It could give the camera a close-up of you.
"Pretty practical."
Though it was all blue skies and white clouds, the Newcomer Gift Pack from this Dimensional Popularity Stage was completely different from the ten-pulls of those predatory gacha games. It was incredibly generous—every item was useful.
The gift pack rewards have been stored in your inventory. You will soon enter a Dimensional World.
All the cards vanished into thin air, but Su Qi could feel that those things still existed within his consciousness.
Then another message appeared in his mind.
Casting Actor Resume Retrieving Artist Announcement Conducting salary negotiation Drafting Performance Contract Anime series approved Series title: Ninja Path Opening time: When Child of Destiny Naruto Uzumaki is twelve years old
"Huh? Naruto Uzumaki?" Su Qi's eyes lit up.
What Ninja Path? This was the world of Naruto, wasn't it?
I know this one!
Please select entry mode.
1. Outsider (No physical body, unavailable)
2. Local (Free for newcomers)
The "Outsider" option was grayed out. The only selectable option was "Local."
Su Qi naturally chose Local. A new option then appeared.
Please select your Reincarnation Role.
A long list appeared before Su Qi. But when he saw the names on it, his vision went dark.
—He hadn't heard of a single one.
Name: A Xia
Identity: Extra. Civilian daughter of Konoha
The portrait showed a completely unremarkable woman.
Name: Ami
Identity: Extra. Civilian daughter of Konoha
"...What the hell is this?!"
Not only had he never seen them before, but their portraits were ugly as sin.
After looking through them all, Su Qi discovered that the best role available was Ayame, the daughter of the ramen shop owner from Naruto.
Although plenty of people joked that Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, was actually the hidden final boss, "Otsutsuki Ikkaku," he was really just a passerby. Take it seriously and you lost.
"Why are they all girls? And every last one of them is catastrophically ugly?"
—Was this the fate of an extra?
He couldn't even Create Buzz with a role like this. At best, he could only play the clown.
If a pretty girl Created Buzz, she was called quirky and adorable. If a role like this did it, she was just an ugly person making trouble.
"I can accept having few scenes, and I can accept reincarnating as a girl, but I can't accept being ugly..."
Looks would always come first. If he had to choose between reincarnating as a pretty girl or an ugly man, Su Qi would choose the pretty girl without hesitation.
People's morals followed facial features. If you were pretty, the audience would stand up for you and make excuses for anything you did.
He could be a girl, and he could be a villain, but he absolutely could not be an ugly clown. Besides, according to the Stage, the "hardware" of his reincarnated body was important too. How could he be so careless about it?
"If nothing else works, I can only choose Ayame." But Ayame had a problem. The other girls were Naruto's age, so it would be easy to get some screen time alongside him. Ayame, however, was much older than Naruto and was an ordinary person. It would be difficult for her to get into the camera's view.
I can't steal scenes. This is unbearable!
"Hm?"
But at that moment, Su Qi noticed that a special option below had lit up.
Special selectable role.
Name: Hanabi Hyuga (Same Name Benefit, unlocked based on a Character Template with the same name)
Identity: Minor Supporting Role. Daughter of the Hyuga Clan of Konoha
Minor Supporting Role LV1: Attention +20%
"Based on a same-name role? So that's what the gold card does?"
He had gone from an extra to a supporting character in an instant! And he had even gained a 20% bonus!
Jingliu's card only gave a 20% bonus when its conditions were met. Yet this supporting-role identity gave him 20% directly, and it was only LV1. Hanabi Hyuga's appearance was also top-notch.
"This is pretty good, but it's too late!"
This role was excellent, but unfortunately, Hanabi Hyuga was only seven years old when the story began, five years younger than Naruto, the protagonist. Her peak glow-up period would not come until Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, by which point it would be far too late.
"Wait, I still have this."
The Hourglass item surfaced in Su Qi's consciousness.
"How do I use this?" Su Qi asked the Stage.
After selecting a role, check the item and slide the timeline.
Su Qi gave it a try. He selected Hanabi Hyuga, then moved the timeline. It worked.
But he discovered that when he moved the timeline, the character portrait actually turned into a question mark.
"Where did the portrait go?"
Changes to the entry time will cause a Chaos Effect. The greater the difference in entry conditions, the greater the deviation from the original role.
"Got it."
Su Qi continued sliding the timeline backward. But after moving it back four years, the timeline suddenly jumped to five years earlier, and he could not move it any further. It stopped at December 27th, five years before the original Hanabi Hyuga's birth.
"This is as far back as I can go?"
Hanabi Hyuga was Hinata Hyuga's younger sister, so her birthday could not be earlier than Hinata Hyuga's.
"Fine, then."
Su Qi understood.
December 27th happened to be Hinata Hyuga's birthday. Sliding it here probably meant turning this younger sister into a twin. The reason it skipped an entire year was that if the Hyuga Clan wanted a second daughter, they would need to conceive again after Hinata was born and carry her for ten months. So unless he and Hinata were born on the same day, it could only be a year later.
"Twins it is, then."
Once he had selected his entry role, everything was complete.
Then all the "universe bubbles" before Su Qi disappeared, leaving behind only an empty void.
Stage cleared Actor, please prepare for your performance Reincarnation preparations complete Pre-performance training will now begin
A burst of white light appeared before Su Qi. The white radiance gradually enveloped him, swallowing his consciousness.
New author, new book. Please support me, meow~
Please vote, send monthly tickets, bookmark, and subscribe~
~o( =∩ω∩= )m
New Anime, Begin!
Before dawn had broken, Hinata Hyuga woke up.
She tidied her long hair. Because her younger sister Sparkle had once said she liked her long hair, Hinata had never cut it since childhood.
"Sparkle, are you practicing again?"
In the courtyard of the Hyuga Mansion, her twin younger sister was training against a wooden post.
She wore a simple training outfit, her long hair tied into a ponytail.
Though her eyes were covered by a black veil, her vision seemed completely unaffected.
But no matter how fluid Sparkle's movements were, Hinata knew one cruel fact: her younger sister could not see anything.
"If she could see, Lady Sparkle would be even more likely to become the heir..."
"Yes. I heard she was too young for a transplant, and Neji wasn't given the Caged Bird because they planned to use him for a transplant once he came of age. But Lady Sparkle said she didn't want to take away someone else's light. What a good child. She's so outstanding, yet she..."
The voices around her drifted over. The black veil swaying before Sparkle's eyes made Hinata's heart tremble slightly.
It was all my fault.
"Sparkle..."
It had happened on their third birthday.
At the time, Konoha was negotiating with Kumogakure's envoys. Most of Konoha's important figures had attended that meeting, and only the Hyuga Clan was absent.
That was because the Hyuga Clan was celebrating the third birthday of the Main Family's twin daughters.
And during a sparring match that day, members of the Branch Family revealed their murderous intent toward Hinata and Sparkle. They were punished when the Caged Bird seal was activated.
Hinata had been terrified at the time. Seeing her sister like that, Sparkle had secretly taken her out of the Hyuga Clan. Because peace talks were underway, Konoha had been especially lively then.
—And then that happened.
The Kumogakure Ninja Leader had long set his sights on the Main Family's heir for the Byakugan. After noticing that Sparkle was being watched, she was abducted and taken hostage while trying to protect herself.
To prevent the Byakugan from falling into foreign hands, Sparkle gouged out her own eyes.
Later, Hinata heard that Father had personally rescued Sparkle, and the Ninja Leader who abducted her had even been captured alive.
From Konoha's perspective, it was even a good thing, because it meant they had gained considerable leverage in the negotiations with Kumogakure.
But it was not good for Hinata. Though her father and the Elder had ordered her not to speak of it, Hinata had still heard that the Kumogakure Ninja Leader's original target had actually been her...
"Good morning, Elder Sister." Sparkle seemed to sense Hinata nearby. Though she could not see, it was as if she had eyes in the back of her head.
"G-Good morning, Sparkle." Hinata's voice was timid.
"Did someone upset Elder Sister?" Sparkle asked with a smile.
"No. Um, the Graduation Exam is coming soon." Hinata looked conflicted.
The two sisters both attended Konoha's Ninja Academy.
Although she could not see, Sparkle had not given up on becoming a ninja. Her performance was even excellent, and she ranked first in the entire school on written exams.
That was also why the Hyuga Clan members had called it such a pity before.
"Mm, it'll be fine." Sparkle smiled brightly. But the more Hinata saw that radiant smile on her sister's face, the more it felt as though something were clutching at her heart.
"Um, should we go to school together?" Hinata asked.
"No, I'll practice a little longer. There aren't any important classes before the exam anyway, so I might as well keep training on my own."
"Mm... okay. See you at school, then."
"Mm. See you at school, Elder Sister~"
Hinata fled.