Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

"Phew, I finally made it past ten seconds."

Kirito clapped his hands and said, panting.

The ability to absorb natural energy, also known as Sage Mode, is a skill Kirito gained after absorbing the original owner's memories after transmigrating. In short, it's the original owner's innate ability.

However, the original owner was too weak. After awakening a talent similar to Jugo's, he fell seriously ill immediately because he unconsciously absorbed natural energy. In the end, he could not bear the torment of his body day and night, and he had long had suicidal thoughts. These negative thoughts were amplified by natural energy, which benefited the current Kirito, allowing him to successfully take over the body.

After Kirito transmigrated, he was tormented to the point of near death by natural abilities. The reason he was able to survive was thanks to the perks of transmigrators: foresight and cheat codes.

His cheat is an attribute panel that digitizes his abilities in detail and can be accessed by him anytime, anywhere, at his will.

With the help of the attribute panel, Kirito immediately realized that he was being tormented by natural energy. By keeping his mind calm and eliminating negative emotions such as fear, agitation, and anger, he finally succeeded in turning off the switch that allowed his Sage Body to autonomously absorb natural energy.

Natural energy is undoubtedly a very powerful force, and it is the foundation for cultivating immortal arts.

However, those without the constitution to transform into immortals often turn to stone if they rashly absorb it.

While those who are born with the ability to absorb natural energy will not necessarily turn to stone, if they do not have a sufficient understanding of natural energy, they may amplify their negative emotions due to their inability to perfectly control it, ultimately leading to a berserk and self-destructive behavior.

Kirito possesses the ability to transform into a Sage, so he certainly won't waste this talent. Especially now that he's weak and helpless, he needs to explore this potential as much as possible to gain the power to protect himself in this unfamiliar world.

So, after successfully mastering the switch to absorb natural energy, he secretly cultivated natural energy. To keep it as secret as possible, he would sneak out to cultivate every night.

After a period of practice, he discovered that cultivating natural energy is not something that can be achieved overnight; it requires a gradual approach.

Currently, he can only absorb a small amount of natural energy each day; absorbing any more would risk him exploding or going berserk.

Natural energy is indeed a powerful force; after only about a month of cultivation, his physical condition has improved significantly.

Kirito can clearly see this from the changes in the strength and speed values ​​displayed on his attribute panel. When he first transmigrated, Kirito's strength and speed were both 0, which shows that his strength and speed were negligible. Now, his strength and speed have both reached 2.

Kirito's current attribute panel looks like this:

Properties panel:

忍0、体0、幻0、贤2、力2、速2、精1、印0

(Ninjutsu: mastery and proficiency in ninjutsu; Taijutsu: mastery and proficiency in taijutsu; Genjutsu: mastery and proficiency in genjutsu; Wisdom: breadth of knowledge and IQ; Strength: muscle strength throughout the body, such as wrist and leg strength; Speed: agility of movement and reaction; Chakra: amount of chakra; Hand seals: mastery and proficiency in hand seals.)

Physique: Immortal Transformation

Chakra Affinity: Lightning, Yin, Yang

查克拉性质：风0、火0、水0、土0、雷0、阴0、阳0

Ninjutsu:

Enhancement Points: 0

In addition to the increase in strength and speed, his perception has also improved, most notably his eyesight (including dynamic vision), hearing, and chakra perception. It is now difficult for him to miss any movement within a radius of twenty meters.

There is also chakra, a power formed by the fusion of physical and spiritual energy. As the natural energy stored in his body increases, his chakra also slowly increases.

Kirito doesn't know how to refine chakra yet. When he first transmigrated, he had very little chakra, and his attribute panel showed 0 for his chakra essence. But now his essence is 1, which shows that cultivating natural energy can also increase chakra.

Kirito guessed that this might be related to the increase in his physical and mental energy, as cultivating natural energy can enhance these two powers.

After Kirito finished training in natural energy, he picked up some small stones from the ground, collected about a hundred, and then threw them forcefully at a nearby rock.

Unable to find decent weapons at the orphanage, he turned to the stones scattered on the ground as his favorite weapon. He used them to practice the simple and practical art of throwing stones, and once he mastered it, it would make it easier for him to practice throwing kunai later.

His improved muscle strength and eyesight gave him a significant advantage in practicing stone throwing. The stones he threw were both fast and powerful. After nearly a month of training, he had already made some progress in stone throwing, with significant improvements in his power generation technique and accuracy.

After throwing 100 stones, Kirito shook his slightly sore hand and then returned to the orphanage.

When he returned, he found Yakushi Nonou standing at the door.

Kirito wasn't surprised by this; he simply smiled at the blonde girl and said, "Good evening."

He sneaks out every night; if he does this so often, it will be hard to hide it from others.

As the saying goes, if you walk by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet.

After all, he wasn't some kind of powerful ninja; he was just an ordinary kid.

Not long ago, he was discovered by Yakushi Nonou, who was the first person to find out about it. However, she did not make a fuss and instead chose to help him cover it up.

Kirito asked him why he was willing to help him, and Nonou replied that they were family.

From then on, Kirito finally had a home in this other world, felt a sense of belonging to the orphanage, and hoped that his family living there would get better and better.

The fishing trap was the first gift Kirito gave to his family.

When Nono heard Kirito's greeting, she rolled her eyes at him in annoyance, then handed him a clean change of clothes and said, "Wash up before you come back to sleep. Be quiet, the headmaster has been sleeping lightly lately."

"Ok."

Kirito took the clothes and smiled.

Chapter 3: Pig, Deer, Butterfly

Life at the Konoha Orphanage was tough, but it was peaceful and quiet, and people rarely bothered us.

The people in the orphanage were like weeds in Konoha Village, ignored by everyone.

Another month has passed since Yakushi Nonou successfully created the fishing trap.

During this month, thanks to the fishing traps, the children in the orphanage had fish to eat every day, and thanks to the addition of meat, the children gradually lost their sallow and emaciated appearance, becoming less pale and more healthy.

Kirito Tohsaka has changed the most; he's grown up plump and fair-skinned with a rosy complexion, completely unlike his previous sallow and thin appearance.

The reason for such a big change is, on the one hand, that there is sufficient nutrition, and on the other hand, that natural energy cultivation has been successful.

After a month, Kirito's strength and speed have both steadily increased to 3 points.

Because he didn't have a specific training partner, he wasn't quite sure how strong he was, but he was already quite capable of handling ordinary wild beasts such as wild boars, wolves, and pythons.

With his skill in throwing stones that could hit any target within ten meters, any ordinary wild animal he saw became his meal.

His current plump and healthy appearance is largely thanks to the ordinary wild animals in the forest.

Around noon that day, Kirito dragged a wild boar out of the forest behind Konoha with one hand and then entered the village.

A six-year-old child dragging a wild boar weighing at least several hundred kilograms with one hand—that scene would be absolutely shocking to ordinary people.

However, in Konoha Village, a place full of superhumans and geniuses, Kirito's amazing feat did not surprise the villagers much. At most, they would glance at Kirito a few more times and be a little surprised that he could hunt wild boars at such a young age.

After Kirito showed off his skills to the old director by hitting a bird in the sky with a stone and easily lifting a stone weighing several hundred pounds, he gained the right to freely enter and leave the orphanage.

The old director was worried that the children in the orphanage would get lost or be unable to protect themselves if they went out, so he did not allow children under the age of eight to leave the orphanage without permission and kept a close watch on them.

But Kirito Tohsaka clearly no longer needs her to worry about him.

The strong should be self-reliant and self-strengthening.

This is especially true for children from poor families.

In short, the orphanage no longer feeds him; he has to eat on his own now.

Kirito didn't keep his strength a secret, because he needed money to attend the ninja academy, and hunting wild animals in the forest was undoubtedly a quick way to do so.

Moreover, in Konoha Village, an organization teeming with ninjas, it's incredibly difficult to conceal one's strength. And since he doesn't even know ninjutsu, it would be even harder for him to fool the village's ANBU ninjas.

Moreover, if an orphan like him, with no one to rely on, doesn't show any value for development, he might not even have the chance to attend the ninja academy.

To enter the Ninja Academy, one must first be a villager. Strictly speaking, Kirito is just an orphan brought back from outside by Konoha ninjas. Although he has ninja talent, he is insignificant in Konoha and is suspected of taking up villagers' teaching resources.

Therefore, it would be more beneficial for him to appropriately showcase his talent.

Konoha is not a place that would easily stifle geniuses. The various ninja clans are quite tolerant of people. After all, can any genius be more talented than the ninja god who founded Konoha?

What is there to fear from a mere commoner who isn't even a ninja?

From the current perspective, Kirito's actions have greatly contributed to his goal of becoming a ninja.

He had earned enough for 100,000 yen in tuition by selling wild game. With the recommendation of the former dean and a simple entrance test, he had successfully qualified to enter the Ninja Academy as a colonel.

If all goes well, he will be able to enter the Ninja Academy in another month.

In theory, he should have already secured his position as a ninja.

Therefore, Kirito now has a new goal: to help the other children in the orphanage become ninjas as well.

A hero needs three helpers. If he wants to develop in Konoha in the future, he will definitely need helpers, and these helpers would be best to be his orphanage companions who share the same identity as him.

These children in the orphanage were all precocious, and they all longed to become ninjas and gain extraordinary power, even though they knew that becoming a ninja was a very dangerous thing.

……

Kirito dragged the wild boar to a butcher shop. The shop owner saw Kirito from afar and greeted him warmly, "Hey, little Kirito, you caught another wild boar today. You're really something. If the hunters in the village knew you'd caught wild boars for three days in a row, they'd be green with envy."

Kirito has been frequently coming to his place to sell wild game lately, which has greatly improved his business.

"Just lucky, boss. Please weigh it."

Kirito smiled.

The owner immediately called his staff to help carry the wild boar into the store to be weighed.

Soon, Kirito earned a good sum of money from selling his meat, a full five thousand yen, equivalent to the lowest-ranking D-level mission for a ninja.

After receiving the money, Kirito promptly went to his usual steamed bun shop nearby to buy some steamed buns.

There are freshly baked large meat buns there, big and with lots of filling, and they're also cheap, only 20 yen each, which is perfect for Kirito, a poor but big eater.

Since he started cultivating natural energy, Kirito's appetite has become better and better. One of the reasons he went hunting was that he was not getting enough to eat at the orphanage, which was seriously affecting his ability to become stronger.

Kirito arrived at the meat bun shop and bought ten in one go.

"I want twenty."

After Kirito bought the steamed buns, a familiar voice came from the side. It was a chubby boy about the same age as Kirito, who was looking at Kirito with a provocative gaze.

The chubby boy is a member of the Akimichi clan, and his name is Akimichi Choza.

Kirito noticed Choza's provocative little eyes and said disdainfully, "Twenty? Can you even finish them, you defeated opponent?"

The day before yesterday, he met Dingza here, who was also buying big meat buns. Perhaps it was the incompatibility between big eaters, but a silent battle of eating began. As a result, Kirito ate ten big meat buns without any pressure, while Dingza vomited after eating the eighth one.

"Stop talking nonsense, I will definitely beat you today."

Choza still has the mentality of a child. He was defeated by Kirito in his area of ​​expertise the day before yesterday, and he is determined to get revenge today no matter what.

He made a huge decision for this match and hasn't eaten any snacks all day.

Having not eaten any snacks, his fighting power was immense, and he was certain he would win today.