From this point on, Namikaze Minato truly experienced the hyper-realistic virtual reality game.
Both the highs and lows of sensation were dialed up to the maximum, nearly indistinguishable from reality.
During the process, Minato failed multiple times due to the weakness of his game avatar—often dying when attacked by vengeful spirits.
Each death was harrowing. His face went pale, cold sweat poured down, and he looked like his consciousness had drifted far away. It honestly made Uchiha Kei worried about Minato's mental state.
Yet every time Uchiha Kei began to worry, Minato would quickly recover, rally his spirit, and return to the game.
This was when the strong will and inner strength of the man destined to become the Fourth Hokage truly emerged.
Clearly, becoming Hokage isn't just about talent.
Minato threw himself into the challenge with a willingness to suffer, determined to conquer the game.
Reentering the black zone that represented 'death,' Minato no longer hesitated at the sight of corpses and dashed forward at full speed.
When the reanimated bodies tried to drag him into death, he dodged with parkour-like agility, weaving and leaping in a dazzling display.
He tried to use ninjutsu—but failed. That's when he realized that in this level—the Death Zone—ninjutsu was disabled. Only taijutsu could be used.
So Minato treated the game as a pure test of physical skill and mental fortitude.
Eventually, after an intense and dangerous sprint, he escaped the clutches of the spirits just in time.
Next came the gray zone, representing negative emotions.
Here, instead of piles of corpses, Minato encountered sorrowful, crying, and anguished people. The heart-wrenching sounds turned into a haunting symphony that filled the area and tugged at his emotions.
This wasn't about Minato's kindness—it was the environment triggering internal negativity. Classic genjutsu-style mental assault.
A specialty of the shinobi world.
Uchiha Kei had incorporated this feature into the illusion-based game, and Minato had insisted on maximum realism. So the mental impact was intense.
As a result, Minato's mind wavered from the emotional barrage, and a spirit took advantage of his lapse—delivering a face-to-face kill and robbing him of his second life.
Though he had braced himself and reacted quickly, the interference overwhelmed him.
This was his second death.
Upon reviving, Minato shook off the fear and re-entered the stage. Guarding his mental state, he finally cleared the gray zone—but not before dying once more.
Why? Because at the end of the level, a trap was triggered. A female spirit who had been chasing from behind suddenly teleported in front of him and attacked without warning.
Minato had been watching ahead—but not even he could react to the sudden teleportation. He died again.
Frustrated and annoyed, Minato reflected: he'd been too careless.
Watching this unfold, Uchiha Kei calmly muttered, "It's a punishment game. Don't like it? Don't play."
Thankfully, Minato progressed to the red zone—symbolizing combat and slaughter. Uchiha Kei gave him a heads-up: this was both the hardest and easiest level.
Why? Because it was pure combat.
Inside a blood-red arena, Minato faced off against enemies shaped from his past battles—shinobi from various villages and rogue ninja he'd once encountered.
They kept respawning, surrounding Minato.
Here, ninjutsu was finally usable.
But only basic ones—Clone Jutsu, Substitution, Transformation, and low-level elemental techniques.
Basically, he was stuck with weak skills.
Fortunately, so were the enemies.
Well—weak by Minato's standards.
But since he could only use the game avatar, the challenge began.
It was like a newbie playing a Soulsborne game for the first time. The difficulty was cranked to the max. One mistake, and you die.
Despite his vast combat experience, Minato's weak avatar made things hard. Outnumbered, even he slipped up.
And thus began Minato's suffering and death spiral, just like any new player facing a soul-crushing game.
Getting killed in every imaginable way wasn't pleasant—but Minato welcomed it. For a shinobi of his caliber, this no-holds-barred deathmatch was a rare training opportunity.
Even if the body wasn't his, even if the game world was an illusion—as long as it felt real, the benefits were real.
The theme? "Combat. Hell yeah!"
Uchiha Kei saw this and was speechless. Using a game to simulate life-and-death instinct sharpening? Insane.
But also exactly what virtual reality could offer—something Earth in 2024 couldn't even begin to comprehend.
In the shinobi world, though, where spiritual networks and the Sharingan existed, such a concept worked.
Uchiha Kei wasn't surprised. In a world full of danger and combat, even on 21st-century Earth, VR training wasn't unheard of. While modern systems couldn't replicate reality, fiction often explored such possibilities.
Minato simply recognized the benefits faster than most.
While he trained through the game, Uchiha Kei checked Minato's emotional output stats.
"Minato's reactions are intense. That should be worth two or three emotional points, right?"
He opened the system panel... and froze.
Then he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
He stared at the number.
1165.
Not one. Not two. Not even three or four.
One thousand, one hundred sixty-five.
"What the hell?"
"System, you got some explaining to do. Didn't you say one person can only generate four emotional points max?"
The system replied:
\[The emotional point limit for a normal person is 4. A normal person is defined as a typical adult male. When a player exceeds normal parameters, higher emotional output is possible.]
\[This player's life level far surpasses that of a normal human. His cell count is double, and his body holds immense energy. He possesses combat power beyond mortal limits. Thus, he can generate far more emotional points.]
In other words, the stronger someone is, the more emotional energy they provide?
Even baseline shinobi had more cells than Earthlings, so shinobi naturally offered greater output!
Realizing this, Uchiha Kei was overjoyed.
It meant he didn't need to promote his game to the masses like on Earth. He just needed a few powerful players to rack up the points!