The setting sun painted the sky blood-red.
A gentle breeze rustled, scattering the falling leaves.
On the edge of a small grove in the northeast corner of the Land of Fire’s Hidden Leaf Village, a boy gripped a kitchen knife with both hands, scraping it back and forth against a whetstone with a rhythmic *shing, shing* sound.
The fading light of the setting sun filtered through the sparse leaves, casting a golden glow on his small face.
His eyes weren’t large, his eyebrows weren’t thick, his lips weren’t full, and his nose wasn’t particularly straight.
His face, which could only be considered somewhat handsome due to his young age, clearly bore a trace of nervousness.
He stared intently at the kitchen knife with absolute, unwavering focus.
*Cough, cough!*
A deep cough interrupted him, making the boy’s body jerk to a halt.
His gaze shifted, snapping out of his intense focus, and his expression grew lively.
He froze for two seconds, weighed the kitchen knife in his hand, and seemed to finally realize what he was doing.
His face twitched slightly.
He stood up, walked over to a burly man who was half-squatting, and took a deep breath.
The kitchen knife was raised high…
and brought down hard!
*Spurt!!*
Bright red blood sprayed out.
The boy hastily dodged, but a few drops of blood still splattered onto his sleeve.
Looking at the decapitated body in front of him, he fixed his hair and muttered softly, “So it’s actually quite simple.”
A large hand descended from above, landing squarely on his head and ruffling his hair so hard he swayed.
“Nonsense, how hard could killing a chicken be?
With your lack of guts, you still want to be a ninja?
What did I teach you?
Look at your clothes, they’ve got blood on them.
Your aunt will have to wash them when we get back.”
“Uncle Takumi, don’t mess up my hair.
It’s fine if my clothes get bloody.
Aunt Shu will definitely scold you for not looking after me properly anyway,” the boy grumbled softly, dodging the large hand on his head.
His eyes lost focus, and his face quickly filled with disappointment.
‘Sigh, I didn’t get any attribute points.
Does killing a chicken not count?
Do I have to kill a person?’
“What are you muttering about, you little brat?
Clean the chicken so we can boil it at home.
I don’t know what’s gotten into you today.
Instead of helping me and your aunt on your day off, you copy that foolish kid in your class and run laps around the village like a maniac, and then you suddenly want to buy a live chicken to kill…”
“Uncle Takumi, I’ll leave the rest to you!” The boy chuckled, turning around and running off.
“…” The burly man rolled his eyes, a hint of worry creeping in.
‘The little guy is acting really weird today.
Could it be…
he’s in love?
That little brat is only eight…
he’s doing better than I did.’
The boy quickly left the grove and entered the eastern alley of the Hidden Leaf Village.
Holding a kunai in his hand, he carefully combed through his thick black hair, his gaze fixed on an illusory panel in front of him.
Template: Apprentice Ninja (0/3)
Base Attributes (3)
Physical Strength: 16.71
Mental Strength: 27.92↑
Chakra Capacity: 16.45↑
Main Skills (4)
Three Basic Jutsu Lv.
0 (81%)
Throwing Technique Lv.
0 (74%)
Chakra Refining Method Lv.
0 (72%)
Taijutsu Lv.
0 (51%)
Auxiliary Skills (9) (Hidden)
Free Attribute Points: 0
The boy’s name was Kaito.
This was his first day since transmigrating into the Naruto world.
After experiencing a whirlwind of complex emotions, he had spent half the day struggling with this legendary, mysterious attribute panel that had appeared out of nowhere.
His only reward for running a massive lap around the Hidden Leaf Village like a maniac was his Physical Strength increasing from 16.70 to 16.71.
Additionally, because his adult soul had replaced the original child’s soul, his mental energy had been growing rapidly, which in turn caused a slight increase in his Chakra Capacity.
But this wasn’t enough.
Failing to gain free attribute points from killing a chicken meant he would be stuck with this weak panel for a long time.
And the world he had transmigrated into was the Naruto world!
Naruto, also jokingly known as the “Legend of Bloodlines: The Five-Village Brawl,” was an incredibly high-risk world!
As a hardcore Naruto fan, a master debater on major forums, and a veteran lore enthusiast who had earned the nickname ‘Correction Tape’ because his original name sounded just like it, Kaito understood Naruto all too well.
“With hard work, even a genius can be surpassed”—these words from Rock Lee that had moved countless people were ultimately proven wrong in the end.
Or perhaps they weren’t entirely wrong.
With hard work, a genius could be surpassed, but how could you surpass someone with literal cheat codes?
More importantly, the Naruto world was filled with all sorts of dangers.
The Hidden Leaf Village alone had been destroyed several times.
If he wasn’t careful, he would definitely die.
Therefore, after arriving in the Naruto world, Kaito—who had never even killed a chicken before—immediately hoped that he too possessed a cheat.
Fighting cheats with cheats was the only right path!
“Killing someone…
I probably won’t have the chance anytime soon, and it might not even give me attribute points anyway.
Besides, I wouldn’t dare.
I’m just a keyboard warrior.”
He knew his own limits, yet his desire to grow stronger was incredibly intense.
As a lore enthusiast, being able to personally investigate the unsolved mysteries of the Naruto world with absolute certainty, without having to argue with internet trolls, was pure bliss.
However, without a certain level of strength, he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to come into contact with many of the ninja world’s secrets.
Thinking of trolls, he suddenly recalled the eve of his transmigration.
‘Who developed the Eight Inner Gates?’ was a frequently debated topic.
Some said it was Might Duy, while others claimed it was the Second Hokage.
Both sides had their reasons, and both had plot holes they couldn’t explain.
Kaito leaned toward the theory that the Second Hokage had proposed the concept and laid the foundation, after which Duy was the first to successfully open all eight gates, and Guy eventually perfected it to its peak.
Of course, this was just his personal conclusion and was highly controversial.
But there was one troll who swore up and down that it was developed by a predecessor of the Uzumaki clan, Hitomi Uzumaki.
Who was Hitomi Uzumaki?
Kaito had initially thought he missed some obscure lore.
After pressing for details, he found out it was a fan-made character from a Naruto fanfiction web novel.
He had almost exploded with anger.
*Naruto: Live Long Enough to See Everything?*
What a garbage title.
Only a ghost would read that!
Reading the first two chapters purely to mock it, Kaito ended up staying up all night binge-reading.
After finishing that incredibly brilliant fanfiction, even he started to believe that Hitomi Uzumaki had developed the Eight Inner Gates.
After paying for an official subscription, Kaito had planned to take a short nap to recharge before publishing a brand-new theory to kick off a new round of debates—’The Eight Inner Gates can be seen as a type of sealing jutsu.
The eight gates are eight buffer seals for the body’s chakra flow, so it makes perfect sense for the Uzumaki clan to have developed it,’ and so on.
And then, Kaito had a dream.
It was a seemingly bizarre dream.
He couldn’t remember the exact details anymore, only vaguely recalling Lord Madara grinning sadistically at him and Orochimaru flicking his tongue at him.
It was absolutely terrifying!
When he woke up from the dream, he had transmigrated.
“I can’t remember the specifics at all.”
Kaito stepped into a house and called out, “Aunt Shu, I’m back.
I’m sorry, I accidentally got my clothes dirty while killing the chicken.”
“Your uncle is completely useless,” a slightly plump middle-aged woman grumbled as she hurried out from the inner room upon hearing his voice.
“Throw them in the basin.
I’ll wash them for you after dinner.”
“Alright.
What’s for dinner tonight, Aunt Shu?”
“I’m making your favorite fish, and I’ll stew half of the chicken you two just killed.”
“Fish, huh.” Kaito blinked, his expression suddenly freezing.
“A live fish?”
“Of course, it’s fresh.
I just killed it.
What’s wrong, little Kaito?”
“…Nothing, I’m just a bit tired.
I’m going to go lie down in my room for a while.”
“Go get some sleep.
Dinner won’t be ready for another hour.”
*Bang!* As soon as the door closed, Kaito dove onto his bed.
He frantically ruffled his hair in frustration, then carefully parted it back to a 70/30 split, letting out a long sigh.
“I’m screwed.
It seems the kid I transmigrated into didn’t have a very high IQ.
Killing a chicken versus killing a fish?
My own stupidity is making me want to pull my hair out.”
Because their memories had perfectly merged, Kaito was able to naturally interact with his guardians, Uncle Takumi and Aunt Shu, on his very first day here.
Those two weren’t his biological parents, but they were as good as.
The three of them originally belonged to a small village in the Land of Fire.
During the Second Great Ninja War, which ended the year before last, their village was ransacked by enemies.
He lost his parents, and Uncle Takumi and Aunt Shu lost their child.
The seven or eight survivors from the village were taken into the Hidden Leaf Village, and the three of them formed a new family.
Uncle Takumi was a Chunin, and a rare artisan-type ninja at that.
His ninja tool crafting skills were excellent, so the family of three lived quite comfortably after moving to the Hidden Leaf Village.
They were even able to afford sending Kaito, who possessed ninja aptitude, to the Ninja Academy.
Unfortunately, Kaito didn’t quite live up to expectations.
His grades had always been rather poor, ranking far below average in his class, only two or three spots away from being the dead-last.
The transmigrated Kaito knew he couldn’t blame the original little Kaito for this.
Those born in the 33rd year of Konoha and attending their third year at the Ninja Academy in the 41st year of Konoha were all incredible figures.
But it would have been better if he were actually the dead-last; at least then it would be easier to mingle with the other dead-lasts.
Being stuck in this awkward, unnoticeable middle ground was even worse.
After all, in the Naruto world, the ones who made a name for themselves were either the top students or the dead-lasts.
And the dead-lasts in his year were especially terrifying.
Obito Uchiha, the edgy boss who would turn against the entire world for love.
Might Guy, the eccentric Emperor Guy, who could be considered the strongest among those without literal cheat codes.
Kakashi Hatake, the edgy kid who could fight anyone to a draw…
Wait?
Kaito scratched his head.
Who were the dead-lasts again?
Obito, Guy, and Kaka…
shi??!
“Good heavens, it’s not just that his IQ wasn’t high.
Did I seriously transmigrate into an absolute idiot?”