The alarm rang three times before Takuma finally crawled out of bed.
He had drunk three cartons of the milk from last night's box. Maybe it was just his imagination, but it really did taste richer than ordinary milk.
Today was the first day of the Ninja Academy.
He changed into the new clothes his mother had prepared the night before, then looked at himself in the mirror: dark brown hair, decent-looking features, but far too short. As someone who had once stood 178 centimeters tall, he had to readjust every time he looked at this shrunken version of himself.
"Takuma! You're going to be late!" his mother called from downstairs.
"Coming, coming."
He grabbed his schoolbag and went downstairs. A simple breakfast was laid out on the table. His father was already seated, looking a little awkward—the embarrassment of getting caught sneaking a cigarette yesterday clearly hadn't worn off yet. His mother, on the other hand, looked as composed as ever. As she served Takuma some food, she reminded him, "Pay attention in class and get along with your classmates."
"I know."
"Don't get into fights."
"...I'll try."
Mori Kazuki set down his chopsticks and cleared his throat. "Takuma, about the Ninja Academy training—"
"I'll be careful." Takuma knew what his father wanted to say. Don't reveal too much about the Senju Bloodline or his regenerative abilities in front of his classmates. The two of them had already discussed all that in private last night.
Mori Kazuki nodded and said no more.
After breakfast, Takuma walked out of the house with his schoolbag on his back. The streets were still quiet in the early morning. The ninja tool shop next door was already open, and the sound of things being moved came from inside.
He was about to walk straight past when someone darted out.
It was a girl about his age, with two buns in her hair and a light green top. She was struggling to drag a cardboard box that was clearly heavier than she was.
"Need a hand?" Takuma asked without thinking.
The girl looked up, revealing a round, dusty face. She sized him up, then pushed the box right in front of him without a hint of hesitation. "Help me carry this to the rack by the entrance."
"...You really don't hold back."
"You offered." The girl was utterly unapologetic.
Takuma resigned himself to lifting the box. His six-year-old body might have been shrunken, but the Senju Bloodline's basic physical strength was still there. Carrying a box was no big deal. He put it where she had pointed and dusted off his hands.
"Did you just move here?"
"Yeah, we got here yesterday." The girl had already started opening another box, which was full of unfinished Shuriken. "I'm Tenten."
"Mori Takuma. My family owns the bookstore next door."
"A bookstore?" Tenten's eyes lit up. "So you have lots of books at home?"
"Some. Most of them are secondhand. My dad buys them and resells them."
"Do you have any books about ninja tools?"
Takuma thought it over. As far as he could remember, there were indeed a few old books on making ninja tools at the bookstore. They'd come in with some secondhand goods. "We should have a few. I'll look for them later."
"That's great!" Tenten grinned, revealing two little canines. "My dad says our family's traditional ninja toolcraft requires constant study, so he wants me to read more. I'll come by your shop later and take a look."
"Sure. Are you heading to school now, too?"
Only then did Tenten remember that school started today. She slapped her forehead. "I almost forgot! Let's go!"
After tidying up a bit, the two of them headed to the Ninja Academy together. Tenten was the outgoing type, and she chatted nonstop along the way, asking whether the location of her family's ninja tool shop was any good, then complaining about how few supply routes Konoha had. Takuma responded here and there, thinking how convenient it was. Living next door to a ninja tool shop was like having a resupply station built right in.
"By the way, what are you good at?" Tenten suddenly asked.
Takuma thought for a moment, then answered seriously, "Staying alive."
Tenten stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him, her face full of confusion. "...?"
"I mean it literally." Takuma couldn't explain much more. Between the Senju Bloodline and the Wolverine Healing Factor, he couldn't make any promises about anything else, but he was definitely hard to kill. It was the most accurate description of his current abilities.
Tenten clearly didn't understand, but she still nodded. "All right. Staying alive is a skill, too. My dad says the most important thing for a ninja is to come back alive."
By then, they had reached the Ninja Academy. A crowd of new students and parents had gathered at the entrance, making a racket. Takuma spotted a familiar face: Naruto, with his spiky blond hair, stood alone in a corner. The other children were being pulled away by their parents, whispering, "That's the kid" and "Stay away from him."
Takuma looked away. There was nothing he could do right now. He couldn't exactly walk up to a bunch of six-year-olds and tell them, "Don't discriminate against him. He'll be a hero who saves the world one day." If he said that, they'd probably think he was an idiot.
The opening ceremony was held on the school grounds.
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi had come in person. With a pipe in his mouth, he stood at the podium. The old man first surveyed the little ones sitting below, then launched into a long speech about the Will of Fire.
"Konoha was founded by our predecessors, Senju Hashirama and Madara Uchiha—"
Takuma struggled to keep his eyelids from drooping. There was nothing wrong with the Will of Fire itself, but the Third Hokage spoke so slowly and at such length that his speech was downright soporific. Several children his age were already dozing off. One girl with her hair in buns—probably Haruno Sakura—was listening intently, her eyes shining.
The Third Hokage spoke for a full forty minutes before he finally finished. By Takuma's rough estimate, the core message was "unity, sacrifice, and protection." Once you stripped away the padding, there were no more than two minutes of useful information.
After the opening ceremony came the class assignments.
The teacher in charge of registration read the names one by one, assigning each student to a class. Takuma was placed in Iruka's class and found an open seat toward the back.
Then Iruka began calling the roll.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
"Here!" Naruto raised his hand enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear. A few stifled chuckles sounded around the classroom. One of the children by the door even called him "fox demon," earning a glare from the teacher.
"Haruno Sakura."
"Here!" The pink-haired girl's voice rang out clearly.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
The classroom fell silent for a moment, then whispers rose all around: "He's from the Uchiha Clan," and "He's so handsome." Takuma followed everyone's gaze to the seat by the window at the front. A black-haired boy sat there with an expressionless face, unfazed by the chatter around him. Sasuke replied with a flat "Here," his voice cold.
Takuma mused silently, This kid probably had one of the most miserable fates in the world of Naruto. His whole clan was wiped out, his own brother did it, and that same brother made him hate him. It'd take nerves of steel to endure that.
"Mori Takuma."
"Here," Takuma answered.
Naruto, seated in front, suddenly turned around and grinned at him from several rows away, showing a row of white teeth. Takuma paused, then nodded back.
A system notification suddenly rang in his mind without warning.
[Event detected: Team 7's first gathering]
[Event level: Key plot point]
[Witness status: Confirmed valid]
[Witnessing complete—received 1 draw chance]
Takuma's pupils contracted sharply.
Team 7's first gathering—Team 7 meant Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, the team led by Kakashi. But they had only just started school. They were six-year-old children who'd just been assigned to the same class. It would be years before they actually formed Team 7. The system had already judged this event valid, that far in advance?
And he hadn't done anything. He'd just sat in his seat and waited for the roll call.
Suppressing his urge to draw right away, he waited until class let out, then ran to the restroom and locked himself inside before taking a deep breath and opening the system panel.
The prize wheel appeared again, spinning amid a swirl of colored lights.
A faint flash of light passed, and something featherlight dropped into his hand.
Takuma lowered his head and saw several black hairs lying in his palm.
[Congratulations, host. Reward received: Hulk's leg hair (10 strands)]
[Item description: Leg hair shed during Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk, containing trace gamma radiation residue (completely safe dose). The material is tough and can withstand immense pulling force without breaking.]
[Note: Congratulations, this is the closest you've ever gotten to the Hulk. Even if it's just leg hair, at least it's a superhero's leg hair. More useful than milk.]
Takuma stood in the restroom stall, staring at the handful of black, bristly leg hairs in his palm. He fell silent for a moment.
The Hulk's leg hair.
He didn't even know where to begin. Should he complain about how many bizarre things the prize pool contained, or about the system's note that it was "more useful than milk"? Did the system really not think its rewards were getting more and more ridiculous each time?
"What use could this possibly have?" he muttered.
The system didn't answer.
Takuma took a deep breath and carefully tucked the leg hairs into the inner pocket of his ninja tool pouch. Whatever else, the description said they could withstand immense pulling force without breaking. Maybe he could use them as a rope?
By the time he left the restroom, there was hardly anyone in the hallway. The new students had either been picked up by their parents or had headed home with their friends. Takuma walked out of the school alone, the sunlight a little too bright.
His first day of school. Team 7's first gathering had been completed, and he'd received a draw chance. The prize was the Hulk's leg hair. The huge gap between the Wolverine Healing Factor and Hulk's leg hair gave him a profound sense of just how ridiculous the system's range of possible rewards was.
Takuma slung his schoolbag over his shoulder and headed toward the bookstore.
In the distance, he saw Tenten crouching by the entrance, counting her supplies. She had a lollipop in her mouth and a ledger in her hand, looking like a little adult.
When she saw him coming, Tenten raised her head and called, "Hey, bookstore guy, what about those ninja tool books you promised to look for?"
"...I haven't even gone inside yet."
"Then hurry up and look. I'll wait." Tenten sounded a little unreasonable, but entirely confident.
Takuma waved helplessly and pushed open the bookstore door. There were no customers inside. His father was seated behind the counter, leafing through an old book. When he saw Takuma return, he looked up and asked, "How was school?"
"Not bad." Takuma thought for a moment, then added, "I was assigned to Iruka-sensei's class."
Mori Kazuki nodded and didn't ask anything else. He closed his book and watched his son walk up the stairs, a complicated look flashing in his eyes.
Takuma returned to the study and began searching the dusty shelves for those old books about ninja tools.
At least the books about ninja tools would actually be useful.
He'd worry about the leg hair later.
Before you continue