Chapter 1: Breaking Up with Kushina at the Start
"**Wuye, I… I like you!**"
Standing atop the towering Hokage Rock, which rose over a hundred meters high, the entire Leaf Village stretched out before them, spanning dozens of miles in every direction.
To call it a village felt inadequate; it was more like a city.
Hyuga Wuye stood on the carved face of the Third Hokage, overlooking the Leaf Village, feeling a sense of satisfaction wash over him.
The scenery was secondary. What truly delighted him was standing on the old Third Hokage's head—it brought him an unparalleled sense of joy.
But then, a girl's voice suddenly reached his ears, and his mood plummeted in an instant.
He had hoped this day wouldn't come so soon, but this girl had confessed after just one year…
Hyuga Wuye pulled his gaze back from the village and turned to the girl beside him, who was half a head shorter than him.
She had long, fiery red hair that reached her waist. A gentle breeze lifted her strands, carrying a faint, refreshing scent.
Her light yellow outfit was cinched tightly at the waist with a black belt, accentuating her slender figure.
Black thigh-high stockings covered her knees, outlining her long, graceful legs.
She was a girl who could easily stir one's heart.
Hyuga Wuye's eyes shifted back to her flushed little face.
Her gaze darted nervously, her hands twisting together—she was clearly a bundle of nerves.
"**Kushina, you like me?**"
His voice was calm.
Kushina偷偷 lifted her eyes, only to meet the boy's intense, unwavering stare head-on.
Like a startled rabbit, she quickly averted her gaze. "**I… I…**"
Hyuga Wuye said nothing, simply watching the adorable girl with that same steady, tranquil look.
"**I like you! Please go out with me!**"
Kushina squeezed her eyes shut, tilted her head back, clenched her little fists, and shouted it out, her face burning red.
Hearing this, a fleeting wave of joy surged in Hyuga Wuye's heart, only to quickly turn bittersweet.
"**I like you too…**"
Very much, very much.
His voice was soft, as if he were afraid of startling her.
"**R-Really?!**"
Kushina looked up in surprise.
But at that moment, Hyuga Wuye slowly shook his head. "**Kushina, I agree to go out with you, but… at the same time, I'm going to break up with you right now.**"
*«First Stage: Passive Confession Achieved.»*
*«Second Stage: Relationship Confirmed Achieved.»*
A strange feedback seemed to flood his mind, leaving him momentarily dazed.
"**Wh-What…**"
The flush on Kushina's face faded, replaced by confusion. "**Are you joking?**"
Hyuga Wuye snapped back to reality, his expression calm. "**No.**"
"**Then… you don't like me?**"
Her pretty face paled, tears welling up in her eyes.
"**No,**" Hyuga Wuye shook his head again, "**I like you, so I'm willing to go out with you. But I've also decided to break up with you right now.**"
"**We're done.**"
He added.
*«Third Stage: Active Breakup Achieved. Pupil Power Awakened.»*
A burning sensation flared in Hyuga Wuye's eyes… confirming that breaking up really did awaken his pupil power.
"**You!**"
Kushina clenched her fists, her fiery red hair seeming to blaze with fury. "**You're messing with me!**"
Known as the "Blood-Red Pepper" at the Ninja Academy, an enraged Kushina threw a punch at his chest.
**"Thud."**
A muffled sound rang out, but Hyuga Wuye didn't budge an inch. Instead, his arm twisted, and with a *swish*, a kunai appeared in his hand.
A mocking smirk tugged at his lips. "**With that little strength, you think you can hurt me? Even with a kunai, you wouldn't manage it.**"
"**You! Jerk!**"
Kushina's anger flared hotter. She snatched the kunai from his hand and stabbed it toward his arm in a fit of rage.
A flicker of relief passed through Hyuga Wuye's eyes.
But midway, Kushina stopped herself.
She didn't actually want to hurt him—her actions were just for show.
In that split second, Hyuga Wuye raised his palm, grabbed her wrist, and thrust his body forward.
**"Pfft."**
The sharp kunai plunged into his chest, tearing through muscle and leaving a diamond-shaped wound, bringing excruciating pain.
*This must be how Yahiko did it later… a bit of a masochistic thrill,* he thought amidst the chaos.
As the pain jolted his nerves, Hyuga Wuye's mind wandered to random thoughts.
*«Injury Severity: 10%. Cell Division Accelerated 100x. 20 Seconds of Life Consumed.»*
"**Ah!**"
Kushina screamed, yanking the kunai out. It clattered onto the rock and slid off, leaving a streak of blood on the Third Hokage's carved nose—quite a comical sight.
Hyuga Wuye even leaned over to look down. "**High-altitude littering… hope it doesn't hit someone.**"
Blood stained his clothes as Kushina burst into tears. "**You… What are you doing…**"
She lunged forward, grabbing for his wrist. "**Quick! Come with me to the ninja hospital!**"
But Hyuga Wuye sidestepped her, smiling nonchalantly. "**It'll heal soon. Don't worry.**"
With that, he tore open his shirt, revealing the bloody wound. "**See? It's already stopped bleeding.**"
Kushina froze, rubbing her eyes in disbelief. "**How is that possible?**"
If not for the faint bloodstain still on his chest, she'd have thought she was under a genjutsu.
"**Probably because my cell division is faster than normal,**" Hyuga Wuye explained.
Kushina watched, stunned, as the bloodstain faded over a few minutes until it vanished completely. She couldn't help but ask, "**Are there any side effects?**"
To her, such rapid healing seemed unnatural.
"**Not much, just burns a bit of life force,**" Hyuga Wuye said, adjusting his clothes. "**This wound probably cost me about as much life as the Third Hokage spends smoking one pipe.**"
"**Burns life force…**"
Tears streamed down Kushina's face, salty and bitter in her mouth.
"**Don't cry, don't cry. It's not a big deal,**" Hyuga Wuye waved his hands. "**Plenty of people know smoking a cigarette cuts five seconds off their life, but they still do it. The Third's pipe is maybe twenty seconds… It's fine.**"
Kushina wiped her eyes, her voice trembling with sobs. "**Why did you do this?!**"
Hyuga Wuye paused. "**Guilt, I suppose.**"
*'I have to give some reason. I can't exactly tell her that if I don't break up, my body will collapse by age ten. That'd just drag her down with me,'* he thought.
"**Guilt?**"
Kushina looked up at him, tears blurring her vision.
Hyuga Wuye nodded. "**I'm not someone who likes committing to a relationship. I prefer the ambiguity and excitement before it starts. So, even though I really like you, once you confessed, I couldn't keep that ambiguity with you anymore.**"
*'Liking ambiguity might not make me a great person, but at least I don't cheat money or bodies in one-on-one situations. That's better than a playboy, right?'* he mused.
"**You only like ambiguity, not commitment?**" Kushina's eyes widened. "**How could you enjoy something like that?**"
A faint smile curved Hyuga Wuye's lips. "**Kushina, think about this past year. Us slowly getting closer, guessing each other's feelings, hiding our little flutters of excitement, tossing and turning over the smallest hint of something more—doesn't that feel great?**"
Kushina's fists clenched tighter as she listened. "**So, all those times you pretended not to notice my hints and kept me at arm's length—it was just for… ambiguity?!**"
"**Y-Yes… that's right…**"
Hyuga Wuye lowered his head.
"**You! You jerk!**"
Furious, the girl turned away.
Hyuga Wuye instinctively reached out to grab her, but with a *thud*, his hand grasped nothing.
A piece of broken wood appeared where Kushina had been, tumbling onto the rock, while she stood several steps away.
"**Don't touch me!**"
Kushina spun around, her eyes blazing.
Hyuga Wuye scratched his head. "**Substitution Jutsu, huh…**"
"**Hyuga Wuye, let me ask you this,**" Kushina took a deep breath, "**after breaking up with me, are you going to go find ambiguity with someone else?**"
Hyuga Wuye's hand dropped from his head, his gaze falling to his feet.
More information surfaced in his mind.
*«Optional Targets: Kaguya Otsutsuki, Konan, Tsunade.»*
No room for negotiation—either his body collapses, or he keeps courting disaster until someone takes a swing at him…
"**Yes…**"
His low voice carried on the breeze, making Kushina's eyes redden further.
"**You're a bad person!**"
The moment tears burst forth again, Kushina leapt off the Hokage Rock.
"**Careful…**"
Hyuga Wuye reached out, but he couldn't catch her sleeve.
Then he saw her leaping down to the base of the rock, crying as she ran off into the distance.
"**This is the Naruto world, and I'm worried about her jumping?**"
Hyuga Wuye chuckled self-deprecatingly, then slowly crouched down, clutching his chest with teary eyes. "**Ow… that kunai stab really hurt…**"
More than physical pain, it was his heart that ached.
Over this past year, the feelings he'd invested in her were no less than hers for him.
Good thing he could break up right after confirming the relationship. If it had been after a real romance, the heartbreak would've been unbearable.
He'd tried looking for loopholes, but this system-like thing offered no shortcuts.
"**It feels like a system, but it's not. It doesn't give missions—just passes information,**" Hyuga Wuye wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stood up. "**Like thirst telling me to drink water, it's an instinct my body demands…**"
He fell silent for a moment, muttering to himself, "**I'm such a good person, yet I reincarnated into a body with an expiration date that'll collapse. That's just too much…**"
If not for this crisis of a limited lifespan, he might've gone to apprentice under Ichiraku Otsutsuki—then he wouldn't have to endure this guilt.
"**So what's up with this body anyway?**"
He clenched his fist, asking inwardly, "**I broke up with Kushina—does that mean I've awakened it successfully?**"
*«Pupil Power Awakened. Stimulate with Chakra to Activate.»*
The instinctual information flowed into his mind as soon as he thought it.
"**It feels like I stole this body and have to figure it out bit by bit,**" he said, looking at his hands. "**Problem is, I've awakened it, but how do I trigger the pupil power?**"
*«Pupil Power Awakened. Can Analyze Breakup Target's Abilities, Including Bloodline Limits.»*
*«Mentally Recall Uzumaki Kushina's Substitution Jutsu Moment for Initial Analysis.»*
Following the instructions, Hyuga Wuye closed his eyes and recalled that instant.
To his surprise, his mental energy traced Kushina's form, revealing a translucent map of her chakra pathways.
He clearly saw the fusion of her physical and mental energy forming chakra, surging out in a flash through the hand signs of the Substitution Jutsu. Her body darted away swiftly, leaving a piece of wood in her place as a decoy.
"**This is the principle of the Substitution Jutsu I analyzed?**"
As he thought this, his mental energy mimicked Kushina's, combining with the physical energy extracted from his cells to form pale blue chakra.
Instinctively, his left hand formed a sword finger pointing upward, while his right hand grasped his left index and middle fingers, forming the Rat seal.
**"Thud!"**
In the next moment, his body shifted rapidly, leaving a decoy piece of wood behind.
"**Ah…**"
Hyuga Wuye stumbled, barely steadying himself.
"**I actually copied Kushina's Substitution Jutsu just like that?!**"
He stared at his hands.
"**Is this the amazing ability of awakened pupil power?**"
"**Next, let's try my awakened eye technique.**"
Hyuga Wuye finally felt a spark of excitement. "**A Hyuga clansman without cataracts, mocked by the clan—I'm about to turn things around!**"
Eagerly, he channeled chakra through his meridians, directing it to his eyes.
"**Byakugan… Activate!**"
In a Naruto world not yet advanced to the tattoo era, having a pair of cool contact lenses was undeniably crucial.
Hyuga Wuye was already fantasizing about unlocking the Tenseigan and dominating everything in sight.
Huh? Why did the world flash red for a second?
He touched his forehead—no bulging veins.
His vision wasn't black-and-white either—just a faint red flicker that quickly faded.
A very bad feeling… crept up on him…
**"Swish!"**
At that moment, his eyes caught a blurry figure speeding toward him.
Body Flicker Technique!
Seeing the hooded outfit and animal mask, Hyuga Wuye instantly recognized an Anbu ninja.
*I can actually track an Anbu's Body Flicker trajectory?*
*Why?!*
*The Byakugan is for scouting, not dynamic vision!*
*«Successfully Activated Single Tomoe Sharingan.»*
The answer surfaced in his mind.
I'm doomed!
"**Sharingan!**"
At the same time, the Anbu who'd appeared before him exclaimed in shock, "**How did you awaken the Sharingan?!**"
Hyuga Wuye nearly cursed out loud.
*How the hell should I know why I awakened the Sharingan?!*
*A Hyuga branch member awakening the ping-pong clan's Sharingan?!*
*And caught red-handed by the Hokage's Anbu?!*
In that instant, Hyuga Wuye wanted to strangle the Anbu ninja in front of him.
*Did you have to show up right now?!*
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