Enrollment

Early morning, Konoha, Ninja Academy.

Today was the opening day of the Ninja Academy. The newly enrolled students were gathered on the playground, listening to a speech from the Acting Hokage.

"Where the leaves of Konoha dance, fire burns on without end..."

"The shadow of fire shines upon the village..."

"New leaves will sprout."

Sarutobi Toru listened drowsily to Sarutobi Hiruzen's empty inspirational speech, privately grumbling, Uncle, you spout this kind of hollow nonsense every day. No wonder none of your three disciples liked you in the end.

Still, this spiel was quite effective on fresh Ninja Academy students. Looking at the group of five-year-old classmates around him who had been brainwashed by a pyramid scheme... no, by the Will of Fire, Sarutobi Toru felt his headache worsen.

Why had he transmigrated into the Hokage World? This lousy world was not only dark and dangerous, it was also full of lunatics. They talked about peace every day, then started fights that could flatten the world with nuclear force. Worse still, the crazier they were, the stronger they usually became.

And even if I had to transmigrate, couldn't I have been given a better background? Without a bloodline connected to those Otsutsuki aliens, no matter how hard I trained, even if I reached Kage-level, wouldn't I still just be high-grade cannon fodder?

Half an hour later, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally finished pouring out his inspirational nonsense and left in satisfaction. Only then were the new students assigned to classes and regular academy lessons began.

Speaking of which, Sarutobi Toru had to admire how precocious children in the Shinobi World were. Five years old! That was the age of a middle kindergarten class back on Earth! They could barely read, yet they were already here learning how to kill people. Some even graduated after only one or two years! It was simply unbelievable.

Sarutobi Toru had been assigned to Class 1-A.

The classroom was arranged in ascending tiers. Each desk was long enough to seat three people, meaning three students shared a single desk.

At the middle seat in the second-to-last row by the window, he found his name, the three bold characters: "Sarutobi Toru."

By the time he found his seat, someone was already sitting at the innermost spot by the window.

It was a black-haired "girl" about his age, with fair skin and long straight hair falling over her shoulders.

One hand propped up "her" chin as "she" gazed indifferently out at the playground. A cold aura surrounded "her."

He could not see "her" face, but "she" gave off the impression of being aloof and difficult to approach.

Sarutobi Toru looked at the name on the desk. It read, "Orochimaru."

Damn, so it was Orochimaru! I nearly mistook him for a girl.

At that moment, as though sensing Sarutobi Toru's stare, Orochimaru turned to look at him.

"Hello! My name is Sarutobi Toru! Can we be friends?"

The moment he turned around, Orochimaru saw Sarutobi Toru's broad smile, his eyes seemingly gleaming.

Orochimaru leaned back slightly, apparently unaccustomed to Sarutobi Toru's enthusiasm. Still, he was only a five-year-old child at the moment, not nearly as unapproachable as he would become as an adult.

"My name is Orochimaru," he answered, staring at Sarutobi Toru with his snake-like eyes in an attempt to make him back off.

Unfortunately, Sarutobi Toru had already decided that Orochimaru would be his useful pawn. How could he possibly give up over something like this?

"Now that we've exchanged names, we're good friends! Here, this is for you!"

Sarutobi Toru spoke as if to himself while pulling out a notebook and handing it to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had been put off by Sarutobi Toru's excessive friendliness and was about to refuse when he saw the words "Chakra Refinement and Manipulation" on the notebook. The refusal died in his throat.

I wanted to refuse, but he gave me too much. —Orochimaru.

Seeing Orochimaru obediently accept the notebook, the corners of Sarutobi Toru's mouth lifted slightly.

He was still young, after all! In the future, trying to win over such an outstanding useful pawn... no, make such an outstanding friend with just one notebook would not be nearly so easy.

Unlike most transmigrators, Sarutobi Toru had transmigrated voluntarily. In his original world, although both his parents had died, he had been part of a family made wealthy by demolition compensation. He owned a car and a house, and could earn millions a year in rent without doing anything.

Other than being a bit of a scumbag and having too many girlfriends, he had no other bad habits. Every day, he lived the simple, dull life of a fulfilled modern man.

The reason he had been willing to randomly transmigrate to an unknown and unfamiliar world was not to seek thrills. He wanted to follow Sun Wukong's example and "seek a way to live forever without aging"!

Therefore, a fine comrade and good teammate like Orochimaru was someone he absolutely had to befriend!

Although Orochimaru's method of immortality was somewhat lacking and came with severe side effects, wasn't Sarutobi Toru here to help?

With an "expert" like him providing guidance—someone who knew the plot, possessed modern-day imagination, and had a Golden Finger—they might just develop some kind of cultivation art!

While Sarutobi Toru was imagining the future, the Chunin teacher at the front had already moved on to self-introductions.

He listened as nearly every classmate declared ambitions such as becoming Hokage or becoming a Jōnin, with the occasional oddball wanting to collect every insect in the Shinobi World—Aburame—or eat every delicacy in the world—Akimichi. There was even one who wanted to become a great ninja surpassing her grandfather? Oh, it was Tsunade. Now that was an ambitious goal.

Sarutobi Toru looked at Tsunade with shining eyes. The number one medical ninja in the Shinobi World? She was another excellent useful pawn!

Soon, it was Sarutobi Toru's turn to introduce himself. "I'm Sarutobi Toru. My ambition is to become a medical ninja, extend life, and resist death! Immortality!"

The Chunin teacher blinked. Although Konoha had hospitals by now, the profession of medical ninja had yet to truly take shape. Medical Ninjutsu still consisted of battlefield first-aid techniques for treating external wounds, such as Healing Technique, and were supplementary skills practiced by combat ninjas. Sarutobi Toru's ambition completely bewildered him.

"Um, Sarutobi, Konoha does not yet have a profession called medical ninja..."

"Then I'll create it! Ninjutsu isn't merely a trick for killing people. It can also revive the dead and regrow flesh on bare bones!"

"All right, that truly is an admirable ambition! Teacher wishes you success."

"Don't worry, Teacher. I'll definitely succeed!"

"All right, introductions are over. Now we'll begin class. For our first lesson, we'll discuss Chakra Refinement..." The Chunin teacher quickly began the lesson.

Although Sarutobi Toru had already refined Chakra, he still listened carefully to the teacher's lecture. Chakra was the foundation of all mysteries in the ninja world. For combat-oriented ninjas, knowing how to use it might be enough, but Sarutobi Toru wanted to become a research-oriented ninja in the future. Therefore, he had to master it completely and study it thoroughly.

Unfortunately, the entire ninja world's research into Chakra was almost entirely focused on its applications, while research into Chakra's true nature was pitifully scarce. Despite Sarutobi Toru's serious studies, he gained very little.