Leave your brains here! The plot differs somewhat from the original!
"Wake up, everyone! The Shinobi from Konoha are here to pick us up!"
"If you don't hurry, you'll get left behind!"
Zhou Cheng had been sleeping soundly when a sudden clamor woke him.
He opened his eyes and found himself in completely unfamiliar surroundings.
Holy shit, what's going on?
Wasn't I sleeping at home?
Where the hell is this?
Just then, a sharp pain tore through his head.
Memories that weren't his flooded into his mind.
After absorbing them, he discovered something shocking.
He had actually transmigrated—and into the world of the Hokage, as a war orphan.
His parents had both been from Kirigakure.
They had died in Kirigakure's civil war.
They had left him all alone, wandering from place to place.
A Konoha jonin on a mission outside the village had found him and brought him back to Konoha.
After several days of arduous travel, they had finally reached an outpost outside Konoha.
Today, they were to head into Konoha under the guidance of the Konoha ninja sent to meet them.
Zhou Cheng scrambled to his feet. He didn't want to get separated from the group.
As a war orphan, being taken to Konoha was currently his best option.
At least Konoha had the gentlest attitude toward war orphans.
Still, getting into Konoha didn't mean he could rest easy for the rest of his life.
Orphans from outside the village were kept under constant surveillance. Even if they became genin, they would still be cannon fodder.
According to his memories, it was now year 59 of Konoha.
There was still a year before the Konoha 12 graduated from the Ninja Academy.
And this body's parents had only been ordinary Shinobi from Kirigakure, with neither secret techniques nor a kekkei genkai.
Even if he became a Shinobi, he would only be an ordinary one.
In a world where only people with cheats could survive, he would be walking on thin ice.
He might drop dead on some mission outside the village one day.
His only advantages were his familiarity with this world and his knowledge of how the plot would unfold.
Zhou Cheng got up and joined the main group.
What worried him most right now was the mental-probing Ninjutsu he would undergo after entering Konoha.
He didn't know whether that Ninjutsu could discover that he was a transmigrator.
As he walked forward, a child suddenly ran up beside him.
Zhou Cheng recognized the child as the one he had picked up three years ago.
Back then, he had shared half of his last remaining food with the child.
Ever since, he had gained a little shadow he couldn't shake off, no matter how hard he tried.
Then he saw two Shinobi standing beside the road ahead.
They wore Konoha forehead protectors. Zhou Cheng didn't recognize their faces; they were probably just nobodies.
Just then, he felt a burning heat in his chest.
He reached up and felt an uneven patch on his chest, like the scar left behind by a healed wound.
From his memories, Zhou Cheng knew it was this body's birthmark, present since birth.
Immediately afterward, an image appeared in his mind.
It was something incredibly familiar to him.
A gourd vine floated in the darkness.
Seven gourds of different colors grew on the Gourd Vine.
Each gourd gave off its own glow.
Some information that hadn't been there before also appeared in his mind.
What the hell? Calabash Little Diamond?
No, wait. Is this a cheat?
Of course. Transmigration always comes with a cheat.
He immediately examined the new information.
For now, he could only inspect the purple gourd.
It was called the Purple Crystal Gourd, and it had two functions.
First, [Talent replication.]
He could use Replication to copy other people's innate abilities without anyone noticing and integrate them into himself.
Second, after copying and absorbing a talent through Replication, the Purple Crystal Gourd would refine that copied talent into Talent Original Liquid.
The Talent Original Liquid could be allocated to the gourds of other colors.
Depending on how much Talent Original Liquid he allocated, his various attributes would improve.
The time required for refinement also varied according to the quality of the talent absorbed.
He probably couldn't inspect the other gourds' abilities yet because he hadn't used Replication to copy anyone else's talent for the Purple Crystal Gourd to refine.
The more Zhou Cheng read, the more excited he became.
With this cheat, he absolutely had a chance to stand at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World.
He would never have to remain a mere cannon-fodder genin.
Byakugan, Sharingan, Rinnegan, ninjutsu, genjutsu, Senjutsu-they would all be his for the taking.
Still, the information in his mind was only theory.
I need to test this now and find out exactly how absorbing talents works.
With that thought, he turned his gaze toward the two Shinobi in the distance.
The burning heat from his Gourd Vine birthmark meant there was someone nearby whose talent he could copy through Talent Replication.
He fixed his gaze on the Shinobi standing ahead who looked like a squad leader.
Talent Replication, he silently commanded.
The next second, he felt a purple crystal gourd appear on the gourd vine on his chest.
Then a pale golden aura rose above the squad leader Shinobi's head, visible only to Zhou Cheng.
That aura then flew into the Purple Crystal Gourd.
The entire process took only a few breaths.
Then he felt some knowledge about being a Shinobi appear in his mind.
Along with the Chakra Refinement Method, the most fundamental skill for a Shinobi.
And the Shuriken Throwing Technique.
If he wanted to refine chakra right there, he could do it immediately.
So this is talent replication?
This is incredible. The knowledge in my head feels like something I spent years learning.
It belonged entirely to him, without the slightest sense of incongruity.
The Shuriken Throwing Technique in particular felt as though his body had practiced it for years.
If someone gave him a few shuriken now, he was completely confident his accuracy would be no worse than a chunin's.
Zhou Cheng silently checked how long the process would take.
He discovered that the Purple Crystal Gourd needed half an hour to fully refine this Shinobi's talent.
Only half an hour-and judging by the level of the Shuriken Throwing Technique he had acquired...
That meant this Shinobi was only at the level of an ordinary chunin: nothing special, with very little talent.
They should be reaching Konoha in about half an hour.
If he encountered any powerful Shinobi then, he had to use Talent Replication on them again.
Right, aren't we supposed to receive a welcome from the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, after entering the village?
I can copy the Professor's talent then.
Let's see what I can get.
"Hey, did you hear?"
"After the Third Hokage welcomes us, they'll test our talents and assign us accordingly."
"They'll decide whether we become ordinary civilians or get to study at the Ninja Academy!"
Whispers filled the advancing group.
Some were excited about their future, while others were worried.
The excited ones were glad they would no longer have to wander without a home.
The worried ones feared their talent would be too poor for them to become the Shinobi they held in such high regard.
After hearing this, Zhou Cheng's lips curved upward.
With the abilities he had just acquired through Replication...
As long as he refined a little chakra before the talent assessment...
Then combined that chakra with the Shuriken Throwing Technique...
Hitting a bull's-eye from a dozen or so meters away would definitely be no problem.
And the talent assessment would take place after the Third Hokage's welcome.
By then, I'll have acquired the Third Hokage's talent through Replication, too.
Getting into the Ninja Academy will be no problem at all.
Only by becoming a Shinobi can I meet more characters from the original story.
Only then can I use Replication to acquire more talents and abilities.
Only then will I have the strength to protect myself in this world.