Popularity Is Also a Burden

Konoha.

Ninja Academy.

Inside one of the classrooms, a Chunin instructor stood to one side with a sheet of paper in hand.

"Next, Feng Ye."

As the Chunin instructor spoke, a silver-haired boy calmly walked up to the podium. His fingers danced, forming a simple hand seal in front of him.

Poof!

With an explosion of white smoke, a clone nearly identical to Feng Ye in both expression and movement appeared to his left.

This scene drew gasps from quite a few girls in the classroom. It was not merely because he had successfully performed the Clone Technique in one try, but also because Feng Ye was among the best-looking boys in the class.

"95 points. Not bad."

The Chunin instructor gave Feng Ye a slight nod and recorded his score with a pen.

Succeeding on the first try with almost no obvious flaws put him in the top ten of the class, but the Chunin instructor did not show much approval in his eyes.

The reason was simple. Feng Ye had a younger brother named Kakashi, who had applied for early graduation and passed at the age of five. At six, he had already been promoted to Chunin. His astonishing talent was renowned throughout Konoha, and in many people's eyes, he was a genius who had inherited the will of Konoha's White Fang.

Compared to him, Feng Ye was quite ordinary.

Although Feng Ye was also among the best in the class and did well in every subject, comparisons were cruel. At eight years old, he was still steadily studying at the Ninja Academy and had never displayed the sort of breathtaking talent Kakashi possessed.

Though the Chunin instructor was noncommittal, the chirping voices of the girls still rang out.

"Feng Ye, that was amazing!"

"95 points—that's already first place, right?"

Quite a few girls gazed at the podium with sparkling eyes.

After transmigrating into this world and inheriting Konoha's White Fang's bloodline, Feng Ye looked almost exactly like Kakashi. However, he did not like wearing a mask, nor was he as excessively aloof as Kakashi, so he was practically the center of attention among the girls in class.

Feng Ye returned to his seat and smiled at Kurenai Yuhi, who was looking at him from beside him. "It's nothing. The Clone Technique isn't that difficult. You can do it if you focus."

He had arrived in this world two years ago and become Kakashi's biological older brother. He had just arrived a little too late and had been unable to prevent the death of Kakashi's father, Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang.

That incident had affected Kakashi enormously. Less than a month later, he had applied for early graduation.

As a transmigrator who had inherited Konoha's White Fang's bloodline, Feng Ye naturally would not be inferior to Kakashi. Still, he considered early graduation an incredibly foolish choice and thoroughly disdained it.

What was the point?!

Wasn't it better to cultivate slowly in the Ninja Academy and improve steadily? Why graduate early?

Besides, it was now Konoha Year 42. If he remembered correctly, next year would be when the Third Great Ninja War truly began. Recently, the entire Shinobi World had been in turmoil.

If it were peacetime, graduating early and becoming a Genin would not be a problem. Usually, they would only carry out ordinary missions. But during this turbulent period before a war, even Genin would often be sent on dangerous combat missions.

Kakashi had graduated at five and become a Chunin at six. It looked astonishing, but in Feng Ye's eyes, it was simply reckless. Leaving aside how dangerous missions became after being promoted to Chunin, displaying such exceptional talent alone would inevitably draw the attention of hostile villages.

These were turbulent times.

Kumogakure, Kirigakure, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure had all made moves against Konoha. A genius like Kakashi was bound to attract their attention, and that was no good thing.

"If I had Jonin-level strength, graduating early wouldn't be a problem..."

Feng Ye muttered to himself.

Unfortunately, he did not yet possess Jonin-level strength. Although he was confident he could crush his younger brother Kakashi, he was only at the level of an elite Chunin at most—and that was with the help of a special ability.

After all, at the age of eight, his body was still developing. For shinobi, only after sixteen did they truly pass the developmental stage and reach a stable phase.

Oh, right.

It was worth mentioning the special ability he possessed.

He had discovered it by accident after transmigrating into this world. It existed in his mind as an enormous Phantom Clock, visible whenever he closed his eyes.

This Phantom Clock was somewhat like Kurumi Tokisaki's Zafkiel from the Date A Live World. However, so far, he had unlocked only one ability: Time Acceleration.

It was similar to Limited Over Time from the Fate World.

It accelerated his own time.

While under Time Acceleration, all of his movements became faster, including his Taijutsu and hand-seal movements. This was also one of the reasons he could crush Kakashi.

At present, he could use Time Acceleration at most twice over. In other words, while under Time Acceleration, he was twice as fast as normal!

"...Feng Ye, um, I brought two lunch boxes today. Would you like to eat together later?"

Just as Feng Ye was lost in thought, a girl seated in the front row turned around. With a faint blush on her cheeks, she spoke to him.

Her words immediately drew the fury of the other girls looking over. Even Kurenai Yuhi, seated beside Feng Ye, looked at her, and the air instantly filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Seeing this,

Feng Ye curled his lips helplessly.

He somewhat understood why Kakashi wore a mask. Perhaps it was to avoid situations like this... though it also had something to do with the fact that none of the other boys in class could put up much of a fight.

The class lineup was actually quite impressive. There was the future Shinobi World's hidden boss, Obito Uchiha, along with Rin Nohara, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, and other named characters from the original story. But Obito was currently a dead-last failure, while the others, like Asuma Sarutobi, were average in both looks and performance.

Itachi Uchiha would not enroll for several more years. Shisui Uchiha had enrolled, but he was two grades below Feng Ye and not in the same class. There was basically no one who could compete.

If Kakashi had not graduated early, perhaps he could have drawn away some of the attention.

Sigh.

Being too popular was also a burden.

Feng Ye sighed inwardly. He had once envied scenes like this beyond measure, but after truly experiencing it, all he could do was sigh silently. Then again, the girls in the Naruto World matured even more absurdly early than he had imagined.

Just looking at these eight- and nine-year-old girls already fighting over boys made that clear.

The boys were just as precocious as the girls.

The scene around Feng Ye had already drawn jealous stares from many people in the class. Anger smoldered faintly in the air, and some had even clenched their fists.

"That bastard..."

"Damn it, I really want to beat him up."

"But you can't beat him..."

"Shut up!"

Among the boys gritting their teeth and clenching their fists was Obito Uchiha, because Rin Nohara was also one of the girls gathered around Feng Ye.

Feng Ye did not care much about the others in class. The only ones he paid attention to were Might Guy and Obito Uchiha. However, what concerned him was Obito after he went dark. Before that, Obito was basically no threat at all—just a dead-last loser who dragged everyone down.