Chentian

Konoha.

In a somewhat rundown little courtyard, beneath a tree on the verge of dying.

Chentian slowly put away the shuriken in his hand. Looking at the hurried, grief-stricken passersby outside the courtyard, he sighed inwardly.

"It's been ten days since I came to this world."

That's right!

Chentian was a transmigrator, and what was more, he had a system!

A system called Card Pickup, which could randomly pick up attribute cards dropped by others.

The stronger the person, the higher the grade of cards that could be picked up, and the greater the attributes Chentian could gain.

From Strength Cards to Speed Cards, Ninjutsu Cards, and more, the attributes of the cards he could pick up came in every imaginable variety.

From lowest to highest, there were White Cards, Blue Cards, Purple Cards, Red Cards, and Gold Cards.

Gold Cards were the highest-grade cards.

Unfortunately...

Ten days had passed since he activated the system.

Not only had Chentian not even caught a glimpse of a Gold Card, he had not picked up a single card so far.

That was because the day he transmigrated here happened to be the day the Third Shinobi World War ended.

His parents had both died in the war, leaving behind only five-year-old Chentian.

The panic of transmigrating here and his confusion about the future had kept Chentian from daring to leave the courtyard even once.

As a result, he had not seen anyone at all over the past ten days, so naturally there had been no cards for him to pick up.

"It's about time."

Glancing at the sky, Chentian changed into a set of black clothes and headed for Konoha's cemetery.

Today was the day the heroes who had died on the battlefield would be laid to rest in the public cemetery. Everyone would attend.

As he walked along, Chentian looked at the desolate streets and the passersby whose faces were filled with grief and despair, gaining an even deeper understanding of this world's cruelty.

A single war had shattered thousands of families in Konoha.

Some children had become orphans like him, while some mothers had lost both their husbands and children.

That's right, by the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha had already begun sending children onto the battlefield!

I must become stronger, strong enough to control my own fate!

As he silently swore this oath, Chentian arrived at the cemetery. Looking up, he saw the still-prime Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, standing at the front.

His gaze then swept across the rows, finding the pale-faced Orochimaru and the gentle-looking Minato Namikaze among them.

Yet all of them wore sorrowful expressions as they stood silently before the Memorial Stone.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to a child like him, Chentian casually found a corner and stood there.

Although this body's parents were also listed on the Memorial Stone, Chentian did not feel much sadness.

After all, he had never met this body's parents.

Even the original owner had only seen his parents a few times due to the war.

No matter how Chentian searched through his memories, he only learned that his parents returned at most once a year.

If they had not hired an ordinary person to take care of him, the original owner might have starved to death before Chentian ever transmigrated here.

But after learning that his parents had died in battle, that nanny had left on her own as well.

Unable to bear the blow, the original owner had collapsed from grief and exhaustion, allowing Chentian to transmigrate into his body.

Still, even if he had no feelings for them, he should pay his respects.

Just as Chentian's thoughts were wandering, he suddenly spotted a white card at the feet of the person in front of him.

It was about the size of a playing card, but covered in a milky white glow that made it look exceptionally beautiful.

When Chentian tried to make out the contents of the card, however, he found that he could not see anything.

Chentian did not know the ninja in front of him, but judging by his clothes, he was clearly a genin from the Uchiha clan.

After hesitating for a moment, Chentian still could not resist the temptation of the card. He put on a sorrowful expression and slowly crouched down.

It could not be helped. This was the first card he had ever seen. No one knew how long cards could remain, and it would be bad if it vanished.

Most of the people present were ninjas, so Chentian's actions naturally did not escape their notice.

But seeing that he was merely a five-year-old child who had lost control of himself in grief, they did not pay much attention.

However, when the sunny-faced Minato Namikaze saw Chentian, his expression immediately darkened.

Naturally, Chentian did not see this. At that moment, he was slowly reaching his greedy little hand toward the white card.

Since he was so close, Chentian easily slipped the card into his possession.

He then rubbed his eyes and stood back up, looking as though he were desperately holding back his grief.

Casually fixing his gaze on a tombstone, Chentian impatiently inspected the white card in his mind.

Over the past few days, he had risen early and gone to bed late, training his body like mad, but it had produced no results.

The facts proved that his talent was utterly ordinary. The system was his only path to becoming stronger.

[Ding! White Card: Strength Attribute +1. Absorb?]

"Absorb!"

Immediately afterward, a warm current flowed into his body.

The pleasant sensation made Chentian narrow his eyes slightly.

He could clearly feel that his physical strength had increased considerably.

"Display my attribute panel!"

[Host: Chentian]

[Strength: 5]

[Speed: 4]

[Constitution: 4]

[Spirit: 22]

[Skill: Basic Shuriken LV1.]

Chentian took in the status panel and looked away.

Aside from his Spirit, which was high because of his transmigration, all his other attributes were pitifully low.

As for skills, he only had Basic Shuriken, which he had just learned over the past ten days.

Chentian was merely spacing out, but in everyone else's eyes, the child had clearly gone blank from the overwhelming blow.

Seeing this, Minato Namikaze gritted his teeth and quietly said to Uzumaki Kushina beside him,

"Kushina, that's the child of Chenping and Xingquan. I want to adopt him!"

Chenping and Xingquan were Chentian's parents.

They had also been commoners, and they had been Minato Namikaze's neighbors.

It could be said that they had grown up together.

Later, however, Minato Namikaze's extraordinary talent had earned him acceptance as one of the Three Sannin, Jiraiya's disciple, and they had gradually drifted apart.

But in this war, Chenping and Xingquan, both Special Jonin, had once again been assigned under Minato Namikaze.

Unfortunately, both of them had died on the battlefield and failed to return alive.

"Fine. Once this is over, we'll go see the Third Hokage."

Kushina merely glanced at Chentian before agreeing without hesitation.

She was also familiar with Chentian's mother, Xingquan, and the two could even be considered best friends.

As the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, Kushina had no way of leaving Konoha.

So whenever Xingquan did not have a mission, they would always go shopping together.

But after the war began, they had barely seen each other.

Looking at Chentian's lost expression, the maternal instinct in Kushina's heart could no longer be suppressed.

Naturally, Chentian had no idea that someone had already decided his future. He was still looking around, trying to find other cards.

Unfortunately, he found nothing for the time being.

"Wherever the leaves fly, the Will of Fire shall never be extinguished..."

After Hiruzen Sarutobi's long speech, everyone gradually dispersed, and Chentian also headed back toward his little home.

This house with its courtyard was the only thing his parents had left him.

Training by myself won't work, and I don't even know how to extract chakra. I should go out later and see if I can pick up anything useful.

Besides that, it would be best if I could enter the Ninja Academy. There would be so many classmates and teachers whose attributes I could pick up.

On his way home, Chentian began planning for his future.

He was only an ordinary orphan. There was no way he could come into contact with powerful ninjas.

That was why the Ninja Academy was his best choice. It would allow him to develop steadily and gradually grow stronger!

But for an orphan, getting into the Ninja Academy would not be easy. He had to think of a way.

Lost in thought, Chentian slowly approached his little house.