The sun has set, and dusk arrived.
By a lake not far from Konoha Village, The five-year-old Hyuga Hiroshi was training alone.
The small figure held a katana slightly taller than himself, maneuvering skillfully among a group of puppet dummies. The katana in his hands occasionally slashed at the puppets.
Though wielding a katana longer than his height seemed odd, Hiroshi movements were anything but clumsy. On the contrary, the long blade moved as if it were an extension of his arm, showcasing his terrifying arm strength! The puppets on the ground were already tattered from the katana's strikes.
With a "whoosh," the figure that had been among the puppets suddenly vanished, reappearing on the other side as if teleporting.
Hiroshi raised his left hand, index and middle fingers together, and chanted toward the puppets,
"Hado Number Four - Byakurai!"
As the words fell, a bolt of lightning shot from his fingers, striking a puppet directly. In the next moment, the already damaged puppet was completely obliterated into pieces.
"Bakudo Number Four - Hainawa!"
After executing the Hado, Hiroshi immediately followed up with a Bakudo. A yellow rope made of spiritual energy shot from his fingertips, tightly binding the remaining puppets together.
"Hado Number Eleven - Tsuzuri Raiden!"
Another bolt of lightning, more powerful than Byakurai, erupted from Hiroshi fingertips. It traveled along the rope formed by Hainawa, instantly reducing the tightly bound puppets to fragments!
"Although Tsuzuri Raiden, the eleventh sequence Hado, deals more damage than Byakurai, it requires an object to extend through. Byakurai, being only the fourth sequence Hado, has decent single-target power and excels in catching opponents off guard. With this move, I could probably take down a Chunin by surprise."
"Additionally, I've mastered Shunpo. Overall, I've gained a bit of self-preservation ability in this world."
It had been three years since Hiroshi arrived in the Naruto world, and now he was five years old.
At first, due to his young age, he choose not to train.
It wasn't until half a year ago that he began sneaking out of the village to train alone.
As for why he trained outside the village instead of within the Hyuga clan, it was because he feared others might discover his abilities. After all, his Shinigami powers were quite different from the ninjutsu of this world.
Especially since the entire Konoha Village was secretly monitored by the Third Hokage crystal ball. Who knew when he might be discovered? Explaining himself would be impossible.
Over the past three years, Hiroshi had been diligently checking in, but the rewards from his daily sign-ins left him speechless.
"Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received: One baby diaper."
"Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received: One baby pacifier."
"Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received: One lollipop."
"Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received: One bottle of Coca Cola."
"Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received: One box of Durex condoms."
What kind of nonsense was this?! The sign-in rewards were all everyday items. Things like pacifiers and diapers ended up being used by the recently born Hinata.
But what do you mean by giving me a damn condom? I'm still just a kid for god sake!. System, don't corrupt me, I don't need it now and later by the time I can use it, it'll probably be expired...
Hiroshi had also asked the system about this.
The system's response was, "Daily sign in mostly yield everyday items. Host, don't expect to get anything extraordinary from daily sign in. It's not that easy! (*￣︿￣)"
"Additionally, this system suggests that the host should wash their face before each sign-in. It might improve your luck a bit."
So, is the system mocking me for having bad luck?
Hiroshi chose to ignore the system's taunt in his heart. However, when the times come to sign-in, Hiroshi secretly bathed and cleaned himself before signing in.
Yet, the results remained unchanged. Thus, Hiroshi realized that the system was just messing with him.
Of course, it wasn't entirely devoid of good items.
Hiroshi silently opened his status panel.
Host: Hyuga Hiroshi
Level: Primary Spiritual Pressure (Genin)
Abilities: Byakugan (Intermediate), Gentle Fist (Grandmaster), Thirty-Two Palms of the Eight Trigrams (Proficient), Hado 1-30, Bakudo 1-30, Shunpo
Items: Zanpakuto (Asauchi State)
When Hiroshi was three years old, Hyuga Hiashi began teaching him the Hyuga clan's inherited abilities. After a sign-in, Hiroshi directly obtained the Grandmaster level of Gentle Fist and unlocked the Intermediate state of the Byakugan.
Then, when Hiroshi demonstrated it to Hyuga Hiashi the next day, he completely shocked his father.
"You mastered it after just one lesson?! You're a damn genius, as expected of my son!"
Excited, Hyuga Hiashi began to vigorously train Hyuga Hiroshi.
Hiroshi didn't disappoint him. Three days later, he told Hiashi that he had unlocked the Byakugan. A month later, he informed him that his Byakugan had advanced to the Intermediate level and that he had fully mastered the Gentle Fist.
Skeptical, Hyuga Hiashi sparred with Hiroshi using the Gentle Fist. To his astonishment, Hiroshi did not dissapoint.
Hyuga Hiashi was thrilled, feeling that Hiroshi was a gift from the heavens to help the Hyuga clan rise.
He then tightly sealed this information, personally taking charge of Hiroshi training and instructing him not to reveal his abilities to others.
Having spent years navigating the ninja world, Hyuga Hiashi knew that a tree that stands out in the forest will be blown down by the wind. Especially in the ninja world, overly famous geniuses often become targets for assassination by enemy ninjas. After all, Hiroshi was still young and has not fully grown, lacking the ability to protect himself.
Of course, this decision suited Hiroshi intentions perfectly. He also wanted to keep a low profile, which was why he chose to gradually reveal his abilities to Hyuga Hiashi.
After all, not to mention distant threats, even within Konoha, there was the old schemer Danzo Shimura lurking in the shadows. Before he grew stronger, Hiroshi didn't want to expose himself to others' scrutiny.
Even a genius like Uchiha Shisui was eventually killed by Danzo Shimura's schemes. Hiroshi felt that he was still far from Shisui's level.
Hiroshi sat down besides a large tree, gazing at the evening glow on the horizon, lost in thought.
"It's been three years since I arrived in this world. Naruto is only three years old now, and there are still nine years until they take the Chunin Exams. During these nine years, Konoha will remain relatively peaceful."
"It's not until the Chunin Exams nine years later that all sorts of monsters and demons will start to take the stage."
"That means I have at most nine years to lay low and grow stronger. Within these nine years, I must become powerful enough to at least reach Kage-level strength to barely ensure my survival."
"But... my system is a bit unreliable."
The abilities of a Shinigami largely depend on their Zanpakuto. The stronger the ability awakened from the Zanpakuto, the more powerful the Shinigami becomes.
However, it's been three years—three whole years—and Hiroshi has been constantly calling out to his Zanpakuto in his heart, hoping to learn its name and unlock its Shikai.
Yet, his Zanpakuto has remained as calm as still water, giving him no response whatsoever.
This has left Hiroshi feeling deeply discouraged.
A Zanpakuto without Shikai is just a slightly sturdier ordinary katana.
"Forget it, forget it. I won't dwell on it anymore. It's getting dark time to go home for dinner."
Sitting under the tree, Hiroshi slowly stood up and stretched. Then, with a single step, he vanished from the spot as if teleporting, reappearing on a distant tree. After a few more leaps, he disappeared entirely.