“Heh.”
“Pretty clever.”
Inside the Hokage’s office, the Third Hokage chuckled and shut off the crystal ball.
He lit his tobacco pipe and began puffing away.
Before long, the Third Hokage’s gaze grew deep and contemplative.
“Naruto…”
He murmured the name quietly.
The boy had changed far too much recently.
At first, Naruto had been mischievous and lively.
Then, almost overnight, he had become somewhat disillusioned with the world.
He no longer seemed interested in showing off, and he often went fishing until late at night…
The Third Hokage remembered that the boy had once been afraid of the dark.
Was it simply because he was growing older and becoming a little more mature?
Or perhaps…
Had the boy learned something?
“Phew…”
The Third Hokage exhaled a cloud of smoke and rubbed his temples.
He was getting old.
The more things a person experienced, the easier it was to overthink.
After all, Naruto was still only six years old.
Since Guy had successfully made contact with him, there was no need to rush.
They could observe him for a while longer.
The boy had inherited his father’s talent.
The Third Hokage believed that, in time, Naruto would become an outstanding shinobi just like his father.
…
“Hey!!!”
“Naruto!!!!”
“Over here!!!!!”
Naruto had just secretly finished eating when he arrived beneath the Hokage Rock.
He immediately heard Guy shouting down at him from above.
“Sigh…”
Naruto sighed.
After tricking Lee into going over there, he had originally planned to head home.
Unfortunately, the Third Hokage had continued watching him until he confirmed that Naruto had actually set out.
At that point, Naruto couldn’t be bothered to play this game of wits anymore.
He couldn’t avoid Guy forever anyway.
He might as well treat this trip as an opportunity to experience a new check-in location.
Naruto’s current template was already at the Chunin level.
He had enough chakra, but he hadn’t learned how to attach chakra to his feet.
So if he wanted to reach the top of the Hokage Rock, he had to climb it the old-fashioned way.
Fortunately, it wasn’t particularly far.
Naruto had barely taken a few steps when the system’s notification sounded.
“Ding!
A special check-in location has been detected.
Check-in commencing!”
“Check-in duration: 10 minutes.”
Naruto stopped walking.
A special check-in location.
That should mean the Hokage Rock.
The system’s check-in requirements were fairly lenient.
Usually, simply entering a certain area was enough to begin the check-in.
But this time, the required duration was only ten minutes.
That was strange.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling a little expectant.
He could obtain the most basic Three Body Technique from checking in outside Konoha.
There was no way the Hokage Rock would give him something ordinary.
“Could it be a skill pack from one of the four Hokage?”
“If it’s the First Hokage, could I actually get Wood Release…?”
Naruto immediately opened the system space and searched through the shop.
He specifically looked for items with lots of zeros in their prices.
After scrolling almost all the way to the bottom, he finally found it.
[Bloodline Limit: Pure Wood Release.
Price: 3,500,000 Lazing Points.]
“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand…”
“Three and a half million.
Heh.”
Naruto curled his lips.
He really shouldn’t have counted all those zeros.
If he accumulated three and a half million Lazing Points, would that even count as lazing anymore?
That kind of lazing would have a purpose.
It would have no soul.
There was no way Naruto expected himself to accumulate enough points to buy Wood Release someday.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan was much more realistic.
Only 5,000 points.
Affordable, useful, and reliable.
The only problem was that he couldn’t buy just one eye, because his main reason for wanting the Sharingan was to use Izanagi…
“Ding!
Successful act of lazing around.”
“Received 30 Lazing Points.”
The system sent its congratulations.
Naruto continued climbing.
Before long, he spotted two bowl-haired figures.
Lee was doing push-ups on the ground while Guy stood beside him, shouting encouragement.
“One more, Lee!”
“Yes, Guy-sensei!”
“Let your sweat flow!
This is what youth looks like!”
“Yes, Guy-sensei!”
“Is that really all the heat your youth can produce?
Believe in yourself, Lee!”
“Yes, Guy-sensei!!!”
The last response practically cracked his voice.
Watching the scene, Naruto suddenly didn’t want to move forward anymore.
This looks… exhausting.
Still, this was probably Lee’s ideal situation.
He had met Guy ahead of schedule, and he was already calling him teacher.
If nothing unexpected happened, Lee would probably be wearing the same training outfit as his teacher within a few days.
Training outfit…
The corner of Naruto’s eye twitched.
For some reason, he suddenly imagined himself wearing the same tight green outfit.
Golden hair.
A bright green jumpsuit.
Naruto suddenly wanted to go home.
Third Hokage, couldn’t you send someone else to torment me?
I can pretend to be an idiot.
I can pull pranks every day.
I can keep shouting that I want to become Hokage.
Naruto stopped where he was.
He was seriously considering simply turning around and going home.
But just as he hesitated—
“Ding!
Check-in complete!”
“Check-in location: Hokage Rock.
Duration: 10 minutes.”
“After completing 30 consecutive days of check-ins, you will receive 1% of a random Hokage Template.”
“Current consecutive check-in duration: 1 day.”
Naruto froze.
“Thirty days… for a Hokage Template!?”
This was…
Pretty incredible.
Naruto’s mind immediately began calculating.
One percent every thirty days.
If he continued checking in for six years…
He could theoretically obtain around 80% of a particular Hokage’s template!
Of course, that was only theoretical.
But even if the rewards were evenly distributed among the four Hokage, that would still amount to nearly 20% of each.
The other Hokage aside…
Just 20% of the First Hokage’s power would already be ridiculous!
Take Yamato, for example.
Yamato could only bring out roughly 10% of Hashirama’s Wood Release.
And that was only Wood Release!
During Orochimaru’s destruction of Konoha, he used Edo Tensei to summon the First and Second Hokage.
Both were only capable of using a fraction of their original power, and Orochimaru’s control over them further restricted them.
Yet even under those conditions, their combat strength was still absurd.
At this moment, Naruto became excited.
Six years of check-ins could already produce such a result.
Then what about ten years?
By then…
How would Pain possibly stand a chance against him?