"So, tell me about you guys."
"Let me go first," William said, sheepishly raising his hand. "I chose to be an Uzumaki."
He explained that because he was the first to arrive at Elysium, he got to choose before anyone else. The decision was hard on him at first, but he inevitably went with Uzumaki because of how much he loved the Naruto story.
'Seemingly endless supply of chakra, plus a free sealing technique?' Arthur thought. 'Good choice, but why does it feel like he's hiding something?'
Campbell rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Oh, please! You just wanted to get closer to Naruto."
William adjusted his glasses, saying, "There's that, too! I mean, Marge is right. Befriending the Naruto Uzumaki? That's a dream come true, and everyone knows it."
"Yeah, a dream for nerds," Jasper smirked.
The comment was a direct blow to William's pride as an anime lover.
At least now Arthur understood what he was hiding: he chose the Uzumaki clan not for its power, but because he was a bonafide fanboy.
But there was still something Arthur hadn't figured out. "Who's Marge?"
"Huh?!" Campbell said, standing up from her seat. "I'm standing right here, Arthur." Arthur blinked. Apparently 'Marge' was Campbell's name. "Marge is my nickname. It's short for Margaret. But if I ever hear you calling me 'Margaret,' you'll be sorry!"
"I'll keep that in mind," Arthur obliged.
Still standing up, she began to boast, "Honestly, you guys should have chosen the Senju clan! Who cares if it was a fifty-fifty chance? Like, come on. Regeneration and wood style?! It's a no-brainer!"
Alex chuckled, "Hey, don't go bringing down the other clans."
Arthur could already tell what everyone had chosen at this point. Their new hairstyles had given it away at first, but hearing Margaret's outburst told him almost everything he needed to know.
"William," he probed, "what sealing jutsu did you choose?"
"You can call me Will, Arthur, and I picked the—"
"He picked Six Paths Planetary Devastation," Jasper answered for him. That technique was technically the strongest sealing jutsu in this world. It also required the combined powers of two extremely powerful ninjas. "The idiot thought he'd be given Hagoromo's chakra if he learned it."
While William did unlock the sealing technique, he had no way of using it on anyone or anything since it still required one other party. Each time he tried to perform this highly advanced technique, his chakra depleted to zero, exhausting him for two days straight.
Jasper would often tease him by calling him "Male-Karin." Only Naruto fans would understand what Jasper was referencing, and William didn't find the comments pleasing.
"Alright," Alex said, organizing the room. "Let's all relax for a sec, and let someone else take their turn. Jada?"
Arthur didn't have a rule book to know she had chosen to be an Uchiha. Her hair colour was the only one to have turned black, and out of all the clans to choose from, that clan in particular was notorious for having black-haired ninjas.
"I chose the Uchiha clan," she confessed.
The Uchiha clan, the once-elite clan that resided in the village, had their fame spread across the world because of their powerful Sharingan.
Their lineage stemmed from one of Hagoromo's two sons, Indra Ōtsutsuki, inheriting his strong bloodline and aptitude for combat. However, the Uchiha were also burdened by a curse, fueling their rivalry with the Senju clan for centuries.
Despite their differences, they joined forces with the Senju to establish the Leaf Village, hoping for an era of peace. Suspicion and isolation gradually chipped away at their trust, causing them to feel ostracized by the village leadership.
As time passed, they began plotting a coup to seize control. This dissent culminated in their downfall, a tragic event in which most of them were killed by Itachi Uchiha and Obito Uchiha to ensure peace in the village.
Itachi, a double agent for Leaf Village, could not bring himself to kill all his clanmates, leaving only his little brother, Sasuke. This secret decision left a dark stain in his past and ignited a fire for vengeance in Sasuke against his older brother.
"I actually met Sasuke," Jada revealed. "The Hokage told me that I was delivering food to the orphanage outside the village when the clan massacre happened. When I returned, I was traumatized and left in the hospital for weeks."
Jada further added that her character never bonded with Sasuke, with the latter more focused on taking revenge on his brother than making friends. While the two share the same blood, he avoids her as much as he can because she doesn't carry the same hatred that he does.
"He's still quite the jerk, huh?" Alex laughed.
Her reason for having chosen that clan was because she knew the brother's story well, believing she could rectify it.
"Nope!" Margaret interrupted. "She, like every fan out there, just wanted the Sharingan. Admit it, Jada."
The two laughed.
Knowing that it was her turn to reveal what her choice was, Margaret bit her thumb, drawing blood, performed hand signs, and then slammed her palm on the coffee table. An intricate line of black symbols swirled, creating a puff cloud to appear. When it cleared, a small slug was in its place.
"I'm sure you can figure out which one I picked."
Arthur feigned ignorance, showing how impressed he was. How could he not have known she had chosen the Senju clan?
"Would you have picked the Uzumaki clan if Will hadn't?" he wondered.
"Heck no! And even if I did, I would have picked a much better sealing jutsu."
Margaret further revealed the two elements she chose: earth and water. In case her fifty-fifty chance at acquiring wood style failed, she had hoped that the two prerequisite elements might help in the long run.
Wood style was written to have been a rare Kekkei Genkai that allowed the user to create and manipulate wood using their chakra. It combined the power of earth and water and was famously associated with Hashirama.
It can be used to grow mighty forests, create intricate wooden structures, and even restrain Tailed Beasts by draining their chakras. Due to its power and rarity, it has been nearly impossible to replicate since Hashirama's death.
Arthur understood why she would covet such an exquisite Kekkei Genkai. But she herself wasn't aware if she had it or not.
"Time will tell," Margaret claimed with her lips raised.
"Did you get the other two?" Arthur asked.
With a suggestive finger over her lips, she hinted that she wasn't going to reveal that information. Not to Arthur, not to anyone unless she felt like it.
Now it was Alice's turn. Unlike the others, her knowledge of Naruto was limited since she had only watched the first part.
"I, uh," Alice stammered, "I picked the random one."
Alex gave a loud gasp, clearly already knowing this. The act was just to make Arthur smile. Instead, it made her cheek burn with embarrassment. Arthur himself found it to be a bold move.
"So you ended up with the Yamanaka clan?" he asked.
Alice waved her newly coloured hair, saying, "It's not that bad."
"Agreed," William interjected. "The Yamanaka are a valuable clan. They have the mind-transfer jutsu and excel at info gathering. I mean, sure, they're not flashy fighters, but they're crucial for any team."
Alice perked up, but Margaret wasn't convinced. She grumbled, "She could have been an Ōtsutsuki or at least a Hyūga."
"We already went through this," Jasper sighed, knowing that his turn was next. "She skipped reading the story, remember?"
Alice's admission had shifted the spotlight. All eyes now turned to Jasper, who leaned back against the wall with a smug grin plastered on his face.
"Alright, alright," he drawled, enjoying the attention. He held his hands up in mock surrender, saying, "I might need to explain a few things for our less incompetent players first."
"Just tell him who you picked already!" Margaret yelled.
Undeterred, Jasper continued, "The Ōtsutsuki clan." He then gestured dramatically at his white hair. "I thought it'd be obvious."
That part was indeed obvious, but Arthur was mainly interested in the traits he received.
The Ōtsutsuki clan are a race of powerful, parasitic creatures who travel across dimensions seeking places to cultivate and drain their chakra. Feared by some, they possess incredible power and advanced technology.
Their ultimate goal is to exploit every world until they reach a higher level of existence.
Central to their operations are monstrous organisms grown from Ten-Tail seedlings. These colossal parasites are planted on a planet and leech the energy and genetic material from all things, eventually leaving the world barren and lifeless.
Once that parasite matures, a member of the clan harvests its fruit, which grants them immense power. Then they abandon the husk of that world and move on.
Ōtsutsuki members often operate in pairs, with the lower-ranking member sacrificing themselves to provide an initial burst of energy needed to cultivate the parasitic tree.
In addition to all of this, they are predecessors of the Hyūga, allowing many of them to use the Byakugan instinctively. Some Ōtsutsuki can even awaken the Tenseigan, an even more powerful ocular technique that grants immense power and the ability to control the space around them.
They can also absorb chakra to replenish their own reserves, fly long distances, and travel between dimensions through portals.
Although they are a formidable threat, their arrival was only written in the third part of the story, a part that was already stated not to be in this world.
Arthur personally wasn't aware of any full-blooded Ōtsutsuki characters, save two: Kaguya and Toneri Ōtsutsuki. The latter would be featured in one of the last movies.
A little moment was spent with Jasper explaining the Tailed Beast Whisperer trait. He hadn't tried it yet, knowing it was a passive ability—an ability that worked without needing activation.
"Speaking of abilities," he said with a mischievous grin, "I chose the tool creation jutsu."
"What does it do?" Arthur asked.
Alex answered, knowing that a technique like that wouldn't be mentioned in the explanations since it's only in Boruto's movie.
"Imagine manifesting pure chakra, red and glowing, that you can shape into anything you need—weapons, tools, anything you can imagine. Think superpowered Swiss Army knife meets planet-splitting meteor."
"And he can control it telekinetically," Jada squeaked.
Arthur could hardly believe what he was hearing. He knew that all the clans were unbalanced, but he thought they'd allow something from a different part of the series.
All eyes turned to Alex, the last holdout. He shifted under their gazes, pretending to feel uncomfortable. Then with a laugh, he said, "Process of elimination, my friends. Arthur's smart enough to know what I chose."
With all the aforementioned clans selected, all that was left were the Clan-less character and the Hyūga clan character. He went with the latter.
Arthur asked, "What jutsus did you choose from Neji and Hinata?"
"I picked her Byakugan and his Eight Trigrams: Style 361," Alex confessed in confidence.
"Style what?" Arthur wondered.
"Style 361," Margaret clarified, rolling her eyes. "It's from a video game, not the actual anime."
Much like Arthur, the others never thought they could pick jutsu from other sources. When asked about it, Alex shrugged, "I just figured I'd give it a shot. Ya never know, right?"
But Arthur wasn't convinced. The explanation seemed off. Alex clearly knew something the others didn't. Without any proof, he decided to keep his suspicion to himself.
"Well," William finally said, cleaning his glasses, "I, for one, am glad he got it. It tells us the people here can also use ultimate jutsus from the video game franchise."
Arthur didn't like the way he said that. First, William called them "people," then he seemed too excited about the challenge.
"At least my eyes didn't turn out like theirs, am I right?" Alex laughed. Most, if not all, Hyūga had pearly white eyes with no pupils. "Still kinda creepy when you see the veins bulge from my temples, though." The others laughed. "One more thing, Arthur. Since I got those jutsus, it made learning the other gentle fist techniques a breeze. I practically perfected them all in a day."
This was nothing to scoff at. The gentle fist was a close-range taijutsu style unique to the Hyūga clan. By using the Byakugan, the user can see the network of channels that carry chakra throughout the body.
It then targets these pathways with pinpoint strikes, injecting a small amount of chakra to disrupt the opponent's chakra flow and damage nearby organs.
Even a light tap could cause significant internal injuries.
By manipulating these pressure points, the user can disrupt an opponent's chakra flow entirely, preventing them from using jutsu techniques. It can also be used for healing purposes by manipulating chakra flow to mend injuries.
Very few ninjas have been shown perfecting this fighting style.
"What about the seal?" Arthur wondered. "As a branch member, shouldn't you have the Hyūga clan's cursed seal on your forehead?"
Alex smiled. "The seal? I honestly don't know what happened to it. I spawned in like this in the Hyūga clan. Hiashi—the clan head, if you didn't know—even told me I was his half nephew or something."
If this was true, that would also make him Hinata's half cousin. Hinata was not just one of the main characters; she was also Naruto's lover and his destined wife.
Arthur's suspicions erupted. This was too convenient.
Alex's entire character made no sense. He could have corrected Arthur, stating that being in the branch family wasn't in the description, but he didn't. But somehow, his entire character got retconned while everyone else's remained the same?
Arthur had heard enough, so he stood up, ready to shed some light.