In Konoha, Still in Elementary School

Year 37 of Konoha.

The Second Shinobi World War was raging.

Konoha Ninja Academy.

Quite a few students still attending school were called into the office one after another. When they came out, every one of them was beaming, shouting at the top of their lungs:

"I'm a ninja now!"

"Next."

Once the last little cannon-fodder brat left in high spirits, the teacher inside soon called out again.

Bieshu Feifan yawned and reluctantly walked into the office.

A ninja wearing a Chunin vest sat inside. Hearing the door open and close, he did not even look up, shuffling through the list in his hands as he repeated the lines he had said countless times.

"Name?"

"Uchiha Danzo."

"Hmm?"

At that, the Chunin abruptly raised his head. Looking at the student he had taught for nearly three years, his face instantly darkened.

Bieshu Feifan stood with his hands tucked away, his weight on one leg and the other stuck out at an angle. His eyes wandered, making him look every bit a little punk.

"Bieshu, answer properly."

Hearing that, Bieshu Feifan feigned surprise and instantly straightened into a proper stance.

"Mr. Richuan, so you do know me!"

Richuan Taiban looked at the flippant Bieshu Feifan and took a deep breath.

"Name."

Seeing the teacher ask his name again, Bieshu Feifan immediately slipped back into his earlier slouch.

"Sarutobi Madara."

Smack!

Richuan Taiban slammed a hand on the desk.

"Bieshu!"

Startled by his teacher's anger, Bieshu Feifan instantly stood ramrod straight, his gaze growing considerably more resolute.

Only then did Richuan Taiban compose himself. Looking at this student with his abysmal grades, he asked once more:

"Name."

Bieshu Feifan now seemed cowed by his teacher's imposing presence. He enunciated loudly and clearly:

"Reporting to Mr. Richuan, my name is Senju Izuna!"

Richuan Taiban was truly furious this time and shot up from his stool.

"Bieshu Feifan!"

A hoarse roar burst from his throat.

A dozen or so seconds later.

"Name."

"Bieshu Feifan."

With broken skin and a swollen face, Bieshu Feifan finally gave his real name.

Richuan Taiban smiled faintly, as though he had won a great victory.

"If you'd said that in the first place, none of this would've happened."

Looking at his teacher's triumphant expression, Bieshu Feifan said leisurely:

"You've taught me for three years, yet you're still asking my name. I thought you were playing some kind of game with me, Mr. Richuan."

The smile on Richuan Taiban's lips froze. Thinking back on his impression of Bieshu Feifan over the past few years, the boy was practically half an idiot.

At that thought, Richuan Taiban grew serious again.

"Bieshu, you've attended the Ninja Academy for three years now. I have an opportunity here for you to graduate early and become a ninja. Would you like it?"

"No."

The instant his teacher finished speaking, Bieshu Feifan answered without hesitation, making Richuan Taiban's face, plastered with a fake smile, darken once again.

Bieshu Feifan genuinely did not want it. The Second Shinobi World War was currently at its most brutal stage.

Over the past few years, of the top students with good grades who could graduate without trouble, at most two out of every ten sent out had returned alive. Only an idiot would want to graduate now.

Bieshu Feifan had transmigrated into the world of Naruto seven years ago and was now in his third year at the Konoha Ninja Academy. He had not even learned all the Three Basic Jutsu required of a Genin yet. Graduating meant going to the battlefield, where his chances of survival would be slim.

Although Bieshu Feifan had transmigrated, he really had no talent as a ninja.

After three years at the Ninja Academy, his grades were almost always near the bottom of his class.

It was not that he was hiding his abilities. That really was the extent of his talent.

Still, Bieshu Feifan did have a cheat.

He was simply too weak and too young right now, with nowhere to put it to use.

Bieshu Feifan still remembered Naruto's main plot. He knew this was the Second Shinobi World War, with the Five Great Nations beating one another bloody. Someone without talent like him would only die on the battlefield.

And Bieshu Feifan possessed none of the astonishing gifts of other transmigrators. He had nothing more than standard Genin potential, the sort who needed six years of schooling just to scrape through graduation.

He had not expected the front lines to have their eyes on someone like him already. It seemed Konoha really was under considerable pressure.

After Bieshu Feifan's categorical answer, Richuan Taiban, who had been ready to go through the formalities, visibly failed to process it. It took him quite a while to recover.

"Bieshu, why don't you want to become a ninja? Don't you want to contribute to the village? Do you still remember the Will of Fire I always teach you?"

Bieshu Feifan, however, was unusually serious this time. Looking Richuan Taiban in the eye, he said solemnly:

"Mr. Richuan, you still misunderstand me far too deeply. Although my grades are poor and my ninjutsu studies are abysmal, you cannot deny the love I hold for Konoha in my heart.

"The reason I don't want to become a ninja right now is that I know my abilities are not yet sufficient to fulfill a Genin's duties.

"If I accept your kindness and become a ninja, I'm afraid I might fail to complete missions in the future, causing unnecessary losses for our Konoha.

"As a ninja, if I can't complete missions, I can't help build the village and will only add to its burdens.

"Mr. Richuan, I refuse to accept you pulling strings for me. This desecrates your profession as a teacher, insults my character, betrays Lord Hokage's trust, and shows a lack of responsibility toward Konoha.

"Mr. Richuan, repent."

After Bieshu Feifan shouted all that at him in one breath, Richuan Taiban stood stunned for a long while. Then his eyes reddened, his fists clenched with cracking sounds, and his teeth ground together. He badly wanted to beat this self-righteous little brat again.

After all that talk, didn't he just not want to go to the battlefield?

But Richuan Taiban could think of no rebuttal. Only after pondering for quite some time did he speak with a stern face.

"Understood. But Bieshu, you don't get to decide whether you have talent as a ninja. How about this? Show me the Three Basic Jutsu."

Bieshu Feifan spat inwardly. Did he want to send me to the battlefield that badly?

I'm only a seven-year-old child!

Still, Bieshu Feifan did not dare conceal his abilities in front of his teacher and obediently performed the Three Basic Jutsu.

With the Clone Technique, he produced a lump of unidentified white matter.

With the Transformation Technique, he turned into himself. In other words, he had not learned it at all.

Only with the Substitution Technique, after straining for half a minute, did he finally use a pen as his substitute. It would be completely useless on the battlefield.

Richuan Taiban watched expressionlessly. This matched Bieshu Feifan's usual grades: standard Genin potential. Without a full six years of schooling, he could not become a ninja at all.

"Understood. I will report your situation to Lord Hokage exactly as it is."

After leaving the classroom, Bieshu Feifan spat inwardly again. Then he looked at the little brats behind him, still lining up to become cannon fodder on the front lines, and silently mourned them for a nanosecond.

Bieshu Feifan planned to properly develop his cheat once he was older and stronger.

As a transmigrator with a cheat, a wonderful life awaited him. No matter what, Bieshu Feifan would not go to the battlefield now.

The Second Shinobi World War had already lasted seven years. Even a genius like Senju Nawaki had been killed.

And even among experts like the Sannin, two had been mentally broken by the fighting and become mentally ill.

Though they did not yet have the title of Sannin.

He only needed to lie low for another year or so, less than two years, before the Second Shinobi World War would end. No matter what, Bieshu Feifan would not become a Genin while all the participating nations were this frenzied, only to be sent out as line-filling fodder.

But Richuan Taiban had been ordered by the Hokage to recruit soldiers. Unable to handle Bieshu Feifan, he simply reported the matter to Hiruzen Sarutobi. This Hokage liked dealing with such trivial matters anyway.

At the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi had just finished processing a pile of documents. He wearily rubbed his eyes, then immediately checked on this round of recruitment.

The last batch of cannon fodder... Genin he had graciously approved had already been all but wiped out on the Land of Rain front.

Then Hiruzen Sarutobi saw the report submitted by Chunin Richuan Taiban.

Everything in the report was normal, except that it focused on a third-year student named Bieshu Feifan and the speech he had given.

After reading Bieshu Feifan's words, which Richuan Taiban had transcribed verbatim, the corners of Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth twitched as well.

Then his interest was piqued, and he checked Bieshu Feifan's file.

In terms of talent, he was standard cannon fodder. But this Will of Fire of his seemed rather noteworthy.

Still, how could line-filling fodder selected by him, Lord Hokage, be allowed to slip away just like that?

Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately wrote Richuan Taiban a letter.