Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
A soul-shattering demonic alarm rang through the room.
Hanekawa broke through the sealing spell of his blanket, reaching out to slam the snooze button.
The technology tree in the shinobi world was remarkably warped—they had computers, refrigerators, and air conditioners, so an alarm clock was nothing special.
He glanced at the time: exactly 6:00 AM.
Although he wanted to see what Konoha looked like at 4:00 AM, he was still just a child and needed to maintain adequate sleep.
Hanekawa changed into his clothes and headed out.
His plan was to run for thirty minutes to an hour, pacing himself carefully.
Going from zero exercise straight into hardcore, intense training was no different from playing tag with the Grim Reaper.
He didn’t want his glorious new life to last for only three days.
He started jogging along the streets.
Because he woke up early, there were barely any pedestrians around, meaning he encountered no obstacles.
As time ticked away, Hanekawa’s breathing grew heavier and heavier.
Sweat poured down like rain, and his vision began to blur slightly.
Just then, a flash of green crossed his vision.
Hanekawa instinctively glanced over.
Did I wake up too fast?
Why do I see legs kicking wildly in the air?
He steadied his gaze.
It turned out to be Might Guy, running completely upside down on his hands.
“Are you out running too?!” Guy asked, his voice bursting with excitement.
He felt an instant rush of adrenaline from running into a kindred spirit.
In the current era, Taijutsu-focused shinobi were at the absolute bottom of the food chain, constantly looked down upon by others.
His eccentric training methods usually brought nothing but ridicule from onlookers.
You could catch a glimpse of this harsh reality through Guy’s father, Might Duy.
Duy had single-handedly kicked the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist until they were reduced to a mere trio of survivors, yet he had remained a Genin his entire life.
Hanekawa nodded, lacking the breath to speak.
“You look a little familiar,” Guy blinked, suddenly recognizing him.
“Ah!
You’re the transfer student from yesterday!
Han-something, right?” “Hane…
Hanekawa…” Hanekawa gasped out, entirely out of breath.
“Hane-what?” Guy couldn’t hear him clearly and asked again.
“Hanekawa!” Hanekawa raised his voice.
He could finally emphasize with Kisame Hoshigaki’s future frustration.
“Hanekawa-kun, hello!
I’m Might Guy!” Guy flashed a blinding smile, his teeth practically glinting.
“Just call me Guy!” “Yeah,” Hanekawa caught his breath.
“You go ahead and keep running.
I need to take a breather.” Aside from his stamina reaching its absolute limit, there was another reason—the system had just given him a notification.
“Alright then!” Guy didn’t push him, waving cheerfully as he kept going.
Of course, the main reason was that Hanekawa wasn’t his eternal rival.
If it had been Hatake Kakashi, Guy would have relentlessly squeezed every last drop of stamina out of him.
“What kind of alien physique is that?” Hanekawa muttered, watching Guy sprint away effortlessly on a single hand.
He collapsed onto a nearby set of steps and pulled up his trait panel with a thought.
[E-Rank Talent Trait: Robust Physique (Not Yet Acquired).] [Trigger Condition: Bring physical fitness up to the bare minimum baseline of a Genin.] [Current Progress: 1%.] Since it specified the bare minimum baseline, it definitely didn’t mean a monstrous Genin like Naruto Uzumaki.
Hanekawa felt that the trigger conditions for this trait weren’t exceptionally difficult; it was purely a matter of consistency.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and closed his eyes to rest.
“Hanekawa-kun, I’m back!” Guy’s voice was as booming and full of life as ever.
Hanekawa opened his eyes only to see him doing frog hops past the steps.
He smiled and waved back.
Once Guy vanished down the street, Hanekawa stood up and jogged back toward Kurenai’s house.
By 7:00 AM, the streets were beginning to bust with life.
Hanekawa caught sight of the Konoha Archives Bookstore—the designated rendezvous point with the Kumogakure operative—but he didn’t dare peer inside to avoid any potential slip-ups.
Passing by a food stall, he thought of Kurenai and decided to pick up a box of takoyaki.
Hanekawa arrived back at the house just as Shinku Yuhi opened the front door.
“Did you go running?” Shinku looked at the panting Hanekawa, who looked as though he had just been pulled straight out of a river, a look of profound surprise written across his face.
Working this hard at such a young age?
Combined with his innate talent for Yin Release, this kid is bound for greatness.
“Good morning, Shinku-ojisan,” Hanekawa explained.
“My physical conditioning is pretty weak, so I plan to run every morning to build up my stamina.” Right then, a nearby bedroom door clicked open.
Standing there with bare feet on the carpet and a wildly messy mane of hair was Kurenai Yuhi.
She let out a massive yawn, blinking drowsily.
“Why are you guys up so early?” “Kurenai, you should learn a thing or two from Hanekawa,” Shinku straightened his face and chided.
“Stop sleeping in all the time.” “Eh?” Kurenai looked left and right, her brain still entirely in a fog.
What happened?
She looked exactly like a dazed little kitten that had just opened its eyes.
“I bought you some takoyaki,” Hanekawa smiled, handing her the warm paper box.
He hadn’t expected to become the textbook ‘model child’ used by parents to scold their own kids on day two.
“Nice!
You’re officially a very considerate follower,” Kurenai said, her eyes instantly sparkling the moment she smelled the octopus balls.
“…?” Shinku’s expression turned slightly subtle.
He suddenly felt a phantom sense of a young boy trying to swoop in on his prized flower.
Must be an illusion.
Shinku shook his head.
They were just kids; he was completely overthinking things.
“This is just to thank you for lending me your study notes,” Hanekawa explained with a perfectly straight face.
“Mmph…
mmph…” Kurenai mumbled through a mouth stuffed with takoyaki, transmitting unintelligible signals.
If it had been anyone else, it would have looked sloppy, but on her, it was just pure cuteness.
After breakfast, Hanekawa and Kurenai walked to the Academy together.
“Hanekawa, did you finish yesterday’s homework?” Kurenai turned to ask him.
“Do you want to copy it?” Hanekawa raised an eyebrow.
“No way!” Kurenai put her hands on her hips.
“I mean, if there are any questions you couldn’t solve, I can help you out.” “I actually do have a few,” Hanekawa said, playing right into her hands since he already had her personality completely figured out.
“Well, since you’ve asked so sincerely, I suppose I can enlighten you!” The corners of Kurenai’s mouth curled up, her eyes narrowing into happy crescents.
Hanekawa asked questions as they walked.
Since he had missed the first two months of the semester, he had literally guessed his way through some of the assignments.
The standard multiple-choice strategies from his past life could only take him so far.
Yamamoto-sensei knew his situation anyway, so he wouldn’t hold it against him.
“Get it now?” Kurenai asked, licking a trace of sauce from her lip.
“I get it, but I don’t completely get it,” Hanekawa chuckled.
“It’s always like that at the start,” Kurenai said, adopting the tone of a seasoned veteran.
“Come to my room after school, and I’ll give you a proper lesson.” Whoa, Kurenai-nee, watch the phrasing.
Hanekawa returned to his desk in the back row.
After greeting Shizune, he pulled up his system interface.
[E-Rank Talent Trait: Top of the Class (Not Yet Acquired).] [Trigger Condition: Achieve rank 1 in the theoretical exam for the first semester.] [Current Progress: 1%.] Hanekawa stroked his chin.
This trait had clearly been triggered by his academic exchange with Kurenai just now.
He just wondered what actual combat utility a Top of the Class academic trait could possibly possess in the brutal shinobi world.
In the original series, Sakura Haruno was an absolute top-tier academic prodigy, but before she apprenticed under Tsunade, she could pretty much only watch from the sidelines.