[Heard Eggplant has a habit of leaving your brain behind, so let’s make a deposit box too!]
[Brain Storage Area. Promise me you’ll remember to pick yours up when you’re done reading!]
….
Konoha, Ninja Academy.
The Ninja Academy was one of the most important institutions established during the tenure of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
In just a few short decades, it had supplied Konohagakure with a tremendous number of talented shinobi.
The current Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi; the leader of Root, Danzō Shimura; the two elders; and even the Third Hokage’s three disciples—Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade…
These pillars of modern Konoha had all come out of this very school.
It was no exaggeration to say that the Ninja Academy had already become one of the most important parts of Konohagakure.
At this moment, inside one of the Academy’s classrooms, a chūnin instructor stood at the podium with a grading sheet in hand.
One by one, the children whose names were called went up to demonstrate the Three Basic Techniques.
“Next, Kazan.”
At the teacher’s call, a sturdy, spirited-looking boy left his seat and walked to the front.
Today’s exam covered one of the Three Basic Techniques: the Clone Technique.
Although this was the Ninja Academy, students were generally taught only a limited selection of basic, nonlethal techniques—the Three Basic Techniques, chakra refinement methods, and little else.
When Konoha was founded, the First Hokage had brought together numerous shinobi clans.
To fulfill the dream he had held since childhood and keep children off the battlefield, Hashirama Senju created the first hidden village in history.
The current Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was even fond of constantly declaring, “We are all one family.”
But when all was said and done, ninjutsu was valuable knowledge—the foundation upon which the major shinobi clans secured their positions.
Certain special secret techniques, in particular, would never be taught to outsiders.
For civilian shinobi who wanted to learn more, there were only three options.
The first and simplest was to find a teacher.
Take Jiraiya, one of the Sannin.
Despite being born a civilian, he became a disciple of the Third Hokage.
Then, when he first experimented with the Summoning Technique, he somehow reverse-summoned himself straight to Mount Myōboku.
Those opportunities ultimately shaped him into the renowned Gallant Jiraiya of Konoha.
The second option was more troublesome: complete missions, accumulate contributions, and exchange them with the village for techniques.
The third required talent.
Create your own.
If you possessed a gift for ninjutsu like Senju Tobirama or Orochimaru, none of the problems above were problems at all.
As for Kazan…
Despite having such an outrageously badass name, his talent for ninjutsu was thoroughly mediocre, and he had no shinobi clan backing him either.
Poof!
Smoke swirled through the air.
Kazan swiftly completed the hand seals, and an identical clone appeared beside him.
“Sixty points. Pass.”
The instructor nodded at Kazan, then wrote down his name and score.
Kazan showed little reaction.
He dispelled the clone and returned to his seat.
He felt absolutely nothing about his grade.
After all, as someone who had been reborn into this world, he was a certified cheat user with his very own golden finger.
From the moment he was born into this world, a Monkey D.
Garp Template had come along with him.
Yes.
That ridiculously badass legendary king of duo queue who charged onto Hachinosu, got wrecked, and was promptly mocked by fans everywhere.
When fighting Golden Lion Shiki, he duo-queued with Sengoku.
When fighting Rocks, he duo-queued with Roger.
Then, much later in the manga, God Valley somehow even involved Imu, and Garp turned around and became the Hero of the Marines!
So…
Now that Kazan already had the Garp Template, did ninjutsu really matter that much?
While he was thinking, a wave of exclamations suddenly erupted through the classroom.
Kazan looked up.
So it was the Uchiha kid’s turn.
Compared to Kazan, who could barely produce a single clone, the Uchiha boy had created a full seven.
“As expected of an Uchiha!”
The instructor praised him before recording the result.
“Full marks!”
Uchiha Jō showed no expression as he walked back down from the podium.
What awaited him was a chorus of excited shrieks and admiring voices from the girls in class.
“Jō-kun, you’re amazing!”
“As expected of a genius! He got first place again!”
“Exactly! Ever since Kakashi graduated early, Jō-kun has always been number one!”
Countless girls stared at him with sparkling eyes.
Of course, there were also a few voices that ruined the mood.
For example, Uchiha Obito, who wore goggles even in class.
“Tch. What’s so great about that? If I hadn’t eaten something bad and gotten diarrhea today, I could’ve gotten full marks too.”
Yep.
The naturally evil Uchiha brat was doing even worse than Kazan.
He was the class’s ultimate dead last.
His grades were only barely better than Might Guy’s, whose Clone Technique had managed to produce little more than a set of clothes.
Not far from Obito sat a bowl-cut boy in a red scarf, sporting an unmistakable pair of thick eyebrows.
He was staring at Uchiha Jō with burning intensity.
If anything, his gaze was even more passionate than those of the girls.
“Amazing! Father was right—the Academy really is full of incredible people! It’s decided! Once I finish five hundred laps around the training field after school, I’ll challenge Kakashi!”
“Hey, Kazan! Let us burn our youth together!”
Ding!
As he spoke, Guy even shot Kazan a dazzling wink, revealing teeth so white they practically reflected the light.
“My youth is precious. I’m not rich enough to waste it by setting it on fire. If you want to burn yours, burn it yourself.”
Kazan rested his chin on his hand.
It was now Year 42 of Konoha.
Only a few years had passed since the end of the Second Shinobi World War.
But in Year 43 of Konoha, the Third Shinobi World War would break out.
Recently, whenever Kazan wandered through the village, he could already see traces of grimness on the faces of shinobi returning from missions.
Unless something unexpected had changed, that unlucky Kazekage who would eventually be turned into a human puppet had already been missing for some time.
The atmosphere along the borders was extremely tense.
A full-scale war was merely a matter of time.
During the Warring States Period, the shinobi world had been extraordinarily chaotic.
Shinobi groups had effectively served as mercenaries for the various nations.
Fighting happened constantly—small skirmishes every three days, major battles every five.
Then Hashirama Senju brought the previously independent shinobi groups together and put an end to that chaotic era.
But conflict itself did not disappear.
Instead, it developed in a direction Hashirama Senju had never anticipated.
With the advent of the hidden-village era, battles became less frequent—but their scale multiplied several times over.
After Konoha was founded, other shinobi groups of all sizes across the shinobi world began following its example, whether to avoid being swallowed up by stronger powers or for reasons of their own.
They banded together and formed their own massive power blocs…
By cooperating with nations and relying on the financial strength of the great countries, they established hidden villages.
Those hidden villages, in turn, became swords in the hands of their respective nations.
There might no longer be constant fighting now, but whenever a war did break out, every coffin maker in the shinobi world stood to make a fortune.
Kazan didn’t even need a particularly good memory to know that whenever a Shinobi World War reached its later stages, the hidden villages would inevitably suffer manpower shortages and start sending freshly graduated children onto the battlefield.
When survival itself was at stake, nobody cared whether you had only just graduated.
“If I want to keep my sorry ass alive on the battlefield, I’ll need at least jōnin-level combat strength.”
Kazan had no idea how strong he currently was.
He did have a system, but after System Bro gave him the Garp Template and a few training methods, it had begun an extremely long career of playing dead.
So Kazan had absolutely no idea just how hard his pair of iron fists actually was.
Still, he trained with everything he had every single day.
At that thought, Kazan glanced toward Uchiha Jō, who had returned to his seat after scoring a hundred and was now sitting there in silence, putting on the airs of an expert.
Kazan wondered whether he should go take a swing at him.