A Brawl Between Shinobi Academy Kids

"Little Hideki, Nurse Sister is going to treat you now, so hang in there."

Inside the sun-drenched consultation room, the nurse looked at the little boy in front of her and smiled.

"Okay, Nurse Sister."

The little boy named Hideki responded obediently, then extended his right hand, which was wrapped tightly in bandages.

Nurse Sister unwrapped the bandages, immediately revealing a small hand covered in scars. A flash of heartache crossed the nurse's eyes. After simple disinfection, chakra surged with a green glow, completely covering those small hands.

This process lasted about five minutes, and the wounds were mostly healed.

Normally, wounds like this could be completely cured in a single session under a healing jutsu.

Yet considering Hideki was still young, excessive chakra stimulation might cause aftereffects, so the treatment was divided into three sessions.

This was already the second one.

"I'm going to apply medicine now. It might hurt a little, so bear with it, little Hideki."

"Okay, Nurse Sister."

The same reply; the boy's docility was very endearing.

Actually, however, Hideki wanted to say that he had already grown accustomed to this kind of pain.

He also wanted to say that creation and destruction always existed correspondingly, much like light and darkness, opposing and interdependent. To gain anything, one always had to bear some cost.

Naturally, these words remained buried deep in his heart, otherwise they would affect his low-profile persona.

"All done! Little Hideki is so brave. Come back in three days to change the bandages. If it itches, make sure not to take them off."

Nurse Sister rubbed Hideki's little head; an obedient and sensible child always won people over.

"Thank you, Nurse Sister."

A few minutes later.

Hideki's right hand was wrapped in brand-new bandages, and the bow on top came from the same nurse's hands—neither too loose nor too tight, just right.

Walking down the street toward home, looking at the bustling pedestrians and familiar buildings around him, Hideki's expression was somewhat dazed.

Whether it was his imagination or not, although he had transmigrated here not long ago, he always felt as though he had lived here for many years.

Yes, he was a transmigrator, and as of today, it had been exactly 100 days since his transmigration.

As a liberal arts student at a Modu university in his past life, suddenly arriving inside the body of a five-year-old boy felt truly uncomfortable.

On the contrary, the high-risk nature of this world, along with the blank period where the original work and timeline were not quite clear, gave him a massive sense of crisis.

Right now it was February in Konoha Year 40, shortly after the Ninja Academy had started.

The Third Shinobi World War had just begun, and there were still a full twenty years until the start of Shippuden.

He lacked a detailed understanding of the events that occurred during this time, holding only a vague impression of the major incidents.

Hideki lowered his head and sighed. A liberal arts student, a child from a commoner family—even with a prophetic perspective, survival was not so easy.

My right hand should be able to withstand chakra now. I hope this time it works.

Hideki shoved his hands into his pockets, the bow on his right hand's bandages concealed, and quickened his pace, slipping into the dark alley behind Konoha's bustling streets.

He did not linger because of the octopus-balls emitting a tempting aroma by the roadside;

nor did he stop for Make-Out Paradise, which was recently all the rage in bookstores.

Hideki's nest was located in a small forest in the outskirts of Konoha. The environment was remote, but it had the advantage of having no one to disturb him, and he could usually fish by the small river to supplement his protein intake.

Yet when Hideki walked up to his front door, a spiky-haired boy had already been waiting for a long time.

"Are you done? What did the doctor say?" The spiky-haired boy asked with a serious expression.

"He said I need one more bandage change, but I feel like it should be no big deal. Never mind that, it's not a major issue," Hideki replied swiftly.

"Then... fine!" The spiky-haired boy hesitated for a moment, but ultimately failed to talk Hideki out of it. "Tomorrow when we run into those bastards, we're relying on this move!"

As the spiky-haired boy spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and straightened his goggles, acting as though he were about to handle some grand affair.

The two boys immediately started running, their purpose clear and their paces steady.

Soon, the two of them arrived beside a small river.

The surroundings were lush and dense woods, clear river water flowed leisurely, and a few large, fat fish would occasionally leap about in the shallow areas.

Yet the two boys were completely single-minded, staring at each other as the spiky-haired boy silently produced a lighter and a bundle of oil-stained cotton swabs.

"After the last failure, I reviewed things for a long time and still think the problem was cooking oil. This time I secretly swiped my grandma's kerosene, so it shouldn't flip over again."

"Mm... you're smart, Obito, but it would be even better if you could master Great Fireball a little faster."

"Hah! It's just a matter of time!" Obito took it in stride.

Indeed, standing before Hideki was none other than the future third great overlord of the shinobi world, Uchiha Obito.

As to why the two of them hung out together, that had to start from the day Hideki first transmigrated.

The original owner of this body was a little coward, and when Hideki first transmigrated, he was being beaten by a group of bratty kids.

Only, the kids struck without measuring their strength, and even caused the back of Hideki's head to smash against a brick without them realizing.

They kept pounding away even after the person had already ceased to exist.

At that moment, Obito, who upheld justice upon seeing an injustice, appeared.

Relying on sheer passion, the chivalrous Obito joined the beating.

These two hardship-sharing brothers from different mothers also forged a deep friendship that very day.

Yes.

The thing the two of them were about to do right now was to win back their pride and square things away in tomorrow's brawl.

Don't ask why a high-quality talent in his early twenties with a soul would pull off such a stunt.

A man remains a boy until death.

"Then I'm starting, Obito," Hideki took a deep breath and said seriously.

Obito nodded.

Hideki closed his eyes, carefully sensing the flow of chakra inside his body. Following the ninja scroll left behind by his unseen parents—specifically the chakra operation method recorded within—he formed hand seals.

His seal-forming speed was fairly fast, thanks to the pen-spinning divine arts he practiced through a decade of cold-window studying; in short, his fingers were exceptionally flexible.

Even the bandages could not stop his maneuvers.

Finally, the seals were formed, and his chakra was raring to go according to the specific method.

"Water Release: Water Ball Technique!"

Hideki held his breath and let out a sharp cry. Following that, he violently thrust a single hand straight into the river surface. When he lifted it, a clear little water ball had already appeared in his hand!

D-rank ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Ball Technique.

Can remove impurities from river water, extracting relatively pure water molecules. Drinking it is not recommended, but it can be used to take baths and wash clothes.

It was a very basic Water Release with no lethality, but it could make daily life convenient.

The water ball was the size of a fist. Hideki channeled the water ball onto the back of his hand, and it actually did not dissipate, instead clinging to Hideki's hand like it was attached.

Following two whole months of practice, Hideki could already master it skillfully and easily control the size and position of the water ball.

"Next is the main event."

Hideki took a deep breath, and even Obito beside him grew nervous.

Last time, they were not far from success, but due to poor coordination, they had almost scorched Hideki's right hand.

Obito nervously used a lighter to ignite a cotton swab, and a small flame flared up with a swoosh.

Hideki, on his end, was not idle either.

His left hand remained mostly stationary, using only his fingers to dexterously form the shape of the hand seals—his movements slow and light—while his right-hand movements were slightly larger.

One could see that controlling a ball while forming seals simultaneously was still somewhat difficult.

Fortunately, the process went very smoothly—Hideki had also been researching this trick for over a month.

Finally!

"Lightning Release: Lightning Flash!"

With another sharp cry, a dazzling blue light burst forth on Hideki's right hand!

That was Lightning Release!

Envy flashed in Obito's eyes.

Although they were both the lowest-level jutsus, they were still better than a guy like him who had studied Great Fireball for three months yet couldn't release a fart.

Hideki truly was a genius!