Some people never reach Rome in their lifetime; others are born in Rome…
This phrase is especially fitting for the world of Naruto.
In this world where talent and bloodline mean everything, many things are decided the moment one is born.
Uchiha Yuan, 10 years old this year, a fourth-year student at the Konoha Ninja Academy, has average grades and is completely unremarkable within the Uchiha clan, except for having a single tomoe Sharingan.
Speaking of this single tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Yuan found it even more frustrating.
The Uchiha clan's Sharingan is awakened when a clan member experiences the loss of someone deeply loved, or feels great sorrow from personal failure. At that moment, special chakra surges in the brain, affecting the optic nerves and changing the eyes—this is commonly referred to as "eye awakening."
When Uchiha Yuan learned that his parents had died on the battlefield during the Third Great Ninja War, special chakra indeed surged in his brain. But the amount was too great, and Yuan's nerves couldn't withstand it—he blacked out completely.
As for Guo Yuan, who died suddenly from overwork and staying up late, he somehow transmigrated into the world of Naruto and took over the body of Uchiha Yuan.
In his past life, Guo Yuan was a veteran anime fan, and Naruto just happened to be the very series that drew him in. But it had been years since Naruto ended, and even longer since he'd last watched it.
He only remembered the general plot of Naruto.
But in Guo Yuan's impression, there hadn't been any Uchiha clan member who died from being overwhelmed by the special chakra that appeared during Sharingan awakening, right?
Did he draw the script for a loser-type protagonist?
But very quickly, Uchiha Yuan realized he was wrong—he wasn't trash, but also not a genius.
Uchiha Yuan was like most children in the Uchiha clan—not too much chakra, not too little. He could use the not-so-lethal Fireball Jutsu, was good at throwing shuriken, and that was about it.
From his years of reading novels, Uchiha Yuan knew the worst fate for a transmigrator wasn't starting off weak. The rise-from-trash route was a classic power-fantasy trope.
And within Naruto's worldview, being at the bottom was often the strongest—Naruto, Obito, Jiraiya, weren't they all underdogs?
Genius starts were even simpler—dominate everything with ease. If I have talent, who can stop me?
The worst fate was to be like Uchiha Yuan—mediocre in every way.
Average grades, average social skills, average looks… well, not exactly average looks, since no one in the Uchiha clan is ugly.
In short, Uchiha Yuan was the type who'd vanish in a crowd.
Luckily, as a transmigrator, Uchiha Yuan still had a "golden finger" cheat.
Inside his mind was a spinning wheel. As long as he trained for three hours a day, he'd get one chance to spin it and enter a text-based adventure game.
So far, he'd only received attribute points from the game. These could be assigned to five attributes on his character panel:
Chakra Amount
Constitution
Eye Power
Vitality
Nature Affinity
At the bottom of the panel was a small progress bar. It currently showed Level 7, requiring 10 points to level up—i.e., assigning 10 attribute points.
As of today, Uchiha Yuan had transmigrated for nearly a month, but he still hadn't gathered 10 points.
It wasn't due to laziness. When he first arrived, his body was out of control—whether from nerve damage or something else, he couldn't move at all.
If not for the care of his fellow Uchiha clansmen, he would've starved.
Though they seemed proud and aloof, many members of the Uchiha clan were cold on the outside but warm on the inside, and cared deeply for their own.
When he first transmigrated, Uchiha Yuan had lost all mobility—only his eyeballs could move.And in this ninja world—especially during the outbreak of the Third Ninja War—medical resources and manpower were severely lacking.
Even so, the Uchiha clan didn't abandon him. Every day, someone came to care for him, feeding him food and water.
This made Uchiha Yuan feel some sense of belonging to the clan.
After 20 full days of recovery, Uchiha Yuan went from being completely immobile, to walking, to running and jumping, until he could fully control the body.
Once recovered, he began training. It had already been 9 days.
In the previous 8 days, Uchiha Yuan had entered 8 different text-based game worlds. But no matter the world, he had never lived to die of old age.
Today, after training and gaining another chance to spin the wheel, he eagerly spun it in his mind.
Just like before, his consciousness extended outward, sensing a mysterious wave sweeping over his body—extracting something, yet also seemingly leaving everything intact.
Then his vision changed, the wheel disappeared, and countless light points scattered like a meteor shower from deep space. When they reassembled, they formed rows of text.
"You have logged into the One Piece world."
"This time it's the One Piece world?" Uchiha Yuan murmured.
"It is the year 1498 of the Sea Circle Calendar. Together with the future legends of the sea, you witnessed Pirate King Roger's execution."
"You were drawn in by Roger's 'One Piece' and decided to become a pirate and set sail."
"While sleeping with the widow next door, you stole her money and used all your savings to buy a small boat."
"You set sail."
"Because you couldn't read nautical charts, you veered off course and arrived at a Navy outpost."
"You decided to solo-clear the Navy outpost, using it to make a name for yourself."
Seeing this line, Uchiha Yuan's mouth twitched: "What the hell? What kind of idiot pirate tries to solo a Navy base right after setting out?! Dead again today."
Sure enough, a few minutes later, another line of text appeared:
"You were defeated by five Navy soldiers. You died."
"Game over!"
"You gained +1 Attribute Point."
"Another single point. What a stupid game," Uchiha Yuan muttered as he glanced at his panel:
Chakra Amount: 19
Constitution: 12
Eye Power: 30
Vitality: 7
Nature Affinity: 3
Level: lv7 (1/10)
Attribute Points: 9
During training, Uchiha Yuan discovered that he could increase his stats not just by assigning points, but also through effort—though the gains were minimal.
Over the past 9 days, he'd chosen conventional physical training to get used to the body.
As a result, his Constitution stat had risen from 11 to 12.
Even Uchiha Yuan found this improvement rate frustrating. If he could only rely on training, it would be pure torture. Thankfully, he still had his golden finger.
But he still didn't know what the levels or stats on the panel actually corresponded to in the ninja world. The cheat didn't come with a manual—he'd have to figure it out on his own.
After some hesitation, Uchiha Yuan put all 9 points into Constitution.
He still felt some bodily discomfort, which seemed to ease with each increase in Constitution—especially when it went from 11 to 12.
He figured that once Constitution was high enough, the discomfort would vanish completely.
Sure enough, after adding the 9 points, all odd sensations disappeared.
Uchiha Yuan immediately did a set of burpees—it felt incredibly smooth.
"I've finally fully mastered this body!" he said excitedly.
Just as he was about to head outside to let off some youthful energy, he noticed a blinking area on the right side of the level progress bar.
He focused his mind and tapped it—suddenly, a white gift box appeared in his mind.
"Whoa! So my cheat not only gives game rewards, I also get gifts when leveling up?" Uchiha Yuan thought.
Looking at the white gift box, he felt a bit better about his golden finger, and the corners of his mouth curled up.
But the smile vanished in the next moment—inside the gift box was only a single explosive tag.
"Damn it, what the hell is this…"
Knock knock! "Yuan, are you there?" A sudden knock at the door cut him off.
The voice was familiar—it belonged to his dad's friend from the Konoha Police Department, Uchiha Hiroshin, who had been visiting often.
"I'm here! Come in, Uncle Hiroshin!" Uchiha Yuan said as he put away the explosive tag.
Uchiha Hiroshin entered, wearing a serious expression and holding a sealing scroll in hand.
Uchiha Yuan invited him to sit and brought him a cup of tea. "Uncle Hiroshin, all I have is oolong tea—please make do!"
Uchiha Hiroshin thanked him, sipped the tea, then sighed and said: "Sigh… Yuan, these are your parents' ashes and part of their inheritance. The village helped collect and cremate their remains, so we couldn't bring them back for you to see one last time. I'm really sorry. But the clan will try to request additional compensation from the village."
(To Be Continued...)