"If you want to become a lion, first bow your head like a camel..."
This was something Hyuga Yu had heard in his previous life.
Nietzsche had said it.
He said that humanity's most fundamental wills were the will to live and the will to power.
On that basis, all social discipline, moral dilemmas, and the oppression suffered by slaves were false. If you wanted to see through that falsehood and break free of those dilemmas,
then first, you had to become a camel.
You had to study and master all kinds of knowledge, especially knowledge that could help you survive and grow stronger.
But all this knowledge had been packaged in slave morality. It was all about what you ought to do,
and at that point, you were no more than a pitiful camel, a slave to knowledge. The knowledge you carried on your back was impossible to use and had instead become your shackles.
Hyuga Yu had been a camel for thirteen years.
So much time had passed that he was almost starting to forget what kind of life he had hoped for when he first opened his eyes in this world thirteen years ago.
Had he wanted to race freely across the vast, open land as a ninja?
Had he wanted to stick to his Nindo, speak his mind, and keep his promises in this hot-blooded manga world?
Or had he simply had enough of spending his previous life constantly bending over backward to get by, flattering one round beer belly after another, and grown tired of bowing and scraping to people?
But fate had played a joke on Hyuga Yu.
At the moment he awoke from a drunken, hazy dream, he had gotten his wish and arrived in this world of passion, friendship, and bonds,
only to become one of the least passionate members of the Hyuga Branch Family.
"Lion-kun, heeey~ Lion-kun, what are you thinking about?"
Hyuga Yu was jolted awake by the sudden, clear voice. In his blurry vision, he saw a very pretty little girl, around twelve or thirteen years old.
She wore a neat gray kimono beneath a spotless white maid's outfit, its shoulder straps decorated with petal-like ruffles.
Her small, fair hand waved in front of Hyuga Yu. His gaze passed over it and settled on her face.
A delicate nose, rosy lips, slender, curled lashes, and a pair of white eyes filled with a gentle smile.
"Oh, it's Natsu."
Hyuga Natsu was one year younger than little Hyuga Yu, but she was in the same grade and class as him at the Ninja Academy. She was a member of the Hyuga Branch Family.
Unlike Hyuga Yu, she was highly talented. She progressed quickly in the Hyuga Clan's three main arts: Gentle Fist, Byakugan, and Eight Trigrams Palms. The previous year, she had been promoted to Chunin alongside Uchiha Obito, Might Guy, and the others.
Afterward, she joined the Main House's Guard Squad as both a bodyguard and a maid, receiving a monthly allowance of three hundred thousand ryo.
As an aside, she would later become the personal bodyguard of the future Main House heir, Hyuga Hanabi. Based on the clan's requirements for the heir's personal bodyguard, Hyuga Yu made a rough estimate: by then, this talented girl from the Branch Family would at least be a Jonin.
Looking at this talented girl from the Branch Family, whose circumstances were completely different from his own, Hyuga Yu smiled helplessly and corrected her.
"Didn't I tell you not to call me Lion-kun? My name is spelled yuu. It means dusk, the setting sun."
He paused, remembering what the Main House elder had said earlier. His gaze darkened.
"It's an ill omen."
"Not at all—"
Hyuga Natsu puffed out her cheeks and shook her head like a rattle drum. She gave him a bright smile and immediately cut him off.
"Yu-kun, I've always thought you were really brave. And that nickname suits you!"
"At the Ninja Academy, Yu-kun was as dazzling as a lion!"
Hyuga Yu knew she was referring to the time he'd worn a green bodysuit and trained alongside Might Guy at the Ninja Academy. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Give me a break, Natsu. Please, how did the thing I asked you about go?"
Hyuga Natsu nodded.
"No problem. Young Master Genko was curious about you, too. And when it comes to Medical Ninjutsu, no one your age in the clan is better than you."
Hyuga Genko was a member of a collateral branch of the Hyuga Main House. His father was Hyuga Sousuke, the elder had told Hyuga Yu, and his cousins were Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga of the Main House.
Hyuga Yu had come here to join this young master's bodyguard detail as a Medical Ninja.
Having refused the Main House elder's appointment letter, Hyuga Yu was a registered Konoha Ninja and a clan ninja of the Hyuga Clan. Unless something unexpected happened, he would soon receive orders to join the Reconnaissance Unit and head to the front lines of the Third Shinobi World War.
Of course,
even as cannon fodder, there were different ways to fill the line.
At this point, the fronts toward River Country, Rain Country, and Grass Country had already become bloody. The sides were fighting as if they wanted to beat the brains out of one another. A Genin like Hyuga Yu, sent there as cannon fodder, had less than a one-in-ten chance of surviving a month.
By contrast,
the Kirigakure front, where ninja from the various clans would soon be called up, had only just entered the war, so the fighting there was not yet too intense overall.
And as long as he got past the danger of the Byakugan leaking, the bulk of Kirigakure's forces—the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—would later run into Might Duy, who would burn himself up to open the Eight Gates and the Gate of Death. Kirigakure's offensive would be dealt another blow and slow down until the war ended.
On this battlefield, Hyuga Yu needed to watch out for three key events:
First, he had to evade the enemy's attempt to hunt down the Hyuga Main House.
Second, he had to avoid the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Third, after the Kusagakure Incident broke out, he had to make sure he wasn't caught up in the plot point where Kakashi stabbed Nohara Rin to death and Uchiha Obito turned to darkness.
Then, based on the combined military merit he accumulated through the length of time he survived on the battlefield,
Hyuga Yu would be awarded the title of Chunin after the war ended.
Becoming a Chunin meant Hyuga Yu would be qualified to form his own team and accept missions, teach in the Ninja Academy system, or work in organizations such as Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force or Reconnaissance Unit.
Though he would still have to obey the Main House's orders in name, at least he could keep his distance and wouldn't have to bow, scrape, and kneel before them every day.
How to put it? Distance makes the heart grow fonder. That was probably the idea.
And as long as he joined Hyuga Genko's bodyguard detail, Hyuga Yu could use Genko's connections to avoid the order sending him directly to the front-line Reconnaissance Unit, staying behind at the Rear Camp to slack off as a Medical Ninja instead.
It was a win-win.
Hyuga Genko would get a Medical Ninja from the clan who could stay at the Rear Camp,
while Hyuga Yu himself would get a chance to survive the chaotic battlefield.
As for the rest...
the fate of this young master of the Main House, who had drawn the attention of Kirigakure's hunter-nin,
the fate of Might Duy, who would run into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist,
the fate of his classmate Nohara Rin, and Uchiha Obito's descent into darkness...
Hyuga Yu knew his own strength was low. He could barely protect his own life, let alone change these major events at the heart of the main plot.
And as Hyuga Yu pondered these things,
Hyuga Natsu looked at him with some frustration as his thoughts drifted away again and he ignored her.
She didn't really understand why Hyuga Yu had been so preoccupied ever since he failed the Chunin Ninja Exams.
But seeing him looking so troubled, she clenched her fist.
Then,
she raised her fair little face and looked at Hyuga Yu with her gentle white eyes. Gathering her courage, she spoke earnestly.
"I've been assigned to Young Master Genko's bodyguard detail this time, too. I'll be going to the battlefield with you."
"Yu-kun, I'll protect you!"
Hyuga Yu suddenly heard those words. It felt as if someone had swung a heavy hammer and struck him on the forehead, jolting him fully awake.
He couldn't help opening his eyes wide as he looked at the girl in front of him. His throat suddenly felt unbearably dry.
"Wait, Natsu, what... what did you say?"
"I'll protect you!"
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