All Hokage in The Chat Group

After Tsunade's lottery session ended, the anticipation in the room shifted toward the next participant.

So far, the results have been… questionable.

No one had pulled anything particularly bad, but none of the rewards had been overwhelmingly impressive either. Each ability drawn had some merit, yet there was an undeniable sense of underwhelming luck hanging over the group. A few skeptical glances were exchanged. Was this lottery even worth it? The chat group had built it up as something grand, yet three people had gone up, and not one had walked away with a truly game-changing ability.

It was starting to feel suspicious.

A collective unease settled in. What if this was all just a scam? What if no one pulled anything worthwhile? More than a few members were beginning to question whether they even wanted to take their turn.

That was when the next participant stepped forward.

With a confident stride, Madara Uchiha approached the console, arms crossed over his chest, an unmistakable smirk tugging at his lips. His crimson eyes gleamed with anticipation.

"Hmph," he scoffed, cracking his neck. "I suppose it's finally my turn. Watch closely. This time, you'll understand what it means to summon something truly powerful."

The arrogance in his voice was unmistakable, but no one questioned his confidence.

Madara pressed the button.

At once, the screen exploded into a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and cascading lights. An avalanche of items poured forth like a waterfall. Ancient relics, luminous artifacts, legendary weapons, and esoteric techniques from worlds unknown flickered past in a breathtaking blur.

The room pulsed with the neon glow of the lottery machine, each glint and shimmer casting strange shadows across the walls.

"Ding ding ding…"

The system chimed with mechanical cheer.

Then, after what seemed like an endless moment!

Ding.

The glowing curtain of light froze.

Everyone leaned in as the results solidified. Right in the center of the screen, a single, colorful gift box shimmered, and the mechanical voice of the chat group rang out:

[Congratulations, Uchiha Madara!]

[You have drawn the Third Prize!]

[Lottery Reward: Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist!]

Silence.

A thick, suffocating silence.

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto blurted, breaking the tension.

Another third prize.

"No way," Minato muttered, rubbing his temple. "That's four in a row."

"This can't be happening…" Hashirama groaned.

"You're telling me Madara of all people couldn't pull something better?" Tobirama added, arms crossed, his disbelief barely concealed.

The tension in the room immediately devolved into a cacophony of overlapping voices.

"Is this rigged? I refuse to believe this isn't rigged!"

"Are we cursed? This is a joke, right? Someone tell me this is a joke."

"I knew something was off about this lottery!"

Even Madara, the embodiment of arrogance and self-assuredness, stood frozen in place, his expression unreadable. Slowly, his eyes narrowed, the corner of his mouth twitching in what could only be described as restrained irritation.

He didn't speak immediately, but the flickering of his Sharingan suggested he was having a very intense internal debate on whether or not to obliterate the console.

At this moment, every pair of eyes turned toward Ryan.

The unspoken demand was clear.

"…Ryan," Tobirama finally said, his tone deceptively neutral. "What is this technique?"

Ryan sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He had expected this.

"Well… Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist is a martial art from the world of One Punch Man," he explained. "It's the signature style of Silver Fang, an S-Class hero, also known as Bang. It's a highly refined combat style, fluid, reactive, and incredibly powerful in close quarters."

The reactions were mixed.

"So it's strong, then?" Minato asked, arching a brow.

Ryan hesitated. "I mean… yeah. It's incredibly effective in the right hands. The style is all about countering force with technique, using minimal movement to neutralize attacks and strike back with overwhelming power. In the hands of someone like Bang, it's formidable."

Madara's eyes gleamed at that, his ego soothed at least momentarily.

"See?" he scoffed, crossing his arms once more. "A technique befitting of me. It seems this lottery is not completely worthless after all."

"However," Ryan continued, "it's still a martial arts style. Which means that while it's powerful, it doesn't come with any supernatural abilities or chakra enhancements. It's all about skill and precision. No energy blasts. No overwhelming destruction. Just pure technique."

A brief silence followed.

Then Tobirama spoke, voice flat. "What a scam."

Madara's eyebrow twitched. "Tch."

Kakashi sighed. "I don't know, I think it suits him. He does like fighting hand-to-hand, after all."

"Oh, sure, let's all just pretend we're not all getting scammed by this lottery." Tsunade huffed, crossing her arms. "Four people in and not one top-tier reward? What are the odds?"

"Statistically? Astronomically low," Minato muttered from the back.

Madara, meanwhile, was still weighing the worth of his reward. A martial arts technique… not the overwhelming power he had envisioned, but if used properly, it could certainly supplement his already formidable taijutsu. He would simply have to test it out.

"…Hmph. It doesn't matter," Madara finally said, his voice returning to its usual commanding tone. "Whether it's a simple technique or the most powerful ability in existence, anything in my hands becomes absolute."

Hashirama groaned. "Here we go…"

Tobirama pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why do you Uchiha talk like that?"

Madara ignored them, already mentally planning how to incorporate his new technique into his arsenal.

The lottery continued.

But now, everyone was eyeing the machine with even more suspicion than before.

The effectiveness of this boxing technique ultimately depended on the strength of its user.

After listening to Ryan's explanation, the room fell into a stunned silence.

No one spoke.

Madara, in particular, had an expression that could only be described as deeply unimpressed. He had marched up to the console, certain that his draw would be legendary, only to walk away with… this.

A third-prize reward.

Again.

It was enough to make even someone as prideful as him question whether this entire lottery was rigged. Had all the good rewards been handed to Ryan already? Was there any actual merit to this system?

Madara exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples. He had seen enough. There was no point in keeping this ability. His fighting style revolved around large-scale, high-powered destruction. He had no use for intricate martial arts techniques. Why waste time countering an enemy's attacks when he could simply obliterate them from a distance? Against weaker opponents, there was no need for this. Against stronger ones, he had Susanoo, which rendered hand-to-hand combat obsolete.

The decision was obvious.

Without hesitation, Madara opted to recycle the ability.

A new prompt appeared on the mall interface:

[Are you sure you want to recycle this ability?][After reclaiming this ability, you will receive corresponding points!][Confirm?]

Madara pressed "Yes" without a second thought.

A glowing recycling symbol appeared, and in an instant, the Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist vanished from his inventory.

Then, the chat group's mechanical voice rang out:

[Ability successfully recycled!][Points received: 100,000 points!]

The air in the room shifted.

Everyone blinked.

"…100,000?" Hashirama echoed, stunned.

Madara himself raised an eyebrow. He had expected some compensation, but this much?

"This technique is worth one hundred thousand points?" he muttered, momentarily caught off guard. "Hah! Not bad at all."

The irritation he had felt moments ago? Completely gone.

Even Hashirama and the others, who had also recycled their third-prize rewards, were surprised. When they had returned their abilities, they had only received 80,000 points each. Yet Madara had gotten 20,000 more?

The smug look on his face deepened.

"Seems even this system acknowledges my worth," he said, crossing his arms. "It compensates me accordingly."

Hashirama groaned. "Oh, come on."

Tobirama pinched the bridge of his nose. "Unbelievable."

Meanwhile, Madara was already contemplating whether to try his luck again. Now that he had a fresh influx of points, another draw seemed tempting.

But before he could make a move, Kakashi suddenly stepped forward, hands in his pockets, his ever-calm demeanor unchanged.

"How about we stop here for today?" he suggested, his lone visible eye lazily scanning the group. "We've already spent a lot of time on this, and the mall's been more of a time sink than anything."

Minato nodded in agreement. "He's got a point."

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto chimed in. "Besides, I don't know about you guys, but I've got better things to do than sit here getting scammed by this stupid lottery."

"I second that," Sasuke muttered.

"So we're calling it, then?" Tsunade asked, arms crossed.

Kakashi shrugged. "We can try again another time."

That was all it took.

Within seconds, Minato, Naruto, and Obito turned on their heels and disappeared. Some vanished in a blur of Body Flicker, others simply sprinted out of sight.

The speed of their retreat was... questionable.

The others, still gathered around the lottery machine, exchanged glances. Those who had drawn from it remained behind, quietly amused as they watched the three disappear.

"…Did they just back out?" Hashirama asked, incredulous. "These brats," he muttered under his breath.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had just happened.

The ones who hadn't drawn their prizes had seen how lackluster the rewards were. And rather than risk suffering the same fate, they had collectively decided to dip.

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