Do you want to go to the anime world and become a popular idol?
Congratulations, your audition has passed!
Dimensional Popularity Stage is at your service!
"Am I dead? Was I hit by a car?"
Suki slowly opened his eyes. He still remembered that he had taken a wrong turn during an interview and entered a nearby film crew, which seemed to be filming something anime-related. He originally wanted to leave, but the director said they were fated and asked him to try an audition.
With just one try, Suki actually received unanimous praise from the crew, and they paid him quite a lot. So Suki didn't get the offer from next door, but his path as an idol star was about to begin instead.
It was this interview that made Suki realize that his true dream might be to become a powerful idol.
However, fate played a trick on him. Suki, who had just established his dream, was hit by a stroke of bad luck right outside his home. His idol dream, which hadn't even begun, ended in an instant.
"Where is this place again?"
He looked around and found himself suspended in a scene resembling a starry sky. Before his eyes were bubbles made of galaxies, and those bubbles seemed like individual worlds.
He then looked down at his body, but found nothing. He was already dead, without even a body, only consciousness remained.
Welcome to the Dimensional Popularity Stage.
The previous voice reappeared in Suki's mind.
Your original life has ended, but a new life is about to begin. Become a Dimensional Idol, showcase yourself on endless Stages, advance from a minor role step by step to the protagonist, and then become a Dimensional Superstar!
"Can a dead person be an idol?"
—Am I going to perform a 'Ghost' story?
But since he was already dead, being a dead idol seemed quite normal?
Before their first performance, new actors will be reincarnated into a Dimensional World for pre-performance training. Please cherish your second life.
"Oh, I can be resurrected?" Suki's eyes lit up.
Become a Dimensional Idol, gain popularity, and you will be able to fulfill your wishes.
"So, with popularity, I can return to my original world, or even truly be resurrected?" Suki keenly noticed the implication.
Actors can use popularity to randomly obtain anything they desire. Popularity can be used to draw rewards, open film sets, enhance skills, and more.
"Hmm, I understand. So, what do I need to do?"
The Stage will film the stories happening in the Dimensional World into a series and broadcast them to the audience. The audience's main camera will follow the Child of Destiny of that plane.
Actors need to enter the Dimensional World to participate in performances. As a newcomer, you will start from a minor role and gradually walk the path to becoming a protagonist, becoming a Dimensional Superstar!
The more attention an actor receives, the more highlight moments they have, and the more screen time they get, the easier it is to gain popularity.
"Understood, a dimensional reality show." Suki understood. "Wasting my feelings, I thought I was the protagonist, but it turns out I'm just a minor role."
The higher the actor's total popularity, the higher their actor level, and the easier it is to get better roles.
Additionally, an appropriate exit can elevate a character and also provide a free resurrection opportunity.
Current Actor Rating: Minor Role
Minor Role: A background character among background characters, no attention bonus.
Being a star is great, but being a minor role is not good!
"But from the description, even a minor role can rise up and even become the true protagonist?"
Understood.
You can not live, but you cannot be boring.
Creating buzz, that's what I'm good at!
"Then, let the dream that died before be realized here."
Dimensional Popularity Stage, I need you to help me become an idol!
Onboarding explanation complete. Please draw your newcomer gift package.
A colorful Star Core appeared before Suki's consciousness.
"How do I do this?"
Just touch it with your consciousness.
"Touch with consciousness?" Suki was puzzled. He tried to extend his hand of consciousness to touch the colorful Star Core.
The Star Core suddenly exploded, turning into ten rays of light.
The light was mainly blue and white, but among these ten rays of light, Suki actually saw two golden lights and one purple light! This sacred light, you could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary item!
"Ten pulls, double gold? My luck isn't bad."
These ten rays of light descended like meteors, landing in front of Suki.
Suki immediately stared at the two golden lights. When the golden light dissipated, what appeared before Suki were golden cards. The card faces of the two cards were a black eye patch and a fox mask, respectively.
"Eye patch? And a mask? Why do they feel somewhat familiar?"
Suki gazed at the eye patch, and suddenly, a piece of information appeared in his consciousness.
Character Legacy Card
Flawless Flying Light - Mirror Flow LV1
Rarity: Five-star
Talents/Skills: Ice Affinity, Yin Affinity, Sword Affinity
Bonus: When dressed in Chinese-style attire, attention +10%
Token: Obscuring Black Veil - Eye patch
Token Function: Increases attention by 10% when worn, cultivation speed +10%, and grants enhanced perception.
Investing popularity can raise the level. Unique abilities will be gained at certain levels.
When the character legacy level reaches LV10, you can enter the Dimensional World using this character's template.
So, these golden lights were not just items, but also what they called legacies. This Mirror Flow was a character from Honkai: Star Rail.
"No wonder it felt so familiar, it's a character I know." Suki suddenly realized after seeing this message. "Right, what about that familiar one next to it? Could it be...?"
Suki's consciousness immediately touched the equally familiar fox mask next to it. As expected, a similar message appeared in Suki's mind.
Character Legacy Card
Tricky Thousand Roles - Hanabi LV1
Rarity: Five-star
Talents/Skills: Fire Affinity, Quantum Affinity, Illusion Affinity
Bonus: When dressed in red-themed Hefeng attire, increases attention by 10%.
Token: Fool's Thousand Faces - Mask
Token Function: When worn, can transform into any appearance, physique, and state you desire, and cannot be seen through.
Investing popularity can raise the level. Unique abilities will be gained at certain levels.
When the character legacy level reaches LV10, you can enter the Dimensional World using this character's template.
"It really is you, great director!"
This Fool's Mask, doesn't it mean he can mess around as much as he wants?
Oh my god, this is truly joyous!
The character Mirror Flow is a character with strong combat power, while the character Hanabi is a character with strong ability to create buzz.
These two cards mean he can really go wild!
"And then there's that purple card."
sand timer
Rarity: Four-star
Can adjust the time node for entering the Dimensional World within a certain range.
Usages: 3/3
"Not bad, not bad. With this, I can plan ahead. Even if I'm just a minor role, I can find a way to connect with the 'protagonist' through early arrangements and then defy fate."
It's a pity this item has limited uses, otherwise it would definitely be a legendary item as well.
After looking at the three items, Suki looked at the "blue sky and white clouds" next to them.
Performance Outfit - Furisode Kimono Set
Rarity: Three-star
Always the most perfectly fitting and beautiful women's kimono. Increases attention by 5% when worn.
"This performance outfit is pretty good. Combined with Hanabi's legacy, I can immediately get 15% attention."
No fear of cross-dressing, just fear of no attention. Haters are also fans, and being infamous is also fame.
There was still one blue card left, so Suki's consciousness moved to this card.
Post-processing - HD Quality
Rarity: Three-star
When applied, the video quality when you appear will not be lower than 720P HD.
Another good item. Suki guessed that if it were 1080P or 2K resolution, it might be purple quality, and if it were 4K, it might even be a golden legend.
Just think, everyone else's footage is blurry 480P, but only his appearance is pure 4K. Just this point alone is incredible!
"The remaining five white cards... Huh? Are they all the same?"
The gold, purple, and blue cards each had their unique characteristics, but when Suki looked at the five white cards that were just for show, he found that they were all pretty much the same.
Scene Card - Daily × 3
Can be used in daily scenes to switch the camera to yourself.
Scene Card - Close-up × 2
"You can have the camera zoom in on you."
"That's quite practical."
Although it was blue skies and white clouds, this Dimensional Popularity Stage's beginner package was completely different from the ten-pulls in those unscrupulous gacha games; it was incredibly generous, and every item was useful.
"Package rewards have been stored in space, about to enter the dimensional world."
All the cards vanished into thin air, but Suki could feel that these items were within his consciousness.
Then, another message appeared in his mind.
"Actor resume being delivered."
"Artist announcements being retrieved."
"Salary negotiations in progress."
"Performance contract being drafted."
"Anime series project has been established."
"Anime Series Name: ninja road."
"Opening Time: When the Child of Destiny, Uzumaki Naruto, is 12 years old."
"Hmm? Uzumaki Naruto?" Suki's eyes lit up.
This isn't just any ninja road; this is the world of Naruto?
I'm familiar with this!
"Please select entry mode."
"1. Outsider (No physical body, unavailable)."
"2. Local (Newcomer free)."
The "Outsider" option was grayed out; only the "Local" option was selectable.
Suki naturally chose Local. And a new option appeared.
"Please select reincarnation character."
A long list appeared before Suki. But upon seeing the names, Suki's vision went dark.
—He hadn't heard of a single one.
"Name: A-xia."
"Identity: Extra. A civilian girl from Konoha Village."
The avatar was a very unremarkable female.
"Name: Ami."
"Identity: Extra. A civilian girl from Konoha Village."
"…What is this?!"
Not only had he never seen them, but the avatars were also incredibly ugly.
After looking around, Suki found that the best character was only Ayame, the daughter of the Ichiraku Ramen shop owner in Naruto.
Although many people jokingly refer to Ichiraku Ramen's owner, Teuchi, as the hidden BOSS, "Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku," in reality, he's just a passerby; you lose if you take it seriously.
"Why are they all girls, and every single one of them is incredibly ugly?"
—Is this the fate of an extra?
It's no good trying to make things interesting with such characters; you'd only be a clown.
When a pretty girl makes things interesting, it's called being quirky. When such a character tries to make things interesting, it's called an ugly person making a fuss.
"I can accept minor roles, and I can accept reincarnating as a girl, but I cannot accept being ugly…"
Appearance is always paramount. If given the choice between reincarnating as a beautiful girl or an ugly man, Suki would unhesitatingly choose the beautiful girl.
Your values follow your looks; if you're beautiful, the audience will readily defend you.
He could be a girl, or even a villain, but he absolutely couldn't be a clown, especially since, according to the Stage, his "hardware" after reincarnation was also very important. How could he be so casual?
"If it really comes down to it, then I can only choose Ayame." But Ayame had a problem. The other girls were all Naruto's age, making it easy to get screen time, but Ayame was much older than Naruto and also a normal person, making it very difficult to get camera time.
I can't steal scenes; I'm so upset!
"Hmm?"
But just then, Suki noticed that a special option below was lit up.
"Special selectable characters."
"Name: Hyuga Hanabi (Name affinity, enabled based on character template's namesake character)."
"Identity: Secondary supporting character. Daughter of the Konoha Hyuga Clan."
"Secondary Supporting Character LV1: Attention +20%."
"Based on a namesake character? So the Gold Card has this effect?"
He instantly upgraded from an extra to a supporting character! And he got a 20% bonus!
You know, Mirror Flow's card only gave a 20% bonus when conditions were met. This supporting character identity directly gave 20%, and it was even LV1. Moreover, Hyuga Hanabi's appearance was also top-tier.
"This is good, but it's too late!"
Although this character was good, it was a pity that Hyuga Hanabi was only 7 years old at the start of the story, 5 years younger than the protagonist Naruto. Furthermore, her peak beauty period was during the Boruto era, the sequel to Naruto, by which time it would be too late.
"Wait, I still have this."
The item [sand timer] appeared in Suki's consciousness.
"How do I use this?" Suki asked the Stage.
"After selecting a character, check the item, then slide the timeline."
Suki tried it. He selected the character [Hyuga Hanabi] and then slid the timeline. It worked.
But he noticed that when he slid the character bar, the character's avatar turned into a question mark.
"Where's the avatar?"
"Entering changes in time will lead to a chaotic effect. The greater the difference in entry conditions, the greater the deviation from the original character."
"Understood."
Suki continued to slide the timeline forward, but when the time stretched by four years, the timeline suddenly jumped back five years and then stopped moving, settling on December 27th, five years before the original Hyuga Hanabi's birth.
"Is this as far as it can go?"
"Hyuga Hanabi is Hyuga Hinata's younger sister; her birthday cannot be earlier than Hyuga Hinata's."
"Alright then."
Suki understood.
December 27th was exactly Hyuga Hinata's birthday. Sliding the bar here would probably turn this younger sister into a twin. The reason it jumped a year was that if the Hyuga Clan were to have a second daughter, they would need to conceive again ten months after Hinata's birth. So, unless he was born on the same day as Hinata, it could only be a year later.
"Twins it is then."
Once the entry character was selected, everything was complete.
Subsequently, the "cosmic bubbles" in front of Suki all disappeared, leaving only a void.
"Stage cleared."
"Actors, please prepare for the performance."
"Reincarnation ready."
"Pre-performance training about to begin."
A white light appeared before Suki, gradually enveloping him and consuming his consciousness.
…