Chapter 6: Naruto's PlanWhen Naruto woke up, the sky wasn't fully bright yet.The frost on the window shimmered with a pale blue light in the morning glow, like a thin veil of ice. The temperature inside his body was slightly higher than his surroundings—it wasn't that the heater had been fixed, but rather that the inner core inside him was continuously radiating warmth like a miniature furnace, keeping the chill at bay.He lay in bed, staring at the crack in the ceiling for a while. That crack was still there, stretching from the light fixture all the way to the corner, exactly the same as yesterday. But his body was different from yesterday—it wasn't a violent, overnight metamorphosis, but a slow, almost imperceptible improvement. His breathing was deeper, his heartbeat stronger, and even his fingertips carried a trace of warm tingling.The first vein of the Nine Yang Divine Skill was changing him, bit by bit.He sat up and stretched. His bones gave off a series of faint pops, like rusted hinges being slowly turned. His stomach growled, reminding him that the things he bought yesterday were still in the fridge.But he didn't go to the kitchen immediately.He sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at his hands. The needle marks from the IV on the back of his hand had faded a lot, and the dirt under his fingernails had been washed away during yesterday's bath. His hands were still very small."Things to do today..."Yesterday, he had spent all 15 points on Cultivation Scrolls, so his balance was now zero. And there were still too many things he wanted in the SystemShop—more Cultivation Scrolls, better Ninjutsu, even that Random Gift Pack for a thousand points.But where would the points come from? The System had made it very clear—perform acts of justice to receive rewards.In other words, he needed to go out and do good deeds.Not necessarily grand, earth-shattering deeds, but small things like protecting Hinata. The System's criteria for judging 'justice' were simple—protect the weak, oppose evil, and guard those who are important. He didn't need to defeat some big villain; he just needed to stand up when someone needed help.But he couldn't go out as himself.The Anbu were monitoring him. If he suddenly started going around the Village "doing good deeds," those Anbu would definitely become suspicious. For a six-year-old child isolated by the whole Village to suddenly change from a prankster to a helpful person—it was too abnormal. The Sandaime might not say anything, but the Anbu's reports would state it clearly.So he needed to use Clones.He stood up and walked to the bathroom. This time he didn't turn on the faucet—since the bathroom included a toilet and he really had taken a bath yesterday, he didn't need to pretend to bathe every time. Surely the Anbu wouldn't use Ninjutsu to watch him use the toilet, as long as he wasn't in there for too long!He locked the door behind him—the latch was still loose, but it could barely hold. Then he took a deep breath and formed hand seals."Shadow Clone Technique."Chakra surged within his body, flowing along specific paths. Bang, bang, bang, bang—four muffled sounds exploded in the cramped bathroom as white smoke filled the air, making him cough twice. After the smoke cleared, four blonde boys identical to him stood before him, crowding the tiny bathroom to its limit.The four Clones looked at him simultaneously, their eight blue eyes filled with confusion."What's up?" one of them asked."You guys are going out to carry out justice today," Naruto's original body said in a low voice. "Find people who need help—help them find cats, dogs, carry things, give directions, anything. If you see someone being bullied, step in to stop it. But there's one condition.""What condition?""You can't use your own appearance."The four Clones looked at each other and then nodded simultaneously. They understood his meaning—if they went out in their original forms, the entire Village would recognize them as the "Demon Fox." No one would accept help from the Demon Fox.Naruto closed his eyes. The Transformation Technique had been directly instilled into him by the System, and he had completely mastered it.A faint halo of light appeared on the surface of the four Clones' bodies simultaneously, and then—Bang, bang, bang, bang.After the white smoke cleared, four "different people" stood in the bathroom. The first turned into a white-haired old man with a hunched back and a face full of wrinkles; the second turned into a middle-aged woman wearing an apron, looking like an ordinary housewife; the third turned into a teenage boy wearing a plain jacket with a simple, honest smile; the fourth turned into a young man wearing a hat, head lowered, looking quite unremarkable.The four Clones looked at each other and then grinned simultaneously.Uzumaki Naruto's original body left the bathroom first and then went out the door."I'm off.""I'm off too.""See you tonight.""Don't get caught."The four Clones pulled open the bathroom door one by one and walked out of the apartment. The sound of footsteps gradually faded in the hallway, heading in different directions—one east, one west, one south, and one north.The Village was very lively. Some were shoveling snow, some were setting up stalls, and children were building snowmen by the roadside. Narutowalked down the street, and no one gave him a second glance—or rather, some saw him but chose not to look. He was already used to that deliberate turning away.He wandered around the Village aimlessly for a bit.Passing by the Ninja Academy, he stopped to take a look. The school gates were closed, the playground was empty, and the swing set swayed slightly in the wind, the iron chains making a creaking sound.He remembered the version of himself from that story, who used to sit alone on that swing, watching other children being picked up by their parents. He knew that feeling all too well—it wasn't sadness, but a hollow feeling, like something was missing from his chest.But he no longer wanted that feeling of "being acknowledged."Not because he didn't care anymore, but because he finally understood—he didn't need the acknowledgment of others to prove his existence. He was alive, he was here, and that was a fact. A fact doesn't need to be acknowledged; it only needs to be accepted.He turned around and continued walking.After wandering for a few minutes, Uzumaki Naruto headed back toward his apartment.He didn't need to stay outside for long. His only purpose for coming out today was to lead the Anbuaway. As for what the Clones did, the Anbuwouldn't know—because they wouldn't notice anything unusual about those "ordinary people" at all.By the time he returned home, the sun had just reached its highest point. He closed the door, went to the kitchen, and took out the leftover bread and milk from yesterday from the fridge. The bread was a bit hard, but he didn't mind, tearing off a piece, stuffing it into his mouth, and chewing slowly.Then he sat by the window, staring blankly at the sky outside.The inner core in his Dantian was slowly rotating, and that golden vein pulsed with light like a quiet heart. He didn't need to Cultivate intentionally—the Nine Yang Divine Skill had become an instinct of his body. The inner core would automatically absorb Natural Energy, circulate on its own, and nourish his body. He only needed to relax and let the process happen naturally.He lay on the bed, feeling that warm current of Qi flowing through his body.Time passed bit by bit.The light outside changed from bright to soft, and from soft to dim. The streetlights flickered on, casting an orange glow through the window that painted a blurry patch of light on the floor.Four Clones, one day's time, had performed four good deeds. Finding a child, carrying water, finding a cat, and stopping a bully. None of them were earth-shattering events; they were all trivial matters. But the System's points had genuinely increased—plus 5, plus 3, plus 4, plus 8, for a total of 20 points.20 points. It wasn't much, but it was enough to buy another Cultivation Scroll, or he could save them until he reached a thousand points to buy that Random Gift Pack.But he wasn't in a hurry.He stood up and walked to the kitchen. His stomach was reminding him that it was time for dinner.He took two eggs, a small bowl of rice, and a package of ham out of the fridge. The rice was bought by a Clone yesterday, and so were the eggs. He had never properly cooked a meal before—in the past, he had always eaten expired rice balls from the convenience store or instant noodles soaked until they were mushy.But he had memories. In the memories of that transmigrator, there were fragments about "how to cook." Although not many, they were enough for him to cook a pot of porridge.He poured the rice into a small pot, added water, and placed it on the gas stove. The stove was a bit hard to light; he had to turn the knob several times before it caught, and the blue flame licked the bottom of the pot with a sputtering sound. He cut the ham into small pieces—his knife skills were poor, so the pieces were of various sizes, but he didn't care. He cracked the eggs into a bowl and stirred them with chopsticks until the yolks and whites mixed into a yellow liquid.The water boiled. He threw the ham into the pot, then slowly poured in the egg liquid, stirring the pot with his chopsticks. The egg blossoms spread in the boiling water like tiny yellow flowers.He turned off the heat, took the pot down, and placed it on the floor.Then he sat cross-legged on the floor, holding the pot, and used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of ham and stuff it into his mouth. The ham was salty, the eggs were tender, and the rice porridge was thick—no, he had put in too much rice, the porridge was too thick, like a pot of mush. But he didn't care. This was the first meal he had cooked with his own hands.He ate mouthful by mouthful, eating very slowly.After finishing, he washed the pot and bowl and placed them on the rack to drain. Then he walked to the window, pulled the curtains shut, walked back to the bed, and lay down.The pillow was still flat, the bedboards were still hard, and the quilt was still thin. But his stomach was full, the inner core in his Dantian was slowly rotating, and a warm current of Qi was flowing through his body. Today's 20 points lay quietly in the System like a tiny seed waiting to be planted.He closed his eyes, then rolled over and wrapped the quilt a little tighter around himself.The snow outside began to fall again, silently landing on the windowsill and accumulating in a thin layer. The light from the streetlights shone through the gap in the curtains, drawing a thin line on the ceiling.Naruto fell asleep.
