Ch.3 The People Who Shouldn't Be Here

After getting up and washing, Shinji arrived at the Academy early in the morning.

As soon as he stepped into the classroom, he froze for a moment.

There were dozens of people in the room, but he didn't recognize many. However, among the few familiar faces, there were two people who shouldn't have been there.

Suppressing his confusion, he relied on the memories of the original owner of the body and sat in his seat.

At this moment, sympathetic and concerned gazes were cast around him.

It was evident that the classmates were aware of the tragedy that had befallen the Uchiha Clan.

As Hidden Leaf's most prestigious clan, the Uchiha were annihilated by the young clan leader in one night, leaving only two children as survivors.

The shock this caused in the village was unimaginable!

Having gradually gotten used to these gazes, Shinji remained silent.

His eyes discreetly glanced at the red-haired little girl sitting in the front row near the podium and the black-haired boy sitting in front of her.

What the hell is this?

He felt bewildered inside.

If he wasn't mistaken, the petite red-haired girl in the front row should be Karin, who had the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline, and the black-haired boy sitting in front of her looked very much like Haku from Hidden Mist.

How could these two be at Hidden Leaf's Ninja Academy?!

Shinji searched through the fragments of the original owner's memories but found no information related to them. It seemed the original owner had never paid attention to Karin and Haku as classmates.

As expected of the Uchiha.

Then, he turned his head to look at the boy sitting on the other side of the classroom, who had a pair of white eyes.

Hyuga Neji!

This was the only person in the original owner's memories who mattered and was considered a rival.

In the blink of an eye, the morning classes were over.

As a proud Uchiha, the original owner didn't have a good relationship with the other classmates. Combined with Shinji's cold and unapproachable expression, no one took the initiative to talk to him all morning.

Shinji was quite happy to have some peace.

He wasn't keen on interacting with people right now, mainly because he was afraid of giving himself away.

"Hey Shinji, if you don't mind, let's eat together!"

Suddenly, a voice pulled Shinji's wandering thoughts back.

Looking up, Shinji saw that the black-haired boy who resembled Haku was holding out a lunchbox to him.

Seeing Shinji's confused expression, the boy said, "You forgot your bento, right?"

Only then did Shinji realize that he needed to bring his own lunch, but he didn't show it. Instead, he probed, "What's your name?"

The boy didn't seem surprised or angry that Shinji didn't remember him. He naturally introduced himself: "My name is Haku."

It really is him!

Shinji's heart skipped a beat.

The waters in the Ninja Academy run deep!

At this stage, the courses at the Ninja Academy were quite simple.

They mostly covered basic knowledge essential for ninjas, such as survival techniques in the wild, methods to track enemy footprints, and identifying the medicinal properties of various herbs.

Slightly more advanced courses only touched upon the principles of chakra extraction within the human body.

As for the actual use of chakra to perform ninjutsu and genjutsu, that hadn't been covered yet.

In terms of taijutsu.

The focus was mainly on taijutsu sparring between students and practicing throwing ninja tools.

Just like now, after lunch, the students came to the playground. Some were chasing and playing, while others were sparring with each other.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba...

Shinji recognized more familiar faces on the playground.

However, Naruto was a grade below him, and their activities didn't overlap much, so they had little interaction.

Turning his attention to his own grade.

He noticed that Neji, with a solemn expression, wasn't sparring with others but was instead practicing the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist on a wooden post in a corner.

After watching for a while, his expression gradually grew serious.

Neji was about the same age as him, only eight years old, but his taijutsu already looked incredibly sharp.

According to the original owner's memories, in terms of taijutsu, the original owner was no match for Neji and had been thoroughly defeated in several sparring matches.

As for Shinji, who had transmigrated into this body, it was even more hopeless.

Because he found that the children in the Ninja World were completely different from those in his original world. Here, seven- or eight-year-old kids were agile, with smooth transitions between offense and defense, and their strikes were powerful and forceful, like little martial arts masters.

Is this really eight years old?

He had initially thought that having a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan would allow him to look down on these little brats at the Ninja Academy.

But after observing for a while, he realized that without using the Sharingan, he might not even be able to handle the nameless small fry in his grade.

Let alone confront someone like Neji, who had already earned the title of "genius."

No, if my basics are too weak, even with the Mangekyo Sharingan, I won't be able to fully utilize its power!

The power of a Bloodline Limit varies depending on who wields it.

What's more, the Mangekyo Sharingan is a consumable; it can't be recklessly wasted.

At the same time, this made him realize a problem.

That is, apart from the Mangekyo Sharingan, his strength was significantly weaker than the original owner's.

The original Uchiha Shinji was second only to Neji in their grade, but Shinji estimated that his current strength was probably at the bottom of the class.

If he didn't quickly make up for this gap, it could raise suspicions among some keen observers.

Damn it, I'm not good at fighting!

He was a bit distressed. Knowing the problem didn't mean it could be solved immediately.

At that moment, Haku walked over to him and asked expectantly: "Shinji-kun, can I practice taijutsu with you?"

Afraid of embarrassing himself, Shinji cursed inwardly but outwardly shook his head: "You're too weak."

Haku quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, I was being presumptuous."

Seeing Haku sincerely apologizing, Shinji felt a little embarrassed.

Even though he knew that Haku being at Hidden Leaf's Ninja Academy was highly suspicious and definitely involved some kind of plot, he had to admit that Haku was very understanding and easy to get along with.

...

Evening.

School was over at the Ninja Academy.

Shinji digested what he had seen and heard at the academy as he walked back to his apartment.

At the end of the street, he found that Haku was walking in the same direction. After exchanging a few casual words, Shinji was surprised: "You live next door to me?"

Haku nodded: "Shinji-kun, please take care of me."

"Oh."

Shinji nodded.

Back home, Shinji collapsed onto the bed, letting his thoughts wander.

Haku and Karin showing up at Hidden Leaf's Ninja Academy and even becoming his classmates really left him unsure of what was going on.

"Is this the butterfly effect? Or a parallel dimension?"

Shaking his head, he pulled his thoughts back and unconsciously touched his chest.

The deep, bone-exposing wound he had before had completely healed under the treatment of medical ninjutsu, but he still occasionally recalled that final moment from the original owner's memory fragments.

The experience of death wasn't pleasant.

[Dimensional invasion detected.]

[Countdown: 1]

[Prepare to engage the invasion after midnight tonight]

Shinji suddenly sat up and looked at the clock on the wall.

At this moment, the clock showed 8:05 PM, less than four hours until midnight!