A new week began.
Before class started, Ishida Yu announced the rankings for the March monthly exam.
First place: Namikaze Minato. Second place: Onodera.
Natsuki came in seventh. Yakushi Nonou was eighth—right around his level.
He was satisfied with this ranking. Upper-middle. Noteworthy, but not too noteworthy.
For now, there was no risk of catching Shimura Danzo's attention.
What Natsuki cared about more was something else entirely.
Had his flattery—ahem, his exposition on the Will of Fire—caught Sarutobi Hiruzen's eye?
Unfortunately, there was no way to verify.
But he wasn't in a rush.
Sooner or later, Sarutobi Hiruzen would recognize him as an excellent inheritor of the Will of Fire.
The morning consisted of theory classes as usual.
When afternoon arrived, the students of Class 1-A grew visibly excited.
Because Ishida Yu was finally going to teach them their first ninjutsu: the Substitution Jutsu—one of the Three Basic Jutsu.
The Three Basic Jutsu were the only ninjutsu required to pass the Ninja Academy graduation exam.
In other words, mastering them was the minimum requirement to graduate and officially be called a ninja.
"The Substitution Jutsu is an E-Rank ninjutsu. Its function is to release smoke when attacked and replace your body with a wooden log, confusing the enemy."
After class began, Ishida Yu launched into a detailed explanation.
The inheritance Natsuki's parents had left him included the Three Basic Jutsu.
But he hadn't learned them yet.
First, because he'd been too young. Second, because without proper instruction, he'd been afraid of developing bad habits.
After finishing his explanation, Ishida Yu demonstrated the technique once, then let the students practice.
Poof!
A cloud of smoke burst in front of Namikaze Minato.
He retreated swiftly, leaving only a wooden log in his original position.
Class 1-A fell silent.
"As expected of Minato!"
"Incredible! He pulled off the Substitution Jutsu on his first try!"
"What's so great about that? Show-off!"
The last comment came from a scowling Onodera.
Most students took a year or two to learn the Substitution Jutsu.
Outstanding students could manage it within one semester.
But true geniuses—like Namikaze Minato—could grasp the fundamentals after a single demonstration.
"Well done."
Ishida Yu said, beaming.
He glanced over at Natsuki, but the boy's Substitution Jutsu looked a bit rough around the edges.
Ishida Yu estimated he'd have it down within a semester.
In the end, he's not a true genius.
Soon, his attention shifted to adjusting Namikaze Minato's curriculum.
Geniuses had privileges.
In the original timeline, Hatake Kakashi had completed all Ninja Academy courses by age five and graduated as a Genin.
Natsuki, meanwhile, remained completely indifferent.
Ninjutsu is inconvenient to learn the normal way?
Then I won't bother.
System, just give me the abilities directly.
Time flew forward to May.
Natsuki stood in the training ground, surrounded by scattered kunai, shuriken, senbon, and makibishi.
Not far away, Yakushi Nonou sat reading a book. She glanced up at him briefly, then returned to her studies.
After two months of lessons, she had already absorbed a solid foundation of medical knowledge.
But it still wasn't enough.
Studying medicine—no matter where you were—was an incredibly tedious endeavor.
Fortunately, her patience was exceptional.
Natsuki exhaled slowly.
With a thought, he pulled up his personal panel.
[Name: Natsuki]
[Age: Six years old]
[Integrated Character Templates: Conan]
[Unintegrated Character Templates: Emiya Shirou]
He examined the Emiya Shirou template.
Ability 1, Culinary Arts, and Ability 2, Reinforcement Magecraft, were already unlocked.
As for Ability 3, Projection Magecraft—progress showed four-fifths complete.
This was the result of a month of dedicated training. He only needed to master one more ninja tool to unlock it.
With that in mind, Natsuki drew a ninja sword.
He had purchased it from the ninja tool shop yesterday.
Ninja swords came in two main varieties: short swords, similar to daggers, and long swords—typically tachi or katana.
The blade in Natsuki's hand was a short sword.
At his age, a long sword would be unwieldy and impractical for training.
The ninja world boasted many famous sword styles.
Konoha-Style Kenjutsu. Uchiha-Style Kenjutsu. Hatake Kenjutsu.
Natsuki didn't know any of them—and even if he wanted to learn, he couldn't.
These sword styles were treated like ninjutsu. To learn them, you needed one of three things: family inheritance, a teacher's instruction, or a reward from the village.
But fortunately, the Emiya Shirou template only required beginner-level swordsmanship.
Beginner level meant mastering the most basic movements: thrust, chop, slash.
Yesterday, Natsuki had also picked up a book called Fundamentals of Kendo.
The Ninja Academy would eventually teach this—but not until second year.
He couldn't wait that long, so he'd opted to self-study.
If that failed, he'd spend money to hire a ninja instructor.
But with no current income, he had to economize wherever possible.
Natsuki gripped the ninja sword with both hands, recalled the Fundamentals of Kendo, and swung his first strike.
June arrived in Konoha Village.
Namikaze Minato's reputation as a genius had spread throughout the entire Ninja Academy.
The reason? Aside from theory classes, he no longer attended practical lessons with his peers.
While other students were still learning the Substitution Jutsu, he had already moved on to the second of the Three Basic Jutsu: the Clone Jutsu.
[Congratulations, Host. You have unlocked Emiya Shirou Template Ability 3: Projection Magecraft.]
Finally!
Natsuki, mid-swing in the training ground, stopped immediately.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, exhilarated.
But just as he was about to test Projection Magecraft—
The text before his eyes changed again.
[You have awakened the Roronoa Zoro Template.]
Natsuki's eyes shot wide open.
Zoro? From One Piece?
The future King of Hell himself!
Ahem.
Natsuki shook the stray thoughts from his mind and examined the Zoro template.
[Name: Roronoa Zoro]
[Era: One-Sword Style]
[World: One Piece]
[Rank: B-Rank]
[Ability 1: Kenjutsu Mastery — Unlocked]
[Effect: Possess unparalleled swordsmanship.]
[Ability 2: One-Sword Style: 36 Pound Phoenix — Locked]
[Effect: Swing the sword at extreme speed to create a flying slash with cannon-like power.]
[Unlock Condition: Obtain first place in a practical combat exam.]
[Ability 3: One-Sword Style: Lion Strike — Locked]
[Effect: A powerful downward slash capable of cleaving a boulder in two.]
[Unlock Condition: Master one Earth Release ninjutsu.]
[Ability 4: One-Sword Style: Iai — Lion's Song — Locked]
[Effect: An Iaijutsu technique. Draw and slash at extreme speed, with power capable of cutting through steel.]
[Unlock Condition: Possess a sword with a reputation in the ninja world.]
A B-Rank template?
The unlock conditions for B-Rank were far more demanding than C-Rank.
But in exchange, there was an additional ability—and the power scaling was significantly higher.
Aside from Ability 1, the remaining three abilities fell somewhere between C-Rank and B-Rank ninjutsu.
If Natsuki fully unlocked all four, his strength would jump from Genin to Chunin.
Too bad there's no Haki.
In One Piece, true powerhouses either wielded Haki or possessed a formidable Devil Fruit.
But if Haki were included, this template definitely wouldn't be limited to B-Rank.
Beyond that, Natsuki noticed something interesting about the era classification.
He had assumed Zoro's eras would be divided by story arcs—East Blue, Skypiea, Wano.
Instead, the system divided them by sword style: One-Sword Style, Three-Sword Style.
Zoro's One-Sword Style was formidable.
But his true power lay in the Three-Sword Style.
And a Three-Sword Style Zoro would definitely rank higher than B.
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