(A heads-up for readers who skipped the synopsis: this is a male-oriented novel with multiple female leads. If that bothers you, don't read.)
(Things will get increasingly steamy later on.)
Year 41 of Konoha.
Land of Fire, Konoha, a Ninja Academy classroom.
Qianye Lan was sleeping with his head on a desk in the back row.
The teacher giving the lesson felt rather helpless at the sight.
Qianye Lan ranked second in their class. The teacher wanted to do something about it, but had no grounds to.
He was unlike the other students, who at least kept up appearances even when they couldn't absorb any more.
Only during the week when new textbooks were handed out would Qianye Lan read through them carefully.
Then he would ask questions that left even his teacher feeling somewhat embarrassed by his own inadequacy.
After that, he would sleep through every theory lesson with his head on his desk.
Even so, he consistently placed in the top five on every theory exam, occasionally taking first.
So what could the theory teacher do?
He could only let him be. In the end, he made just one request: if Qianye Lan wanted to sleep, he had to do it in the back row.
Qianye Lan understood the teacher's difficulties and went straight to the quietest spot in the back to sleep.
He didn't disturb anyone, either.
He also slept better. Everyone was happy.
What they didn't know was that Qianye Lan wasn't sleeping. He was pretending to sleep while secretly refining chakra.
Though sometimes he did accidentally fall asleep.
There was only one reason for this: he was a transmigrator.
Unlike those other transmigrators who could start off with an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan just by checking in.
Though he, too, had a cheat as a transmigrator.
Compared with those of other transmigrators, however, his cheat seemed rather paltry.
The system that had come with Qianye Lan's transmigration was called the Daily Settlement System.
As its name suggested, it gave him corresponding settlement rewards based on his daily activities.
For example, if Qianye Lan refined chakra for eight hours that day, he would receive a reward beyond the extra chakra: [0.01 Kakashi units].
The rewards weren't much, but even a tiny gain was still a gain, and he had no lofty ambitions.
He only wanted to survive the damned Third Shinobi World War that lay ahead.
As he saw it, if he had to transmigrate, he should at least have arrived just after Kakashi took office.
After all, by then there would at least be no more Shinobi World Wars, Nine-Tails' Attack, Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan, Pain's invasion, or Infinite Tsukuyomi.
As an ordinary person without plot armor, he could at least live a little longer.
His parents could live a little longer, too.
So after that, he also came up with a goal of his own.
While Qianye Lan focused on refining chakra, the theory teacher glanced at the time.
Then he glanced at the students, who were growing distracted because class was about to end.
He sighed softly. "Class dismissed."
He couldn't help glancing once more at Qianye Lan, who was still asleep.
Qianye Lan raised his head right on cue, took out the packed lunch he had prepared, and quietly began eating.
Unlike the other students, who shared food with their friends after class.
Qianye Lan ate his lunch alone.
His melancholy air seemed out of place amid the cheerful chatter around him.
He quickly finished lunch, then found a quiet place to refine chakra in silence.
Qianye Lan didn't know where this system had come from, either.
He had had it for as long as he could remember.
He still clearly remembered the scene of the system's first settlement.
[Congratulations, host. You slept for 12 hours and received 0.01 Hertz of mental energy.]
Qianye Lan had also discovered that not every activity could trigger a settlement.
For instance, pouring boiling water over an anthill and sneaking snacks had yielded no settlements.
Only when he improved himself in some indirect way, such as walking, sleeping, or refining chakra.
Would a settlement trigger the following day.
Once he figured out how it worked, the scene in the classroom earlier became the result.
During the first week when the Ninja Academy handed out textbooks, he listened in class to trigger rewards from the settlement system.
Once he thoroughly understood the material in the books through those settlements, he naturally had no need to waste time listening to theory lessons.
Instead, he focused on the more important task of refining chakra.
The Ninja Academy's exams were also quite fair: when they said they would test textbook material, they tested textbook material.
To avoid seeming too astonishing, Qianye Lan deliberately controlled his scores.
Apart from getting full marks on questions about the Will of Fire, he intentionally made a few mistakes elsewhere.
Of course, he had slipped up before and accidentally ranked first in the entire year.
Ever since that slipup, Qianye Lan had been careful, afraid that a lapse in controlling his score might accidentally land him in first place again.
While Qianye Lan focused on refining chakra, the bell rang.
It was the bell for the afternoon practical lesson.
Qianye Lan stood up and leisurely made his way to the training ground.
By then, his classmates had already assembled.
Among them, Minato Namikaze, who was in the same year as him, greeted him warmly.
Qianye Lan politely returned the greeting.
What puzzled him was that Minato Namikaze was still in school in Year 41 of Konoha, and Kushina hadn't even transferred here yet.
Minato and Kushina should have graduated in Year 37 of Konoha.
Qianye Lan could only chalk it up to Kishimoto not understanding Naruto.
After all, Kishimoto wasn't even a ninja.
Besides, since something as absurd as his transmigration had happened, a mere muddled timeline was no big deal.
He then found a quiet spot to wait for the teacher to arrive.
Soon, the teacher in charge of practical lessons came over and announced that today's focus would be physical conditioning.
This drew a chorus of groans.
The teacher ignored them and simply led the students through a brief warm-up.
Then they began running laps around the training ground.
At first, everyone could keep up, but as the pace grew faster and faster.
Many stopped or slowed to a pace of their own.
After ten laps, the original forty runners had dwindled to twenty.
Another fifteen laps later, only three people besides the teacher remained in the group.
They were Qianye Lan, Minato Namikaze, and an Uchiha clan member.
As the pace gradually increased again, the Uchiha clan member also fell behind, reluctance in his eyes.
Only Minato Namikaze and Qianye Lan were still following the teacher.
At that point, the teacher encouraged them. "Whichever of you two lasts the longest can go home early."
Hearing this, the two exchanged a glance and instantly grew motivated.
For Qianye Lan, going home early meant he could do his own special training alone instead of playing house here.
Minato Namikaze simply wanted to go home and play.
Meanwhile, the Third Hokage was silently observing the training ground.
The three ran another twenty laps. The teacher could clearly feel his stamina running low, but to avoid losing face, he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Whoever crosses the finish line first on the final lap wins."
Both immediately accelerated at his words, their competitive spirits as boys on full display.
Although Qianye Lan had always controlled his scores on theory exams.
That came from an attitude of, I can let you have it, but you can't come and take it yourself.
Right now, he didn't want to lose.
Soon, the two were sprinting, with only the last hundred meters remaining.
Qianye Lan was three body lengths ahead.
Just then, things took a sudden turn: Minato Namikaze fell to the ground.
At the sight, Qianye Lan's mind raced.
Finally, something occurred to him, and he stopped to offer Minato Namikaze his hand.
Minato Namikaze froze for a moment, but quickly reached out and took Qianye Lan's hand.
In the end, the two reached the finish line together.
Hidden nearby, the Third Hokage also smiled in satisfaction and remarked, "What a fine heir to the Will of Fire."
Before you continue