Time Began to Speed Up

Watanabe Ichiro rose lightly to his feet and retreated before any more intimate sounds came from behind him.

Eavesdropping was fine, but watching a couple get all lovey-dovey was another matter.

Even a passing single guy had rights. Couples couldn't just kick him while he was walking down the street.

Watanabe Ichiro turned around and discovered Tobirama Senju leaning against the wall, listening with relish too.

Well, well. You liked eavesdropping too?

Watanabe Ichiro made an inviting gesture, offering him the best listening spot.

Tobirama Senju rolled his eyes in exasperation, then turned and walked away.

The two walked side by side back to the nearby hospital room, finally raising their voices to discuss what they had overheard.

"That kid Kagami Uchiha. I never realized he was such a smooth talker."

"Looks like he'll win his lady's heart before long."

Tobirama Senju spoke.

As his teacher, he was pleased to see his student doing so well.

But then something else occurred to him, and his expression soured.

The girl being swept off her feet belonged to the Senju clan-and she was their highly capable third-in-command, no less.

The pig he had raised was rooting up the cabbage he had grown. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether this was a gain or a loss.

Either way, cursing those damned Uchiha was always a good place to start.

"Kagami Uchiha has always been that friendly."

"But Momoka? I've never seen her like this."

Senju Momoka was a little older than Watanabe Ichiro and had looked after him during his time in the ANBU, so treating her as an older sister was perfectly reasonable.

But who would have thought that the normally mature, commanding Senju Toka would turn into a classic tsundere once she fell in love? Her whole personality and character archetype had changed!

Watanabe Ichiro shrugged helplessly, unable to understand how those two had hit it off.

On the day of the incident, the Wood Clone he had stationed there as a precaution hadn't seen anything unusual happen, either.

It had simply guided Senju Toka, who had come to provide support, to the dying Kagami Uchiha. She had saved him, administered emergency treatment, and sent him to Konoha Hospital.

There hadn't been any "accident that made their lips touch," "unknown enemy suddenly appearing in their faces, forcing them into another life-or-death crisis where they risked their lives to save each other," or "chance discovery that their backgrounds were similar, giving them a sense of mutual understanding" along the way...

Their interactions couldn't even compare to what had happened between Sasuke and Naruto. It had been a perfectly ordinary rescue operation, so how had it sparked romance?

Ah, young people.

Those romantic hormones really needed no explanation.

Watanabe Ichiro continued munching on his apple when a question suddenly occurred to him.

Come to think of it, why hadn't Tobirama Senju mentioned [Impure World Reincarnation] lately?

If Black Zetsu hadn't interfered before, shouldn't he have succeeded long ago?

So he asked outright.

Tobirama Senju looked utterly exasperated.

"You think it's that easy?"

"Completeness of the array inscriptions, casting success rate, areas where the spell can be optimized, efficient chakra conversion methods... which of those doesn't take time to study and work through? Do you think you can finish developing a technique just by flapping your lips?"

"I've just revised [Impure World Reincarnation] for the ninth time. Its success rate is below seventy percent, and there are still plenty of areas that need refining."

Impressive. A truly meticulous researcher.

It looked like he would have to wait a while longer. Although he could also redeem [Impure World Reincarnation] in the points Shop, who didn't love getting something for free?

"By the way, teacher, if I gave you an aggregate of spiritual entities, how would you use it?"

"An aggregate of spiritual entities?"

Watanabe Ichiro meant Black Zetsu. The system's previous analysis had come back: Black Zetsu was formed from an enormous mass of aggregated spiritual energy, a portion split off from Kaguya. (Author's personal setting.)

Calling him useful seemed a stretch, since he didn't seem particularly powerful; but calling him useless wasn't right either, since he was practically immortal.

Not being much of a researcher, Watanabe Ichiro simply handed the question over to a professional.

"What did you find?"

The pointed question gave Tobirama Senju a bad feeling.

Watanabe Ichiro said nothing and turned to look out the window.

Fine. That trick again.

He hadn't explained the Mangekyo ability that instantly healed fatal wounds last time. Now he had probably discovered something strange again and was being all mysterious about it.

Never mind. If he didn't want to talk, he must have his reasons. There was no need to force him.

"If it were me, I might try using it to develop an energy source, or explore the connection between spiritual energy and the world of the dead..."

Tobirama Senju rubbed his chin and offered several research avenues.

Watanabe Ichiro listened carefully, then passed the work straight to the system, shamelessly exploiting it.

"Dear host, I'm only a weak, pitiful, helpless level-two system. I can't handle advanced tasks like working out techniques..."

"I can only work through the possibilities one by one using brute force, and that'll take a very, very long time. Could you ask him to provide a preliminary model? That would help me work things out faster."

"Or, dear host, please earn some more points. Once I reach level three, I'll be able to add those advanced modules. I really want those useful features too. Boo-hoo..."

Despite its woeful complaints, the system never stopped working. It diligently began testing possibilities, displaying a long progress bar that started at 0.01%.

Watanabe Ichiro felt a pang of conscience.

My fault, all my fault. I've earned too few points. Look how starved the system is-it's crying its heart out.

But there were very few sources he could milk for points in this timeline. One was Tobirama Senju, and the other was Black Zetsu.

Hmm... Watanabe Ichiro fixed his gaze on Tobirama Senju.

Tobirama Senju was still considering possible uses for "Black Zetsu" when a sudden chill ran over him, as though someone were plotting against him.

The days that followed were utterly uneventful.

The only change was that, after recovering, Watanabe Ichiro showed subtle signs of seizing power.

Outwardly, this took the form of helping with the Hokage's official duties and beginning to coordinate and manage Konoha's affairs, great and small.

Tobirama Senju mistakenly assumed Uchiha Ichiro wanted to become the Third Hokage. Believing that both his temperament and his strength suited the role, he didn't interfere and let him do as he pleased.

He buried himself in his laboratory instead, developing [Impure World Reincarnation] and the [Spiritual Entity Aggregate Development Project] Watanabe Ichiro had entrusted to him.

Meanwhile, Watanabe Ichiro made time to visit every day, using the system to help advance the research.

He had to admit that the system was incredibly useful. Given a direction, it could flesh out the details, eliminating vast amounts of tedious, repetitive labor and producing the results directly.

Watanabe Ichiro then put those results straight to use, helping Tobirama Senju move his research forward, sometimes deliberately and sometimes incidentally.

For one thing, the system was his own, so it wouldn't mind.

For another, the system was an artificial intelligence. It had no human rights, and naturally no copyright either. Unlike Tobirama Senju, it couldn't label all its techniques with [Developed by Tobirama Senju · All infringements will be prosecuted].

Thus, Tobirama Senju was pleasantly surprised to discover that Watanabe Ichiro actually had an excellent mind for research. His questions and observations always struck at the heart of the matter and proved enormously helpful.

And so, Konoha entered the era of Watanabe Ichiro's administration.

Drawing on his experience from his previous life, he made a few adjustments to Konoha. Overall, things went smoothly.

Elsewhere in the Shinobi World, however, the picture was entirely different.