Ninja world, Konoha Village.
This is one of the five great ninja villages, or to put it bluntly, it is the first of the five great ninja villages. The scale of Konoha Village is naturally beyond doubt huge for this day and age, even if not so populated.
There was enough space in the surroundings to accommodate several training camps after all, and that is saying nothing of the many clan compounds that could house hundreds or even thousands of people as well as the amenities expected of such housings.
In the 'central area' of Konoha Village there is one such special area.
This is a private domain independent of the village, because it is the residence of the Hyuga family, one of the top wealthy families in Konoha Village.
As one of the most powerful families and having one of the most well known names even in the entire ninja world, the status of the Hyuga family in Konoha is rather detached.
We have our own rules and territory, with seals separating us from the rest to really show how 'special' we are compared to everybody else. Many clan members even fancy themselves 'natural nobles' due to how 'special' we are.
All ridiculous bullshit if you ask me. We are all made of flesh and blood, all have the same chakra in us, and all die the same way as everybody else. But hey, at least we have fancy and creepy looking eyes that show how 'special' (not) we are.
Hells, we may be in the central region of Konoha but we have at least 20 ninjas of the Hyuga clan at all times surrounding the area and acting high and mighty against everyone they see.
To enter the residence of the Hyuga clan, you need permission. Even the Hokage must make an appointment to enter the clan land and if even little kids try to enter without permission they are killed with no questions asked.
It's pretty much a country within a country. Something I think shows how ridiculous the clans really are. We are a family, sure, but we are still part of the village and should, as such, try to, you know, INTEGRATE.
But would anyone hear a 5 years old brat regarding how utterly moronic we are? Fuck no, the clan head and elders are far too worried about showing off how amazing we are for being born in the clan. Not improving the clan, increasing its strength, or raising the number of people in it.
Nah, it is all about showing how incredible we are, for simply existing.
And then they wonder why the clan numbers keep dropping. Pathetic really.
However, I admit easily enough that this is not only the Hyuga clan way of doing things. Nah, we are stupid and think ourselves special, but other clans are just as moronic. The other big families in Konoha Village, such as the Uchiha clan that is comparable to the Hyuga clan, the Sarutobi clan headed by the current Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the Aburame clan, and the Shimura clan headed by that one eyed freak all are like that to an extent. The only not completely idiotic clans are those whose power comes mostly from their techniques, not political power born from a Kekkei Genkai that makes them special.
I wish I was born in a clan like those from the Ino-Chika-Cho or even the Inuzuka clan. At least then I wouldn't be surrounded by nearly brain dead asshats who cough up wood from how much of the stick they have up their collective assholes.
At dusk in the afternoon I stand in front of the door of my unremarkable small courtyard in a corner of the Hyuga clan's residence.
The yard is entirely overgrown, but it is not like I have much of a way to deal with it since the equipment to cut it low and take care of the place is not something a 'small child' should handle. But hey, sending me in assassination missions in two or three years is all peachy.
I huff in utter disgust and rage at my situation. My frustration spilling out of my mouth since I don't have anyone nearby my home. That mostly being because my housing is close to the sewers of the state and there is a pipe that broke down but no one bothered with fixing it, after all this area is far from where the main clan members live and as such unimportant.
"Why the fuck did I reincarnate in this shitty world?! I call bullshit, I want a redraw, send me to somewhere like DxD the land of big titties and easy pussy!"
Yep, that is me, a member of the Hyuga clan, named Hyuga Setsuna.
At the same time, I am also a dumbass who used to live on Earth and somehow regained my memories a few days ago.
My current theory is that I awakened my memories due to stimulation. I was taken by one of the main branch members of the Hyuga clan to implant a seal called Curse Mark: Caged Bird in my forehead. I guess, because the process was too painful, my soul was directly stimulated to the point my soul awakened the memory of my past life to survive the process.
And yes, the process hurt THAT much.
And why did I get this seal? The special eyes I have, of course.
Honestly, if I could choose I would rather have the seal and my eyes removed and replace my eyes with normal ones. I would lose a BS strong pair of eyes, but it would be worth it to not be just a slave for any idiot who was lucky enough to come out first from the right pair of legs.
Heck, I would take having the Sharingan over the Byakugan, even if it meant I have a fate of becoming an edgelord, mentally retarded, or something of the type (they sure do seem to turn out this way most times).
After all, Sharingan not only has insight that is not weaker than Baiyan, but also can copy other people's actions after reaching the three tomos level, including perfectly copying ninjutsu.
Moreover, Sharingan can also reach the Mangekyō level, which is an incredibly unfair pair of eyes. Not only does each eye gain an honestly amazing ability, but they can even unlock the power of Susanoo which is incredibly powerful and useful in all aspects.
Being able to basically create a giant robot around yourself at will is just pain unfair.
And what of the Byakugan?
There are only three kinds of pupil skills in it. One is the see-through eye, which while useful doesn't really give that much of a power boost. Most cases it is just useful to see the chakra in someone's body, something the Sharingan can do for the most part too.
Second is that we can see a distance of several kilometers. Useful in a war, not so much in regular combat and make us a huge target in any large skirmish (not something desirable).
And finally, being able to see at 360°, but by being a branch member we have a well known and obvious weakness right behind our necks that most enemy villages already know thanks to them not being stupid.
It is not useless, but comparing with the Sharingan really shows it is nothing that special. Heck, put some Hashirama cells in someone with Eternal Mangekyo and boom, Rinnegan. It is what Madara went through, and it is something most anyone who knows the show understands.
The Sharingan has a way to make you become God-like in terms of power with relative ease, the Byakugan lets you become a bigger target in a war.
So, yeah, no thanks.
Shame I can't just kill myself and be sure I will reincarnate again in a better position, or even regain my memories at all. Even if reincarnation is real, if my next life has no recollection of my previous existence it is all meaningless anyway.
"... At least I am still healthy?" I say in slight doubt as I look myself over, trying to find a good in this sea of bad.
In my previous life I grew up as a normal kid. Had normal hobbies, playing video games, going to school, had some girlfriends, always went to the gym to keep my body in top shape, practiced some tai chi and yoga to try and keep my body in the best state possible, and even did some side jobs on my brother's tech company.
It was just a small thing to be sure, but it helped put food on the table and the man invested a lot of his money to help put me in my college for bioengineering.
Last thing I remember from that life was going out with my brother who worked so hard to give me the best possible without ever asking anything in return. We were drinking happily and celebrating at a bar with some of my college friends who helped me as well as I helped them.
I was happy, with a bright future ahead of me and already had some job offers from various companies. A happy family, many friends, my hard work of so many years finally paying off.
Now though, I am currently only a five years old boy, having a small body, small hands, and a small forehead branded with a slave seal and a grand 'destiny'.
So, yeah I am salty as all hells.
Looking at my smooth forehead, there was a green and complicated curse mark. That was the sealing technique called Curse Mark: Caged Bird.
As a branch house, once I was branded Caged Bird, it is like if I was put on shackles, most of my freedom of choice gone.
The seal ensures stealing the Byakugan is impossible, true. This, however, does not seem to change things all that much in being priority targets during any large scale combat. It only means that there is even less of a chance of being taken alive by the enemy.
Moreover, the function of the Caged Bird allows them to, with just a single thought of anyone from the main house, fall to the floor in pain or, in some cases, just simply die then and there.
Even if you are an Elite Jonin or even the strongest person in the entire village, a 4 years old brat of the main house can still kill you with just a thought.
That it also limits the power of the Byakugan just proves how ridiculous this clan is. Yesterday I even dreamt of how it would be if I could kill the entirety of the main branch.
It was a rather nice dream, especially after remembering that main branch member's sneer as he put the seal on my forehead and the pain I felt at the time.
And the worse part? My own father is in the main house, had me as the second son, so he did not hesitate to send me to put a seal on my forehead, and dropped me in this place to rot since I was 'destined' to such a thing and the mere thought of raising, much less carrying, about a mere slave of the clan was absurd for the asshat.
After all, he is from the Main branch, I am from the side branch. Being blood related or not I am 'destined' to be a slave since I was just another child he birthed with a branch member he raped.
Oh, wait, it is not rape, after all she 'totally' consented on letting him screw her. She could choose to die otherwise, but since she didn't then she was a consenting adult and that was that.
This is actually how most side branch members are born. Rape by someone of the main branch against a female of the side branch. If she has a husband, the guy can stand to the side and watch or choose to die. Besides, from what I found out, not that many males from the side branch survive since we are the ones who are mostly sent to the frontlines either as scouts or guards for the main branch members. Someone has got to stay home and make sure the Hyuga bloodline continues on.
'Noble blood' or not, the treatment we receive as side branch members is actually very miserable, even the more advanced forms of the so-called strongest taijutsu, the gentle fist, is not something we can learn.
We may be the ones sent to the more dangerous missions and need to be the bodyguards and fighters for the main branch clansman, but the better fighting techniques is not something we can even hope to learn.
Because the Gentle Fist method is a secret technique mastered by the main branch, it is only passed on by word of mouth between them and they even practice it in their own separate training ground with seals specifically made to block the view of the Byakugan. All so the side branch Hyuga can't learn it unless it is granted to them personally (of course, not the higher level stuff since those are by clan law exclusive for the main branch).
This just shows how much of a monster genius Hyuga Neji, the son of Hyuga Hizashi, really is. Even as the nephew of Hyuga Hiashi, the clan head and his uncle, he still did not have access to the main branch's unique and more advanced teachings. Him learning Revolving Heaven and One Hundred Twenty Eight Palms by himself was a clear sign of how high his talent really was.
Had he had access to those techniques from the start, maybe he would have advanced further and become even stronger, maybe develop whole new techniques well beyond what the clan considers the limit and allowing the Gentle Fist as a whole to reach a whole new level. With that maybe, just maybe, he would not end up as shishkebab.
KNOCK
KNOCK
Suddenly, someone knocked on the gate of the yard.
I frown at that, who would come to my house? It is not like it is the time to deliver the funds for the month, and it is not like I have friends or something like that that could come over.
Standing in front of the door was an adult much taller than me, one who also had long hair tied with a knot at the end (the official and obligatory hair style for Hyugas, yes we are obligated to wear our hair like that until we are at least Genin).
However, unlike me who had to wear a kimono, he was wearing smart clothes and Konoha Shinobi's forehead protector.
"So it's Hyuga Hizashi-sama, I'm sorry, for keeping you waiting" I said as I looked up at the man's appearance, then lowering my head immediately.
Hizashi was a branch member on a similar situation as me, but he was the child of the head of the Hyuga clan with his actual wife, not just rape of a side branch member, so he became a side branch house head.
Honestly, he has more reason to be pissed off over this whole clan than me seeing as he was the twin of the heir for the clan, Hiashi, with the only difference being that he was out of the pussy second.
But, even if he was a side branch house, he has a high status due to his brother carrying for him. I even heard that he was never tortured by the seal until now due to his brother protecting him from any dumbass who would want to try.
"Hyuga Setsuna, I'm actually here to inform you that the family has decided to ask you to participate in the entrance examination for the ninja school," Hyuga Hizashi explained his intentions.
Entrance examination?
In the village there is the ninja school which was created by Second Hokage Senju Tobirama. The purpose is to hope that through the cultivation of ninja schools, more children can be sent to the battlefield and be ready to actually survive it.
Is it cruel to train children to be killers since age 6? Yes, but this is the sort of ridiculous world we live in right now.
Besides, the simple fact is that the existence of the ninja school can help those innocent children have more chances to survive. It helps especially with the fostering of closer bonds between the new generation as well as improving the general power of the village.
But, as a member of the Hyuga clan, logically there is no need to go to ninja school.
The Hyuga Clan, when entering Konoha, put it in law that we could decide who is and isn't a Genin. Going to Ninja School is entirely optional, as long as we prove our capacity before a chosen instructor that is enough.
This was done mostly so that the Hyuga Ninjas could focus even more on our oh so precious Taijutsu that the main branch doesn't even allow 97% of the clan to learn properly.
This is the sort of idiocy that makes me fully believe that the excessive inbreeding caused the clan to become mentally retarded, but there is nothing I can do about that.
Going to ninja school, for clan members, is normally something only done for heirs or specially talented clan members. That is why the 'Konoha 12' in CANON time had so many clan heirs or closely related to those, they were the sort sent to ninja school to show off and make connections between clans.
A dick measuring contest of sorts.
Me being allowed and even ordered to go was quite a bit absurd, but I am self aware enough to not fight it.
As just a mere branch house, I can either obey orders or die. There is no in between in this honestly insane and mentally damaged clan. Besides, I don't have the opportunity or qualifications to learn the Gentle Fist method, even if it is the most basic and low-level Gentle Fist method. Going to ninja school would certainly be better than staying in the clan.
"I understand and will do as ordered." I said with a bow of my head.
Hizashi nodded before continuing.
"It's a reminder to you. As a Hyuga you must enter the genius class, meaning you want to pass the examination with flying colors. For it you at least need to show that you have the qualifications to become a ninja. For example, you can use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Although others can recognize you as a child of the Hyuga clan, you can use other jutsus this time that are not the Gentle Fist method"
"But I don't know ninjutsu and genjutsu, including Gentle Fist. I don't even know how to extract chakra."
At that one, Hizashi frowned and thought about it for a few moments muttering.
"I thought elder Xing would have at least passed this information to you."
Oh yeah, my dear old pops who raped and discarded my mother who died in childbirth would 100% care about my life in any way. The guy probably doesn't even remember he has a child, much too busy sticking his dick in one of the side branch females which may or may not include one of his daughters (the guy does not care and is over 60 years old).
Hizashi shakes his head as he then speaks up.
"Very well, wait here for a bit." After he said this he left and, ten minutes later, he came back with three scrolls in hand. "The academy test is in three weeks. Study hard and don't embarrass the clan."
With that the man left, his face showing a sign of disgust most likely from the pretty much open sewers close by.
Well, maybe he will talk with his twin brother and they will fix that one. I dunno if they will do it, but it is better to hope for it.
Anyway, I look at the scrolls and smile slightly at them. Chakra refinement method, clone technique, and demonic illusion: hell vision technique. The last one honestly surprised me. I didn't expect him to give me a genjutsu, even if only a D rank one, but it is still nice to have.
Then again, even if the Hyuga clan is a taijutsu specialist, we should have a natural advantage for the Yin side, making illusions easier, and the clan probably wants to use me to show off. A Hyuga able to use clone technique AND a Genjutsu? It would give those old bastards plenty enough of bragging rights I suppose.
Either way, I go back home to start my training. Opening the scroll regarding the chakra extraction method to start my ninja career. And I better get strong soon since this is likely the time between Shinobi Wars, meaning that between 1 and 8 years is how long it would take for a new war to happen, and as a Hyuga I will be sent as a scout and be a prized target.
I don't feel like dying, so training it is.
It has been a day since I started extracting chakra. Honestly, it is not that hard.
If anything, it is super easy. Just concentrate on your breathing and collect the energy from your cells to push them into a center on the body. I remember many images in the past of the body of a shinobi world character and how there is something like a flame inside them or something to signify their chakra, it is not really that wrong.
My energy reserves are still ridiculously weak, but they are there now. It felt invigorating, but tiring at the same time. Chakra in the end is the physical and mental energy mixed together. It is a complex stuff, but something one can get used to.
After a full day of extracting chakra, paying lots of attention to it, it honestly became quite natural for me to extract chakra. I dunno how it compares with others, but it is how it is for me.
Now, I know how this world works to an extent. Meaning, I know that chakra amount and control is absurdly important. For chakra control I know some methods to train that, as for chakra amount the best way is to train more the body to improve one's physical condition.
"Physical training and chakra control training for the next two weeks, then practice those ninjutsu." I say with a nod to myself.
Of course, just regular training would not do. Mostly because one needs more and better food, mainly meat, if they want their bodies to grow stronger. Shame the family is far too petty to give me funds to go buy that.
… Maybe go to one of the small rivers nearby? Pretty sure there are fish there and I have enough money to buy basic fishing equipment, just set up a fishing rod and train my body while I wait for something to be caught. If it works it means I get more food to eat, so it is a win anyways.
Yeah, that should work well. I can just do push-ups and sit-ups as well as other such training beside the river while I fish.
3° Person P.O.V.
"Brother." Hiashi, the heir for the patriarch position in the Hyuga clan, greeted as he entered his twin's house.
"Hey there. Did something happen?" Hizashi asks as he raises his head from some documents. He has just received the weekly reports from the several side branch members stationed in the outposts around the land of fire and was checking them before presenting anything important for the main branch head to sign up.
That was one of the responsibilities of the side branch head. With there being a huge disparity in numbers between the two sides, and how useful the Byakugan was in scouting, there were side branch members in several outposts on the borders of the land of fire and, as such, Hizashi was the one responsible for them.
He had to care for their safety, resources, payments, conditions, as well as send any relevant report and deliver directly to the clan head to give it to the Hokage later. The clan head only needed to care about the political and financial moves of the clan as well as keeping their honor and prestige within the village.
Normally, Hiashi would not come to see Hizashi at this time of day, the older twin knowing how much busier his little brother was compared to himself, so his appearance here was unexpected.
"There is nothing to worry about, Hizashi. I just wanted to ask if the younger generation we were planning to send to the ninja school has anyone actually hopeful to enter the genius class."
No way, Hiashi knew that the elders wanted someone of their clan in that class since the young son of the White Fang as well as the son of the Hokage were in that class this year. Becoming closer to either might help their family later on, so the elders wanted it to happen.
Hizashi, however, sighed.
"We only have nine kids of age to enter that class brother. Of them three were born sickly and are unfit to becoming a ninja. From the remaining six, five have already started chakra extraction since age four and should have great hopes of entering that class. It is only the final one who has only obtained the chakra extraction method yesterday and I could only give him some general scrolls about the method, but he is very thin and seems slightly malnourished."
Hiashi frowned upon hearing this. Sure, five with good chances of passing was good news, but there being three born sickly was not something he enjoyed hearing about.
That has started happening more and more. Hiashi heard some saying it is because of the centuries of inbreeding of the family, but that could not be it. Nah, they have been doing that for so long and nothing has happened, they were fine in that regard. Maybe it was just bad luck, who knows.
Regardless, the malnourished kid made him feel irritated. Not because a child was like that, but because a HYUGA was like that. Side branch member or not, a Hyuga was still a person of noble blood in Hiashi's mind and so should be perfect in every way.
Hizashi, knowing his brother's mind well, mentioned.
"He is one of elder Xing's children and is living in a bad place. It is far from the center of the clan compound and the place stinks due to the sewer pipe there being cracked, leaking and causing the whole place to be unsanitary."
Hizashi, hearing this, actually had his eyes shining. No, not because he liked the idea of that, but because this was a great explanation for those who were seen as sickly in the side branch!
If that place was as unsanitary as Hizashi said, then maybe there was some sickness around it and those three caught it. The other one not having it yet was just luck and irrelevant, what matters is that fixing that thing should help any worries over sicknesses and such to vanish in the clan!
"Have it fixed and clean the area. As for those five kids, make sure they pass the exams with perfect marks. We need as many of our own in that class as possible. And for the malnourished one, don't bother. He may have a good talent, I won't deny such a possibility, but entering that class is not something that can be accomplished with just three weeks of training."
"I understand." Hizashi said, knowing that the talks were pretty much over as his brother turned and left. Hiashi most likely going back to see their father to report as well as likely going to visit his wife Hitomi.
With the war on the horizon, it was the clan heir's duty to try and produce a new generation. Hizashi worried for the safety and fighting force of the clan, Hiashi worried about making a child to continue the main branch as well as the political and financial powers of the tribe.
And so, days came and went. Twenty days passed by with Setsuna training showing shockingly great results.
He would not know it yet, but simply being himself was quite a 'cheat' in and of itself. Namely, as a reincarnated soul his spiritual power was at base level comparable to an adult civilian. Sure, that was not that impressive when compared to ninjas who were actually trained, even regular genin would have stronger mental power, but here is the thing.
… Mental energy grows a lot when you are young. It is not for nothing that between age 5 and 18 ninjas obtain such great training results, both their physique and mental energy grows fast in that time if trained well. With his mental energy being naturally higher than other children, especially being of the Hyuga clan who inherited the mental aspect of Hamura bloodline, Setsuna's mental energy was much greater than other children.
Sure, it could not be compared with someone from the Kurama clan who were born with insane mental energy, but Setsuna's physique could grow much more balanced by comparison. As such, Setsuna's chakra amount increased a lot during these almost three weeks, almost as if he was a member of the Senjuu clan, and his chakra control training had shown greater results than if he was just a regular child.
As such, despite only having started training less than three weeks ago, he was already able to walk up and down a tree five times before his chakra ran out.
Well, even if his chakra growth was incredible, it was still only three weeks of training in the end so there was only so much energy to be had.
"Okay, one more time." Setsuna said as he stood in the clearing. Concentrating chakra on his eyes he spoke. "Byakugan."
Veins popped around his eyes as his dojutsu was activated. He now could see in all directions (except for the blind spot behind his back). Activating these eyes was honestly very simple. Unlike the Uchiha who needed all sorts of simulations and such, a Hyuga only really needed to push chakra into his eyes.
"Okay, I can keep it open for just a few seconds. I need to check this again." Putting his hands in front of him, he made two hand signs before concentrating his chakra and, most importantly, using the Byakugan to look inside himself to observe how his chakra was moving.
It was just a final experiment before it was time to sleep before he had to go make his registration tomorrow.
While he paid attention to his chakra movements, he did not forget to actually use the jutsu. In front of him, an illusory image of himself surged. Then another. Then a third one.
Setsuna kept on producing images, not paying much care for the images as he continued circulating the chakra for the technique while observing how it moved inside him.
On the fifth clone, Setsuna was forced to stop as he flopped to the floor, utterly exhausted and unable to do anything anymore. Honestly, him multitasking how he was doing was quite impressive for someone his physical age and with so little chakra. If he had only focused on creating clones he would likely be able to produce up to eight or so, and they would have looked more solid and realistic, but Setsuna did not care all that much about it.
What matters more was not this in his eyes. What mattered was the capacity to observe how his chakra moved.
As a programmer in his previous life, Setsuna loved to see and understand programs, apps, and figure out logic circuits. The end results were just that, end results and not the actual base and true story behind something. As such, since the instant he unlocked the Byakugan, Setsuna has used his eyes to observe how the chakra moved inside his body.
Wherever it was in success or failure, he just studied how it moved and what it did. And now, as he laid on the floor exhausted, Setsuna could only smile as he found it.
Something to remind him of his previous life. Because, for him, chakra has become just another programming code, and he wanted to figure it out.