Three Years Later

The sun sank in the west, and dusk descended.

Beside a lake not far from Konoha, five-year-old Hyuga Naraku was training alone.

The tiny figure gripped a Katana slightly taller than himself with both hands, weaving and darting among a pile of puppet dummies as the Katana repeatedly slashed toward them.

Although wielding a Katana longer than himself looked somewhat strange, it did not seem cumbersome when Naraku used it. On the contrary, the long blade moved as naturally as his own arm in his hands. It was clear just how terrifying Naraku's arm strength was!

The puppets standing on the ground had already been chopped into tatters by the long blade.

With a whoosh, the figure that had been among the pile of puppets just a moment earlier suddenly vanished, only to appear on the other side the next moment as if he had teleported.

Naraku raised his left hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and chanted at the puppets, "Hado Number Four—White Lightning."

As his voice fell, a bolt of lightning shot from his fingertip straight toward a puppet in front of him. In the next instant, the already battered puppet was completely reduced to pieces.

"Bakudo Number Nine—Geki."

After casting Hado, Naraku immediately followed with Bakudo. A yellow rope formed from spiritual particles shot from his fingertip, tightly binding the remaining puppets together.

"Hado Number Eleven—Lightning Binding."

Another bolt of lightning, more powerful than White Lightning, emerged from Naraku's fingertip. It traveled along the rope formed by Geki and reached the puppets. The puppets, bound tightly together, were instantly blasted into pieces!

"Although Hado Number Eleven, Lightning Binding, deals more damage than White Lightning, it has to use an object as a medium to extend its range. White Lightning is only Hado Number Four, but its single-target power is still pretty good. It has the advantage of catching people off guard, so killing a Chunin with this move should be possible."

"Also, I've mastered Flash Step. Overall, I finally have a little ability to protect myself in this world."

Naraku had been in the world of Naruto for three years, and he was now exactly five years old.

At first, because he was too young, he had not chosen to train.

It was only half a year ago that he began sneaking outside the village to train alone.

As for why he went outside the village instead of training within the Hyuga Clan, it was because he was afraid someone would see his abilities. After all, his Soul Reaper abilities were quite different from the ninjutsu of the ninja world.

In particular, the entire Konoha was secretly being monitored by that old man, the Third Hokage, with a crystal ball. Who knew when he might be discovered? By then, he would not even be able to explain himself.

For three years, Naraku had kept signing in. But whenever he recalled the things he received from the daily sign-ins, he was rendered speechless.

"Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received: one infant 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 Thunder Pop."

"Sign-in successful. Congratulations, host, you have received: one box of Durex condoms."

What kind of bizarre things were these? The daily sign-ins all yielded ordinary household items. Things like pacifiers and diapers had happened to be useful for little Hinata, who had been born earlier.

But what did giving him a raincoat mean? I was only a baby a few years old! System, don't corrupt me. I have no use for it yet. By the time I can use it, it will have expired, right...?

Naraku had asked the system about this before.

The system's answer was, "Daily sign-ins mostly produce everyday items, host. Don't think daily sign-ins will give you some heaven-defying treasure. It doesn't work that way."

"Also, this system recommends that the host wash his face before signing in each time. Your luck might improve a little that way."

So... was the system mocking him for having a black face??

Naraku chose to ignore the system's taunt in his heart. However, during the sign-ins that followed, he secretly bathed and washed himself before signing in every time.

The result still did not change. Thus, Naraku understood: the system was simply messing with him.

Of course, it was not as if he had never received anything good.

Naraku silently opened his status panel.

Host: Hyuga Naraku

Level: Junior Spiritual Pressure (Genin)

Abilities: Byakugan (Intermediate), Gentle Fist (Grandmaster), Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms (Proficient), Hado Sequences 1–30, Bakudo Sequences 1–30, Junior Flash Step

Items: Zanpakuto (Asauchi state)

When Naraku was three, Hyuga Hiashi began teaching him the Hyuga Clan's inherited abilities. After signing in, Naraku directly obtained Grandmaster-level Gentle Fist and unlocked the intermediate Byakugan state.

Then, when Naraku demonstrated it to Hyuga Hiashi the next day, he immediately left his father utterly shocked.

I only taught you once, and you mastered it already?? You really are a genius...

Thus, ecstatic, Hyuga Hiashi began heavily nurturing Hyuga Naraku.

Naraku did not disappoint him. Three days later, he told Hiashi that he had awakened the Junior Byakugan. A month later, he told him that his Byakugan had advanced to the intermediate level and that he had completely mastered Gentle Fist.

Unconvinced, Hyuga Hiashi exchanged blows with Naraku using Gentle Fist. Good heavens, the boy had fought him to a draw.

Hyuga Hiashi was immensely excited inside. He felt that Naraku had been bestowed upon the Hyuga Clan by the heavens to help it rise to prominence.

Then he tightly sealed the news, teaching Naraku entirely by himself and instructing him not to reveal his abilities in front of others.

Having spent many years fighting and surviving in the ninja world, Hyuga Hiashi knew that a tree that stood out in the forest would be battered by the wind. Especially in the ninja world, overly famous geniuses often became targets of assassination by enemy ninja. After all, Naraku was still young and had not yet matured. He lacked the ability to protect himself.

Of course, this decision suited Naraku perfectly. He also wanted to keep a low profile, which was why he had chosen to reveal his abilities to Hyuga Hiashi little by little.

After all, setting aside distant concerns, Konoha itself still had the old schemer Shimura Danzō lurking in the shadows. Before he had grown strong, Naraku did not want to expose himself to other people's eyes so quickly.

Even a genius like Uchiha Shisui had been killed through Shimura Danzō's schemes. Naraku felt that his current self was still far inferior to Shisui.

Naraku sat down against a tree and gazed at the sunset on the horizon as he began to think.

"I've been in this world for three years now. Naruto is only three years old, and it will be nine years before they take the Chunin Ninja Exams. Konoha will remain relatively peaceful during those nine years."

"It won't be until the Chunin Ninja Exams begin nine years from now that all sorts of demons and monsters will begin taking the stage."

"In other words, I have at most nine years to develop in secret. During these nine years, I must become stronger. By then, I need to possess at least Kage Level strength to barely protect myself."

"But... my system is a little unreliable..."

A Soul Reaper's abilities relied heavily on their Zanpakuto. The stronger the abilities awakened by the Zanpakuto, the stronger the Soul Reaper's abilities would be.

But three years had passed. Three whole years. Naraku had continuously called out to his Zanpakuto in his heart, hoping to learn its name and thereby develop its Shikai.

Yet his Zanpakuto remained as calm as still water, giving him no response whatsoever.

This left Naraku feeling deeply discouraged.

Without a Shikai, a Zanpakuto was nothing more than an especially sturdy Katana.

"Forget it, forget it. I don't want to think about it anymore. It's getting dark. I should go home for dinner."

Naraku slowly rose from beneath the tree and stretched. Then his foot moved, and he vanished from where he stood as if he had teleported, appearing atop a distant tree. After a few leaps, he disappeared from sight!