Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode.

Chapter 1 Kirito Tohsaka

In the afternoon, on the northwest edge of Konoha Village, lies the location of the orphanage.

An old wooden house with a brick yard—that's what the Konoha orphanage looks like now.

The orphanage director was an elderly woman with a kind face. She was sitting on the porch outside the building, mending a faded dress with needle and thread. Every now and then she would stop and watch the children playing ninja games in the yard.

Whenever she sees the innocent smiles on children's faces, she can't help but smile happily, and her heart is healed.

However, when she saw a little boy next to her who was reading a book attentively, her relaxed brows furrowed slightly again.

She wasn't worried about the little boy's unsociable behavior, but rather that his eyesight was deteriorating prematurely due to his excessive studying.

The boy's name was Kirito Tohsaka. He was an ordinary orphan whose parents were ordinary people from the Land of Fire. They came to live in Konoha Village with their parents, but they were attacked by bandits on the way. If they hadn't been lucky enough to meet Konoha ninjas, they might have died like their parents.

Kirito Tohsaka came to the orphanage when he was five years old and has lived there for a year. Although he is not very cheerful, he is not an unsociable person. He is just a bit dull, usually quiet and often daydreaming. Overall, he is a very kind and good child.

Not long ago, after Kirito Tohsaka suffered a serious illness that almost took his life, he changed. It was as if his mind had been enlightened. He was no longer dull and became very bright. He also became very sensible and often helped her with things he could.

This change made her feel gratified.

Recently, because he wanted to read, he even asked her, the only literate person in the entire orphanage, to teach him to read. He learned very quickly, and in less than a week, he learned over a thousand characters. Now he can read on his own.

The old headmaster didn't find anything strange about Kirito's recent noticeable changes, since the children in the orphanage were generally precocious.

Kirito Tohsaka witnessed his parents being killed by bandits, almost got killed himself, and later nearly died of illness. His life was undoubtedly quite bumpy, so it's not surprising that his personality matured quickly.

During the Warring States period, children like Kirito Tohsaka, who was fortunate enough to survive the Warring States period, witnessed far too much.

Kirito Tohsaka, an ordinary transmigrator, was eagerly learning about the current world through books, unaware of the pitying gaze of the old dean beside him.

After a month, he realized that he had traveled to the world of Naruto, in the 30th year of Konoha, and that his new identity was that of a helpless orphan.

This is a terrible new identity; Kirito Tohsaka discovers that he can't possibly attend the Ninja Academy with this identity alone.

He learned from the old headmaster that attending the ninja academy required money and was not free. Unless his parents were martyrs who had made contributions to the village, villagers who wanted to study at the ninja academy had to pay tuition.

In addition to that, there is another very important condition: having ninja qualifications.

Kirito Tohsaka already had this important condition. He learned this after absorbing the original owner's memories: the ninja who saved the original owner brought him back to Konoha Village precisely because he discovered the original owner's ninja aptitude.

Originally, this ninja wanted to adopt Kirito, but unfortunately he died on the battlefield half a year ago, and his estate naturally went to Kirito's relatives.

Therefore, what Kirito Tohsaka currently lacks is tuition fees.

He asked the old dean this question, and the answer he got was 100,000 a year.

Given that the orphanage's monthly expenses were only 10,000 yen, Kirito Tohsaka knew that relying on the orphanage's financial aid to enroll in school was unrealistic; he could only rely on himself.

But how can a 6-year-old child earn 100,000 yen?

"Dean, look, look! We caught so many fish!"

Suddenly, a cheerful voice came from the direction of the courtyard gate.

The old dean immediately looked over and saw a fair-skinned and beautiful blonde girl. The girl was happily carrying more than a dozen fish strung together with straw rope. Beside her were two younger boys, each carrying more than a dozen fish as well.

The appearance of the three immediately attracted the attention of the children in the yard. When they saw the fish in the three's hands, they all ran up to them with great joy, surrounded the three, and looked at the fish with curious and longing eyes.

Kirito Tohsaka also turned his attention to the three of them, or more precisely, to the plump-looking fish in their hands.

He closed the boring book he was holding, titled "The Will of Fire," and followed the others to the three people.

As expected, we'll have fish for dinner tonight.

"Nonou, where did you find so many fish? You didn't catch them in the river, did you?"

The old dean strode up to the blonde girl and questioned her, his face showing no joy but rather a worried expression.

There are indeed many fish in the river near the orphanage, but it is also home to many dangerous creatures, such as those frighteningly large snakes and fish that can devour a person in one bite.

These large creatures are easy for ninjas to deal with, but for ordinary people, encountering them would be a near-death experience, let alone for a few children who have little fighting ability.

"Grandma Dean, don't worry, we caught it with a trap in the shallow water downstream of the river, there was no danger."

Pharmacist Nonou looked at the old director with clear eyes and said with a smile.

"Use a trap?"

The old dean asked in confusion.

"That's right, Grandma Dean. Nono is so clever. She made a fishing trap in a narrow, shallow section of the water with stones and branches. The fish are all going into the trap. Now we can have fish every day."

"It's a boy saying excitedly."

The other boy nodded quickly and then boasted about how they made the trap.

When the old headmistress heard the two boys' explanation, she immediately believed them. This was because Pharmacist Nono was a very intelligent, skillful, and opinionated child, and the two boys were both very straightforward and good children who would not lie to her.

"Thank you for your hard work. We'll have fish soup and grilled fish tonight."

The old dean said with satisfaction.

When the children heard that there would be fish soup and grilled fish for dinner, and that they wouldn't have to eat bland wild vegetable rice balls anymore, they cheered with joy, and happy smiles appeared on everyone's faces.

At that moment, Yakushi Nonou secretly glanced at Tohsaka Kirito and winked at him.

Kirito Tohsaka's expression remained unchanged, but he held up two fingers to Nono Yakushi, who nodded slightly.

Time flies, and evening has arrived.

The orphanage was filled with the joyful laughter of children. They were chatting and laughing as they ate a rare treat, which was just a grilled fish and a bowl of light fish soup. They were still very happy eating it.

After finishing the grilled fish, Kirito Tohsaka picked up his bowl of fish soup.

Because no ingredients were added to the fish soup to remove the fishy smell, the steaming fish soup had a very strong fishy smell.

Despite this, Kirito remained unfazed, finishing all the fish soup in his bowl and eating every last bit of fish. He then looked at the blonde girl across from him, her bowl of fish soup, with a lingering expression.

Yakushi Nonou was the first friend he made in the orphanage after transmigrating.

Kirito didn't know much about this friend, only that she would be absorbed into Root by Danzo in the future, but because of her kind nature, she couldn't bear the darkness inside Root and took the initiative to leave, then became the director of the orphanage, and later took in one of the major villains in the later part of the story, Kabuto Yakushi.

Her ending was tragic; she was betrayed by Danzo and died at the hands of Kabuto.

Her death had a huge impact on Kabuto's life.

As a friend, Kirito hopes she can have a good ending because he has found that this friend is really reliable, not only good-looking but also very smart.

For example, with fishing traps, he only briefly explained the method to her today, and she successfully made one. As for reading and writing, he possesses the soul of an adult and can learn thousands of characters in a week, while she completed the task in five days.

She's a true genius from humble beginnings. With just a little resource, she could easily become a capable ninja in the future.

Kirito doesn't want this reliable friend to be ruined by Danzo.

Nono quickly noticed Kirito's gaze. She decisively picked up the fish soup, drank it all in one gulp under Kirito's expectant gaze, gave him a happy smile, and continued to eat her own grilled fish slowly and deliberately.

"I'm stuffed."

Kirito stuck his tongue out at Nonou and then spoke.

This friend is completely unreliable.

After reading, I hope everyone will vote for this book and invest in it. If you can give me some monthly tickets and rewards, I will be extremely grateful. It's so difficult for a new author and a new book.

(End of this chapter)