The Beginning of the Story

That evening, after the shuriken duel ended, Shinichi did not return directly to the orphanage.

He climbed up to the Ninja Academy rooftop. Calling it a rooftop was a bit of a stretch—it was really an open-air platform on top of the school building, usually used to dry gym mats and jump ropes. Several old exercise mats lay piled in one corner, bleached by the sun, their edges frayed with loose threads. A low wall ran around the platform, low enough to sit on with your legs dangling over the side. Hardly anyone came up here, because the stairs leading to the roof were behind the fire door at the end of the corridor, marked "No Entry," and that door was rarely locked.

Shinichi pushed open the fire door, and the April evening breeze rushed toward him, carrying the scent of camphor blossoms from the training grounds and the smell of firewood drifting from some distant home. He walked to the low wall, sat down, and swung his legs over the edge. Leaf Village looked just right from this height—the entire village resembled an unfolded hand-drawn map, its streets thin pale-gray lines and its rooftops patches of reddish-brown in varying shades. The statues of the three Hokage on Hokage Rock were dyed golden-red by the sunset. Between a row of houses beneath the cliff, he could vaguely make out Naruto Uzumaki's little home. Farther away lay the direction of the Uchiha Clan District—Sasuke's back had already vanished down that road after the shuriken duel.

He had not come here for the view.

It had been exactly one week since school started. He went over everything in his head from beginning to end. Seven months had passed since he awakened his memories and the system last September. Between the six-year-old orphan who had once huddled in a corner of the orphanage and Senju Shinichi now sitting on the Ninja Academy rooftop lay countless late-night training sessions, countless struggles through the Death Forest, and two Hokage decree seals and guardianship documents stored in the Leaf Village archives.

Naruto. Since Shinichi had treated him to dango last time, that blond kid had gone from "the jinchuriki everyone avoided at the orphanage" to "an aspiring ninja who loudly demanded that his classmates eat ramen with him—and add extra char siu." He had learned the Shadow Clone, learned how to walk on water, though his posture on the water still looked like a duckling that had just learned to fly. Sasuke. The Uchiha genius had earnestly lost a shuriken duel on the training grounds today. Before leaving, he had said, "Next time, I won't miss." His tone was still as stiff as ever, but taking the initiative to arrange another match was already Sasuke's version of showing goodwill. Hinata. The dark-blue-haired girl who had secretly used her Byakugan to watch his chakra was still so introverted it made his heart ache, but now she no longer deliberately sat pressed against the wall during class. Ino. The young lady of the Yamanaka Clan had invited him to visit her home over the weekend—not because of the Senju Clan name, but because she thought his chakra "smelled like honey in mint tea." He still had not fully figured out that description, but Inoichi Yamanaka could probably offer a more professional explanation.

And Iruka Umino. That gentle young teacher had already begun observing him in secret, probably thinking he was being subtle. Mizuki was observing him in secret too, but Mizuki's observation and Iruka's were entirely different things. One came from a sense of duty to worry and protect; the other came from an instinct to scheme and exploit. Shinichi wrote their names in separate columns in his notebook, with a thick line between them.

He braced both hands against the concrete behind him and looked up at the sky. Konoha's sky was very clean. There was no smog, no light pollution. The evening sky was shifting from orange to deep blue, and several of the first stars to appear already hung above Hokage Rock. In his previous life, when he stood on the balcony of his rented apartment and looked up, all he saw were rows of neon signs and perpetually gray clouds.

"So, what's next?"

He asked himself, then answered himself. There was no notebook before him, but every plan was carved into his mind. The accelerated training with Shadow Clones had to continue. The widening of the chakra pathways for the Sage Body's second stage required more precise guidance of natural energy. Under the guidance of Hashirama's training journal, Wood Release should move into exercises involving structural forms. The seal on the gate to the Senju Ruins needed to be gradually worn down with senjutsu chakra. Once the Chunin Exams began, the storyline would produce many crucial opportunities he could intercept. The one demanding the most attention was Orochimaru's plan to crush Konoha—too much was tied up in that incident, so he had to find a sufficiently powerful point of entry before the plan was set in motion.

As for his network of relationships: Naruto and Sasuke had already formed equal, sustainable interactions with him in different ways. Hinata and Ino had each established unique connections with him on emotional and spiritual-sensory levels. Shikamaru Nara might be lazy, but he could serve as a tactical core at critical moments. Neji and Rock Lee were not in the same class as him yet, but sooner or later, they would enter one another's sights through real combat. Right now, these relationships were merely the seating arrangement of a first-year classroom. In a few years, they would become indispensable pillars of the system in the shinobi war.

He jumped down from the low wall and brushed the dust from his pants. The sun had completely sunk behind Hokage Rock, and the village streetlamps lit up one after another. Ichiraku Ramen's red lantern beckoned in the direction of the old locust tree. He could vaguely see Naruto's distinctive blond head already squatting outside the ramen stand, waiting.

As he crossed the training grounds, he looked back at the school building one last time. The classroom lights had all gone out, with only one lamp still lit in the teachers' office—Iruka was probably still preparing lessons. Above Hokage Rock, the First Hokage's stone statue gazed down upon the village in silent dignity through the twilight. The curve of his mouth suddenly matched the reminder written in the journal: "Soak in hot springs more often."

Shinichi gave the statue a slight nod, then turned and headed toward the ramen stand. Naruto had already been stomping outside its entrance and urging him on for who knew how many times. Even from two streets away, Shinichi could hear him shouting that he was hungry.