Konoha, Year 43, spring.
Qingyu's life in Konoha was... less than ideal.
"If bloodlines were ranked from weak to busted, mine should be completely off the charts."
Qingyu rubbed his brow, feeling rather troubled.
If there were a ranking of bloodlines in the Shinobi World, he'd be an exceptionally rare case.
But right now, Qingyu really wanted to check his cards.
There was something wrong with them!
Legend had it that when an Uchiha and a Senju had a child, they could inherit the Power of All Creation.
Either Kekkei Genkai was enough to make its owner the Lu Bu of the ninja world, or the Red Hare of the battlefield.
Even if they became a servant to three different masters and joined another shinobi village to get a green card, they'd still be in high demand.
Qingyu had even skipped twenty years of detours and gone straight to becoming a mixed-blood child of the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan.
The Uchiha brought the mechanics, and the Senju brought the stats.
Put the two together, and it was like having high damage in his left hand and even higher damage in his right.
The only slight drawback was...
"I'm a fruit of sin."
Qingyu sighed.
Unless his father was Hashirama Senju and his mother Madara Uchiha, he'd never pass a background check.
Qingyu hadn't been born in this world.
He'd just happened to be walking along a highway when a truck hit him so hard he spun like a top, and he'd ended up reincarnating as a Konoha native.
In his second life, Qingyu had undoubtedly gotten the version's winning build in the Shinobi World, where bloodlines reigned supreme.
His father was an Uchiha, and his mother was a Senju.
Just as Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju had shared a "bond," his parents had fallen for each other at first sight and acted out their own Romeo and Juliet.
Qingyu's father, crazy with love, had inherited the Uchiha's obsessive streak. He'd resolutely left his clan and eloped with Qingyu's mother from the Senju Clan.
At the time, the Senju Clan had been on the verge of disbanding.
When they learned that an Uchiha playboy had gotten a good girl from the Senju family pregnant, the entire Senju Clan had been furious. It had nearly sparked another conflict between the two clans.
Biologically speaking, it was a powerful union of two strong bloodlines. Politically speaking, it was a disaster.
Intermarriage between the Uchiha and the Senju was absolutely forbidden!
Why? Ever since the age of the Sage of Six Paths, the ancestors of the two clans had been locked in endless conflict over an unfair division of their family inheritance. Their feud had continued through the Warring States Era, making them enemies for a thousand years.
Later, after the Uchiha Clan's leader, Madara, lost to the Senju Clan's leader, Hashirama, the two clans made peace, invited other shinobi clans, and founded the shinobi villages.
But that had only happened a little over forty years ago.
How could there not be unresolved issues from the past?
But the deed was done, and Qingyu had already been born.
Unfortunately, it was during the Second Shinobi World War, so neither clan had time to deal with the matter.
By the time they turned their attention to the mess, Qingyu's parents had both died on the battlefield, becoming heroes.
That left Qingyu as a hot potato.
In the end, Tsunade took pity on him. Nawaki had just died, so she brought Qingyu home and looked after him.
"But when the Uchiha are wiped out, I won't be involved, right?"
Qingyu thought it over. His household registration wasn't with the Uchiha Clan anyway; he was registered with the Senju Clan as Senju Qingyu!
A naturally evil—no, righteous—little Senju brat!
"Kid, it's your first day of school today. Don't forget."
A voice interrupted Qingyu's thoughts.
Before he saw who it was, two enormous shadows fell over him.
"Got it, Sis Tsunade."
Qingyu looked at Tsunade, who was wearing a tea-green jacket.
Compared with the mature beauty she'd become in the future, Tsunade was now in the prime of her youth.
Her golden hair was tied into a ponytail, and the blue-purple mark of the Yin Seal stood out on her forehead.
Of course, what stood out most was the sheer quality of her chest—even lying down, it would still be the highest peak. No further explanation needed.
She was the tallest mountain in the Shinobi World and its longest river.
"Good. As long as you remember."
Tsunade flicked Qingyu on the forehead.
Qingyu rubbed it. He was genuinely afraid Tsunade wouldn't know her own strength.
Ten minutes later.
With Tsunade leading the way, Qingyu headed to the Ninja Academy to enroll.
It was the beginning of April, the first day of the school year.
In the Shinobi World, the school year started in April, not September like it had in Qingyu's previous life.
Qingyu looked around and saw quite a crowd.
He also spotted several familiar faces.
Yūhi Kurenai, Rin Nohara, Hatake Kakashi, Obito, Genma Shiranui, and others.
There were so many people that the place was packed.
Qingyu and Tsunade could only wait in line at the back.
While Qingyu was idly wondering whether to step into the Ninja Academy with his left foot or his right, he suddenly heard a chime.
[The Trait System has awakened.]
[You can pick up dropped traits. Meet the requirements to combine them and obtain higher-quality traits.]
"?"
There might as well have been a question mark on Qingyu's forehead.
He'd already figured out how to rely on his Uchiha and Senju bloodlines to keep his head down until the Fourth Shinobi World War. And now a system had appeared?
[Detecting collectible trait: D-rank trait]
[D-rank trait: Lonely Genius]
[Effect: Training alone increases efficiency by 40%.]
What was that supposed to mean?
Qingyu looked up in surprise.
Where had this trait come from?
As soon as he raised his head, he spotted a white-haired man approaching with a white-haired boy in tow.
"Yo, Tsunade."
Hatake Sakumo greeted Tsunade.
"Oh, it's you, Sakumo."
Tsunade was clearly on good terms with Hatake Sakumo. She gave him a slight nod.
"This is Tsunade, the famous Sannin," Hatake Sakumo told his son, Hatake Kakashi.
"Lady Tsunade."
Kakashi greeted her.
Then he looked at Qingyu standing beside Tsunade.
Black hair, black eyes, handsome features.
Kakashi couldn't help thinking, What a classic Uchiha look.
Compared with the hot-blooded Senju, Qingyu's appearance fit the traditional Uchiha image much better.
Kakashi knew a little about Qingyu's background.
"My son Kakashi is starting school today too."
Hatake Sakumo ruffled Kakashi's hair, then looked at Qingyu.
"Please get along with him. I'm counting on you to look out for him."
Hatake Sakumo smiled.
Although he looked imposing, he was as gentle in nature as Minato Namikaze.
"I will, Lord Sakumo."
Qingyu nodded.
He understood where the trait had come from now.
The moment Qingyu had seen Kakashi wearing a black mask, he'd known that Kakashi was even more gloomy than he was.
"Huh?"
Kakashi gave a puzzled sound and looked at his father.
"Don't get cocky just because you got into the Ninja Academy, Kakashi. Qingyu might have more potential than anyone else."
Hatake Sakumo said sincerely.
In all his years, he'd never seen a shinobi who was a mix of both the Uchiha and the Senju.
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