Staring at the glowing notification panel confirming the task's completion, Tetsuya froze. For a second there, he honestly thought he had failed.
'Akaza sure knows how to hold a grudge without blowing his top,' he mused.
Still, a mere thirty-two percent fury rating probably wouldn't yield anything game-changing. Without getting his hopes up, Tetsuya silently commanded, 'Extract reward.'
The space around him rippled. Suddenly, the world before his eyes morphed entirely. A deep night sky materialized above, stretching endlessly as countless stars ignited, casting a dazzling, almost blinding brilliance across the void.
"What the hell is this?" Tetsuya's eyes widened in shock. The system had never pulled out this kind of visual spectacle before. Had his beginner protection period expired or something?
Whoosh!
One of the radiant stars streaked across the void, shooting directly into his chest at a speed completely imperceptible to the naked eye.
[Congratulations! The host has acquired the "Two-Tomoe Sharingan," a Kekkei Genkai from the Uchiha Clan of the Naruto universe. This ability vastly enhances visual acuity, perception, and dynamic tracking, along with granting the power to cast Sharingan-based Genjutsu.]
Tetsuya stared blankly at the new system prompt. 'The Sharingan? And it already has two tomoe?!'
As the cosmic illusion faded, a distinct burning sensation flared in his eyes. Tetsuya's irises bled into a vibrant crimson, two black tomoe materializing and spinning rapidly within each eye. The oppressive darkness of the night no longer hindered his vision. Even an ant crawling on the dirt hundreds of meters away was rendered in crystal-clear detail.
A wave of sheer ecstasy washed over him. 'This damned system finally did something right!'
While a Two-Tomoe Sharingan wasn't overwhelmingly powerful on its own, its potential for growth was monstrous. He could eventually awaken the three tomoe, or even the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan. It was more than enough capital to keep him alive in this ruthless world.
"Akaza... that day really won't be too far off!" Tetsuya whispered to the empty air. Unlike his earlier bravado, his voice now carried genuine, unshakeable confidence.
Turning his head, his crimson gaze fell upon the corpse of the middle-aged man lying near the crater. A complicated knot tightened in his chest. If he hadn't thought quickly and played his cards perfectly, he would have ended up exactly like that poor guy.
A creeping sense of sympathy urged him to act. With his newly enhanced strength, he quickly dug a deep grave by hand and laid the victim to rest. Snagging a stray piece of splintered wood from the wreckage, he planted it firmly into the dirt to serve as a makeshift tombstone.
"I can barely keep myself alive as it is," Tetsuya muttered softly. "This is the best I can do for you. Rest in peace."
Willingly deactivating the Sharingan, the crimson glow faded from his eyes. He consciously retracted his sharpened claws back into normal fingernails. Aside from the slightly elongated fangs hidden behind his lips, he looked just like any ordinary teenager. With his task complete, Tetsuya slipped back into the quiet town and headed for his actual home.
Dawn broke. The first rays of the morning sun pierced through the thin mist, bathing the earth in a warm, golden glow.
Tetsuya instinctively recoiled, shrinking back into the darkest corner of his room. A primal, screaming alarm flared in his mind. If that sunlight touched him, he would turn to ash. It was the absolute, undeniable bane of demonkind.
'If I want to overcome this fatal weakness...' he pondered, running through his knowledge of the world. 'The only known methods are Nezuko Kamado's unique genetic mutation or getting my hands on the mythical Blue Spider Lily.'
Nezuko was completely out of the question right now. The fact that Akaza was actively out here interrogating people about the Blue Spider Lily meant that Nezuko hadn't conquered the sun yet. Hell, it was entirely possible the main plot of the anime hadn't even started.
Tetsuya shook his head, letting out a heavy sigh. "Blue Spider Lily... where the hell are you..."
"What blue lily?" a sudden voice chimed in. A quirky, energetic young girl popped her head out from behind him.
Tetsuya didn't even bother turning around. Resting his chin in his palm, he kept his gaze fixed on the bright sunlight streaming just beyond his shaded spot.
It was Rinka Akiyama. The original owner of his body's cousin.
The Akiyama family was practically local royalty in this town. They held monopolies in real estate, food distribution, and pharmaceuticals. Rumor had it that they even maintained a secretive partnership with the Demon Slayer Corps.
The original Tetsuya's mother had been an Akiyama. It was a classic, melodramatic tale of a wealthy heiress eloping with a penniless boy. Predictably, it ended in tragedy—both parents died young, leaving behind an orphaned son to suffer the disdain and cold shoulders of his affluent relatives.
Roughly two weeks ago, the crushing isolation had driven the original Tetsuya to commit suicide. He was rushed to the clinic just in time to be resuscitated—but the soul that woke up in that hospital bed belonged to someone else entirely. The new Tetsuya Kamihara.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Rinka huffed, planting her hands on her hips as she shot him an exasperated glare.
Tetsuya waved her off without looking. "It's nothing. Mind your own business, kid."
Out of the entire sprawling Akiyama estate, Rinka was the only relative who genuinely treated him like family. She was also the one who had discovered his body when he tried to end his life. In a way, she was his savior.
If it weren't for that lingering debt of gratitude, he would have tossed her out by now. Judging from the original host's fragmented memories, he harbored a deep-seated resentment toward the rest of the Akiyama family.
"And here I was, bringing you breakfast like a good sister," Rinka grumbled under her breath. She pulled out a small bento box and popped the lid open, revealing three perfectly formed rice balls resting inside.
Tetsuya glanced at the food. Surprisingly, a sudden, intense craving flared to life in the pit of his stomach.
'That's weird...' Tetsuya furrowed his brow, his gaze darting in sheer confusion between the rice balls and Rinka.
Noticing his intense stare, Rinka immediately took a step back, waving her hands defensively. "Tetsuya! We are first cousins! Don't you dare get any weird ideas in that head of yours!"
"You're delusional!" Tetsuya shot back with a deadpan expression. With her flat figure, he wouldn't be interested even if she offered herself on a silver platter.
Jokes aside, the powerful biological instinct surging through him confirmed one very important detail: as a freshly turned demon, the scent of human flesh right in front of him was entirely eclipsed by the appeal of normal human food. To his new palate, Rinka's flesh didn't even hold a candle to a single grain of rice in that bento box.
Grabbing one of the rice balls, he tossed it into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed. Instantly, a comforting wave of warmth blossomed in his stomach, rushing through his veins and revitalizing his entire body. He felt absolutely brimming with energy—like he could punch right through a solid brick wall.
'Could it be...?' Tetsuya's expression shifted into something truly bizarre. Did he not need to consume human flesh? Could he actually sustain his demonic stamina using normal, everyday food?
Just like how no two snowflakes were identical, demonic biology varied wildly from individual to individual. Some demons gained exponential power spikes from consuming specific humans—like infants or young women. But to be the sole vegan among a pack of bloodthirsty wolves? His unique mutation had to be rarer than a unicorn.
After a brief moment of elation, Tetsuya reined in his excitement. Nezuko Kamado could literally regenerate her energy just by taking a nap, and she ultimately conquered the sun. Compared to her protagonist-level hacks, his little dietary quirk wasn't anything to brag about.
He polished off the remaining two rice balls in seconds, but his stomach still felt hollow. He gauged that he'd probably need to inhale twenty or thirty more of those just to feel thirty percent full. Staring at his empty hands, Tetsuya fell into deep thought. There was still an ocean of untapped potential within his demonic physiology—specifically, the elusive Blood Demon Art...
Watching him devour the food so enthusiastically, Rinka beamed, a bright, genuine smile lighting up her face.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the chaotic, heavy thumping of dozens of boots echoed down the road, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Right outside their window, a mob of over thirty men dressed in sharp suits marched down the street, brandishing steel pipes and machetes with aggressive arrogance.
Both Tetsuya and Rinka immediately turned their attention to the commotion.
"It's the Black Dragon Syndicate," Rinka gasped, the color draining from her face. She quickly turned to him. "Tetsuya, stay locked inside. Don't come out! I have to go warn the family head." Snatching up her empty bento box, she sprinted out the door without looking back.
Tetsuya watched her retreat, his eyes narrowing slightly. It was currently the Taisho Era in Japan—sometime around the early twentieth century. Society was in a bizarre transitional phase, relatively stable on the surface while aggressively embracing Western culture.
The Black Dragon Syndicate was a ruthless yakuza faction that had rolled into town just recently. Rumor had it that their leader was an elite enforcer who had been imported straight from the Western mafia. They had arrived with a clear objective: muscle in on the Akiyama family's territory. It was a classic turf war—an invading predator clashing with the reigning local kingpin.