Enrollment

Three years later, at the entrance of Konoha's Ninja Academy.

Ye Wuyue wore black clothes and carried a long sword on his back, its form that of an unreleased Asauchi. Fugaku stood behind him. Today was the day he enrolled.

He had just turned six. Over the past three years, his sign-in rewards had been Zhan (Swordsmanship), the Deadly Armor, and... Gin Ichimaru's Zanpakuto from Shinigami, Shinso!

Together with the Flowing Blade, Like Fire the system had compensated him with earlier, he now had two Zanpakuto. However, the two had fused together. In its normal state, it was an Asauchi, and by chanting different Shikai releases, he could use different Zanpakuto.

He had kept the Flowing Blade, Like Fire hidden because he feared that others in Konoha would discover that he had been the one involved in the Nine-Tails incident. That would definitely have caused trouble.

Now that he had a new Zanpakuto ability, there was no need to hide it anymore. In any case, an Asauchi in its normal state was no different from an ordinary long sword.

With a thought from Ye Wuyue, a system panel appeared before him.

Host: Ye Wuyue (Sasuke)

Spiritual Pressure: 24690

Chakra Amount: 1546

Zanpakuto: Flowing Blade, Like Fire; Shinso

Kido: Good

Hakuda: Good

Shunpo: Good

Swordsmanship: Average

Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan (Unawakened)

With my current strength, I should at least stand a chance against a Jonin, Ye Wuyue thought.

Since he had hardly participated in any battles, he was not quite sure where he stood in the ninja world.

He planned to make a name for himself in the Ninja Academy as soon as possible, then be exceptionally promoted to Genin like Itachi.

The current Itachi had not entered ANBU. Instead, he had become a Jonin, and Ye Wuyue had heard that he would be leading a team next year.

"Wow! It's the Fourth Hokage!"

"It really is! Lord Fourth Hokage looks so reassuring! He's sunny and gentle, too!"

"The one beside him must be Lord Fourth Hokage's child, Naruto. What a fine-looking boy! Ota, you have to get along well with Naruto at school. Make sure you become good friends, understand?" A pair of parents said to their child.

Ye Wuyue raised his head and saw the Fourth Hokage, dressed in his Hokage robe, walking over with little Naruto. Along the way, he kept greeting the villagers.

Little Naruto looked much the same as in the original story, except the six whisker marks around his mouth were gone.

Listening to the villagers around him, Ye Wuyue found it somewhat ironic. In the original story, these villagers had treated Naruto completely differently.

"Lord Hokage."

Fugaku lowered his head slightly toward Minato.

"I'm here today as Naruto's guardian to see him off for enrollment. Just call me Minato," Minato said with a smile.

At that moment, Naruto walked up to Ye Wuyue. When Ye Wuyue looked at Naruto, he felt an urge to fight him.

It must be because Sasuke is Indra's reincarnation, Ye Wuyue thought, suppressing the impulse.

"Hello, I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

Just as Ye Wuyue lowered his head in thought, Naruto flashed his trademark smile and held out his hand to him.

Ye Wuyue froze for a moment, then reached out as well.

"Hello, I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

Although Ye Wuyue had been in this world for six years, he had spent nearly all his time training. As a result, most people in Konoha did not know one another yet. He had seen Naruto a few times, but they had never spoken.

"Eh? You're from the Uchiha Clan?" Naruto asked in surprise.

Several black lines appeared on Ye Wuyue's forehead.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, so of course I'm from the Uchiha Clan. And can't you see the fan emblem on my clothes?"

Ye Wuyue had thought Naruto would be smarter with Minato alive, but his intelligence was still no different from the original story.

"Oh, I just felt like you were different from the other Uchiha Clan members. The other Uchiha always seem to look down on people," Naruto said, scratching his head.

Ye Wuyue examined Naruto. He was wondering how strong Naruto had become with Minato teaching him. One thing was certain: he was stronger than his counterpart in the original story at this point.

By then, Fugaku and Minato had finished talking.

"All right, I'll see you off here. Remember to listen to your teachers at school and get along well with your classmates, understand?" Fugaku said to Ye Wuyue.

"I understand." Ye Wuyue nodded.

Minato said much the same thing to Naruto on the other side, and then the two boys entered the school together.

Just like in the original story, Iruka was still their homeroom teacher, and their classmates were no different either.

After entering the classroom, Ye Wuyue found a seat near the corner and sat down. Naruto, meanwhile, chose a seat closer to the front.

He also spotted quite a few familiar faces. Shikamaru sat in front of him, with Choji beside Shikamaru. Hinata, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino were in their class as well.

After looking around, Ye Wuyue grew bored. He lay on his desk and began meditating. Improving his own strength still had to come first.

His Spiritual Power was still about half short of the Captain-level Spiritual Pressure specified by the system. He wondered whether reaching 48,000 Spiritual Power would directly give him the strength of a Gotei 13 captain.

Ye Wuyue was not certain about that. Judging by his current strength, even if his Spiritual Power doubled again, he probably still would not match any captain of the Gotei 13. After all, he could not even use Bankai, nor did he possess Kenpachi Zaraki's terrifying Spiritual Pressure.

Ever since receiving the Zanpakuto rewarded by the system, Ye Wuyue had called out to it nearly every day. Yet so far, he had received no response whatsoever. His Zanpakuto simply ignored him, and he had no idea why.

Not long after he began meditating, Ye Wuyue was awakened by noise. Looking up, he saw a group of little girls blushing as they chirped away about him.

"He's so handsome!"

"Yeah! Does anyone know his name?"

"There's a fan emblem on his clothes. He should be from the Uchiha Clan, right?"

"Then he must be really strong, too."

Ye Wuyue could roughly make out what they were saying. Most of it was praise for him.

At that moment, Ye Wuyue suddenly did not want to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

Wasn't this exactly why I had placed my soul in Uchiha Sasuke's body in the first place? This feels amazing, body and soul! Keep talking if you know how to talk.

Someone else was in the same situation as Ye Wuyue: Naruto. Without the six whisker marks on his face, Naruto had perfectly inherited Minato Namikaze's looks—sunny, gentle, and handsome. Combined with his status as the Hokage's son, he too was surrounded by girls the moment he entered the classroom.

Ring, ring, ring!

The class bell suddenly rang, and Iruka entered the classroom.

"Everyone, quiet down! Return to your seats. Class is starting now!"