Knowledge is Power

In the Land of Fire, within Konoha, the sun rose as it always did.

In a seemingly ordinary house, a father and son sat at the breakfast table, staring at each other with wide eyes.

Mitokado Satoru watched with a calm expression as his father's face shifted rapidly from its normal complexion to a deep crimson, and finally to a sickly, iron-grey.

With soft, dark brown hair sticking up at odd angles, a round face, and a pair of bright, spirited eyes, he wore a simple dark blue shirt—the boy looked perfectly well-behaved and adorable.

He finished his breakfast in a flash and glanced at the wall clock.

Hmm, it's almost time for the old man to head to work.

He rose with practiced ease, darted back to his second-floor room, and shut the door in one fluid motion.

Yawning, Satoru made a casual gesture and muttered a few strange syllables, causing brilliant purple sparks to dance at his fingertips.

A large book with a peculiar cover, glowing with a magnificent pale violet light, slowly materialized in the air before him.

Nodding in satisfaction, Satoru opened the book on his desk, covered his ears with both hands, and began to read with intense focus.

"3, 2, 1..."

Right on cue, his father's exasperated roar echoed from downstairs:

"Satoru! You brat! How does your brain even work?!"

"Your question is complete nonsense! Is that how you're supposed to use ninjutsu? Stop messing around!"

Downstairs, at the breakfast table, the high-ranking advisor of Konoha—Mitokado Homura, a man whose status, strength, and wisdom were said to rival those of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen—angrily pulled off his glasses, huffed on them, and began scrubbing them fiercely with a napkin.

He had been so agitated that his fingers had trembled, causing him to poke the lenses while trying to adjust them.

As the advisor with the highest historical standing in the Mitokado clan, this was far from the first time his son had driven him to such a state.

However, as he looked at his increasingly smudged glasses, the corners of his mouth twitched upward, though he tried to hide it.

He was merely masking his own embarrassment.

Although Homura was a high-ranking advisor of Konoha, a direct disciple of the Second Hokage, and a close comrade-in-arms to the Third Hokage, possessing great strength and the wisdom recognized by all Jonin, he could not change one fact: he was a traditional ninja, and the heavy responsibilities of his position demanded that he prioritize stability above all else.

This was true even in the way he raised his son.

Yet, his keen intellect told him that it was a good thing for young people to ask questions.

After all, wasn't the vast and complex system of ninjutsu today built upon the countless ingenious ideas of ninja predecessors?

But... his son's train of thought was just too erratic.

He was only a child, yet he was already coming up with such dangerous ideas!

"How to use the intense pain of Fire Release to stimulate the body, thereby unlocking potential and achieving speed beyond one's limits..."

Homura twitched as he put on his now-blurred glasses and took a savage bite of his bread.

"This is pure nonsense! Even I wouldn't dare apply Fire Release directly to my own body—Earth Release, maybe..."

"I thought he'd settle down after the last time he suggested the 'feasibility of applying the Transformation Technique to enemies,' and that even more ridiculous idea before that."

Upstairs, Mitokado Satoru lowered his hands from his ears.

Tch, what a stuffy old man.

This is a serious academic proposition... Ninjutsu is essentially no different from magic. By the Fourth Shinobi World War, weren't those big shots all basically Archmages?

Is "Naruto Mage" just a joke fans make for no reason?

Satoru let out a long sigh; the psychological pressure of being reborn into the upper echelons of Konoha was quite heavy.

As a well-behaved child born in a peaceful era who had never even been in a fight, and whose greatest hobbies were staying home to watch anime and play games...

The only time he had ever shown any backbone in his previous life was when he quit his job because his idiot boss tried to make him a scapegoat.

Given his father Mitokado Homura's strength and status, it had been determined early on that he possessed excellent ninja talent, and becoming a Jonin in the future should be no problem.

But the problem was, this world was far too cruel.

Going to the battlefield before the age of ten and all that...

Satoru had watched some of the Naruto anime, but only up until the Shippuden arc.

The massive amount of original filler episodes had severely dampened his motivation to keep up, leading him to switch to One Piece... and by the time Naruto ended, he had never gotten around to finishing it.

However, the overwhelming amount of information on various forums and social media platforms had given Satoru a decent grasp of the main plot, even if the details remained fuzzy.

Keywords: the god-tier Akatsuki, the "Pain" theme song, Lord Madara the dance king, Itachi the brother-obsessed, Eight Gates Might Guy, Orochimaru the scientist, Danzo the king of pots, Kurama the tsundere, Obito and his "I win" nonsense, the Fourth Hokage's greatness, Kakashi the Five-Five Split, the Talk-no-Jutsu Savior, Black Zetsu the stalker, the supremacy of bloodlines, the alien Otsutsuki...

And all sorts of eyes being used in wild ways.

Is this really a place for a socialist, harmless intellectual to be?

Satoru had agonized over this for five whole years during his childhood.

Until...

"Thank goodness..."

Mitokado Satoru flipped another page of the massive tome before him, the mysterious symbols upon it flickering with an intermittent glow.

"The Book of Medivh, the most powerful grimoire in Azeroth... but this inscription..."

Inscription: "To the new Guardian Khadgar, my no-longer-young confidant—Echo of Medivh."

"So, this is a remastered edition?"

Ever since he accidentally entered his mental space while sleeping on his fifth birthday and saw this peculiar magic book, he understood—

As a frail, harmless intellectual, the capital required to survive in this dangerous world had finally arrived.

Azeroth was the world he was most familiar with, and the so-called "favorite child" class in that shade of blue was the absolute favorite of an orderly, decent player like him.

No need to spend money on food and drink, easy to make money by boosting low-level characters, high attack power, and an NPC backing that was both solid and prestigious...

Even among those who favored other classes, how many hadn't played a Mage?

However...

"Ninjas, just like Mages, are high-attack, low-health, glass-cannon classes."

"Therefore, the first priority for survival in the ninja world—self-preservation!"

With the help of The Book of Medivh, Mitokado Satoru had successfully obtained the foundation of a Mage's existence over these past few days—Arcane Power, one of the six fundamental forces of Azeroth.

Arcane Power, the force used by the Order-aligned Titans of creation, possessed all sorts of incredible, miraculous uses.

From the small Fireball Technique of Mages to the world-shaping power of the Titans, all were manifestations of Arcane Power—

That's right, magic involving fire, frost, lightning, earth, and even life could be shaped using Arcane Power.

Simply put, according to the explanation in The Book of Medivh, a Mage's spellcasting was the act of using Arcane Power under their control to "knead" the corresponding elements into the desired shape.

Archmage Khadgar liked to knead Lightning Bolts when he was young—

As long as they wanted to, they could even forcibly knead a Holy Light spell... provided they had a Holy Light battery.

For Mages, Arcane Power was the root; everything else was just a minor path.

Moreover, magic did not have the so-called elemental counters found in ninjutsu.

Satoru rested his chin in his hand, his thoughts wandering. The Book of Medivh mostly recorded Arcane magic; it was the most orthodox of grimoires.

As a remastered edition, this book, which clearly leaned more toward commemorative significance, actually still adhered to an apprentice-protection mechanism where "the stronger you are, the more content you can see"...

It even included many anecdotes and snarky comments for the sake of amusement.

However, in the ninja world, overly conspicuous Arcane magic could not be used right from the start. Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Orb, and the like were too flashy; only the less conspicuous ones would do.

Likewise, in the Mitokado clan, which lacked any special Kekkei Genkai, the appearance of ice-style techniques would also bring massive trouble.

Therefore, aside from conventional ninjutsu, the only choice for an initial method was fire-style magic.

So, the question returned to the beginning.

"One of the most powerful self-preservation skills in fire-style magic—"

"Scorching Swiftness!"