💎 WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎
🔥 30→2ch | 60→5ch | 100→8ch | 200→15ch | 400→25ch
⏰ Resets Monday!
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"Speaking of which, once the war ends, Kushina and Minato's wedding won't be far off, will it?" Mikoto suddenly thought of her old friend and classmate.
Besides being classmates, she and Kushina were close friends. The fact that Kushina and Minato Namikaze were a couple was no secret in the village.
Fugaku nodded. "Minato has performed excellently on the battlefield."
The Third Hokage was getting old. It was time to pick a side.
Their words reached Hanataki's ears as he sat under the long eaves, admiring the moon.
Mikoto was pregnant. Minato was about to marry Kushina. The plot was accelerating. He had to deftly manipulate the Corona Clone on Nagato's side to accumulate more favorability.
The upcoming battles would be his first chance to make a name for himself. Not in Konoha, but in the entire shinobi world.
After saying goodbye to Itachi, Hanataki declined Shisui and Kiri's offer to escort him, teleporting home instead.
He opened the system's task list.
Itachi Uchiha was an immensely popular character. The skills that could be exchanged for sixty favorability points made Hanataki's mouth water.
[Ding! Host, please choose to allocate a new skill or upgrade an existing one!]
Hanataki swallowed the words "allocate a new skill" that were on the tip of his tongue. He hesitated for a second, then said decisively, "I choose to upgrade an existing skill!"
He was betting on it.
He was betting that the system's randomly selected skill for an upgrade would be [Word Soul: The Lie of a Lie Becomes Truth]!
The system seemed unprepared for Hanataki to actively choose an upgrade. It paused for a second before the blue electronic screen began to operate.
[Ding! The randomly selected skill for upgrade has been confirmed.]
[Word Soul: The Lie of a Lie Becomes Truth.]
The bet paid off!
[Skill progress is currently at 20%. Please do not leave during the upgrade process, Host.]
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…]
[Skill upgrade complete. Word Soul current skill progress: 50%]
"Only fifty percent?!" Hanataki's eyes nearly popped out.
Sixty favorability points from Itachi Uchiha only upgraded it by thirty percent? Who was this system looking down on? It could look down on him, but it couldn't look down on his Itachi-sama!
"Uchiha Itachi's maximum favorability is required to fully upgrade the skill," the system explained.
"…" Hanataki clicked his tongue. Itachi's maximum favorability… who knew how long that would take?
"Forget it." Hanataki began to test his idea.
"System?" he tried calling out.
"Does the host require assistance?"
For some reason, Hanataki inexplicably sensed displeasure in the system's perfectly flat, electronic voice.
"Ahem…" Hanataki brushed the bangs from his forehead, making a wild boast. "I can instantly raise the skill progress of [Corona Clone] to fifteen percent!"
The system fell into an eerie silence. After a long moment, its electronic voice sounded in Hanataki's mind: "Please strive to cultivate diligently, Host, and abandon such fantasies."
It specifically checked Hanataki's current progress on the [Corona Clone] skill—five percent. Based on its understanding of Hanataki, his talent and diligence were at the bottom of the barrel. If he hadn't gotten lucky and met this system, he probably wouldn't even have food to eat.
The only thing about this somewhat useless host that satisfied the system was his god-tier acting skills. As an Alluring Conquest System, it had never valued things like ninjutsu talent. It needed someone exactly like Hanataki.
"The lie of a lie will become truth." Hanataki took a deep breath and recited the words with utmost sincerity.
The next second, the system watched helplessly as the progress bar for [Corona Clone] on its screen surged from five percent to fifteen percent.
"…"
Wrong. The system realized it had been completely and utterly wrong.
Besides his acting skills, Hanataki also had a cunning streak. It was the first time a host bound to it had used a skill obtained from it to pull a fast one on the system itself. Its mood was… a bit complicated.
"It worked!" Hanataki clenched his fist excitedly.
This was precisely why he had forsaken a new skill to bet on upgrading [Word Soul]. Hanataki was self-aware enough to know his own limits. Some things, if he relied solely on his own hard work, would take an eternity.
People had to learn to make their lives more comfortable.
If you can lie down, why sit? If you can use a cheat, who would rely on their own effort?
But Hanataki also knew this trick could only be used once. If he did it too often, the system might get angry out of embarrassment. He hadn't dared to massively increase the [Corona Clone] skill because he was worried the [Word Soul] progress wasn't high enough to actually change reality, which would have wasted the opportunity.
A fifteen percent progress in [Corona Clone] was enough for Hanataki to achieve remote control, albeit with a time limit. He couldn't control it for more than ten minutes a day.
But don't underestimate those ten minutes. It was enough for Hanataki to farm favorability with Nagato's group. If he could max out Konan and Yahiko's favorability soon, he could fuse and draw an overpowered max-level skill.
He was heading to the battlefield soon. The more trump cards he had, the more secure he'd feel. He valued his life a great deal.
As he pondered matters of the battlefield, a purple figure drifted into his line of sight. He reached out, snatching the wandering Xiaoqing from the air and flicking its little dragon head. "Can you upgrade any faster? I don't want to have to protect you on the battlefield!"
Xiaoqing, now fully aware it was a dragon, had been acting high and mighty all day. It struggled indignantly in Hanataki's grasp. How could a divine dragon be held in the palm of a mere human?
Though Xiaoqing's eyes were small, Hanataki could still see the disdain in them.
"Oh?" Hanataki rolled up his sleeves. "Getting a big head, are we?"
Xiaoqing instinctively sensed danger.
The next second, it was scooped back out of the air by Hanataki for some proper "affection."
[Ding! Taixu Ancient Dragon—Xiaoqing has been attacked. Defense mechanism activated. Skill progress increased to 10%.]
Hanataki and Xiaoqing both froze.
Xiaoqing's body suddenly grew a section, becoming as thick as an adult man's forearm and about a meter long.
"Well, I'll be damned! So this is how you evolve!" Hanataki revealed a benevolent smile. As one of Konoha's most beloved and kindest souls, how could he not lend Xiaoqing a helping hand?
"Xiaoqing~"
After two long days of Hanataki's "training," Xiaoqing's growth rate was astonishing.
[Ding! Taixu Ancient Dragon—Xiaoqing has been ravaged. Defense mechanism activated. Skill progress increased to 30%.]
Hanataki retracted his divine right hand.
Under Hanataki's coercion, Xiaoqing shrank back to its previous small snake form. Otherwise, with thirty percent of its Taixu Ancient Dragon skill unlocked, its body would be large enough to burst the house open.
With vacant eyes, Xiaoqing wrapped itself around Hanataki's wrist, its four claws dangling listlessly.
Hanataki tried to shift his focus to the Corona Clone. The skill's progress was still a bit low; otherwise, he could control two bodies simultaneously instead of just splitting his focus.
He sat cross-legged on the bed. His soul seemed to enter a void of darkness, drifting for an unknowable amount of time until he finally saw a glimmer of light. He felt an inexplicable force struggling against him, but he persisted, remaining within this new body.
Suddenly, through the beam of light, he saw a familiar figure.
"Karyū, ah, open wide. Time to eat!" Konan's blurred features gradually came into focus. She held up a wooden spoon, blew on the congee, and brought it to his mouth.
Without a hint of a blush, Hanataki opened his mouth and accepted the spoon, his tongue sweeping the porridge off. It was utterly bland. But the person feeding him was anything but.
Hanataki blinked.
"Good boy, Karyū," Konan said, her voice filled with patience for the seemingly mentally impaired boy before her.
"Ko… Konan… sis…ter…" Hanataki perfectly mimicked a fool's stupor. A flicker of light ignited in his eyes before quickly scattering again.
Konan's hand trembled violently, nearly dropping the wooden bowl. Her eyes instantly reddened as tears welled up.
"Karyū… Karyū, you… you've recovered, haven't you?" She stared at him intently, as if desperate for a confirmation.
[Ding! Target of Conquest: Konan. Favorability: 92!]
Hanataki didn't speak. He sat there dully, his eyes still vacant. What had just happened seemed to be a figment of Konan's imagination.
"Wuwuwu…" Konan couldn't hold back her sobs. The memory of Karyū's former clever, lively self, when compared to his current state, made her break down completely.
"Konan… sister, don't cry!" His stiff, vacant eyes slowly turned. He raised his hand like a puppet to wipe away her tears, unconsciously repeating, "Konan… sister, don't cry! Konan… sister, don't cry!"
At first, his voice was sluggish, but it gradually grew smoother.
Konan was already weeping uncontrollably. She was both happy and sad. Happy that Karyū was finally showing signs of recovery, but sad that even in this state, he was still thinking of her.
[Ding! Target of Conquest: Konan. Favorability: 98!]
The system remained silent, mentally giving Hanataki a thumbs-up on its blue screen.
"Let's eat, okay?" Konan forced back her tears, asking with a tearful smile.
"Okay. Eat," Hanataki responded dully.
"…"
Normally, any person pretending to be such a complete idiot would die of shame. But Hanataki seemed to lack that concept entirely. The system even felt that he was enjoying himself.
And how could he not? In his previous life, he had been a boy living in his own world. Lifelong introversion and shyness had made him feel like an outcast. Only in the world of anime could he find security and a sense of belonging. A girlfriend was a complete fantasy. He wasn't ugly—in fact, he was handsome—but no one understood his world, and he had no interest in theirs.
Now, his favorite anime character was right in front of him, gently feeding him. This was the kind of scene that would drive any otaku insane!
And so, Hanataki spent the entire ten minutes just eating a bowl of congee.
When the time was up, his soul felt light as it drifted back into the darkness. He opened his eyes to the sight of his familiar bedroom.
"Sigh." He truly hadn't wanted to leave.
"…" The system couldn't help but speak up. "You wasted ten minutes."
In the system's eyes, besides raising Konan's favorability to 98, Hanataki had done nothing meaningful.
Hanataki snorted, brushing away his melancholic mood. He lay on the bed and crossed his legs. "That's where you're wrong." His voice was smug.
"What do you mean?" The system, which considered itself intellectually superior, was displeased by its host's condescension.
"Today, I only worked on Konan's favorability. I didn't even see Nagato or Yahiko. But the effect will be even better than if I had seen them directly!" Hanataki swung his crossed leg, revealing the black shorts he wore underneath.
"?" A huge question mark flashed on the system's blue screen.
"People are creatures of expectation! Konan will definitely tell them that I regained a bit of consciousness today. They'll unconsciously start hoping for my recovery. Tomorrow, when the ten minutes are up, I'll regain consciousness again, and their favorability will skyrocket!"
When expectations reach a certain height, farming favorability becomes exceptionally easy. Hanataki's face was filled with confidence.
"Is that so?" The system was a machine. It could only represent human emotions with numbers, unable to comprehend the complexity hidden behind the cold data, a complexity as tangled as the roots of a tree.
"Just you wait and see!" Hanataki knew that maxing out Yahiko and Konan's favorability was just a matter of days.
For the next two days, Hanataki and the others were unusually idle. He knew exactly why. If they weren't about to be sent to the battlefield, would the Third Hokage give them such a long vacation?
The next day, Hanataki found time for an afternoon nap and once again remotely controlled the Corona Clone.
Hearing returned before sight. He heard Yahiko's excited voice.
"Our group is growing! And guess who I met yesterday?"
"Who?"
"One of Lord Hanzo's elite shinobi!"
"Really?!"
"Of course! The ceasefire agreement we're advocating reached Lord Hanzo's ears, and he approves of our ideals!"
"That's great! Everything is getting better!"
"Yeah!"
Hanataki opened his eyes, a complex expression on his face as he looked at Yahiko. He didn't know if this Hanzo would act the same as in the original story, but he knew Yahiko's naivety would get him into trouble.
"Karyū!" Konan exclaimed, once again the first to notice his awakening.
She rushed to his bedside, stroking his cheek with infinite tenderness, her smile gentle beyond words. "Karyū, did you hear? Everything is getting better. You'll slowly get better, too!" Her voice was firm yet gentle.
"Konan-neechan." Hanataki grasped her hand. For a moment, his vacant eyes held a flash of clarity. He repeated, somewhat stiffly, "Konan-neechan… happy. Yahiko-niichan… happy. Nagato-niichan… happy!"
The sight of him, still so considerate of others despite his condition, instantly brought tears to Yahiko and Konan's eyes.
[Ding! Target of Conquest: Konan. Favorability: 100!]
[Ding! Target of Conquest: Yahiko. Favorability: 100!]
[Ding! Target of Conquest: Nagato. Favorability: 75!]
Hanataki's heart bloomed with joy. What a wonderful day!
The system remained silent. When it came to conquest, you had to hand it to Hanataki.
When the ten minutes were up, Hanataki left the Corona Clone.
Knock, knock, knock!
The moment his soul returned to his body, a knock came at the door.
"Hanataki. The Hokage summons you."
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