For ordinary people without talent, some things simply couldn’t be learned through hard work alone.
They genuinely required exceptional intelligence and natural talent.
Silence fell once again.
“…” Tsunade barely suppressed the urge to punch the brat and gritted her teeth.
“So in the end, you’re just a complete scrub, aren’t you?!” “Ahem.
Everyone has their own specialty.” Shu gave an awkward smile.
Tsunade rolled her eyes and turned back toward Kurotani Azami.
“Tch.
Guess I’ll have to do it myself.” Her hands rapidly formed seals before she pressed her fingers around the spiral on Azami’s forehead.
With a surge of chakra, black markings spread across Azami’s pale skin like living creatures.
Within seconds, the markings intertwined into a sealing array, locking the spiral firmly at its center.
“I’m not done yet!” Tsunade barked and pulled out a sealing scroll.
She unfurled it above the array as chakra erupted from her hands.
“Get out!” Under the powerful pull of the Fūinjutsu, the curse energy lodged inside Azami’s forehead was forcibly extracted strand by strand.
The gray-black energy flowed into the scroll until not a trace remained.
Snap!
Tsunade rolled the scroll shut and immediately reinforced it with another restriction.
“Phew…
Done.” She let out a long breath.
“Pulling that thing out takes ridiculous precision.
It’s more exhausting than performing surgery, and this girl was only in the early stages of infection…” With the curse energy completely removed, Azami’s forehead gradually returned to normal.
Then, without warning, a notification sounded inside Tsunade’s mind.
[Ding!
Reincarnator has successfully saved the key plot character Kurotani Azami, altering the original course of the story.] [Reward: 1 D-Rank Side Plot and 1,000 Reward Points.] Tsunade froze.
‘A reward?’ Shu immediately grinned.
“Well, Tsunade-sama?
How much did you get?” “Y-Yeah.” Tsunade recovered from her surprise.
“I got something called a D-Rank Side Plot and 1,000 Reward Points.” Her eyes widened.
“You can actually earn rewards like this?” Shu nodded.
“Exactly.
Back in the funeral hall, I earned 500 Reward Points for stopping them from cremating the corpse.” “But the change I made was relatively minor, so I didn’t receive a Side Plot.” Tsunade thoughtfully rubbed her chin.
“I see…
But what exactly does the Main God mean by altering the original course of the story?” She paused and narrowed her eyes at Shu.
“What does story even mean here?” “You know, don’t you, brat?” Shu calmly nodded.
“Of course I do.” He pointed toward his eyes as a single tomoe slowly appeared within the crimson Sharingan.
“It’s all because of my Sharingan.” “The reason I know so much about Kurouzu-cho isn’t because I’ve been here before, nor because someone gave me intelligence.” Shu paused dramatically.
“It’s because…
my Sharingan can see the future!” This was the excuse Shu had prepared long ago.
He could never reveal that he was a transmigrator.
That secret was tied directly to his greatest advantage.
Within the Naruto world’s logic, an abnormal Dōjutsu or even some form of future sight was outrageous, but not completely impossible.
That made it the perfect excuse.
“You can see the future?!” Tsunade froze before immediately frowning.
“Hold it.
Don’t try feeding me that nonsense.” “I’ve heard that the Uchiha clan’s Mangekyo Sharingan can awaken unusual Dōjutsu, but you just admitted yours is only One-Tomoe!” “How could a One-Tomoe Sharingan possibly have an ability like that?” “Maybe my Sharingan is simply extremely unusual?” Shu continued lying without the slightest shame.
‘Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter.
I believe it.’ “There’s an old saying that you have to lose something to gain something, right?” “Maybe because my ninjutsu talent is so terrible that I’ve been stuck as a Genin for over a decade, my Sharingan mutated to compensate.” Tsunade’s mouth twitched.
“Tsunade-sama, that’s not the important part.” Shu smoothly continued before she could interrogate him further.
“The original course of the story refers to events that were originally destined to happen in this world.
A predetermined fate that shouldn’t have changed.” He pointed toward Azami.
“Take this girl, Kurotani Azami.” “In the future I saw, she never met us.
No one removed the curse from her forehead.” “After a few days, the spiral would’ve grown larger and larger until it eventually sucked her entire body inside.” “She would’ve died horribly.” “But because we intervened, that future was forcibly changed.” “She survived, meaning we broke what was originally supposed to be her unavoidable death.” “The Main God’s reward is probably compensation for breaking that predetermined fate.” Tsunade frowned thoughtfully.
“So if we want extra Reward Points and Side Plots, we need to overturn the predetermined fates of people in this world?” As one of the Sannin who had once commanded shinobi forces in war, Tsunade possessed exceptional intelligence and strategic judgment.
Her mind immediately jumped several steps ahead.
“If this world is like a story with an established ending, and you can see the future…” “Then you know what’s supposed to happen next.” A knowing smile appeared on her face.
“For someone who knows the story in advance, farming rewards should be ridiculously easy.” “Theoretically, yes.” Shu gave a bitter smile.
“But don’t celebrate too soon.” “My foresight isn’t omniscient.
I can only see certain important fragments and the fates of certain people.” “It has plenty of limitations.” “And if we change too many events, we could trigger a chain of unpredictable butterfly effects.” Tsunade stared at Shu with an amused, knowing expression.
She knew perfectly well that the brat was making things up.
But she didn’t expose him.
Whatever the real source of his knowledge was, his information about the Main God had already proven accurate.
That was what mattered.
Besides, she had just tasted the benefits herself.
1,000 Reward Points and one D-Rank Side Plot!
She still didn’t know exactly what Side Plots could be used for, but something with a name like that was obviously a scarce resource.
‘If I convert that into gambling chips…’ ‘Ahem.
Wrong comparison.’ If she measured it against the cost of resurrecting Nawaki and Kato Dan instead, then she had just taken a very real step toward bringing them back.
Shu didn’t particularly care whether Tsunade believed his story either.
As long as she was smart enough to understand that she still needed his information, she had no reason to obsess over where it came from.
For now, they were in the same boat.
As for Shu, his plan was simple.
He would exploit his knowledge of the plot and his familiarity with infinite-flow stories to accumulate as many rewards as possible.
Once he became strong enough, even if Tsunade eventually turned against him, he would at least have the power to protect himself.
“Now then, Tsunade-sama.” Shu looked directly at her.
“Since we’ve figured out the basic rules, let’s talk about the details of our cooperation.” “From now on, I’ll provide the intelligence and specific action plans.” “You’ll handle the parts that require actual strength or specialized techniques and earn the rewards.” “But afterward, we split everything fifty-fifty.” Shu didn’t exactly have much of a choice.
He couldn’t use Fūinjutsu, nor did he possess enough raw power to forcibly alter major events by himself.
‘If I don’t latch onto a powerhouse, I won’t even get a sip of the soup.’ …