Year 63 of Konoha.
Land of Fire, Konoha Village.
Uzumaki Naruto lay flat on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
His stomach was still aching faintly, and the fall into the mud pit during the day had been quite a heavy knock.
Placed beside him were the clothes soiled from sparring with Sasuke, stained with mud and grass clippings.
He had clearly worked so hard…
Yet every attack was easily dodged by the opponent.
Naruto turned over, his face facing the wall.
On the way home today too…
Those villagers still walked around avoiding him.
He even vaguely heard a few familiar words.
“That guy…”
“He is the one who caused the death of the Fourth Hokage!”
Thinking of this, Naruto instinctively tightened his grip on the blanket.
Over the years, he had learned one thing: pretending not to hear.
But pretending not to hear didn’t mean he really couldn’t hear.
Those words would crawl into his ears, and then spin back and forth in his mind, spinning him into a depressed mood.
Naruto turned his head to the side, looking at the empty room.
Bed, table, cabinet, and a shelf for cup noodles.
There weren’t few things, but it just felt desolate.
Could this really be considered a ‘home’?
This thought popped up in his mind, and he quickly suppressed it.
He couldn’t think like that.
Grandpa Hokage said that the villagers of Konoha Village were like family, and he had to protect them.
But…
Sometimes standing by the window, he could see the houses across the street and hear the voices and laughter coming from other people’s homes.
His own house was always quiet.
And they despised him so much; were they really family?
Except for Teacher Iruka, Grandpa Third, and those few friends Choji and Shikamaru at the school.
In this huge Konoha Village, there was simply no place for him to stay.
Naruto blinked his eyes.
His eye sockets felt a bit warm.
He remembered when he was little, once in the park he saw a little girl fall down, and her father ran over to hug her up, patting the dirt on her body while saying: ‘It’s okay, it’s okay, Daddy is here.’
At that time Naruto stood by the swing and watched for a long time.
Later he went home, and said to the empty house: ‘I’m back.’
However, no one answered him.
I don’t know how long passed, but Naruto fell asleep.
…
Magic World.
20 years before the death of Hero Himmel.
Äußerst, outskirts.
An elf with long golden hair was walking barefoot on the main road.
She wore pure white robes and shorts, with pointy ears protruding from her hair.
Her appearance was like a teenage girl, but she was the Great Mage called the ‘Living Grimoire’ for over a thousand years, Serie.
Her mood was not very good.
The Demon King was dead, the war was over, and peace had come earlier than imagined.
She stopped her footsteps, lowered her head to look at the wild flowers blooming by the road, reached out to gently stroke a petal, and a slight smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
She thought of Flamme.
Her human disciple.
In her memory, this disciple seemed to forever stay in the appearance of a little girl whose height only reached her waist.
She liked to pull her hand and talk about those fantastic ideas.
Flamme wanted to create an era where everyone could learn magic.
Serie felt it was absurd at the time.
Magic was only worthy of being learned by talented people.
But Flamme was stubborn to the death.
What Serie didn’t expect even more was that the child actually persuaded the human king, making the whole country start researching magic.
The era where everyone could learn magic had indeed arrived.
Serie thought at the time that short-lived humans might really surpass elves.
Before Flamme passed away, she asked her disciple Frieren to deliver a suicide note, hoping that she could serve as the empire’s court Mage.
Embracing the idea that ‘magic is special’, she refused.
A thousand years passed.
The Demon King was killed by the hero, and peace came.
She began to feel that staying alone was boring; with the Demon King dead, it might even cause the development of magic to stagnate.
And a ridiculous notion popped up…
Taking many disciples.
But…
A thousand years later, she ‘mutually understood’ Flamme.
Was her reaction a bit slow?
Serie gently sighed, raised her head, and her gaze fell back onto the road ahead.
Then she saw a person.
A blonde boy wearing a white short-sleeve shirt was lying in the grass by the road, eyes tightly closed, as if he had passed out.
Serie walked over, raised her right hand, and extended her index finger.
Awakening magic!
“Cough cough…”
Naruto felt his throat was extremely dry, coughed heavily twice, and then opened his eyes with difficulty.
He first saw a blue sky, and then saw a face close to his.
An exceptionally pretty female, with golden hair and pointy ears, was tilting her head to look at him.
“Big sister…
Who are you?”
Serie’s mouth moved slightly.
Big sister?
This form of address was quite interesting.
“I am the Great Mage Serie.”
Naruto sat up, scratched his head: “Great Ma…
Se…
what was it?
Never heard of it.”
Serie didn’t care either.
She had lived for so long, always hiding her identity, to the point that even the demons had forgotten.
It was normal for an ordinary human child not to know her.
“Why did you faint here?
Were you attacked by demons or magic beasts?” She looked up and down at Naruto, “But there are no injuries on your body, and there are no mana fluctuations around.”
Only then did Naruto react, turning his head abruptly to look around, and saying flusteredly: “Wh-What is this place?”
“I was clearly at home just now!”
Serie slightly narrowed her eyes: “Where is your home?”
Naruto jumped up all at once: “Big sister, do you know how to get to Konoha Village?”
“I still have class today, otherwise Teacher Iruka will definitely scold me!”
Serie tilted her head, imitating his previous tone: “Konoha Village?
Never heard of it.”
“Ah?” Naruto was dumbfounded, “How could you not know?
Konoha Village is the most powerful Ninja Village in the world!”
“Why should I know the name of an ordinary Village.” Serie’s tone was calm, “There are too many Villages in this world, Sword Village, Warrior Village…
Who knows where that Konoha Village is?”
Hearing this, Naruto stood in place, mouth agape, not knowing what to say.
Serie looked him up and down for a while, and suddenly asked: “Wait, you mentioned class earlier…
Which magic school are you a student of?”
“However…
there isn’t a trace of mana in your body.”
“You have no magic talent at all, give up early!”
“What magic school?” Naruto was slightly startled, “I am a student of the Ninja Academy.”
“Ninja?”
“That’s right!” As soon as Naruto mentioned this, he perked up, “What we learn is Ninjutsu!
It’s super awesome!”
Saying this, he straightened his body and formed a hand seal with both hands.
Clone Technique!
“Bang!”
The smoke dispersed.
Two crooked, limp clones, seventy percent similar to Naruto, appeared in front of Serie.
They swayed twice like they had no bones and then dissipated.
Naruto scratched his head and dryly laughed: “Hehe…
Clone Technique is my least proficient subject.”
Serie’s expression changed.
She hadn’t sensed any mana fluctuations just now.
But those two ‘clones’ had indeed appeared, using a power she had never seen before.
“Brat.” Serie’s tone was much more serious than before, “Tell me carefully about that Ninja Academy, Ninjutsu, and Konoha Village you mentioned.”
Naruto was startled by her sudden serious look: “Wh-What’s wrong?”
“Aren’t you going home?” Serie said, “How can I find it if I don’t know the specific information?”
Naruto thought about it and felt it was indeed true.
So he sat down and told everything he knew about the Ninja World from beginning to end.
The Nine-Tailed attack on the Village, past Hokages, the Ninja Academy, Ninjutsu, and Chakra.
When Naruto finished speaking.
Serie was silent for a moment; she had been using lie detection magic just now.
Everything the other party said was true.
That is to say, there still existed places and power systems unknown to her in this world.
Having lived from the mythological era to today, she thought she had seen everything.
She didn’t expect to encounter such a thing.
Serie’s mouth slowly curled up, revealing an ambiguous smile: “Brat, thank you for telling me these.”
Naruto grinned: “Small matter!
Can you help me find the way home next?”
Serie didn’t answer directly, but instead asked: “Want to learn magic?”
Naruto was stunned: “Magic?”
“Yes.” Serie raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
Flower field magic!
The surrounding ground instantly bloomed with a large number of flowers, instantly covering all places within the field of vision, as spectacular as a sea of flowers.
Naruto widened his eyes: “Th-This is too awesome!”
If he learned this, Sakura would definitely like him, right?
He could even imagine the appearance of conjuring a full bouquet of flowers in front of Sakura.
Sakura would definitely show a worshipful look and say ‘Naruto, you’re so awesome’.
Moreover, he would never be upstaged by that guy Sasuke again!
Naruto jumped up suddenly: “Big sister, teach me magic!
I want to learn so much!
I dream of learning this kind of Ninjutsu…
no, magic!”
Serie looked at his excited appearance, smilingly waved her hand: “Don’t rush.”
“Eh?”
“Magic is a special thing, only a few talented people can learn it.” Serie extended her hand and placed it on top of Naruto’s head, “I need to do a test first.”
“Close your eyes, don’t resist, try to feel what I transmit to you, and then release it.”
Naruto nodded heavily: “Okay!”
He closed his eyes.
A warm energy slowly surged in from the top of his head, completely different from Chakra.
When Chakra was inside his body, he could never control it well.
But this was different.
This thing seemed to be particularly obedient to him, as soon as it came in, it obediently flowed along the thoughts in his heart.
Almost subconsciously, Naruto raised his right hand, palm facing up.
Intense white light burst out from his palm, like a small sun.
Serie withdrew her hand and took a step back.
She stared at that white light, a flash of an expression rarely seen on her face passing through her eyes.
That was surprise.
In all her life, she had seen countless talented Mages.
But never one like this.
Being able to manipulate mana so smoothly, so naturally, and so massively on first contact.
Serie took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.
Looking at the grinning blonde boy in front of her, there was only one thought in her heart.
This child she picked up casually on the roadside.
Is a…
Genius!