Konoha.
Evening.
The Hyuga Clan Mansion.
Hinata, who had short dark blue hair and pale eyes, had just finished sparring with Hanabi.
Drenched in sweat, she went to the bathroom to wash up, as usual.
As the water soaked her fair skin, Hinata reached for the body wash and felt something hard instead.
It was an exquisitely crafted diary with gold trim. Written on its cover were the words: [Takasaki's Diary (Hinata Hyuga)]
Inside an ordinary one-story house.
Takasaki lay on a wooden bed, gazing at the translucent panel before him and the diary that had suddenly appeared on the table.
After checking several times, he finally let out a sigh of relief. "Three years after transmigrating, my system has finally arrived."
There was no point dwelling on his past life. In this life, he was an ordinary student at the Konoha Ninja Academy, in the same class as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura Haruno. His parents had died in the war long ago, leaving him a house and barely enough money to get by.
He took another look around the house.
He lived in a one-story house on the outskirts of town.
The walls were plaster coated in white paint, and cracks had appeared here and there with age.
A low-wattage screw-in bulb cast a dim yellow glow from the ceiling. Its wiring was external.
Fortunately, the floor was made of wood, and Takasaki had just mopped it, so it was reasonably clean.
The bathroom mirror looked as if someone had punched it. Its surface was riddled with cracks, making it impossible to see a complete reflection.
A wooden bed, a solid wood table, a few folding bar stools, and a wardrobe made up nearly all the furniture worth mentioning in Takasaki's home.
Of course, the iron pot in the cramped kitchen—barely big enough for two people—could fetch a few coins if he sold it.
Simply put, his family was dirt poor.
The good news was that he was as handsome as Sasuke, and his manhood was long enough to conquer every kunoichi in the Ninja World.
The bad news was that his talent was downright mediocre. He still couldn't fully master the Three Body Technique, and at school he was a dead-last student, just like Naruto.
Next, he needed to figure out how the system worked.
As long as he wrote in the diary provided by the system, he would receive different rewards.
The diary could be recalled into his mental space at any time, so he didn't have to worry about anyone else seeing what he wrote. He could write whatever he wanted without holding back.
The system's instructions were simple. He really could grow stronger just by keeping a diary.
Takasaki never wanted to be the dead-last student in class again. He picked up his pen and began to write:
[Who keeps a diary like a decent person? If I'm going to write one, I might as well put down some indecent thoughts.]
[No one else can see my diary anyway, so I'll write whatever I want.]
[Today I borrowed Hinata's notebook. She still blushes whenever she gets embarrassed. Her body's developing, but she has no idea how voluptuous she'll be someday, does she? If I marry her, I'll probably wear her out.]
[There are plenty of beautiful women in the Ninja World. My curvy teacher, Kurenai Yuhi—those legs are worth a year of my time.]
[Ino, the young heiress of the Yamanaka Clan, will grow up to have a figure just as good as Hinata's. Of course, she's much feistier than Hinata. If I end up with her, I can let her get on top and take the lead.]
[The most ridiculously well-endowed has to be Tsunade. With those two enormous, snowy-white storehouses of milk, our kids would never go hungry.]
[As for Sakura Haruno, she's pretty, but she's Sasuke's simp. I'm not interested—unless she becomes my simp. She's such a good kisser, so she must have great technique.]
[And there are Mei Terumi, Temari, Konan, Karin, Tenten, Hanabi... All beautiful kunoichi. Who should I marry someday?]
[Only children have to choose. If I get the chance, I'll take them all!]
[Good thing they can't see these indecent things in my diary. Otherwise, it'd be hard to get by in the Ninja World.]
[That's enough for today. I'll take a break, then return the notebook I borrowed from Hinata.]
He finished writing.
Takasaki put down his pen and waited expectantly.
One minute, two minutes, five minutes passed. He received no reward.
Takasaki didn't panic. He kept waiting patiently. The system wouldn't lie to him. It probably hadn't confirmed that he was done writing yet.
Ten minutes passed.
The system's voice rang in Takasaki's mind:
[First diary entry complete] [Reminder: Since this is your first diary entry, you'll receive a reward without an evaluation. Your subsequent entries will be evaluated to ensure they describe real, valid events.] [Reward: Chakra reserves and stamina increased by 100%.] [Basic Three Body Technique acquired: Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, Transformation Technique.]
The Three Body Technique was a set of skills he had never been able to learn at the Ninja Academy. After all, he was the child of a civilian ninja, and compared with classmates who possessed Kekkei Genkai and family legacies, his progress had been painfully slow.
He had even been worrying about the Graduation Exam at the Ninja Academy in three days.
Now things were different.
Takasaki felt a warm current coursing through his body. It took the form of chakra, flowing through him and merging with his cells.
His previously exhausted body brimmed with energy.
He felt invigorated from head to toe.
He felt so good that he wanted to use a jutsu and pick a fight right then and there!
Takasaki had paid attention to the system's reminder.
In other words, his next diary entry would have to record a real, valid event before he could receive a reward.
That didn't sound difficult.
However, Takasaki was focused on the jutsu he had acquired, and was itching to try them out.
"Clone Technique!"
Takasaki immediately formed hand seals, and a cloud of smoke burst out beside him.
When the smoke cleared, a clone identical to him stood there.
He then tried the Substitution Technique and the Transformation Technique as well, mastering all three perfectly.
The Three Body Technique wasn't especially advanced, but it was the foundation of many other jutsu and was quite useful in battle.
Most importantly, it could raise his grades from dead last to good enough to graduate.
After his chakra reserves doubled, Takasaki still didn't have an especially large amount of chakra, but he was now around the class average.
Of course, he still couldn't compare to Naruto.
After all, Naruto had the Nine-Tails as a cheat.
His own cheat wasn't bad either.
This was only his first diary entry. He believed the rewards would keep getting better.
He had learned the Three Body Technique, but he wasn't proficient yet.
He planned to practice the Three Body Technique today and get a firmer grasp of the fundamentals.
"Clone Technique!"
Takasaki formed hand seals again, only to discover that he couldn't perform the Clone Technique properly. If he forced it, he felt dizzy.
"What's going on?"
"What am I doing wrong?"
Takasaki focused his mind and opened his character status page.
[Name: Takasaki] [Age: 12] [Ninjutsu: Level 1 Clone Technique (1/100) (6 chakra), Level 1 Substitution Technique (1/100) (6 chakra), Level 1 Transformation Technique (1/100) (6 chakra)] [Chakra: 2/20 (recovers 1 point every 2 minutes)] [Stamina: 20 (recovers 1 point every 3 minutes)]
He understood.
He didn't have enough chakra to use the Clone Technique again. If he did, he'd risk going into chakra-depletion shock, which could be fatal.
He had to admit, this civilian ninja's body was seriously useless.
Since he had nothing better to do, Takasaki decided to study his personal stats.
"I don't understand the first number in parentheses after each jutsu. I get the second one: it's the amount of chakra needed to use that jutsu."
"I just used the Three Body Technique once each, spending 18 chakra. I have 2 left now, so that adds up."
"But what do the levels before each jutsu mean?"
Takasaki focused his attention on the Clone Technique's level, and a system prompt appeared a moment later.
[Reminder: Every jutsu you learn starts at Level 1. Training increases its proficiency and raises its level. A Level 2 jutsu costs half as much chakra to use and has 50% more power. A Level 3 jutsu casts twice as fast and has 100% more power. A Level 4 jutsu has 200% more power. A Level 5 jutsu triggers an additional effect.] [Each use of a jutsu increases its proficiency by 1 point.] [At 100 proficiency points, the corresponding jutsu can reach Level 2; at 200 points, it can reach Level 3; at 500 points, it can reach Level 4; at 1,000 points, it can reach Level 5.]
Got it.
He just had to grind proficiency.
Takasaki didn't rush to start grinding. He planned to write another diary entry and see what reward he could get.
But when he picked up his pen to write his second entry, the system's voice rang in his mind:
[Reminder: Reach Level 3 in the Clone Technique to unlock permission to write the next diary entry.]
Takasaki understood.
So he couldn't write in the diary whenever he wanted. There were jutsu level requirements, and he had to reach the required level first.
Through his thoughts, Takasaki could see a progress bar for each jutsu level. All three of the Three Body Technique's progress bars currently read 1/100.
"Time to grind!"
"It'll make my jutsu stronger and unlock permission to write the next diary entry."
If he didn't get stronger fast, when the Ninja World War broke out, Pain could kill him by tossing a bag of rice at him.
The Hyuga Clan Mansion.
In the bathroom, Hinata tilted her head and studied the diary in her hands. "Why is Takasaki's diary in my house? And why is my name written on it?"
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