Naoki ran for several kilometers in one breath, his lungs burning with pain.
It wasn’t until the arrogant fan emblem of the Uchiha Clan Compound was finally out of sight that he collapsed into a secluded alley like a puddle of mud.
He leaned against the cold wall, gasping for air, his heart drumming wildly in his chest as if it would leap out of his throat at any second.
That aura of aloofness and dominance belonging to Uchiha Madara, which had been forcibly injected by the system, was receding as fast as a tide.
In its wake came a weakness and lingering fear that seeped into his very bones.
“I…
I survived…
I actually fucking survived…”
The feeling of relief after a narrow escape almost overwhelmed his reason.
He closed his eyes, his mind still filled with those dozens of pairs of crimson Sharingan flickering in the darkness, and Uchiha Setsuna’s face, distorted by fanaticism and killing intent.
If even one thing had gone wrong just now, or if the system’s ten-minute ‘Majesty Trial Card’ had expired just one second earlier, he would probably be chopped into seventeen or eighteen pieces by now, with a Kunai stuck in every single one.
“System, you absolute bastard!
If you pull another one of these hell-mode ‘mutually assured destruction’ stunts next time, I’ll…
I’ll…
I’ll keep doing it!” He cursed viciously in his heart, though his tone was incredibly weak.
He couldn’t help it; the rewards were just too good.
With a thought, he tremblingly brought up the system interface.
[Urgent Mission: Display of Majesty (Completed)]
[Mission Evaluation: Perfect (The host’s performance exceeded expectations, successfully dealing a devastating psychological blow and spiritual reshaping to the target group).]
[Reward: Three-Tomoe Sharingan (Passive effect: Permanent enhancement of dynamic vision, can be toggled/hidden at any time, no Chakra consumption), Issued.]
The reward…
has arrived?
Naoki subconsciously focused his mind to feel his eyes.
A faint but incredibly pure stream of Yin Release Chakra, like a gentle brook, was quietly lurking in the meridians of his eyes, coexisting perfectly with his own Chakra as if it were innate.
Just then, a plump sparrow flapped its wings and flew past the eaves above the alley entrance.
Almost as an instinctive reaction, Naoki’s pupils contracted imperceptibly!
Hum—
A strange warm current instantly surged through his eyes.
The entire world suddenly changed in his field of vision!
Every flap of the sparrow’s wings was slowed down dozens of times; every quiver of its feathers, the subtle air currents sliced by its wings, even his own startled face reflected in the sparrow’s eye…
everything was imprinted in his mind with the clarity of an ultra-high-definition slow-motion replay!
“My god…”
Naoki was so startled by this sudden change that his heart skipped a beat.
The strange sensation vanished in an instant, and the world returned to its normal flow.
“This…
this is the dynamic vision of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan?!”
This was practically a physical cheat code that crushed the competition!
With this, whose hand seals wouldn’t look like a slow-motion breakdown in his eyes?
Whose Taijutsu wouldn’t look like an old man doing Tai Chi?
How could he possibly lose?
They were still a pair of clear red eyes, without the slightest change.
“Permanently hideable…
no Chakra consumption…
and none of the emotional side effects of those Uchiha lunatics…” Naoki looked at the description on the system panel, his grin widening to his ears, wishing he could hug the system and give it a kiss.
“System, oh System, you might be a dog, but the stuff you give is truly top-tier!
This is practically a divine skill tailor-made for an ultimate salted fish like me!”
However, after the euphoria, a deeper chill rushed from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
“Wait…
this thing is a genuine Sharingan!”
“If Second Granduncle finds out…
will he tie me to an experimental table, muttering ‘for science’ and ‘for the Village’ while he gouges out my eyeballs alive to pickle them in formalin for study?!”
At the thought of Senju Tobirama’s ‘I’m doing research and you’re all gonna die’ ice-cold face, Naoki felt a chill on the back of his neck.
“No, this secret must absolutely!
Absolutely not be known by anyone!
I won’t say a word even if it kills me!”
He felt that his dream of being a salted fish who just ‘eats and sleeps’ had drifted another light-year away.
The secrets he carried were becoming heavier and heavier.
Sighing, he tidied his clothes, which had become a bit disheveled during his escape, and began to sneak toward the Ninja Academy.
Theory class should be over by now; he had to slip back before school let out, otherwise the trouble for skipping class would be bigger than facing the Uchiha.
Using the Uchiha-style movement techniques that were becoming increasingly familiar in his mind, he wove through alleys and across rooftops, silently sneaking back into the Ninja Academy.
When he slipped through the back door into the classroom and returned to his seat as if nothing had happened, the bell for the end of class rang at just the right moment.
“Perfect.” Naoki gave himself a mental thumbs-up.
He was just about to slump onto his desk to catch up on sleep and soothe the mental trauma he’d suffered today when a voice filled with anger and killing intent exploded above his head.
“SEN!
JU!
NAO!
KI!”
Naoki looked up weakly and saw Tsunade’s puffed-up face, which was practically screaming ‘you’re dead’.
She had her hands on her hips, her blonde twin-tails shaking violently with the rise and fall of her body, looking like a little golden lioness that had been thoroughly provoked.
“Where!
Did!
You!
Go!” she hissed, every word squeezed out from between her teeth.
“Don’t you dare say you had a stomachache and went to the bathroom!
Which bathroom in Konoha is built in an ancient tomb?!
One that requires staying there for an entire afternoon?!”
“Uh…
well…” Naoki was momentarily at a loss for words.
“I…
I was constipated, okay?” He could only bite the bullet and talk nonsense.
“Constipated?!” Tsunade’s volume instantly jumped eight octaves, drawing curious looks from the surrounding students who were preparing to leave.
Realizing she’d lost her composure, she quickly lowered her voice, grabbed Naoki’s collar, leaned into his ear, and growled through gritted teeth: “Who are you kidding!
Look at you—your face is as white as paper, you’re covered in cold sweat, and your Chakra is as messy as a pot of porridge!
Your clothes even smell like ancient dust!
Tell me!
Did you go off behind my back again to play with that exploding ‘Physics Ninjutsu’ of yours?!”
As she spoke, she reached out with her other wicked little hand and accurately pinched Naoki’s ear, giving it a full hundred-and-eighty-degree twist.
“Hiss— Ow, ow, ow!
Tsunade, you’re my sister!
Let go!” Naoki grimaced in pain, feeling like his ear was about to leave home.
“Tell me!
What kind of trouble did you get into!” Tsunade was relentless, though the force on his ear subconsciously loosened by half.
She was truly worried.
Ever since the entrance ceremony, Naoki had become more and more mysterious, harder and harder for her to understand.
The occasional flashes of coldness and strength that didn’t belong to someone his age made her feel a hint of fear and distance.
She still preferred the old Naoki, the idiot who would fight her for Tri-color Dango and who she’d have to wake up with a pillow because he overslept.
Seeing the worry in Tsunade’s eyes that she couldn’t hide no matter what, Naoki felt a warmth in his heart, and his ear didn’t seem to hurt as much anymore.
“I really didn’t do anything,” he sighed, putting on a pitiful expression.
“I just got lost and spent ages wandering around the Village.
I was tired and hungry, and I almost fainted on the side of the road.”
Tsunade stared at him skeptically for a long time before her hand finally let go completely: “Really?”
“Truer than pearls!” Naoki was one step away from swearing an oath to the heavens.
Tsunade gave a heavy huff and finally released him.
She rubbed Naoki’s ear, which she had pinched bright red, and the anger on her face mostly dissipated.
“Forget it,” she sighed, her expression becoming a bit complicated.
“Put your own trouble aside for now.
Right now, someone else has a big problem waiting for you to solve.”
“What kind of problem?” A bad premonition rose in Naoki’s heart.
Tsunade didn’t answer directly.
She just jerked her chin toward the classroom door, a hint of schadenfreude in her eyes.
“Come with me and you’ll see.
That number one fanboy of yours has been cornered at the training ground by some Uchiha upperclassmen because he was bragging everywhere about your ‘Physics-based Fire Style’.”
She paused, then grabbed Naoki’s wrist and started dragging him out.
“If we don’t go now, that idiot Jiraiya is going to be beaten to death.”
…..