Kumogakure

At the edge of the Kumogakure shinobi village in the Land of Lightning, two figures raced forward, one after the other.

The man in front was dressed as a merchant and carried an ordinary katana. He gritted his teeth and glanced back at the person rapidly closing in on him.

"Damn it! If I had a suitable weapon on hand, would some Kumogakure shinobi brat dare chase me down?"

"But how was I exposed? How did a mere Genin see through my identity?"

He was a Konoha intelligence ninja who had infiltrated the Kumogakure shinobi village, but he clearly could no longer remain undercover.

Whoosh! The boy wearing a Kumogakure shinobi forehead protector suddenly formed three hand seals, used the Body Flicker Technique, and appeared behind him.

The boy held a long blade in each hand. One struck high and the other low as they slashed at the Konoha ninja in perfect coordination.

"Wind Release: Wind Blade!" The Konoha ninja unleashed the Wind Release ninjutsu he had prepared in advance.

The Wind Blade struck the blade in the boy's left hand, instantly cutting the mediocre weapon in two before continuing toward him without losing momentum.

The boy's expression changed slightly. He had already exchanged several moves with this man, but he had not expected him to be hiding such a vicious follow-up attack.

The boy barely twisted his body backward and to the side, evading the Wind Blade's continued attack.

However, that left the blade in his right hand with an obvious opening.

The Konoha ninja revealed a savage grin. Still too inexperienced!

With a light tap of his katana against the boy's left-hand blade, he forced the boy's guard wide open.

The Konoha ninja smoothly thrust his blade forward, about to cut the boy down.

But at that moment, another flash of steel suddenly entered the Konoha ninja's peripheral vision.

He jolted. His first thought was that there were other enemies, so he turned his attention to the area around the boy.

After all, this was the Kumogakure shinobi village. Although he had not been exposed for long, it was perfectly normal for the sounds of battle to attract other ninja.

But he quickly realized that his judgment was wrong.

The third blade was actually clamped between one of the boy's legs.

"A sword can be used like that?" That was the Konoha ninja's final thought.

The next instant, the blade flashed from the lower right to the upper left, severing his neck in one stroke.

Pfft, pfft, pfft. The Konoha ninja spat out several mouthfuls of blood, cast the boy one unwilling look, and then lost all signs of life.

Of course he was unwilling. To remain undercover in the Kumogakure shinobi village, he had carried no convenient ninja tools such as kunai or Explosive Tags. After being exposed, he had also dared not use Fire Release, which would have caused too much commotion. Otherwise, he would not have been defeated so quickly!

The boy retreated several steps and warily scanned the surroundings. He had also been wounded by the man's final strike, though fortunately the injury was not serious.

Only after confirming that the other man was dead did the boy put away his two intact blades and tend to his wound.

The dark-skinned boy was named Chiba Shun. He was thirteen years old and a transmigrator.

However, unlike other transmigration protagonists, he had not arrived in Konoha. He had come to the Kumogakure shinobi village instead.

Thirteen years had passed, yet his ninja rank in the Kumogakure shinobi village was still only Genin.

But that was fine. After what happened today, he was surely not far from becoming a Chunin.

There were five ninja ranks in total: Genin, Chunin, Jonin, Elite Jonin, and Kage Level.

The main difference between each rank was the level of one's chakra.

Under normal circumstances, a ninja's chakra level had to be improved through battle, learning ninjutsu, and developing ninjutsu.

To put it more grandly, the firmer a ninja's ninja way, the higher his chakra level and ninja rank would be.

Of course, there was quality, and there was quantity.

If one did not have enough chakra, one could not advance in rank either.

Although Chiba Shun had always been registered as a Genin in the Kumogakure shinobi's ninja records, both his chakra level and chakra reserves had reached the Chunin level some time ago.

However, that only meant his strength had reached the Chunin level. He had not received the Kumogakure shinobi village's recognition and had not been granted the title of Chunin.

For a Genin to advance to Chunin, he either had to pass the Chunin selection exam or complete a special mission and receive special approval from the higher-ups.

If not for today's incident, Chiba Shun would have taken the next Chunin selection exam held by the village.

But now, there was no need.

A Genin capable of uncovering an enemy village's Chunin-level intelligence ninja and killing him alone would certainly be promoted.

After some time, several ANBU appeared nearby with a series of whooshes. They first inspected the scene, then sternly interrogated Chiba Shun.

Chiba Shun did not think much of it. This was a sensitive period. Only seven years had passed since the Second Shinobi World War, and the village had not yet recovered. These people were all strong survivors of the war, so their vigilance was only natural.

After confirming Chiba Shun's identity, their attitudes improved somewhat, and they asked for the details of what had happened.

When they learned that Chiba Shun had killed a Konoha intelligence ninja who was at least a Chunin, their expressions eased considerably.

What happened next had nothing to do with Chiba Shun. He did not need to deal with the corpse either; these professionals would naturally take it to the appropriate department.

With nothing else to do, he returned to the village to wait for good news.

Chiba Shun returned to his extremely shabby home and considered the future.

When he had first transmigrated, he had also wanted to use his foreknowledge to reach the pinnacle of life.

But reality had quickly slapped him in the face.

By the time he was old enough to train, the Second Shinobi World War had already broken out. The front lines were under pressure, and the quality of ninja available to guide little brats like them had plummeted.

More importantly, the Kumogakure shinobi village did not have a Ninja Academy at the time. Ninja training relied entirely on the inheritance passed down between squad leaders and their subordinates.

Chiba Shun's talent did not lie in Lightning Release, so he had not caught the eye of any powerful squad leader.

The squad leader assigned to him was merely a middle-aged ninja who had barely become a Chunin, so he naturally could not teach Chiba Shun much of use.

That man had not taken Chiba Shun on as a subordinate for Chiba Shun's sake, either. He had only wanted the village subsidies.

The Kumogakure shinobi village provided subsidies to all squad leaders who led teams. This was also the Kumogakure shinobi village's main method of cultivating ninja outside the ninja clans.

What frustrated Chiba Shun most was that ninja were essentially military personnel. Once someone became a ninja, even if he was only a trainee, he would be subjected to military-style management.

Every action Chiba Shun took required his squad leader's permission, making all his plans impossible to carry out.

Going out to search for possible opportunities? He could forget about it!

He could only train and carry out missions as a civilian ninja in the unfamiliar Kumogakure shinobi village.

Even what missions he carried out could only be decided by his squad leader.

His squad leader was not like the teachers of Konoha's Twelve from the original story.

That squad leader regarded the three so-called team members entirely as tools for making money.

The squad leader himself needed large amounts of money to train, so it was impossible for him to offer Chiba Shun and the others any benefits.

Those issues were still manageable. Chiba Shun had not completely despaired. He still knew many things related to training and had believed he could become a genius.

But once he truly set foot on the path of cultivation, he learned that everything had been wrong.

Training was not something one could accomplish by hiding at home alone.

Training required massive energy replenishment.

Whether it was taijutsu or ninjutsu, both required chakra. Chakra was not generated from nothing, nor was it absorbed from nature.

Food was converted into physical energy, and only when physical energy combined with spiritual energy could chakra be formed.

Therefore, every bit of chakra consumed theoretically required a corresponding amount of food to replenish it.

The harder one trained, the greater the consumption, and the more food one needed to replenish it!

Food that could rapidly replenish physical energy was especially expensive. Therefore, not only could Chiba Shun not train as madly as Might Guy in the original story, he could not even afford the supplies for ordinary training.

As a result, his training progress had always been extremely slow.

After seven or eight years, Chiba Shun had only learned some taijutsu, swordsmanship, and the basic Three Body Technique.

The Body Flicker Technique he had used before killing the Konoha ninja was actually something he had secretly learned from a friend. It could not be brought into the open.

The taijutsu, swordsmanship, and Three Body Technique he had learned from his squad leader had all cost money as well.

The village allowed squad leaders to teach certain ninjutsu to their subordinates, but it did not require them to teach for free. Therefore, almost all squad leaders charged fees.

Fortunately, everything was about to change.

He would become a Chunin.

Chunin were the backbone of a village. They possessed considerable freedom and could do some of the things they wanted to do.

As Chiba Shun dreamed of the future, he bought some ingredients and began preparing dinner.

Before he had finished cooking, an energetic boy rushed inside.

"Shun, I can smell meat, and more than one kind at that. Buying so much good food—are you done trying to save money?" The newcomer unceremoniously picked up a pair of chopsticks and began eating while curiously questioning Chiba Shun.

The boy was Chiba Shun's neighbor, Sakai Yushi. He was a boy, though his name sounded like a girl's.

Their fathers had been Genin in the same squad and had died in the same battle.

Afterward, the two orphans had grown up relying on each other.

Sakai Yushi was Chiba Shun's only remaining bond with the Kumogakure shinobi.

Sakai Yushi had better luck than Chiba Shun. Lightning Release was his greatest specialty, and he was quite talented, so a Special Jonin had noticed him and taken him on as a subordinate.

He had become a Chunin a year ago.

Chiba Shun's Body Flicker Technique had been secretly taught to him by Sakai Yushi.

Chiba Shun had not let Sakai Yushi lose out, either. Based on Killer B's Eight-Sword Style from the original story, he had developed the smooth Three-Sword Style he now used and taught it to Sakai Yushi.

Sakai Yushi combined swordsmanship with Lightning Release ninjutsu and improved rapidly, becoming a Chunin before Chiba Shun.

After all, Lightning Release and swordsmanship were the Kumogakure shinobi's specialties, making it easy to receive guidance from those who came before.

Chiba Shun placed the final dish on the table and said, "This meal used up all my money, but it's fine. A huge sum is about to come in!"