I Will Never Be Inferior to Anyone in This Life! (Includes the Protagonist's Character Design)

Yuki Yuichi and Yuhi Kurenai didn't go to lunch with the others. Kurenai was soaked from head to toe, so the two of them went home first to shower and change.

"Kurenai, these clothes look awful." Watching her change into a fresh outfit, Yuki Yuichi rubbed his chin and criticized it.

"Huh?" Hearing him, Yuhi Kurenai walked over to the mirror and turned around. "My dad bought them. They can't look that bad, can they?"

Kurenai didn't think there was anything wrong with them, but to Yuki Yuichi, they were truly ugly.

"Uncle Shinku has terrible taste."

"Huh?" Yuhi Kurenai looked at him in confusion.

Yuki Yuichi ignored her puzzled expression, took her hand, and led her outside. "We're going clothes shopping this afternoon!"

He hadn't thought much of it before, but now that he was looking at Yuhi Kurenai's clothes, he realized they really were ugly.

The kind of ugly that was off the charts.

For a moment, Yuki Yuichi even wondered how Yuhi Shinku, with such terrible taste, had managed to have a daughter like Yuhi Kurenai, who was cute as a child and grew up to be a cool beauty.

He had money to spare now, so buying Kurenai a couple of new outfits wouldn't be a problem.

Besides, the money had come from Yuhi Shinku anyway.

Using his money to dress his daughter made perfect sense.

At one in the afternoon, the bell at the Ninja Academy rang right on time.

Yuki Yuichi and Yuhi Kurenai sat at their desks, chatting idly.

Some time had passed since the bell rang, but Umino Ikkaku still hadn't come into the classroom.

Uchiha Obito was late, and Umino Ikkaku was outside reprimanding him.

Every now and then, their voices drifted in.

Since Uchiha Obito had been with Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy, apparently...

All three of them were late.

"Yuichi, why is Obito always late?" Yuhi Kurenai carefully poked Yuki Yuichi and asked curiously.

"Obito seems to be late every day."

Yuki Yuichi wasn't sure how to answer her. "Maybe fate is guiding him?"

"Honestly, I don't know why he's late so often," Yuki Yuichi said truthfully.

As far as he remembered, Uchiha Obito was late because he'd stopped to help someone.

But if it happened every day, all he could say was that fate was guiding him.

Umino Ikkaku didn't scold them for long. Around half past one, he finally let the three of them into the classroom.

Kakashi Hatake sat down at his desk with a dead-fish stare, looking like life had lost all meaning.

Yuki Yuichi poked him in the spine and asked curiously, "Did you run into an old lady who needed help?"

"No..." Kakashi Hatake turned around and stared at him as if life had lost all meaning. He enunciated each word: "We got stopped by a black cat... and we couldn't get around it..."

Yuki Yuichi: "..."

Yuhi Kurenai: "..."

Seeing that Kakashi Hatake didn't seem to be joking, Yuki Yuichi could only sigh at how increasingly absurd this world was becoming.

While the three of them sat there in stunned silence, Umino Ikkaku cleared his throat at the podium. "Class is starting!"

"Everyone, turn to page ten of the Will of Fire."

"Today we'll be studying the mightiest Hokage of all—the Third Hokage!"

"In the early days of Konoha's founding, the Third Hokage, hailed as the mightiest Hokage..."

As Umino Ikkaku lectured at the podium, Yuki Yuichi pretended to be paying close attention while spacing out.

Though he was daydreaming, he still nodded every now and then to show his agreement.

The stuff in the Will of Fire was fine to read, but it wasn't something to take seriously.

In Yuki Yuichi's eyes, Umino Ikkaku wasn't teaching the Will of Fire at the podium—he was peddling a damn pyramid scheme.

He was brainwashing them with one story after another and a string of empty slogans.

Yuki Yuichi had been an ordinary person in his previous life, but at least he'd seen all kinds of things on the internet. This level of brainwashing was child's play to him.

All he had to do was make sure Yuhi Kurenai didn't get brainwashed.

But with him around, and with Yuhi Shinku as her father—someone who only taught them practical survival skills—Kurenai probably wouldn't be brainwashed.

As Yuki Yuichi thought this over, his mind began to wander.

He'd practiced tree climbing that morning and discovered he could manipulate the attraction and repulsion inherent in chakra, to a limited extent, simply by focusing on what he wanted.

It wasn't very strong, but it should be enough to help with tree climbing and Water Walking.

Yuki Yuichi even suspected that shinobi used this technique for tree climbing and Water Walking.

But Yuhi Shinku wasn't around, and Yuki Yuichi had no one else to ask.

He'd have to wait until Yuhi Shinku returned from his mission.

The idea had taken root in his mind. A wisp of pale red chakra appeared at his fingertip and turned into a thin thread that slithered across the desk.

Yuki Yuichi had both Lightning and Fire chakra natures. Before learning any other chakra natures, he could only use Lightning Release and Fire Release.

But these were the chakra natures he'd been born with, so his chakra naturally carried the properties of Lightning Release and Fire Release.

When he released chakra from his body, Yuhi Kurenai watched with curiosity and tried releasing some from her own fingertips.

Her chakra was also pale red, but it was a deeper shade than Yuki Yuichi's.

"Try pulling back the Fire Release properties in your mind," Yuki Yuichi's voice sounded in her ear.

Yuhi Kurenai did as he said. Her chakra, which had been darker than Yuki Yuichi's, grew a little paler, and as she controlled it, the red faded further and further.

In the end, it became a colorless strand of chakra.

It had no color at all. It was neutral chakra.

The Rasengan was a chakra-natureless technique.

The original Rasengan had no chakra nature. It was only after further development that it became Wind Release: Rasengan.

Then came Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, Big Ball Rasengan, and so on.

It could be called an all-purpose technique.

Adding any chakra nature to the chakra-natureless Rasengan would turn it into a Rasengan of that nature.

That made it possible to develop different branches of Rasengan techniques.

Yuki Yuichi was interested in the Rasengan, but not all that interested.

The Rasengan didn't suit him. Sure, he fought with Taijutsu and had used his powerful physique to overpower Kakashi Hatake and the others, but he saw himself as a ninjutsu-type shinobi.

I may be physically powerful and have great recovery, but that doesn't stop me from being a ninjutsu-type shinobi.

As he thought about the Rasengan and all its variations, Yuki Yuichi wondered whether, if he mastered both the shape transformation and nature transformation of Fire Release, he could use its properties to develop a technique that let him fly.

He wanted to improve so badly.

And he didn't think he had to rely on the Achievement System alone.

He, Yuki Yuichi, would never be inferior to anyone in this life!

Minato Namikaze had developed the first technique in the Rasengan series. Was there any reason he couldn't develop an entire series of techniques himself?

Not a single reason!

Yuki Yuichi was so engrossed in his thoughts that the chakra thread in his hand slipped back without him noticing.

His head still nodded now and then in time with Umino Ikkaku's lecture.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage Office, Uzumaki Kushina kicked the door open.

She walked in with Minato Namikaze.

(Protagonist Character Design)