Ricardo sat in front of a worn-out mirror, observing the child reflected in it. He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and accepted the reality of having been transported to the world of Naruto.

Two days ago, Ricardo had awakened in the body of a five-year-old child in the Hidden Stone Village, in the Land of Earth, within the Naruto universe. After two days of merging with the original soul of the child, he finally felt more at ease.

Without a system, without special advantages, and assuming the role of a villain right from the start, Ricardo initially felt desperate. Now, however, he was calmer and able to reflect on his situation.

Ricardo didn't know why he had traveled through time, didn't dare to speculate, and couldn't find answers. However, there was something special about the fusion of their souls.

It was as if the soul of this body and the soul of his previous life were the same person. After this fusion, instead of feeling uncomfortable, I feel energized.

After thinking about it, Ricardo could only conclude that the high degree of compatibility between the two souls led to this magical journey.

There was no struggle, much less devouring. This time, the fusion of the soul was very smooth, basically without any aftereffects.

Ricardo couldn't even tell who he was in this life or the previous life.

The reason why Ricardo's thoughts from past lives are now dominant is probably because he had about thirty years of experience in his previous life, while this life lasted only five years, and they were just the five years of a child with mediocre talent.

The name of this body is Masumi, without a surname.

Unlike Konoha, the Iwanin Village has many large families with a long history. Most people only have first names, but no surnames. This is also an important reason why Iwanin Village has fewer internal conflicts than Konoha.

Masumi's parents were both ninjas and died in wars with other countries not long ago.

Yes, war! The Second Ninja War had just broken out.

Due to confidentiality, Masumi didn't even know in which country his parents died in the war. Of course, this also happened because Masumi was very young, and no one thought it necessary to tell him at this time.

Now the village is responsible for Masumi's life, which obviously refers mainly to three meals a day.

Since the war had just started, the village didn't want to worry the ninjas, so the food for war orphans like Masumi was very good.

They had enough food and clothing, but that was all, and there was no pension. For now, it is not available. He learned from the person who brought him food that the pension would not be paid until Masumi entered the ninja academy.

When the time comes, he will bear the full pressure of survival on his own.

Masumi is prepared for this. This is a magical world with chakra.

It's a world where children of four or five years old can think like adults.

When you go to ninja school at the age of five or six, you should be able to live independently.

Masumi turned left when he left and walked for about ten minutes before arriving at the canteen.

He knew this place well. Although his parents had died a few days ago, the original owner of the body had been dining here for over a month.

He started eating here from the first day when his Chuunin father and Genin mother left the village to prepare for pre-war mobilization.

Upon entering the canteen, Masumi gratefully greeted the middle-aged woman who was distributing food. "Senior Junko, thank you so much for the past few days." It was this Chuunin who noticed that Masumi was not attending meals at the correct times.

Recently, Masumi had received the tragic news of his parents' deaths. Concerned, Junko went to Masumi's house.

She found Masumi, who had just woken up, confused and speaking nonsense. Worried, she took him to the medical department.

At that time, Masumi had not yet completed the soul fusion and was unaware of his current situation. He was frightened by the kind aunt who could surprisingly carry him with one hand and run across rooftops at lightning speed.

Junko smiled tenderly at Masumi, looked at him, and discovered that there was nothing strange about him, then nodded reassuringly.

"Little Masumi, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" Junko said, handing Masumi a breakfast.

"Senior Junko, my body is fine. I have something to ask for your help with."

Junko, a bit curious, asked with a hint of confusion, "What is it, little Masumi?"

After gathering great determination, he said, "I want to ask Senior Junko to teach me ninja practice."

Masumi had thought a lot about this. First, he had few connections at the moment, and the only people he could rely on were responsible ones like Junko, who lived as ninjas.

Secondly, being still young, he did not fear violating taboos. Even if Junko refused, he wouldn't be angry.

Thirdly, Junko still sympathized with him at this time. As the war intensified and more orphans emerged, it would be less likely she would accept his request, especially considering his lack of talent.

A trace of anguish flashed in Junko's eyes, and she automatically imagined the scene of an orphan working hard to avenge his parents.

So Junko did not stop him but carefully explained the process of learning to be a ninja to Masumi.

After breakfast, Masumi stopped at the door of a small school similar to the one in his previous life.

It turns out that before entering ninja school, all children must undergo preschool education, like literacy.

In fact, even if Masumi didn't mention it now, he would still enroll in the school soon.

After all, the Ninja School is primarily a military institution. It mainly teaches ninja knowledge and has nothing to do with ordinary people. If ordinary people want to learn knowledge, they have to do it in school.

Masumi entered the school early and quickly attracted the teacher's attention. After learning about Masumi's situation, the teacher originally wanted to persuade him, but after thinking about it, he agreed.

Masumi could express his thoughts clearly on his own, which shows that his mind is strong enough, so learning shouldn't be a big problem.

Besides, during the years of war, it's not bad that these orphans have a fixed place to go. As for the tuition, it's free for war orphans!

Without wasting time, Masumi enrolled in the school the same day.

After all, he has the memory of his past life, and learning literacy is very simple for Masumi.

At the end of the day, he caught the teacher's attention, and the teacher was very pleased to see Masumi. The teacher gave Masumi extra classes based on his condition.

Thus, Masumi started his life in a preschool in another world.

Although there are many people at the school, Masumi already knows that most of them will not follow the path of ninjas in the future, so they do not have close friendships and basically live alone.

Moreover, as Masumi was the youngest and born a commoner, no one else took the initiative to befriend him. They just regarded him as a little genius who learned cultural knowledge and a stranger.

Maybe because of the precedent set by Masumi, more than half a month later, some war orphans or left-behind children were sent to the canteen.

However, this has little to do with Masumi, because the status of characters in Iwa Ninja Village was not clear in his previous life, so there's no way to find talents worth investing in in advance.

Cultural classes were very simple for Masumi. In a month, Masumi completed all the contents of preschool education.

He also read many books related to ninjas and finally gained a new and intuitive understanding of the world, and his worldview finally jumped from the anime.

On this day, the teacher found Masumi and gave him a surprise.

It turns out that the teacher discovered Masumi often practicing hand seals alone. Although the teacher is not a ninja, he also knows that it is not possible to practice alone.

So the teacher contacted the Ninja School and informed them of the situation. Finally, they received a response allowing Masumi to take the entrance exam early.

It turns out that after receiving the news, the Ninja School reported it to the higher-ups.

After discussion with the higher echelons of Iwa Ninja Village, they decided to enroll students early and, to cope with the war, relaxed admission requirements and conducted both enlightenment education and ninja training in the ninja school.

Of course, the higher-ups did not expect these newly recruited students to be effective in this war. After all, by the time Masumi and the others grew up, the war would have long been over.

The main reason is that after the war, the number of ninjas was greatly reduced, and new people were needed to replenish them, with Masumi's generation being the reserve ninjas.

Masumi nervously arrived at the ninja school.

The Ninja School is one of the central institutions of a Ninja Village, covering a huge area.

After all, hundreds of thousands of people become ninjas every year in a school that can maintain tens of thousands of ninjas fighting.

There are many Jonin in the Ninja School, and the area around it is the focus of ninja patrols. It is not far from the center of Iwa Ninja Village - the Tsuchikage Building.

Masumi did not know what his talent was. Although early enrollment had something to do with him, he was not sure if he could enter the ninja school.

Even the content of the exam could not be discovered by Junko the Chuunin.

When Masumi asked Junko about it at the time, she replied directly, "Little Masumi is already asking for information like a ninja even before becoming one, but didn't know how to ask."

There were so many people enrolled like Masumi, this class equates to recruiting all the people from the previous two classes.

Moreover, after the news of the enrollment expansion spread, many people with average physical conditions also wanted to try.

After all, even if you can't become a ninja, you can still improve your body by learning to practice.

Most of the children were led by their parents. There were also many like Masumi who came directly from the canteen and were brought by the ninja in charge of the canteen.

The person leading the team today was not Junko, and Masumi was not familiar with them. After being assigned to a certain ninja school teacher, Masumi ignored the other person and waited nervously and expectantly to take the test.

Those who participated in the evaluation were divided into several groups and tested separately. Masumi's group had about a hundred people.

They were led by two teachers, one after the other, to a small playground at the school.

There were teachers in charge of the test on the playground, as well as students who had taken the test before Masumi and the others.

Masumi saw some people being taken away in despair, while others remained in place and discussed excitedly among themselves. Even the teachers were discussing the new students who had performed better.

Upon careful observation, Masumi discovered that the previous group also had about a hundred people and about seventy passed the test.

"That proportion is not low," Masumi thought to himself and looked more closely at the eliminated people.

Most of them were children who looked weaker than the average person.

After comparing body shapes, Masumi felt more at ease. It seemed that his self-assessment had been off.

Although he did not have a strong lineage, his parents were both ninjas, and he could barely be considered a second-generation ninja. It seemed that passing the test should not be a big problem.

After a while, it was time for Masumi's batch to be tested.

Based on the knowledge from his previous life, Masumi quickly judged that the ninja entrance exam included not only physical tests but also mental tests.

Thinking of this, Masumi suddenly became excited. It seemed he had to perform well. If it were just a physical test, even if he passed, he would definitely be an average student. Could he aim for the top class?

(End of chapter)