Chapter 10: The Second Simulation Begins
The sun gradually set in the west, and the old grandmother's story finally concluded with the death of her teammate.
At that moment, a line of text that made Akiyama Makoto let out a sigh of relief appeared before his eyes.
[Ding! Contact with the female ninja of superior bloodline, Hasegawa Rui, has exceeded one hour. Sufficient information has been collected.]
[Simulation Attempts +1, Simulatable Targets +1.]
[Warning: The simulatable target, Hasegawa Rui, is over sixty years old and has a husband and children. The probability of a successful simulation is extremely low. Please choose with caution.]
The corner of Makoto's mouth twitched. He had no intention of making the old grandmother in front of him a simulation target! He was purely casting a wide net to gain more simulation attempts.
Compared to the two conditions—making contact with a qualified female ninja for an hour or achieving greater intimacy with Tenten—Makoto felt that the first one was easier to satisfy for the time being. This was because "aptitude" was not determined by age. It was difficult for Makoto to get close to active ninja with high aptitude, but contacting pre-Academy female ninja or retired ones was much easier.
Now, the official document in his hand, endorsed by the Hokage, served as a excuse allowing him to do certain things openly.
"Grandma, I'm hungry."
A boisterous little boy rushed over and hugged the old woman.
Before the grandmother could speak, Makoto said with a smile, "Here are some candies. Consider it a reward for your grandma telling me such a good story."
"Makoto-kun, how could I accept this..."
The old grandmother wanted to refuse, but her grandson had already stuffed the candy into his mouth and was covering it with his hand, giving her no chance to decline.
Makoto smiled and patted the little boy's head, then said to the other children who had gathered around, "Three pieces each. From now on, you'll get candy whenever you see me."
The children immediately began to cheer. Seeing that Makoto had brought so many sweets, the other elders knew he had come prepared and no longer tried to stop him. Many even asked if he would come again tomorrow, as they had plenty of stories to share, but today had been monopolized by the old grandmother.
Makoto naturally said he would come, but he already had other ideas. While his current method worked, it was still a bit inefficient. Was there a way for him to meet these female ninja with stories to tell individually, without arousing suspicion?
The answer, of course, was yes. It just required a little preparation.
After bidding farewell to the elders, Makoto ordered some renovation materials on his way home, planning to give his small courtyard a simple makeover.
Once home, Makoto had a hearty meal, then began to record the day's events and findings. Of course, he only wrote down the surface-level information. All his thoughts about the system were committed to memory.
Today, he had more or less figured out some of the system's rules. For example, what kind of female ninja did the system consider to have "aptitude"? The answer was one with the talent to reach at least Chūnin level. The old woman, Hasegawa Rui, had been a Chūnin in her youth. This was also verified with some of the little girls. Even though they hadn't entered the Academy yet, the moment Makoto made contact by giving them candy, the system had already deemed them qualified. The only problem was that he couldn't just grab them and maintain contact for an hour; doing so would likely get him beaten to death by a joint force of enraged old ninja.
Fortunately, even though he had only touched them for a moment, their names and progress bars were saved in the system's directory. This allowed him to accumulate contact time with them slowly. Perhaps a year from now, they would provide him with new simulation attempts.
After summarizing his thoughts and writing his manuscript for a few more hours, Makoto lay down in bed, ready to begin the simulation. The target, naturally, was still Tenten. He was already very familiar with her and could almost guarantee he would be able to have an heir with her. This gave him greater freedom to do what he wanted.
He set three principles for this simulation in his mind.
First, after successfully winning Tenten over, he would delay having a child for as long as possible. The birth of an heir would end the simulation, but without one, he could continue doing what he wanted.
Second, within the simulation, he would confess to Tenten that he had acquired chakra, then learn ninjutsu from her and train diligently. Tenten's ninjutsu was obviously not the strongest, but having been taught by Guy, she definitely had plenty of experience in physical conditioning, which was exactly what Makoto needed.
Finally, Makoto needed to prepare to accelerate his acquisition of simulation attempts in the future. To this end, he planned to focus on studying medical ninjutsu in this simulation. What better legitimate reason was there to make physical contact with old ladies than checking their pulse or performing acupuncture?
Having confirmed these goals, Makoto began his second simulation.
[Simulation starting...]
[Remaining Simulation Attempts: 0]
[Simulation Target: Tenten]
[Initial Relationship: She remembers you vividly.]
[Ding! The simulation is about to begin. You have three free opportunities to guide the simulation's direction.]
[Guide the simulation's direction now?]
Makoto immediately chose "Yes" and inputted the experience from his previously successful simulation, as well as his new goals, all at once. He discovered that there seemed to be no limit to the amount of detail he could input in a single guidance. This meant he could potentially turn his simulations into incredibly detailed life experiments. The only remaining problem was that the simulation mostly ran automatically, so he couldn't counteract any random factors that might arise.
[A new day. You awaken from your dreams and continue to find ways to acquire simulation attempts.]
[Word of your deeds gradually spreads. People begin to proactively seek you out, wanting to share their own stories with you. The elderly simply cannot refuse a young man who is willing to listen to them talk.]
[Seeing your reputation grow, you decide to convert your home into a teahouse, naming it the "Storyteller's Tea Hall." This way, anyone who wants to tell a story can come find you at any time.]
Seeing this, Makoto couldn't help but smile. This was exactly why he had ordered the renovation materials. He could use the simulation as an opportunity to test the feasibility of his plan.
[Gradually, your home becomes a well-known gathering place in Konoha. Even the Hokage pays a visit.]
[Thanks to the Storyteller's Tea Hall, you gain an average of one simulation attempt per week, but you are not satisfied with this.]
Makoto frowned slightly. He was indeed a bit dissatisfied with this efficiency, but he quickly understood the reason why.
[However, you have no more free time. In addition to listening to the elders' stories, you must also write your book, train your body, maintain a good relationship with Tenten, learn ninjutsu, and research medical ninjutsu. You feel you are spread too thin.]
Reading this, Makoto decided to use his second guidance opportunity.