Not long after Sora's side wrapped up their mission, Minato also returned from chasing Danzo—empty-handed.
The cowardly Danzo had too many contingency plans in place. Even someone as fast and capable as Minato couldn't do much in such a short time. More importantly, Minato was reluctant to kill someone from his own village, so he held back.
Now that everything had settled down, Sora waved a casual goodbye to Kushina and returned home to sleep. Whatever came next could be left to Minato and Orochimaru.
He was still just a six-year-old kid. If he kept staying up like this, he might stunt his growth—and that was absolutely unacceptable.
The next morning, Minato gathered the entire village and publicly displayed the corpses of the twelve Root Jōnin.
Even before Minato could speak, a white-haired Jōnin from the Anbu stepped forward and began addressing the crowd with passion and urgency.
"Last night, twelve unidentified Jōnin infiltrated Konoha, intending to unleash slaughter within the village and weaken our strength. Fortunately, the Fourth Hokage detected them in time. With Lady Kushina at his side, he personally eliminated these threats!"
"Since these invaders were targeting the villagers, the Hokage has decided to dispose of their corpses publicly—to ensure your safety and send a message!"
"If any of you discover suspicious individuals, report it immediately! Only then can the Hokage act swiftly to protect us all!"
The speech was heartfelt and dramatic, making Sora nod approvingly.
He had initially thought that Kakashi's expressionless demeanor wouldn't make him a good speaker—but he'd underestimated this white-haired kid's acting chops. The performance was even better than expected.
This whole scene had been Sora's idea—something he had mulled over for a long time.
Minato, newly appointed as Hokage, lacked any real prestige. While he had fame on the battlefield, that didn't translate into political authority.
These twelve Root corpses were perfect for boosting his reputation.
Moreover, the major clans in Konoha would immediately recognize what really happened. This would serve as a warning to keep their ambitions in check.
If Minato could take out twelve Root Jōnin, what was to stop him from taking out a clan head?
"What a pity. I didn't get to see Danzo," Sora muttered as he scanned the crowd, clearly disappointed.
Still, he found some consolation when Minato told him that after returning to his base and learning what had happened, Danzo had coughed up three pints of blood and passed out on the spot.
After this, anyone harboring disloyal intentions would surely behave themselves.
Minato himself had been reluctant to handle things this way, but Sora knew all too well—if you do something good and no one knows, it's no different from doing nothing.
That was why he had orchestrated this whole scene under the guise of "public safety," making sure everyone knew what the Fourth Hokage had done.
And sure enough, once the villagers understood what had happened, cheers erupted throughout the crowd.
After the villagers dispersed, Minato, Kushina, Sora, and Kakashi returned to the Hokage's office.
They had barely sat down when Orochimaru silently entered the room.
"Sora-kun, any idea when I'll receive that 100 million ryō you promised? My old lab is completely unusable now."
That's right—Sora had previously agreed to give Orochimaru one hundred million ryō to build a new lab.
Of course, there were other conditions attached, but those weren't relevant for now.
Sora casually slapped a thick bundle of money onto the table—wads of silver bills stacked several inches high.
"It's just a hundred million. Relax, I'm good for it."
Orochimaru stared at the bills in stunned silence. Even Minato and Kushina were shocked when they saw the characters for "ten thousand" printed clearly on each note.
"Sora… where did you get all this money?"
Minato, ever calm, recovered quickly—probably because he'd already grown used to Sora's absurd capabilities. Still, his curiosity was piqued. After all, Konoha's entire annual budget was only five hundred million.
Sora looked at the three of them and shook his head in mock pity.
These were three Kage-level powerhouses… and not one of them had any money. How sad.
He didn't bother to keep them in suspense. "You know Battle Through the Heavens, Ninja Edition? I wrote it. It's already being sold in the Land of Water."
He spread his hands in a dramatic "you caught me" gesture.
Over the past year, the book had become a massive hit, reaching even the notoriously difficult-to-penetrate Land of Water.
Nowadays, if you walked the streets of Konoha, you'd often hear kids shouting, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—don't you dare look down on the poor!"
With that satisfying moment of glory, Sora decided his job was done. The ones plotting against Minato had been silenced, and he could finally retreat from the spotlight.
Now it was time to deal with a more pressing issue—the system.
He was strong enough to protect himself for now, but in ten years, a Jōnin-level fighter would be nothing more than cannon fodder.
Once he got home, Sora immediately opened up his system panel.
[Host: Sora]
[Strength: 200]
[Speed: 200]
[Constitution: 200]
[Spirit: 200]
[Chakra: 2000]
Note: Host's five core attributes have reached the physical limit. To continue acquiring physical stats, body potential must be increased.
[Talent: Spatial Talent LV3]
[Taijutsu: Basic Shuriken Technique LV10 (Max), Basic Taijutsu LV10 (Max), Konoha Whirlwind LV4, Portable Space LV1]
[Ninjutsu: Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu LV6, Earth Style: Earth Wall LV5, Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet LV5, Substitution Jutsu LV10 (Max), Chidori LV1, Water Style: Super Exploding Water Wave LV7, Water Style: Water Formation Wall LV5, Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet LV4, Body Flicker Technique LV6, Tailed Beast Bomb LV1]
After analyzing it for a while, Sora pinpointed the issue—it was that one line:
Note: Host's five core attributes have reached the physical limit. To continue acquiring physical stats, body potential must be increased.
In other words, he had maxed out the potential of his current body.
To keep improving his stats, he had to find a way to unlock more potential.
Unfortunately, this wasn't some fantasy world where rare treasures boosted your physique. There was no clear method for enhancing body potential in the system either, which left Sora frustrated and confused.
The only silver lining was that while his physical attributes were capped, he could still collect and learn new ninjutsu.
But that wasn't good enough—not for Sora.