CHAPTER 216 - CANON DIVERGED SO HARD THE SYSTEM HAD TO UPDATE ITS TERMS OF SERVICE

Ren shifted his focus to the rewards section and, as expected, there were three rewards waiting for him.

He opened the mission completion reward first.

[CONGRATULATIONS USER YOU HAVE CREATED A CHANGE IN THE CANON: HASTENING OF THE MIST CIVIL WAR

[REWARD: WATER AFFINITY BOOST]

Ren grinned and pumped his fist slightly when he saw the reward. He didn't care that the reward was just a single boost, he wasn't even sure he'd get this much, to be honest.

After all, he knew full well that he hadn't done that much. The Mist Civil War would've happened eventually even without their interference. But because of the way their mission played out, the war was brought forward. That was the key detail.

He gave a mental shrug. Honestly, he had to thank Danzo for this one. If that old man hadn't interfered and tried to sabotage the mission, it would've ended quietly. They would've extracted the agents, left the Land of Water, and that would be it, just a normal s-rank mission with no canon shift.

But since Danzo stirred the pot, Ren had seized the opportunity and manipulated the fallout to push the civil war ahead of schedule. That alone was enough for the system to register it as a canon divergence, and that meant he got the better reward tier. Otherwise, he would've just received the standard mission completion reward.

This was something he'd gradually learned about the system, whenever a mission had potential to alter the canon timeline, the system would evaluate both the mission itself and the scale of the change. If both conditions overlapped, he'd only get one reward and it would always be the greater of the two.

So obviously, his goal going forward would be to always aim for canon divergence. That's where the real good stuff was hidden.

He sighed slightly as this also reminded him of another thing, the system was becoming stingier with rewards. Ever since he hit S-rank power level, it had noticeably tightened the criteria. It made sense, he guessed. Power inflation had to be kept in check.

He quickly pulled up his Water Release mastery and saw exactly what he expected.

Water Release Mastery - 31% (45 31) (Basic)

It had dropped from 45% down to 31%.

He already knew it would happen. Canon divergence rewards that enhanced elemental affinity didn't add to mastery, they overwrote it. But that was fine as the change was qualitative and numbers could always be brought back up again with clone training.

He decided to test it out and cycled through a few water-style jutsu casually in the living room.

As expected, it was a complete qualitative change.

His water chakra felt much denser than before, it was clean, smooth, and much more potent. He could perform the same jutsu with less chakra, but with more destructive power. That alone pleased him greatly.

Right now, he didn't really care about numbers. He was only 11, and stats would keep rising anyway over time. His actual combat ability was what mattered more.

This change was a perfect example, the number went down, but his real-world water-style power increased. A clear win.

The clones could handle restoring the mastery. They'd bring the numbers back up eventually.

Also... if he thought about it logically, there were very few people left in the world who could even one-shot him at this stage. And even those, he wouldn't be meeting anytime soon.

Sure, there were still shinobi out there that he couldn't beat in a fair fight right now, but they couldn't kill him either.

Just like with Kisame.

He knew he couldn't actually beat Kisame in a straight-up fight... but he still came out alive. Not just alive, but fine even.

Most of the remaining strong enemies would probably fall into the same category. Dangerous, yes; deadly even. But not impossible.

So, little by little, he'd started to relax. He wasn't as rushed or desperate as he used to be. He was stronger, sharper, and much more stable than before.

But, he wasn't going to let his guard down either. He wasn't stupid.

Last time he relaxed, his entire team nearly got wiped out by Obito.

He still remembered how close they'd come to dying. That whole mess had been one giant flag, and it burned itself into his brain.

So he was being more cautious now. He didn't speak bold words lightly anymore.

~

Ren tested a few more Water Style jutsu, adjusting slowly to the changes brought on by the affinity boost. Once he got used to the new chakra flow and performance, he finally stopped.

With a breath, he turned his attention to the next reward notification and opened it.

[CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR CHANGING THE CANON: THE CHANGE OF KAKASHI HATAKE]

CONDITIONS:

1. BRING KAKASHI HATAKE OUT OF HIS DESPERATE STATE (COMPLETED WITH AN 80% RATING)

REWARDS:

2 S-RANK POINTS

LIGHTNING AFFINITY BOOST

(Note: Higher ratings can bring more rewards)

2. SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF THE SHARINGAN (INCOMPLETE)

ADDITIONAL CONDITION: ENSURE A HAPPY FUTURE FOR KAKASHI HATAKE (INCOMPLETE)

(e.g., Happy future depends on the target. It can range from a happy marriage to fulfillment of a dream.)

(Note: Additional conditions are not necessary, they are available for bonus rewards.)

Ren stared at the glowing text and immediately pictured the future.

"Ren's Happiness Bureau: You give us your trauma, we give you hugs and life plans."

His gaze darkened. '...Oi, system. Do you think I'm some kind of happiness broker? What's with this 'additional condition' crap?'

The system replied in its usual deadpan.

[AS IT IS SAID, THE ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS ARE JUST PRESENT SO THAT THE USER CAN EARN BONUS REWARDS. IF THE USER IS NOT INTERESTED IN THE REWARDS THEN HE CAN IGNORE THEM.]

Ren clicked his tongue. 'Tch. Only a fool would ignore free rewards dropped right in their lap.'

He tapped his fingers and thought, 'Well, it's just Kakashi's marriage, right? I'll try talking to him. If he agrees, great. If not... I'll just auction him off as a marriage candidate. He's handsome enough so someone's bound to place a high bid.'

He grinned evilly to himself. 'People ship Kakashi with Mei, right?'

He remembered those old fan threads, some surprisingly detailed fan art of Kakashi and Mei Terumi as a couple.

But then another image appeared in his head.

Kakashi, half-dead, wandering Konoha's streets with lifeless eyes, and beside him... a red-dressed Might Guy, cross-dressing as a woman and calling himself his fiancee.

Ren waved his hand in front of his face like he was dispelling a Genjutsu. "...What was I even thinking about?"

He coughed and shook off the cursed memory.

"Right! Rewards."

He set aside the two S-rank points for now and turned his full attention to the real prize, the Lightning Affinity Boost.

A bright, downright giddy smile spread across his face.

He clutched his cheeks like a man in love and rolled dramatically across the floor, squealing internally.

'This is the third one! My third elemental boost! Now I've only got Earth and Fire left, hah! I was just wondering how to get the rest, and the system just handed this one to me!'

He looked at the empty air and chirped out loud, "Thanks, buddy."

The system, as always, responded like a machine it was.

[THE HOST IS REQUESTED TO STOP BEING DELUSIONAL. THE REWARDS ARE GRANTED BASED ON THE TARGET.]

Ren cheerfully ignored the tsundere system as he examined the mastery chart.

Lightning Release Mastery - 40% (57 40) (Basic)

The Lightning Release Mastery had dropped from 57% to 40%, which was expected.

But the boost in quality was absolutely worth it.

He was thrilled.

The chakra flow was sharper, cleaner, and the jutsu output was way more powerful than before. The cost to use them even went down slightly thanks to the enhanced nature of the chakra itself.

Electric arcs began dancing around him as he gleefully blasted Lightning jutsu across the training basement.

Bright blue crackles lit up the walls as he zipped back and forth, testing raw power, speed, and flow transitions between different jutsu.

He couldn't stop grinning.

Even though the reward felt kind of small for changing Kakashi's fate, he figured it made sense. After all, he only got an 80% completion rating.

He leaned against the wall, humming to himself and asked the system, 'Oi, this rating thing, this is the first time I'm seeing something like this. What's the deal?'

The system immediately replied.

[RATINGS ARE ONLY DISPLAYED FOR CANON CHANGES CENTERED AROUND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS RATHER THAN EVENTS.

THE RATING IS DETERMINED BY HOW MUCH OF THE CHANGE WAS CAUSED DIRECTLY BY THE USER'S ACTIONS.

IN THIS CASE, KAKASHI HATAKE WAS ALREADY BEGINNING TO RECOVER DUE TO OTHERS LIKE MIGHT GUY, ITACHI UCHIHA, AND SO ON.

WHILE THE USER'S ACTIONS HELPED PUSH THAT FORWARD, IT WASN'T A COMPLETE TURNAROUND SOLELY CAUSED BY THE USER.

HENCE: 80%.]

Ren nodded blankly, eyes half-lidded. '...What premium bullshit.'

He let out a long sigh and thought, 'If the system didn't want to give better rewards, it could've just said so instead of writing essays.'

He waited for a reply from the system, but none came.

'Hah! I was right.'

Rolling his shoulders, he dusted himself off and ignored the rating nonsense altogether. What mattered was the Lightning Affinity Boost, and he was more than satisfied.

'Alright,' he thought to himself, cracking his knuckles. 'Let's go see the final reward.'

Ren opened the final reward tab, and the system's message popped up with an energy he wasn't used to.

[CONGRATULATIONS USER FOR CHANGING THE CANON: FUCK DANZO]

[CONDITIONS:]

1. PRIMARY EXPOSURE OF DANZO'S CRIME TO THE WORLD (Complete)

Rewards: 2 S-Rank System Points, 2 Advanced Level Mastery Points, 2 Master Level Mastery Points

2. DISMANTLING DANZO'S SCHEMES ONE BY ONE, CAUSING HIM DESPAIR (Incomplete) (Reward depends on how desperate Danzo becomes)

3. KILLING DANZO AFTER MAKING HIM LOSE ALL HOPE (Incomplete)

4. HANDLING THE FALLOUT OF DANZO'S DEATH (Incomplete)

[Bonus Condition: Give happiness to those affected by Danzo's actions]

Examples: Tsunade, Fugaku, Naruto, Kakashi, Nagato, Konan, Orochimaru, etc.

(Note: The user can stack all these rewards and claim them at once for a greater reward)

Ren blinked.

He stared at the message for a full ten seconds before asking the most honest question he could.

'...Dude, you okay?'

It was legit concern. The system had shown more raw emotion in that one reward message than it had in the entire five and a half years he'd known it. The tone, the phrasing, it practically spat the word "Danzo" like it owed it money.

The system replied coolly.

[THE SYSTEM'S MESSAGES ARE DESIGNED BASED ON USER'S FEELINGS TOWARD DANZO.]

Ren frowned. 'Oi, hey now. I'm not some sadist. I don't enjoy watching people suffer.'

But then... his thoughts wandered.

The experiments, massacres, the root children, the Sharingan thefts. All of it.

He exhaled slowly.

"...Well, it's Danzo."

That explained it. He refocused his mind and scrolled down to examine the conditions again.

The first was simple enough, Primary exposure.

That part was done. He'd exposed Danzo's crimes in a very public, very loud, and very permanent way. The rewards were decent too, 2 S-rank points, 2 advanced mastery points, and 2 master mastery points but he figured they made sense. After all, this was just exposure. The real change to the timeline hadn't happened yet. That would come with Danzo's downfall.

'The big rewards,' he thought, 'are clearly for when Danzo dies in disgrace. That's when the canon gets obliterated.'

Still, he asked the system with some suspicion, 'Okay, what do you mean by greater reward? Like, how much greater?'

The system's reply made him freeze in place.

[ALL SINGULAR CONDITION REWARDS WOULD BE DOUBLED, AND AN ADDITIONAL REWARD WILL BE PRESENTED.]

Ren almost drooled on the spot.

"Double?" he whispered like a monk discovering enlightenment.

That meant even just completing the first condition later would give him 4 S-rank points, 4 advanced mastery points, and 4 master mastery points and that was just the beginning. He hadn't even unlocked the other conditions yet.

And what would the reward be for making Danzo desperate, making him lose hope, and finally killing him?

Just the thought gave Ren the energy of ten red bulls and his already gone sleep just teleported to the mist village.

But... there was temptation.

He looked at the screen, then at his hand. He could use the S-rank points now. He could apply them immediately to his stats or masteries. It would speed things up.

But, the thought of double rewards.

"Damn it," he muttered, clenching his teeth. "I'll stack them."

As soon as he said it, the reward panel grayed out, locking in the stack.

He slumped.

'...I sacrificed so much for you, Danzo. You better give me appropriate fun in the end.'

From that moment on, he made a decision.

He would let Danzo act, let him plot. Even let him try to escape.

Then he would dismantle everything, brick by brick, trial by trial.

He'd attend every council session, every hearing, every confrontation, and strip Danzo of his power, influence, and legacy one layer at a time.

And when the old bastard finally had nothing left, only then would Ren kill him.

With a long sigh and a wicked little grin, he stepped out into the silent, peaceful streets of Konoha, the nighttime breeze brushing across his face.

"...Might as well go test some Lightning jutsu."

With chakra crackling faintly on his fingertips, he vanished into the night.

~~~~~

{I honestly don't remember how long has it been since I wrote a just Ren Chapter and it was fun writing it.}

{Also, I know some of you might be disappointed with the rewards, which is why I introduced the conditions. For any major change from now on there would be conditions and the rewards would be distributed between them so that he doesn't get too many things at once.}

{Update- I was reviewing this Chapter and realised that I didn't do anything for Kakashi's reward of 2 points so I'll mention them in later Chapters. Also, that was not under the scope of stacking so he does HAVE them, they are not left for stacking.}

{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}

{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }

{You know what else}

{280 Stones = Extra Chapter}

{STONES!!!!}