Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
Before he knew it, Yuta was granted another chance to begin a Life Simulation.
[New Identity Loading...]
[Loading Complete.]
[Current Life Simulation Character: Togakushi Hinode.]
'Togakushi Hinode?'
The name meant nothing to him. It didn't belong to any of the great shinobi clans like the Uchiha or Senju.
Judging by the plain name, this was undoubtedly a civilian—a background character.
A wave of bitter disappointment washed over him.
These tri-monthly simulations were his lifeline, his only real hope of gaining the power needed to survive in this brutal world of legendary eye techniques and god-like ninja. To spend one on a civilian nobody felt like a waste.
After all, prodigies like Minato Namikaze were once-in-a-generation miracles. And Yuta had his suspicions about the "Yellow Flash's" supposed civilian origins; no mere civilian could so thoroughly overwrite the potent genetics of the Uzumaki line in his own son.
[You were born into a family of simple civilians. Your father and mother possessed not a shred of shinobi talent. By all rights, you should have been just as ordinary.]
[But you refused to accept this destiny.]
[You dreamed of becoming a true shinobi, and from the tender age of three, you threw yourself into relentless, grueling training.]
[Your chakra reserves remained pathetically small, a mere trickle. Yet, through sheer force of will, you managed to forge some small skill in the physical arts—taijutsu.]
Watching the memories unfold, Yuta could only sigh in resignation.
His first Life Simulation had at least granted him shinobi parents. This was a straight-up "hard mode" start. With parents who weren't ninja, his prospects were bleak.
Barring some incredible twist of fate, this life would be one of mediocrity.
If he was lucky, he might survive the Third Great Shinobi War, only to be crushed in the Nine-Tails' rampage or vaporized by Pain's assault years later.
Focusing on taijutsu was the character's only logical path, but it was a poor one. In this era, Konoha had little respect for pure taijutsu specialists; without any ninjutsu prowess, graduating from the Academy itself was a long shot.
And mastering taijutsu didn't automatically make you a Might Guy.
He lacked the one crucial advantage Guy had: a father who could teach him the forbidden technique the Eight Inner Gates.
[You turned five, the age for enrollment into the Ninja Academy.]
[Your parents submitted your application, but the results came back: Rejected.]
[The door to becoming a shinobi had been slammed in your face. Your dream was over before it began.]
[Yet, you stubbornly clung to your resolve.]
[This failure did not break you. You had one year left. You doubled down on your punishing training regimen, determined to pass the entrance exam at age six.]
[Perhaps your relentless effort moved the heavens, or maybe fate took pity on you. A miracle occurred—you were offered a last-minute spot as a replacement student.]
[You seized this final chance and successfully entered the Academy.]
[Your fellow replacement students were Kosugi Bokusui and a boy named Might Guy.]
'So, I'm in the same generation as Might Guy?' Yuta mused.
He vaguely recalled Guy's early flashbacks featuring two other boys who entered with him. They were such irrelevant npc's in the grand story that Yuta had completely forgotten them until now.
[As replacement students, the three of you were treated as outcasts, the targets of constant sneers and mockery from the regular students.]
[The ridicule reached a peak during a Transformation Jutsu lesson. Humiliated beyond endurance, the meek Kosugi Bokusui broke. He withdrew from the Academy, his dream of being a ninja shattered.]
[But you and Might Guy were cut from a different cloth. Forged in the fires of shared humiliation, you became fast friends and training partners, pushing each other in grueling taijutsu drills.]
[Over time, a harsh truth dawned on you. When it came to raw taijutsu talent, Might Guy was in a league of his own. Compared to him, *you* were the true dead-last.]
[The realization crushed your spirit. Yet It was Guy who lifted you up, his unwavering encouragement reigniting your determination. You trained harder than ever, driven by a desperate need to prove yourself.]
[Your perseverance finally bore fruit.]
[Though your natural gifts were meager and your chakra pool shallow, you brute-forced your way to mastering a handful of basic ninjutsu. Your taijutsu, while no match for monsters like Guy or Kakashi, became respectable in its own right.]
Yuta let out a low whistle of admiration. This guy was the very definition of a grinder.
The sheer volume of physical training he endured must have rivaled even Guy's infamous regimen.
It was one thing to watch Guy's training from the comfort of an anime screen; it was another to experience a fraction of that bone-shattering, spirit-breaking effort through the simulation.
The simulated "him" had teetered on the brink of quitting countless times.
Without Guy's infectious enthusiasm and steadfast friendship, he would have undoubtedly followed Kosugi Bokusui out the Academy gates.
[You and Might Guy eventually graduated. The Third Great Shinobi War was escalating into a continent-wide inferno. Desperate for manpower, Konoha hurled fresh graduates like yourselves directly into the front-lines.]
[The war was a nightmare of blood and loss, but it was a forge that tempered you quickly.]
[A near-fatal mission left you severely wounded, pulling you from the front lines.]
[During your convalescence, you were reunited with Might Guy.]
[The sight of his cherished comrade, broken and bandaged, struck a deep chord in Guy. Before departing for his own mission, he made a momentous decision. To give you the power to survive, to protect the bonds you both held dear, he entrusted you with the ultimate secret: the scrolls for the Eight Inner Gates Formation.]
[He impressed upon you the technique's two absolute prerequisites.]
[Ultimate Self-Discipline.]
[And the resolve to protect your precious people, even if it costs you your life.]
[Moved, you began your training in the Eight Inner Gates the moment your body was whole again.]
[The technique's power was staggering, and the physical backlash was beyond anything you had ever imagined. A lifetime of taijutsu conditioning had only barely prepared you for the bone-deep agony of unlocking your body's inner gates.]
[But that power was your salvation. It carried you through the hellish final stages of the Third Great Shinobi War.]
[In the waning days of the war, you saved the life of a young kunoichi from the Inuzuka clan. Her gratitude swiftly blossomed into affection.]
[Fate then intervened. Your parents fell gravely ill. On their deathbeds, their final wish was to see you married, to know their lineage would continue.]
[Honoring their wish, you wed the Inuzuka girl. You started a family, and a child was born just in time for your parents to pass on, hearts at peace.]
Shimura Yuta couldn't shake a strange feeling about this whole narrative.
It felt eerily like he was reading a side-story to the life of Might Guy—"Konoha's Green Beast."
If he had to list the differences, his simulated self was less of a natural at taijutsu than Guy, and... well, he was significantly more blessed in a certain department.
And, crucially, he lacked Guy's... unique flair.
He didn't constantly preach about the "Flames of Youth," and he had the good sense to never be caught dead in that hideous green spandex jumpsuit.
If he had adopted that particular fashion sense, Yuta was certain the Inuzuka girl would have run for the hills.
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