Sora returned to the orphanage very late.
Miyamoto Ichirō, Uesugi Rin and the others had already eaten dinner long ago. After helping to settle the two little girls to sleep, Sora returned to his own room.
Since Nonō left, the orphanage only had the old director as the sole caretaker, but she herself needed someone to look after her.
Konoha had already sent the newly received orphans to other orphanage, it seemed they wouldn't send more children over before finding new caretakers. After all, Konoha had more than just this one orphanage.
At Sora's suggestion, the orphanage's name was changed to 'Nonō's Home', just like Nonō's later 'Kabuto's Home'.
In the room.
Sora sat cross legged on the bed, taking out the ninjutsu scroll he obtained today to examine.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet?"
Seeing the words on the scroll clearly, Sora raised an eyebrow, carefully scanning the recorded technique. Before long, he casually rolled it back up and placed it to the side.
This Water Dragon Bullet Technique required a full 44 hand seals. Although Sora's hand speed was fast, in the rapidly changing battlefield, 44 seals were still too time consuming.
Sora couldn't help but recall the scene on the Great Naruto Bridge: when Kakashi and Zabuza faced off, both performed hand seals simultaneously to release Water Dragon Bullets, the process dragged on for nearly a minute. Thinking about it felt awkward.
If that were on a battlefield, you'd probably be dead ten times over.
Compared to Kisame Hoshigaki's 1 seal and the Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumī's 0 seals, it fell far short.
However, Sora did remember there was one other person in Konoha who knew a 2 seal Water Dragon Bullet. The True Scapegoat, Mitarashi Anko.
His Water Dragon Bullet Technique was taught by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, and even had the additional effect of absorbing chakra.
'In the future, there might be a chance to get my hands on that simplified version of the technique,' Sora thought to himself.
Not dwelling on the scroll anymore, Sora focused his attention back on his own chest, beginning to control the animalization of the chest area. But soon, he couldn't help thinking about Nonō's situation again.
'I wonder which country sister is in now, is she in any danger?'
The Sora of now no longer felt that trace of awkwardness he once had when calling Nonō 'sister'. From the night Nonō was forced to leave because of him, he had completely accepted this sister.
Nonō was only 12 years old when she left, yet she had to act like an adult supporting a family, shouldering the burden of caring for her younger siblings alone.
In his previous life, children of that age were mostly just starting middle school carrying backpacks, their own lives still needing their parents' care.
...
Early the next morning, Sora got up early for his morning training, then went to the Ninja Academy with Uesugi Rin.
Entering the school, along the way there were none of the previous jeers and taunts. The looks other children gave Sora no longer held contempt, hatred, or such emotions.
Instead, there was a touch of awe, envy, and even some held a trace of fear.
Two days ago, Sora brutally beating Uchiha Ryota on the competition field, although it was divided into four areas, was still seen by quite a few people. Afterwards, through word of mouth, Sora's strength, personality, and image became increasingly exaggerated, leading to the current situation.
"Sora, the way others are looking at us today seems different, doesn't it?"
Uesugi Rin beside him also noticed this and spoke up.
"Hmm, don't mind them, just focus on ourselves."
Sora wasn't bothered by this, just like before. Whether these people were mocking, hateful, or now envious, fearful, it didn't matter.
In Sora's eyes, they were no different from background characters. The Third Great Ninja War would erupt in Konoha year 43, most of the people here would die on the battlefield like cannon fodder.
Entering the Class B classroom, the originally somewhat noisy classroom instantly quieted down considerably.
Many pairs of eyes focused on Sora in unison. The looks of contempt and provocation some used to have were gone, replaced by curiosity, awe, and admiration.
"Look, it's Sora..."
"I didn't expect him to get first place, he even beat that Hyuga Hikaru!"
"That last move of his was super amazing, I didn't even see it clearly!"
"Shh, he's coming over..."
Whispers arose as Sora walked past, then quickly died down when his gaze swept over.
A few kids who usually followed Uchiha Ryota's lead even subconsciously shrank their necks, not daring to meet his eyes.
Sora was well aware of this, and completely indifferent.
The ninja world ultimately revered strength above all. Previously, he was mocked because of the two reasons: being a chakra waste and an orphan from an outside village.
Now that he had displayed corresponding power, he naturally earned a measure of superficial respect.
Kurenai had arrived early. Seeing Sora, she immediately waved happily. "Sora, over here!"
Sora walked over and sat down, smiling. "You're here quite early."
"Of course!"
Kurenai's cheeks flushed slightly as she leaned closer and whispered, "You're quite the celebrity now, Sora."
"What celebrity, just got lucky, that's all." Sora shook his head, casually taking out his textbook, ready to start today's cultural class.
He knew clearly in his heart, while this first place shielded him from Danzo's threats, it would also draw more attention.
Before, when Sora walked on the street, few people noticed him, he was completely invisible. Now it was different. Even if not everyone knew him, a majority had heard his name.
But this couldn't be avoided, he just had to accept it.
'Genius it is then! With Sarutobi Hiruzen backing me, there's nothing to fear.'
What Sora feared from the start was never the label "genius." After all, his initial self positioning was "the hard working taijutsu genius."
As long as the power of the Azure Dragon Fruit wasn't exposed, a few more labels like "genius" or "strong" didn't matter.
Uchiha Ryota in the back row didn't come to school, which made Sora take a couple more glances. He heard Ryota had asked for a week off.
After a bit of thought, Sora roughly figured out the reason. Although he hadn't gone for a kill, it would still take a few days for the swelling to go down and recovery. Uchiha Ryota probably couldn't come to school with a pig's head. He himself might not care about face, but the Uchiha clan had to consider the family's reputation.
He was probably still lying in bed now...
The cultural class content afterwards was still simple and dull for Sora. After understanding the knowledge the teacher taught, he shifted his focus to operating the breathing technique, while also splitting his attention to ponder the subsequent training of the Eight Inner Gates.
...
When the bell rang for afternoon dismissal, after saying goodbye to Kurenai, Sora headed straight to the small riverbank where he often trained.
Sure enough, even before reaching the riverbank, he heard the passionate shouts of those two green figures.
"Guy! This is youth! Five hundred more squats!"
"Yes, father! Burn, youth!"
"..."
Although he had been training with Guy and his father for a while now, every time he saw their signature green spandex suits, their dazzlingly bright white teeth, and that "youthful" energy that seemed ready to ignite at any moment, Sora still found it hard to keep a straight face.
"Senior Duy, Guy!" Sora called out to the two figures by the river from afar.
After greeting them, Sora didn't hesitate, quickly taking off his jacket and throwing it aside, joining their training group.
Not long after, as Sora finished a set of push ups and was about to switch exercises, Might Duy suddenly called out to him.
Might Duy flashed a mouthful of gleaming white teeth and said, "Sora! Congratulations on getting first in the exam! This is the victory of youth!"
Saying so, he took out a seemingly heavy cloth bag from behind and handed it to Sora. "Here! This is a gift to celebrate you getting first place!"
Sora took it somewhat surprised, feeling its weight. Opening it, inside were actually a pair of finely crafted iron weight wristbands and ankle weights, the workmanship looked quite solid.
"Senior Duy, this..." Sora remembered Might Duy's family wasn't well off, these weight training gear clearly weren't cheap.
"Hahaha!" Might Duy laughed heartily, thumping Sora's shoulder repeatedly.
"Don't worry! A while ago I got promoted to Chūnin! The mission rewards are a bit more now! Thought you've been doing high intensity taijutsu training, these should be helpful for you!"
"This is a senior's gift to a junior's youth!"
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