Last night, a light rain fell, the first of autumn, stopping just before dawn. Although the Konoha is far from the sea, its rains are always gentle, rarely harsh.
However, it was the right season for me. In the courtyard of my rented house grew a three to four-meter-tall maple tree, its red leaves falling softly to the ground.
Although I went to bed late last night, the first rays of sunlight through the window woke me up. Rubbing my eyes, I sat up, yawned, and got out of bed to wash up.
By the time I opened the refrigerator and reached into the compartment, I had was still half-asleep .
my mouth twitched as I questioned reality, exclaiming, "Seriously? The fridge is so empty there isn't even a single instant noodle left?!"
In an instant, I shivered. I forgot to buy food for week in my excitement for my future endeavours.
The money I earned from yesterday's mission was all spent in 'investment' for my future. atleast that is what I tell myself to ease my mind.
And with no instant noodles in the fridge, it meant I would go hungry till lunch.
For a "teenager" in the growing stage, this was like a bolt out of the blue.
"Gurgle~"
my stomach also chimed in, and I angrily closed the refrigerator door. I quickly changed out of my pajamas, deciding to go out and take on missions to earn money.
Even if I had missed my breakfast, lunch had to be solved.
The stomach is the boss and I am its subordinate.
Locking the door and swiftly heading downstairs, the air felt slightly chilly as it washed away on my face, and stepping on the fallen maple leaves felt quite poetic.
Recalling the earlier conversation I had with Ino last night, I opened the system and activated the "player perspective,"
then looked toward the school on the mission map, where a light was indeed visible.
I wondered if Iruka still needed more labour? After all, Ino had mentioned rushing to sign up yesterday.
Since I was busy gathering information about publishers and ended up too late, I forgot about it.
However, I wasn't too worried. Since the school was having a question mark in his player perspective.
even if Iruka had already filled the quota, he would still need more hands for the festival. After all, the system was never wrong in cases like this.
I have not actually found system being wrong about anything, at least in the test I conducted. When I have more time and opportunity I will do some more thoro test to know if it has any limitation at all.
And If Iruka truly didn't need any more help. The question mark and the light would disappear from the map. It is getting live updates after all.
Moreover, the school festival would surely have interesting activities, and some food stands like tea and snack stalls.
With my connections to Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji, freeloading/bossing around for some foods from underpaid workers wouldn't be a problem.
Konoha itself is quite enormous, and without modern industrialized transportation, one has to rely on their own two legs.
For ordinary people, walking from one end of the village to the other could take half a day. But for us shinobis, it's a different story.
However, even for us shinobis, exploring every corner of the Village would take a long time.
The Village is not only the largest village in the Land of fire but also one of the most prominent in the entire Naruto universe.
Fortunately, my chakra was equivalent to that of a genin, and I am physically strong as well.
Although my residence was somewhat remote, I could still reach the shinobi school gate within twenty minutes by concentrating chakra in my legs and running.
The entire Village has a population of over a million, and I estimate that there were over 20,000 shinobis.
During the fourth Shinobi War, all villages mobilized their full strength, deploying an army of 80,000 shinobis and i am also counting samurais in it as well as shinobis instead of seperate group for simplicity's sake.
I believe that some must still be guarding the village during the showdown.
As the only shinobi school in the Village, the Konoha Shinobi Academy's scale could rival a modern university, with about 600 students enrolling each year.
Admission – Basics – Drills – Application – Graduation – Genin, this is the training process at the Konoha Shinobi Academy.
Depending on talent, students graduate at different times. For example, our always watching porn uncle the great genius shinobi Kakashi graduated at just 5 years old, a record that remains unbroken!
Uchiha Itachi is also a notable one that graduated quite early.
The Third Hokage wanted Naruto to become independent sooner, so he allowed him to enter the shinobi academy earlier than most.
However, due to loneliness and a dislike for studying, Naruto was held back. Who would have known, The boy who would later become famous for his "talk no jutsu" was once a sensitive, stubborn introvert.
"Takumi! Takumi!"
While I was lost in thought about to pass under the gate of the shinobi academy, I suddenly heard a familiar voice, filled with excitement.
Turning around, I saw a beautifully dressed girl holding a large bundle in her left hand, her right hand cheerfully waving at me.
It was none other than our princess, Ino.
Her soft, light yellow hair wasn't tied up in a high ponytail like usual but flowed over her shoulders, with a pale purple bellflower pinned to her ear.
She wore a sky-blue kimono adorned with cherry blossoms. The wide sleeves of the kimono slipped down as she waved, revealing her fair, slender arm.
I unconsciously frowned seeing her but relaxed as Ino approached in her wooden clogs, her appearance truly stunning.
I teased, "Why no skirt and crop top combo today? By the way Your kimono is very pretty."
"Hmph!" Ino loudly exclaimed , who had been running up to Takumi, pouting her small mouth, showing dissatisfaction with my comment. "Shouldn't I be the one who's pretty?"
"Well, you are quite pretty, and the bellflower in your ear suits you today," I said with a relaxing smile, deciding not to tease her further.
As I spoke, Ino opened the bundle in her hand, taking out a wooden lunchbox and handing it to me, and says with a smile. "Since you've already fallen under my spell, I'll be merciful and give you this bento. Be grateful!"
Seeing Ino's proud but warm demeanor, I felt a warmth in his heart.
I hadn't expected the girl to bring me a bento, but I hesitated, saying, "isn't this your lunch bento, is it? Don't sacrifice your own meal just to fill my stomach."
Ino rolled her eyes at dramatic ole me, pushing the bento into my hands before fully opening the bundle in front of me, impatiently saying. "Look, there are two more bento boxes here! One for you and one for me. I'm not as silly as you think. Eat up already! I had to bring my father's bento box too, and he glared at me this morning!"
As she said this, Ino's mouth twitched in displeasure, though it quickly passed.
Of course, he would glare! I smiled wryly, even imagining the "resentful" look on Ino's father's face. His daughter bringing bentos for a boy was one thing, but bringing two? And running out of bento boxes, forcing the father to contribute his own!