It had been three years since Touma had transmigrated into this world, and he had long since gotten over the unease he'd felt when he first arrived.
As the country with the richest natural resources among the Five Great Nations, the people of the Land of Fire didn't have to worry too much about making ends meet.
Even a civilian like Touma, whose father had died and who had been raised by his mother, could maintain a decent life in Konoha as long as he was willing to work hard.
Touma's mother was a pastry chef at a Japanese sweets shop, earning at least fifteen thousand ryō a month.
On top of that, his mother, Takako, took private custom orders and earned a substantial cut, so her only son, Touma, naturally never had to go hungry.
Even the orphans living in the orphanage on the outskirts of the village received a minimum allowance of three thousand ryō each month.
If they budgeted carefully, that was more than enough to fill their stomachs.
Early that morning, Touma ate two slices of toast and an egg, then drank a large glass of milk. After that, he grabbed his schoolbag and ambled off to the Ninja Academy.
Unlike what Touma had understood from his previous life, the Ninja Academy didn't focus solely on training ninjas.
If a student lacked "ninja potential," the school also offered instruction in other skills.
There were dedicated teachers for fields like medicine, cooking, forging, and sewing.
When he first enrolled three years ago, Touma had wanted to learn how to cook, just in case he could one day get a job at Ichiraku Ramen as a chef.
But after checking his meridians, bones, and muscles, the teacher in charge of admissions decided that he had "ninja potential" and assigned him straight to Class A.
There were quite a few familiar faces among his classmates in Class A.
For instance, the Hyuga brothers, Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga, who were both rivals and family.
Then there were the middle-aged Ino-Shika-Cho trio who would make their mark in the Third and Fourth Shinobi World Wars: Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Akimichi Choza.
And there were also the children of major clans, like the briefly glimpsed Kizashi Moku, Aburame Shibi, and Inuzuka Tsume.
The class was practically packed with the core elite who would make up Konoha's Special Jōnin and Jōnin ranks over the next thirty years.
When Touma had been assigned to Class A, Takako had been so excited that she told everyone, even hosting a feast for the neighbors at home.
After all, if a civilian managed to build ties with a shinobi clan, even the resources that trickled through the cracks between their fingers would be enough to support Touma into adulthood.
Unfortunately, Touma hadn't followed his mother's wishes and befriended the clan kids.
Instead, he'd made himself invisible in class.
His grades and conduct weren't poor enough to make him a dead last, but neither did he stand out. He was perfectly ordinary.
As a result, his homeroom teacher, Ise Goro, often forgot his name and had to check the roster to remember who he was.
As it happened, Touma wasn't entirely without a shinobi legacy.
His father, Dou Huan, had been a fairly experienced Genin.
According to Takako, Dou Huan hadn't known many techniques, but with the staff he used as a ninja tool, he'd completed as many as 120 D-rank missions and 48 C-rank missions.
On his final C-rank escort mission, they'd been ambushed by a large group of rogue ninja. He'd stayed behind to cover the escort team's retreat.
Otherwise, once Dou Huan returned, he could have been automatically promoted to Chunin based on his accumulated missions!
But in Touma's eyes, Takako's praise of his cheap old man was completely off the mark.
He figured his old man had been manipulated by the prestige of the Chunin title. Otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed behind like some hotheaded rookie, overestimating himself.
The scrolls his old man had left behind contained notes on the basic Three Body Technique, as well as a D-rank Body Flicker Technique and a D-rank genjutsu called Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death.
There was also a complete set of staff-fighting Taijutsu that combined long- and short-staff techniques, designed for use with a black iron staff containing a small amount of chakra-enhancing metal.
The black iron staff might have contained only a fingernail-sized amount of "chakra-enhancing metal," but it was still far beyond what Takako could afford on her salary.
Fortunately, the head of the Corpse Disposal Unit hadn't pocketed it. Otherwise, Touma would have had to wait until he could afford to buy one himself before he could use the staff techniques.
"Good morning, Touma!"
As soon as Touma entered the classroom through the back door, his deskmate greeted him.
"Good morning, Shibi!"
As another member of a clan with a low profile, Aburame Shibi was the only one who remembered Touma existed.
"By the way, Shibi, didn't you say you'd bring the 'Fluorescent Destruction Bugs' you raised today? Where's your bug jar?"
Touma looked around and saw that Aburame Shibi wasn't carrying a bug jar, so he asked curiously.
Aburame Shibi suddenly lowered his voice, leaned over to Touma, and sighed.
"Sigh... Father took my bug jar away, and there isn't a single spare one left at home..."
"...Why don't you come over to my place after school?"
Shibi immediately followed up with a suggestion.
"Why would he take your bug jar? Doesn't your clan keep a stockpile of them?"
Touma gave him a baffled look. He knew the Aburame Clan had a shop they worked with to make bug jars. He thought it was called the Black Ice Kiln.
Shibi had even wanted to give him a bug jar before. How could they suddenly be short on jars?
"...I don't know either. Father didn't tell me... But I suspect something happened to the Aburame Clan's intelligence agents operating along the border. A large number of Kikaichū died, so they're requisitioning the bug jars belonging to us younger clan members..."
Hearing that, Touma's heart tightened, as if he'd realized what it meant.
"...Do you think a war's about to break out?"
His tone made it sound like a question, but deep down, he was certain.
He'd only skimmed through the Naruto manga and anime in his previous life, but he still remembered the broad timeline.
The First Shinobi World War had ended with the deaths of the Second Hokage and the other four Kage. Twenty years later, an imbalance in the economies of the Five Great Nations had sparked new conflicts, which gradually escalated into a large-scale war with Konoha fighting four nations at once.
One chapter of the textbook in front of Touma, History of the Ninja World, detailed the end date of the First Shinobi World War: September 30, Year 14 of Konoha.
It was now July 15, Year 33 of Konoha, which meant there was just one year left before war might break out.
At the thought, Touma shivered all over. It wasn't from excitement. He was simply terrified.
For an Academy student like him, with no clan, no bloodline, and no backing, the Second Shinobi World War was nothing short of a catastrophe.
After all, even if a student like him had extraordinary talent, he'd still be sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder.
Just as his face began to turn ashen, a "ding" rang out in his mind. It was like a drop of cool spring water in a scorching desert, and he quickly calmed down!
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