Hunter Calendar 1981.
Padokea Republic, Kukuroo Mountain, Zoldyck family castle.
Sean faced the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, glancing at the Magical Beast Mike as it flashed past outside.
He stopped his pen, stretched lazily, his expression still somewhat dazed.
This was his tenth year since transmigrating into the Hunter x Hunter world, and his tenth year active in this world as the eldest son of the Zoldyck family.
Logically, he should have adapted by now, but every time he saw Mike or heard its dragon-like roar, Sean always felt a trace of unreality.
The good thing was, his status in this life was illustrious. The eldest son of the world's number one assassin family—a title that could intimidate many.
The bad thing was, a certain expressionless-faced, stinky little twin brother was always secretly holding a grudge against him.
In Illumi's words: "If it weren't for that bastard Sean deliberately kicking me at birth, I, Illumi, should have been the Zoldyck family's eldest brother."
Unfortunately, a stinky little brother is just a stinky little brother, and there are no 'ifs' in this world.
Sean watched Mike roar once before disappearing into the mountain forest, then smiled and retracted his gaze.
Just as he was spacing out, "Squeak~" the door opened. Gotoh, dressed as a butler, pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and strolled in.
Right hand over his chest, he bowed respectfully and said, "Young Master, it is time."
"The Family Head and Young Master Illumi are already waiting in the training hall."
The training hall was an indispensable part of the Zoldyck family. It was also the place Sean spent the most time, aside from his own room.
It couldn't be helped. As a child of the Zoldyck family, one was destined to have a "miserable" childhood.
Things like weight training, electric shocks, and whippings... for Sean, these were already routine.
He even felt strange if he missed a "meal"... But right now, more important than training—
Sean had to finish drawing the current issue of Pot Shadow Ninja first.
After all, as a transmigrator, not making good use of a cheat ability was the greatest blasphemy against the status of a transmigrator.
That's right. As soon as Sean was born, he awakened his Nen ability—"Manga World"!
He just needed to draw manga and receive reader feedback, and he could extract all sorts of "Skills" and "Items" from the current manga.
For example, this Pot Shadow Ninja was Sean's magnum opus, transferring Naruto from his previous life to this current world.
It had already been serialized for over a dozen issues in the Padokea Republic, and the reception was pretty good.
Because of this, Sean had obtained many skills and items, like... Naruto's "Sexy Jutsu"... Sasuke's shuriken... Sakura's monstrous strength... Kurenai Yuhi's stockings... Ahem... Of course—
Equivalent exchange. To obtain more powerful abilities, one must inevitably accept stricter restrictions.
Currently, Sean was still young, and Pot Shadow Ninja hadn't run for many issues, so the "Skills" and "Items" he obtained were naturally somewhat lackluster.
But as Sean's strength increased and the serialization of Pot Shadow Ninja progressed, the "Skills" and "Items" Sean acquired would inevitably become much stronger.
For example, in the last issue, Kakashi and the three little ones encountered Zabuza and Haku... which was a minor climax.
Sean was confident he would receive a lot of reader feedback. And just as expected, when he laid down the final stroke and finished this issue's manga...
He immediately received a notification from his Nen ability—
[Congratulations, you have received a new round of reader feedback. Gained "Item" — Copy Ninja Kakashi's Sharingan]
[Note: Kakashi's Sharingan was a gift from Obito Uchiha, possesses copy/replication functions, and can evolve to display the "Dojutsu" — Kamui.]
'Sharingan, huh? Finally got something good.'
As the notification faded, two tomoe appeared in Sean's left eye.
A smile touched the youth's lips. He glanced at Gotoh and said, "Let's go."
Gotoh suddenly tensed. He noticed a flash of crimson in Sean's left eye, and for some reason, he felt uneasy all over.
It felt as if he had been seen through from the inside out in an instant. It was an indescribably strange feeling.
'It seems the Young Master has improved again, becoming more and more like the Master.' Gotoh took a deep look at Sean's back, took a deep breath, pulled open the door, and followed him out of the room.
Master and servant walked along the ancient stone paths of the castle, the sunlight streaming through the windows stretching their shadows long.
Sean's waterfall of black hair hung down his back. He recalled today's training content; it seemed to be "Rhythm Echo."
He chuckled, "What a coincidence, isn't it? I wonder if I can copy it?"
Gotoh, half a step behind Sean, said softly, "Is the Young Master craving scallops? The kitchen just received a new batch."
"I will inform the staff to prepare them."
Sean paused, glanced back at him, and laughed mischievously, "Sure. 'Copy' and 'grilled scallops'... I imagine that would be a pretty good combination."
Gotoh: "?"
'Could it be that 'grilled scallops' doesn't mean 'grilled scallops'?'
'Young Master, what is the meaning behind that cryptic look?'
The young butler was completely fogged. Sean didn't bother explaining much to him.
He turned and left. Before long, he arrived at the Zoldyck family training hall.
"You're late."
The training hall door opened.
A gust of wind rushed out uninvited, howling straight for Sean's head.
Sean seemed to have expected this. The tomoe in his left eye spun, easily capturing the opponent's attack trajectory.
He grabbed, firmly locking onto the opponent's ankle, and slammed them toward the ground.
The opponent was clearly shocked. They straightened their back, forcibly twisting their body in mid-air, barely avoiding a face-plant.
"Your reaction speed has gotten faster." Illumi got up in embarrassment, looking at Sean with slight hesitation. A rare ripple of emotion appeared in his calm eyes.
Sean sneered. 'Being able to catch a trace of surprise on that expressionless face, should I call it Illumi's arrogance, or my honor?'
'But... stinky little brother, your big brother accepts the compliment. But your big brother can't just ignore your sneak attack~'
Sean brought out that pair of Kurenai Yuhi's used stockings. Empowered by the Sharingan, he predicted Illumi's evasion route in advance.
He slapped it into Illumi's mouth, teasing, "Gotoh's stinky socks. You got off easy."
As he spoke, a faint seafood smell rushed to Illumi's taste buds. Illumi was stunned. He looked down at the lace-trimmed stocking, opened his mouth, and "Blergh!" he threw up.
Nearby, Gotoh witnessed all this, his face darkening.
He stiffly turned his neck and cautiously glanced at Silva.
Silva, his white hair like a waterfall, quietly watched the farce and said nonchalantly, "Didn't realize... you play rough. It's even lacy."
Gotoh: "..."
He felt like dying. The corner of his mouth twitched violently twice, and he muttered, "That is not mine."
"Is that so?" Silva was noncommittal. His gaze shifted upwards, focusing on Sean.
'If I didn't see wrong, that brat's movements just now were quite sharp~'
'Is it because he's familiar with Illumi's attack patterns, or has his combat intuition sharpened?'
Arms crossed over his chest, the current head of the Zoldyck family, looking thoughtful, flashed between the two, stopping the farce.
"Enough. This is the training hall, not a place to fool around."
"Illumi, clean yourself up. Today, we learn 'Rhythm Echo'."
Silva's stern expression, combined with his burly physique, gave off immense pressure just by standing there.
Even though Illumi was furious, he could only swallow his anger. He shot a cold look at Sean and adjusted his emotions.
He focused on Silva explaining and demonstrating "Rhythm Echo"!
As one of the Zoldyck family's three basic assassination arts, "Rhythm Echo" was different from "Limb Flex" and "Snake Movement," focusing primarily on the "dark" aspect.
It emphasizes eliminating the sound of one's own movement to achieve the goal of surprise attacks from the shadows.
"At the introductory level, you can eliminate your footsteps. At mastery, you can even eliminate your own presence!"
"Watch closely." Silva put his hands in his pockets, his feet shifted, and he vanished from Sean's and Illumi's sight.
Eh?!!!
Illumi's mouth fell open anxiously. He scanned his surroundings, searching for Silva, but couldn't catch his figure at all.
It felt as if Silva had a camera on him, allowing him to anticipate Illumi's line of sight with every flicker, always slipping into his blind spot. It was extremely bizarre and terrifying.
Sean stood to the side, also watching. Compared to Illumi, this scene felt incredibly familiar...
In the original work, when the future Gon and Killua were playing the ball game with Netero on the airship, they used "Rhythm Echo."
At that time, he (Killua) combined it with "Limb Flex" to create several afterimages in an attempt to fool Netero, ultimately ending in failure. But that was Netero, humanity's strongest!
That doesn't mean "Rhythm Echo" is weak. Just like now, if he hadn't secretly activated his Sharingan, Sean doubted he could even touch a strand of Silva's hair.
But... the Sharingan, with its copying ability, finally came into play.
In his crimson-filled eye, the two tomoe spun slowly. Sean pushed his ocular power to the limit, finally grasping the force principle behind "Rhythm Echo" and successfully copying it.
In an instant, understanding flooded his mind. The youth closed his eyes, savoring the feeling. His feet shifted, his figure flickered, and he abruptly vanished!
Illumi, who was searching for Silva... Gotoh, who was watching with his head bowed... and even Silva, still in high-speed motion... were all suddenly shocked!
They only felt a light breeze sweep past, and Sean's figure was already gone from the room!
This was simply unbelievable!