The morning sun had just begun to crest over the horizon, casting its golden glow across Konoha. In a relatively secluded residence on the outskirts of the village, Natsuhiko's eyes snapped open. He didn't linger in bed, pushing himself up immediately.
Walking over to the mirror, he caught his reflection and paused. For a split second, he wondered if he'd somehow transformed into Hatake Kakashi.
He had the striking features and the shock of silver hair.
If his pupils had been black instead of brown, then with a mask he really could have passed himself off as Kakashi.
Unknowingly, it had already been over thirteen years since he came to this world, and Natsuhiko had gradually grown accustomed to everything here.
However, his luck really wasn't very good—he had reincarnated at a rather unfortunate time.
He still clearly remembered that when he was old enough to enter the Ninja Academy, he saw that in his class there was a guy named Hatake Kakashi and another named Uchiha Obito. At that moment, half of his heart turned cold.
Meeting those two could only mean one thing: his future would likely involve facing at least one unprecedented war.
The ninjas in this world were terrifying— even children were terrifying.
In times of war, six- or seven-year-olds often already possessed the ability to kill.
Going to the battlefield at around ten years old was common. And someone like Kakashi was even more extreme—by twelve, he was already a jōnin who had killed countless enemies.
As a modern person, he simply couldn't imagine doing such a thing. At least, at the time, he didn't think he could.
There were only two paths before him.
One was to obediently go to the battlefield and pray he could survive.
The other was to find a way to avoid the battlefield altogether, lay low until the war ended, or even until those two "saviors" rose to prominence.
Unfortunately, the second option was very difficult for Natsuhiko to achieve, because his surname was Senju.
Senju was a legendary surname. It had once been incredibly active on the stage of this world.
Together with the Uchiha, they founded Konoha. The First Hokage and the Second Hokage were Senju. Even the Third Hokage had been personally trained by Senju Tobirama.
Among Konoha's current leadership, who knows how many once received guidance from the Senju?
Even the powerful Uchiha clan could only use their own strength to highlight the grandeur of the Senju.
The enormous statues at the Valley of the End concealed behind them the glory of the Senju and the humiliation of the Uchiha.
But unfortunately, fate is unpredictable.
After the Third Hokage took office, the Senju clan began to decline.
Even more tragic was that the decline of the Senju was actually caused by the policies of the Second Hokage.
Of course, the Third Hokage also played a crucial role in it—even if, according to him, it was merely to have the Senju "set an example."
In just over a decade, the Senju had almost completely lost the concept of being a "clan." Or rather, they could no longer be called a clan at all.
They had fully integrated into the ranks of civilian ninja— or more accurately, they had become civilians.
They rarely even used the surname Senju anymore.
For example, Natsuhiko—whether at school or in the Anbu—used the name Fukami Natsuhiko instead.
(Honestly, that name always made him feel a bit melancholic. He occasionally wondered if there was a "Renka" out there waiting for him.)
Some members of the Senju accepted this outcome, because they were powerless to resist.
But many others were unwilling to accept it. The most typical example was the elder who had taken care of him since childhood.
After Natsuhiko transmigrated into this world, his parents died in the Second Great Ninja War. He had been raised by an elder since he was young.
That elder constantly instilled many ideas into him—simply put: "Strive for the revival of the Senju clan."
He had little to say about it, because when the Senju completely declined, that elder had instilled the same message into nearly everyone.
"But because of him, I can't even get a cozy desk job at the Administration Department…"
Natsuhiko sighed softly. Even though the Senju clan had declined, their connections were still numerous.
He had hoped to let that elder make use of his connections and arrange for him to enter the logistics department. If that wasn't possible, even becoming an academy instructor would have been fine.
Unfortunately, the request was rejected.
The reasons were simple. First, the Senju were a combat clan. Second, Natsuhiko was too young—he wasn't allowed.
Still, the elder managed to arrange something for him: at the age of eight, Natsuhiko was sent directly into the Anbu.
Honestly, that arrangement wasn't any better.
Was Anbu work even meant for humans?!
"And on top of that, in this so-called 'legend of eyes,' I don't even have a special pair of eyes. Even a Byakugan would've been nice…"
After washing up briefly, Natsuhiko looked at himself in the mirror and couldn't help but sigh.
He knew the entire story of the Naruto world very well. To put it bluntly, it was basically "an Otsutsuki family ethics drama that drifted into the ninja world."
Or you could call it "a grand internal power struggle within the Otsutsuki clan."
In this world, aside from being the reincarnation of Indra or Asura's chakra, the most powerful cheats were undoubtedly those special eyes.
The Senju bloodline was indeed impressive and could be considered descendants of the Otsutsuki.
However, that bloodline had to be developed. If you couldn't awaken it, then you were no different from an ordinary person.
A cheat like that was practically the same as having none at all—even though he had received a small portion of the Senju clan's cultivation resources.
"Fortunately, as a transmigrator, it's not like I don't have a cheat… it's just…"
It was hard to put into words.
Fixing his gaze on the mirror, he still saw his own face, but within his eyes appeared lines of data.
Name: Senju Natsuhiko
Gender: Male
Birthday: March 24, Year 34 of the Konoha Calendar
Rank: Jōnin (Chakra Level: Chunin)
Bloodline Development: Beginner (Senju Secret Arts)
Seeds:
Jonin-Level Chakra Reserve Seed (Maturity: 60%)
Intermediate Sage Arts Seed (Maturity: 80%)
Advanced Earth Release Seed (Maturity: 70%)
Advanced Water Release Seed (Maturity: 70%)
Fruits: None
Mission: Become the true final BOSS of the ninja world (Unique) (Progress: 1%)
...
That's right—this status-screen-like interface was Natsuhiko's cheat.
His cheat was quite bizarre. He didn't know whether it was granted by some system or came from his Senju bloodline, but it seemed that in this life he was destined to deal with plants.
His ability relied on the Senju Secret Arts—whether system-given or bloodline-inherent—to absorb the life force of plants and convert it into special attributes.
Then, through the system, these special attributes would turn into seeds.
These seeds were somewhat like the insects raised by the Aburame clan—they needed to devour his chakra inside his body in order to grow.
Once they matured, they would produce fruits. After eating those fruits, Natsuhiko would gain the corresponding abilities.
Most importantly, he could completely master these abilities.
However, because of these seeds constantly consuming his chakra, his chakra reserves didn't look like those of a typical Senju ninja.
Even at thirteen, he hadn't transformed into a chakra monster. Instead, he was still honestly around the level of an average chūnin—actually on the lower end.
That's why in his status panel, his rank showed as Jōnin, but in parentheses it was marked as Chūnin.
He finally understood how Kakashi felt—always running on a low battery. Or worse, he felt like a cultivation protagonist stuck at "Spirit Level 3" while the world moved on without him.