Common Tragedies

However, before investigating, perhaps I could learn the whole story from the Third Hokage. If it was for some trivial reason, he wouldn't go to such lengths for an ordinary person.

"This child is diligently studying Medical Ninjutsu, he might be a promising talent." The Third Hokage didn't hide anything. He had approached it with a "give it a shot and see" mentality. If the child succeeded, great; if not, there was no loss, which was why he'd done this.

"Tch, you don't actually think every gambling Medical Ninja can be as successful as Tsunade, do you?" Danzo didn't think much of it and left the Hokage's office without another word, acting very rudely.

No one knew about Xing Ran awakening Superman's abilities. In everyone's eyes, he was just an incredibly ordinary Genin. The fact that he had the potential to become a Medical Ninja was enough to justify the Hokage's actions.

"Perhaps, who knows." Just as Danzo was about to leave the office, the Third Hokage's voice rang out, as if he were talking to himself, or perhaps refuting Danzo's words. Danzo merely smiled and said nothing.

Meanwhile, Yamanaka Xingran had no idea he had just narrowly escaped a great crisis. If Danzo had taken him to Root for brainwashing, it would have been the end of the story.

Watching the old man happily leave with the "resurrected" grass carp again, Xing Ran kept asking Grandma Qiu with his eyes.

What's with this old man? Wasn't he the one you arranged as my entrance exam? Are you giving me monthly exams now?

Even if it's a monthly exam, at least give me some new questions. These two tests were the same. Could you really have gotten dementia?

"Don't look at me like that... I know what you're thinking, it wasn't me who arranged this..." Grandma Qiu's usual way of handling things was not to explain, but if the misunderstanding in front of her wasn't cleared up, it was obvious her student would develop some unhealthy ideas about his elders having dementia. This was unacceptable, so a tragic topic, very common in the ninja world but rarely mentioned in anime, was presented to Xing Ran.

The story was simple. The old man's only son was a regular ninja who never returned after a mission. There was no death report; the village concluded he had likely defected because the mission involved escorting merchants, and the merchants had vanished along with their goods.

The old man naturally didn't believe it, firmly convinced his son either died heroically or was captured for human experimentation. He had even gotten quite agitated about Orochimaru's defection.

Unfortunately, the village hadn't changed the old man's son's file, and Orochimaru's lab yielded no relevant records. Due to his age, the old man's situation grew increasingly dire.

Konohagakure wasn't a charity. To put it bluntly, after the Fourth Hokage died in the line of duty, his son lived on expired milk, which showed many problems.

This old man had visited Grandma Qiu's shop with dead fish more than once. In the old man's mind, Grandma Qiu was an old woman with a bad memory; he could bring a dead fish he found by the river and exchange it for a fresh one every time.

For some reason, Grandma Qiu also sympathized with the old man's plight. A fish was just a fish, and she didn't mind. So, each time, she would cooperate with the old man and give him a fresh fish to improve his meals.

Hearing this, Xing Ran understood. Even in a peaceful, law-abiding society, families of those who died in the line of duty could face hardship. In this cruel ninja world, it was even more common. To avoid such a tragic fate, one could only become stronger.

However, Xing Ran was very interested in the "some reason" Grandma Qiu mentioned. This stingy old lady actually had a moment of overflowing sympathy. If he could understand Grandma Qiu better, it might help their future interactions.

Unfortunately, Grandma Qiu refused to mention the "some reason," leaving Xing Ran feeling helpless.

But when one door closes, another opens. Hai Yi should know something.

That evening, Xing Ran, pretending to be visiting relatives, went to Hai Yi's house for dinner.

And Hai Yi didn't disappoint him. In less than a day, Xing Ran heard two tragic stories. In reality, in the environment of the ninja world, such tragic stories were countless. Those depicted in the original plot were merely the tip of the iceberg.

Grandma Qiu's husband and son had both died in war. After the Third Shinobi World War broke out, her most promising disciple had also died silently in a remote corner of the Land of Rain. Due to the prolonged lack of burial, the entire body had rotted beyond recognition.

She was a girl from the Yamanaka Clan with average medical talent, but she was very dear to Grandma Qiu. After her family members died one after another, this disciple became her only spiritual support.

No wonder Grandma Qiu had always been indifferent to him. She was afraid of forming deep bonds, so that if a life-and-death separation occurred in the future, she wouldn't suffer another blow.

Returning home, Xing Ran finally understood why Grandma Qiu, who was clearly a cold and quiet person, was described as a kind senior by Hai Yi.

This was because when Hai Yi interacted with Grandma Qiu, neither of them had been scarred yet. Now, only those with old acquaintances thought of her that way. New acquaintances only saw her coldness; the coldness was to avoid the pain of separation...

Whoosh

A sound of wind breaking. A Konoha Anbu appeared at Xing Ran's doorstep. Clearly, this guy had been staking out Xing Ran, as he'd been intercepted the moment Xing Ran left his house early in the morning.

"Yamanaka Xingran, Lord Hokage wishes to see you. Please come as soon as possible." The Anbu, wearing a Raccoon Mask, simply dropped the statement with an air of arrogance, as if he were worth tens of thousands per minute, and vanished with a Body Flicker Technique.

Xing Ran rubbed his nose. This was the familiar way Anbu found people, just like on TV. He wondered why the Hokage wanted to see him.

He created a Shadow Clone to report to Grandma Qiu and then ambled his way to the Hokage's office.

As soon as he entered the office, Xing Ran spotted familiar faces. One was from his past life, and the other was from this life.

Watermelon Rind's smooth black hair resembled a kappa's, with very thick eyebrows. His strange, poop-green tight clothes, and when he spoke, he always showed off his bright white teeth, as if to tell people he brushed them well.

For the art style of this world, there was one guy whose appearance grew more peculiar with age. To put it nicely, he had a resolute face. To put it bluntly, he was like a Catherine in a group of cat-eared girls (see Gintama), making one suspect a sudden genetic mutation during his growth.

This was a familiar face from Xing Ran's past life, the proud Azure Beast of Konoha – Might Guy.

"Yo, newcomer! You're that Sensor Ninja who knows Medical Ninjutsu, right? Welcome aboard! Passionate youth is all about making new friends!" The character setting was quite magical. Might Guy, with just a greeting, had entered a state of reflection, giving Xing Ran a thumbs-up with his mouth full of white teeth and tears streaming down his face.