Inside the Hidden Leaf Village of the Land of Fire.
Gen Takuno, his face unusually pale, sat in Ichiraku Ramen, quietly tasting one of the most iconic foods associated with the Hokage while listening to the chatter around him.
Beneath his calm expression, a faint emotion surfaced.
The conversations inside the shop were scattered, but the biggest topic lately was undeniably about the youngest jonin in history—Kakashi Hatake.
Although Kakashi's promotion to jonin had happened some time ago, such a young jonin naturally stirred endless admiration and discussion.
Yet this time, the talk surrounding Kakashi wasn't limited to that.
What brought the topic back to such heated attention was the fact that after returning from the war against the Stone Village, Kakashi had gained a Sharingan that he could not close.
Rumor had it that Kakashi's left eye had been injured, and he inherited a kekkei genkai from his fallen comrade Obito Uchiha—the Sharingan.
To possess the symbol of the Uchiha clan's bloodline was astonishing enough.
Even within the Uchiha, those who awakened the Sharingan weren't many, and most started with a single tomoe. Yet Kakashi's Sharingan had two tomoe.
The combination of the Sharingan with the most naturally gifted prodigy in Konoha's history—Kakashi Hatake—had everyone fervently discussing what kind of chemical reaction that might produce.
Beside them, Gen couldn't help but let out a soft, amused scoff. At this time, who would think that this Sharingan was not a blessing for such a prodigy, but a burden?
Not because the eye wasn't powerful—but because it wasn't suitable for the current Kakashi.
Even if Kakashi had become a jonin, the fact remained that he was only twelve. At this age, his body had not fully developed, and his chakra reserves were pitifully low.
Without Uchiha blood, the Sharingan remained permanently activated.
For someone with so little chakra, possessing an eye that constantly consumed chakra was undoubtedly harmful to his growth.
Of course, the Sharingan was undeniably an exceptional kekkei genkai, providing a massive boost to combat power.
That much couldn't be denied.
Which was why, for Kakashi, the best choice would be to seal the Sharingan temporarily. Once his chakra reserves grew, he could unseal it, maintaining both his development and the eye's power.
The only downside would be a slight decrease in familiarity, though with Kakashi's talent, that hardly mattered.
This conclusion wasn't hard to reach.
Kakashi even had Kushina—a sealing master—as a mentor-figure, not to mention Minato, who had refined his sealing arts under Kushina's guidance.
It wasn't as if they were incapable of sealing the eye.
He must have refused simply because the Sharingan was Obito's final gift to him.
"Obito's Sharingan…" Gen muttered, eyes showing a trace of envy. He would have loved to obtain that eye with the Kamui ability.
Unfortunately, considering Obito's connection to Madara Uchiha, and Kakashi's connection to Minato, that idea had to be abandoned.
He was still a special jonin of the Leaf, and this status made many things in his life much more convenient. He didn't intend to discard his identity just yet.
With a weary shake of his head, Gen's eyes suddenly grew heated. It wasn't because he was thinking about the Sharingan again—but because…
"It's finally time…?"
Staring at the reflection of his pale face in the clear broth, his eyes drifted into the distance. He had waited far too long for this day.
Gen Takuno, a special jonin of Konoha, twenty-seven years old. Reaching special jonin at this age practically meant his strength had peaked.
Any further improvement would be minor—learning a few noteworthy techniques at best.
This wasn't due to a lack of effort. He worked just as hard as Might Guy.
Of course, that wasn't referring to taijutsu. He had tried to get stronger through taijutsu, but his talent there was painfully average.
If he trained like Guy, he would cripple himself long before seeing results.
With average chakra talent, average taijutsu talent, and no cheat-like system despite being a transmigrator, he felt utterly hopeless.
The world of shinobi was far from peaceful.
In his twenty-plus years of life, he had already survived the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars. The fact that he lived was sheer luck.
In such wars, regular genin were cannon fodder. Chunin were just stronger cannon fodder. And special jonin? Merely a title slightly shinier than chunin. In truth, their strength was at the level of elite chunin.
Which meant—elite cannon fodder.
Gen wasn't afraid of death. He simply didn't want to die pointlessly.
He didn't even know how he arrived in this world. One moment he blinked, and he became a member of the Leaf, memories of his previous life intact—no truck accident involved.
Thinking about it now, perhaps the truck wasn't just for injury. Maybe it delivered the system too?
Gen shook his head. It was pointless to dwell on that now. If the system still hadn't appeared at this point in the timeline, it likely never would.
At best, he could hope it might activate when the protagonist was born or when the main story began.
Did he have any strengths? Yes.
His chakra control was extremely refined. But control alone couldn't compensate for ridiculously low chakra reserves.
At twenty-seven, his chakra was only equal to a standard chunin. Worse, it might decline with age…
It was absurd.
If not for his talent in ninjutsu theory and application, even the title of special jonin would have been out of reach.
Thinking about it always depressed him. No system, no talent—life felt unfair.
But fate had not completely abandoned him. His memories, at least, could serve as his cheat.
For example, he had long been watching a particular jutsu—Hiruko's Chimera Technique. And now, he finally had a chance to obtain it.
Gen had monitored a jonin named Hiruko for a long time. He hadn't acted before because he wasn't sure the Chimera Technique had been completed.
But now, at this point in time—when Hiruko secretly targeted Kakashi's Sharingan and even used Puppet Curse Technique on him—it was almost certain the Chimera Technique was finished or nearly so.
Soon after, Hiruko's experiments would be exposed, and he would flee the Leaf to hunt for corpses with kekkei genkai. According to Gen's memory, that moment was approaching.
During this period, Hiruko would come and go from his hidden laboratory. Gen only needed to wait until the man left his base.
Gen took a deep breath and formed a silent hand seal with the hand not holding chopsticks.
"Summoning: Thousand-Mile Vision."
In the next moment, his perspective pierced through the ramen shop and appeared above the hidden laboratory.
On a tall tree beside the base, a black-feathered crow groomed its wings while its red eyes observed the area below.
The crow was one of Gen's summoned animals.
Originally just an ordinary bird, he had raised it with chakra over the years until it developed enough sentience to serve as his familiar.
"Still no movement?"
Through the crow's eyes, Gen wasn't surprised. Whether Hiruko had received the news yet was uncertain, and it was still broad daylight—not ideal for his movements.
After monitoring for a while longer, Gen released the Thousand-Mile Vision.
Now he only needed to wait until his familiar signaled him.
His crows lacked advanced summoning inheritance, so they couldn't reverse summon him, but they could still deliver chakra-based signals within a certain range.
After thinking for a moment, Gen ordered the rest of the crows nearby to gather and spread out around the laboratory to keep watch from afar.
Once everything was arranged, Gen finished the last of his ramen broth and sighed.
No wonder the protagonist loved this ramen so much. The taste really was superb.
"Boss, check please."