“That’s only because the exam maximum is a hundred percent.” Hideki Sato tilted his chin up, offering a distinctly smug reply.
“Well, look at you.
Another flawless execution of a humblebrag,” Tsunade muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Fine.
Go run drills with that summoning beast of yours for now.
Report to my estate tomorrow afternoon.
I need tonight to outline a proper curriculum.” Though she was currently recognized as the absolute pinnacle of medical ninjutsu in the Hidden Leaf, organizing a comprehensive pedagogical roadmap from scratch was uncharted territory.
The last thing she wanted was to deliver flawed instructions and ruin a rare talent.
Hideki complied, summoning Charmander in a brief swirl of smoke to engage in a series of rigorous physical conditioning exercises.
As the crimson hues of dusk began to bleed into the horizon, the squad members wrapped up their training and departed for their respective quarters.
Kushina did not tag along to Hideki’s estate that evening; she was scheduled to report directly to Mito Uzumaki to continue her advanced instruction in the clan’s sealing arts.
Without the redhead filling the house with her usual volume, Hideki lacked any motivation to prepare a proper home-cooked dinner.
Instead, he made a quick detour to Ichiraku Ramen.
After exchanging brief pleasantries with a thoroughly youthful Teuchi, he finished a simple pork-bone broth bowl and headed straight home.
The moment the clock ticked past midnight, Hideki’s eyes snapped open in the darkness.
Exactly one month had elapsed.
The cosmic wheel tied to his consciousness had officially reset, granting him his monthly lottery draw.
Though years of consecutive spins had yielded nothing of value save for Charmander’s egg, this particular extraction felt different.
This was his very first draw since officially registering as a shinobi.
By all metrics of cosmic balance, he was well overdue for a guaranteed payout.
Under Hideki’s intensely focused gaze, the ethereal matrix spun with violent velocity.
Flash!
A brilliant, blinding golden luminescence erupted within his mind’s eye.
Hideki aggressively slapped his thigh in sheer triumph.
A golden legend!
After years of wading through trash tier rewards, the wheel had finally delivered.
Today was undeniably his lucky day.
However, the moment the light receded and the specific metrics of the reward materialized, his soaring excitement was met with a violent bucket of freezing water.
Trait Aquired: The Love Charm — The user’s passive attraction metric toward the opposite sex is augmented exponentially.
Staring at the description, Hideki buried his face in his hands.
Had he been stranded in his previous life on Earth, this singular trait would have allowed him to comfortably surpass the legendary hosts of Tokyo and claim the title of absolute king of the nightlife.
He could have easily secured a wealthy patron and coasted through a life of luxury.
But this was the world of Naruto.
What functional utility did a high-tier charm metric offer here?
Was he supposed to flirt the final boss, Kaguya Otsutsuki, into submission when the world ended?
Besides, Hideki’s natural aesthetics were already exceptionally high.
Had he not spent the last six years constantly glued to Kushina’s side—effectively turning her into a natural deterrent—his mailbox would have been suffocated by love letters years ago.
Shaking his head at the absolute absurdity of his luck, Hideki accepted that breaking out of his bad luck streak wasn’t going to be linear.
He closed his eyes and slowly drifted into a quiet sleep.
The following afternoon, within the sprawling compound of the Senju clan.
Tsunade leaned forward, her fingers casually reaching out to hook beneath Hideki’s chin, tilting his face upward as she examined him with a deeply perplexed expression.
“Strange…
I haven’t seen you since yesterday, but it feels like your facial symmetry and overall presence jumped several tiers overnight.
Did you hit a sudden growth spurt?” Hideki naturally couldn’t cite a cosmic lottery mechanic as the source of his new aura.
He merely offered a smooth, unbothered shrug.
“I’m still at the height of my developmental phase, Sensei.
Becoming more exceptional by the day is standard baseline progression.” Before Tsunade could question the logic further, a frantic rush of heavy footsteps echoed down the adjacent corridor.
“Dammit!
How did I manage to oversleep this badly?!
I’m dead.
Orochimaru-sensei is absolutely going to skin me alive today!” Hideki and Tsunade turned simultaneously toward the noise.
A boy with a thoroughly disheveled nest of brown hair was sprinting toward the main gates, aggressively stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth as he ran.
Suddenly, Nawaki skidded to a violent halt, his eyes widening into massive plates as he locked onto the scene in the living room.
He recognized Hideki Sato, of course; they had been classmates for six grueling years at the Academy.
But what blew his mind was Hideki’s presence inside the private Senju estate—and more importantly, the distinctly intimate, chin-tilting posture his notoriously violent elder sister was currently deploying.
As his adolescent brain processed the visual input, Nawaki arrived at an absolute, terrifying conclusion.
Pointing a trembling finger at Tsunade, he shrieked at the top of his lungs, “Nee-san!
I knew you were desperate, but cradle-robbing one of my classmates?!
I am reporting this directly to Grandma Mito!” A dangerous grid of blue veins instantly bulged across Tsunade’s forehead.
Before Hideki’s eyes could even register the movement, her figure vanished from his side.
In the next microsecond, she materialized directly in Nawaki’s path.
Staring into the absolute, suffocating aura of pure malice radiating from his sister, Nawaki’s mind instantly recalled every single memory of childhood trauma.
A terrifyingly forced smile stretched across his face.
“Well, if it isn’t my incredibly gentle, profoundly beautiful, saint-like elder sister!
I want the record to show I am legally blind and saw absolutely nothing.
I am running late for Orochimaru-sensei’s briefing, so how about we resume this lovely family dynamic tonight?” Tsunade slowly cracked her knuckles, the heavy click-clack of her joints sounding exactly like the approach of the Grim Reaper in Nawaki’s ears.
“Don’t worry about Orochimaru,” Tsunade purred dangerously.
“I’ll let him know personally that you won’t be reporting for duty today.
Or next week.
Because you’ll be recovering from severe internal trauma.” The moment the words left her lips, her fist connected.
A colossal force caught Nawaki dead on the chin, launching his entire body airborne as he flew backward down the hall.
Watching the displays of “deep sibling affection,” Hideki felt a profound wave of gratitude that he had been reincarnated as an only child.
Roughly half an hour later, Tsunade strolled back into the room, her expression thoroughly refreshed and serene.
“Honestly, Nawaki is the textbook definition of a brat who needs a weekly thrashing just to keep his feet on the ground.
My stress levels have dropped significantly.” Having witnessed the entire sequence from the sidelines, Hideki’s respect for his sensei evolved into genuine terror.
Under normal circumstances, Nawaki’s skeletal structure wouldn’t have survived thirty minutes of sustained blunt-force trauma.
But Tsunade possessed the ultimate cheat code: high-tier medical ninjutsu.
Deploying the “Fist of Love” with her left hand while simultaneously channeling cellular regeneration with her right, she had effectively trapped Nawaki in an endless loop of localized destruction and healing.
“Alright, let’s ignore that idiot and get down to business,” Tsunade said, wiping her hands as she sat opposite him.
“You are aware that chakra possesses seven distinct elemental natures, correct?” Hideki nodded smoothly.
“It’s fine if you don’t know, since the Academy curriculum doesn’t cover—wait, you do?” Tsunade blinked.
“I found a record detailing it in the restricted section of the central library,” Hideki replied.
“Beyond the standard Five Basic Natures—Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water—there exist the esoteric natures of Yin and Yang.” “Right…
I keep forgetting you’re an absolute nerd,” Tsunade muttered, reaching into her pouch to extract a thin slip of pale parchment.
“This is chakra induction paper.
Channel your energy into it, and we’ll discern your baseline elemental affinity.
Keep in mind, this only registers the five physical elements; Yin and Yang require specialized testing.” Hideki accepted the slip, closing his eyes as he slowly directed a precise stream of chakra into the paper.
The reaction was instantaneous.
The pristine parchment violently divided into five distinct geographic quadrants.
One corner erupted into clean flame; another was sliced perfectly in two; a third crumpled into tight wrinkles; a fourth turned thoroughly damp; and the final section shattered into fine dust.
Staring at the multi-faceted destruction in his hand, Hideki couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride.
It appeared his natural baseline wasn’t unexceptional after all.
He was an innate master of all five basic elements—the exact same absolute affinity profile held by the Third Hokage himself.
( End of Chapter )