"Naruto is a good boy. Your dream has always been to become Hokage and protect the Village. How could you ever do something like that? Grandpa believes in you absolutely."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's unreserved trust was like rain after a long drought for Naruto, who had been living in coldness and rejection.
Naruto was stunned for a moment, then a wave of immense joy mixed with a sense of grievance surged in his heart. With a loud wail, tears and snot began to flow together.
Yet he struggled to smile, nodding vigorously. "Yeah! Yeah! I will definitely become Hokage!"
Seeing Naruto's pure and passionate reaction, Hiruzen Sarutobi's belief that "Naruto's nature would never lead him to do evil of his own accord" became even firmer.
He felt more and more that the future tragedy must have been caused by some massive change later in life—some terrible experience capable of twisting the soul of a sunny youth—that forced Naruto onto that path of no return.
'I must stop it!' Hiruzen Sarutobi resolved in his heart. He wanted to nip the problem in the bud.
He placed his hands on Naruto's small shoulders, his expression becoming solemn. Looking into Naruto's eyes, he instructed word by word, "Naruto, remember Grandpa's words. From now on, no matter what strange things happen, or... if someone bullies you and makes you feel sad or wronged, you must come and tell Grandpa immediately! Don't keep it all bottled up inside, do you understand?"
Young Naruto couldn't fully grasp the deep-seated worries and calculations behind those words; he only felt the care and protection from 'Grandpa Third.'
He wiped the tears and snot from his face with force, puffed out his chest, and answered loudly and without hesitation:
"I understand! Grandpa Third! If anything happens in the future, I'll definitely tell you first!"
Seeing Naruto's look of complete trust and his earnest promise, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled with relief and patted his head again. "Good boy."
The external turmoil, Konoha's choices, Naruto's fate... none of the ripples caused by the heavenly screen were within Ryu's scope of concern at this moment.
Ryu sat cross-legged in the center of the space, eyes closed in concentration.
A warm and majestic energy was continuously pouring into his body from the void; this was the 'reward' settled by the system.
Ryu could clearly 'hear' the subtle sounds coming from within his body, like a rushing stream or the resonance of bones and muscles.
Every cell was greedily absorbing this energy, undergoing deep-seated tempering and purification.
The heaviness and sluggishness he had felt as an ordinary person were rapidly fading, replaced by an unprecedented sense of lightness, transparency, and power.
After an unknown amount of time, the infusion of energy slowly stopped.
Ryu suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them for an instant.
He slowly stood up, feeling the surging power within him, and casually threw a punch forward.
Whoosh—!
Without using any technique, just his physical strength, he actually produced a distinct sound of breaking air!
With a thought, a clear concept naturally emerged in his mind: [Physical Strength: 2,000 jin].
"Two thousand jin..." Ryu looked at his fist, the corners of his mouth curling up uncontrollably.
This was just pure physical strength; if combined with force-exertion techniques, the power would be even more terrifying.
In the early stages of the Ninja World, the physical fitness of most Ninjas was quite average.
They were very squishy!
Immediately after, Ryu concentrated his mind again, his gaze falling on an ordinary small knife placed nearby.
Hum... The knife trembled slightly, and then, as if lifted by an invisible hand, it floated unsteadily into the air!
"Psychokinesis!" A look of joy flashed in Ryu's eyes.
He focused his mind, controlling the knife to perform various complex movements in the air: dashing, sudden stops, turns, circling... it was as easy as moving his own limbs, incredibly flexible!
Ryu tested it out; he could remotely control 2 tons of weight and attack at the speed of sound.
This was practically a human artillery battery!
Of course, he wouldn't be foolish enough to attack with such heavy weights; precision and breaking through at a single point was the way to go.
Feeling the surging power in his body and the Psychokinesis under his control, an illusion of "I am invincible" spontaneously arose.
If he were to launch a sneak attack now, even a Kage might be finished.
"System," Ryu thought to himself.
A virtual interface that only he could see appeared before him. Compared to before, the interface was much simpler, and its style had become more functional.
[Status Update Complete]
[Newbie Tutorial Period Ended]
[Official Mode Activated]
[Host]: Ryu
[Power Level]: Lv.2 (Physical, Mental 2,000 jin)
[Points]: 157 (+47/minute)
Below the interface, there was a small line of text:
[Point Acquisition]: Real-time settlement based on the 'influence' the Host exerts on the Ninja World (including but not limited to information disturbance, fate deviation, emotion harvesting, etc.). As long as the influence persists, Points will continue to grow.
[Point Usage]: Can be used to exchange for various abilities, items, intelligence, etc., in the System Mall.
"As expected, the newbie benefits have ended," Ryu understood.
It seemed that the massive increase in strength earlier was the effect of the newbie mission.
In the future, if he wanted to become stronger, he would have to rely on "causing trouble" himself to earn Points.
His gaze fell on the Points column, where the numbers were still steadily ticking up at a rate of dozens of Points per minute.
"157 Points, and it's still growing rapidly... It seems that although the heavenly screen has disappeared, the impact it caused is far from over and is still fermenting."
This was undoubtedly good news, meaning that even if he just lay around, he would have a steady 'passive income.'
Looking at the rising Points and feeling his current power, a deeper smile appeared on Ryu's face.
"Passive income is good, but it's too slow."
Ryu whispered to himself, his gaze once again turning toward the turbulent Ninja World.
"It's time... to begin the production of the next stage of the 'script'."
"But first, wait until I cast a few lines!"
Konoha Village took a cold approach to the joint inquiries from the outside world, refusing to respond.
To the Four Great Shinobi Villages, this silence was no different from an arrogant provocation, and their covert actions became more frequent and dangerous.
In just a few days, several attacks and infiltration reconnaissance missions from unknown forces targeting Uzumaki Naruto had already occurred.
Although they were all intercepted by strengthened defenses and the Anbu, it caused Hiruzen Sarutobi's face to turn so dark it looked like it could drip water.
Konoha's defensive pressure was increasing day by day.
In the midst of these internal and external troubles, the return of two heavyweight figures finally gave the exhausted Hiruzen Sarutobi a moment of respite and a shot in the arm.
Two of the legendary Sannin—Jiraiya and Tsunade—returned to Konoha at the same time!
"So, that kid... is Uzumaki Naruto?" Tsunade crossed her arms, her sharp gaze looking down at the Ninja Academy's playground below.