Hyuga Kirito—just as his name suggests—was a member of the prestigious Hyuga clan of Konohagakure. He belonged to an important branch family that had served the main house as personal guards for generations.
Within the strict hierarchy of the Hyuga clan, members of the branch family generally held a lower status. Even so, in the circles of Konoha's noble families—and even throughout the entire village—almost everyone had heard the name Hyuga Kirito.
But the reason for his fame had nothing to do with talent or brilliance.
As the saying goes, good news never travels far, but bad news spreads a thousand miles.
And Kirito was the perfect example of that.
Despite being born into the Hyuga clan, Kirito possessed a pair of pure black eyes. Among shinobi, black eyes were actually the most common eye color, something no one would normally find strange. But within the Hyuga clan, where every member possessed pale, almost silver-white eyes, Kirito's black pupils made him an undeniable anomaly.
The Hyuga clan had an extremely long history. According to their records, their lineage could even be traced back to the mythological era of the Sage of Six Paths. Sixty years ago, when Konohagakure was founded, the Hyuga clan joined the village as one of its most important noble families, a status they maintained to this day.
The clan's pride lay in their bloodline limit, the Byakugan. Because of this, every child born into the Hyuga family possessed those distinctive pale eyes from birth.
In the long history of the clan, there had been only six recorded cases where a newborn's eyes were not the usual silver-white. Even then, those rare variations were merely shades of gray-silver or pale pink. By the time those children reached four or five years old, their eye color had naturally shifted back to the normal Hyuga silver-white.
But Kirito was different.
From the moment he was born, his eyes were not just different from silver—they were jet black.
It was the first time such a phenomenon had ever appeared in the Hyuga clan's history.
Even now, at twelve years old, Kirito's eyes had never changed. Unlike the six exceptional cases recorded in the clan's archives, his black pupils had remained exactly the same since birth.
As a result, both the main family and the branch families of the Hyuga clan regarded him as an outcast.
After all, if everyone in your family had pale silver eyes, how could you possibly accept someone walking around with pitch-black ones as if he belonged?
Of course, if the difference had been purely cosmetic, Kirito would not have become so infamous.
The real issue was something far more serious.
To this day, Kirito had never awakened the Byakugan.
Within the Hyuga clan, the earlier a child awakened the Byakugan, the greater their natural talent was believed to be. Even the least gifted members of the clan typically awakened it by the age of eight or nine.
Yet Kirito was already twelve years old—and still nothing.
Every secret technique of the Hyuga clan was closely tied to the Byakugan. In fact, calling it "reliance" would not be an exaggeration. Without the Byakugan, a member of the Hyuga clan was no different from an ordinary person.
Kirito's strange condition had once sparked suspicions about his lineage. Some even wondered whether he truly belonged to the Hyuga clan at all. However, after verification by the clan head himself, it was confirmed that Kirito was indeed a genuine member of the Hyuga bloodline.
Ironically, while Kirito failed to inherit the Hyuga clan's greatest strength, he perfectly inherited one of its weaknesses.
The Hyuga clan was naturally ill-suited for ninjutsu and genjutsu.
This didn't mean the clan was incapable of using such techniques. However, because the Hyuga had relied on their unique combat system and clan techniques for generations, their chakra pathways had evolved differently from those of ordinary shinobi.
As a result, Hyuga members generally had a weaker affinity for ninjutsu and genjutsu.
Kirito inherited this disadvantage perfectly.
But he inherited none of the advantages.
Without the Byakugan, the Hyuga clan's secret techniques were completely out of reach for him. Yet his unique chakra pathways also made him hopelessly incompetent at ninjutsu and genjutsu.
In other words, Kirito was a complete failure as a shinobi.
Thus, within the Hyuga clan, he became the subject of endless ridicule. Outside the clan, he was seen as a disgrace to the Hyuga name.
Before long, the title of "Hyuga's useless heir" had spread far and wide.
Even so, Kirito's position within the Hyuga branch family was slightly different from most others.
His lineage had served as the personal guards of the Hyuga main house for generations. When it came to Kirito's generation, his duty was to become the personal guard of the Hyuga clan's eldest daughter—Hinata Hyuga.
From a young age, Kirito had lived alongside Hinata.
As someone destined to devote his life to protecting Lady Hinata, he had grown up by her side. In their hearts, their relationship was far more than that of master and servant.
They were childhood companions.
Closer even than brother and sister.
However, everything changed when they turned seven and were scheduled to enroll in the Ninja Academy.
Because Kirito had still failed to awaken the Byakugan—the symbol of the Hyuga clan's bloodline—the elders of the clan unanimously agreed to strip him of his position as Lady Hinata's personal guard.
They even proposed expelling the "useless" boy from the Hyuga clan entirely.
This decision, however, was opposed by the clan head, Hiashi Hyuga.
The branch family Kirito belonged to had served the main house faithfully for generations. Kirito's father had once been the personal guard of the previous Hyuga clan head. Unfortunately, when Kirito was still very young, his father died during a mission while protecting the clan leader.
Out of respect for the loyalty of his fallen retainer, Hiashi Hyuga tried his best to stand on Kirito's side.
In the end, however, even he could not overturn the unanimous decision of the clan elders to strip Kirito of his role as a main house guard.
Still, thanks to Hiashi's persistence, the proposal to expel Kirito from the Hyuga clan was temporarily put on hold.
But recently, as the Ninja Academy graduation exams approached for Kirito's class, the matter that had once been suppressed by the clan head resurfaced among the Hyuga leadership.
As the most powerful noble clan in Konohagakure, the Hyuga family could not possibly tolerate a member who had failed to inherit the Byakugan, lacked any shinobi talent, and might not even graduate from the most basic Ninja Academy.
If Kirito failed the upcoming graduation exam, he would be expelled from the Hyuga clan without question.
While some people worried about his fate, others sharpened their anticipation, eager to see the outcome. Many were simply waiting for the spectacle with undisguised glee.
Yet the person at the center of it all—Kirito himself—showed not the slightest trace of anxiety.
Every day he went to school and returned home as usual, wearing the same bright and carefree smile he always had.
It was as if the events that would soon determine his entire future had nothing to do with him.
Because he possessed something no one else in the world had.
The one and only—
Arsenal System.