grew louder, confident and certain.
"Lord Hokage is fighting the invaders, and he's surrounded by elite Anbu. Think about it: where's the safest place in all of Konoha right now? The shelter, or beside Lord Hokage?"
The crowd stirred at his words, and many began whispering among themselves.
"He seems to have a point..."
"The Third Hokage is the strongest Hokage, after all!"
"And all the elite Anbu are over there protecting Lord Hokage, aren't they?"
Seeing his chance, Shuofang Si pressed his advantage, raising his arm and shouting.
"Instead of risking our lives crossing half the village to reach the shelter, we should go straight to Lord Hokage! The very best ninjas will be there to protect us. Once Lord Hokage deals with the invaders, we'll be safe!"
What he needed now was their numbers. Going alone made him a lunatic. Going with thirty or forty people made it the will of the people.
After all, one villager was just someone hoping to get a taste of a peach of immortality. Thirty or forty villagers were public opinion.
"This guy's right! Let's all go together." A strong young man was the first to step forward.
"Lord Hokage will definitely be able to protect us."
"That's right. Lord Hokage will win."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry over there."
Before you continue