Chapter 82: The Path to Increasing Simulation Efficiency
Akiyama Makoto was, in a way, swapping one concept for another. Hinata and Hanabi becoming good sisters didn't necessarily mean they could defeat the Hyūga clan's patriarchal system. But he was just painting them a beautiful picture, with the goal of igniting Hinata's fighting spirit.
In any case, Hyūga Hiashi could hold out until the end of the Great Ninja War. Before then, no one would actually brand either Hinata or Hanabi with the Caged Bird Seal. During this time, they just needed to focus on peacefully improving their strength.
The light in Hinata's eyes grew even brighter. The path to the future had never been so clear. Even with her flawed personality, it seemed she could still have a happier life.
However, she still had her insecurities. "Can I really reach the strength of a Jōnin?" she asked hesitantly.
"You definitely can," he answered without hesitation.
In his simulations, the experiment between him and Hinata had been going on for a long time. He had already proven that by letting her eat her fill and supplementing it with the nourishment of his Yang chakra, her strength would improve significantly. When the time was right, he could use another simulation to give both her and Hanabi a bloodline boost. Reaching a mere Jōnin level would be a piece of cake.
To put her at ease, he dropped another bombshell.
"Besides, we'll help you too. We're your friends, aren't we?"
Hinata was finally convinced. The pressure that had been building for many years was relieved in a single day, leaving her in a strange, almost drunken state. She smiled, reassured, her eyes glistening. Her body swayed, as if she needed someone's embrace.
He didn't dare to hug her, at least not now. Not because Hiashi was about to charge in, but because Hanabi was.
"Hinata," he said calmly.
"Mm," she hummed softly.
"When Hanabi gets here in a moment, I want you to rush up and hug her. Go to the hot spring with her and tell her about all your hardships over the years."
"Is there anything that can't be said between sisters?"
Hinata nodded gently. Just then, Hanabi opened the door. When she saw her sister's blushing, dizzy state, how could she not suspect that he had done something strange to her?
But this time, her sister stopped her—with a hug.
The annoyance on Hanabi's face vanished instantly, replaced by a sense of being at a loss. "Sister, what's wrong?" she asked quickly.
"I'm fine, Hanabi. Let's go to the hot spring."
Hinata still remembered his instructions and pulled her sister out of the room.
Torn between beating him up and her sister's embrace, Hanabi didn't last a few seconds before choosing the latter.
Only then did Moegi poke her head around the doorframe, a suspicious look on her face. "What did you do to Sister Hinata? I thought Hanabi was going to kill you!"
"I just wanted to help them reconcile. This is your money."
He took out one thousand Ryō, but Moegi didn't take it. She seemed to be having a great internal struggle before finally saying, "If you can really help them make up, then I won't take your money."
"Hanabi-chan has had it really tough, you know. She trains and studies desperately, but she doesn't know how to get along with her sister."
"Well, whether you succeed or not, thank you!"
With that, Moegi helped him close the door. Her polite demeanor made him a little uncomfortable. After all, the Kazematsuri Moegi in his memory was the kind of powerhouse who, at twelve years old, would be huddling with Konohamaru and Udon, looking at adult magazines to research how to perform the Sexy Jutsu. It seemed Moegi had not yet been corrupted by Konohamaru.
As he was thinking, there was another noise outside the door. It was Sakura and Ino, finally arrived. They had originally planned to come and see his room first, but upon hearing that Hinata and her sister were already in the hot spring, they told him they would go for a soak first as well.
His room finally fell quiet. This was a good chance for him to sort out his simulation strategy for the future.
First and foremost, he had to obtain the Advanced Space-Time Ninjutsu talent and then learn the Flying Thunder God Technique. At that point, no matter what he faced, as long as he could ensure he had an escape route, he would have the confidence to ignore most threats.
Secondly, raising the affection level of the female ninja had become even more important. In the past, he had only done it to obtain simulation attempts. Now, he also had to consider the improvement of their talents and basic stats after they received the bloodline feedback. As his own eight ninja stats increased, there were fewer kunoichi who could provide him with an upgrade in base stats. Upgrading talents also depended on random mutations. In comparison, the enhancement chances brought by affection were more reliable.
This brought another question: should he prioritize raising the affection of one kunoichi to get more enhancement chances, or raise the affection of many kunoichi and strengthen each of them in a different direction?
The former seemed to yield faster results, but it would require him to repeatedly replace the same girl's bloodline talent. He felt this was inappropriate, as he couldn't find a reason to explain it all. A girl's affection wasn't static; too many frequent and strange changes might cause problems with their bodies, or even lead to them being in danger due to insufficient combat strength.
Unless he could treat the kunoichi as a pure test subject. But that conflicted with maintaining the highest level of affection. The only means that seemed to reconcile these two problems was the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Treating the other person as a test subject while using genjutsu to let them enjoy happiness and joy... why did that sound more and more monstrous?
In comparison, the latter method was more feasible, and it would be easier for him to manage each girl's emotions. Even if he failed to maintain a high affection level and they only had the lowest level, resulting in only one enhancement per infusion, he could still stack the number of attempts across different people in the future to get the talents and base stats he wanted.
Most importantly, he had another idea.
Although according to the system's rules, the bloodline gifted to a kunoichi must come from her child—for example, Tenten could only accept Akiyama Tenshi's bloodline—what if he had more than one child in a single simulation? Could the resulting bloodline powers be stacked and gifted to one girl, or could each mother only receive the part from her own child?
Furthermore, having more than one child could have even greater benefits. Combining this with the idea of giving each kunoichi a specific enhancement path, could he gamble on the enhancement and promotion of several talents in a single simulation? Wouldn't that greatly increase his simulation efficiency?
Although it sounded very immoral... it was just a simulation!
Unknowingly, he had been plotting for an hour.
Suddenly, the sound of continuous footsteps came from outside. With a whoosh, his door was slid open.
He turned his head to look.
Ino, Sakura, Hinata, Hanabi, and even Moegi—five girls, dressed in yukatas, barefoot, with steam still rising from their bodies—stood in a line at his doorway, looking as if they were about to carry out some grand plan.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 200 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 20+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you