The transfer student

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled with relief, then stepped out from the corner.

He looked at Qianye Lan and Minato Namikaze and praised them. "Very good. It seems you've already gained a solid understanding of my Will of Fire, Qianye Lan."

The others, including Qianye Lan, said respectfully, "Lord Third."

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded with a smile and continued, "What we call the Will of Fire is..."

Everyone listened very attentively.

Soon, he finished explaining the Will of Fire. He looked at everyone and nodded in satisfaction. "Carry on with your lesson. I have other things to do."

Then he left the training ground under everyone's gaze.

The teacher in charge of practical training said to Qianye Lan and Minato Namikaze, "Qianye Lan was already at least three body lengths ahead just now. Even if Minato hadn't fallen, he would still have won. So the winner is Qianye Lan. Any objections?"

Minato Namikaze accepted the result wholeheartedly. "No objections."

After all, as one of the participants, he understood what had happened better than anyone.

The practical training teacher nodded, then said, "Then Qianye Lan can leave school early."

Hearing the teacher's words, Qianye Lan nodded and left the training ground.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat comfortably in his chair.

Holding Qianye Lan's report card, he praised him. "What a fine successor to the Will of Fire. Who should I have take him as a student?"

As a rare civilian prodigy with an impeccable background, he was naturally someone the Third Hokage wanted to bring into the Hokage's line.

Just like Orochimaru and Jiraiya before him.

Just then, the door to the Hokage's office was pushed open, and an unusual man with bandages wrapped around his hand walked in.

As soon as he entered, he said, "Root needs fresh blood. I think Minato Namikaze and Qianye Lan at the Ninja Academy are promising."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said expressionlessly, "Out of the question. Those two are outstanding 'successors' to the Will of Fire. I can't hand them over to you."

Seeing that Shimura Danzō still wanted to argue, he immediately said, "Danzo, I am the Hokage."

Shimura Danzō froze, seemingly surprised that Hiruzen had suddenly stolen his line.

In the end, he slammed the door on his way out, leaving behind the words, "Hiruzen, you'll regret this."

By then, Qianye Lan had also returned home.

The house was cold and quiet, because Qianye Lan's parents had died on the front lines not long ago.

He still remembered that day clearly.

There had been a knock at the door. When Qianye Lan opened it, there was only a somewhat unfamiliar ninja outside.

He introduced himself as Hatake Sakumo.

He explained that he had been a comrade of Qianye Lan's parents on the front lines.

If Qianye Lan ever needed help, he could come to him. Then he handed over his parents' belongings.

Qianye Lan had only asked one question. "Who killed them?"

Hatake Sakumo paused briefly, then said, "It was Chiyo of Sunagakure. Don't worry. As their comrade, I'll do my best..."

Finally, after leaving Qianye Lan a way to contact him, he turned and left.

Afterward, Qianye Lan took stock of his parents' belongings and found three B-rank ninjutsu, some C-rank ninjutsu, and eight hundred thousand ryo in cash.

The B-rank ninjutsu were the Shadow Clone Technique, Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere, and Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves.

Those three techniques, along with the C-rank ninjutsu, were enough to serve Qianye Lan until he became a jonin.

The eight hundred thousand ryo in cash most likely came from his parents' missions on the front lines and their death benefits.

His parents had also sent money home from time to time.

Together with their savings, it was enough for Qianye Lan to live his entire life without worrying about food or clothing, even as a civilian.

Qianye Lan shook his head and returned to the present.

He went to the training ground in the backyard and began his special training.

He attached chakra to the soles of his feet and performed the simplest tree-climbing exercise to improve his chakra control.

After finishing his chakra control training, he moved on to basic physical conditioning.

Push-ups, pull-ups, and single-leg squats.

He did these because he had discovered that if he kept refining chakra, the chakra rewards from the system's daily settlement would be stored in the system space.

Only after improving his physical fitness could he receive the rewards again.

For example, Qianye Lan's body was like a water bottle, and chakra was the water.

When there was too much water, it would overflow.

Only by increasing the bottle's capacity could it hold more chakra.

And only physical fitness could increase that bottle's capacity.

After the series of exercises, Qianye Lan had trained until he could no longer lift his arms.

Only then did he return to his room, take a hot shower, lie down on his bed, and fall asleep.

As he slept, the daily settlement rewards appeared as well.

[Refined chakra for 8 hours. Received an additional reward of 0.01 units.] (Temporarily stored in system space)

[Chakra control training for three hours. Chakra control +1]

[Physical conditioning for a total of 5 hours. Physical fitness +1]

[Deep sleep for a total of six hours. Mental strength +1]

Early the next morning, Qianye Lan checked his system rewards as usual and arrived at the Ninja Academy.

Just as Qianye Lan sat down in the corner and prepared to put his head on his desk to sleep,

the head teacher walked in, followed by a red-haired girl.

"This is your class's transfer student. Go ahead and introduce yourself."

The red-haired girl stepped forward and said, "My name is Kushina, and my dream is to become the first female Hokage."

Having just experienced the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan, Kushina lacked a sense of security and longed for acceptance. She had shouted those words so that others would not look down on her.

But when Kushina finished speaking, instead of the applause and praise she had expected, a wave of mockery came from the seats.

"Looking like that, she wants to become Hokage?"

"Red hair and a round face. Doesn't she look like a tomato?"

"Yeah, she looks just like a tomato."

"Tomato! Tomato!"

People said children spoke without restraint, but their words could also hurt the most.

As Kushina watched the jeering students, her eyes swept over the few who had taken the lead.

She clenched her fists, ready to teach them a lesson after class.

Meanwhile, Qianye Lan, who had been preparing to sleep, was growing impatient.

His chakra had recently hit a bottleneck, so he had been focusing on improving his physical fitness. He had genuinely planned to sleep through class today, but who could sleep with all this noise?

Qianye Lan slapped his desk and said, "Can you keep it down?"

At the sound of his voice, the classroom immediately fell silent.

Only a few of those who had jeered the loudest muttered about the expressionless show-off putting on airs.

Qianye Lan memorized those few faces. Seeing that the classroom had quieted down, he thought, Finally, I can get some proper sleep.

Seeing this, the head teacher said to Kushina, "Just find yourself a seat."

Kushina looked around, immediately spotted Qianye Lan, who had just helped her out, and went straight to the seat beside him.

She asked Qianye Lan quietly, "Hello, is anyone sitting here?"

Qianye Lan shook his head, then put his head on his desk and began to sleep.

Kushina could only swallow the words she had been about to say.

As everyone knew, sleeping in class was something that spread from person to person.

At first, Kushina listened attentively, but as time passed, she grew sleepier and sleepier.

Her little head bobbed, and she fell asleep too.