After experiencing a "heart-wrenching" romance, Uchiha Yuan "strongly suppressing his grief" opened his status panel and distributed the two attribute points he had just earned—one to Chakra, and one to Eye Power.
Now his panel looked like this:
Chakra: 78
Constitution: 34
Eye Power: 78
Vitality: 7
Nature Affinity: 4
Level: lv15 (1/20)
Attribute Points: 0
Previously, when Yuan's Eye Power and Chakra became equal, he'd experimented by putting one point into Nature Affinity.
But after adding the point, he didn't feel any noticeable change.
So he simply gave up on adding to Nature Affinity and returned to focusing on Eye Power and Chakra.
After spending those two points, Uchiha Yuan noticed he had reached level 15. He casually clicked "claim reward."
A purple box appeared in his hand.
Yuan was momentarily surprised. So every 5 levels came with a special reward?
He quickly opened the box—inside was a voucher card.
When he touched it, information about the voucher appeared in his mind:
Item Name: [Random Attribute Point Increase Voucher] Item Type: Buff Item Effect: Grants a random number of attribute points between 1 and 99 when used.Tip: This voucher draw is guaranteed to be fair, open, and transparent. No fraud involved. The number of points received is completely random.
After reading that, Yuan's mouth twitched. Why did this feel suspiciously like a Tencent game mechanic?
"Fair, open, and transparent"—weren't those just code words for "guaranteed low-roll"?
"Please don't be 1 point, please don't be 1 point, please don't be 1 point," Yuan muttered in his heart three times before activating the voucher.
The attribute points on his panel changed from 0 to 2.
Yuan was speechless. Sure, there was no guaranteed minimum, but this still felt like one.
He dumped both points into Chakra and Eye Power and closed the panel. Out of sight, out of mind.
The next day, Yuan got up early and headed to the riverbank.
There was only one week left before graduation. Every morning, Hyuga Asana came to train by the river, and Yuan had adjusted his own schedule to train with her.
Maybe there was too much going on lately—since that incident, the Third Hokage had stopped secretly watching them. Without someone observing their training, Yuan and Asana could practice more freely.
Their training mainly focused on sparring. With the help of his golden finger, Yuan's progress was extremely fast—but even so, Asana wasn't far behind.
What was most ridiculous was that Asana, like Neji in the original series, had spontaneously mastered the Rotation technique (Kaiten).
Although her Kaiten hadn't yet reached full 100% perfect defense, the fact that she developed it on her own without guidance already made her a once-in-a-century genius within the Hyuga clan.
And once she activated her Kaiten, Yuan had no way to beat her.
"That's it for today. I can't break through your Kaiten," Yuan said as he collapsed onto the ground, wiping sweat from his face.
Asana deactivated her Kaiten and sat down just as ungracefully beside him.
She slowly unwrapped her forehead bandage and used a handkerchief to wipe her sweaty brow.
Watching her, Yuan fell into deep thought. How could a genius like Hyuga Asana end up so obscure in the original timeline?
He had pondered this question for a long time, and one of the most plausible explanations involved Orochimaru.
Yuan figured that if he hadn't transmigrated into this world, the original Uchiha Yuan would've likely died due to being unable to withstand the chakra surge during the awakening of his Sharingan.
Asana, having lost her only friend, and with her father and brother too afraid to oppose the Main House—would have been left alone, forced to suppress everything and submit.
She would have invested all her emotions into Orochimaru.
She would've selectively ignored all the warning signs, willingly allowing herself to be brainwashed, and followed him into darkness.
When Orochimaru eventually defected, Asana, being deeply connected with him, would undoubtedly have been eliminated by Konoha's higher-ups.
Even if she managed to hide her involvement, the loss of another emotional anchor might drive her to suicide—or simply give up, fading into mediocrity.
To prevent that kind of fate, Yuan had been subtly guiding Asana lately, trying to steer her away from Orochimaru.
Asana wasn't stupid. She'd picked up on the fact that Yuan clearly didn't want her associating with Orochimaru. Over time, she had started thinking deeply about her interactions with him.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized Orochimaru had approached her with an ulterior motive.
Previously, she had chosen to ignore all of that.
Because she still remembered something Orochimaru had said to her during their second meeting:
"What beautiful eyes... It's a pity they're stained by filth. I hope one day I can see you free of all restraints."
Those words had deeply touched her. She believed that as one of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru might be able to break the Caged Bird Seal.
Even if he couldn't, as a future candidate for Hokage, he could potentially use his authority to release her.
But now, Asana was slowly waking up.
From Uchiha Yuan, she had learned things that challenged everything she used to believe.
The relationship between the village and the clans wasn't as simple as it seemed.
Even if Orochimaru became Hokage, he would never help remove her Caged Bird seal.
"The structure of the Caged Bird really is fascinating," Yuan's voice snapped Asana out of her thoughts.
She looked up to see him staring at the cursed seal on her forehead with his Sharingan active.
"Don't look! It's ugly!" Asana said as she reached to wrap the bandage back around her forehead.
Yuan grabbed her hand. "Asana, let me look a little longer. I want to help you break the Caged Bird."
She looked up at him. In his scarlet Sharingan eyes, she saw no pity, no mockery—only sincerity.
Slowly, she lowered her hand. Her white eyes even seemed slightly red around the edges.
Taking a deep breath, she asked in a trembling voice: "Yuan... don't you think it's ugly?"
"Of course it's ugly. That's exactly why I won't let it remain on you. I'll do everything I can to break it."
(To Be Continued...)