The Rotten Days Are Over!

It has been three years since I transmigrated into this world, and Touma had long since shed the discomfort he felt when he first arrived.

As the nation with the most abundant natural resources among the Five Great Nations, the pressure of life for the citizens of the Land of Fire was not particularly high.

Even for a commoner like Touma, who was raised by his mother after his father passed away, one could maintain a decent life in Konoha as long as they were willing to work hard.

Touma's mother was a confectioner at a wagashi shop, and her monthly salary was at least 15,000 ryo.

On top of that, his mother Takako accepted private custom orders, which brought in a significant share of profit, so Touma, as an only child, never had to go hungry.

Even the orphans living in the orphanage on the outskirts of the village received a minimum monthly stipend of 3,000 ryo per person.

If one was frugal, that was more than enough to keep their stomach full.

Early in the morning, Touma ate two slices of toast and an egg, drank a large glass of milk, and then grabbed his school bag, strolling leisurely toward the Ninja Academy.

Unlike what Touma understood from his previous life, the Ninja Academy did not solely cultivate ninjas.

If a student's "ninja talent" was insufficient, the school also provided instruction in other crafts.

Fields such as medicine, culinary arts, blacksmithing, and sewing all had specialized teachers to instruct them.

Three years ago, when he first enrolled, Touma had actually wanted to learn cooking to see if he might have a chance to sneak into Ichiraku Ramen and become a chef there.

However, the teacher in charge of admissions checked his meridians, bones, and muscles, determined that he possessed "ninja talent," and assigned him directly to Class A.

Among the classmates in this Class A, there were quite a few familiar faces.

For instance, the bickering Hyuga brothers, Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga.

Or the middle-aged Ino-Shika-Cho trio who would become active during the Third and Fourth Great Ninja Wars: Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Akimichi Choza.

There were also those who appeared briefly in the anime, such as Kizashi Moku, Aburame Shibi, Inuzuka Tsume, and other descendants of major ninja clans.

Essentially, the class encompassed the core elites who would become the Special Jonin and Jonin of Konoha for the next thirty years.

When Touma was assigned to Class A at the time, Takako was so excited that she publicized it everywhere and specifically hosted a banquet at home for the neighbors.

After all, as long as a commoner could establish a connection with a ninja clan, the resources leaking through the cracks of their fingers would be enough to sustain Touma until adulthood.

Regrettably, Touma did not follow his mother's wishes to befriend the scions of the ninja clans.

Instead, he chose to remain invisible within the class.

Whether in grades or daily performance, while he wasn't a dead last, he wasn't particularly outstanding either; he was utterly unremarkable.

This resulted in his homeroom teacher, Ise Goro, frequently forgetting his name and needing to check the roster to identify him.

Come to think of it, it wasn't as if Touma lacked any ninja heritage at all.

His father, Dou Huan, was a genin who could be considered quite experienced.

According to his mother Takako, although Dou Huan didn't master many ninjutsu, he had performed as many as 120 D-rank missions and 48 C-rank missions relying on the staff he wielded.

It was only during his final C-rank escort mission that he unexpectedly encountered an ambush by a large group of rogue ninjas, and he stayed behind to cover the team's retreat.

Otherwise, had Dou Huan returned, he would have been eligible for automatic promotion to chunin based on his accumulated mission count!

However, to Touma's ears, his mother's bragging about his "cheap" old man didn't sound like that at all.

He felt that his father had simply been brainwashed by the title of chunin; otherwise, he wouldn't have acted like a hot-headed fool and stayed behind to cover the retreat against all odds.

In the scroll left behind by his father, aside from the training insights for the basic Three Body Technique, it contained one D-rank "Body Flicker Technique" and one D-rank genjutsu, "Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind."

There was also a complete set of staff techniques that combined long and short sticks, designed to be used with the black iron staff that contained a small amount of chakra-conductive metal.

Don't let the fact that this black iron staff only contained a fingernail-sized amount of "chakra-conductive metal" fool you; its value was far beyond what someone with Takako's salary could afford.

It was fortunate that the head of the corpse disposal unit hadn't pocketed it; otherwise, Touma would have had to wait until he had real purchasing power to practice this set of staff techniques.

"Good morning, Touma!"

Just as he entered the classroom through the back door, his deskmate took the initiative to greet him!

"Good morning, Shibi!"

As fellow members with extremely low presence, Aburame Shibi was the only one who could remember Touma's existence.

"By the way, Shibi, didn't you say you were going to bring the cultivated 'Fluorescent Destruction Bug' today? Where is your bug jar?"

Touma scanned the area, saw that Aburame Shibi wasn't carrying a bug jar, and asked curiously.

Aburame Shibi suddenly lowered his voice, leaned in close to Touma, and sighed.

"Sigh... my bug jar was taken away by Father, and there isn't a single spare bug jar left in the house..."

"...How about... you come over to my place to hang out after school?"

Shibi immediately proposed.

"Why would they take away the bug jar? Doesn't your clan keep a long-term reserve of those?"

Touma was suddenly full of question marks. He knew that the Aburame clan had a shop they specifically partnered with to fire their bug jars, which seemed to be called "Black Ice Kiln."

Shibi had even wanted to get a bug jar to give to him before, so how could they be short of them?

"...I don't know, Father didn't tell me... but I suspect it's because our Aburame clan's intelligence personnel operating at the border have run into trouble, and a large number of 'Kikaichū' have died, which is why they are requisitioning the bug jars of us juniors..."

Hearing this, Touma felt a shiver run through his heart, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"...Could it be that war is coming?"

Although his tone was questioning, he felt absolutely certain in his heart.

Even though he had only skimmed through the Naruto manga and anime in his past life, he still remembered the general timeline.

The First Shinobi World War ended with the deaths of three Second Kage from the Five Great Nations; twenty years later, conflicts erupted again due to economic imbalances between the Five Great Nations, gradually escalating into a large-scale war where Konoha stood against the other four.

In the textbook History of the Ninja World currently in Touma's hands, there was a chapter that recorded the end of the First Shinobi World War in detail: September 30th, Konoha Year 14.

It just so happened to be July 15th, Konoha Year 33, leaving only one final year before the potential outbreak of war.

Thinking of this, Touma shuddered uncontrollably; this wasn't excitement, but pure, unadulterated fear.

For a "three-no" ninja academy student like him—no surname, no bloodline, and no background—the Second Shinobi World War was nothing short of a catastrophe.

After all, no matter how exaggerated his talent might be, a ninja academy student like him would only be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder.

Just as his complexion began to turn a sickly gray-white, a "ding-dong" sound rang out in his mind, like a drop of ice-cold spring water in a scorching desert, causing him to calm down instantly!