Chapter 5: A Flash of Red Hair
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
Within the Yotsuki clan compound, in a small building that served as the family's library, Dana was reading a book.
The library contained several hundred volumes, mostly collections of ninja world folklore, various novels, and cultural journals. Naturally, any texts related to ninjutsu or other confidential information weren't kept here. As such, the high-flying shinobi of the clan paid it little mind, and the building was almost always empty. For the past few years, it had become Dana's personal sanctuary.
The reason was simple: he couldn't leave.
Too young, too weak, and too important. These were the three pillars of Dana's life as a shut-in.
He had never once stepped outside the main gates of the Hidden Cloud Village. Worse, any time he so much as left the Yotsuki compound, he was tailed by an entourage of four servants and four shinobi. It made him feel like some spoiled young lord from a cheap story, parading through the streets to harass the village girls. It was no fun at all.
Within the Yotsuki clan, his importance was second only to the Third Raikage himself. And since he was infinitely weaker than his father, the restrictions placed upon him were infinitely greater.
If anything were to happen to him, the clan elders would probably have a collective heart attack.
So, after a few tedious outings, he had given up on leaving the compound. He now spent his days holed up in the library, reading books and molding chakra.
That's right. At six years old, he was still just molding chakra. More accurately, that's all he could do.
He had been at it for three years straight, and he still hadn't filled the soccer field. By his own estimation, he was maybe a third of the way there? Perhaps even less.
And the result was always the same. The moment he started molding, his body would discharge electricity and his spine would glow. Beyond that, absolutely nothing. Every drop of chakra he produced was immediately absorbed. His molding speed had increased significantly—it was already much faster than Arashi's had been at the same age—but he had nothing to show for it.
By the age of six, Arashi had already become a Genin. Dana couldn't even perform a single jutsu.
The situation had gotten to the point where the clan was considering having him give up training altogether. They wanted him to just live a quiet life until he reached "adulthood" (which, to them, meant the age he could start having children).
Then, he would be tasked with producing as many heirs as possible, as quickly as possible. After all, they still had no idea what was really going on with his body. What if training was actually dangerous for him, like a ticking time bomb?
From the clan's perspective, the most important thing was for him to survive to maturity and secure the bloodline with a large number of offspring.
After much discussion, the elders decided that fourteen was a fine age to start. They had already begun enthusiastically scouting for suitable wives and concubines for him.
When Dana heard the news, he was half-horrified and half-elated.
Yes, wives and concubines, plural. They wanted nothing more than for him to take ten wives, have ten children a year, and become the protagonist of some fantasy epic, single-handedly creating a powerful new bloodline clan in a decade. Thirty years to unify the ninja world, and a hundred years until everyone in it had Yotsuki blood...
This was because they were now certain: Dana truly possessed a brand-new Kekkei Genkai. It was just... unstable. With some minor issues.
But that was a topic for another day.
In short, within the Yotsuki clan and the Hidden Cloud, Dana was treated like a precious, fragile treasure. For a real child, this might have led to them being spoiled rotten. But for a soul from another world, it just felt constricting and incredibly inconvenient.
This was how he had developed the habit of burying his head in a book.
Dana was currently engrossed in a travelogue about the Land of Hot Water.
"Tsk, tsk. The development of the ninja world is just bizarre," he mumbled to himself. "The tech tree is a mess, and the culture is even weirder. It's unbelievable..."
"Just a few decades ago, it was the Warring States Period with low productivity, and now there are already signs of modernity. All sorts of electrical appliances are appearing. The tech is advancing at rocket speed, but the social atmosphere is like the Taishō era from my old world—a strange mix of the backward and the modern."
"And the craziest part is the Daimyo-Ninja Village system! A country's entire military might is basically outsourced to a private organization... All I can say is, the original author barely understood his own world. It was up to the fans to fill in all the plot holes."
His attendant, Ume, stood respectfully nearby. She paid no mind to the Young Master's strange, self-directed ramblings. She had long since understood that he was different from others, in both body and mind.
"I'm so bored, Ume-neechan," Dana sighed. "Has anything interesting happened in the village lately?"
Ume, still in a formal kneeling position, thought for a moment. "Nothing major, my lord. The new orphanage has just been completed, and everyone is praising Lord A's generosity. Also, Young Master Arashi was recently promoted to Chunin. He has completed several difficult missions and is earning quite a reputation."
"Dammit, Arashi's a Chunin already?" Dana clenched his fist in frustration. "No wonder I haven't seen him around much. A Chunin can already lead his own squad."
Arashi's talent was exceptional. At thirteen, he had possessed the skills of a Chunin for a while, but in peacetime, there was no rush to promote him. As the Raikage's son, he didn't need to worry about such rankings anyway.
Still, Dana felt like he was being left far, far behind.
It's so frustrating! I have this incredible power called chakra, but I can't even perform the three basic academy jutsu! I haven't experienced any of the cool parts of being a ninja. I'm no different from a common brawler, he grumbled internally, a habit Ume was now completely used to.
He jotted down his thoughts in a small notebook, concluding his reading for the day. It wasn't that he wanted to be a scholar in the ninja world; it was just that the more he learned, the more questions he had. The world was a hodgepodge of contradictions that he felt compelled to solve, like a complex math problem.
"Ume-neechan, I want to go for a walk."
Ume nodded. "I will make the arrangements."
Going out on his own was impossible. It had to be officially requested, and he had to be accompanied by his usual crowd. Dana hated it, but there was nothing he could do.
Half an hour later, Dana left the Yotsuki mansion, surrounded by his entourage. It was a strange phenomenon, but he found that when you had this many people following you, you naturally started to walk with a bit of a swagger.
His first stop was a famous pastry shop in the village. He bought several boxes of sweets. Dana was a big fan of their daifuku, giving it his highest praise: "It's actually not too sweet." Usually, a servant would buy it for him, but today he picked out a few boxes himself—one for him, and one for his mother.
Of course, a servant paid for it. Not because Dana had become so spoiled that he wouldn't touch money, but because he was afraid of accidentally electrocuting the shopkeeper.
Most common people weren't aware of his condition, however. From an outsider's perspective, it just looked like some arrogant young master from a rich family, too haughty to even handle his own money.
As he handed the pastry box to Ume, a flash of bright crimson hair on the side of the street caught his eye.
Red hair? It couldn't be...
Dana hurried over and found a boy, a little older than himself, staring into a shop window, practically drooling over the snacks inside.
His fiery red hair was impossible to miss.
The boy was so mesmerized by the candies and treats in the display that he didn't even notice Dana's group approaching.
"Um, hello there," Dana said, trying to make his voice sound as friendly as possible.
"Huh? Oh, hi! Whoa!" The boy turned and jumped in fright when he saw the large group of people standing behind Dana. This kid, who was a year or two younger than him, had a whole gang with him. He was clearly someone important.
The red-haired boy, being poor and new in town, immediately felt intimidated.
"Don't worry," Dana said quickly. "I was just curious about your hair. What's your name?"
The boy nervously touched his hair, looking both timid and embarrassed. It was a bit weird to be asked about his hair so directly, but he answered honestly. "Uh... my name is Uzumaki Hiroto. The hair... I got it from my mom and dad. My whole family has red hair."
Holy crap, he's really an Uzumaki! Dana was stunned. In the original timeline, the Hidden Cloud had never managed to get its hands on a single member of the legendary, overpowered Uzumaki clan. And yet, here one was, standing right in front of him.