'Utilization'
"Clang~"
Lin Ke tossed the crushed beverage can far into the trash bin. [Japanese vending machines have recycling bins specifically for PET bottles or aluminum cans.]
He took a deep breath and stood up, saying, "If there's nothing else, I'm going back."
"Okay." Uzumaki Naruto stood up as well, but in the end, he didn't voice his request. Seeing the growth of his two classmates after being taught by Lin Ke, he was somewhat tempted.
It wasn't so much a burning desire to become stronger. In fact, he was quite vague about whether he even wanted to become stronger. He shouted about wanting to become Hokage, but he had never considered what kind of power was needed to become Hokage...
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been uninterested in school and skipped classes every day to play pranks.
His current emotions were more like seeing two familiar peers with a new toy and wanting one himself—
The toy being taught how to become stronger.
Uzumaki Naruto watched as the peer who had never shown him any dislike or negative emotions gradually walked away. In the end, he didn't say anything to make him stay. He didn't know how to face a peer who expressed goodwill towards him.
He could only stand alone in front of the bench opposite the vending machine, holding his drink, not leaving for a long time.
At that moment, he probably wanted to cry.
Lin Ke left directly, sighing silently in his heart. Initially, he didn't plan to have too much interaction with Uzumaki Naruto, and it was still the same now.
He wouldn't actively interact with that guy, but when that guy jumped out and challenged him, he knew that he would inevitably enter the Third Hokage's field of vision.
Then he realized that perhaps this was a good opportunity.
A very good opportunity.
To improve, being capable was far from enough. The most important thing was to let the leader know that you were capable, and that while being capable, you also had a good personality. Otherwise, who would be willing to nurture a cold-blooded ingrate? In Konoha Village, a military organization that emphasized the Will of Fire and teamwork, the Third Hokage should value personality and will even more.
If it were Danzo, he wouldn't care about your personality. He would just brainwash you and serve you with curse seals.
Lin Ke thought at the time that he would most likely be a Genin remembered by the Third Hokage. Even if he couldn't compare to the Konoha Twelve, he would definitely be much stronger than other nameless Genin.
When he first entered the Ninja Academy, he displayed a mutated ninjutsu, and then he fully demonstrated his genius persona in the school, in order to graduate early—
Now it was a time of peace, and not many people graduated early. A secret technique (Bloodline Limit) + an early-graduating genius, should be remembered among more than a hundred people.
As everyone knew, a persona couldn't be perfect. The more perfect a person was, the less approachable they were. He had to show some flaws in his personality, exaggerate some things he cared about, and show them in front of others.
Preferably the Third Hokage.
What did people remember most?
Labels.
He had to label himself: genius, hates when people say he's short, has a twisted personality, childish in strange ways, etc., labels that were easy to remember.
It was true that Lin Ke didn't hate Uzumaki Naruto, it was true that he cared about being short, and even many of his emotions were real—
Only he himself knew that everything he showed had a purer purpose.
He wanted to climb up, become a Chunin, become a Jonin, and if possible, become a Hokage candidate, and have the opportunity to become Hokage in the future.
Whether it was the Third Hokage or the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, they were both people he could 'use' the most, and had to 'use'.
A falsehood without emotion would definitely not be able to use others for long, but if he mixed in emotion, he was afraid of being infected, so the best way was to shape his persona, let others develop feelings for him, and then distance himself slightly, restraining his heart.
It was shameful to say, but from beginning to end, what he feared most was actually having any bonds. With bonds, he would no longer be invincible, just like his mother who died of illness in this life, and his father who died on a mission for no reason.
[Let's leave it at this for now with Uzumaki Naruto. I don't yet have the ability to deal with the trouble that comes with becoming 'friends' with him, and...]
Acting required dedication, and Lin Ke couldn't be dedicated to it all the time. Contact with Uzumaki Naruto made him realize that he was a little softer-hearted than he had imagined, so he had to isolate himself appropriately. Even now, he was using a half-true, half-false behavior to take advantage of an innocent guy, and he still felt a little awkward about it.
But this was a step he had to take.
He wasn't a true genius. Without the mutated ninjutsu, with his scarce Chakra reserves, he would probably just be cannon fodder. Even with the mutated ninjutsu, in the early stages, he would at most be a glass cannon, unable to take the initiative into his own hands.
Lin Ke had planned that if he couldn't find a way to truly change and strengthen himself among the ninjutsu he could learn and release, he would focus on increasing his Chakra.
Whether it was Tailed Beasts, or modifications that absorbed Chakra abilities, or finding a power bank (like the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki brand).
With sufficient Chakra, he absolutely believed that he could change any battle situation.
But letting himself capture a Tailed Beast, or finding someone to perform some modification, was too risky. It was better to be more cautious, rise to a high position, and let Konoha Village capture a Tailed Beast for him to use, or persuade the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki to be his power bank in the future.
Anyway, he never thought about solving any problem purely on his own; people use tools and need to use their brains.
Even in a world of extraordinary power, before reaching a certain level, the collective is still very powerful.
[Keep going, Lin Ke, one day you will be able to grasp your own destiny]
He walked alone on the road, erasing the discomfort in his heart, and walked forward firmly.
Perhaps there was a moment in this life when he also wanted to cry.
...
Back at the Seventh Training Ground, Lin Ke glanced at his two teammates who were practicing hard, and began his own training.
His training was very simple: physical exercise. He had entered a bottleneck period in the development of ninjutsu very early on.
Among the ninjutsu he had already mastered, the greatest effect of the Clone Jutsu was that it allowed him to be immune to a certain degree of damage (he didn't dare to test the specific threshold too much). It was very suitable for saving his life, and separating and reorganizing at critical moments was a winning secret in taijutsu competitions.
In the battle with Hatake Kakashi, he gained a considerable advantage through his head (in various senses), but he was tricked by the Shadow Clone technique.
In fact, in the initial development, he thought much deeper, such as not only separating limbs, but dividing into pieces, or opening his mind and dividing into cells and atoms.
But it didn't work.
Because after repeated tests, he came to a conclusion: all mutated ninjutsu are based on providing more or less Chakra to extend the time and enhance the effect.
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