[Talent selection successful. Please choose your abilities.]
A bright white light flashed before Shiro's eyes.
All white-grade talents?!
Shiro sighed in frustration. The talent draw this time was terrible. If even his starting abilities were this bad, he could already predict that the simulation's outcome wouldn't be much better.
He randomly picked three passable talents and commanded the system to begin the simulation.
[Life Simulation Begins.]
[You were born in Konoha Hospital. The nurse delivering you sneezed as she picked you up.]
[Her grip loosened, and you fell toward the ground.]
[You died.]
[Simulation ended. System is… uh…]
"Pfft!"
Shiro almost spat out blood.
He knew this simulation wouldn't go well, but he hadn't expected it to end this quickly.
[Due to the short simulation time, the system cannot provide a rating.]
[Simulations lasting less than a year do not trigger a cooldown. You may start another attempt immediately.]
"…Fine. Let's go again."
Shiro swiftly went through the process again: drawing talents, selecting them, and starting the simulation.
[Life Simulation Begins.]
[You were born into a poor civilian family in Konoha. You had ten older siblings, and the household struggled financially.]
[You were born weak and often fell seriously ill.]
[At six months old, you suffered from a high fever for three days. Due to a lack of medical treatment, you didn't survive.]
[You died.]
[Simulation ended.]
…
"MMP! Again!"
…
[At three months old, you fell off the bed and died.]
…
"Again!"
…
[At eight months old, you were bitten to death by the family dog.]
…
"Again!"
…
[You died.]
[Simulation lasted less than a year. No rating. You may restart immediately.]
Shiro's eyes turned red with frustration. He had simulated ten times, yet not once had he survived past his first year!
Each time, he only drew white and green-grade talents—he hadn't even seen a single blue one.
"System, are you messing with me?"
[The system assures you that talent draws are completely random and not manipulated.]
[The short duration of the simulations is due to random events and is unrelated to system interference.]
[Frankly, your luck is just terrible.]
[Would you like to start a new simulation?]
"Luck can't change, and I have no money to force better results… One last time!"
[Drawing random talents… Please wait.]
[Talent draw complete. Please select your abilities.]
Hallelujah!
When one orange talent and four purple talents appeared before Shiro's eyes, he felt as if he could hear angels singing.
Finally! A good draw!
[Single-Path Mastery (Orange): You can only learn one of the three main ninja arts (Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu), but your talent in that field surpasses 90% of people.]
[Prestigious Lineage (Purple): You will be born into a notable family.]
[Ambitious Schemer (Purple): You crave power far beyond normal individuals. Your ambition makes you highly skilled in strategy and manipulation.]
[Passive Acceptance (Purple): You become naturally indifferent to conflict, never resisting, no matter the situation. However, your training speed doubles as a result.]
[Reckless Fighter (Purple): You have exceptional Taijutsu talent. If a problem can be solved with fists, why use your brain? Your life will revolve around constant battles.]
Shiro examined the five talents carefully.
Each was impressive, but he could only choose three per simulation.
The Single-Path Mastery talent was a must-have. Even though it restricted him to just one category, being better than 90% of people in one area was simply too good to pass up.
Might Guy had only ever focused on Taijutsu, and he had still nearly kicked Madara Uchiha, a Six Paths-level being, to death.
As the saying goes:
"In the morning, he walks like a peacock; by noon, he strikes like a tiger. At night, the Eight Gates open, and even gods fall before him."
If Shiro's chosen path ended up being Taijutsu, he wanted to be just like Guy—and maybe kick Six Paths Madara in the face himself!
Next, he had to pick two out of the four purple talents.
He immediately discarded Passive Acceptance—the idea of never resisting was ridiculous. If someone tried to stab him, was he supposed to just take it? No way.
Then there was Reckless Fighter. While it granted great Taijutsu skills, it overlapped too much with Single-Path Mastery. If his random specialization wasn't Taijutsu, this talent would be useless—and he'd just be left with the "reckless" part.
Shiro didn't want to risk it.
With that, he made his decision.
"System, I choose Single-Path Mastery, Prestigious Lineage, and Ambitious Schemer."
[Talents selected. Beginning life simulation.]
[You were born in a small, secluded estate within Konoha.]
[You never met your father. Your frail mother raised you alone.]
[At age three, you saw other children playing with their fathers and felt envious. That night, you asked your mother about your father.]
[Your mother became furious and, for the first and last time, hit you. She then sat by the bed, crying endlessly.]
[You never asked about your father again.]
[At age five, your mother passed away from illness. The kind neighbors helped you arrange her funeral.]
[At age six, now alone, you survived with the help of your neighbors—until one day, a middle-aged man with an "X"-shaped scar on his chin appeared before you.]
[He claimed to be your father—Shimura Danzo.]
[Your real name, he said, was Shimura Shiro.]
Shiro: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴!!!
WHAT?!
So, after throwing Danzo into prison in the real world, he was now supposed to be his son in the simulation?!
Was this karma?!
No wonder the Prestigious Lineage trait hadn't shown any effects earlier—it was waiting for this moment!
At this point, Shiro could only sigh and keep watching.
[You followed Danzo back to the Shimura clan's estate.]
[Seeing how every clan member bowed before him, you felt, for the first time, a deep longing for power and status.]
Well, there it was—the Ambitious Schemer talent had activated.
Now, the only talent left to reveal was Single-Path Mastery…
[The next day, Danzo prepared to teach you Chakra training.]
…