On the eastern hillside overlooking the bustling streets of Konoha Village.
It was the quiet period just before the Genin Placement Exams.
Shiro was lying leisurely under the shade of a large, leafy tree, taking a peaceful afternoon nap. Although he was still quite young, his facial features were already incredibly sharp, undeniably handsome, and carried an extraordinary charm. Even in a place like Konoha, where striking and talented shinobi were a dime a dozen, his appearance was considered vastly superior to the rest.
However, this exceptionally handsome face was currently etched with a heavy, subtle hint of melancholic worry.
Above him stretched an incredibly vast, azure sky, and below him laid an endless, rolling expanse of vibrant green grass. If it were anyone else resting here, they would likely feel completely at ease, lulled into comfort by the serene and peaceful scenery.
But Shiro couldn't relax.
Because this was Konoha!
When he had first come to the realization that he had transmigrated into this world, he had been ecstatic. After all, who hadn't dreamed of becoming a legendary ninja when they were young?
But now, all he could muster was a cynical, exhausted sigh. Merely surviving until the grand finale of this chaotic ninja world was his ultimate, overarching goal now. However, the sheer difficulty of achieving that seemingly simple goal was entirely comparable to the monumental task of becoming the Hokage itself.
Just thinking about the myriad of disasters that Konoha Village was inevitably destined to face gave him a headache. Things like the devastating Chunin Exams Crush Plan orchestrated by Orochimaru, or the terrifying moment when Pain would descend from the sky to force his philosophy of absolute suffering upon the village.
It honestly felt as though any infamous, high-ranking villain in the ninja world would be mocked by their sinister peers if they hadn't successfully invaded or destroyed Konoha at least a couple of times. Furthermore, the two notoriously problematic Uchiha brothers would occasionally pop back into the village, bringing nothing but chaos in their wake.
Knowing all of this made Shiro feel incredibly unsafe, even when he was just casually walking down the seemingly peaceful streets of his own home. And the very moment he allowed himself to think about the rapidly approaching Exams, his internal sense of impending crisis intensified to a suffocating degree!
Just as Shiro was lost in his anxious thoughts, a ripe apple dropped directly from the branches above and clocked him squarely on the forehead.
"Ouch! What the—!"
Shiro focused his gaze, rubbing his head, and spotted the offending fruit resting on the grass. Much like how Isaac Newton had supposedly gained profound enlightenment about gravity while sitting under an apple tree, such a sudden, clichéd occurrence usually signified that things were about to take a turn for the extraordinary.
"Ding! The Trait System is currently loading."
"A system?!"
Shiro practically jumped, nearly losing his carefully maintained composure for a fleeting moment. A wide grin spread across his face. Sure enough, the statistical probability of a transmigrator not receiving some sort of supernatural advantage was about the same as a barren desert suddenly turning into a lush, overflowing ocean overnight.
Practically zero.
"System, what exactly are your functions?" he muttered under his breath, eyes gleaming. What he desperately needed right now was to figure out the exact parameters and capabilities of his newly awakened ability.
"Ding! This system is known as the Trait System."
"The Host is permitted to sign in to receive one unique entry trait every single day."
"Additionally, lower-level entries can be strategically synthesized into much higher-level, more powerful entries."
"Ding! Now opening the Host's Personal Panel."
[Identity]: Konohagakure Graduating Class Academy Student.
[Abilities]: Clone Technique, Transformation Technique, Body Replacement Technique.
"Okay... and then what?"
Staring blankly at his pathetically sparse ability panel, Shiro took a deep, steadying breath and asked.
"Ding! This is the Host's complete and total panel."
The system stated, quite bluntly, that after nearly ten long years of living in this new world since his transmigration, this meager list was the entirety of his shinobi repertoire. It wasn't that he was inherently incapable or completely unwilling to learn other, more complex ninjutsu.
It was simply that he was far too lazy to put in the grueling effort required.
Although he was essentially an orphan with absolutely nothing to his name—no money, no political power, and no influential clan background—he possessed an undeniably charming face. Because of this, there were entirely too many smitten girls in his graduating class who were more than willing to secretly offer him some of their family's private ninjutsu scrolls just to gain his favor.
He simply wasn't interested in taking advantage of them or their jutsu. For standard ninjutsu around the level of the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, even if he painstakingly trained and mastered it to absolute perfection, what actual good would it do him in the grand scheme of things? Would a village as powerful as Konoha really ever lack generic cannon fodder who had mastered a few basic elemental techniques?
The only jutsu he truly cared about learning were the forbidden ones locked away within the legendary Scroll of Seals. However, there was absolutely no way the Third Hokage would ever just casually hand over the village's most guarded secrets to an average academy student.
"Oh, right! System, where is my daily sign-in reward for today?"
He was suddenly quite curious, his anticipation building regarding what kind of phenomenal reward he might receive for his very first sign-in.
"Ding! Congratulations to the Host for successfully obtaining the Unique Entry: [One-Click Max Level]. Any ninjutsu that comes into the Host's possession can instantaneously be elevated to its maximum level of mastery."
"Holy—!"
Looking at the sheer, unadulterated power of the entry he had just received, Shiro found it impossible to remain sitting still. He scrambled to his feet, eyes wide.
But before Shiro could fully process the reality of his new power or even formulate a coherent thought...
The very next moment, a monstrously powerful, ocean-like surge of dense chakra erupted violently from Shiro's small frame, releasing a terrifying, suffocating pressure into the surrounding air.
Meanwhile, a short distance away from this peaceful hillside location...
Kakashi Hatake, who had merely been passing through the area after successfully concluding a grueling Jonin-level mission, suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His typically relaxed expression shifted drastically, twisting into a mask of pure shock and apprehension.
Kakashi snapped his head to look directly towards Shiro's location, his visible eye narrowing as his expression became extremely solemn!
"This pressure...!"
Kakashi was utterly astounded by the sheer volume and density of the chakra that had just burst forth seemingly out of nowhere. The terrifying presence of this energy was simply staggering to behold. For Kakashi, whose own personal chakra reserves were notoriously average at best, the magnitude of this sudden eruption completely exceeded his reasonable scope of understanding.
It should have been physically impossible for anyone currently residing within the walls of Konoha to possess such an overwhelmingly powerful, ancient-feeling chakra!
"Could an elite enemy shinobi have somehow infiltrated Konoha undetected?"
Kakashi instinctively fell back on his Anbu training, immediately assuming the worst-case scenario: a Kage-level threat had breached the village's defenses. Given the sudden and immense nature of the threat, there was absolutely no time to retreat and officially report the situation to the Hokage's office. Consequently, Kakashi unsheathed a kunai and moved swiftly and silently, venturing alone to investigate the epicenter of the disturbance.
On the other side of the hill, completely oblivious to the massive commotion and panic he had just inadvertently caused, Shiro was still reeling.
"System, why in the world did I just erupt with such an insanely powerful burst of chakra?"
Shiro felt the endless, churning sea of energy coursing through his internal pathways with absolute disbelief.
"Ding! The Host is advised to check his updated personal panel to understand the changes."
Driven by intense curiosity and a hint of trepidation, Shiro commanded the system to open his ability panel once more.
[Identity]: Konohagakure Graduating Class Academy Student, System Owner.
[Abilities]: [One-Click Max Level] (Unique), Senju Clan Bloodline, Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence, Wood Style: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu...
"Mother of god..."
Only after laying eyes on his drastically updated personal panel did Shiro finally realize, to his absolute astonishment, that he had somehow mastered an entire arsenal of legendary S-rank ninjutsu in a single instant.
"Ding! This phenomenal growth is due to the latent Senju Clan Bloodline lying dormant within the Host's genetics."
"Furthermore, the [One-Click Max Level] entry immediately reacted to this awakening, instantaneously maxing out all inherent abilities and jutsu the Host possessed upon gaining the bloodline!"
Only then did Shiro suddenly connect the dots, realizing with a heavy swallow that he actually possessed the legendary, long-lost lineage of the Senju Clan in this reincarnated life.
---
On the other side of the clearing, Kakashi moved with the silent grace of a seasoned predator, quickly closing the distance to Shiro's location.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Peering through the dense foliage, Kakashi recognized Shiro almost immediately. There was no terrifying enemy invader standing there, as Kakashi had mentally prepared himself to face. There was only a very ordinary-looking academy student standing alone under a tree.
Because he had already seamlessly mastered Wood Style to its absolute pinnacle, Shiro had instinctively and perfectly contained his massive chakra signature back within his body, leaving no trace of the earlier eruption.
Just as Kakashi was beginning to seriously doubt his own senses and wonder if his perception had been faulty due to mission fatigue, Shiro suddenly turned his head, his sharp gaze locking directly onto Kakashi's concealed hiding spot.
"No way..."
A startling thought quickly surfaced in Kakashi's mind: Had he actually been discovered by an academy student? One must understand that Kakashi, serving as an Elite Jonin and a former captain within the Anbu Black Ops, possessed stealth and concealment capabilities that were absolutely unquestionable throughout the ninja world.
"Maybe it was just a coincidence. He must have just glanced in this direction," Kakashi reasoned internally, though doubt lingered.
Seeing that hovering in the shadows was pointless now, Kakashi relaxed his stance and walked directly out into the open clearing.
"You are... Shiro from the academy's graduating class, aren't you?" Kakashi asked, his tone carefully neutral. "I have a vague impression of you from the academy records."
Kakashi looked closely at the young boy standing before him. The child's striking handsomeness was so profound that it almost made the typically stoic Kakashi feel a twinge of self-consciousness about his own perpetually masked face. Although the boy was quite young, he already exhibited the clear beginnings of a cool, aloof, and confident demeanor, his dark eyes shining with the piercing intensity of cold stars in the night sky.
Looking at this composed figure, it was incredibly hard for Kakashi to reconcile the boy standing in front of him with the academy reports that listed him as the dead last in his class.
"Yes, I am," Shiro replied evenly.
Facing the legendary Copy Ninja's direct inquiry, Shiro naturally had absolutely no intention of hiding his identity or acting suspiciously. His background within Konoha was completely legitimate and meticulously documented: he was an unfortunate orphan whose parents had both bravely laid down their lives fighting for Konohagakure during the brutal conflicts of the Ninja World War.