Inheritor of the Will of the Tyrant
Year 42 of Konoha, Ninja Academy.
The bulletin board at the entrance was a hub of bustling noise, and every year this period served as the divergence point for the fates of Konoha's eligible children. Being able to enter the Ninja Academy meant that half one's foot was already stepping onto the path of a ninja, serving as the first threshold for commoner ninjas to rise in the world.
Countless parents brought their children, their gazes locked firmly onto the freshman roster, with some dejected and others joyous and leaping.
The most conspicuous among them was a pair of father and son wearing comical green spandex and sporting bowl cuts. The son sat atop his father's shoulders, his fingers pressed against the bulletin board as he carefully cross-checked name after name, wanting to find himself upon it.
Only, his tone grew increasingly frantic and carried a trace of a sob, "Might Guy, Might Guy, there's none, there's none!"
After a long while, the son propped his hands against the bulletin board and lowered his head as well, tears gushing out and dripping onto his father's face, "There isn't! My name isn't on here at all, Dad!"
The father beneath him offered words of comfort, "Keep looking, Guy. You've already tried your hardest, and your hard work won't be let down."
Nara Tsukimi, standing in the shade of a tree, watched this scene with a touch of nostalgia at the bottom of his eyes; he had come to the school today not only for enrollment, but also to catch a glimpse of the future Emperor Guy.
Who could have guessed that this comical bowl-cut who couldn't even pass the Ninja Academy exams would one day kick apart Six Paths Madara with a single kick, acknowledged by the Dance King as the pinnacle of Taijutsu.
And of course, there were these anime-style tears. When watching Naruto in his past life, he had thought them exaggerated, but now seeing them for real, he found them even more exaggerated in reality.
After satisfying his curiosity, Nara Tsukimi walked into the school, preparing to complete his admission procedures.
Tsukimi had been in the ninja world for two years. At the dawn of his transmigration, the original owner was just a four-year-old kid, and his parents had also sacrificed their lives on the battlefield. Fortunately, thanks to the care of his older cousin Nara Shikaku, no one had embezzled his survivor's pension and savings, and his little life was going quite well.
As a member of the Nara clan, the original owner's talent was pretty good. He succeeded on his very first attempt to refine chakra, and even Shikaku praised him when he saw it.
My younger brother Tsukimi possesses the makings of a Jonin!
However, after learning the specific timeline, he couldn't laugh anymore.
Tsukimi discovered that he and Kakashi and Obito belonged to the same graduating class. This meant that the Third Shinobi World War, an absolute meat grinder that would erupt a few years later, was a war he would have to fight in as well.
In a war like this, what good was having the makings of a Jonin? Not to mention that there were disasters waiting down the road like the Nine-Tails' Attack, the Konoha Crush, and Pain's Assault—all kinds of divine figures one after another.
Even a dog wouldn't be a ninja before the Third Shinobi World War!
Then he was threatened by Nara Shikaku, who intended to reclaim all his savings under the guise of being his legal guardian and demanded that he must go to school.
Talk about ruthless!
Tsukimi had no choice but to go and take the entrance exam unwillingly, but during the test he simply gave up and tanked it on purpose, delivering scores that even he couldn't bear to look at.
He originally thought everything was already settled, and then nothing happened, and he just smoothly enrolled like that.
Could you pull strings to get into the Ninja Academy? That wasn't right!
"I ask the moon in the palace of the heavens, not knowing what year and month our reunion will be..."
After finishing all the enrollment procedures, Tsukimi hummed a tune as he walked out of the school. The sky had already reached the hour of dusk, and the setting sun was sinking down, dyeing the entire firmament red.
The flow of people at the school gates had long since dispersed, leaving only Might Guy and his father still standing steadfastly before the bulletin board, unwilling to leave for a long time.
Not far away, three youths obviously a head taller than Guy blocked the path in front of the two with mocking expressions on their faces.
Harsh and sarcastic words clearly drifted into Tsukimi's ears.
"Trash who can't even learn ninjutsu still want to be ninjas? It's simply laughable."
"Hahaha, and there's that perennial Genin dad of his. Truly, father and son share the exact same bloodline."
"Are you even worthy of being a ninja? Hurry up and get lost out of here, and stop being an eyesore!"
Tsukimi had to admit that he failed to keep a straight face. As expected of Konoha's long-inherited, distinctive tradition—the Will of the Tyrant! Seeing it today, it lived up to its reputation; they really were a bunch of bullying, overbearing hicks!
Tsukimi looked at them with a disdainful expression. The three upperclassmen seemed to sense something, turning their gazes over and letting them land on him.
"Hey, kid, what kind of look is that? Looking down on us? Do you understand what respect for upperclassmen means?"
"I remember him. Someone dropped him off on the day of the entrance exam. Seems like he's that kid from the Nara clan."
"What, seeing us teach some trash a lesson, do you want to stick your neck out for him?"
"I heard the Nara clan only knows soft shadow techniques without the slightest lethality. Just in time for us senior year upperclassmen to teach you a lesson!"
Seeming to have their self-esteem stung by Tsukimi's disdain, the expressions of the three turned fierce. They directly abandoned Guy and his father and closed in on Tsukimi from all directions.
Tsukimi didn't panic too much. Although he had decided not to be a ninja right after transmigrating and confirming the timeline, he hadn't let himself go to waste over the past two years. The training he ought to do had still been done, and he hadn't missed out on the family's secret medicines either.
After all, the ninja world wasn't a peaceful place, and improving his strength for self-defense was still very necessary.
That said, he was only six years old, and the three opponents were all senior-year students. Having undergone the school's systematic training, they surpassed him in physical strength, basic Taijutsu, and combat experience alike.
Tsukimi calculated in his mind that he had to strike first and take out one of them while catching them off guard!
Yet the three upperclassmen didn't give him any opportunity to make the first move, directly teaming up to block and surround him.
Oh come on, no martial ethics whatsoever, huh?
The three divided their labor clearly. One of them launched a frontal punch to attack, another skirted around to his left to block the path, and the last one flanked him from behind, their cooperation extremely practiced.
Tsukimi mobilized his chakra at the very first moment, attempting to use the Shadow Imitation Technique, but the student attacking from the front saw through his intention at a glance, suddenly accelerating his pace forward and leaving him no chance to cast a ninjutsu at all.
Tch, performing hand seals for ninjutsu was still too troublesome.
Tsukimi could only lower his hands, hurriedly dodging to the right. Taking advantage of the frontal person's punch missing and the left-side attack not yet arriving, he swiftly bent backward, utilizing his advantage of a small stature to evade the fist of the person behind him.
Focus, throw a punch!
Gathering all his strength, he slammed a fist into the lower abdomen of the person behind him.
"Ugh!"
A muffled grunt rang out. The abdomen of the person behind him suffered a heavy blow, his body instantly arching like a shrimp while his right arm also hung down limply.
However, before Tsukimi could even draw a breath of relief, the remaining two's attacks followed right on each other's heels, heavy fists and kicks landing continuously upon his body.
His arm and back suffered consecutive heavy blows, pain instantly spreading throughout his entire body. He clenched his teeth and pushed through it by sheer force of will, twisting his torso in an attempt to break free from the encirclement first, but the two remaining pressed forward step by step, not giving him any chance.
In the end, the frontal student delivered a charged kick. Tsukimi could only cross his arms and take the kick head-on.
Bang!
Tremendous force traveled from his arms, causing Tsukimi to stagger back heavily a couple of steps and smash his back fiercely against the wall. With his chest churning, even his breathing became somewhat obstructed.
The senior-year student who had taken Tsukimi's punch had recovered his breath by now and stood back up. The three of them drove him into a corner, looking at him with teasing expressions while their eyes were filled with contempt.