This man was Hiruko, a friend of the Legendary Sannin.
At this time, Hiruko had yet to begin researching the fusion ninjutsu known as Chimera, so he still looked like an ordinary person. His strength was not particularly impressive either, barely reaching the level of a Chunin.
This was also a thorn in Hiruko's heart. Friends his age had already begun making names for themselves on the battlefield.
Yet because his talent fell short of his friends', he could only take on missions that even Genin could handle. This left him deeply unwilling to accept it. (Adjusting Hiruko's setting: he was the same age as Jiraiya and the others, all born in Konoha Year 13.)
Over the years, Hiruko had constantly searched for ways to make up for his innate shortcomings. However, limited by his physical constitution, he had focused his efforts on ninjutsu research.
As it turned out, he had quite a talent for researching ninjutsu. His strength was steadily improving as well, though at a very slow pace.
Until today, when he saw another path—a way to rapidly increase his strength: Kekkei Genkai.
Before this, he had never studied Kekkei Genkai in depth, because his first impression of it was that it relied on genetic inheritance. As an ordinary person from an ordinary family, where could he possibly find a Kekkei Genkai to inherit?
The reason he had formed that impression was precisely because of Konoha's two major Kekkei Genkai clans: the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan.
Both of these Kekkei Genkai clans inherited their Kekkei Genkai through genes passed down by bloodline—the Sharingan and the Byakugan.
That was why Hiruko believed Kekkei Genkai was something ordinary people could never obtain in their lifetimes. Many people throughout the ninja world thought the same, which was why so