After getting up and washing up, Shinji arrived at the Ninja School early in the morning. As soon as he entered the classroom, he was taken aback. The room was packed with dozens of students, and he didn’t recognize many of them. Among the few familiar faces, however, there were two people who definitely shouldn’t be there. Suppressing his doubts, he relied on the original owner's memories to sit in his designated spot. At that moment, sympathetic and concerned glances were cast his way. Clearly, the classmates were already aware of the tragedy that had befallen the Uchiha clan.

As the foremost noble family of Konoha, the Uchihas had been wiped out overnight by the young clan leader, leaving only two children alive. The impact this had on the village was unimaginable! Growing accustomed to such looks, Shinji remained silent. He discreetly glanced at the red-haired girl sitting in the front row near the podium and the black-haired boy in front of him.

“What the hell?!” Confusion welled up inside him. If he wasn’t mistaken, the small red-haired girl in the front row should be Karin, who had the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan, and the black-haired boy in front of him bore a striking resemblance to Haku, who was from the Mist Village.

“How did those two end up in the Ninja School in Konoha?!” Shinji searched through the fragments of memories left by the original owner but found no information related to Karin and Haku, as if the original owner had never cared about these two classmates. It was typical of an Uchiha, he thought.

Then, he turned his gaze to the other end of the classroom, where a boy with white eyes was sitting. Hinata Neji! He was the only person in the original owner’s memories that mattered, and he was regarded as a rival by the original owner. In the blink of an eye, the morning classes came to an end. As a proud Uchiha, the original owner had a mediocre relationship with his classmates, and coupled with Shinji’s cold expression that seemed to say "don’t approach me," no one spoke to him the entire morning.

Shinji was quite pleased with the solitude. He wasn’t keen on interacting with others, mainly out of fear of revealing his true identity.

“If you don’t mind, let’s eat together!” Suddenly, a voice pulled Shinji’s wandering thoughts back. He looked up to find the boy who resembled Haku, sitting in front of him, offering a food box.

Seeing the puzzled look on Shinji’s face, the boy said, “You forgot to bring your lunch, didn’t you?” It was only then that Shinji realized he was supposed to bring his own lunch for the midday meal, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he casually probed, “What’s your name...?”

The boy didn’t seem surprised or angry that Shinji didn’t remember him and naturally introduced himself, “I’m Haku.”

“Just as I thought!” A chill ran through Shinji’s heart. Things were getting complicated at this Ninja School!

Currently, the curriculum at the Ninja School was quite simple. It consisted of basic survival skills in the wild, tracking enemy footprints, and identifying the effects of various herbs—knowledge essential for ninjas. The slightly advanced courses only explained the principles of chakra extraction from the human body. As for the practical applications of chakra in ninjutsu and genjutsu, that had not yet been covered.

In terms of physical techniques, the focus was mainly on sparring among students and practicing throwing ninja tools. Like now, after lunch, the students flocked to the playground, some chasing and playing, while others engaged in friendly sparring.

“Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba…” Shinji spotted more familiar faces on the playground. However, Naruto was a year below him, and their activities didn’t overlap much, so they had little interaction.

Shifting his gaze to his own grade, he noticed Neji, who wore a serious expression and chose not to spar with others but instead practiced the Gentle Fist style of the Hyuga clan alone against a wooden post in a corner.

After watching for a while, Shinji’s expression gradually became solemn. Neji was about the same age as him, only eight, but his physical techniques looked remarkably sharp. According to the original owner’s memories, the original owner was not Neji’s match in physical skills and had suffered devastating defeats in several sparring sessions. As for Shinji, being a transmigrator, he was even more out of his depth.

He realized that the children in this ninja world were entirely different from those in his previous life. Here, children aged seven or eight were agile, their movements fluid and natural in offense and defense, their strikes powerful, resembling martial arts masters.

“Is this really eight years old?” He had initially thought that possessing a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan would allow him to look down on these little kids at the Ninja School. But after observing, he found that without using the Sharingan, he couldn't even handle the nameless kids of the same age. Not to mention facing someone like Neji, who had already established a reputation as a "genius."

“No way, if my fundamentals are too weak, even having the Mangekyō Sharingan won’t allow me to unleash its full potential!” The power of bloodline limits varied from person to person. Moreover, the Mangekyō Sharingan was a consumable ability that couldn’t be used recklessly.

At the same time, this made him realize a problem: aside from the Mangekyō Sharingan, there was a significant gap between his strength and that of the original owner. The original Uchiha was second only to Neji in their grade, while he estimated that his current strength was likely at the bottom. If he couldn’t bridge this gap quickly, it might raise suspicions from those with ulterior motives.

“This is so frustrating; I’m not good at fighting!” He was somewhat distressed, knowing where the problem lay didn’t mean he could solve it immediately.

Just then, Haku came over to him, looking somewhat expectant, and asked, “Shinji, can I practice physical techniques with you?”

Fearing he would show weakness, Shinji secretly groaned but shook his head on the surface. “You’re too weak.”

Haku quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, I was presumptuous.”

Seeing Haku sincerely apologize, Shinji felt somewhat embarrassed. Even though he knew Haku’s presence at the Ninja School in Konoha was suspicious and there was likely some conspiracy, he couldn’t help but admit that Haku was an understanding person, making interaction very easy.

In the evening, school was over. As Shinji digested what he had seen and heard at the Ninja School today, he walked back to his apartment. When he reached the end of the street, he found that Haku was going the same way. After chatting a bit, he was somewhat surprised. “You live next door to me?”

Haku nodded, “Shinji, I look forward to your guidance.”

“Oh.” Shinji nodded in response.

Back home, Shinji collapsed onto his bed, allowing his thoughts to wander. The appearance of Haku and Karin at the Ninja School in Konoha, and their becoming his classmates, made him feel uncertain.

“Is it the butterfly effect? Or a parallel universe?” Shaking his head, he recalled his thoughts one by one, his hand subconsciously touching his chest. The deep knife wound that had been visible to the bone had completely disappeared after treatment with medical ninjutsu, but he still occasionally recalled the scene from the original owner’s memories just before death.

The experience of death was truly unsettling.

[The dimension is under invasion...]

[Countdown: 1]

[Please prepare; an invasion will be met after midnight tonight...]

Shinji suddenly sat up and looked at the wall clock. At that moment, the clock showed it was 8:05 PM, less than four hours until midnight!