The day Yakushi Nonō successfully enrolled, Amamiya Maki knew his peaceful days were over.
The original owner of his body had known her for six years, and now they attended the same Ninja Academy.
Yakushi Nonō naturally assumed she should sit beside him.
But Minato Namikaze had other ideas.
On the first day of school, he had unerringly picked Amamiya Maki out in the classroom.
Then he had sat beside him and chatted all day.
Amamiya Maki felt that although this new classmate could be a little harsh with his words, he was a good person and a friend worth getting to know.
So the next day, Minato made two extra rice balls for his lunchbox.
They were specifically for Amamiya Maki.
Minato figured it would be easy to hand them over when he sat beside him at lunch.
Then he walked into the classroom and saw Yakushi Nonō already sitting beside Amamiya Maki.
The smile never left Minato's face, but his steps visibly faltered for an instant.
The blonde girl with two braids was turned sideways, talking to Amamiya Maki.
She was saying things like, "I've made your lunch for today," and, "Stop forgetting to bring your lunchbox."
Amamiya Maki lay slumped over his desk, looking half asleep.
Forgetting his lunchbox wasn't simply a matter of forgetfulness.
Mostly, he really wasn't used to life without food delivery.
"Maki, who's this?" Minato's voice remained gentle.
But a careful listener could hear the subtle wariness of a true friend whose place had been stolen by an impostor.
"A friend from the orphanage. We've known each other since we were little." Amamiya Maki didn't even lift his head.
"Since you were little?" Minato repeated.
Then he gave Nonō a textbook sunny smile.
"Hello, I'm Minato Namikaze, Maki's best friend at school."
Nonō glanced at him.
Her eyes were clear, without hostility, but his sunshine hadn't melted her either.
"Hello, I'm Yakushi Nonō, Maki's best friend at the orphanage. I have been for six years."
Amamiya Maki buried his face in his arms.
"I had lunch with Maki yesterday. He even said my Tamagoyaki was delicious."
Minato's tone remained gentle, but he spoke a touch faster than usual.
"Really?" Nonō tilted her head.
"He ate my lunches for six years. Sometimes he complained they were too salty, but he always finished them."
Amamiya Maki buried his face even deeper.
Minato fell silent for a moment, then played his trump card.
"During practical training yesterday, Maki ran laps with me."
"We ran the last two laps side by side. The teacher said his stamina was good, and he said between breaths that he couldn't catch up to a genius because he'd started too far behind."
"Afterward, I told him that where we started didn't matter. What mattered was growing together."
Minato's blue eyes shone as he spoke.
He wasn't showing off. It was the sincerity of someone who genuinely treasured a friendship.
Nonō didn't answer immediately.
She looked down at her hands resting in her lap, then raised her head.
"When he was five, he had a high fever. The orphanage didn't have enough medicine, so I stayed by his bedside alone for half the night."
"When the fever made him delirious, it was my name he called."
"You didn't even know him then."
"I know him now."
"So?"
"So I'll stay by his bedside from now on, too! I can take care of him!"
"Could you say his name when you were delirious with fever?"
"Yes. His name is Amamiya Maki, and his dream is to become Hokage."
"When he runs laps, he likes following the person ahead of him, then overtaking them near the finish."
"He doesn't like washing his hands before eating, and sometimes he drops rice on the table."
Amamiya Maki lifted his head, looking utterly exasperated.
"Are you two done making a fuss? Can you stop bringing up embarrassing stuff?"
This friendly exchange over a seat ultimately ended in Yakushi Nonō's victory.
She hadn't used any special tactics.
She simply said she had sat in this same spot beside him at the orphanage six years ago.
Minato opened his mouth, realized his history with Maki wasn't long enough to compete, and moved one seat over.
But after sitting down, he looked past Yakushi Nonō and gave Amamiya Maki a meaningful stare.
That look roughly translated to: I'll win it back in six years.
After school, Amamiya Maki didn't go straight back to the orphanage.
He took Nonō to the Mission Building.
"What are we doing here?" Nonō asked, puzzled.
"Hiring a teacher for you. Don't you want to become a medical ninja?"
Medical ninja training courses hadn't been established yet. Anyone who wanted to learn had to hire a private tutor.
There were only three standard ways to learn ninjutsu in Konoha:
First, an inheritance left by one's parents.
Second, the basic ninjutsu taught at the Ninja Academy.
Third, instruction from a Jonin team leader.
Of these three paths, the third was the most likely to transform someone's life.
Minato meeting Jiraiya and Orochimaru meeting Hiruzen Sarutobi were both examples of that path.
Of course, there was also clan inheritance, but you either had that from birth or you didn't. There was little to say about it.
"But the money..."
"Don't worry about the money. Consider it a loan."
Amamiya Maki still had some savings.
There were the death benefits left by his parents, who had both died in the line of duty, the proceeds from their home, which had been sold on his behalf with good intentions, and some savings.
Altogether, it came to around three hundred thousand ryō.
As funding for an entire ninja career, that sum wasn't quite worthless.
But it was certainly a drop in the bucket.
Being a ninja was an incredibly expensive profession.
As the saying went, studying was for the poor, martial training for the wealthy.
As for broke bastards...
Get lost. You're broke and still want to be a ninja?
Maybe you can be our honored guest finding cats and dogs by the village gate.
Amamiya Maki approached the counter in the Mission Hall. "I'd like to post a mission to hire a medical ninja as a teacher."
"A D-rank mission. Five thousand ryō, with no guarantee you'll master what you're taught."
The female ninja glanced at him, clearly not expecting such a young child to post a mission.
"That's fine."
Nonō tugged at Amamiya Maki's clothes. "It's too expensive..."
"No, it isn't. Just pay me back ten times as much once you've learned."
[Host detected causing mental pressure to "Yakushi Nonō"] [Pressure +5] [Obtained: Medical Ninjutsu talent fragment ×1] [Current Medical Ninjutsu talent grade: E-rank. Progress toward D-rank: 21/60]
Nonō fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded earnestly.
She didn't know how much ten times was, but if Maki wanted it, she would give him a hundred or even a thousand times as much.
After Amamiya Maki finished the paperwork, the staff member reminded him of a few conditions: he could only study the knowledge, not learn Medical Ninjutsu.
That was normal. Konoha had always strictly controlled ninjutsu.
He was about to fold the paperwork and put it in his pocket when he caught a glimpse of a blonde figure entering through the main doors.
Tsunade.
She had changed into casual clothes, her long blonde hair loose over her shoulders. With little expression on her face, she walked straight to the counter.
The nearby rows of seats in the waiting area instantly fell quiet, and even the staff straightened their backs.
Tsunade wasn't yet the broken woman crippled by a fear of blood she would later become.
At this point, she was Konoha's strongest medical ninja.
A student of the Third Hokage, she was Princess Tsunade, officially recognized by the Land of Fire.
Amamiya Maki's mind raced.
If I could get fragments from her...
Now that's wishful thinking.
How drunk would I have to be to come up with that?
Tsunade wasn't as easygoing as Minato Namikaze.
She had a fiery temper and might lash out over a single disagreement.
Orochimaru had once offered an objective assessment of Tsunade's fist.
"If that punch hits you, you can go straight to your next life."
And as the First Hokage's granddaughter, she stood across an inherent class divide from an ordinary orphan.
Even her sweat ran redder than Amamiya Maki's blood.
Recklessly trying to put pressure on her would be asking for death.
Amamiya Maki decided to observe first.
Tsunade stood at the counter for a while, apparently looking over a mission.
Her brows drew together slightly, and her fingers unconsciously tapped the counter.
The gesture was brief, lasting only a few seconds, but Amamiya Maki caught it.
"I'll take this mission." With that, she picked up an A-Rank Mission scroll, turned, and left.
As she passed Amamiya Maki, she looked down at him.
He didn't even reach her shoulder.
"Brat, what are you staring at?"
Amamiya Maki's heart skipped a beat.
Then he smiled.
"Nothing, Lady Tsunade. I just thought you seemed a little different from the rumors."
"What rumors?"
"They say you're Konoha's strongest medical ninja, one of the Sannin, and the First Hokage's granddaughter." He paused.
"But you don't look very happy. Like your ambitions haven't been fulfilled."
[Host detected causing mental pressure to "Tsunade"] [Pressure +80] [Obtained: Mystical Palm Technique fragment ×5, Monster Strength fragment ×3, Chakra Control fragment ×10] [Mystical Palm Technique (A-rank Medical Ninjutsu) synthesis progress: 5/1440 Monster Strength (B-rank Taijutsu) synthesis progress: 3/720 Current Chakra Control grade: E-rank. Progress toward D-rank: 31/60]
Tsunade's expression changed.
She stared at Amamiya Maki for several seconds, her gaze complicated.
"Brat, what's your name?"
"Amamiya Maki."
"Amamiya Maki." She repeated his name, then suddenly scoffed.
"You've got some nerve. But don't say that next time. Not everyone is as good-tempered as I am."
With that, Tsunade strode away, her long blonde hair sweeping an arc through the air.
Amamiya Maki stood rooted to the spot, his back drenched in cold sweat.
Eighty pressure points. Even more than Minato Namikaze.
He had struck a sore spot deep inside Tsunade.
The Second Shinobi World War was already very close.
The unrest in the shinobi world, Nawaki's naïveté, the old man's stubborn refusal to change.
All of it gave Tsunade a headache.
Whatever Tsunade was thinking,
Amamiya Maki only had one thing to say.
Jackpot!
Mystical Palm Technique, Monster Strength, Chakra Control.
They were only fragments.
But the fragments from Tsunade, just like those from Minato, were among the most valuable hard currency in the Shinobi World.
"Amamiya Maki?" Nonō called softly.
Amamiya Maki snapped out of his thoughts.
"Come on. Let's head back."
He walked out of the Hokage Building and looked at the sunset over Konoha, the corners of his mouth slowly lifting.
This lousy system might have been downright rotten, but it sure was useful.
"Amamiya Maki, are you asleep?" Nonō's voice came from the next bed.
"Yep."
[Detected: Host has caused mental stress to "Yakushi Nonō"] [Stress +2] [Obtained: Chakra Control Fragment ×1 Chakra Control: D-rank. Progress toward proficiency: 32/90.]
"You're clearly talking," Nonō muttered softly.
"I wanted to ask, why did you talk like that when we met Lady Tsunade today?"
Amamiya Maki fell silent for a moment.
"Because I've got a foul mouth."
"So you do know."
"Knowing doesn't mean I can change it."
[Stress +3] [Obtained: Chakra Control Fragment ×1 Chakra Control: D-rank. Progress toward proficiency: 33/90.]
Nonō rolled over, her blond hair glimmering faintly in the moonlight.
"Amamiya Maki, why do you have to talk like that? You could easily be nice about it."
Amamiya Maki didn't answer.
Because this world was about to enter the Second Shinobi World War.
Tsunade's little brother Nawaki would die.
Countless ordinary villagers and shinobi would die.
And he was just an orphan with no connections, no bloodline, and no talent.
Without the system, he wouldn't even qualify as cannon fodder.
But he couldn't say any of that.
As long as certain words remained unspoken, he was their master.
Once he spoke them, he became their slave.
"Because I'm a troublemaker. That's how troublemakers talk."
Nonō sighed softly and stopped asking.
It really must be because Amamiya Maki doesn't have a family.
Before you continue