Entering School

Year 30 of Konoha.

This was Uchiha Matsuri's sixth year in this world.

In this year, the Second Shinobi World War in the Naruto world was nearing its end. Simultaneously, the Ninja Academy, which had been temporarily closed due to the war and staff shortages, officially reopened.

Uchiha Matsuri was a 17-year-old high school student in his past life. Due to his failure in the college entrance examination and the various debts his family had accumulated during his schooling, he lost his mind and chose to end his life by jumping off a building.

However, fate played a cruel trick. Uchiha Matsuri, by chance, arrived in the world of Naruto and possessed the body of a newborn infant of the Uchiha Clan.

In Uchiha Matsuri's memories, both of his "parents" were powerful Jonin within the Uchiha Clan. Due to the outbreak of the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha's front-line medical ninja were stretched thin, forcing his "mother," who was five months pregnant, to be deployed to the battlefield.

Yet, with only one month left until her due date, enemy ninja ambushed the medical ninja encampment behind Konoha.

His "mother" went into labor while fleeing. To protect their untimely child, both his "parents" died in battle. Konoha ninja who came to reinforce them rescued the newborn Uchiha Matsuri amidst the chaos.

The Third Hokage entrusted Matsuri to Uchiha Kagami of the Uchiha Clan for upbringing.

However, fate was not kind. When Uchiha Matsuri was four years old, Uchiha Kagami died in the ninja war, and Uchiha Matsuri became an orphan once more.

At this point, Jiraiya, a disciple of the Third Hokage, voluntarily offered to adopt Uchiha Matsuri. (In fact, it was the Third Hokage who orchestrated this.)

Meanwhile, the Uchiha Clan did not step forward to object. After all, having a clan member with close ties to the Hokage lineage was a good thing for a clan that was gradually being marginalized.

From then on, Uchiha Matsuri lived in Jiraiya's home. At this time, although Matsuri was only four years old, his actual psychological age exceeded twenty. Therefore, when Jiraiya was away on missions, Uchiha Matsuri could take care of himself perfectly.

In the cool morning breeze, Jiraiya held Uchiha Matsuri's hand as they walked through the streets of Konoha.

Today was the day the Ninja Academy started classes. Jiraiya had filled out the new student registration form early and was taking the six-year-old Uchiha Matsuri to the Ninja Academy.

As Jiraiya held his hand, Uchiha Matsuri noticed the ninja on both sides of the road casting respectful glances at Jiraiya.

"Ah, isn't that Lord Jiraiya, the Hokage's disciple!"

"That's right, how lucky to see Lord Jiraiya in person. I wish my child's Jonin leader was Lord Jiraiya."

"Who's the little dark-haired kid next to him?"

"I heard he's an orphan from the Uchiha clan, adopted by Lord Jiraiya."

"With the Uchiha's excellent bloodline and having been guided by Lord Jiraiya, this child's future is bound to be limitless!"

"How enviable."

Actually, as someone who had casually watched Naruto in his past life, Uchiha Matsuri had been delighted to think he had "hit the jackpot" the moment Jiraiya adopted him. However, due to the war, Jiraiya was mostly away, and he hadn't received even a shred of guidance from him. Thinking of this, Uchiha Matsuri could only inwardly smile bitterly.

Upon arriving at the Ninja Academy, perhaps due to Jiraiya's status, the ninja at the new student reception were not only exceptionally enthusiastic but also surprisingly efficient. Before long, Uchiha Matsuri's enrollment procedures were completed.

"Matsuri, from today onwards, you are a student of the Ninja Academy. In school, you must listen to your teachers, and don't bring shame upon me or the Uchiha Clan. Also, I'm heading to the front lines with my teammates Orochimaru and Tsunade today, and I don't know when I'll be back. While I'm away, you must also take care of yourself!" Jiraiya said, patting Matsuri's head with a kind smile.

"Yes, Lord Jiraiya, I definitely won't disappoint you!" Uchiha Matsuri replied with a grin.

After watching Jiraiya disappear from sight, Uchiha Matsuri followed the receptionist ninja towards the classroom.

Unlike other newly enrolled children, Uchiha Matsuri's calmness and silence slightly surprised the receptionist ninja, but this ninja didn't pry.

"This is the classroom," the receptionist ninja suddenly stopped, pointing to the door of a classroom in front of them, and said with a smile.

"Thank you, Uncle."

Uchiha Matsuri smiled and then opened the classroom door.

The classroom was already filled with quite a few students. Seeing Uchiha Matsuri enter, everyone stopped their conversations.

"Look, is that guy from the Uchiha Clan?"

"Yeah, his clothes have the Uchiha clan crest on them!"

"Wow, this Uchiha boy is so cool."

Ignoring the chatter of the children in the classroom, Uchiha Matsuri walked straight to an empty seat by the window in the back row. The seat next to it was also empty.

In his past life, Uchiha Matsuri was a person who was not good at talking and had an introverted personality. This personality naturally carried over to his transmigration into the Naruto world.

In his past life, Uchiha Matsuri was just an unremarkable, plain "four-eyes." In this life, however, he had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. Logically, hearing girls' infatuated remarks should have made someone smug, but Uchiha Matsuri's heart remained undisturbed, and he directly ignored the children's praise.

"What a bother," Uchiha Matsuri muttered to himself, idly spinning his pen.

In the six years since arriving in this world, Uchiha Matsuri had long since understood.

Unlike his past life, the world of Naruto was a world full of war and conspiracy. To survive in the world of Naruto, one had to either be an unknown civilian or strive to improve their strength to ensure they wouldn't be killed.

Unfortunately, as a member of the Uchiha Clan, the former path was clearly not viable.

Although Uchiha Matsuri hadn't watched the Naruto anime in detail in his past life, he clearly remembered the Uchiha Clan being massacred by Root.

Since he couldn't live a peaceful life as a civilian, he had no choice but to strive to become a strong individual.

However, strong ninja were divided into Chunin, Jonin, and Kage-level ninja. In past ninja wars, Chunin were destined to be mere cannon fodder. Since he had decided to become a Jonin, why not aim to become a Kage-level expert?

Moreover, among Konoha's secret techniques, there might be some related to space-time manipulation, and these secret scrolls could only be accessed by the Hokage, the leader of a village.

Therefore, Uchiha Matsuri silently set a goal for himself: to become a Hokage-level ninja.