{Mind Storage Place}
The sunset painted the sky in fiery clouds.
On the Hokage Rock, a small figure leaned lazily against the railing, Rihito Sato gazing down at the village bathed in golden light.
As a veteran corporate drone who had muddled through years of soul-crushing nine-to-five, Rihito always saw himself as a capybara, living or dying didn't really matter, nothing could stir his emotions.
He once believed that, desensitized by the flood of modern information, he had already seen enough of life and death to remain calm in the face of anything. But the sight before his eyes still sent his heart surging with emotions he couldn't contain.
Children in the village chased each other around, casually leaping seven or eight meters high, landing on second-floor rooftops as if it were nothing. In training grounds tucked away in corners, a few were sparring, mouths spewing water and fire like something out of myth. It was absurd. Even though Rihito had mentally prepared himself, seeing it in reality still left him stunned.
He had transmigrated, from a nobody in 21st-century Earth into the world of The Legend of Eye Clashes Among the Five Great Villages, becoming just another ordinary five-year-old in Konohagakure.
No siblings, no wife, no family. Parents dead. The classic orphan protagonist package.
Ordinary civilians had no surnames, only given names. Luckily, he still went by Rihito Sato in this life. His original parents had been ordinary shinobi of Konoha, killed recently during a border patrol skirmish with another village. All they left behind was a two-story detached house. Nothing more.
Since the day Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara parted ways and turned from brothers-in-arms to enemies, everything in the ninja world had changed. Their battle reshaped the land itself, carving out the Valley of the End. Hashirama slew Madara in tears and later wasted away from grief. With his death, the ninja world plunged into turmoil.
As the saying went: "With Susanoo clad in Buddha, two men could destroy four nations."
In this world of extraordinary power, peace depended solely on the will of the strongest. When the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, longed for peace, peace was kept. The will of the strongest dictated everything.
But after both of Konoha's transcendent titans were gone, even the so-called fastest shinobi in history, Senju Tobirama, couldn't hold the stage alone.
The First Shinobi World War erupted. It had already dragged on for years, brains beaten into dog brains, blood flowing across the lands. Only the Land of Wind stayed in seclusion to quietly build its strength. Everywhere else, nations bled each other dry. The number of shinobi had plummeted, and now the fighting was reaching its limits, edging toward its final phase.
Sadly, Rihito's cheap parents fell in the darkness before dawn, unable to outlast the First Great War. Rihito remembered clearly that more than a decade separated the first and second wars, a precious, lengthy era of peace. If he could only survive this war, he'd at least get ten or so years of stability.
But the ninja world had always been like this. Since the founding of the hidden villages, every ten or so years came another round of large-scale conflict, burning away generation after generation of youth.
Unless fate changed, the Second Shinobi World War would erupt in another decade, and Rihito would be thrust into that same meat grinder. Would he have the chance to survive it?
Being born into this world was like being scammed into a shady industrial park in northern Myanmar, surviving peacefully was almost impossible. Konoha might cloak itself in slogans like the "Will of Fire," but the truth was clear: it was a terrifying armed organization.
What kind of decent society sends children barely ten years old into war? Isn't that terrorism? Look at Kakashi, graduated at six, killing at seven. What kind of "good organization" does that?
Still, the world itself was nothing more than a ramshackle troupe. Konoha might be rotten, but the other villages were worse. Sometimes the only reason an organization looked decent was because its peers were even more pathetic. This was an age of "who's the least rotten."
Even so, Konoha's slogans at least sounded noble, and it did take care of families of fallen shinobi. Rihito received a monthly allowance, and the village covered all his ninja academy expenses. At least he didn't need to worry about basic survival.
His priority now was simple: study hard, train hard, and grow strong. His dreams? To crush the Uchiha with his fists, step on Jinchūriki under his feet, marry Tsunade, and become the Fourth Hokage, standing at the very summit of the shinobi world.
Why did he dare speak with such confidence? Naturally, because he had the cheat of all transmigrators. With a thought, Rihito murmured, "System."
A faint blue screen appeared before his eyes.
Character: Rihito Sato (5 years 6 months)
Fame: 13 (utterly unknown)
Bloodline: Descendant of the God Tree (a legendary plant-person)
Skills: Chakra Extraction Technique, Kunai Throwing
Attributes (Average adult shinobi = 5)
Strength: 3 (about the power of one goose)
Constitution: 3 (fragile, can be one-shot)
Agility: 4 (slower than a feather duster swipe)
Intelligence: 6 (slightly sharper than average)
Spirit: 8 (two lifetimes, heightened perception)
Charm: 6 (a cute kid, actually good-looking)
Luck: 5 (unpredictable, rises and falls daily)
Current Wish Pool: Tomb Raider (Insufficient Fame. Unable to pray.)
It was a "wish-draw system." By accumulating fame, he could obtain draws and summon powers that defied the world itself.
Simply put: the more noise he made, the more fame he gained; the more fame he gained, the more draws he got; the more draws he got, the stronger he became. A positive cycle.
Who held the most fame in this world? Of course, those whose names echoed through history. In this era, the ones with greatest renown were the Five Kage.
Next were heroes like the Sannin, White Fang, or Shisui of the Body Flicker, shinobi whose titles shook the world. Beyond them were famous writers, such as Jiraiya. After all, decades of war had left people spiritually starved. Literature was a great way to spread a name.
Then there were the infamous, Jinchūriki scorned by their own people, or cruel tycoons like Gatō of the Land of Waves.
In short, whether good or evil, as long as one was known and talked about, fame could be gained. Which meant the first step was obvious.
Set a small goal: become top of the class at the academy. Make his name the one parents repeated when talking about their children's classmates. Fame spreads fastest through the legend of a prodigy, because as the saying goes, it's best to become famous early.
<150 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter>