Konohagakure.
Within the Hyūga clan compound.
A flock of sparrows fluttered down from the sky, chirping noisily. Perhaps they were tired from flying and wanted to rest on a tree branch.
A jade-white hand suddenly shot out and caught one of them midair, closing tightly around its fragile body.
"Hyūga Akira, from today onward, you are assigned as a death guard to the Hyūga clan's heir, Hyūga Hiashi."
The low, stern voice belonged to a square-faced elder.
Hyūga Dema—an elder of the Hyūga clan.
Akira's gaze drifted lazily. Dressed in the clan's standard robes, he sat leaning against the doorway, not even bothering to turn around.
Hyūga Dema.
That name alone once made Akira seriously suspect the man was a transmigrator too.
And honestly, Hyūga Akira wasn't even supposed to be his name. He should've been called "I'm Xiao Ming."
All because he spent money on a gacha draw and pulled the Byakugan.
Just like that, his name got forcibly changed.
Wasn't that going a bit too far?
"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!" Hyūga Dema roared, his voice booming like thunder.
"I heard you, I heard you," Akira replied lazily, digging a finger into his ear. To show he wasn't completely brushing it off, he finally stepped inside and sat across from the elder.
Hyūga Dema's face darkened. "Remember this well. You are from the branch family. Being chosen as the heir's death guard is an honor. If you fail in your duty, the punishment—"
"The Caged Bird Seal, right?"
Akira cut him off, lifting the cloth at his forehead to reveal a faint green mark etched into his skin.
A curse seal that placed the branch family's lives firmly in the hands of the main house—capable of destroying the brain and eyes at will, ensuring the Byakugan could never be stolen.
These days, it also served to prevent the branch family from tearing the main house apart limb by limb.
Akira curled his lips into a grin, baring cold white teeth.
"If you've got the guts, why not just have them kill me now?"
You think a player would be scared by this kind of thing?
What a joke.
Staring at Akira's utterly unruly attitude, Hyūga Dema felt a headache coming on.
The boy was indeed outstanding at the Ninja Academy, but not to the level of a true genius. Worse still was his lawless personality.
So how did this kid get chosen as Hyūga Hiashi's death guard?
"I can tolerate your behavior," Hyūga Dema said slowly, his gaze deep and sharp. "But don't act like this in front of the heir. He—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
But the threat was obvious.
Akira didn't care in the slightest. The Caged Bird Seal might restrain others—but there was no guarantee it could restrain him.
Seeing that further words were pointless, Hyūga Dema turned and left, tossing one last line over his shoulder.
"Report to Training Ground Two at seven tomorrow morning."
Akira clicked his tongue.
The Hyūga clan was divided into the main house and the branch house.
The main house led the clan.
The branch house existed to die for it.
And each generation of the main house produced only one successor.
He had tried to stay far away from them.
Unfortunately, he was just a little too outstanding.
"I wonder if killing Hyūga Hiashi would drop a Byakugan."
The thought crossed his mind casually.
His fingers tightened.
He opened his palm, and the lifeless sparrow fell to the ground.
A translucent notification flashed before his eyes.
[Gained EXP: 1]
A glowing orb remained in his hand. He crushed it lightly, and a single feather appeared.
[Obtained: Sparrow Feather]
Completely useless.
He tossed it aside.
"What a shame there's no quest system," Akira muttered. "Otherwise, a death-guard mission like this would pay pretty well."
At that moment, something stirred in his mind.
A familiar interface unfolded before his eyes.
[Name: I'm Xiao Ming]
[Class: None]
[Level: Lv.12 (160/2000)]
[Chakra: 99/120]
[Skills: Gentle Fist (Lv.3), Clone Technique (Lv.2), Substitution Technique (Lv.5), Transformation Technique (Lv.2), Eight Trigrams Air Palm (Lv.3), Byakugan (Lv.3)]
[EXP Pool: 311]
[Equipment: None]
[Inventory: Kunai ×10, Explosive Tags ×10, Shuriken ×99, Steel Wire ×10…]
Akira was a player.
Back in his original world, fully immersive virtual reality had just been invented. He bought a set immediately.
There was only one game available.
Anime Battle Royale Online.
Each server was built entirely around the setting of a specific anime world.
Players could exist in one universe while using abilities from another.
He entered the game full of excitement—
And somehow ended up transmigrating into it.
Being reborn as an infant, with no other players in sight…
NPCs that were rumored online to be "rigid" turned out to be terrifyingly real.
There was no doubt about it.
He had crossed over.
After twelve years of testing and exploration, he finally understood the game interface.
There was no quest system.
Only one rule:
Defeat enemies to gain EXP. Kill them to obtain drops.
Killing wasn't strictly required—only stripping the target of combat capability counted.
That said, defeating the same target repeatedly caused EXP gains to halve each time, until it dwindled to almost nothing.
And defeating enemies only granted EXP.
Items only dropped when the enemy died.
He confirmed that after hunting beasts in the forests outside Konoha.
After twelve years of ruling over the kindergarten and monopolizing the Ninja Academy, this was as far as he'd made it.
If the Academy hadn't completely stopped giving EXP, he wouldn't even have wanted to graduate.
"At last, I can leave the village on missions," Akira said quietly. "Though being a death guard is troublesome. I'll need to get rid of that status as soon as possible."
"And this thing…"
He tapped his forehead.
The Caged Bird Seal.
"That depends on my class change."
You really think this thing can bind him for life?
The Next Day
Training Ground Two.
A blonde woman in a green flak jacket sat lazily atop a wooden post, irritation written plainly on her face.
Hyūga Hiashi entered the field and bowed respectfully.
"Jōnin Tsunade."
Behind him, his younger brother Hyūga Hizashi followed suit.
"Jōnin Tsunade."
Tsunade—the Princess of Konoha.
She was assigned as the jōnin leader of their newly formed squad, a result of political bargaining between the Hyūga clan head and the Hokage.
With Tsunade in charge, Hiashi's life would be guaranteed.
The heir of the Hyūga clan could not afford even the slightest injury.
Tsunade frowned. "Where's the last one?"
She had zero interest in babysitting children.
"Are you calling for me?"
A voice sounded from above.
A figure dropped upside-down from a tree branch.
Hyūga Akira hung there casually, observing the newly formed team.
"You're Hyūga Akira?" Tsunade asked, frowning.
This kid didn't feel like a Hyūga at all.
Hiashi and Hizashi both frowned in displeasure.
Akira acted as if he hadn't noticed.
He released the branch, flipped midair, and landed smoothly.
Turning toward Hiashi, he grinned, showing white teeth.
"Your new teammate. Hyūga Akira."
A chilling killing intent washed over Hiashi and Hizashi, stiffening their bodies for a brief instant—
Before they forced themselves back to normal.
"Hey, brat."
Tsunade stepped forward, her voice low and dangerous.
"Don't show killing intent toward your teammates."