Common Tragedies

Before investigating, perhaps he could learn the whole story from the Third Hokage. If it was some trivial reason, he would not go to such lengths for an ordinary person.

"This child has been working hard to learn Medical Ninjutsu. Perhaps he'll turn out to be promising." The Third Hokage did not hide anything. He had merely been casting a line to see if he got a bite. It would be best if Xingran turned out talented, but if not, there would be no loss. That was why this had happened.

"Tch, do you think every gambling-loving Medical Ninja can become as successful as Tsunade?" Danzo did not think much of it. He turned around and left the Hokage's Office directly, displaying a remarkable lack of manners.

No one knew about Xing Ran awakening Superman's abilities. In everyone's eyes, he was simply an utterly ordinary Genin. The fact that he might become a Medical Ninja was enough to prove the Hokage's decision was reasonable.

"Perhaps. Who knows?" Just as Danzo was about to leave the office, the Third Hokage's voice rang out. It sounded like he was talking to himself, but also as though he were refuting Danzo. Danzo merely smiled and said nothing.

Meanwhile, Yamanaka Xingran had no idea that he had just brushed past a major crisis. If Danzo had transferred him to Root for brainwashing, it would have been the end of the story.

Watching the little old man happily leave again, carrying the freshly "revived" grass carp, Xingran kept questioning Grandma Qiu with his eyes.

What was wrong with that old man? Wasn't he supposed to be the entrance test you arranged for me? Are you giving me monthly exams now?

Even if it was a monthly exam, could you at least come up with new questions? The test was the same both times. Don't tell me you were really having a bout of senile dementia.

"Don't look at me like that... I know what you're thinking. I didn't arrange this..." By Grandma Qiu's way of handling matters, she would not normally explain herself. But if she did not clear up the misunderstanding right in front of her, this student would clearly start having improper thoughts about the elderly at home being senile. That was intolerable. Thus, a tragic topic that was quite ordinary in the shinobi world but rarely mentioned in anime was laid before Xingran.

The story was simple. The old man's only son had been an ordinary ninja. After one mission, he never returned. There was no death report, and the village determined that he had likely defected, because his mission had been to escort a merchant, yet the merchant had died and the goods had vanished.

The little old man naturally did not believe it. He had always believed that his son had either died a heroic death or been captured for human experimentation. When Orochimaru's defection came to light, the old man had been worked up for quite some time.

Unfortunately, the village did not revise the file on the old man's son, and no related records were found in Orochimaru's laboratories. Due to his age, the little old man's situation only grew worse and worse.

Konoha was not a charity either. To put it more harshly, after the Fourth Hokage died in the line of duty, even his son had lived on expired milk. That alone revealed plenty of problems.

This was not the first or second time the little old man had come to Grandma Qiu's shop over dead fish. In his mind, Grandma Qiu was an old woman with a poor memory. Every time he found a dead fish by the river, he could come here and exchange it for a fresh one.

For certain reasons, Grandma Qiu also sympathized with the little old man's plight. It was only one fish, and she did not care about it. So every time, she went along with him and traded him a fresh fish to improve his meals.

By this point, Xingran understood. Even in peaceful societies governed by law, families of those who died in the line of duty could still struggle to survive. In this cruel shinobi world, it was even more common. To avoid such a tragic fate, one could only become stronger.

However, Xingran was very interested in the "certain reasons" Grandma Qiu had mentioned. For such a stingy old lady to have a moment of overflowing sympathy was truly unexpected. If he could learn more about Grandma Qiu, it might help them get along in the future.

Unfortunately, Grandma Qiu did not say a word about those "certain reasons," leaving Xingran helpless.

Still, when one door closed, another opened. Hai Yi should know something.

That evening, Xingran went to Hai Yi's house to mooch a meal, looking as though he had returned home to visit relatives.

Hai Yi indeed did not disappoint him. Thus, within a single day, Xingran heard two tragic stories. In truth, in an environment like the shinobi world, such tragedies were countless. Those shown in the original story were merely the tip of the iceberg.

Grandma Qiu's husband and son had both died in the war. After the Third Shinobi World War broke out, her most prized disciple had also died silently in some remote corner of the Land of Rain. Because the body had gone unburied for so long, it had decayed beyond recognition.

She had been a girl from the Yamanaka Clan. Her talent for Medical Ninjutsu had been average, but Grandma Qiu had adored her. After her family died one after another, this disciple had become Grandma Qiu's sole emotional support.

No wonder Grandma Qiu had always been neither warm nor cold toward him. She was afraid that if their bond became too deep, then if they were separated by life and death someday, she would not have to suffer such a blow again.

After returning home, Xingran finally understood why Grandma Qiu, who was clearly cold and sparing with words, became a kind senior in Hai Yi's account.

That was because when Hai Yi had known Grandma Qiu, none of them had yet been scarred all over. Now, only those with old ties still saw her that way. To new acquaintances, she was merely cold. Her coldness was meant to avoid the pain of parting...

"Whoosh."

A gust of wind tore through the air, and a Konoha Anbu appeared at Xingran's door. This fellow had clearly been staking him out. Xingran had only just left home early that morning when he was intercepted.

"Yamanaka Xingran, Lord Hokage wants to see you. Please go at once." The Anbu in the Raccoon Mask merely tossed out that pretentious line, then, with the air of someone earning a fortune every minute, vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.

Xingran rubbed his nose. This was the Anbu method of finding people that he was familiar with, exactly like on television. What did the Hokage want with him?

After creating a Shadow Clone to report to Grandma Qiu, Xingran leisurely made his way to the Hokage's Office.

The moment he entered the office, Xingran spotted familiar faces. One was familiar from his previous life, while the other was familiar from this life.

His smooth black bowl-cut hair resembled a kappa's head. He had thick eyebrows, a strange shit-green jumpsuit, and whenever he spoke, he always flashed his gleaming white teeth, as if telling everyone that he brushed them properly.

For this world's art style, there was one guy whose appearance became more and more out of place as he got older. Put nicely, he had rugged features. Put badly, he was like a Catherine mixed into a group of catgirls, making one suspect that he had suffered a sudden genetic mutation while growing up.

This was someone Xingran had known in his previous life, Konoha's proud azure beast—Might Guy.

"Yo, newbie! You're the Sensor Ninja who knows Medical Ninjutsu, right? Welcome to our ranks! The passion of youth is all about constantly making new friends!" Character settings were truly miraculous. Might Guy had clearly only been greeting him, yet he somehow slipped into an impassioned speech. He gave Xingran a thumbs-up while baring all his white teeth, tears streaming down his face.