"If you wish to become a lion, you must first bow your head as a camel…"
This was something Hyuga Yu had heard in his previous life.
It was said by Nietzsche.
He claimed that humanity's most fundamental drives were the will to survive and the will to power.
Built upon these, all social discipline, moral predicaments, and the oppression suffered by slaves were nothing but illusions. And if one wished to see through those illusions and break free of those predicaments—
Then first, one had to become a camel.
You had to study, to master all kinds of knowledge—especially knowledge that could help you survive and grow strong.
Yet all of this knowledge was wrapped in the trappings of slave morality. It told you how you should be.
And at that stage, you were nothing more than a pitiful camel, a slave to knowledge. You carried it on your back, unable to use it; instead, it became your shackles.
Hyuga Yu had already been a camel for thirteen years.
So much time had passed that he was starting to forget what kind of life he had once hoped for when he first opened his eyes in this world thirteen years ago.
Was it to live as a shinobi, running freely across vast lands?
Was it to uphold his own ninja way, to speak his mind and follow through in this hot-blooded manga-like world?
Or was it simply because he had grown sick of his past life—of bending his back endlessly just to survive, fawning over one beer-bellied superior after another, exhausted from a life of constant bowing and scraping?
Fate, however, played a cruel joke on Hyuga Yu.
When he awoke from a drunken, hazy dream, he did indeed arrive in this world full of passion, friendship, and bonds—
Only to become a member of the Hyuga Branch Family, the very opposite of "hot-blooded."
"Lion-kun—hey~ Lion-kun, what are you thinking about?"
The clear, lively voice snapped Hyuga Yu out of his thoughts. Through his lingering daze, he saw a very pretty young girl, around twelve or thirteen years old.
She wore a neatly tailored gray kimono, with a pristine white maid outfit layered over it. The straps were decorated with petal-like ruffles.
At that moment, her fair, delicate hand waved in front of Hyuga Yu's face. Following that motion, his gaze fell upon her features.
A straight, elegant nose, softly flushed lips, long lashes that curled upward—and a pair of pale eyes filled with gentle warmth.
"Oh. It's Natsu."
Hyuga Natsu.
She was one year younger than Hyuga Yu, yet the two of them had been in the same class at the Ninja Academy. Like him, she was a member of the Hyuga Branch Family.
Unlike him, however, her talent was outstanding. Her Gentle Fist, Byakugan, and Eight Trigrams techniques—the Hyuga clan's three core arts—had progressed rapidly. Just last year, she advanced to chūnin alongside Obito Uchiha, Might Guy, and others.
Soon after, she joined the Main Family's guard unit as both a protector and a maid, receiving a monthly stipend of three hundred thousand ryō.
Incidentally, she would later become the personal bodyguard of the future Hyuga clan heir, Hanabi Hyuga. Based on the clan's requirements for such a position, Hyuga Yu estimated that by then, this Branch Family prodigy would be at least a jōnin.
Looking at this genius girl of the Branch Family, whose circumstances were utterly different from his own, Hyuga Yu smiled wryly and corrected her:
"I've told you already, don't keep calling me Lion-kun. My name is spelled Yuu—it means dusk. The sun sinking in the west."
He paused, recalling the implication behind what the clan elder had said earlier. His gaze darkened slightly.
"An ill-omened person."
"That's not true at all—"
Hyuga Natsu puffed out her cheeks and shook her head like a rattle drum. She immediately cut him off with a bright smile.
"Yu-kun, in my eyes, you've always been very brave. And besides, that nickname suits you perfectly."
"Back at the Ninja Academy, Yu-kun was dazzling—just like a lion."
Hyuga Yu knew she was referring to the time he'd trained with Might Guy while wearing that green jumpsuit. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Please spare me, Natsu. How did the thing I asked you to do go?"
Hyuga Natsu nodded.
"No problem. Young Master Genko is also very curious about you. And when it comes to medical ninjutsu, no one among our peers in the clan is better than you."
Hyuga Genko.
He was a member of a side branch connected to the Main Family. His father was Hyuga Sōsuke, the elder who had delivered the message, and his cousins were Hiashi Hyuga and Hizashi Hyuga of the Main Family.
Hyuga Yu had come this time to join Young Master Genko's guard unit as a medical-nin.
After refusing the commission letter from the clan elders, as a registered Konoha shinobi and a clan ninja of the Hyuga, Hyuga Yu would—barring any surprises—soon receive orders transferring him to the Reconnaissance Division and onto the battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War.
Of course—
Even if you were just cannon fodder, there were still different ways to be thrown into the grinder.
At this point, the battlefronts in the directions of the Land of Rivers, the Land of Rain, and the Land of Grass had already descended into utter bloodshed. All sides were fighting so fiercely they might as well have been trying to smash each other's brains out. A disposable genin like Hyuga Yu, once transferred there, would have less than a ten percent chance of surviving a month.
In contrast—
The Hidden Mist front, where clan shinobi would soon be mobilized, had only just seen the war begin. The overall intensity of the fighting was still relatively low.
Moreover, once the crisis of the Byakugan's information leak was overcome, Kirigakure's main force—the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—would collide with Might Duy, who would burn his very life to open the Eight Gates' Gate of Death. The Mist's offensive would be dealt a devastating blow and slowed even further, dragging on until the war's end.
On this battlefield, there were three key points Hyuga Yu needed to be mindful of:
First, avoid the enemy's targeted hunts against the Hyuga Main Family.
Second, steer clear of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Third, after the Kannabi Bridge incident erupted, make absolutely sure not to get caught up in the plot point where Kakashi Hatake killed Rin Nohara, leading to Obito Uchiha's descent into darkness.
Based on cumulative military merit calculated from time survived on the battlefield—
Once the war ended, Hyuga Yu would be awarded the rank of chūnin.
Becoming a chūnin meant he would be qualified to form his own team and accept missions independently, enter the Ninja Academy system as an instructor, or serve in Konoha institutions such as the Interrogation Unit or the Reconnaissance Division.
Although he would still, nominally, have to obey orders from the Main Family, at least with some distance, he wouldn't need to bow and kneel day after day, kowtowing at every turn.
How should he put it? Distance makes things beautiful—something like that.
And as long as he joined Hyuga Genko's guard unit, he could, through Genko's connections, avoid being sent straight into the frontline Reconnaissance Division. Instead, he could remain in the rear camps as a medical-nin, quietly coasting by.
It was a win-win.
Hyuga Genko gained a clan medical-nin stationed permanently at the rear.
And Hyuga Yu gained a chance to survive the chaos of the battlefield.
As for everything else…
The fate of that Main Family heir who had drawn the attention of Kirigakure's hunter-nin.
The fate of Might Duy, who would clash with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
The fate of his academy classmate Rin Nohara. Obito Uchiha's fall into darkness…
Hyuga Yu knew his own strength was pitifully small. He could barely protect his own life, let alone change these major events locked into the main plot.
As Hyuga Yu was lost in these thoughts—
Hyuga Natsu looked at him with a troubled expression. Once again, his mind had drifted far away, completely ignoring her.
She didn't understand why, ever since failing the chūnin exams, Hyuga Yu had been so weighed down by worry.
But seeing him like this, she couldn't help clenching her fists.
Then—
She lifted her fair little face, met his eyes with her gentle Byakugan gaze, gathered her courage, and spoke earnestly:
"I've also been assigned to Young Master Genko's guard unit this time. I'll be going to the battlefield with you."
"Yu-kun, I'll protect you!"
Hyuga Yu, snapped out of his reverie by those words, felt as though someone had smashed his forehead with a heavy hammer. He jolted fully awake.
His eyes widened as he stared at the girl before him. His throat suddenly went unbearably dry.
"Wait, Natsu—you… what did you just say?!"
"I said I'll protect you!"