After returning home, Higashino Shin washed up in the bathroom first, then sat properly at the dining table, ready to eat.
The dishes were already laid out. Though the flavors and styles were different from his previous life, he'd grown used to it. It was fine as long as it wasn't that infamous filthy triple-gruel of dried mushrooms and fermented soybeans.
Across the table sat his biological mother in this world a pretty young woman with long brown hair.
Her name was Higashino Megumi. Like most commoners she'd had no surname; before marriage she'd simply been Megumi, and afterward she took her husband's name, Higashino.
Shin's father this time around was Higashino Jiro an ordinary-looking but tall, solid Konoha Chunin. He was away on a Village mission and had been gone for quite a few days.
Yes, Higashino Shin wasn't an orphan in the naruto world; he was lucky enough to have both parents, so no overpowered buffs for him.
His looks took completely after his mother. Not even four yet, you could already see five or six parts resemblance between them, convincing Shin that as long as he didn't grow up crooked he'd probably turn out handsome.
Of course, he might also end up a pretty femboy.
But odds were low he was certain no one in the Family carried the Yuki Clan Bloodline of the Land of Water, and in his past life he hadn't been a proctologist either.
Megumi had given birth at twenty; she was twenty-three now, and Jiro was about the same. The two had even been classmates.
Extremely young so young that Shin's mental age could outrank theirs by more than a decade.
Yet now he had to call them Dad and Mom.
Shin didn't feel awkward about it. He hadn't transplanted himself into someone else's child; he'd been conceived and born in Megumi's womb this couple had truly brought him into the world and raised him.
Calling them parents was only right; in his previous life Li Sen hadn't been an ungrateful drama queen.
While eating, Megumi asked curiously, "Shin, I remember you started training this early every day since you were three. Isn't it hard?"
"Not at all, Mom. I actually enjoy it I love the feeling of getting stronger."
"Why do you want to be strong so much?"
"This is Konoha Village. I'm going to be a Ninja does wanting to be strong need a reason?"
"Doesn't it?"
"Does it? Fine I want to become a powerful Ninja so I can protect you and Dad later." Facing his birth mother, Shin didn't spout political correctness about protecting the Village or comrades.
"Shin, thank you." Megumi smiled and ruffled his hair. "But you've got it backward your dad and I should be the ones protecting you."
More than that, I'm glad you finally sound like a kid your age when you brag. You've always been way too precocious."
You're not even four yet. It's… made me feel I'm missing out on being a mom. I don't think you've ever wet the bed."
Even as a baby you'd yell to get me to take you to the toilet. I never got the chance to change diapers nothing like what people say. Being a mom hasn't felt hard at all."
Faced with his mom's long rant, Shin could only joke: "Oh, so my not wetting the bed disappoints you, Mrs. Higashino?"
Smack! Megumi punched his head. "Call me Mom! Where did you pick up that bratty way of speaking?"
"Got it, Mrs. Higashino. I learned it from Uncle Kuroda downstairs."
Smack! "I said call me Mom!"
No problem, Mrs. Higashino."
Smack!
After breakfast Megumi changed clothes in the bedroom and hurried to head out.
Before leaving she reminded him: "Shin, I'm off to work. Take care of yourself; if anything happens come find me at the hospital."
"Alright, I got it, Mom."
Like her husband, Megumi was a Ninja professionally half a Rank higher. A Tokubetsu Jōnin specialized in Medical Ninjutsu, she worked at Konoha Hospital.
Back then, Tsunade of Konoha, grieved by the death of her younger brother Nawaki and many comrades, proposed that the Village strengthen Medical Ninja training and assign them to squads to cut wartime mission fatalities.
Though the policy hadn't yet taken effect and her boyfriend Kato Dan also fell it was formally adopted after the war ended.
Megumi was one of the beneficiaries of that policy.
Her combat potential was limited, but she showed real talent for Medical Ninjutsu.
Medical arts demand superb Chakra control, an area where women naturally excel.
After giving birth to Higashino Shin, Higashino Megumi rested for more than two years tending to her son while also studying to improve herself.
The moment Shin declared he could look after himself, she dashed back to the hospital; Medical Ninja are so scarce that, no matter how many are trained, there are never enough.
Fortunately, Shin had always acted mature, letting the couple leave him home alone and saving them the cost of a nanny.
As usual, Megumi headed straight to work; once Shin finished washing the dishes, he picked up a book and studied diligently at home.
Children in the Ninja World mature early let alone a reincarnator carrying an adult Soul.
By the age of two, with his mother's help, he had mastered the Ninja World script and then began devouring every book that introduced it.
To live well in this world, you must first understand it.
That mainly meant its geography and its history.
Geography was easy both the Family study and Konoha's library held plenty of non-classified maps and gazetteers of every nation, large and small.
History, however, was barely recorded; few in the Ninja World bothered to chronicle events, and the thousand-year Sengoku era is almost a blank page.
Who knows how much effort a certain black-clad "filial" son poured into erasing it?
Perhaps some ancient clans Senju, Uchiha, Hyuga or the great daimyo families keep hidden annals.
But those were hardly books a child could borrow.
Luckily, Shin never aimed to be a geographer or historian; the publicly available maps had already given him a solid grasp of the world's countries.
As for history, memories of his past life's plot meant he understood the broad sweep of the last millennium better than ninety-nine percent of this world's people more than enough.
He finished all these tasks before turning three.
After three, he embarked on stage-two training, split into three directions.
First: daily physical drills his parents designed the regimen from experience, while he monitored his own limits and increased the load every few weeks.
Second: studying Chakra and human-body basics, plus hand-Seal practice, preparing for future Chakra refinement and Ninjutsu cultivation.
Third: natural sciences mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, cipher codes, and more.
Yes, Ninja study those subjects; look at the questions Naruto faced in his first Chunin Exams though that test covered knowledge usually required of Chunin and above.
A qualified Ninja needn't be a polymath, but must at least grasp the basics hot-headed fighters like Naruto are the exception.
The Ninja Academy teaches these subjects too, but never demands deep mastery.
This is Konoha, military heart of the Land of Fire; its main mission is to produce combat personnel.
Battle prowess is the first and foremost measure of a Ninja.
Students who fail the combat filter later specialize in whatever subjects suit their talents.
They become the Village's support staff sealing experts, cryptographers, basic researchers, Medical Ninja never frontline operatives.
Tsunade insists Medical Ninja must fight, but not everyone has Senju and Uzumaki blood, a bountiful bosom, monstrous strength, and can both heal and carry.
Shin's goal was the same: a general education, not expertise.
All this learning served only to make him a more complete Ninja.
Now, nearly four, he was finishing this general curriculum; his next objective was to become a true Ninja.
That had been his daily regimen for two years no slacking, terrifying self-discipline.
That discipline sprang from his past life: once a gifted child who topped every exam.
Laziness and playfulness had ruined that future, ruined his life.
Given a second chance, he would never repeat the mistakes of Li Sen.
Now Higashino Shin could only say: studying brings joy, and training brings boundless happiness.