Uchiha Gen

Land of Fire, Konoha.

A light rain pattered down from the sky.

On the Ninja Academy's training ground, two young boys were wielding kunai against each other in combat.

"The written test results are out. You took first place again, Gen."

With a blade of grass in his mouth, Nara Shikaku leaned against the railing and watched the battle on the field, speaking lazily to Uchiha Gen beside him, who was eating snacks.

"The written test only counts for forty percent, so it's nothing special. You, on the other hand, manage to score exactly sixty every time. That's probably harder."

Uchiha Gen shook his empty snack bag as he spoke, then casually took a small packet of dried fruit from Akimichi Chōza's backpack.

Akimichi Chōza blinked his tiny eyes a few times, looked at the nearly depleted snacks in his bag, and fell silent.

This was the Ninja Academy's Graduation Exam, now down to its final two matches. Most of the elite class students had gathered here, waiting while watching the fight between Uchiha Inabi and Sarutobi Enju.

When they saw Uchiha Gen getting snacks from Akimichi Chōza and eating as he watched, quite a few others went over to grab sunflower seeds, dried fruit, and other snacks from Chōza before sitting down nearby to enjoy the show.

Most Akimichi Clan ninja loved food more than life itself, but Akimichi Chōza was mild-tempered and did not mind sharing food with his companions.

Provided he did not go hungry himself.

"Looks like it's almost decided. First place in this practical exam should go to Enju."

Nara Shikaku rose from the ground and stretched.

The end of the practical exam meant this Graduation Exam was more or less over as well.

Because the Ninja World War had erupted two years ago, and even the First Hokage's grandson, who had graduated that year, had fallen on the battlefield, the Graduation Exam had changed starting this year. Instead of merely testing the Three Basic Techniques, students were now graded based on their performance in combat drills, in order to improve their practical abilities.

"Hard to say. Inabi's holding something back."

Uchiha Gen tossed a raisin into his mouth.

Sarutobi Enju, the eldest son of the Sarutobi Clan, currently held the advantage, but Uchiha Gen knew that during this year's winter break, Uchiha Inabi had learned a C-rank Ninjutsu at the Uchiha Clan Academy.

The resources available to ninja clan members were beyond anything civilian ninja could compare to. As the foremost great clan in the current Ninja World, the Uchiha Clan also had its own separate educational system.

The Clan Academy was generally used to lay foundations for children who had not yet entered the Ninja Academy. But during every winter and summer break, it also opened to clan members who were still Ninja Academy students. It was basically a holiday cram school, meant to prevent any student from doing too poorly and disgracing the clan.

Uchiha Inabi had excellent grades, and his overall abilities gave him a chance to compete for first place among this year's Ninja Academy students. On top of that, his father was a jonin with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan. At this stage, the educational resources available to him were no worse than anyone else's.

Not even Sarutobi Enju, the Third Hokage's eldest son.

As for Gen...

He was rather special.

In terms of innate talent, he felt he was only above average at best. But because he was a transmigrator, he had matured earlier than others and built up a certain head start when he first entered the Ninja Academy. With the Uchiha Clan Academy's training as well, though his resources could not compare to Inabi's or Enju's, he had not fallen too far behind the others in this elite class full of second-generation ninja.

Along with the little help brought by his cheat, he could firmly hold a place in the top three of the class, not much worse than Inabi and the others.

As for why it was only a "little" help...

[Character Name: Uchiha Gen]

[Character Level: 8]

[Currently Equipped Character Card: Haruno Sakura (Ninja Academy Student)]

[Currently Available Item Cards: None]

[Available Gacha Pulls: 0]

[Current Attributes: Ninjutsu 5; Taijutsu 4; Genjutsu 4; Strength 4; Speed 5; Spirit 4; Seals 5; Wisdom 6; Total 37]

The system's greatest help to Uchiha Gen was the Haruno Sakura Character Card he had obtained through a Gacha Pull.

Although most of Gen's abilities had already surpassed those of Haruno Sakura from the period represented by this Character Card,

the card had still solidified his foundations and given him overall capabilities no weaker than Uchiha Inabi's or Sarutobi Enju's.

Moreover, the card's greatest use was Sakura's almost freakish grasp of basic knowledge, which allowed Uchiha Gen to take first place in every written test with scores that were nearly perfect.

Yes, Gen had a system, and he was quite familiar with it, because many of its functions and settings had been developed by him.

Before transmigrating, a mobile game based on a Hokage IP developed and operated by his company had been extremely popular. Even though the potato servers glitched out from time to time, the players' passion kept it near the top of the revenue rankings.

So the company began its survival-of-the-fittest approach, hoping to replicate that success. On one hand, it invested real money into developing similar games based on other IPs. On the other, it continued digging deeper into the Hokage IP and developed a card game.

As an employee on the latter project, Uchiha Gen had participated in creating many of the game's settings. But while the game was still only a half-finished product, he got hit by a truck on his way to work and came to the Ninja World.

The half-finished game on his work laptop had come along with him and become his system.

Since it was unfinished, the gameplay was still crude, with only the basic leveling and gacha mechanics established.

Besides the character cards that had already been completed, the Gacha Pool had also been stuffed with plenty of items, some good and some bad. The drop rates, however, were not particularly high.

Naturally, that was to force players to spend money.

Other than leveling up, the way to obtain chances for Gacha Pulls was naturally to participate in event modes that required spending.

The games made by his company had always focused on one thing: spend money, get stronger.

Unfortunately, aside from that portion, the rest of the content had not yet been completed. Even the experience needed for the leveling system only had the function of granting experience through mission rewards.

Fortunately, Uchiha Gen discovered that missions issued by Konoha officially could also grant experience. Even combat drills, monthly exams, and final exams at the Ninja Academy could count as missions, though their ratings were extremely low and they were only considered E-rank.

"It's about to be decided."

A brown-haired boy who always wore a stern expression suddenly spoke.

His name was Kurama Murakumo, and he was from the Kurama Clan.

Kurama Murakumo was not the only one who had noticed. Quite a few of the other students present had seen it too.

The two combatants on the field had pulled apart, their hands rapidly forming seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique."

A bright blaze erupted from Uchiha Inabi's mouth, illuminating his young face in crimson.

Across from him, Sarutobi Enju had also finished forming his seals. What he exhaled was likewise a fireball.

"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"