Creak—creak...!
The worn-out wooden door, aged and on the verge of falling apart, creaked open slowly.
A black-haired boy stood in the doorway.
The evening sun cast its final rays from behind him, stretching his shadow long across the room.
On the back of his shirt was the unmistakable red-and-white fan crest—the symbol of the Uchiha Clan.
He stepped into the room, closed the door behind him, and made his way to the bed. Sitting down, he raised his eyes to the mirror on the wall opposite him.
"I never thought… I'd become Sasuke Uchiha—the Second Pillar."
The boy reflected in the mirror had dark, messy hair and cold, piercing eyes. His expression was calm, even indifferent, but his flawless features and sharp gaze made him look like a brooding ice prince.
This was the twelve-year-old Uchiha Sasuke.
Talented, handsome, possessing the Sharingan, a kekkei genkai coveted throughout the shinobi world—and yet, he was alone. An orphan.
Gifted in every way… but with no one left to call family.
"Becoming Sasuke isn't the problem," he muttered, frowning. "But ending up as a one-armed avenger? That's tragic."
His scowl deepened.
"Forget losing an arm—why the hell did he marry Sakura Haruno?"
Just the thought made him shiver.
It didn't matter what the original Sasuke thought. The current Sasuke's body had been taken over by a soul from Earth—Blue Star.
He had no interest in ending up with Sakura.
"No way I'm marrying Sakura. I'd rather take my chances with Ino—at least she has some personality!"
The only way he could achieve his desired ending was by surpassing Naruto Uzumaki.
And who could beat Naruto?
Currently, he could beat Naruto easily as he had yet to manifest, but in the future, it would be a great hassle to deal with Naruto.
If it wasn't for Naruto getting blessed with every power-up under the sun—and accidentally dragging Sasuke along for the ride—he wouldn't have stood a chance.
"Everyone kept calling me a genius," Sasuke scoffed. "But I was just a footnote in Naruto's story."
Real geniuses? Look no further than Uchiha Itachi or Hatake Kakashi. Sasuke? Without help, he'd never reach those heights.
But now, things were different.
"I'm Sasuke now. Not the old one. This Sasuke will be different."
There were seven days left until the Ninja Academy graduation exam.
This version of Sasuke wasn't going to rely on grudges or dramatic monologues. He had a mission to get stronger and much faster.
The old Sasuke got caught up in revenge, drowning in the trauma of the Uchiha Massacre. He spent more time brooding than training.
Even with all his so-called talent, he got overshadowed again and again.
But not this time.
"I'm not getting slapped around mid-fight just because I was 'pretending to be cool.' Not again."
"Train. Push harder. Be the kind of genius who outworks everyone else." He said to himself with eyes beamed with passion.
All to avoid marrying Sakura... and to make sure no one ever saw him as weak again.
Still, he'd only been in this world for three days. His memory had fully fused with the original Sasuke's, but he wasn't going to rush out and start blowing things up with Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu just yet.
This was Konohagakure—a village of secrets and surveillance.
There was ANBU, Root, and who knew what kind of eyes Hiruzen Sarutobi or Shimura Danzō had hidden in the shadows?
Sasuke wasn't about to get himself dissected for being "too strange."
For now, the best he could do was to lay low, stay home, and Refine chakra while making sure to work hard quietly.
He remembered that although the original Sasuke trained, he was still consumed by grief. That left less time for real progress. And because he believed he was stronger than his peers, he got complacent.
But this Sasuke knew better.
Although, among the Konoha Twelve, girls like Sakura, Ino, and Tenten weren't threats.
But Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, Kiba, Shino, even Naruto—none of them were pushovers.
Thinking about who his competitors were he worked hard more diligently.
After practising for quite some time, he couldn't progress as he had hoped.
"Genius? Please. At this stage, I'm just weak."
He could barely use his Sharingan, which had just one tomoe.
His chakra reserves were pretty low.
To his surprise,e ninjutsu was too basic to make him be called a genius.
Also in taijutsu, Rock Lee would beat him senselessly.
He thought he had to walk on a different path other than the original Sasuke. He definitely had to work harder much harder than anyone else.
Sasuke sat down cross-legged and began to focus.
Refining chakra was the basic step—combining physical energy and spiritual energy.
He continued for straight three hours until he was drenched in sweat.
It can't be said that there was no progress, but still,l it was minuscule.
"At this rate… it'd take ten years to increase my chakra by 10%. So much for being a genius…"
Suddenly—
[Host integration complete]
[System activation in progress…]
System?
Sasuke's eyes snapped open; all the fatigue that he had immaculate during the training was gone in an instant.
All the transmigrated person usually had a cheat system with them but he hadn't got any even though it had already been three days.
He gave on that idea and thought he was not meant to get a cheat.
But now? He finally saw the system's window.
[Scanning host…]
[Host: Uchiha Sasuke]
[Age: 12]
[Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan (One Tomoe)]
[Ninjutsu: Clone Technique, Transformation Technique, Substitution Technique (Basic Mastery)]
[Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu (Beginner)]
[Taijutsu: Basic Taijutsu (Beginner)]
[Genjutsu: None]
[Special Skills: Uchiha Shurikenjutsu (Beginner)]
[Chakra Reserves: Low]
[Special Chakra: Indra's Chakra (Unawakened)]
[Overall Evaluation: Trash-tier Genin]
Sasuke stared at the interface, deadpan.
"Trash-tier Genin? I'm supposed to be Konoha's genius!"
But, looking at it objectively… yeah. He was trash right now.
[Due to the host's extreme incompetence, activating beginner's compensation package: "Perfect Talent."]
Sasuke's breath caught for a moment.
Now we're talking.
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