After finishing a day of classes and training, Kanekawa Tachibana dragged his exhausted body back home.
Only when he sat down in the entryway and looked at his reflection in the mirror—a boy of just eight or nine—did he finally drop the fake smile on his face.
Tachibana sighed deeply.
Imitating someone else's life is such an exhausting task.
"Blue, put away the ninja tools first. I'll prepare dinner in a bit."
"Ribbit~ ㄟ(._.)"
The little frog looked at Kanekawa Tachibana with concern, extending a small hand to gently pat the boy's leg.
Eventually, it hopped away, ninja tool bag in tow, heading toward the storage room.
Kanekawa stared at his reflection in the mirror, lost in thought.
Some sharp-eyed classmates and teachers had already noticed his recent changes, but fortunately, the people of Kirigakure were mostly indifferent. They didn't concern themselves too much with others' business.
Kanekawa Tachibana—his original name no longer mattered.
He wasn't originally a native of this world. A month ago, he'd been just an ordinary nine-to-five office worker.
After narrowly avoiding being hit by a large truck twice, he'd taken an extended leave from work, feeling his luck had run out, and decided to rest at home for a while.
But when he woke up, he found himself transmigrated into the ninja world, becoming a 9-year-old orphan in Kirigakure.
Luckily, he inherited all the memories of the original owner of this body.
As a half-hearted otaku, Tachibana wasn't deeply familiar with Naruto, but he had at least watched the series in its entirety and had a general understanding of its plot and development.
Kanekawa Tachibana understood exactly what kind of world the ninja world was.
After the Warring States period ended and the village system was established, its original intent was to promote peace and mutual restraint.
However, the reality didn't change much. The Ninja World Wars broke out every ten years or so. Local skirmishes and ninja battles over missions never ceased.
Not to mention the occasional superpowered maniac bent on wiping out clans, destroying villages, or ending the world.
Even Konohagakure, the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki's home, wasn't safe.
Despite claiming to have built the village to keep children off the battlefield, every war still saw children as young as a few years old sent to fight.
But Tachibana's situation was even worse. At least Konoha had a semblance of peace and unity on the surface.
Kirigakure didn't even bother with such pretenses. The Blood Mist policy made the entire village crueler and more cold-blooded.
And all this was just the underlying danger.
The most immediate threat to Tachibana was the ninja academy's graduation exam.
In Kirigakure, students had to kill one of their peers during the exam to become official ninjas—a brutal test with a death rate of at least 50%.
Kanekawa Tachibana's graduation exam was only four months away.
As someone who knew the series' plot, Tachibana felt even more pressure than his peers.
That was because the memories he inherited revealed that he had a classmate named Momochi Zabuza.
Tachibana knew very well that in the original Naruto, Zabuza killed all his classmates during the graduation exam, forcing Kirigakure to abandon such a cruel test.
In other words, if Tachibana couldn't defeat Zabuza, his chances of survival in this exam were zero.
As an ordinary person transmigrated from a peaceful world, Tachibana only wanted to live safely and comfortably.
At the very least, he hoped to survive until the Boruto era.
By then, the ninja world would have video games and the internet. He could happily settle down as a recluse.
Fortunately, heaven didn't cut off his path entirely. As a transmigrator, Tachibana came equipped with a golden finger: the "All-Purpose Pokémon Lottery System."
"Ugh, I still can't get used to the name."
Tachibana sighed, covering his face.
After more than a month in this world, he had figured out the system's basic functions.
The system had three main sections: [Lottery], [Missions], [Achievements].
Both missions and achievements rewarded coins, but unfortunately, these coins weren't tangible and could only be used for lotteries in the system. There wasn't even a shop.
Currently, the mission panel only had daily missions. Four tasks refreshed daily at midnight, each worth 10 coins. Completing all four granted an additional 20-coin bonus.
After a month of completing these tasks, Tachibana learned that the daily missions were simple: [Throw a kunai 200 times], [Answer a question in class], [Help the widow next door buy soy sauce].
His classmates often saw him training alone after school—not just because of his urgency for the future, but sometimes to complete his daily missions.
As for other missions, their triggers were still unclear.
Tachibana guessed that after becoming a ninja and receiving village tasks, new mission types might appear.
Next was the [Achievements] section.
The good thing about daily missions was their consistency, but as a newcomer to this world, Tachibana frequently triggered achievements over the past month.
Only the starter achievement, [First Time in the Ninja World], granted a significant reward of 300 coins.
Most other achievements, like today's [Bullying Children], only gave a measly 5-10 coins. Still, the sheer variety of achievements made up for it.
Achievements like tasting ten different foods, talking to 100 people, or even [Sorry, I'm Late to Life], triggered when he was late to school for the first time, kept piling up.
Since the trigger conditions for achievements were unknown, Tachibana initially experimented wildly but found the process inefficient. He eventually adopted a "let it happen naturally" approach.
Finally, the most important section: the [Lottery] interface.
According to the [?] help icon, every 160 coins granted one lottery draw. A ten-draw guaranteed at least one purple-tier item, while 90 cumulative draws guaranteed a gold-tier item. Once a gold-tier item was drawn, the counter reset.
The prizes varied depending on the pool.
Despite the "All-Purpose Pokémon Lottery" name, there were currently only three pools:
[??? Pool]: Its unlock conditions remained a mystery. [General Attribute Pool]: Contained a mix of prizes, from devastating moves like Explosion to useless items like Meowth's Coin. [Newbie Exclusive Pool]: Limited to 20 draws.
A month and a half ago, after saving up 1,280 coins, Tachibana took advantage of the Newbie Pool's 20% discount for a ten-draw.
The results were mixed.
The gold-tier [Summoning Technique: Unique] (Grants mastery of summoning and a randomly assigned Pokémon as a familiar, with growth potential and max initial bond) seemed impressive but turned out to summon a lowly Froakie under level 5.
Blue-tier items like [Potion] and [PP Aid] had limited use, while white-tier items like [Feather of Pidgeotto], [Yellow Apricorn], [Orange Mail], [Tiny Mushroom], and [Marble] were outright bizarre and pointless.
Still, Froakie was a bright spot—a trustworthy companion from another world. Though weak now, it brought Tachibana great comfort.
He named it "Kanekawa Blue" (Blue for short), a name that would stay even after it evolved into Greninja.
Blue was a partner, not just a summon or Pokémon, meant to grow alongside him.
Still, out of embarrassment, Tachibana often called it "Blue-chan."
After today's daily missions and achievements, Tachibana had saved up 1,305 coins.
Looking at the number on the system panel, then at Blue, who had finished tidying up and was watching him worriedly, Tachibana smiled.
"Let's eat first. We've waited all day; a bit longer won't hurt."
In a world as dangerous as the ninja world, Tachibana consciously trained himself to remain calm and steady in all situations.
Impulsive people didn't survive long here.
Since he would definitely get to draw today, there was no rush.
Forcing himself to stay composed, Tachibana got up, changed shoes, cooked dinner, and ate with Blue.
At 10:00 PM, after washing up and calming himself, he opened the system panel.
"Blue-chan, come pray with me!"
Although ninjas needed to face things rationally, if transmigration could happen, praying to the gods didn't seem so silly anymore.
"May the heavens bless me—Laozi, Buddha, Arceus..."
"Ribbit? (⊙▽⊙)"
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