---Ryouma's POV---
I had already spent nearly five years in this world. Today marked the eve of my fifth birthday.
For others, this might just be a slightly special day, but for me, it was second only to the day of my reincarnation in significance.
Now I was counting seconds until midnight.
This was because, at the stroke of midnight, my system would send me the annual birthday email. Along with the email came a Wish Heart, and tomorrow's full-year attendance reward would also include another Wish Heart.
Five years of saving up for a ten-pull.
Five years!
I couldn't count how many late nights I had spent staring at the wish interface of my system.
In my past life, I would've laughed at anyone this obsessed with a gacha system.
"So this is what it feels like to be obsessed with something? I think I get it now!" I muttered, smiling wryly.
As my mind wandered aimlessly, time slowly ticked away. The waiting was almost worse than the pulling itself.
Finally.
[Ding! You have received a new email. This email will disappear in 365 days. Please check it promptly.]
No animation, no suspense building—just pure functionality.
Even the most basic gacha games tried harder. Though I supposed in a world of life and death, flashy animations would be rather tasteless.
The content of the email was always the same:
[Thank you for your support and companionship over the past year. We are pleased to grant you a Wish Heart and wish you smooth sailing in your new life.]
I claimed the system's gift, and with the extra Wish Heart from the full-year attendance reward, my slightly trembling hands opened the wish panel.
The system guaranteed a 100% success rate for the tenth wish. According to the system, these wishes weren't like random gacha pulls in some games. When a wish succeeded, it would reward me with the skill most suitable for me.
So I didn't have to worry about pulling some useless skill.
"Let's start the wishing!"
[Would you like to spend 9 Wish Hearts for 9 wishes? Please note, the tenth wish is guaranteed to succeed.]
I sighed. Last time, the so-called booby prize was basically the universe spitting in my face. But fine. Whatever. Let's get this over with.
[Confirm.]
[Consumed 9 Wish Hearts. Wishing begins.]
[First Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Elizabeth Liones's Unwashed Panty]
I blinked. Then again. Then rubbed my eyes, hoping I had misread.
...Excuse me?
I stared at the notification.
Not thinking about it. Not questioning how or why. Moving on.
[Second Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Used Tissue from Unknown Source]
I felt something inside me wither and die.
Nope. Nope. NOPE.
I wasn't even going to entertain the thought of who it belonged to or what it was used for.
[Third Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Bootleg Copy of "Icha Icha Paradise" – Not Yet Written]
I picked up the book, flipped through the poorly stapled pages, and frowned. This… This was just handwritten gibberish. Who even wrote this?
How do you bootleg something that doesn't exist yet?!
[Fourth Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: One (1) Slightly Used Chopstick]
I held up the lone chopstick, staring at it.
A single, slightly used chopstick. Not a pair. Just one. And it was slightly used.
Who was using this? Why only one?
Then I saw the fine engraving on the side.
"Property of Senju Muzo."
I squinted. Who the hell was Senju Muzo?!
Was this some forgotten ancestor of the Senju clan?
Some legendary chopstick wielder lost to time?
Or just some random guy who had his dinner rudely interrupted by the system snatching his utensils from across the multiverse?
I had so many questions, and absolutely zero answers.
[Fifth Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Genuine Plastic Kunai]
I tested it in my hand.
Flimsy.
Hollow.
Barely sharp enough to cut air. If I threw this at someone, they'd probably just get mildly inconvenienced.
Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
[Sixth Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Pre-packaged Bubblegum from Hisoka – Never Touched]
Wait… Hisoka?
I cautiously examined the package. It was unopened. Untouched. Just normal gum.
Why would the system specify that he never touched it?
Was it implying that if he had touched it, it would have been dangerous?
I had never been more relieved to receive something completely normal in my life.
Still, I threw it into storage scroll. Just in case.
[Seventh Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Kakashi's Missing Left Sock]
I choked.
Kakashi's… Missing… Left sock?
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the next prize was the concept of disappointment itself.
[Eighth Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Diet Water™]
I read the label. "Now with 50% fewer calories!"
I opened the bottle. It was clear. Odorless. In every way, identical to normal water.
What exactly made it diet?
I took a cautious sip.
Yep. It was just water. Just plain normal water.
[Ninth Wish Failed. Consolation Prize: Used Condom from Happy Stranger of Unknown Timeline]
WHAT THE ACTUAL—?!
I needed cleansing.
I needed purification.
I needed to scrub my very soul.
Without a second thought, I sprinted to the bathroom. The door slammed behind me. Clothes were ripped off and flung into a corner like they had personally offended me.
I turned the shower to full blast, letting the scalding water rain down as I scrubbed every inch of my skin like I was trying to erase the memory from existence.
But it wasn't enough.
I shampooed my hair three times. I used body wash like my life depended on it. I even considered using bleach, but I wasn't that desperate.
Not yet.
Only after what felt like an eternity did I finally step out, feeling somewhat less tainted. I dried off, put on fresh clothes, and took a deep breath.
Alright. Last wish. Let's just get this over with.
[Tenth Wish... Processing...]
The system had tormented me for nine whole wishes. This was it. The guaranteed success.
[Wish Succeeded!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained the skill: Rikugan]
Huh? Rikugan? If I remembered correctly, it was an ability from Jujutsu Kaisen. But wasn't it powered by cursed energy?
I didn't have any cursed energy to use it!
Was this really the most suitable skill for me?
Well, it's already pulled. Might as well check it out, I thought as I opened the skill description.
---
[Skill: Rikugan
Ability 1: 360-degree long-range vision.
Ability 2: See through the principles behind most ninjutsu.
Ability 3: Predict chakra trajectory and movement.
Ability 4: Precise chakra control.
Ability 5: Minimize chakra consumption.]
---
It was very much in the style of the system interface—simple and straightforward.
Still, the explanation was clear enough. This was a chakra-based version of the Rikugan. It wasn't surprising that I didn't get the Limitless Technique. After all, Limitless and Rikugan were two different things.
The system wasn't running some kind of "Buy One Get One Free" promotion.
So I didn't feel disappointed. Hoping for two abilities from a single guaranteed wish was wishful thinking.
I pulled out a mirror from my bedside drawer to inspect my new Rikugan.
Maybe it was because my original eyes already had blue pupils, but now they just looked a little brighter. Nothing seemed particularly different.
When I looked around, I realized something incredible—what I thought was just a slight change in brightness turned out to be a mind-blowing ability.
Within a radius of several dozen kilometers centered on myself, everything was laid bare before my eyes.
Several dozen kilometers? Was this for real?
I knew that in the shinobi world, there was a famous sensory ability called Kagura's Mind Eye, which also had a radius of several dozen kilometers. But the information the Rikugan could perceive completely outclassed Kagura's Mind Eye.
In my new vision, I could selectively see through buildings and even people, viewing what was behind them. I could also observe the flow of chakra within every individual.
This aspect resembled the Byakugan, but the Rikugan had a far greater range. The standard range of a regular Byakugan was only about a kilometer.
For an ordinary ninja, a kilometer was already an impressive sensory range.
But compared to the Rikugan or Kagura's Mind Eye, with their dozens-of-kilometers radius, the Byakugan was far behind.
I suddenly wondered what Rin might be doing at this time. However, knowing her disciplined nature, she was probably already asleep.
I turned my gaze toward the Nohara household. To my surprise, Rin was still awake. She was lying on her bed, hugging an ugly shark plushie, her small head dangling off the edge of the bed, seemingly talking to herself.
Hm... I could see Rin speaking, but I couldn't hear a word.
It seemed I would have to learn lip-reading. Speaking of which, did the Hyūga members know how to lip-read? Or had they simply never thought about it?
Probably not, but now that I thought about it, this wasn't something depicted in the manga either. It might be worthwhile subject to research.
For me, the Rikugan offered the investigative capacity of the Byakugan and the sensory range of Kagura's Mind Eye. This ability could undoubtedly be of immense use in warfare.
However, I wasn't even enrolled in the Ninja Academy yet, let alone ready to set foot on a battlefield. For now, I could disguise myself as having exceptional sensory abilities when the time came.
Having tested two abilities, I turned my attention to the next one: precise chakra control.
I thought for a moment. If there was any ninjutsu that truly showcased precise chakra control, it had to be medical ninjutsu.
But I had never practiced medical ninjutsu before, nor did my father's ninjutsu collection include such techniques.
As for other techniques, one came to mind: the Rasengan.
In the series, the training method for the Rasengan was one of the most detailed among all techniques, with each stage heavily reliant on chakra control.
Shell maintenance, rotation speed, power containment...
With that thought, I extended my hand, attempting to replicate the Rasengan. Following the series' instructions, I began shaping my chakra into a sphere, filled with wildly rotating energy.
As chakra flowed from my hand, a bright blue sphere slowly formed in my palm.
I stared at it in disbelief. Did I just succeed? Was this some kind of fluke?
To test it, I gently pressed the Rasengan against the corner of my bedside table.
Crack!
The corner of the table instantly shattered, leaving behind jagged wooden splinters.
It was the real deal.
As I formed the Rasengan again, I noticed something fascinating. My chakra wasn't just controlled—it was perfectly optimized.
Looking at the damage caused by the Rasengan, I dispersed the chakra in my hand. Even with just a light touch, it had such destructive power—I had truly succeeded.
But I didn't feel that creating the Rasengan was particularly difficult. Was this the power of chakra control?
I even noticed that my chakra consumption wasn't significant at all.
That was because not a single bit of chakra had been wasted during the creation of the Rasengan.
"This is incredible! That crazy idea I casually mentioned to Father about using redirected chakra to create a seal-less Lightning Release jutsu—it might actually be possible to develop!"
Performing a jutsu without hand seals would cut activation time by at least 40%. In a real fight, that fraction of a second could mean survival.
Combined with the Rikugan's predictive abilities... Converting chakra directly, bypassing hand seals entirely—it would require precise restructuring of the chakra pathways, similar to the Rasengan's rotation principle but with directional flow instead of spiral containment.
That short blade of mine might finally come in handy. Should I give it a name?
Unfortunately, whether in my past life or this one, I had always been terrible at naming things.
After mulling over it for a while, I gave up. I should probably use existing names. And the only names I could come up with were things like Frostmourne or Lostvayne.
The Rikugan I acquired was truly satisfying.
I spent the rest of the night testing and researching its potential until I eventually fell into a deep sleep.
---
---
So, some people find the reaction of MC anti-gay. What would you do in his situation, if you suddenly have a used condom with unknown liquid, likely ejaculate in your hand? It is not your condom or that of your partner. It is from an unknown source.
Be honest, there are people using disinfectant after touching only the door handle of a shop due to germs, what would they do if they suddenly have some unknown source of sticky liquid in their hands?