Jokichi quickly slurped down the noodles, patted his small belly in satisfaction, and then paid the bill and left. He wore a smile on his face along the way, politely greeting the people he knew, and everything was no different from usual.
After returning home, Jokichi closed the door and quickly locked it.
Then he went to the window, intending to close it completely, but on second thought, wouldn't that be a dead giveaway?
After thinking about it, Jokichi only drew the curtains, then changed into his pajamas, lay on the bed, covered his body with the quilt, and fell sound asleep.
Whoosh...
The wind blew gently, lifting a corner of the curtain.
On the utility pole opposite the window, an Anbu wearing a fox mask crouched, his emotionless pupils quietly watching everything inside the house.
"Are there any abnormalities?"
A flat voice came from the earpiece worn by the Anbu.
"No abnormalities, everything is the same as the behavioral patterns recorded in the data."
"It seems I overthought it. Monitor him for a week, and if there are no abnormalities, withdraw!"
"Yes."
The sound of the earpiece turning off came, but the Anbu ninja seemed oblivious. He crouched on the utility pole like a statue, his eyes motionless and fixed on the house.
...
Jokichi did not realize he was being monitored, but he had already guessed it.
Shimura Danzo was naturally suspicious and could not trust anyone.
Uzumaki Naruto, as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, was very important to the village, so he would definitely pay attention to the people who came into contact with Uzumaki Naruto.
He was worried they might be spies from other villages or conspirators with ulterior motives.
He had just come into contact with Uzumaki Naruto. Although Uzumaki Naruto took the initiative to approach him, it was impossible for Shimura Danzo to just send someone to ask a few questions and hastily drop the matter.
He would definitely investigate his entire life trajectory from birth to the present, and send someone to monitor him for a period of time, only giving up after confirming there was no threat.
Therefore, Jokichi was not in a hurry to consume the Sage Crystal.
After all, it was something that changed one's constitution. What if his body underwent abnormal physical changes when he consumed it?
Wouldn't that attract Shimura Danzo's attention?
At that time, even if he had not caused any harm to Konoha, Shimura Danzo would become interested due to the changes in his body, and then...
Just imagine it!
Anyway, there would not be any good outcome.
After his morning training, Jokichi was already exhausted, so he quickly started snoring.
By the time he woke up, the sun was almost setting.
He squinted his eyes, washed up to clear his head, then changed into his training clothes, tied on the Hot-Blooded Headband, and went out to train.
Goal: Run two laps around Konoha.
Konoha was very large. Although it was called a village, its actual area was equivalent to a quarter of the magic city in his past life. Even excluding an uninhabited area like the Forest of Death, which occupied a third of Konoha, it was still very large.
In the past, it would take Jokichi most of the day to run a lap around Konoha, but now with the Hot-Blooded Headband, his entire body was full of drive. A lap that used to take most of the day could now be finished in three hours.
Although he was as tired as a dog, because of the hot blood, he did not feel tired at all. He just rested slightly before starting the second lap.
By the time the second lap was finished, the full moon was already hanging high in the sky, and Jokichi was so tired that he could not even be bothered to move his limbs.
But the harvest was beyond imagination; he could intuitively feel his body becoming stronger.
If the system provided a data panel for his body, the screen would definitely be full of +1 prompts next to his physical fitness stat.
With a clear harvest, his motivation was even stronger.
After relying on the Ring of Kurama to recover a little stamina, Jokichi dragged his exhausted body home and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
With the Sage Crystal that could change his constitution, he no longer needed to waste time refining chakra. The chakra of a Sage Body would be unimaginably abundant.
He could spend more time on other aspects of his training.
The night passed quickly.
Just as the sun peeked out, Jokichi woke up, his whole body full of drive once again.
"Today, run 3 laps around Konoha."
But before that, he had to fill his stomach.
Jokichi patted his small belly, which was already rumbling.
Having undergone such high-intensity training yesterday, he had only eaten a bowl of ramen. If it were not for the Hot-Blooded Headband making his body tougher, he would probably have fainted long ago.
"I must also pay attention to my diet in the future."
Jokichi went out, ate a hearty meal, and then continued his usual physical training.
...
Time slowly slipped away, and soon a month passed.
During this month, Jokichi woke up early to train as usual, returning home very late dragging his exhausted body.
But the difference was that the intensity of his training was becoming higher and higher at a visible rate.
The people in the village could often see him sweating as he ran down the street, or doing physical exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, and frog leaps while counting out loud in some remote training ground.
Out of curiosity, someone approached. After hearing the numbers coming from Jokichi's mouth, their jaw dropped in shock and could not close for a long time.
The 39th Training Ground had a spacious lawn, dense trees and bushes, and a river deep within. There were also many training equipment such as targets and wooden dummies in the area, making it a very quiet training environment.
However, because of its remote location near the Forest of Death, very few people came here.
Yet for this past month, someone came here to train every day, bringing a bento box with them. They would train for the whole day, not leaving until the moon hung high in the sky.
This person was Jokichi.
The reason he ran to such a remote place to train, besides not wanting to be disturbed, was to avoid Uzumaki Naruto.
Perhaps because Jokichi did not look at him with disgusted and cold eyes like the others, nor did he ostracize him like the other children, Uzumaki Naruto had been intentionally or unintentionally looking for him since their encounter.
This was not a good thing for Jokichi.
If he was truly all alone, it would be fine, and interacting with Uzumaki Naruto would be nothing.
But he had the God-Level Forging System. He needed to find special materials to forge special items. He had secrets.
Too frequent contact with Uzumaki Naruto would inevitably attract the attention of the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzo.
If these secrets were exposed, it was hard to imagine what would happen to him.
The scene of encountering two waves of Anbu questioning shortly after meeting Uzumaki Naruto that time was still vivid in his mind.
It was exactly because of his recent contact with Uzumaki Naruto that he did not dare to immediately consume the Sage Crystal.
However, now was the time.
Jokichi considered himself to have no extraordinary traits, nor had he displayed any noteworthy value in front of outsiders.
He was just a member of the masses in Konoha.
An ordinary person like him was not worth Shimura Danzo sending someone to watch over constantly.
After all, ninja were not cabbages you could find anywhere. Especially the elites of the Anbu and Root, there were only so many of them. It was impossible to waste their precious time guarding a worthless ordinary person.
Waiting out a month before deciding to consume it, Jokichi felt he had been cautious enough.
With a thought, the green crystal appeared in his hand.
Illuminated by the exuberant life force, the nearby grass grew at a visible rate, instantly turning into a dense thicket.
Jokichi did not hesitate and swallowed it in one gulp.