Chapter 13: Fooled
"S-rank…"
Hashirama squinted slightly, feeling that this difficulty might not be so easy.
Otherwise, this useless system wouldn't emphasize it so much.
"The rating can only be done after the task is issued, right?"
Hashirama thought to himself.
With his current status, other task rewards hold no appeal, and only the Hashirama Cells are useful.
He wouldn't bother with this nonsense if Puck didn't mention Hashirama Cells.
An increase of even 1% would be worthwhile!
"The host is just extraordinary!"
"The question is too advanced!"
"I…"
"I don't know!"
Puck looked at her cute pink flip phone and didn't find any relevant information, blinking her big eyes with a look of innocence.
"..."
Hashirama really wanted to complain when seeing her malicious cuteness.
But…
Forget it!
After all, she was what made him Hashirama!
He should treat her with at least some respect considering his max-level status.
"Puck, are you the system, or is this phone the system?"
Hashirama increasingly felt that there was something wrong with this system.
He didn't even know what functions he had and just started, and it was already a mess.
Now that it had barely been salvaged, the results… were hard to describe!
Hashirama felt this system was deliberately trying to torment him, perhaps fearing that he was too invincible.
"Can a task be canceled after it is issued?"
Hashirama tried to keep his voice calm, asking another relatively concerned question.
The logic was simple.
He could issue one to test it out and see if it could be canceled. He could just cancel the task and try again if it wasn't an S-rank one.
"I don't know either!"
Puck pouted and felt a bit embarrassed after speaking. She made a heart shape with her hands in the air toward Hashirama.
He guessed it!
Hashirama suspected this would be the answer before he even asked the question.
Therefore, he felt no emotional turbulence when Puck confirmed it.
"If the task fails, will there be any penalties?"
Hashirama asked again before she could answer.
"For instance, if the task fails, will the system be destroyed or anything like that? Do you have that function?"
Hashirama said with a smirk, unable to suppress a laugh. He felt inexplicably relieved.
She glared at him with obvious displeasure, her eyes filled with resentment, and a hint of tears welled up.
"Alright, I get it. You don't know the answer to that either."
Hashirama hurriedly dropped the topic.
There's no need to make things difficult for this useless system because she could actually cry in front of him.
He had never seen or heard of anything like it.
Compared to the systems in novels he had read, where the protagonist's systems were all-powerful, efficient, and simply tools, his system…
Damn it.
All she does is whine!
After a moment of silence, Hashirama spotted Kabuto who was helping Orochimaru escape, within his line of sight.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the Wood Clone tracking the two returned to Hashirama's body.
"Puck. Try issuing a task to catch Orochimaru!"
Hashirama had no clear understanding of the task function yet.
However, he decided to test it out since the reward was the Hashirama Cells.
"Alright!"
Puck's face changed dramatically.
She picked up the cute flip phone and tapped away on the screen with her chubby little fingers.
Tap, tap, tap…
Tap, tap…
"Is it not confirmed yet?"
Hashirama's face darkened.
He would catch up with Orochimaru himself if she took much longer.
With Kabuto and Orochimaru within sight, less than five hundred meters away, a simple acceleration would bring him close.
"Wait!"
She was seriously pressing on the phone.
After a few more seconds.
"Done!"
"Task issued: Host, catch Orochimaru!"
"Task rating: F-level."
"Task reward: A rusty shuriken."
"That's it..."
"No other content."
She looked up, blinking her big eyes at Hashirama with a particularly cute smile.
"Host."
"It seems you can't cancel the task!"
"And there doesn't seem to be a penalty for failing the task!"
She patted her chest and sighed heavily, looking genuinely relieved as if it was really afraid of the system exploding if the task failed.
"Release another task, catch Kabuto Yakushi!"
Hashirama's dark pupils were fixed on Kabuto Yakushi and Orochimaru, who were not far ahead.
He deliberately kept a certain distance, not immediately pursuing them.
"That's not possible! The task release button has disappeared!"
She looked at her phone in various strange poses, unable to release another task.
"I understand."
Hashirama stopped saying anything more.
The recent test gave him a preliminary understanding of this task function.
Self-Published.
Failure has no penalty, and tasks cannot be canceled after they are published also asks cannot be published simultaneously.
That's pretty much it!
Whoosh!
In the next moment, Hashirama's foot on the tree branch suddenly exerted force, moving at an extremely high speed toward the positions of Orochimaru and Kabuto.
The five-hundred-meter distance was instantly closed.
Hashirama raised his hands, aiming to grab each of their necks. He held Kabuto in his left hand and Orochimaru in the right.
Smack!
Smack!
However, at that moment, with two sounds, Kabuto and Orochimaru transformed into two small snakes, each about a meter long, with yellow and murky eyes staring at Hashirama and constantly flicking their tongues.
"Substitution Jutsu?!"
Hashirama's hands suddenly exerted force, instantly crushing the two small snakes, with their blood dripping down.
Standing on the tree branch, Hashirama suddenly realized an extremely important issue.
Lost track!
"As expected of Orochimaru!"
Hashirama's lips curled up slightly. He wasn't upset about losing track; instead, he found the game more interesting.
What would be the fun if he had everything readily available from the start?
For a moment, Hashirama's interest was fully piqued!
"Orochimaru."
"The game of hide-and-seek..."
"Starts now!"
Hashirama immediately clapped his hands together, and a dozen wooden figures emerged behind him.
After falling from Hashirama's body, these wooden figures instantly transformed to look like him.
"Mokuton: Wood Clone Jutsu!"
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The wooden clones quickly spread out in all directions.
However, it didn't stop there, and more wooden clones emerged from behind Hashirama, spreading out further.
Next, another batch of wooden clones was generated from Hashirama's back.
He used Wood Clones three times in a row, covering the area with a carpet-like search and expanding into the forest.
"Orochimaru, make sure you hide well. It won't be fun if you're found too soon!"