Stubborn Bronze

Land of Fire, Hidden Leaf Village.

In a modest backyard, seven-year-old Gekko Hayate stood there looking utterly bewildered, gripping a thirty-centimeter wooden sword. His feet were planted awkwardly, and he didn't even know what to do with his free left hand. He glanced around as the atmosphere grew more and more awkward.

"Ah."

Gekko Hoshino stood not far away, looking dejected as he sighed. "I was too naïve after all. That's enough for today, Hayate."

Hayate acted as if he hadn't heard and kept looking around.

So, I've come to the Naruto World?

But I didn't do anything in my previous life. I was just playing a game and collecting wolf corpses. How did I suddenly end up transmigrating?

Hayate? My name is... Gekko Hayate? Memories churned in his mind, and Hayate felt a dull ache in his head. I've never heard of that name. I only remember some minor character called Gekko Hayate, a sickly guy. Could he be my brother?

Hayate looked at Gekko Hoshino beside him, handsome and upright, but unable to hide his dejection. This guy... is my dad? He doesn't look very happy.

Hayate lowered his gaze to the wooden sword in his hand and, for some reason, felt a pang of guilt.

"Hoshino, Feng-chan, dinner's ready."

A gentle voice from inside the house broke the awkward silence in the backyard.

It was the voice of Gekko Hayate's mother, Gekko Keiko.

Hayate had just arrived in this world and knew the importance of keeping his mouth shut and proceeding carefully. He set down the wooden sword and followed Gekko Hoshino into the house, one careful step at a time.

Gekko Keiko wore ordinary house clothes, and a hint of a smile warmed her oval face. "Hoshino, how did it go?"

"Still no good. Hayate has no talent for it."

Gekko Hoshino shook his head and sighed. "I'd hoped the clan could rely on Konoha-Style Kenjutsu to become a prestigious family on par with the Nara Clan, the Akimichi Clan, or even the Hyuga and Uchiha. I'd even come up with a Clan Emblem. But I was naïve. Konoha-Style Kenjutsu is too difficult to master. Even the basics are beyond ordinary people."

Hayate stood beside them with his head lowered, silently gathering information.

Konoha-Style Kenjutsu had been developed by the Second Hokage. They said it was powerful, but it was also incredibly difficult to master. And Hayate seemed to have little talent for it.

Gekko Keiko showed a trace of disappointment, but quickly rallied. "It's all right, Hoshino. Your younger brother's son, Hayate, has a talent for swordsmanship, doesn't he? He'll surely inherit Konoha-Style Kenjutsu and bring honor to the Gekko name."

Gekko Hayate!

Hayate's eyes lit up. So he really was related to Gekko Hayate!

Gekko Hoshino gave a bitter smile. "Among the children in Hayate's generation, only Hayate has a chance of inheriting Konoha-Style Kenjutsu. But even his talent... Ah."

The family of three sat down at the table and ate in silence, each lost in their own worries.

Hayate ate absentmindedly while desperately searching his mind for Gekko Hayate's memories.

He was the son of Gekko Hoshino, head of the Gekko Clan. He was seven years old and had entered the Ninja Academy last year. After Summer Holiday, he'd be in his second year. As for his talent as a ninja, it was merely average—better than nothing, but not by much.

So, during the past year at the Ninja Academy, Hayate hadn't put much effort into his studies. He'd mostly just played around with his classmates.

One thing worth noting was that his classmates actually had names people might recognize: Umino Iruka, Mitaraishi Anko, Izumo Kamizuki, and Inuzuka Sa of the Inuzuka Clan, plus Yui of the Aburame Clan. The last two hadn't appeared in the Original Work, so they were probably minor characters. Of course, even Iruka, Anko, Izumo, and Kamizuki were just minor characters in the Naruto World.

Compared to the champion class of Naruto and Sasuke, Hayate's class was full of bronze-ranked nobodies!

And Hayate himself was a Stubborn Bronze!

Talk about a hard head.

Hayate rubbed his head, but at that very moment, a small ball of green light suddenly appeared deep in his mind and swallowed his entire consciousness!

When he came to, his father, Gekko Hoshino, had disappeared, while Keiko sat nearby, staring blankly at him.

"I'm full."

Hayate blinked twice, put down his bowl and chopsticks, then ran excitedly toward the backyard.

I can't believe I brought the Collection Technique from the game with me when I transmigrated!

Hayate was overwhelmed with excitement.

That ball of green light was his Golden Finger: the Collection Technique!

According to the information it fed him, his Collection Technique could collect the other person's ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and even Kekkei Genkai. Of course, the target wouldn't lose any of those abilities. It was an incredibly underhanded Golden Finger!

And according to the green light's information, Hayate could use the Collection Technique three times a day!

Swordsmanship talent?

That was nothing to worry about.

Konoha-Style Kenjutsu?

One use of the Collection Technique, and I could get it all!

I could collect three jutsu a day—that's over a thousand in a year and over ten thousand in ten years. Heh heh, once I was grown up, who'd dare mess with me?

Piss me off and I'd kill you!

As Hayate ran, he felt like he was about to float away!

When he excitedly reached the backyard, he saw his father practicing Iaijutsu on a wooden post as thick as a man's thigh. He was using a wooden sword, but each time he drew it, the post thudded from the impact. In the sunlight, layer after layer of wood shavings fell from it.

Hayate's lips trembled. "Collection!"

The green light in his mind shifted.

Then...

Collection Failed.

What?!

Hayate's expression changed drastically. There could be failures?!

Hayate refused to believe it. "Collection! Collection!"

He gritted his teeth and issued two commands in a row, but both failed!

Then he watched as more than ten thousand ninjutsu drifted away like wisps of smoke, vanishing somewhere he couldn't reach.

How frustrating.

What kind of useless Golden Finger was this? It was infuriating.

Just a moment ago, Hayate had nearly floated all the way to the moon. Now he'd plunged straight back to rock bottom.

But what could he do? He could only wait for the Collection Technique to cool down tomorrow and try again.

Just then, a ninja dressed in black, with a sword strapped to his back and a white Animal Mask on his face, appeared on the backyard wall. "Gekko Hoshino, Lord Hokage requests your presence!"

"Yes, I understand."

Gekko Hoshino narrowed his eyes, then planted his wooden sword in the grass. In an instant, he vanished from the backyard with the Body Flicker Technique.

When Hayate looked up again, the mottled wall was empty. The ninja had disappeared without him noticing.

That was Anbu, right?

The Hokage?

The Third Hokage?

They'd sent Anbu to summon his dad. It must be something serious.

Hayate narrowed his eyes and suddenly remembered that this was Konoha Year 43!

If it was Konoha Year 43...

"Feng-chan, what are you doing? Huh? Where's your father?"

Keiko finished washing the dishes and walked into the backyard, but Gekko Hoshino was nowhere to be seen.

"Well..."

Hayate turned around and looked at Keiko, who was in her early thirties. He struggled to speak. "Mom..."

"Hmm?"

Keiko narrowed her eyes. A dangerous glint appeared in her pupils. "Mom? Does your mother seem so old to you now? Feng... chan?"

A bead of cold sweat slid down Hayate's forehead. His powerful survival instincts instantly made him forget his mental age. "No, you're still young and beautiful, Mom!"

Only then did Keiko smile in satisfaction. "Then, Feng-chan, where did your father go?"

"Dad was called away by a str—strange ninja hiding in the shadows. He said Lord Hokage wanted to see him."

The words "Anbu" had almost slipped out, but at the last moment, Hayate cleverly changed what he was going to say.

Anbu was a secret unit of Konoha. In the Original Work, Naruto didn't learn about the Anbu of the various hidden villages from Kakashi until after graduating from the Ninja Academy and encountering Zabuza and Haku on his first mission. And Hayate was only seven!

"Lord Hokage? Could it have been Anbu?"

Keiko's expression turned grim. "Could it be..."

A month earlier, several border cities in the Land of Fire had been attacked by Sunagakure Ninja one after another. Kikyo Castle and nearby Mount Kikyo had even been occupied outright, and large numbers of Land of Fire civilians had been captured. Konoha had sent people to negotiate several times, but without success. As the Sunagakure Ninja pushed farther into the country, the situation on the Land of Fire's border had gradually spiraled out of control. The shadow of war was rapidly spreading toward Konoha.