Inside the dim basement, a faint scent of lavender lingered. A beam of slant light pierced the gloom, shining down on a handsome young man with a weary look in his eyes.
The youth's entire body was bound in a turtle-shell restraint with red rope, seated on a soft leather sofa, his torso trembling up and down.
He lifted his eyelids with considerable numbness, gazing at a raven-haired woman before him.
The woman possessed an exquisite visage and an excited expression. Her originally aloof and icy delicate face, resembling a deep pool, now carried a flush of red.
"Yemu, Yemu, what is wrong with you? Why won't you talk to me anymore?"
Her cold voice carried a flirtatious undertone, clearly somewhat satisfied.
Qingxue looked at Yemu beneath her, whose eyes had lost their highlight, a morbid expression in his dual pupils accompanied by a rare, panicked trace. "It's all your fault, all your fault for flirting with other women! Clearly... you clearly took so many of my firsts, why are you still ignoring me?!"
"Won't you say something to me?"
Qingxue shook Yemu's body, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea, meeting no response.
Perhaps unable to accept that the man she loved most had returned to the heavens after being continuously drained dry by her for over ten days, Qingxue drew a short blade from beneath her black dress and placed the knife into the palm of Yemu's hand...
Until her dying breath, a smile still hung on the corner of Qingxue's mouth, for she knew she would finally be able to stay with Yemu forever.
Land of Fire, Konoha Year 54.
Within the village, people bustled back and forth before the Ninja Academy. Spring had arrived, marking another annual period of dating... no, of new student enrollment.
The Ninja Academy had been established by Second Hokage Tobirama Senju with the purpose of cultivating fresh forces and spreading the Will of Fire. The academy generally lasted for six years, and students typically graduated at age twelve.
Barring the occasional genius outlier.
Unlike other students escorted by parents or older brothers and sisters, Yemu Hyuga was among that small minority who arrived entirely alone.
Yet among this small group, Yemu Hyuga alone looked at the others without a trace of envy, his expression instead carrying a hint of leisure.
He was not originally an orphan.
Alas, when he was three years old, his parents had sacrificed themselves in a struggle with Kumogakure ninja while protecting Hinata Hyuga, the eldest miss of the Hyuga Clan.
The good news was that he had time-traveled and landed in the Hyuga Clan, a prominent family in Konoha. The bad news was that he belonged to the Hyuga Branch Family, mere tools and cannon fodder.
The purpose of the Hyuga Branch Family's existence was singular, and that was to protect the Main Family.
This was also why, when Kumogakure falsely accused the Hyuga Clan of murdering their envoy, Hizashi Hyuga, patriarch of the Hyuga Branch Family, went to his death in place of his older brother.
Yet none of this mattered.
Yemu Hyuga cared about only one thing.
And that was the fact that he had finally gotten far away from that terrifying yandere girlfriend of his from his past life.
You might like yanderes, but you must never be liked by one.
Yemu had learned this truth through cruel facts.
Even now, Yemu Hyuga was unwilling to recall those dozen or so days he had survived in the basement during his past life.
At first he was still enjoying it, but after five days, he grew terrified. Under the effects of the blue pills, he deeply understood what it meant that there was no such thing as a plowed field that wore out, only oxen that died of exhaustion.
Yemu Hyuga shielded his forehead with his hand. The blue sky and white clouds, the fresh air, and a thread of sunlight slanting down illuminated his rather dashing cheeks.
This caused some girls not far away, who were peeking at him, to blush and quickly look away.
Who could have ever imagined that a quiet girl who stayed in the library and loved to read books could actually turn out to be so crazy?
Never let yourself be fooled by the surface appearance of things.
This was the second truth Yemu Hyuga had grasped.
"What a wonderful day again."
With a sigh of emotion, Yemu Hyuga walked toward the entrance of the Ninja Academy.
The ninja world was also known as "Black Zetsu's Search for Mother".
In this world, bloodline represented everything. At its core, it was a matter of internal strife within the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
Yemu Hyuga was completely unbothered by this conclusion, for he possessed a cheat.
[Talent Trait System.]
[Draws can be performed by causing emotional fluctuations in characters. The more core the plot character, the more emotional value obtained.]
[A draw can be made for every one hundred points of emotional value.]
Host: Yemu Hyuga
Emotional Value: 0
Traits: Ōtsutsuki Bloodline (Red), Handsome (Blue), Chakra Control (Blue), Baji Grandmaster (Gold)
[Ōtsutsuki Bloodline (Red): You possess a pure Ōtsutsuki bloodline, holding infinite possibilities for the future.]
[Handsome (Blue): Your appearance is favored by the heavens, naturally attracting the opposite sex, though there is also a very small possibility of attracting the same sex.]
[Chakra Control (Blue): Years of cultivation have made your control over chakra even more minute.]
[Baji Grandmaster (Gold): You have combined the Hyuga Clan's Eight Trigrams Gentle Fist to develop the fiercely striking Bajiquan, and your talent for developing taijutsu will be vastly enhanced.]
Talent grades are divided into white, green, blue, purple, gold, and red.
Yemu Hyuga knew there certainly had to be even more formidable talents; red was definitely not the limit.
He found the classroom entrance.
Yemu Hyuga paused slightly.
Within his field of vision were familiar figures.
The boisterous Naruto Uzumaki, the cold-looking Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, who adored handsome guys.
Yet upon seeing Yemu Hyuga at the door, Sakura Haruno looked distinctly stunned.
She had never expected that anyone's looks could surpass even Sasuke-kun's.
Not only Sakura Haruno, but Hinata Hyuga lowered her head with unusual guilt when she saw Yemu Hyuga walk into the classroom.
There was no help for it; Yemu Hyuga's parents had perished precisely to protect her. Furthermore, after that snow-filled encounter, Hinata even suspected she might have harbored feelings she never should have formed.
[Sakura Haruno feels surprised, harvesting 100 emotional value]
[Hinata Hyuga feels guilty, harvesting 200 emotional value]
"Bro Yemu, you're here too."
Neji Hyuga, the branch family genius of the Hyuga Clan, took the initiative to greet him upon seeing Yemu Hyuga approach.
"Brother Neji, why are you only enrolling now?"
Yemu Hyuga felt somewhat puzzled. If he remembered correctly, Neji Hyuga could have entered the Ninja Academy last year.
"That fellow is in your same cohort. I was worried about you, so I delayed my enrollment by a year."
Neji Hyuga sat near the front of the classroom, turning his head somewhat covertly to glance a few times at Hinata Hyuga in the middle of the room, his eyes carrying traces of disgust and hatred.
Both his and Yemu's fathers had died because of the Hyuga Clan's Main Family, leading Neji Hyuga to believe that he and Yemu Hyuga were cut from the same cloth.
Moreover, Yemu Hyuga's talent was by no means inferior to his own, and could even be said to completely crush him.
"Is that so? Brother Neji, you don't need to worry about me." Yemu Hyuga shook his head.
Instead, he took the initiative to walk over toward Hinata Hyuga's side.
"Good morning, Miss."
A smile hung on Yemu Hyuga's face as he greeted Hinata Hyuga, who looked somewhat self-deprecating and bashful.
Hearing this, Hinata lowered her head, her fingers nervously twisting and interlacing beneath her desk. "Umm, h... hello."
Yemu Hyuga rubbed his chin in thought. "Miss, I told you I wouldn't blame you."
Watching the silent Hinata, Yemu Hyuga shook his head helplessly. "Why are you so nervous, Miss, not even daring to look me in the eye? Could it be that you're drooling over my body?"
Yemu actually wanted to say, Look me in the eye, you planter of seeds.
Yet thinking that saying so might cause an even greater misunderstanding, he could only mentally vent with a silent complaint.
Still, not daring to look a god in the eye could be considered normal and couldn't really be blamed on her.
Mere words caused not only Hinata Hyuga to panic and shake her head, but also made Neji Hyuga turn his head in stunned, utter disbelief.
Neji Hyuga's eyes widened, his mouth agape, expression blank.
If one had to describe it, he surely wore the mask of a clown on his face right then.
Well, well, well. Clearly I delayed my enrollment a year for your sake, and you turn around and tell me you don't hate the Main Family at all??
Seeing that Hinata Hyuga seemed to recover somewhat, Yemu Hyuga shook his head helplessly and walked toward his own seat-the classic back row by the window.
Yet very soon.
Yemu Hyuga's movements halted slightly.
In his field of vision, sunlight poured down, a breeze swept past outside the window, and pink cherry blossom petals drifted slowly in with the wind.
What caused Yemu Hyuga to pause was not this breathtaking scenery, but the exquisite figure whose raven hair rippled with the gentle breeze.
For the beautiful scenery outside the window could not compare to even a fraction of this girl in black.
[Ultimate plot character discovered: Qingxue Uchiha. This person is your girlfriend from a past life; harvesting emotional value from this character will be doubled.]
Qingxue Uchiha seemed to notice Yemu Hyuga's gaze.
That icy-jade beauty rested her cheek on her hand and slowly turned her head. Her pitch-black pupils twitched slightly, and soon her gaze, which had resembled a cold pool, seemed to ripple with intense, shocking emotional fluctuations. A pair of cherry lips, pale as water, finally bloomed into a smile.
The young lady slowly reached out a hand, her smile capable of toppling cities. "Hello, my name is Qingxue Uchiha. Please take care of me from now on."
Qingxue Uchiha
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