Chapter 164: Return to Konoha
One hundred Points a month for Basic, four hundred for Premium.
Expensive?
By Ryū's reckoning — yes. Genuinely expensive.
His balance sat at 40,000-odd right now, which sounded like a lot. But that was only because he hadn't spent it yet. The moment he did, there was no telling what would be left. Possibly under a thousand. Possibly a few hundred.
And the majority of Group Members had nothing coming in except the daily sign-in — which paid out somewhere between 1 and 100 Points, completely at the mercy of luck. For someone on the wrong end of that range, two or three months might pass before they scraped together enough for a single month of Basic membership. Take a certain gap-wielding youkai sage, for example. Give her two or three months and she might — might — barely have enough to activate the lowest tier. Which was, when you thought about it, a fairly bleak situation.
That was the main reason the pricing felt steep. For most of the Group, it wasn't accessible.
For Ryū personally, though, the balance was currently healthy enough. One month of Premium wouldn't break him.
It would just sting a little.
Except — Premium paid back 10 Points a day. Sustained across a full month, that was 300 Points returned on a 400-Point outlay. Net cost: 100 Points.
When he looked at it that way, membership was barely expensive at all. The Chat Group was practically subsidising him.
He took screenshots of all the update details and posted them to the group.
RawrSoFierce: [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image] … [Image] — the notes are long, eight or nine screenshots worth.
RawrSoFierce: That should cover all the update details.
Kaguya-sama: ADMIN YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND!!! (voice cracking)
Crazy Diamond: ADMIN YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND!!! (trembling)
Admiral Kizaru: ADMIN YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND!!! (strained falsetto~)
Edward Newgate: Picturing Kizaru's face as he types that. Gurarara — that's a mental image I didn't ask for.
Admiral Kizaru: Excuse me, I have a perfectly normal face~
Admiral Kizaru: Standard height, two-odd metres, proportions completely typical for a person — this is what a normal human being looks like, I'll have you know~
Edward Newgate: I strongly suggest you find a mirror. Pay particular attention to your face. Then ask yourself whether that is a normal human face.
Wandering Little Planet: Pfft. Right in the feelings.
RawrSoFierce: Good thing I'm handsome.
Eternally Seventeen: I have NEVER witnessed such breathtaking shamelessness!!
"…"
In the Marvel cinematic universe, Tony Stark watched the group chat hit 99+ messages in approximately four seconds.
He stared at his screen.
This was the Dimensional Chat Group. These were the heavyweight operators from across the multiverse.
This was not the vibe he had been expecting.
In his head, a group like this was supposed to be serious. They'd just come through a major version update. Surely the correct response was to analyse the changes? Discuss the strategic implications? Compare notes on what each update meant for their respective situations?
Instead they were roasting someone's face.
Tony Stark decided he had walked into a fake Chat Group by mistake.
"Actually — hold on. Am I the only person from my world in here? Or can a single dimension send multiple members?"
He turned this over for a moment and couldn't reach a conclusion. He'd only found out about the Group today. Prior to approximately two hours ago, something like this would have gotten exactly zero percent of his belief.
It was getting a fairly substantial percentage now, against his will.
"The Points system — I just joined, but I should be able to sign in, right? Random 1 to 100. Interesting. Uncle Tony's luck is generally pretty solid."
He tapped the sign-in option.
A number appeared.
Tony Stark's expression went through several phases.
"…That can't be right," he said aloud. "The sign-in system is clearly bugged. There is no way. I'm Iron Man. I'm a major Stark Industries shareholder. I am objectively the most intelligent man on the planet. And it gives me that?"
He stared at his 2 Points.
"2 Points. What the hell. This is a joke, right?"
He'd assumed — even conservatively — he'd pull at least 50.
"JARVIS. Quick question. How's my luck, generally?"
"Mr. Stark, you have personally purchased 134 promotional cola bottles with prize-eligible caps. In 134 attempts, you have not once redeemed a free bottle. Based on this sample, your luck appears to be statistically poor."
Tony Stark said nothing for a moment.
"…You've been keeping count of that."
"You did ask me to track your promotional beverage expenditure for tax purposes, sir."
He had, in fact, done exactly that.
134 bottles. Zero wins. Not once — not even once — had the cap read 'Another One Free.'
If it had been anyone other than JARVIS — who did not lie and was physically incapable of the kind of low-grade pettiness Tony usually had to deal with — he would have assumed this was a setup.
So apparently the entire Chat Group contained someone whose luck was worse than his.
He was taking this information to the grave. No one in that group was ever going to hear about the cola bottles.
What Tony didn't know — couldn't know — was that a certain gap youkai had been in the Group for the better part of six months and had logged somewhere between one and two hundred sign-ins without breaking double digits. Not once. Not a single time.
His 2 Points was a personal best by comparison.
At the same time, in the Naruto world, in the village of Konoha—
Ryū came home.
He stepped back into his living room and was greeted by the particular quality of stillness that accumulates in rooms that haven't been entered in a while. Dust on every surface. A fine grey layer across the table, the shelves, the floor.
Konoha's air quality really is something else, he thought, dragging a finger across the tabletop. His palm came away grey.
He shook his hand. The dust fell.
He exhaled.
"I really need to wish for a maid one of these days. …How many times have I said that now? Three, four times? Said it every single time. Never actually done it."
He set it aside. Cleaning could wait.
His attention went to his balance.
41,200 Points.
40,000 from the completed Quests. The remaining 1,200 from accumulated sign-ins — his luck had been reasonable, clearing 50 Points per check-in consistently, never dipping below that floor.
He did the math on where that left him in the Naruto world's power landscape.
"Right now I'm probably third in this world — behind Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama. The Ōtsutsuki clan aside for the moment. But with 40,000 Points going in — I could match them. Maybe pass them."
The returns on Point investment diminished as strength increased; that was a known curve. But 40,000 Points was a number that bent the curve. Even at reduced efficiency, the output would be substantial.
His plan:
Armament Haki — push to advanced tier. Physical constitution — one genuine step-change upgrade. Observation Haki and the Six Powers were both already maxed out; no Point investment could touch them further. Everything remaining after the Haki and body upgrades — pour into Devil Fruit development. Leave 2,200 Points in reserve for emergencies. The Sakura-of-the-Tohsaka operation had demonstrated the value of a liquid reserve; he wasn't going to let himself be caught flat again.
He didn't deliberate. The plan was clear, the decision already made. Points were meant to be spent.
Close to 38,000 Points — gone in an instant.
Balance: 2,200.
The reserve held. The membership fee he'd been considering was also in there; the Group had just updated, and he wasn't going to sit on a major feature refresh without actually trying it.
When it hit him, it hit all at once.
He stood still for several minutes, breathing, waiting for his perception to settle.
He'd been through this before — the sudden lurch of becoming measurably stronger, the momentary vertigo of recalibration. He'd gotten somewhat numb to it over the iterations. But this one was categorically different in scale. The jump was large enough that it felt like the first time again. A light, floating sensation crept in.
He caught himself.
Don't get ahead of yourself. Getting cocky right before something humbles you is one of the most reliable narrative patterns in existence. That is the villain template. Do not be the villain template.
He breathed out slowly. Settled.
He didn't actually know yet where he stood. Whether he'd pulled level with a Marine Admiral. Whether he could now match Hashirama. The only way to find out was to step into the Arena and test it properly.
That was a problem for shortly.
[End of Chapter 164]
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