Chapter 2: The Class System

Reborn in the world of Naruto.

The good news: it wasn't the Uchiha clan prior to the Downfall.

The bad news: he was born into the Hyūga clan, with an older brother twelve years his senior who had long been designated as the main family's heir.

Shingo had originally assumed he would need to spend a dozen or even several dozen years struggling to break free from the shackles known as the Caged Bird.

He never expected that this sudden calamity would instead become his turning point.

Though he had lost his Byakugan, he would also never be bound by the Caged Bird again.

For Shingo, it was all worth it.

A month had passed since the day his eyes were gouged out. Shingo gently brushed over the gauze wrapped around his eyes, a faint, itching sensation slowly radiating from the wounds.

His eye sockets were not entirely empty; they had been fitted with a pair of ordinary human eyeballs.

Perhaps out of a lingering shred of guilt, Hyūga Masamitsu had not left Shingo to plunge into total darkness.

More than a decade had already passed since the end of the First Ninja World War, and with the Second Hokage and Second Raikage both perishing in the past few years, the situation had grown tense.

Though the Five Great Shinobi Nations still maintained a hard-won, restrained peace, local skirmishes continued to flare up one after another, growing increasingly frequent and intense.

In an era gradually sliding into chaos, procuring a pair of ordinary eyeballs was no difficult feat for Masamitsu, a man of the Hyūga main family.

It was his final act of mercy as a father.

Draining the lukewarm tea in his cup in a single gulp, Shingo called up the system panel with his mind.

As everyone in the ninja world knew, aside from bloodline inheritance, the only other way to pass down power was through master and disciple.

Either you inherited a clan's bloodline limit or secret techniques, or you could only hope to encounter a mentor of exceptional skill.

And both of those paths were practically closed off to Shingo, a member of the Hyūga branch family.

Fortunately, he had a third path: the Class System.

…

Name: Hyūga Shingo

Age: 6

Bloodline: Hyūga Clan

Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Missing)

Base Attributes:

Strength: 5.3

Speed: 4.1

Constitution: 7.4

Spirit: 9.1

Common Class: None

Transcendent Class: Warrior Lv.2 (173/200): Rooted in a thousand-forged physique, fueled by the will as burning firewood, with fists capable of shattering all things and a body that can shake mountains.

Class Skill: Mind's Eye Lv.1 (94/100)

Class Skill Points: 0

Innate Skill: Warrior's Physique Lv.2: Innate sinew and bone, transcendent chakra pathways!

General Skills:

Chakra Control Lv.1 (46/100)

Gentle Fist Lv.2 (52/200) (Tenketsu Needle, Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)

General Skill Points: 0

…

The system could unlock corresponding class templates based on specific conditions fulfilled by Shingo.

Engaging in behaviors suited to a template would grant corresponding experience points and raise the class level.

Classes were divided into Transcendent Classes and Common Classes, and leveling up any class would boost Shingo's four primary attributes.

Alongside attribute growth came corresponding skill points, used to unlock or strengthen skills within that specific class.

Through rigorous training in the Gentle Fist over the past few years, Shingo had unlocked his first class: Warrior.

By sparring and exchanging blows with fellow clansmen, Shingo had discovered that the speed and strength of his peers generally hovered around 2.

Those Academy students nearing graduation sat around 5.

Shingo's staggering spiritual attribute of 9.1 was the result of living two lifetimes.

Meanwhile, his physical constitution and taijutsu talent, which far surpassed his peers, relied on the innate skill granted upon activating the Warrior class: Warrior's Physique.

Combined with innate talent, grueling practice, and the skill points gained from leveling the Warrior class to Lv.2, the learning of Mind's Eye allowed Shingo to master the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and operate as though his eyes were open, all at the tender age of six.

To say nothing of the peers he easily crushed, even when sparring with clansmen about to graduate from the Ninja Academy, Shingo more often than not emerged victorious.

Shingo had originally intended to rapidly acquire experience through sparring to level up his Warrior class faster, but he hadn't expected it to arouse Takanobu's jealousy.

Whispers had begun circulating through the clan from unknown sources, as if deliberately meant for Takanobu's ears, saying that Shingo looked far more like a main family head than he did.

The result was that Takanobu, desperate to prove himself, ended up losing a Byakugan, ultimately forcing the main family to gouge out Shingo's eyes just to preserve his status as the heir.

Fortunately, though Shingo had lost his Byakugan, he still had his Mind's Eye.

In his blindfolded state, Shingo felt his senses grow sharper than ever, and the proficiency of his Mind's Eye was rising at a velocity far surpassing anything before.

Shingo believed that as the level of the Mind's Eye continued to climb, its insight and perceptual abilities would eventually surpass even the Byakugan.

Of course, this did not mean Shingo had given up on the Byakugan entirely.

Having transmigrated into the Hyūga clan, failing to plot for the Tenseigan would be a grave injustice to this bloodline.

Let those eyes temporarily rest in Takanobu's keeping.

Sooner or later, Shingo would make them pay back a hundredfold.

Shingo picked up the kettle to refill his cup with hot water, continuing to perceive the subtle ripples of the liquid with his Mind's Eye, familiarizing himself with this entirely new way of viewing the world.

Just as he was concentrating on the wisps of steam rising above the teacup, a sharp rap suddenly sounded at his door.

Tap, tap, tap.

Who could it be?

Shingo felt a flicker of doubt.

His small cabin wasn't large, and his current seat wasn't far from the door, but a Lv.1 Mind's Eye wasn't yet capable of seeing through solid walls.

Within the Hyūga clan, the main family always looked down upon Shingo, and nobody among the branch family regarded him as one of their own.

Not only that, but most of them harbored twisted psychology, gloating over the fact that a genius like Shingo was bound to the same servitude under the main family as them.

They seemed to feel that Shingo, born to the main family yet destined for the Caged Bird, was even lower than those of them born straight into the branch family.

Shingo stood up and slid the door open.

A gentle sweep of his Mind's Eye immediately identified the visitor: Hyūga Hizashi.

As the sons of the clan head, the brothers Hiashi and Hizashi frequently interacted with their peers in the clan, and Shingo, as the Second Elder's grandson, had naturally crossed paths with them on occasion.

However, Shingo had previously been far more focused on building his own strength and paid little heed to interpersonal networking.

While they exchanged casual greetings in the past, they could hardly be called close.

Shingo was quite curious about what brought Hizashi here today.

"Hello, who is it?"

Shingo had no intention of exposing his Mind's Eye, merely letting a precisely measured look of bewilderment cross his face as he spoke softly.

Hizashi stood at the threshold, staring at the bandages wrapped around Shingo's eyes, words failing him. Several times he tried to speak, only to choke the words back down.

In the end, he forced a composed tone and said, "It's me, Hizashi. I... just came to check on you."

"Ah, it's Hizashi. Come in."

Hizashi followed close behind Shingo, several times reaching out a hand as if to guide him, only to pull back out of fear that he might trigger a raw nerve in Shingo's heart.

He braced himself instead, ready to leap forward and steady Shingo at the first sign of a stumble or misstep.

Fortunately, his worries were unfounded; Shingo walked with a steady, fluid gait, without a single hitch.

The two sat facing each other on the tatami mats, and only then did Hizashi let out a quiet sigh of relief.

He placed the pastry box he was carrying onto the low table, his gaze sweeping over the interior of the room.

The room was tiny, a single charcoal brazier barely staving off the chill, and the furnishings were sparse to the point of being austere.

A thin quilt, a low table, an old cabinet, and in the corner, a stack of used bandages and worn training weights.

Though Hizashi had been branded with the Caged Bird and relegated to the branch family at age three, he had always lived and eaten alongside Hiashi.

Aside from the Caged Bird mark on their foreheads, the two brothers lived lives virtually indistinguishable from one another.

This was his first time realizing that within the Hyūga compound, a family that prided itself on being a noble clan, such a destitute living space could even exist.

Before coming over, Hizashi had already pondered how to communicate with Shingo, but now, sitting face-to-face with him, he felt like a mute, completely crushed into silence by the cruel fate of the branch family.

Will the Hyūga clan demand a sacrifice like this from me in the future, too?

Hizashi's eyes drifted aimlessly; he felt as though the Shingo before him was a mirror reflecting his own future as a branch family member. Confronting reality so bare and raw made his very soul tremble.

Seeing Shingo reach out toward the teapot to pour himself water, Hizashi quickly straightened up. "Let me."

Hizashi filled both their cups, topped off the kettle, set it back over the brazier, and then asked cautiously, "Are you... holding up?"

"It's fine, nothing too inconvenient. Since I don't need to go out for a while, and meals get delivered right to my door, I finally get to experience what it's like to have food brought straight to my mouth."

Shingo spoke in a relaxed tone, almost as if Hizashi were the one who needed comforting.

"Don't worry about me. The doctor said I'll be able to see again in half a month. I can just use this time to catch up on some rest."

"But... the Byakugan..."

Hizashi's hands unconsciously clenched tight.

The Byakugan was a powerful kekkei genkai renowned throughout the entire ninja world: a 360-degree field of vision, long-range sight, X-ray penetration, heightened perception...

Not to mention that the Hyūga style revolved entirely around the Gentle Fist; with his Byakugan gone, the Gentle Fist Shingo had practiced since childhood was essentially crippled.

Even if Shingo claimed he would see again in half a month, how could an ordinary pair of eyes ever compare?

Shingo didn't answer Hizashi directly, simply raising a finger to tap his own smooth forehead.

"Sometimes, losing something isn't necessarily a bad thing, is it?"

Hearing those words, Hizashi froze. He unconsciously reached up to brush his fingers against the Caged Bird mark on his forehead, falling silent.

"I suppose so."

A profound sorrow welled up in Hizashi's heart, a mix of sympathy for Shingo's misfortune and anxiety over his own future.

This was the Hyūga clan; this was the destiny of the branch family.

Whenever the main family demanded it, the branch family had to offer themselves up.

Freedom, free will, the Byakugan...

Even their lives.

Watching Shingo's unperturbed expression, a thought he scarcely dared admit to himself flickered in Hizashi's mind.

If one could avoid being branded with the Caged Bird, the Byakugan wasn't necessarily an item too precious to part with.

He let out a heavy sigh. Seemingly influenced by Shingo's composure, Hizashi's mood didn't feel quite as suffocating as before.

He reached into his robe, produced two coin purses, and gently laid them on the table.

Shingo looked at them in confusion and asked, "What is this?"

"This is what I've saved up over time, and this one is from my brother."

"My brother told me that Father and the elders decided to move you out of the Hyūga compound once your wounds heal. We were worried about you..."

Hearing this, Shingo finally understood why Hizashi knew about the eye-gouging incident.

By all rights, such a scandal ought to have been a closely guarded clan secret, not something Hizashi should have been told, at least, not yet.

It seemed clan head Hyūga Munenobu hadn't bothered keeping it from his eldest son, Hiashi.

Perhaps he had deliberately let Hiashi witness how they handled the matter, ensuring Hiashi understood the fundamental nature of the relationship between the main and branch families from an early age.

Munenobu simply hadn't anticipated that Hiashi would not only share this with Hizashi, but upon learning that Hizashi intended to check on Shingo, even had Hizashi bring along a token of his own goodwill.

"Thank you, Hizashi, and please thank the Young Clan Head for me." Shingo didn't refuse, expressing his gratitude before asking, "Being moved out of the compound... what are the specific arrangements?"

"They said... since you no longer have a Byakugan, you're no longer fit to live inside the compound. They're supposed to arrange a residence for you somewhere in the village, and after that..."

Shingo tapped his finger against the table rhythmically, pondering the implications of those words.

Talk of losing the Byakugan was pure nonsense; not every single person in the Hyūga clan successfully awakened the eye, and there was no functional difference between those who failed to awaken it and those who lost it.

The real reason they were in such a hurry to drive him out was simply the fear that an outsider's eyes, or rather, the constant reminder of what those eyes represented, would continuously remind everyone in the clan of the ugly secret of a clansman's eyes being gouged out.

Kick him out, let him undergo the cold treatment for a while, and a briefly flashing genius would soon be forgotten.

Shingo believed that if not for Konoha's constant preaching of the Will of Fire, which meant they dared not keep the loss of a Byakugan completely hidden from the village leadership, things might have been worse.

With eyes that truly frightened the Hyūga clan watching over the situation, they didn't dare push things too far.

Otherwise, he might not have survived the day after losing his eyes.

Expelling a six-year-old child from the compound and leaving him to fend for himself was already their most "merciful" resolution.

"There's one more thing."

"My brother also said they're stripping you of the Hyūga surname."

Shingo's finger-tapping paused for a fraction of a second.

The next instant, acting as though he had heard nothing at all, he picked up a daifuku pastry brought by Hizashi, popped the whole thing into his mouth, and chewed slowly.

The room fell quiet, save for the whistling of the winter wind outside the window and the unhurried sound of his chewing.

"Yeah, I figured."

Wiping the corner of his mouth with his fingers, Shingo responded without a hint of surprise.

Naturally. If he were allowed to live outside the clan bearing the Hyūga surname, his banishment would not only lose its meaning, but it would also spark unnecessary public scrutiny and disputes.

Stripping him of the surname and drawing a clean line, for Shingo, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing either.

"If you run into any trouble after you're out there, you have to come find me."

Hizashi's tone was resolute, his eyes locked straight onto Shingo.

"As long as it's within my power, I will help you." That genuine determination, perceived clearly through the Mind's Eye, settled firmly in the depths of Shingo's heart.

After a long moment, Shingo raised his head to face Hizashi directly, a genuine smile, his first since his transmigration, blooming across his face.

Though Shingo's eyes remained hidden beneath the bandages, Hizashi felt as though he were being truly looked upon.

Then, a calm, gentle voice reached Hizashi's ears.

"Thank you, Hizashi."