Kumamoto Kuro decided to begin his meal with the head.
In his previous life, he had once watched a certain internet celebrity nicknamed "Old Ma" proudly demonstrate how quickly he could finish eating a sheep's head.
Now, in this life…
Kumamoto Kuro had somehow been forced to replicate the same culinary tradition.
Just as he was preparing to start, a frog happened to hop past him.
Kuro glanced at it, casually grabbed it with his paw, squeezed it until the juices came out, and poured the liquid over his meal.
After all, even a starving bear could appreciate a little seasoning.
Unfortunately, as a black bear, Kuro was incapable of speaking human language—otherwise he would have proudly recited Old Ma's famous six-word phrase before eating.
The Uchiha Clan was known throughout the shinobi world for its emphasis on eye training.
Because of this, members of the clan possessed exceptionally resilient and well-developed eyes.
In the opinion of certain "gourmet enthusiasts," those eyes were considered the most valuable part.
Just as Kuro reached out with his bear paw toward the Uchiha's face—
A sudden notification interrupted him.
[Ding—]
[Specific behavior detected. The Celebrity Devouring System has been activated.]
[Bound host: Kumamoto Kuro]
[Current feeding behavior can be converted into Devouring Mode.]
[Potential consequences of consuming the current target:]
Evolve into human form — 97.6% probability
(New player reward; probability automatically increased) Obtain clothing bearing the Uchiha clan crest — 2.2% probability
III. Awaken the Sharingan — 0.19% probability
Other random effects — 0.01% probability
[Choose to devour?]
"Oh?"
The moment Kuro saw the system notification, he instantly understood.
The cheat ability that transmigrators were supposed to receive—
Had finally arrived, albeit more than a month late.
When he saw the first possible outcome—Evolution into Human Form—Kuro nearly burst into tears of joy.
"I'm not going to be a bear anymore!"
That's right.
This system perfectly suited Kuro's current circumstances.
Functionally, the Celebrity Devouring System transformed normal eating behavior into a special Devouring Mode, allowing him to absorb traits, abilities, or items from the creatures he consumed.
Occasionally, it could even produce completely unexpected results.
Most importantly—
The first reward was labeled "New Player Bonus."
With a 97.6% probability, devouring the Uchiha ninja in front of him would almost certainly allow Kuro to evolve back into human form.
"The system still has a conscience… even if it showed up a little late."
Kuro nodded with satisfaction.
There was nothing to hesitate about.
Even if he had to starve to death, he would never give up the chance to become human again.
After all, Kuro didn't actually enjoy eating people.
If someone ever wrote his biography in the future, he didn't want readers to discover that the entire book could be summarized with two words:
Cannibal bear.
Without any further hesitation, Kuro confirmed the command.
"Yes! I choose to devour!"
In the next instant, a beam of white light emerged from the body of the Uchiha ninja and flowed directly into Kuro's body.
The system prompt appeared again.
[Devouring successful. Extracting results…]
[▓▓▓▓▓▓????...60%]
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! Result III obtained: Awakened Sharingan]
[Reward distribution in progress…]
"…."
The moment Kuro saw the result—
His heart skipped a beat.
"Oh no… the guaranteed reward failed?!"
The probability of evolving into human form had been 97.6%.
And yet somehow—
He had drawn the 0.19% probability option instead.
Was that even reasonable?
Just yesterday he had experienced terrible luck during a series of games—three yellow cards in ten matches.
Apparently, his bad luck had followed him into this world.
Regardless of how much he complained, the system had already begun distributing the reward.
A few seconds later—
Kuro suddenly felt a burning sensation erupt in his eyes.
The heat was followed by a sharp stabbing pain that forced him to instinctively shut them.
Then, just as quickly as it had begun—
The pain vanished.
Kuro slowly opened his eyes.
What greeted the world now were two blood-red eyes.
Within those crimson irises, a single black tomoe slowly rotated.
The legendary Sharingan had awakened.
[Reward distributed successfully.]
[Yin-attribute chakra has automatically awakened within the host.]
[The current target is now prohibited from further consumption.]
"Phew…"
Kuro let out a long breath.
He was no longer an ordinary black bear.
Now—
He was a black bear with the Sharingan.
The world suddenly became extraordinarily clear in his vision.
Every rustling leaf, every insect crawling through the underbrush—nothing within the forest could escape his perception.
For Kuro, this change was incredibly significant.
After all, black bears naturally had poor eyesight due to the structure of their retinas.
That was why they were sometimes jokingly referred to as "blind bears."
But now—
His vision had evolved directly from a bear's eyesight into the Sharingan, skipping the normal human stage entirely.
The improvement was comparable to someone with severe myopia suddenly regaining perfect vision.
"So… this is the Sharingan?"
Kuro glanced around, gradually adjusting to his new sight.
According to the system's notification, he had also awakened Yin-attribute chakra within his body.
In the world of Naruto, Yin Release represented spiritual energy and was deeply connected to ocular powers like the Sharingan.
This meant that Kuro had now taken his first step toward becoming a shinobi.
Kuro threw two experimental punches into the air.
Then he extended his paws and tried to imitate the hand seals used in ninjutsu.
A moment later—
He realized something.
He was still a bear.
And bear paws could not form hand seals.
Kuro sighed helplessly.
"Ugh… what good is the Sharingan if I'm still a bear? I need to become human as soon as possible!"
Still—
Complaints aside—
Now that he possessed the Celebrity Devouring System, evolving into human form was no longer an impossible dream.
As long as he continued devouring ninjas—
Everything else would come eventually.
…
Meanwhile, in a section of the forest not far from Kuro—
Two scouts from Kumogakure were hiding behind a massive rock, secretly observing him.
Because Kuro had been completely focused on interacting with the system, he had failed to notice their presence.
The two Kumogakure shinobi had stumbled upon the scene while passing through the forest.
When they witnessed the black bear ambushing the lone ninja earlier, they immediately concealed themselves and began watching from a distance.
In truth, black bear attacks were not unusual in the wilderness surrounding the shinobi nations.
But from the perspective of these two Kumogakure scouts—
Everything happening before their eyes was unbelievably bizarre.
A black bear stood beside the corpse of a ninja.
Every so often, it muttered strange sounds to itself.
Sometimes it gestured wildly with its paws.
Sometimes it looked around curiously.
At times, it even appeared to be thinking deeply.
It looked…
Completely insane.
But the strangest part was this—
Whenever the bear turned slightly toward their direction, the two men could clearly see its face.
On that bear's face—
Were two bright red Sharingan eyes.
Even more absurd—
The bear occasionally mimicked human movements, throwing punches, kicking the air, and even attempting to form ninjutsu hand seals.
Seeing this, one of the Kumogakure shinobi slowly turned his stiff neck and looked at his companion.
Their eyes met.
In his companion's pupils—
He saw the exact same earthquake of shock.
The Kumogakure ninja swallowed hard and looked back at the black bear in the distance.
When he saw the bear stroking its chin as if deep in thought, the ninja revealed a tense expression reminiscent of Sa Beining, and spoke his mind:
"This...this is unbelievable!"