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Kitahara Kaede locked the door and windows from the inside, then wedged a single strand of hair into the door crack as a silent alarm.
Once he was certain no one was around, he sat back on the edge of the bed and focused his mind.
A screen of light flickered into existence.
[Please allocate initial attribute points (20 points total)]
[Options: Talent, Family Background, Appearance, Luck.]
[Note: Maximum 10 points per attribute.
Attributes will determine the direction of your “Life Script.”]
Four options.
Twenty points.
Kitahara Kaede didn’t hesitate.
Talent, 10.
Maxed.
He knew the rules of this world too well.
Everyone preaches the Will of Fire.
Equality for all.
But what actually decides things?
Kekkei Genkai and bloodline.
What do you call someone with no talent who pushes hard on the battlefield?
A kill donation to the enemy.
If he wanted to become their White Moonlight, he first had to be strong enough that people had to look up.
Not strong enough to take a blade for someone?
That’s not a heroic sacrifice.
That’s just blocking the view.
Appearance, 8.
White Moonlight, after all.
Face is a hard requirement.
Same life-saving grace, if you’re ugly, they say “I’ll repay you as an ox in the next life.” If you’re handsome, they say “I’ll repay you with myself.”
Family Background, 2.
No need for a main-line noble house.
Ideally the kind of fallen family that was once prosperous and isn’t anymore.
Enough of a name to move around without questions, and maybe a few inherited ninjutsu to pocket along the way.
Luck, 0.
His finger came down without a second’s pause.
Luck, for other people, is a lifeline.
For him?
A liability.
The worse his luck, the harsher his fate.
The harsher his fate, the more tragic his death.
The more tragic his death,
the deeper she’d remember him.
Heaven envies genius.
Beauty is short-lived.
Longing goes unfulfilled.
Only death brings rest.
A perfect professional fit.
[Talent 10 / Appearance 8 / Family Background 2 / Luck 0]
[Confirmed.
Loading, ]
The screen flashed.
Text began to scroll.
[The ninja world has just stabilized.
The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, reigns supreme over the era.
Konohagakure appears peaceful on the surface, but undercurrents stir beneath.]
[Identity generated: Young master of the Hagoromo Clan.
The clan once allied with the Senju during the Warring States period.
Now its numbers have dwindled, and it has been absorbed into Konoha.]
[You have been named: Hagoromo Kaede.]
[Carrying an adult’s memories and max-level Talent, you’ve drawn the genius script.
Walking at one, refining chakra at two, ninjutsu mastered on the first try.]
[Konoha Year 13.
Tsunade is born.]
[Time fast-forward, ]
[You are four years old.
Tsunade is three.]
[Senju Hashirama convenes a high-level meeting.
Your father, as head of the Hagoromo Clan, brings you to the Senju residence to attend.]
[Chapter One, officially begins.]
His vision shifted.
Light poured in, making him squint.
The air carried the faint scent of wood.
Beneath his feet, smooth polished floorboards.
The texture was real enough that it didn’t feel like a simulation at all.
A four-year-old’s body.
His hands were a size smaller.
He knelt behind his father, posture correct.
The last line still lingered in his mind.
[Konoha Year 13.
Tsunade is born.]
Tsunade.
Senju Hashirama’s granddaughter.
The future Godaime Hokage.
One of the Densetsu no Sannin.
The system’s intent was clear enough.
The target this time was Tsunade.
He steadied himself and swept his gaze around the room without drawing attention.
Inside the main hall, a dozen or so clan heads sat in two rows facing each other.
The head seat at the front was empty.
Tea had already been poured.
Tsunade wasn’t there.
A three-year-old wouldn’t appear in a council chamber, of course.
Kaede lowered his gaze and stared obediently at the floor.
No rush.
Get a feel for the situation first.
About the time it takes to finish a cup of tea passed.
“I won!
I won again!
Hahahaha — ”
A burst of laughter rang from outside the hall.
A child’s voice, high and round, but full of energy, loud enough to carry across the corridor and half the courtyard without any trouble.
Right after came the clatter of dice scattering across a table.
Kaede lifted his eyes and looked through the open side door of the main hall.
In the pavilion, Senju Hashirama sat cross-legged on the ground, both hands spread open, a look of suffering on his face.
“Lost again…
how is this even possible…”
Sitting across from him was a tiny little thing.
White dress.
Golden hair in a spiky ponytail.
A pile of copper coins and snacks heaped in front of her.
She leaned back with her chin practically aimed at the sky.
Three-year-old Tsunade, arms planted on her hips.
“Grandpa is so dumb!
Again!”
Kaede glanced at Hashirama’s hands.
He was throwing the game.
Not even trying to hide it, it was practically written on his face.
The First Hokage.
A man who could grind the Kyuubi into the dirt.
Right now, he was sweating over a dice game with his three-year-old granddaughter and losing every round.
“Again, again!” Tsunade reached for the dice.
Hashirama was about to oblige when several Senju elders came striding quickly from the far end of the corridor, expressions grim.
Hashirama’s smile faded halfway.
He stood.
“Little Tsunade, Grandpa has to go take care of something.”
Tsunade wrapped both arms around his leg.
“You’re just a sore loser!
Cheater!”
“Grandpa really has to — ”
“Liar!”
Tsunade’s mouth crumpled.
Her eyes went red.
Hashirama looked down at her, and the hesitation on his face was obvious.
This was a man who had faced Tailed Beasts.
Who had faced Uchiha Madara.
And yet here he stood, a three-year-old girl clinging to his leg, the corner of his mouth going soft.
But the elders were already at his side, murmuring something low.
Hashirama sighed and caught the attendant’s eye.
The attendant stepped forward to coax her away.
Tsunade refused.
It took both coaxing and carrying to finally pry her off the First Hokage’s leg.
“I don’t want to, let go, Grandpa, you big meanie — ”
Her crying twisted through several notes and gradually faded into the distance.
Hashirama rubbed his temple and walked with the elders toward the main hall.
The various clan heads rose to follow.
Kaede’s father stood as well, straightening his clothes.
“Father.”
Kaede tugged at his sleeve.
“It’s stuffy in here.
I’ll go sit outside for a bit.”
His father glanced at him and nodded.
“Don’t wander far.”
“Mm.”
The hall door closed.
The main hall was empty.
Kaede got up, crossed the corridor, and rounded a low wall.
In the pavilion, dice were scattered across the floor.
Copper coins and snacks piled up in a mess across the table.
He walked over, picked up one of the dice, and turned it over in his palm.
He was about to set it back on the table,
“That’s mine.”
The voice came from behind him.
Thick with a slight nasal edge.
Kaede turned.
Tsunade stood at the corner of the low wall.
Eyes red, tear tracks still wet on her cheeks, the tip of her nose pink.
But her mouth was pressed into a tight line, fixed on the die in his hand.
She’d clearly broken free from the attendant and run back on her own.
Kaede looked at her and held the die out.
“Yours.”
Tsunade marched over, snatched it, and clutched it tight in her fist.
Then she stepped back half a pace and looked him up and down.
When she was done, she wrinkled her nose.
“Who’re you?”
“My dad came to see your grandpa.” Kaede said.
“Stuffy in there.
Came out for some air.”
Tsunade tilted her head and studied him for 2 full seconds, as if trying to work out what kind of person this unfamiliar kid, half a head taller than her, actually was.
Then she looked down at the die in her hand.
Then at the empty pavilion.
Then back up at Kaede.
Something shifted in her expression.
She perked up.
“You know how to play dice?”
Kaede shook his head slightly.
“Not really.” His tone was matter-of-fact.
A small pause.
“You teach me?”
Tsunade blinked.
For as long as she could remember, it had always been Grandpa doing the teaching.
No one had ever asked her to teach them anything.
Her eyes lit up all at once.
…
➤ Next: Teach Me — Heartbreak