"If you wish to become a lion, first you must bow your head and become a camel…"
This was a saying Hyuga Yuu had heard in his previous life.
It was spoken by Nietzsche.
He believed that humanity's most fundamental drives were the **Will to Survive** and the **Will to Power**.
Built upon these instincts, all societal discipline, moral dogma, and the oppression endured by slaves were nothing but illusions. And if one wished to see through these falsehoods and break free from this dilemma—
—then one must first become a camel.
One must study and shoulder all forms of knowledge, especially the kind that aids survival and the acquisition of strength.
Yet this knowledge is wrapped in the packaging of slave morality, constantly telling you how you *should* live, how you *should* behave.
At that stage, you are nothing more than a pitiful camel—enslaved by knowledge. You bear it upon your back, yet cannot wield it. Instead, it becomes a set of shackles.
Hyuga Yuu had been a camel for thirteen years.
So much time had passed that he was beginning to forget what kind of life he had once hoped for when he first opened his eyes in this world.
Was it to run freely across vast lands as a ninja, unrestrained and full of joy?
Was it to uphold his own ninja way, speaking boldly and honoring his promises in this hot-blooded manga world?
Or was it simply exhaustion—tired of bending his back in his previous life, flattering bloated beer bellies one after another, sick of endless nodding, bowing, and scraping?
Fate, however, played a cruel joke on Hyuga Yuu.
He had indeed awakened from a drunken haze into a world filled with passion, friendship, and bonds—just as he had wished.
Yet he had been born into the least passionate of all places.
The Hyuga Branch Family.
"Shishi-kun~ hey, Shishi-kun~ what are you thinking about?"
Hyuga Yuu was pulled back to reality by a sudden, clear voice.
Vaguely, he saw a very pretty girl—perhaps twelve or thirteen years old—standing before him.
She wore a neat gray kimono beneath a clean white maid outfit, its straps adorned with petal-like ruffles.
At that moment, her fair, slender hand waved back and forth in front of his face. Following the motion, Hyuga Yuu's gaze settled on her features.
A delicate nose bridge. Rosy lips. Long, curled eyelashes.
And a pair of gentle white eyes smiling softly at him.
"Oh… it's Natsu."
Hyuga Natsu.
She was one year younger than Hyuga Yuu, yet a fellow member of the Hyuga Branch Family who had been placed in the same class and grade at the Ninja Academy.
Unlike Hyuga Yuu, she was exceptionally talented. Her progress in the three Hyuga pillars—Gentle Fist, Byakugan, and the Eight Trigrams Palms—had been astonishing. Last year, she had passed the Chunin Exams in the same batch as Uchiha Obito, Might Guy, and the others.
Afterward, she was assigned to the Main Family's guard detail, serving both as a bodyguard and a maid, earning a monthly stipend of three hundred thousand ryo.
In the future, she would even become the personal bodyguard of the Main Family's heiress, Hyuga Hanabi.
Based on the clan's standards for a successor's personal guard, Hyuga Yuu estimated that this Branch Family prodigy would reach at least Jonin rank by then.
Looking at this girl—whose circumstances were so vastly different from his own—Hyuga Yuu smiled helplessly and corrected her:
"Didn't I tell you not to call me Shishi-kun? My name is spelled Y-U-U. It means 'twilight'… the setting sun."
He paused, recalling the elder's words from earlier. His eyes dimmed slightly.
"It also means an inauspicious person."
"That's not true!"
Hyuga Natsu puffed out her cheeks and shook her head like a rattle drum, interrupting him with a bright smile.
"Yuu-kun, you've always seemed very brave to me. And that nickname suits you perfectly."
"At the Academy, you shone so brightly—just like a lion."
Hyuga Yuu knew exactly what she meant.
The time he had worn a green jumpsuit and trained alongside Might Guy.
The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
"Please spare me, Natsu. How did the favor I asked you about go?"
She nodded confidently.
"No problem at all. Lord Genko is also very curious about you."
"And when it comes to medical ninjutsu, no one among our peers in the clan is more proficient than you."
Hyuga Genko.
A young lord from a peripheral branch of the Hyuga Main Family. His father was Hyuga Sosuke—the elder previously mentioned—and his cousins were Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Hizashi.
Hyuga Yuu had come here precisely to join this young lord's guard detail as a medical ninja.
By refusing the elder's lifetime appointment, Hyuga Yuu—as a registered Leaf ninja and Hyuga clansman—would inevitably receive deployment orders, most likely to the Intelligence Division and then straight to the frontlines of the Third Great Shinobi War.
Of course—
Even cannon fodder came in different grades.
At this stage of the war, the battlefields of the Lands of Rivers, Rain, and Grass were already soaked in blood. Low-ranking shinobi sent there had a monthly survival rate of less than ten percent.
In contrast, the Kirigakure front—where clan ninjas would soon be conscripted—was still in its early stages. The intensity there was comparatively lower.
More importantly, once the initial issue of Byakugan leakage was overcome, Kirigakure's main force—the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—would later encounter Might Duy.
The moment he opened the Eighth Gate and burned himself out, Kirigakure's offensive would be shattered, dragging on sluggishly until the war's end.
On that battlefield, Hyuga Yuu needed to be mindful of three things.
First: avoid targeted assassinations aimed at the Hyuga Main Family.
Second: stay far away from the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Third: once the Kannabi Bridge incident began, avoid the pivotal moment where Kakashi killed Rin Nohara and Uchiha Obito fell into darkness.
If he could survive long enough—
Then, based on accumulated military merit, Hyuga Yuu would be promoted to Chunin once the war ended.
Becoming a Chunin meant he could form his own squad, accept missions independently, become an instructor at the Ninja Academy, or take up posts in departments like Interrogation or Intelligence.
Though he would still be nominally bound by the Main Family, distance alone would spare him from daily kneeling and humiliation.
After all—distance makes the heart grow fonder.
By joining Hyuga Genko's guard detail, he could also rely on the young lord's influence to avoid frontline Intelligence deployment, instead remaining in the rear as a medical ninja.
In other words—slacking off.
A win-win.
Hyuga Genko gained a dependable medical ninja for the rear camp.
Hyuga Yuu gained a chance to survive the chaos of war.
As for everything else—the fate of the young lord hunted by Kirigakure assassins, Might Duy's final stand, Rin Nohara's death, Uchiha Obito's descent—
Hyuga Yuu knew his power was far too small. He could barely protect himself, let alone alter fixed plot points.
Just as his thoughts drifted—
Hyuga Natsu frowned slightly, noticing he had once again ignored her.
She didn't understand why Hyuga Yuu had been so distant and troubled since failing the Chunin Exams.
But seeing him like this, she clenched her fists unconsciously.
Then—
She lifted her fair face, met his gaze with her gentle white eyes, gathered her courage, and spoke earnestly:
"I've also been assigned to Lord Genko's guard detail."
"I'll be going to the battlefield with you."
"Yuu-kun… I'll protect you."
Hyuga Yuu felt as though a heavy hammer had slammed into his forehead.
His thoughts shattered instantly.
He stared at the girl before him, his eyes wide, his throat suddenly bone-dry.
"Wait—Natsu. What… what did you just say?"
"I said," she repeated firmly,
"I will definitely protect you."