Starting out in an orphanage!

[To keep readers from saying the author is selling one thing under the guise of another, let me clarify a few things in advance.]

[This book follows rigorous logic. It isn't a mindless power fantasy with an invincible protagonist from the start, but a semi-power fantasy that calls for half a brain.]

[Of course, this is a novel, after all. If there are occasional little issues, such as someone being a year older than they should be, I hope you won't be too particular about them~]

[Also, this book will run to at least around 1.5 million Chinese characters, with absolutely no interruptions in updates unless the author dies along the way. Read with confidence.]

Where am I?

Huh? Am I flying?

Lin Ze slowly opened his eyes, and a fox mask came into view.

Hell? Where are Ox-Head and Horse-Face? Why is there a fox instead...

"Kid, I didn't think you'd actually pull through. You've got quite a constitution!"

The fox-masked man kept moving, glancing down at Lin Ze in his arms.

Strange. The man clearly wasn't speaking Chinese, yet every word entered his mind like his native language, perfectly clear and effortless to understand.

I'm still alive? Didn't I die of cancer?

Could it be... I've transmigrated?

Yes, Lin Ze had died.

In his previous life, Lin Ze had been an ordinary office worker who had grown up in an orphanage. Thanks to the state, he had made it smoothly to adulthood. Unfortunately, even at twenty-seven or twenty-eight, he hadn't married or even had a girlfriend, like a real-life Zhou Botong, doing everything with his own two hands...

That alone would have been fine. At least he would still have been alive.

But Lin Ze had been terribly unlucky. He had gotten cancer, and by the time it was discovered, it was already terminal. There was no treating it.

After years as a corporate drone, Lin Ze had quit his job and chosen the most vulgar way to wait for his death.

Finally, after half a year of extravagant indulgence, Lin Ze had returned to his mother's embrace. At least he had managed to spend all his hard-earned money, rather than dying with money left unspent...

"The village is just ahead. I'll report to Lord Hokage. You two take the kid for now."

The fox-masked man turned and spoke to two masked figures who had appeared beside him at some point.

One of them, wearing a grizzly bear mask, took Lin Ze and nodded.

In his groggy state, Lin Ze felt the voices around him gradually grow louder. When he opened his eyes, sure enough, they had reached somewhere crowded.

The fox-masked man vanished in an instant, so fast it looked like teleportation.

Where did he go? How did he disappear just like that? Lin Ze stared in shock at the empty spot.

Just what kind of world have I transmigrated into?

Turning his head to look around, he discovered that he was on a rooftop. Below, people bustled back and forth.

Huh? Is that...

Lin Ze discovered that his nearsighted eyes could now actually make out the faces of passersby below. Wasn't the symbol on that person's forehead protector the emblem of Konoha from Naruto?

I've transmigrated into the Naruto world?

Then these masked people must be ANBU.

He could accept that. As an anime fan, Lin Ze's favorites were Naruto and Pirate King, though the latter should be called One Piece now.

I just hope the current point in time isn't close to any of those Shinobi World Wars...

The Shinobi World Wars in Naruto were exceptionally brutal. Never mind Genin-even Chunin and Jonin could barely protect themselves. That went doubly for an orphan from outside the village like him. Once war broke out, he would inevitably become cannon fodder.

Lin Ze estimated that his current body was about four years old.

Although students at the Ninja Academy usually graduated at twelve during Naruto's time, examples of children going to war at six or seven were everywhere in the original story.

If Hashirama Senju knew about this, he'd probably crawl out of his grave and hit those bastards with Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands... Lin Ze grumbled inwardly.

Time slowly passed, and the fox-masked man suddenly reappeared. Presumably, that was the Body Flicker Technique.

"Mission complete. Take the kid to the orphanage."

Damn it, an orphanage again!

Lin Ze truly had nothing to say. He had been an orphan before transmigrating and was still an orphan afterward. More likely than not, he was an ordinary orphan without a bloodline limit, too. Hadn't he transmigrated for nothing, then...?

Konoha Orphanage.

The lingering glow of sunset spilled over the orphanage courtyard, lending it an added measure of peace and tranquility.

There were a dozen or so children in the courtyard, along with a blonde girl in her teens wearing black-framed glasses.

Lin Ze was among them, behaving just like a normal child.

Half a year had passed since he had transmigrated into the Naruto world, and Lin Ze had gradually worked out the approximate timeline.

It should currently be Konoha Year 37, six years before the Third Shinobi World War in Year 43. Comparing his body with the other children in the orphanage, Lin Ze should have been around five.

It was worth mentioning that Lin Ze was somewhat handsome, with short silver-white hair like Kakashi's.

Good. At least I still have six years.

Lin Ze looked at the blonde girl in the courtyard, or rather, Yakushi Nonō.

Nonō's exact age had never been given in the original story. Lin Ze estimated that she had been born around Konoha Year 26, which would make her eleven now.

Since Nonō was already at the orphanage at this point, she should have left Root, or at least partly left it. He just didn't know when she had earned the title "Wandering Miko."

Recalling how Kakashi had become a Jonin at twelve in the original story, and Shisui had earned the name "Body Flicker Shisui" at eleven, he could only say that Nonō was a genius too.

At present, the orphanage had only an elderly director and Nonō as its sole caretaker. During the half year since Lin Ze had arrived, Nonō had treated him very well.

At Lin Ze's request, she had even taught him some basic ninja knowledge, such as chakra extraction.

Unfortunately, Lin Ze's body seemed to have extremely poor compatibility with chakra. He estimated that he had only a fraction of the chakra of children his age, and the clones he produced with the Clone Technique collapsed immediately. It seemed the path of ninjutsu was closed to him.

A faint, bitter smile touched Lin Ze's face. Over the past half year, he had confirmed that he didn't have the cheat ability that was practically mandatory for transmigrators. At least, not yet.

"Looks like I'll have to take the taijutsu route. Fortunately, taijutsu isn't bad either. With a forbidden technique like the Eight Gates Released Formation, you can even go up against Six Paths Madara." Lin Ze gazed at the sky with a hint of resentment.

"Ah, at least there are still six years until the Third Shinobi World War."

Since ninjutsu wouldn't work, he would focus on taijutsu! Remembering Might Guy's heroic kick that had nearly brought the story to its finale, Lin Ze felt his fighting spirit rekindle.

If they can do it, how could I possibly fail? Besides, failure isn't an option!

After all, the Shinobi World War was no joke. Lin Ze had no desire to become cannon fodder.

Shaking his head and tossing those thoughts out of his mind, Lin Ze stood and headed toward the training ground beside the orphanage.

Konoha had set aside this training ground specifically for orphans and low-ranking ninja. Footprints of varying depths covered the ground, and several bundles of straw training dummies lay in a corner.

Lin Ze went straight to the oldest straw dummy-its torso had already been kicked crooked, and there was a noticeable dent in its chest, left by Lin Ze's repeated blows with his fists and knees over the past half year.

Tugging at the frayed bandages around his wrists, Lin Ze took a deep breath. His right leg snapped up, whistling through the air as he kicked at the dent in the straw dummy's chest.

"One, two, three... forty-one, forty-two..."

Fatigue and pain gradually spread through his entire body, and his thigh muscles began to twitch. But Lin Ze didn't stop. He gritted his teeth and continued.

In the almost deserted training ground, only Lin Ze's panting and the dull thuds of his kicks against the straw dummy echoed.

With the path of ninjutsu closed to him, Lin Ze could only train his taijutsu to the limit-if others trained for one hour, he would train for three; if others kicked a hundred times, he would kick three hundred!