Snow continued to fall outside.
Deep, frantic impacts echoed from the Hyuga side-branch dojo.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Hyuga Hizashi stood in the shadows of the corridor, his pure white eyes filled with intense shock and deep heartache.
In the center of the courtyard, the four-year-old boy—who had just endured hellish torment and been forcibly branded with the “Caged Bird” curse seal—was striking a solid wooden post palm after palm, like a tireless young beast.
“Neji, that’s enough!”
Hizashi finally couldn’t restrain himself.
He rushed forward and grabbed his son’s wrist.
“Your hands are still bleeding!
Your body won’t hold up!”
Neji’s hands were raw and split open from the high-intensity striking, turning his white bandages a shocking shade of dark red.
Yet he refused to stop.
He turned his head.
Those eyes—once hollow, lifeless, and seemingly crushed by fate—were now burning with a terrifying, heart-stopping fire!
“Father,” Neji panted heavily, his voice raspy but unshakable.
“I cannot stop.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?
Today is the day you received the curse seal.
You need to rest—”
“So what if it’s a curse seal?”
Neji yanked his hand back and slammed a fist into the post, sending wood chips flying.
“As long as I become strong enough…
as long as I desperately push myself to keep up with that person’s footsteps, one day, these shackles will be completely shattered!”
Hizashi froze on the spot.
He had never seen such a brilliant, ambition-filled light in his son’s eyes before.
“Who was it?
Who said something to you?”
Unbidden, the image of that small, arrogant figure standing in the wind and snow—looking like an absolute deity while promising to “change all the rules”—flashed through Neji’s mind.
A rare, almost fanatical smile curled onto his pain-contorted face.
“Someone…
who is even more insane than me, yet makes you want to follow them anyway.”
From that day on, Neji trained even harder.
Meanwhile, in the Main Branch compound—the young heiress’s private courtyard.
SLAM!
The heavy wooden sliding door was shut tight, followed by the crisp sound of a lock sliding into place.
“Natsu-nee, I’m going to sleep!
Nobody is allowed in without my permission!”
“Yes, Hinata-sama.
Rest well, and don’t catch a cold.”
Hyuga Natsu’s gentle voice echoed from outside.
After ensuring the surroundings were completely quiet and Natsu’s footsteps had faded away, the “White Eye Princess”—who had been exuding pure dominance in the snow just moments ago while declaring she would smash the rules—flopped onto her soft tatami mat like a fish out of water.
“AAAAAAAAHHH!”
Hinata buried her cute, sculpted face deep into the thick duvet, her tiny bare feet kicking frantically in the air.
Her face was flushed so red it looked ready to drip blood.
‘Fuck!
Fuck!
FUCK!’
‘What the hell did I just do?!’
Hinata shrieked in silent agony inside her head.
‘What “change all the rules”?!
What “smash the Caged Bird”?!
How could mid-20s chunibyo lines that only a shonen protagonist shouts in a series finale come out of the mouth of a 24-year-old grown-ass guy like me?!’
‘This is too embarrassing!
My brain must’ve gotten freezer burn out there in the snow!’
‘Seeing Neji looking half-dead like that made my bleeding heart overflow, so I ran over and dumped a massive bucket of motivational chicken soup on him!’
‘What if he clings to me every day from now on wanting to start a revolution together?
I just want to sit back and be a lazy, overpowered slacker!’
After squirming frantically like a worm on the bed for a full ten minutes, Hinata finally ran out of energy.
She sprawled out in a spread-eagle shape on the tatami, staring up at the ceiling with all the will to live drained out of her.
“Phew…
Whatever, whatever.
The flex is out, and the words are spoken.
At least kid Neji won’t turn into that bitter, fatalistic idiot from the original story anymore,” Hinata sighed long and hard, desperately comforting her wounded soul.
After calming her nerves, she took a deep breath and issued a command in her mind.
With a thought, a semi-transparent blue light screen—visible only to her—slowly unfolded before her eyes.
This was her ultimate trump card for survival in this cruel shinobi world.
[Multiverse Character Template System]
Current Host: Hyuga Hinata
First Template: Satoru Gojo (Progress: 15%)
The plain interface held only this simple line of text.
“Only 15%…
Still way too slow.”
Hinata frowned slightly and muttered to herself.
Although this 15% progress already allowed her to keep a weak version of the passive “Limitless” defense active 24/7, her neck still felt cold whenever she thought about the future trajectory of the Naruto world.
This was a high-risk world crawling with freaks, where cheats were a dime a dozen!
‘Konoha looks peaceful right now, but undercurrents are surging.’
‘In a few years, we’ve got the Uchiha Massacre, Orochimaru’s Konoha Crush, and then Pain bringing delivery with a Shinra Tensei that flattens the whole village!’
With the enhancement of the Six Eyes, Hinata’s brain worked at high speed, memories of Naruto and Boruto from her past life flooding in like a tide.
‘And that’s not even the scariest part!
By the Fourth Shinobi World War, the power creep goes completely off the rails!
Uchiha Madara dropping meteors, Senju Hashirama’s Shinsu Senju, and even the final boss, Otsutsuki Kaguya, who can jump through dimensions!’
‘Not to mention all those absurd, dizzying ocular powers and aliens flying everywhere in Boruto later on!’
Hinata subconsciously stroked her brilliant, azure-blue eyes.
‘With my Six Eyes combined with the Hyuga family’s purest White Eye lineage, is it possible for some miraculous chemical reaction to happen later, awakening a Tenseigan like Otsutsuki Toneri’s that can split the moon in half?’
‘Also, if I unlock Gojo Satoru’s template to 100% and reach completion, will spatial-severing moves like [Muryō Kūsho] and [Kyoshiki: Murasaki] be enough to suppress the broken power scaling of the end-game shinobi world?’
Chin resting on her chubby hand, Hinata stared intensely at the meager system panel, falling into deep thought.
Wait.
Her gaze suddenly locked onto a few specific words on the screen.
“Hmm…
First Template?”
Hinata blinked her large eyes, an extraordinarily bold idea exploding in her mind.
‘Since the system specifically labeled it the “First Template”…’
‘Does that mean…
there’s a second template?!’
‘Does that mean…
in the future, I won’t just be Satoru Gojo, but I can stack cheats from other dimensions and go even beyond him?!’
The moment the thought struck, Hinata bounced straight up from the tatami mat in excitement, hands on her hips, laughing toward the ceiling.
“Hey!
System!” Hinata yelled in her mind, her voice dripping with unsuppressible fanaticism.
“How do I get the second template?
Do I need point exchanges, or do I have to complete hidden quests?
Give me a preview, quick!”
A brief silence followed.
Just as Hinata thought this broken system was going to play dead like it had for the past three years—
A emotionless yet crystal-clear mechanical voice suddenly rang out from the depths of her mind.
[System Reply: Once the First Template reaches 100% progress, the Second Template will be automatically drawn for the host!]
“HOLY CRAP!”
Startled out of her mind by the sudden voice, Hinata’s legs went weak, and she slammed back down onto the tatami mat with a look of utter disbelief.
She stared wide-eyed with her azure eyes, her tiny loli voice cracking from sheer shock.
Hinata: “Holy crap!
System, you can actually talk?!”
[System: You never asked!]
It was still that flat, unbothered mechanical tone, yet it carried an infuriatingly self-righteous vibe.
“I—”
Choking on those words, Hinata almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Her small chest heaved violently as she pointed a chubby little finger at thin air, her whole body trembling.
Hinata: “I’ve been transmigrated here for three whole years!
Aside from giving me a starter pack on the day I was born, you haven’t uttered a single squeak in three years!
I thought you were a broken, half-assed defect!
If I didn’t ask, couldn’t you take the initiative to explain?!
Have you ever seen a cheat system as cold and aloof as you?!”
[System: This system is a fully automated idle-assist type designed to provide the host with the purest power support.
No mandatory quests, no manual chatter.
Unless the host actively triggers core keywords, the default state remains silent.]
“Fine, fine!
You win!”
Hinata rolled her eyes hard.
This system’s personality was ten thousand times worse than her stoic blockhead of a father, Hiashi.
Hinata: “Besides that, is there any other way to get more templates?
Like topping up with cash?
Or absorbing special chakra?”
[System: We will discuss that later…
It is advised that the host refrains from reaching beyond her grasp and focuses on training.
Given the host’s fragile three-year-old body, even if a second template were granted now, forcibly unlocking more power would only cause your physical body to instantly collapse.]
Hinata: “…”
“Damn you!
I’m getting dragged through the mud by that old man Hiashi every single day and almost losing my life—does that not count as working hard?!” Hinata protested, exasperated.
[System: The path of cultivation is long and arduous.
That is all.
Good luck, Host.]
“Hey!
Don’t leave!
Talk to me for a bit longer!”
Silence.
No matter how frantically Hinata called out in her mind, the system reverted to its dead-silent state, offering not a single echo.
“…”
Hinata sat cross-legged on the tatami, deflated, her two tiny index fingers poking together in annoyance.
Even though she had been brutally disrespected by the system, her heart began racing uncontrollably, her blood boiling.
‘Draw the second template automatically after maxing out the first one!’
‘Now THIS is a true infinite-stacking cheat system!’
Hinata lifted her head to look at the fluttering snow outside the window.
A fierce ambition and fanaticism flared in her azure eyes like never before.
‘Satoru Gojo’s abilities are just the beginning.’
‘Once I unlock the second template, the third template…
whether it’s Uchiha Madara or Otsutsuki Kaguya, they can all step aside!
I’ll make sure nobody in this shinobi world can ever control my destiny again!’
Hinata clenched her chubby little fists tightly and gritted her teeth.
‘Old man, you better crank up the intensity of tomorrow morning’s hellish training to the absolute maximum!’
‘I’m gonna grind out that damn 100% at maximum speed!’