The Uchiha Settlement, the Shimizu Household.
Shimizu sat quietly in a chair, waiting for time to pass.
"It's about time."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Simulator's mechanical female voice rang out in his mind.
[Current number of uses: 1. Would you like to start the Perfect Life Simulation?]
"Yes."
Shimizu answered.
The Simulator's time limit had now increased to five years.
[Ding! Perfect Life Simulation in progress...]
[Day 1: Asuma Sarutobi invited you to dinner. You saw that Kurenai Yuhi was there too, so you agreed.
During dinner, Asuma tried to sound you out in every way he could. His methods were too clumsy, and you saw right through him. Afterward, Kurenai challenged you to a duel, and you won decisively.]
[Day 2: Hiruzen Sarutobi inexplicably asked to speak with you. He said he approved of your Will of Fire, granted your request to graduate early, and assigned you two teammates: one with spiky hair and one fat guy.]
[Day 3: Kakashi heard that you were graduating early and came to spar with you. You took the opportunity to secretly learn the Hatake family's swordsmanship and discovered it was a form of Nintaijutsu that involved coating a blade in Lightning Style chakra.]
[Day 4: You met Orochimaru for the first time. His gaze made you uncomfortable.]
[Day 5: Jiraiya returned to the village. You went to the hot springs and discovered that he was trying to peep on people, so you anonymously reported him. Hiruzen happened to be at the hot springs too and immediately went to give him a stern talking-to.]
[Day 6: You visited Uchiha Hazuki to catch up. She made your favorite tempura.]
[Day 7: You were training at home when you accidentally injured your hand. You healed it with the Mystical Palm Technique.]
[Day 24: As usual, you went to help Uchiha Mikoto with her physical conditioning. This time, you suggested that a massage would make the experience even better. Mikoto hesitated, but she knew you well and thought you meant no harm, so she agreed.]
[Day 25: As you passed Uchiha Mikoto's house, you saw that she looked radiant as she hung out the bedding in her yard. You vaguely heard her mumbling something about "Uchiha Shimizu... good..." but she was too far away for you to make out the rest.]
[Day 26: You ran into Kushina Uzumaki. She'd had a falling-out with Minato Namikaze because he'd been neglecting her lately. You knew Minato was working on the Rasengan and was about to finish developing it.]
[Day 27: The dispirited Kushina went to see her close friend, Uchiha Mikoto. Mikoto recommended you, saying you gave excellent massages.]
[Day 28: Kushina came to see you, and you gave her a massage. That evening, Minato came to see her. He said a few words and left, so you comforted Kushina.]
[Day 29: The simple-minded Kushina decided you were a good person and shared some of her worries with you.]
[Day 119: Two-year-old Shisui Uchiha wandered around the Uchiha Settlement. You asked him what it meant to be part of a clan, but his eyes held nothing but confusion.]
[Day 120: You went on a mission at the border of the Land of Fire. You spotted a curvaceous kunoichi acting suspiciously. Drawing on your previous experience, you managed to avoid her.]
[Day 121: Your team got separated. After you easily took care of the enemy, you returned to the agreed meeting point and discovered that your fat teammate was dead.]
[Day 122: You and your other teammate, the one with spiky hair, traveled back to the Hidden Leaf Village with his body.]
[Day 160: Your enemies kept pursuing you without engaging head-on, launching surprise attacks from time to time. You lacked combat experience and spent a long time dealing with them all.]
[Day 161: Your teammate with spiky hair quit the ninja world. He said it was too cruel and went home to help his family with their business.]
[Day 162: Hiruzen assigned Kakashi to your team. Kakashi had been ostracized by his former teammates, and you needed a teammate anyway.]
[Day 163: You had secretly learned eighty percent of the Hatake sword techniques and were close to mastering them. You struck while the iron was hot and invited Kakashi to spar again.]
[Day 164: Your impressive Medical Ninjutsu attracted a lot of attention, and many people wanted to join your team.]
[Day 165: Nohara Rin was about to graduate. You made her an offer, and she agreed in order to be on the same team as Kakashi.]
[Day 166: Rin graduated. You asked Hiruzen to transfer her to a different team.]
[Day 167: Hiruzen approved your request. Rin saw Kakashi, the one she had been longing to join, but her feelings were complicated. What you had done left her thoughts in a mess.]
[Day 372: You used Medical Ninjutsu to heal Kakashi.]
[Day 373: Your team ran into Obito's team. Obito shamelessly stuck close to Rin and tried to chat with her.]
[Day 374: Kakashi and Obito grew closer. Since Rin's feelings were a mess, she never formed the bond with Obito that she had in the original story.]
[Day 375: You successfully learned the Hatake family's swordsmanship, greatly increasing your strength.]
[Day 376: Inspired by the Hatake family's swordsmanship and drawing on your experience, you successfully developed Fire Body Flicker.]
[Day 377: Mikoto invited you to dinner to thank you for helping her maintain her health all this time. She was now full of energy.]
[Day 456: You brought the darkness in Hyuga Natsu's heart to the surface.]
[Day 1,825: During the Third Shinobi World War, you let your guard down for a moment and lost a hand.]
[Simulation ended. Calculating results...]
[Choose one reward: Fire Body Flicker (experience and memories), Byakugan, or one Hatake Style Kenjutsu scroll.]
"My luck's finally improving."
Shimizu's eyes nearly bulged when he saw the rewards.
Had nearly two years of uneventful simulations finally brought him some good luck?
Any one of the three rewards would greatly increase his strength.
After taking several deep breaths, Shimizu began to consider which one to choose.
He had been longing for Fire Body Flicker, which he would develop in a year. Choosing it now would save him a year of research.
If he weren't comparing it to the other options, he would have chosen Fire Body Flicker without hesitation. With the experience and memories to go with it, he could master the technique immediately and gain a huge boost in strength.
But after seeing the other two options, Shimizu decided to set Fire Body Flicker aside for now.
He didn't even know what rank the technique was. What if he had only developed a D-rank jutsu himself? That would be awkward.
"Byakugan or Hatake Style Kenjutsu?"
Shimizu mused.
Before you continue