Kuroda Ren closed the system interface.
When he opened his eyes again, the classroom that had been completely empty was already filled with students.
He swept his gaze across the room and immediately recognized several highly distinctive faces.
Before he could think about it further, however, a middle-aged man wearing a shinobi forehead protector walked into the classroom.
“Quiet down!”
The middle-aged ninja picked up a piece of chalk and wrote several characters on the blackboard:
Imai Nobuyuki.
He then introduced himself.
“I’m your teacher and the homeroom teacher for Year One, Class A.”
“Since today is the first day of school, we won’t be having any specific lessons.
Instead, everyone will introduce themselves one by one so that you can get to know each other…”
Imai Nobuyuki had only gotten halfway through his sentence when a voice suddenly came from the doorway.
“Sorry!
I’m late!”
A boy wearing goggles and a dark-blue windbreaker came rushing into the classroom, panting heavily as he repeatedly apologized.
“Being late on the first day of school isn’t a good habit.
I’ll let it slide this time.”
Imai Nobuyuki didn’t make a big deal out of it.
He simply waved the boy into the classroom before saying:
“Since you’re late, you can start the introductions.
Your name, things you like or dislike, your dream, and so on.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
The boy wasn’t nervous in the slightest.
He walked confidently to the podium, swept his gaze across the students below, and loudly declared:
“My name is Uchiha Obito!
I like helping people who need it, I hate being looked down on, and my dream is to become Hokage!”
Uchiha… Obito.
Kuroda Ren looked at the cheerful, sunny boy standing on the podium, and his heart stirred slightly.
The future “mastermind” who would one day shake the entire shinobi world was currently nothing more than an immature little boy.
Should I do something ahead of time?
A thought suddenly surfaced in Kuroda Ren’s mind.
But he immediately cast it aside.
With the Ryze Emperor Template, Kuroda Ren’s ambitions had never been confined to this shinobi world.
No matter how powerful a ninja became, their peak would last only a few decades.
What Kuroda Ren wanted was something more akin to those Ōtsutsuki who planted Divine Trees across countless planets—
immortality.
“My name is Hatake Kakashi.
I like becoming stronger.
I don’t dislike anything in particular.
My dream is to restore the Hatake clan to its former glory!”
“My name is Sarutobi Asuma…”
“My name is Yūhi Kurenai…”
One familiar character after another from the original story appeared before Kuroda Ren’s eyes.
The sensation was difficult to describe.
Yet at this point in time, many of them were completely different from the versions he remembered from the original story.
The future shinobi world’s ultimate mastermind, Obito, was still a cheerful and sunny boy.
Hatake Kakashi hadn’t yet become the lazy man whose greatest passion was reading filthy little books.
Sarutobi Asuma was still far from becoming the weary, bearded man he would eventually turn into…
Looking at these “anime characters” standing before him as living, breathing people, Kuroda Ren finally realized that he had already been in this world for an entire six years.
Because he was sitting in the very back corner of the classroom, Kuroda Ren was the last person to take the podium.
“My name is Kuroda Ren.
I like good food and training, and there isn’t anything in particular that I dislike.”
He paused.
“As for my dream…”
He didn’t reveal what he truly wanted.
Instead, he casually said:
“My dream is to eat all the delicious food in the shinobi world and become an excellent ninja.”
…
Elsewhere.
Hokage’s Office.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was not yet considered old at this point, was still peering through his crystal ball.
“They’re all good children.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled as he watched the newest generation of Ninja Academy students.
The quality of the talents in this year’s class could be considered among the finest since Konoha’s founding.
They were even more impressive than the generations that had produced the Legendary Sannin and Namikaze Minato.
Judging solely from the geniuses who had already begun to reveal their talent, this class was almost comparable to the generation personally taught by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama—the same generation Sarutobi Hiruzen himself had belonged to.
This filled Sarutobi Hiruzen with immense satisfaction.
He couldn’t help but feel proud as he thought about how Konoha had grown increasingly powerful under his leadership.
Teacher…
I suppose I’ve achieved a few things worthy of you by now, haven’t I?
Sarutobi Hiruzen felt rather pleased with himself.
“And the group you taught back then were all geniuses from major clans.”
“But this generation is different.
The Hatake clan has only a father and son left.
Although they’re technically a shinobi clan, they’re practically no different from civilians.”
“That boy from the Might family also has incredible talent in taijutsu.”
“And then there’s this Kuroda Ren.
He’s only six years old, yet his chakra volume is already comparable to a Jōnin’s.”
“If he’s properly trained, he could become quite a talent as well.”
“Talented civilians are far more important than talented members of the shinobi clans!”
For a moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen became immersed in a beautiful dream—
A dream of surpassing his teacher, the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
Bang!
The office door was suddenly slammed open, snapping Sarutobi Hiruzen out of his reverie.
A man whose body was wrapped in bandages on one side barged into the office.
Shimura Danzō .
He spoke loudly.
“Hiruzen, I heard this year’s Ninja Academy class has produced several promising seedlings.
My Root is seriously short on manpower…”
“Don’t even think about it!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen knew exactly what Danzō was about to say before he could finish.
He rejected him without hesitation.
“Didn’t you just take dozens of children from the orphanage a while ago?!”
“You can forget about the children from the Academy.
I already have plans for them!”
Damn it!
Shimura Danzō ‘s heart sank.
He had secretly taken a batch of orphans from the orphanage.
How had Hiruzen found out?
It seemed that although Root was powerful, it was still nowhere near as capable as the Anbu personally controlled by Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Even something as minor as this hadn’t escaped the Anbu’s surveillance.
“Hiruzen, everything I do is for the sake of Konoha!”
Shimura Danzō attempted to justify himself.
“Root doesn’t have enough manpower.
If we want to cultivate reliable operatives, we have to start training them from childhood.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen gave a disdainful smile.
“That is why I didn’t stop you when you took those children from the orphanage.”
“But these children from the Academy are different.”
“Forget about them.”
The orphans in the orphanage had come from outside Konoha.
They couldn’t truly be considered Konoha’s “own people.”
So even if Danzō took them away, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn’t particularly care.
But the children attending the Ninja Academy were different.
Although some of them were also war orphans, their parents had all been Konoha shinobi.
They were genuine “people of Konoha.”
Naturally, Hiruzen couldn’t allow Danzō to take them.
After all—
Anyone who wasn’t the orphaned child of a deceased Konoha shinobi didn’t even qualify to attend Konoha’s Ninja Academy.
The outsiders’ orphans could be handed over to Danzō to do with as he pleased.
Even if they died, it wouldn’t matter.
After all, the orphanage run by Yakushi Nono was nothing more than a public-relations project designed to showcase Konoha’s “magnanimity” as a great shinobi village.
But if the orphan of a Konoha shinobi died or suffered some serious incident, that would be an entirely different matter.
Sarutobi Hiruzen understood exactly where the foundation of his political power lay.
“There are some things I can’t be bothered to interfere with.”
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t know about them.”
“Don’t cross the line, Danzō!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen stared at Shimura Danzō and spoke each word clearly:
“Remember this.”
“I am the Hokage.”
“You!”
Anger surged through Shimura Danzō .
Without thinking, he shot back:
“You’ll regret this, Hiruzen!”
With that, he didn’t even wait for Sarutobi Hiruzen’s response.
He stormed out and slammed the door behind him.
Bang!
The door crashed violently against the frame.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: