There was no actual "ding."
Without any warning, at the exact moment chakra was successfully extracted, a faint blue screen appeared in Tobirama's mind.
Fwoosh—
Tobirama's eyes snapped open, excitement flashing through him as he stood up abruptly. Across from him, the two old men were smiling warmly.
Being stared at like that, Yamanaka Tobirama felt a little awkward and was about to say something when his grandfather waved a hand to cut him off.
"Sit down and calm yourself. Let's see how much chakra you can extract in a single attempt."
Tobirama sat back down, his heart still racing.
Finally! My cheat is here!
A minute later, Tobirama confirmed the screen would appear at will with a single thought—and didn't disappear either. Once he was sure, he began to focus back on the task at hand.
With a nod to the Sixth Elder and his grandfather, Tobirama resumed his chakra extraction.
The testing continued all the way until noon. The ever-thorough Sixth Elder even prepared a formal shinobi evaluation report.
---
Shinobi Assessment
Name: Yamanaka Tobirama
Chakra Attributes: Water, Fire, Earth, Yin, Yang
(Yin and Yang are usually kept confidential; externally, it's recorded as three attributes)
Chakra Capacity: 1.8x that of Yamanaka Inoichi at the same age
(At this time, Kakashi is still just a 3-year-old brat)
Spiritual Strength: 2.5x that of Inoichi
Physical Aptitude: Good
---
Holding the report from the Sixth Elder and seeing the two elders smiling so broadly their wrinkles couldn't hide it, Tobirama quickly declined his grandfather's offer to stay for lunch and ran home with excitement.
---
Back home, after briefly updating his stay-at-home mom about what had happened, Tobirama used the excuse of "needing rest" to rush straight into his room.
"Deep Blue, boot up."
"Hello, dear user..."
The blue screen reappeared in his mind as expected. After several tests, Tobirama confirmed the truth:
This wasn't a traditional "system."
No AI.
No status panel.
No mission log.
No ultra-evolved, game-breaking cheat functions.
Just a humanoid interface with five boxes on each side—ten in total. Currently, only the top-left box was faintly glowing with a golden hue.
After fiddling with it for a while, Tobirama finally understood how his "Goldfinger" (cheat) worked.
In simple terms:
Bad news – The "Life Simulator" was gone.
Good news – A "trait loading module" still existed... and it was open-source. He had to create the content himself.
For now, he didn't know why, but only one slot was available for editing. And once a trait was written, it couldn't be modified or deleted.
As a veteran novel reader of over ten years, Tobirama's mind instantly flooded with potential traits:
> Immortality,
Sword Heart Enlightenment,
Unbreakable Will,
Chosen by the Heavens...
In his mind's eye, he saw himself punching Hashirama, kicking Madara, holding Kaguya in one arm, and laughing maniacally at the Sage of Six Paths and Black Zetsu.
After a long pause, Tobirama finally calmed down. He needed to think carefully about the first trait—especially since he had no idea how to unlock the next slot. He had to treat this as if it were his only one.
Traits like Immortality or Chosen by Fate sounded amazing, but in his current situation, they were basically useless. It was already Year 39 of Konoha. The Third Great Ninja War wasn't far off. He needed strength to survive first.
In the end, he chose a trait name with clear direction and growth:
> "Heaven Rewards Diligence."
---
After a bath and a change of clothes, Tobirama came to the dining room to find his parents and grandfather already seated, waiting for him.
"Tobirama, today's your fifth birthday. You'll be able to enter the Academy next month. You already have the strength of a chunin. You could skip school altogether if you wanted. Any thoughts?"
His grandfather smiled as he spoke. He often trained with Tobirama and knew the boy's capabilities better than anyone.
"I think I'll still go. I'm still young and not interested in becoming a ninja just yet. Going to school sounds fine."
His parents had no objections. They smiled and nodded in agreement.
The family shared a joyful dinner, cut a birthday cake for five-year-old Tobirama, and later sent Grandpa back to the Nara compound. Another peaceful day came to an end.
Lying in bed, Tobirama closed his eyes, focusing on the quiet blue screen still floating in his mind. No changes. He didn't know what to make of it.
It had already been a year since he locked in that first trait. It was now Year 40 of Konoha.
Over the past year, Tobirama had trained regularly with the Sixth Elder and his grandfather. He had already finished all the theory taught at the Ninja Academy. At just five years old, he possessed the strength of a standard civilian chunin.
His control over the Three Basic Jutsu (Clone, Transformation, Substitution) and ninja tool throwing was excellent. Due to his age, his physical strength and speed were a bit lacking, but that was natural.
From the Yamanaka secret arts, he had already learned Sensory Jutsu and Mind Transfer Jutsu, though only in theory. The Sixth Elder had forbidden him from practicing them further, saying they were too dangerous for his current mental development.
Half a month ago, bored out of his mind, Tobirama begged and pleaded until the elders relented and gave him two basic ninjutsu: Water Style: Wild Water Wave and Fire Style: Small Fireball.
One week later, Tobirama successfully performed both jutsu at the training grounds. His grandfather and the Sixth Elder were so thrilled they immediately called a three-clan meeting between the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi.
From that point forward, Tobirama's training information was classified.
Afterward, he received:
The Nara clan's Shadow Imitation Jutsu training manual.
A full set of C- and D-rank jutsu scrolls for Water, Fire, and Earth styles.
By his birthday, Tobirama had already learned:
Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu
Earth Style: Tearing Earth Turning Palm
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu
He hadn't had time to start on the Nara techniques yet.
Staring at the glowing "Heaven Rewards Diligence" trait, he reflected on the year of hard work. Every day brought visible improvement. He couldn't help but look forward to unlocking his second trait.
Then again, after a year of failed experiments, he sighed softly and drifted off to sleep.
---
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Tobirama, now used to waking at 6 AM for training, came downstairs and was surprised to find his father—normally only home for dinner—waiting for him in the living room.
He suddenly remembered: Today was his first day at the Ninja Academy.
As a member of the Yamanaka clan, Tobirama hadn't even been summoned for the entrance exam. A formal admission notice was sent directly to his home. For a kid used to being on the training grounds daily, this was his first real taste of what it meant to belong to a privileged class in the ninja world.
As he chatted with his parents over breakfast, the Sixth Elder and Grandpa also stopped by to talk with him. It reminded Tobirama of the warm goodbyes before heading off to college in his past life.
After eating, he packed his ninja gear—prepared by his mother—and, with endless chatter from the two elders, was led silently toward the Academy by his father, Yamanaka Naraku.
Along the way, they passed many other ninja leading their children, exchanging greetings just like Tobirama's father did.
Finally, at the gates of the Academy, Tobirama saw the surprisingly small crowd divided into five clear groups.
The Uchiha, all dressed in black with the fan emblem on their backs, standing proudly together.
The Hyuga, dressed in white, emotionless, facing off against them.
Off to the side were other established clans—Sarutobi, Shimura, Ino-Shika-Cho, Aburame, Inuzuka—each with their own small cluster.
Behind them stood civilian ninja with their children.
And farthest back, some obvious non-ninja villagers with their kids, standing off to the side.
As Tobirama processed this social battlefield in his mind—
A loud, hearty voice called out from behind him:
"Yo, Naraku! This your little rascal?"