Koga swallowed.
The next message appeared.
SINCE THE BIRTH OF THE OVERLORD RANKING, THIS SYSTEM HAS SCANNED COUNTLESS WARRIORS...
Another line appeared.
IT HAS SEEN GENIUSES. IT HAS SEEN MONSTERS. IT HAS SEEN WARRIORS WHO HAVE SURPASSED THE LIMITS OF THEIR OWN KIND.
The crowd became increasingly tense. Then another line appeared.
BUT NEVER BEFORE HAS IT SCANNED AN INDIVIDUAL LIKE THIS.
The villagers gasped.
"What?"
"An individual like this?"
"What does that mean?"
Even the clan leaders looked shocked.
Karasu Moira’s expression changed. Kuma Rai stopped smiling. Inuzuza Kiza stared at the screen. Yukiju Ken narrowed his eyes.
Koga felt a strange chill.
"What kind of person..."
The Sky Screen continued.
THIS INDIVIDUAL POSSESSES A RECORD THAT THE OVERLORD RANKING HAS NEVER ENCOUNTERED BEFORE.
The villagers held their breath.
THIS INDIVIDUAL’S POTENTIAL...
The message stopped.
Then another appeared.
CANNOT BE PROPERLY MEASURED.
The village exploded.
"Who is it?!"
"Who can be that strong?"
"Is it someone from the village?"
"Could it be an enemy?"
Koga stared at the screen. His heartbeat grew louder.
Who could it be that made this "sky screen" system glare so much?
However, there was no doubt. This sky screen seemed to be created for everyone. Then, suddenly, Sky Screen flickered one final time. A gigantic name appeared.
INUZUZA KOGA.
Silence. Absolute silence.
Koga froze. His eyes widened. His mouth slowly opened.
"...What?"
Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Then someone shouted.
"Inuzuza?"
Another voice followed.
"INUZUZA KOGA?"
"He is from the Inuzuza Clan?"
"What Inuzuza Koga?"
The village exploded.
The Inuzuza Clan was the loudest of them all.
"What?"
"Who is that?"
"We have someone named Koga?"
"Impossible!"
The clan members looked at one another.
Even Kiza’s expression changed.
"Inuzuza Koga?"
She immediately turned toward her subordinates.
"Investigate."
Several Ninja straightened.
"Yes, Matriarch!"
"Find out who he is."
"Immediately!"
"I want everything."
"His family."
"His age."
"His training."
"His missions."
"Everything."
The Inuzuza Clan became chaotic.
Meanwhile, Koga stood completely still.
He could not hear anything. His mind had stopped working. His name was on the screen. His name. The name he had used in his past life. The name he had shouted moments ago. Inuzuza Koga. But that was not the name of this body. His body was called Inuzuza Kyo.
Koga stared at the screen.
"What am I doing up there?"
He looked down at himself. He was not a powerful Ninja. He did not have chakra. He had no bloodline limit. He had no famous master. He had no legendary family position. He was not even particularly talented. The only thing he had done was train. Every day.
One hundred push ups. One hundred sit ups.
One hundred squats. Ten kilometers of running.
That was it.
He had done those exercises because he was terrified of dying.
He wanted enough physical strength to survive or just hoped to if some malicious Ninja happened to target him. But compared to real Ninja training? Those exercises were nothing. Absolutely nothing.
So why was he number one?
Koga’s face twitched.
"Could it be..."
He looked at the screen.
"Is the system targeting me?"
That explanation made sense. Maybe the system wanted to motivate him. Maybe it had placed him at number one because he was its original owner. Maybe his reward would be something incredible.
Koga slowly relaxed.
"That’s it."
He nodded.
"That has to be it."
He immediately felt relieved. If that was the case, maybe the system had something for him. He couldn’t help but feel excited.
As for them finding the real him—who cares? How could anyone discover him?
The name on the screen was Inuzuza Koga. But this body’s name was Inuzuza Kyo. Nobody in this world knew his past life. Nobody knew that Koga was his old name. He was safe.
At least, that was what he told himself.
Then the Sky Screen changed.
AS THE NUMBER ONE OVERLORD, INUZUZA KOGA’S FEATS SHALL NOW BE REVEALED.
Koga’s expression froze.
"What?"
The villagers gasped.
"His feats?"
"They are going to show his accomplishments?"
"His abilities?"
The clan leaders immediately became serious.
Kiza looked up.
"Show us."
Koga tilted his head.
"What is this System planning?"
The screen flickered. Then the entire village went silent. The image changed.
A man appeared. His face was covered, making his identity impossible to recognize. He wore simple clothes. He held a piece of paper in one hand. The paper had a large discount written across it.
Koga stared.
"...What?"
The faceless man suddenly looked at the paper.
"Shit!"
His voice echoed across the village.
"I only have ten minutes left!"
Everyone blinked. Especially the owner of the store that gives those flyers.
The man looked toward the road.
"If I leave now, it will take eight minutes to get there!"
He immediately started running.
"I need to hurry!"
The villagers stared. The man ran through a busy street. He nearly crashed into someone.
"Watch where you’re going!"
"Sorry!"
He continued running.
The villager that the man bumped into the screen pointed. "That’s me!"
Then the sky above him darkened. Rain began falling. The man stopped. His face was still covered, but his despair could somehow be felt through the screen.
"No..."
A drop landed on his paper. He looked at it.
Another drop landed. Then another.
"No, no, no!"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small purse. He opened it. Only a few coins remained.
The entire village stared.
Kuma Rai’s mouth slowly opened. Karasu Moira blinked. Yukiju Ken frowned. Even Kiza looked confused.
"This..."
Kuma Rai pointed toward the screen.
"Is this the number one Overlord?"
A villager swallowed.
"He’s poor."
Another villager whispered.
"He looks extremely poor."
The screen showed the man desperately counting his remaining coins.
"If I don’t make it..."
His voice trembled.
"I won’t have enough money to last the week after payday."
Meanwhile Koga, who was watching, had his face long turned pale.
He remembered. He remembered that day. He remembered running through the rain. He remembered counting his coins. He remembered that stupid discount. And more importantly... He remembered being completely broke.
Koga covered his face.
"Oh no."
His cheeks burned.
"Please don’t show this."
The Sky Screen ignored him. The rain became heavier. The faceless man looked toward the distant road. Then he gritted his teeth.
"I have to make it!"
His legs suddenly moved.
The next instant, the image blurred. The man disappeared from the road. The villagers gasped. A powerful gust exploded across the screen. The rain itself seemed to bend backward. The man accelerated. Faster. Faster. Faster.
And beneath the astonished eyes of the entire village, the supposed number one Overlord of Koyagakure sprinted through the rain as though the heavens themselves were chasing him.
Soon, the faceless man kept his pace, continued running through the rain.
To the ordinary villagers watching the Sky Screen, there was nothing particularly strange about it anymore. He was fast. Very fast, perhaps. But that was all.
"He’s just running," a young villager said.
Another nodded.
"He is definitely faster than an ordinary person."
"So?"
The first villager shrugged.
"I thought the number one Overlord would do something more impressive."
Several people around him nodded.
Koga, who was standing far away on the grassy field, would probably have agreed. He stared at the screen with a confused expression.
"Why is the System showing everyone this?"
He scratched his head.
"I mean, he’s just running to buy something."
He had no idea why this was supposed to be a great feat.
Back to the Villagers, a cold voice came from behind the villagers. "You’re looking at the wrong thing."
The villagers turned.
A Ninja stood there with his arms crossed.
"What do you mean?"
"Don’t watch the man," the Ninja pointed at the screen. "Watch the people he passes."
The villagers looked back. The faceless man was running through a crowded street. He passed a group of Ninja. One had a wolf beside him. Another had a Vulture perched on his shoulder. A third walked with a Snow Leopard. A huge man was standing beside a Ninja Bear. The faceless man ran past all of them. And somehow none of them reacted.
The villager blinked.
"So?"
"Sigh..."
The Ninja’s face became serious.
"They didn’t sense him."
"What?"
"Look carefully."
The villagers watched again. The faceless man passed another Ninja. Nothing. He passed two more. Nothing. One of the Ninja even turned his head toward the sound of the rain, but his eyes never found the running man.
The villagers slowly became quiet.
The Ninja continued.
"Those aren’t all Genin."
A second Ninja nearby spoke.
"I can sense several Chunin."
Another looked at the screen.
"There are even Jonin among them."
The first Ninja nodded.
"And some of those people belong to the four great clans."
The villagers stared.
Suddenly, the ordinary running scene felt completely different.
One villager’s face turned red.
"So..."
The Ninja looked at him.
"So if that were a real battle?"
The villager swallowed.
The Ninja answered quietly. "They wouldn’t know they were being attacked."
Silence.
Another Ninja spoke.
"He could walk behind them."
"He could stand beside them."
"He could put a blade against their neck."
"They might not even realize someone was there."
The villagers stopped smiling.
One elderly man slowly lowered his pipe.
"That is..."
He struggled to finish the sentence.
"Terrifying."
The Ninja nodded.
"It would be worse than terrifying."
His eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"It would mean he could kill you in front of your own eyes, and you might never know where the attack came from."
The four great clans became completely serious.
The Inuzuza Clan was especially tense. Their people stared at the screen with expressions that had lost every trace of curiosity. An enemy who could hide from their senses was already frightening. An enemy who could move so quickly that even trained Ninja could not react was something else entirely.
Inuzuza Kira’s expression became grim.
"Where’s the result?"
A subordinate immediately bowed.
"Yes, Matriarch."
"Tell me everything."
"Yes."
"His family. His age. His residence. His parents. His missions. His records. Anything connected to that name."
The Ninja nodded and disappeared. Several minutes passed. Then a figure flashed back into the clan compound.
He immediately knelt.
"Matriarch."
Kira looked at him.
"Report."
The subordinate lowered his head.
"We still could not find him. Unfortunately, we also couldn’t find anything about gim."
Kira’s eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean? Not even a thing?"
"We searched the village registry."
"And?"
"Nothing."
"Search again."
"We did."
"How many records?"
"All of them."
Kira’s expression hardened.
"Explain."
The subordinate took a breath.
"We checked the main civilian registry first. Then the Ninja registry. Then the clan family records. We checked birth records, academy enrollment records, mission assignments, residence records, medical records, tax records, household records, and the old population lists."
Kira remained silent.
"We also checked the records of people who left the village, people who entered the village, deceased villagers, missing villagers, retired Ninja, adopted children, and children registered under temporary names."
"And?"
"No Inuzuza Koga."
The surrounding clan members stared.
Kira frowned.
"You are telling me there is nobody with that name?"
"Yes."
"Search the clan records."
"We already did."
"Our family records go back generations."
"Yes, Matriarch."
"You checked every branch?"
"Yes."
"Every household?"
"Yes."
"Every child?"
"Yes."
Kira’s expression became darker.
"And you found nothing?"
The subordinate shook his head.
"Nothing."
Another subordinate rushed forward.
"Matriarch, we even checked records that had not been updated recently. We checked handwritten documents stored in the older archive rooms. We searched through records from before the current clan administration. We compared the name against family trees and mission reports."
He swallowed.
"There is still no Inuzuza Koga."
Kira stared at the Sky Screen.
"How can someone like that simply exist without a record?"
Nobody answered.
Across the village, the other clans were doing the same thing.
Karasu Mirai approached her clan leader.
"We found nothing."
Moira turned.
"Nothing?"
"Not one Inuzuza named Koga."
Yukiju Ken received a similar report.
His subordinate bowed.
"We searched every record we could access."
Ken frowned.
"And?"
"No result."
Ken looked at the screen. The faceless man continued running.
Ken’s eyes narrowed.
"Then he probably doesn’t want himself to be found."
His subordinate looked confused.
"Because of his speed?"
"Exactly."
Ken folded his arms.
"Someone who can move like that would understand the value of hiding."
Meanwhile, Kuma Morai shook his enormous head. "Impossible."
The people around him looked at their clan leader.
Morai pointed toward the Sky Screen.
"Someone with that kind of ability should have shown himself long ago!"
He slapped his enormous palm against his arm.
"I don’t believe he’s real."
The giant Ninja Bear behind him growled like it was agreeing to its tamer
Morai’s expression remained suspicious.
"No person that powerful could remain completely unknown."
Yet none of them had an answer.