The Terrifying Village of Konoha

Uzumaki Zi Xu was a thoroughly competent transmigrator, fully aware of what that entailed.

After arriving in this world, he never did anything that seemed out of place. He stayed calm, observed the world around him, and gradually blended into everyday life.

As for why his name was Zi Xu, all he could say was that his parents had chosen it. What could he do about that? Forget Zi Xu—even if they'd named him Silly Zhu, he'd have had to live with it.

But the world he'd transmigrated into wasn't an ordinary one in the traditional sense. In other worlds, could you watch someone vanish with a swish, only to reappear on the other side of the street like a magician? Could you watch someone spit fire to roast food, then weave their fingers together and, with a poof, conjure up an identical copy of themselves to play cards? Could other worlds do that?

This extraordinary power was clearly beyond the bounds of common sense. As he learned more, he even discovered things that defied reason even further.

The people here used an energy called Chakra to perform all kinds of ninjutsu. It felt somewhat like inner power. Some people with incredible Taijutsu could withstand ninjutsu attacks with their bare bodies and emerge unharmed, while Genjutsu prodigies could kill their enemies without shedding a drop of blood by trapping them in illusions.

Of these three kinds of techniques, only Taijutsu relied little on Chakra; the other two depended heavily on it. Some people even infused Chakra into their Taijutsu to increase its power. In short, Chakra was an all-purpose energy.

In theory, with an energy as versatile as Chakra, technology here should have been highly advanced. Even conservatively, they ought to have developed weapons like missiles and fighter jets. Strangely, though, this world's technological progress had taken a bizarre turn.

You could say it was backward, since even civilians had refrigerators and air conditioners. But you could also say it was advanced, except they still fought wars with melee weapons and showed no sign of developing firearms. When it came to war, it seemed as though technology had fallen a long way behind.

After several days of adjustment, Zi Xu had finally gotten used to life in Konoha. He hadn't watched much of Naruto, though he'd seen plenty of One Piece, so at first he hadn't recognized which world he'd transmigrated into.

" Naruto, huh? I haven't seen much of it. I remember someone on the forums calling it 'Black Zetsu's Save Mom Story.' Looks like Black Zetsu might be the strongest enemy..." He added Black Zetsu to his mental list of high-risk threats. At the same time, he had also learned quite a bit about his current identity.

He was an orphan. Ironically, his parents had died in the fighting between Konoha and other Ninja villages. Before he transmigrated, he'd grown up in an orphanage in Konoha, until his red hair became more and more vivid.

The Konoha higher-ups suspected he might be a member of the Uzumaki Clan. Shortly after he turned seven, they tested his aptitude. His enormous Chakra reserves confirmed his Uzumaki Clan heritage, and the Konoha higher-ups approved his admission to the Ninja Academy. Only then did he leave the orphanage dormitory and move into a place of his own.

Zi Xu had transmigrated shortly after leaving the orphanage.

He didn't know what to say. His body was still that of a seven-year-old child, and they'd already kicked him out to live alone—as if they thought he was too tough to die. A large amount of Chakra couldn't fill his stomach!

According to the orphanage, his parents had died fighting enemy Ninjas while protecting him when he was still very young. In the end, both sides had perished, and only the young Zi Xu had survived. His parents' remains had been buried beneath the ruins along with the enemy's.

His parents might not have intended it, but the people they'd killed had been enemy troops attacking Konoha, so they'd happened to help the village. Konoha had given Zi Xu quite a bit of support, too. On the day he began living on his own, the Ninja Academy waived his tuition, and he received a monthly allowance. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep him from starving.

As for the inheritance his parents had left him, he'd heard it was originally supposed to be returned to him. But some old man with a cross-shaped scar on his chin had apparently claimed, "These are Konoha's spoils of war. Konoha has the right to keep them safe," and taken them for himself. In reality, the so-called inheritance was only a few family techniques.

Judging by the monthly allowance, Zi Xu thought Konoha had done a decent job. But the old man with the cross-shaped scar on his chin was a real piece of work. He'd even gone after the small inheritance left behind on the battlefield.

You had to investigate things to understand them. Since he was going to live in Konoha for now, he wanted to learn more about the village's power structure. But while asking around on the street, he'd accidentally discovered something unexpected.

Becoming a Ninja came with quite a few privileges, like a 70 percent discount on public facilities and a decent income. But once you became a Ninja, you had to obey the village's orders absolutely, regardless of your age. Even if they told you to slaughter your entire clan, you couldn't disobey. The moment you went against the village's will, you'd be branded a Rogue Ninja and hunted by every major Ninja village.

From what Zi Xu had seen, it was peacetime, and the village treated children like them reasonably well. Their living conditions were decent, too, but the death rate among teams sent on missions remained stubbornly high.

What was more, if you showed the necessary abilities and talent, you could be sent on a mission regardless of your age. Even if you were only six, if your superior decided you were capable of carrying out a particular mission, you had to do it. Plenty of children their age were sent to infiltrate other villages as spies.

Most of them were exposed and killed for one reason or another, but there were so many of them that it hardly mattered. Zi Xu suspected that if he hadn't entered the Ninja Academy, he would most likely have been sent off with the other orphans to serve as cannon-fodder spies in another village. The thought alone sent a chill down his spine.

"The tallest tree catches the wind. If I don't hide my talents, the Konoha higher-ups will secretly eliminate me..." Zi Xu felt lost and worried. For a moment, Konoha seemed incredibly dangerous, like a trap full of hidden threats.

Oh no. Was this really Konoha? It was clearly northern Myanmar!

They brainwashed orphans like Zi Xu until they believed in the decisions Konoha made from the bottom of their hearts, then got them to willingly sacrifice everything for the village. Afterward, those brainwashed people brought others into the fold. And that old man with the scar on his chin didn't sound like a good person. Who knew if he was secretly conducting human experiments? Any one of them could end up dead on an operating table the very next moment...

At the thought, Zi Xu looked at the Ninja Academy acceptance letter in his hand, his palm slick with cold sweat. This wasn't an acceptance letter; it was an invitation to hell. He threw it to the ground, but after a moment's thought, reluctantly picked it up again. It was too late to back out now.

His Uzumaki Clan heritage made him well suited to becoming a Ninja. He was afraid that if he refused to enroll, he'd end up floating in a glass tube as a Vessel used to supply Chakra. At the end of the day, he had no power to resist. When you lived under someone else's roof, you had to bow your head.

At the Ninja Academy, the teachers would teach them the basics of the Ninja world, instill Konoha's ideals in them, and train them to kill. But they wouldn't teach them how to end wars by any means other than violence, or how to think about the lives of ordinary people.

Wars between Ninja villages began over resources. In Zi Xu's eyes, it was a terrible mistake not to figure out how to make better use of those resources, but instead to try to solve the problem through war.

But from the perspective of proud Ninjas, they had no need to think about civilians. In their eyes, it was only natural that they protected civilians while civilians produced goods. Their relationship was like that between lords and commoners in the Middle Ages, completely detached from the people.

Leaves swirled above the village in the wind. Beneath Konoha's bright and polished surface, Zi Xu saw only an unknown darkness, irreconcilable contradictions, and numbness.

This wasn't a place to linger. If he stayed too long, Zi Xu couldn't be sure he wouldn't be brainwashed. But before then, he still needed the ability to protect himself. Any Ninja could kill him effortlessly, and Zi Xu didn't believe that someone as weak as he was could escape the pursuit of this enormous cult.

In the end, Zi Xu decided he would first learn ninjutsu in Konoha, keep his head down until his skills were fully developed, and then act according to the situation. He wasn't blindly confident in himself. When he'd transmigrated, a progress bar displaying "Binding..." had appeared in his mind. It had now reached 83 percent, and he was sure he'd find out what was being bound before long.

The next day, at the Ninja Academy.

Since he was already here, he might as well make the best of it. Zi Xu accepted that his story had begun in a cult headquarters. For now, he needed to keep his head down and avoid drawing attention while doing his best to fit in.

He had to be careful every step of the way. He already knew these Ninjas could transform, so who knew whether they were watching his every move while disguised as other creatures?

So Zi Xu grew suspicious of everyone around him, especially little bugs and birds. He'd seen a Ninja turn from a dog into a person.

He watched the progress bar in his mind reach 93 percent and couldn't help growing anxious. He felt that the villagers were looking at him strangely; even their smiles seemed to carry a hint of ulterior motive.

Zi Xu slipped past a group of villagers who looked as though they were plotting against him and entered the Ninja Academy. It was morning, and the sun had only just risen. Since it was the first day, many children had come with their parents. There weren't many people arriving alone like Zi Xu, and he spotted only one other child on his own: a little blonde-haired boy.

With so many parents there, the crowds were large. It was less like an opening ceremony and more like a sightseeing parade. The parents were the main attraction, while the children had become secondary.

Naturally, Zi Xu needed to stay with the other children. That would make him look more normal and keep him from attracting attention.

Blend in. Don't stand out. Don't do anything unusual. Talk less and observe more, just like Lin Daiyu.

The speaker onstage was an elderly man in a red-and-white ceremonial robe. His deeply lined face and kindly smile made him look incredibly approachable.

Zi Xu knew exactly who the old man in the ceremonial robe was. He was the Third Hokage, Konoha's top cult leader: Hiruzen Sarutobi, the man currently in charge of the village. It was said that he and the old man with the cross-shaped scar on his chin, Danzo, were close friends.

All the evil deeds Danzo committed were secretly carried out at the old man's direction. He was the real mastermind, pushing all the dirty work onto Danzo while keeping his own hands clean. What a devious leader.

Looking at the Third Hokage's kindly smiling face, Zi Xu silently labeled him "second only to Black Zetsu."

In truth, the speech Hiruzen Sarutobi gave onstage seemed incredibly dull and repetitive to Zi Xu.

The gist of it was that the Will of Fire would burn on forever, that everyone was equal, that they all had a bright future, and other such words of praise.

He was saying all that to the adults. What the hell did a bunch of children like them know about the Will of Fire? Of course, you had to win over the adults first, then let them brainwash their own children at home. It was easy and efficient. What could be better?

Although Zi Xu hadn't been moved at all, he still put on the same excited smile as the villagers around him and blended completely into the crowd. But his mind was perfectly clear, because the progress bar that had been loading all this time finally reached 100 percent. The words "Binding successful" appeared.