Another bite of grilled fish went down, and Naruto felt a roasted fragrance burst through his mouth. There was still a faint muddy taste, but he had been hungry for so long that he couldn't care about that. In no time, he polished off an entire fish.
Only when he had nearly finished the second fish did Naruto finally feel something in his empty stomach. Going hungry really was unbearable.
Looking at the ten Shinobi World Recruitment Tickets he had saved up, he felt not only his heart itching, but his hands too. In his previous life, whenever a new featured recruitment ninja came out, he would compete with that guy Mecha King over their pulls. Though he lost more often than he won, that didn't stop him from being hooked.
A gambling addict? Going all in was a kind of wisdom. Take a gamble, and your bicycle might become a motorcycle. Naruto still remembered how Rubik's draws worked: the beginner ten-pull was guaranteed to give several ninjas.
Naruto rubbed his little hands together and decisively clicked the ten-pull. Familiar music played, and a huge golden vortex appeared onscreen. Before long, the results appeared before his eyes. But the sight instantly ruined his good mood, and his face darkened. Sure, his luck was bad, and he had never once beaten Mecha King at featured recruitment pulls, but wasn't this a little too unlucky?
The reason was simple: this ten-pull had given Naruto only one complete ninja card, and it was the C-rank [Naruto], otherwise known as Feces-Splashing Young Naruto.
Naruto felt nothing but frustrated. Aside from that, everything else was fragments, and he had received just one S-rank ninja fragment. The current featured S-rank was still Might Guy [Gate of Death], or Gate of Death Guy for short. As for the rest, he had only gotten a scattering of fragments. Naruto remembered that the current featured A-rank seemed to be A [Youth], or Boss Jail for short. Even more infuriatingly, he hadn't gotten a single [Boss Jail] fragment. What a damn rip-off.
"Fuck, Rubik, you're seriously ruthless!"
[Ding! Congratulations on obtaining a new ninja, host. You may now extract a skill. Please select the skill you wish to extract.]
Looking at [Feces-Splashing Young Naruto]'s three skills, Naruto wore a strange expression. After all, the skills Rubik created had more or less appeared in the story. In other words, if he followed the original plot, might he end up running around splashing paint from a bucket too?
He shook his head hard. Though the Naruto in the story would do that, he was a transmigrator, after all. If he really had to do something like that, he would find it embarrassing to some degree.
Having learned his lesson last time, Naruto was extremely careful with his skill selection this time. After thinking it over seriously for a long while, he finally chose [Feces-Splashing Young Naruto]'s first skill: Paint Prank. He remembered that this skill was quite obnoxious in the game. Not only did it have a short cooldown, but when splashed onto the ground, it would slow anyone who stepped on it for three seconds. He just didn't know whether the version the system gave him would be as obnoxious.
Now that he had a skill that could build ultimate points, Naruto decided on a whim to try it out.
With a thought, a bucket filled with yellow paint appeared in his hand. Feeling the bucket in his hand, Naruto had the sense that he could land every splash. He raised his arm and exerted a little force, sending the paint flying far away in an arc to splash squarely against a distant tree trunk.
"Whoa, it's that accurate?"
He checked again. The cooldown was actually only five minutes. Did that mean he could have a skill that never missed once every fifteen minutes?
Such an overpowered skill left Naruto stunned. It never missed, had a short cooldown, and even came with a little crowd control. Most importantly, its consumption was low. After all, using these extracted skills required chakra. The tiny amount of chakra he had now wasn't even enough to use an ultimate. This little paint-splashing skill was about the only one he could use.
"System, open my personal panel."
[Understood.] Host: Naruto Uzumaki Strength: Newborn tier 1 Abilities: Naruto Uzumaki Two Thousand Barrage, Chidori, Paint Prank. Combat power: 5999 Chakra: 5.256 Evaluation: (System evaluation: A bot that can splash feces)
"Tsk, system, isn't that evaluation a little too harsh?"
[Is it? Host, this system is merely telling the truth. Host, of the ten lotus flowers behind you, only one remains.]
Naruto looked behind himself in confusion. What lotus flowers? There was nothing there.
"System, what nonsense are you spouting? What lotus flowers?"
[Nine lotuses plucked, bro-utterly speechless.]
Naruto: ...One-star review. Definitely a one-star review.
Soon, Naruto caught a pungent stench.
"Urgh, what's that smell? Why does it stink so badly?"
Naruto looked doubtfully toward the place where he had splashed the paint. Surely it wasn't really coming from there?
Smelling that odor, Naruto felt that even the grilled fish in his hand had lost its appeal. The smell really went straight to his head: rotten fish and shrimp mixed with filthy socks dipped in canned herring. It was truly unbearable.
Just as Naruto was about to leave, he sensed someone approaching. He saw a scrawny little old man walking over, who even gave him a friendly smile upon seeing him.
Recognizing the newcomer, Naruto gave a sudden start and thought, What's this old fart doing here?
Hiruzen Sarutobi had come because he felt the time was almost ripe. Now was the perfect opportunity to instill the Will of Fire in Naruto.
Through his observations, he had discovered that Naruto endured the villagers' cold treatment every day and was alone with no one to turn to. If he stepped forward now, giving him warmth and care, teaching him principles, and slipping the Will of Fire into their conversations, he believed Naruto would soon become an outstanding inheritor of the Will of Fire.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's calculations clicked away in his mind, but what he could never have imagined was that Naruto was no longer the original Naruto. Liu Qiaoyan had long since taken over the nest and replaced its core. As for what Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted, how could Naruto, a transmigrator thoroughly familiar with the plot, not know? Did he really take him for a Japanese guy?
It was only because his current strength was so meager that he had no choice but to play dumb.
Naruto: Humble origins are no disgrace. A true man knows when to bend and when to stand tall.
But before Naruto could speak, that old fart Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke first. "Little Naruto, why are you here all by yourself?"
Naruto was speechless at that. Wasn't that a pointless question? I'm afraid half of me being here would scare you to death.
Though Naruto grumbled inwardly, he absolutely had to keep up appearances.
"Grandpa Hokage, what brings you here?"
Looking at Naruto's puzzled expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. He was just a child, after all. See? That fellow Danzo did nothing but overthink things.
"Well, I missed you, little Naruto. I came to see you as soon as I finished today's work. Did you miss Grandpa?"
"Wow, Grandpa Hokage, of course I missed you! I haven't seen you in so long."
Naruto could only force himself to stomach the disgust and make small talk with Hiruzen Sarutobi. Fuck, this old fart really is coaxing me like I'm his grandson!
"Hahaha, then tell me, little Naruto, just how much did you miss Grandpa?"
At this point, Naruto felt the urge to call the cops. How could this old fart be so exasperating? He really pushed his luck. Like a toad sitting on your foot, he didn't bite, but he sure disgusted you. Naruto gritted his teeth hard and forced down his revulsion before saying those insincere words. "I missed you this, this, this much!"
As he said it, Naruto spread his hands to indicate an enormous distance and blinked his big, mascara-ad blue eyes. Meanwhile, he secretly pressed down with his feet. This was just too embarrassing. He had been a grown man in his previous life, after all. Saying something like this now was so embarrassing that his toes could dig out a three-bedroom apartment with two living rooms and two bathrooms.
"Hahaha, all right, little Naruto, Grandpa will stop teasing you."
Hiruzen Sarutobi sniffed and asked Naruto in some confusion.
"Little Naruto, do you smell something? You haven't pooped your pants, have you?"
Hearing that old fart's presumptuous remark, Naruto wanted nothing more than to jump up and smack him on the head. This guy actually thought he had pooped his pants. This was just-damn it, he wanted to curse.
Naruto could only clench his teeth and point at the yellow paint on the distant tree.
"Grandpa Hokage, the smell seems to be coming from over there."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked where Naruto was pointing and walked over, refusing to believe it. One epic lungful nearly sent him to the afterlife. The smell was simply indescribable, twisting all his facial features together.
"Fuck, this smells even worse than Danzo's rotten foot-binding rags."
Hiruzen Sarutobi truly couldn't stand the smell. He took Naruto away to a more open spot, lit a fire, and began telling Naruto stories (brainwashing him).
He told many stories, roughly beginning with Konoha's origins and continuing through its development into the village it was today. Only, there was far too much of his own personal spin mixed in.
"Little Naruto, the Konoha we live in wasn't actually a complete village at first... Later, under Grandpa's leadership, Konoha developed into what it is today."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's words left Naruto repeatedly stunned. He had seen people brag, but never anyone who could brag this much. This old fossil really had no shame. Whether it had anything to do with him or not, he claimed credit for every notable military achievement in battles large and small without a second thought. Naruto was left speechless. Did he really think he knew nothing? Fortunately, he wasn't the original Naruto. Otherwise, being fooled by this old fart from childhood would probably have left him ruined by adulthood.
As he recounted Konoha's development, Hiruzen Sarutobi also brought up the Will of Fire from time to time.
"Little Naruto, you must always remember the Will of Fire. Wherever leaves dance, the fire burns on. The firelight will continue to illuminate the village and make new leaves sprout."
"Wow, Grandpa Hokage, this Will of Fire is so profound! I think it's really hard to understand!"
Even after Hiruzen Sarutobi had talked for a long time, Naruto still scrunched up his cute little face, seemingly frustrated because he couldn't understand these lofty principles.
To Hiruzen Sarutobi, Naruto's behavior was exactly right. This was precisely what he wanted to see. Though Naruto knew he was still too young to understand the meaning of the Will of Fire, he still worked hard to grasp its principles. Such a Naruto made Hiruzen Sarutobi feel very gratified.
He patted Naruto's little head and comforted him:
"It's all right, little Naruto. You're still young, so it's perfectly normal not to understand some things. When you grow up, find bonds of your own, and have people you love and people who love you, you'll understand what Grandpa told you today."
Naruto nodded as though he half understood, then said nothing more. As for what he truly thought, no one would know.
After Hiruzen Sarutobi left, Naruto obediently returned home. Before long, Anbu personnel arrived to deliver his living allowance for the month, which was beyond his expectations. Seeing the extra two thousand ryo, Naruto felt this was only the beginning of Hiruzen Sarutobi's plan. If he had been the affection-starved Naruto from the original story, he might really have been touched. As for now, Naruto calmly pocketed the money. It was all what he deserved.
Naruto's judgment was indeed correct. Even the Anbu watching his home had decreased considerably.
Naruto's consciousness entered the system once more. It was time to do today's dailies, claim stamina, and run through some simple story dungeons. Naruto felt his combat power was still increasing far too slowly.
After another round of simple, familiar operations, Naruto finished his daily missions. The arena battles, however, made him miserable. With only three C-rank ninjas in total, even completing the daily arena missions was somewhat difficult, let alone a while back, when he hadn't even had three ninjas. After all, this arena wouldn't match you against bots when you went on a losing streak. Scraping together the rewards wasn't easy.
Fortunately, he had the skills of a three-thousand-point Super Kage player from his previous life. Though he was at a disadvantage in ninjas and had no summons, secret scrolls, or anything like that, he could still handle some arena matches.
The skills of a three-thousand-point Super Kage player were rock solid.