Some people never make it to Rome in their entire lives, while others are born there...
That saying was especially apt in the Naruto World.
In a world where talent and bloodline mattered more than anything, many things were already decided from the moment you were born.
Uchiha Yuan was ten years old, a fourth-year student at Konoha Ninja Academy. His grades were average, and aside from his One-Tomoe Sharingan, he was utterly unremarkable among the Uchiha Clan.
Speaking of that One-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Yuan found it even more frustrating.
When an Uchiha lost someone they loved dearly or suffered over their own failures, special Chakra surged through their brain and affected their optic nerves, causing their eyes to change. This was what people commonly called awakening the Sharingan.
After Uchiha Yuan learned that his parents had died on the battlefield during the Third Great Ninja War, special Chakra surged through his brain. But there was too much of it. His nerves couldn't take it, and he went straight to Game Over.
Guo Yuan, who had died from overwork after staying up late to work overtime, had no idea how he had ended up in the Naruto World, occupying this body and becoming Uchiha Yuan.
Guo Yuan had been a longtime anime fan in his previous life, and Naruto had been the series that got him into it. But Naruto had ended years ago, and the last time he'd watched it was several years back.
He only remembered the general outline of Naruto's plot.
But as far as Guo Yuan could recall, hadn't no Uchiha ever gone Game Over because they couldn't withstand the special Chakra surging through their brain while awakening the Sharingan?
Had he gotten stuck with the underdog's script?
But Uchiha Yuan soon realized he was wrong. He wasn't an underdog, but he wasn't a genius, either.
Uchiha Yuan was much like most Uchiha kids. He had an average amount of Chakra, knew a Great Fireball Technique that couldn't even burn anyone to death, was good at throwing shuriken, and that was about it.
Based on all the novels Uchiha Yuan had read over the years, the worst start for a transmigrator wasn't being an underdog. Rising from the bottom was a classic power fantasy.
Besides, in Naruto's world, the dead last was the strongest. Weren't Naruto, Obito, and Jiraiya all dead lasts?
And a genius's start went without saying. You could just steamroll everyone. If you had talent, what was there to fear?
The worst start was the kind Uchiha Yuan had: stuck in the middle.
Average grades, average relationships, average looks. Well, that last one didn't count as average. There were no ugly people in the Uchiha Clan.
All in all, Uchiha Yuan was the kind of person nobody would notice in a crowd.
Fortunately, as a transmigrator, Uchiha Yuan did have a Golden Finger of his own.
There was a Roulette in Uchiha Yuan's mind. As long as he exercised for three hours a day, he would earn one chance to spin it, then enter a Text Game inside the Roulette and go on an adventure.
So far, Uchiha Yuan had only earned Stat Points from the Text Game. He could assign them to the five attributes on his character panel.
The five attributes were:
Chakra
Physique
Eye Power
Vitality
Nature Affinity
At the very bottom of the panel was a small progress bar. Its current Level was lv7, and it took ten experience points to level up. Experience came from assigning points ten times.
As of today, Uchiha Yuan had been in this world for nearly a month, but he still hadn't saved up ten points.
That wasn't because Uchiha Yuan had been slacking off. When he'd first transmigrated, his body had been completely beyond his control, whether because of nerve damage or some other reason.
If not for the care he'd received from his fellow Uchiha, he would have starved to death.
Many of those Uchiha Clan members who seemed arrogant and aloof were actually warmhearted beneath their cold exteriors. They cared deeply about their own people.
When Uchiha Yuan had first transmigrated, he'd lost the ability to move. All he could do was roll his eyes.
In the ninja world, especially now that the Third Great Ninja War had broken out, medical resources and manpower were in desperately short supply.
Even so, the Uchiha Clan hadn't given up on him. Every day, a clan member came to care for him, giving him water and feeding him.
That gave Uchiha Yuan a sense of belonging to the clan.
After a full twenty days of recuperation, Uchiha Yuan had gone from being completely unable to move, to walking, to being able to run and jump a little, and finally to having almost full control of this body.
Only after he'd recovered did Uchiha Yuan begin exercising. He'd kept it up for nine days now.
Over the first eight days, Uchiha Yuan had visited eight different Text Game worlds. But no matter which world he went to, he'd never managed to die of old age.
Today, he'd just finished exercising and earned a chance to spin the Roulette. Uchiha Yuan eagerly spun the Roulette in his mind.
Just like the previous times, Uchiha Yuan's consciousness reached out. He sensed a mysterious ripple sweep over his entire body, as if something had been extracted, yet he didn't feel as though he'd lost anything.
Then his vision shifted. The Roulette vanished instantly, replaced by countless points of light spreading outward like a brilliant meteor shower in the depths of space. When they gathered together again, lines of text appeared.
"You have logged into the Pirate King world."
"This time it's the Pirate King world?" Uchiha Yuan murmured.
"It is now the year 1498 of the Marineford Era. Along with the future movers and shakers of the seas, you witnessed the execution of Pirate King Roger."
"You were captivated by Roger's One Piece and decided to become a pirate and set sail."
"While sleeping with the widow next door, you stole her money. You also used all your savings to buy a small boat."
"You set sail."
"Because you couldn't read the nautical chart, you went off course and arrived at a Naval Branch."
"You decided to take on this Naval Branch alone and make a name for yourself."
Uchiha Yuan's mouth twitched when he saw that line. "What the hell? What kind of idiot pirate tries to take on a Naval Branch alone right after setting sail? I'm dead again today."
Sure enough, a few minutes later, another line of text appeared: "You were defeated by five Naval Branch soldiers. You died."
"Game over!"
"Obtained Stat Point x1."
"Another lousy Stat Point. This stupid game." As he spoke, Uchiha Yuan glanced at his panel:
Chakra: 19
Physique: 12
Eye Power: 30
Vitality: 7
Nature Affinity: 3
Level: lv7 (1/10)
Stat Points: 9
While exercising, Uchiha Yuan had discovered that he didn't just get stronger by assigning points. Hard training also raised his attributes, though by very little.
For these nine days, Uchiha Yuan had stuck to basic physical training to get used to this body as quickly as possible.
After nine days of effort, his Physique had gone from 11 to 12.
The pace of improvement left Uchiha Yuan speechless. If he could only improve through exercise, it would be painfully slow. Fortunately, he still had his Golden Finger.
But Uchiha Yuan still didn't know what Level and the various stats on the panel corresponded to in terms of strength in the Shinobi World. His Golden Finger hadn't come with an instruction manual, so he'd have to figure it out himself.
After hesitating for a moment, Uchiha Yuan put all nine points into Physique.
He still felt a little uncoordinated in this body. That feeling had gradually eased with physical training, and he'd noticed it especially when his Physique went from 11 to 12.
Uchiha Yuan figured that if he kept raising his Physique, the feeling of being uncoordinated would disappear completely.
Sure enough, after Uchiha Yuan put all nine Stat Points into Physique, every strange sensation in his body vanished.
Uchiha Yuan immediately did a set of burpees. They felt unbelievably smooth.
"I've finally gotten complete control of this body!" Uchiha Yuan said excitedly.
Then Uchiha Yuan decided to go outside and let off some youthful energy. He was just about to head out when he noticed the bar to the right of his Level kept flashing.
Uchiha Yuan focused his mind and touched the right side of the bar. A white gift box appeared in his mind.
"Whoa! So my Golden Finger doesn't just give me rewards in the game. I get a gift when I level up, too!" Uchiha Yuan thought.
Looking at the white gift box, Uchiha Yuan's opinion of his Golden Finger improved a little. The corners of his mouth lifted despite himself.
But the next second, Uchiha Yuan's smile disappeared. There was only one Explosive Tag inside the gift box.
"Damn it! This—"
"Knock, knock! Yuan, are you in there?" A sudden knock interrupted Uchiha Yuan.
Uchiha Yuan knew that voice well. It belonged to his father's friend from the Police Force, Uchiha Hironobu, who had often come to visit him during this time.
"I'm here! Come on in, Uncle Hironobu!" Uchiha Yuan said as he put away the Explosive Tag.
Uchiha Hironobu pushed the door open and came in. His expression was grave, and he was holding a Sealing Scroll.
Uchiha Yuan invited Uchiha Hironobu to sit, then brought him a cup of tea. "Uncle Hironobu, all I have at home is Oolong Tea. I hope you don't mind."
Uchiha Hironobu thanked him, took a sip, and sighed. "Sigh... Yuan, this contains your parents' ashes and part of their estate. The village helped collect and cremate their bodies, but we couldn't bring them back for you to see one last time. I'm sorry about that. The clan will do its best to ask the village for more compensation."
The new book begins here. Please bookmark and recommend it. Thank you all for your support.
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