Adoption

Because of the Second Shinobi World War, the Konoha Orphanage had gained many new residents—not only the children of civilian ninjas who had died in battle within the village, but also war orphans brought back from outside, like Lin Bai.

The Konoha Ninja Academy enrolled students at age six, meaning he had six years to train in advance. Ideally, he would find someone to adopt him before enrollment.

The physical recovery ability the system had given him was strong, but recovery came at a cost—it consumed energy, which meant he had to rely on eating to sustain it. He had no idea if there would be other ways to replenish energy in the future.

[White, stop running for a second. Come here.]

[Sister Yahui, what's wrong?]

Lin Bai stopped in front of Miyake Yahue and heard her say to him, [Mr. Might Guy, this is White.]

[White, this is Mr. Might Guy. He's interested in adopting you. Do you want to go with him?]

[White. I'm Guy, a Genin in the village. I have a son named Duy, about your age. How about it? Come home with me! You'll have a wonderful youth!]

As he spoke, he thrust out his thumb, a smile revealing gleaming teeth, paired with a bowl cut and a green jumpsuit.

Looking at this classic getup, Lin Bai understood immediately—this was the grandfather of the future Emperor Kai.

Given his own physique, which only grew stronger the longer he fought, the Might Family's forbidden technique, the Eight Inner Gates Formation Technique, was indeed the most suitable path for him.

Since that was the case, there was nothing to hesitate about. With that thought, Lin Bai replied, [Mr. Guy, I'm willing. Please take care of me from now on!]

And so, Lin Bai followed Might Guy home, officially becoming brothers with Might Duy.

[Duy! This is White! He's your little brother from now on! Get along with him well! Starting tomorrow, we'll begin our hot-blooded youthful training together!]

After saying this to Might Duy, Guy turned to Lin Bai and continued, [White, this is Duy! I decided to adopt you because I've been watching you for a long time. Your physical condition is excellent, your recovery is good, and even though you're only three, your willpower is very strong.]

[I'm a Genin in the village, not a high rank. It's not because I'm weak—it's because I can't use ninjutsu. I only know Taijutsu.]

[The Might Family has always specialized in Taijutsu; ninjutsu has always been our weak point. That's why we've never produced any notable ninjas—we're all Genin.]

[Duy is the same as me. Even though he'll be strong with just Taijutsu in the future, without ninjutsu, he'll never reach the Chunin level.]

[I hope you can learn my Taijutsu and, under the Might Family name, take our Taijutsu to greater heights.]

As he spoke, light gleamed in his eyes.

Hearing this, before Lin Bai could react, Duy was already in tears, hugging Guy tightly.

[Youth means effort! Even if we're Genin, we'll be the strongest Genin!]

Watching the two black bowl cuts in green jumpsuits crying while embracing each other, Lin Bai was speechless. He just hoped he wouldn't end up like this in the future.

Lying in bed, White called up his panel.

[Combat Power: 3]

[S-Cells: 3]

[Ninjutsu: 0]

[Taijutsu: 0]

[Genjutsu: 0]

[Intelligence: 5]

[Strength: 2]

[Speed: 2]

[Chakra: 0]

[Hand Seals: 0]

[Abilities: None]

Looking at this bare-bones attribute panel, even the system's evaluation had disappeared.

And considering that his body hadn't grown yet due to his young age—over three years in the orphanage, he had only gained 2 points of Combat Power—he couldn't help but sigh at how difficult it was to increase his stats.

But now that he was training under Might Guy, his Combat Power growth should speed up. By the time the Ninja Academy started in three years, he should be able to reach the Genin level.

Thinking about the next day's training, White quickly fell asleep.

[Four hundred ninety-seven... four hundred ninety-eight...]

From a distance, three figures—one large and two small—could be seen frog-hopping toward him.

Two years had passed since he was adopted by Might Guy.

In those two years, the three of them started training before dawn every day, beginning with running.

[We start with running! This morning, we have to run ten laps around the village! That's youth! Youth can't be wasted! If you can't finish, you'll do 1,000 push-ups!]

Of course, running ten laps around the village was impossible for Dai and Haku, who had only just learned to stand steadily.

Every time they failed to finish, Ao would say to Dai and Haku, "Ten laps not done? Then do a thousand push-ups. This is youth—youth must not be wasted! Let us bloom together in youth!"

He would flash them a thumbs-up and a grin of gleaming teeth, and then Dai would hug Ao and start crying.

Whenever this happened, Haku would silently back away a distance—he had no desire to be infected by the two of them.

Even now, he still refused the dense bowl cut, the straight bangs, the thick eyebrows, and the green tight-fitting suit.

After many failed attempts to persuade him, Ao gave up on making Haku wear the same tight suit as him and Dai. Instead, following Haku's own wishes, he prepared for him a black undershirt, a red sleeveless top, black wrist guards, and black boots.

Yes, what Haku wore was the exact same style of martial arts uniform as Sun Wukong from the Dragon Ball world. He figured he might still go to the Dragon Ball world someday, so adapting early would make things more convenient later.