Chapter 1: Konoha Genin
Land of Fire.
Inside Konohagakure, within the territory of the Akimichi clan.
A figure wrapped in layers of bandages lay quietly in a bedroom, gazing through the window toward the distant Hokage Rock.
Hokage Rock was the symbol of Konoha. From its summit, one could overlook the entire village.
Carved into the rock were the faces of Konoha's First Hokage, Senju Hashirama; Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama; and Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen—clearly visible even from afar.
The owner of that figure was named Akimichi Ryūya, fourteen years old, a member of Konoha's Akimichi clan. His parents had died in the Second Great Ninja War, leaving him alone as the only remaining member of his household.
A textbook protagonist setup!
As he stared at Hokage Rock in the distance, Ryūya felt a wave of daze and disbelief. He never would have imagined that a greasy, middle-aged man from the 21st century like himself would inexplicably transmigrate into the world of Naruto.
To be honest, watching anime back in his original world had always felt exciting. Like many others, he had once indulged in chūnibyō fantasies about what it would be like to transmigrate into the Naruto world.
But when it actually happened—and when he arrived already gravely injured—the experience was far from wonderful.
This was a brutal world where people could die at any moment!
A world where even "villains" were enlightened enough to want to save the world, and where a single ultimate technique could wipe out an entire village!
Who knew? One day a ninjutsu might fall from the sky and he'd be dead just like that!
Thinking about having to live under such circumstances in the future made Ryūya feel deeply distressed.
Anyone could talk big or fantasize, but actually taking action was a completely different matter.
Fortunately, in his previous life, Ryūya wasn't an only child, was unmarried even at an advanced age, and had little money in his bank account. Leaving that world behind didn't carry too many regrets—and he even gained a much younger body for free.
The only thing that truly weighed on his heart was that he could no longer take care of his aging parents.
He could only hope his old man might still manage to have another big, chubby son to ease the loss.
In this world, however, the original owner of the body also fit the standard protagonist profile—an orphan who had lost both parents at a young age.
That, at least, made things convenient for Ryūya, allowing him to pass through the adaptation period alone and without complications.
In Konoha, being born into the Akimichi clan meant Ryūya could be considered part of the elite.
Even if it was just a neglected branch of a powerful family, it was still far better than being a rootless commoner with no backing at all.
The Akimichi clan was one of Konoha's secret-technique clans, an old and prestigious family that had joined Konohagakure during the founding of the Land of Fire.
Members of the Akimichi clan were typically large in stature and possessed the unique ability to convert fat into massive amounts of chakra. Their inherited secret techniques—such as the Expansion Jutsu, Human Boulder, Spiky Human Boulder, Partial Expansion, and Super Expansion—were all extremely destructive.
In addition, the Akimichi clan possessed a secret formula for the Three-Colored Pills, which could enhance chakra in stages and drastically increase an Akimichi ninja's combat power.
Purely in terms of taijutsu destructive force, aside from the Eight Gates, the Akimichi clan could be considered the strongest among all Konoha clans.
With this background, even as a war orphan, Ryūya could still survive comfortably on the village's and clan's subsidies.
After more than ten days of mental adjustment and memory integration, Akimichi Ryūya had fully accepted the fact that he had transmigrated and gained a preliminary understanding of his current situation.
According to the memories left behind by the original owner, Ryūya was now an "overaged" genin of Konoha. He had briefly attended the Ninja Academy during the same period as Hatake Kakashi.
However, the famous prodigy Kakashi had already graduated from the Academy at the age of five, while Ryūya had only been allowed to graduate early after the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War—as cannon fodder.
With such talent, Ryūya ranked near the bottom of Konoha's Ninja Academy. Forget comparing him to a genius like Kakashi—even many students from civilian backgrounds were stronger than him.
If not for his Akimichi lineage, Ryūya suspected he might not even have been admitted to the Ninja Academy in the first place.
At present, the Third Great Ninja War was raging at its height.
Compared to the first two wars, the Third Great Ninja War was larger in scale and lasted far longer.
During the war, Konoha faced four villages in succession, and the level of brutality far exceeded that of the previous conflicts.
The prolonged warfare caused all the ninja villages to lose large numbers of elite ninja. Facing the combined pressure of four villages, Konoha's leadership had no choice but to let more Academy students graduate early and send them to the battlefield.
Ryūya was one of them—a proud Konoha genin.
In his previous life, anyone who had watched Naruto knew that the universally acknowledged power ceiling of the ninja world was the Konoha genin.
Figures like Might Duy, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke—one of whom single-handedly kicked the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist into becoming the "Lucky Trio," while the latter two saw their strength skyrocket in the later stages of the story and ultimately joined forces to seal the final boss, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Unfortunately, Ryūya was not one of them. He was a genin in the truest sense of the word.
Half a month earlier, Ryūya had been seriously injured on the battlefield by a Kumogakure chūnin and forced to retreat back to Konoha.
His injuries were severe. If not for the fact that this world's technology tree had veered oddly toward advanced medical ninjutsu, he would likely have already lost his life.
After understanding the basic situation, Akimichi Ryūya had no choice but to start thinking about his future path.
In the world of Naruto, everything revolved around strength.
And the source of that strength—aside from a few rare exceptions like Might Guy—was usually talent and bloodline.
To put it bluntly, the closer your bloodline was to the Sage of Six Paths, the nobler it was—and the stronger you were.
Like Naruto and Sasuke…
In Konoha, the Uchiha clan's Sharingan and the Hyūga clan's Byakugan were textbook examples of superior bloodlines.
With the help of their kekkei genkai, Sharingan and Byakugan, members of these two clans often achieved outstanding accomplishments, producing many powerful ninja.
After the Senju clan fully merged into Konoha, the Uchiha and Hyūga clans became the village's top aristocratic families.
Logically speaking, the Akimichi clan was also considered a powerful family in Konoha. But combining his memories from both lives, Ryūya realized that the clan maintained a relatively low profile.
Aside from a few individuals who had shown notable talent, most clan members kept their heads down, and the title of "genius ninja" rarely fell upon an Akimichi.
Someone with poor talent like Ryūya was even less valued within the clan and received no focused training.
If he wanted to survive better in the Naruto world, relying solely on the Akimichi clan as a backing wouldn't take him very far.
Moreover, so far, Ryūya had not discovered any signs of exceptional talent in himself.
In short—utterly ordinary.
For a character like this to survive in a Naruto world filled with overpowered protagonists, the road ahead would be extremely rough.