A small blur zoomed overhead of the busy morning streets of Konohagakure. Swiftly jumping from building to building until it eventually reached a tall, thin spire made of steel rising from the rooftop of a humble apartment building. 

This is still so surreal. 

It had been nearly six years since Kojirō, née Masafumi, had arrived in the beloved world of his grandson’s favourite anime. Ever since he was allowed to leave the Hyūga compound, to commute to the academy, he had headed to the highest point he could reach in order to see the village with his own two eyes. He gazed around in amazement taking in the sights, smells and sounds. The scent of the food stalls that were scattered around that streets and the hustle and bustle of the residents’ day to day lives. It was exactly how he had imagined it. 

His favourite sight, however, was the Hokage Monument, bearing the stone faces of the first three Hokage. In the first year of his life, he had discovered he had been born during the year of the First Shinobi World War. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, had taken up the mantle after the Second had lost his life on a mission after appointing him as his successor. 

During his reincarnation process, Kojirō had hoped to be born during the same period as Naruto and Sasuke but, unfortunately, they did not come to fruition. He would just have to wait until the main storyline came about. In more than forty years. 

What also puzzled him were the nature of his eyes. They were golden instead of the usual pearly white the Byakugan normally held. Within the clan there were debates and conspiracies about them which caused the young boy to be subject to certain amounts of ridicule from select members of the clan. The fact that he was a mixed-blooded main branch family member did not help as well. Even then, branch family members who had borne children of non-Hyūga clansmen usually had the Byakugan or did not. A variant, though, was unheard of. 

Therefore, some members considered it an inferior version of the pure Byakugan. This, however, was hastily disproven when the boy awakened them earlier and when the fact that they could see further and clearer came to light. 

Kojirō himself also had a degree of interest in his eyes too. More specifically, who in the world would have genes strong enough to mutate a thoroughbred clan’s dōjutsu. It definitely intrigued him to say the least. 

I need to search for my father. 

He nodded to affirm himself and headed towards the Ninja Academy. 

Konoha’s Ninja Academy was a three-story complex near to the Hokage Monument. There was a circular tower-like structure near the front with the kanji for ‘Ninja Academy’ on a sign above the entrance. The courtyard before the school was empty save for the young, dark-skinned girl sat on a swing under a tree reading a book she had taken out from the library. 

She had short light blonde hair with the left tucked behind her ear. Her face was small and her cheeks bared a slight blush from enduring the wintery cold since early in the morning. The short, denim overalls were layered over the top of a knitted jumper which was a pale pink in colour. Like most academy students, she wore the practical open-toed shinobi sandals. 

“Mornin’ Erika!” The owner of the voice, a black-haired young boy, said as he looked down from a branch of the tree – his feet dangling. “Reading again, huh?” 

“Yes, of course. We are required to study, you know?” She replied, not removing her gaze from the book she was reading. 

“Don’t you think that you’re taking that way, way too literally,” the boy sighed as he dropped down from the tree landing in front of her and kicking up the dirt. “You don’t have to study every minute of every day. You’re allowed breaks ya’know.” 

Finally, the girl, Erika Arasaki, removed her eye from the book and looked up at the boy. She grabbed her bag, that was resting against the tree, and carefully placed the book inside. 

“What else would you suggest I do, huh, Ko? There’s nothing else to do at the orphanage and, besides, I enjoy reading anyway.” 

“I suppose they are more informative than the bothersome lectures that the teachers provide. Especially that Tanaka’s!” The irritated tone was clearly present within the boy’s voice. 

“I agree. Tanaka-sensei's do drag on and on. But they are necessary to graduate.” 

“I know that! It’s just that I know pretty much all of what he’s talking about anyway. So, what’s the point?” The boy said turning to face the girl who had already began walking to the now open entrance of the academy. 

“The point is most of us are ordinary people, not some clan prodigy!” The girl snapped back. 

“If anything, you’re the prodigy Erika! Most, if not all, civilian-born shinobi graduate at the standard four-year mark. But we both moved up a year because we were considered exceptions.” The boy replied hastily. 

Erika just looked at the boy and shook her head. 

Initially, she had intended to ignore everyone in the academy in order to quickly graduate so she could earn money to provide for the orphanage that had taken her in. Unfortunately, however, this boy, Kojirō Hyūga, had prevented that by trying to talk to her. He was the one she least wanted to associate with. He was a so-called prodigy, gifted in his clan’s signature taijutsu as well as nearly everything else. He never really spoke to anyone himself so she found it strange when he asked to meet her after school one day. 

Scenarios began to play out inside her head about what he could possibly want with her, from wanting to gloat to a possible confession. Instead, he was just curious as to why she never associated herself with anyone in class. After a period of her ignoring him, she crumbled under the constant pestering and told him her reasoning. He expressed his admiration for her goal and continued to talk to her. 

She ended up just accepting the former annoyance and eventually came to appreciate his presence; oblivious to the fact that he had only began to speak with her because he thought she would grow up to be a beauty. Like her, though, he had also begun to think of her as a companion, instead of just a piece of meat to claim when they came of age. 

After reminiscing, she turned toward him and sighed. 

“I guess you’re right.” 

He looked at her and laughed as they leisurely walked towards their classroom. 

CrystallineSphinx

So how do you like harem candidate #1? I'll continue to flesh her as well as other characters out in the future so sorry if she seems a little generic at first.

P.S. Sorry for lack of uploads. I've been away for a week and I didn't have a backlog so instead I'll be uploading an extra chapter along with the next two releases :)