After saying goodbye to Guy, Mikami Yuu left the Ninja Academy. He walked west along the street in front of the gates until it ended, took a few winding turns, crossed a small bridge, and returned to the civilian district where he lived.
As the center of the Naruto world, Konoha was actually pretty large. Across dozens of miles of land, it contained more than a dozen clan compounds of various sizes, administrative districts, commercial areas, training grounds, and no fewer than several dozen civilian neighborhoods. Overall, it was a "mixed living, small clustering" kind of layout.
Where Mikami Yuu lived was about a twenty-minute walk from the Academy—so not too far.
Just as he pulled out his key and was about to open the door, a crisp voice suddenly came from the yard next door:
"Yuu-kun, you're back!"
Mikami Yuu turned and saw a brown-haired little girl leaning over the fence. She had a small round face, shoulder-length short hair, faint light-blue markings painted on her cheeks, and a pair of light chestnut eyes full of smiling warmth that made people like her without even thinking.
Right now, she was holding a bucket with both hands. Something inside was flopping around, splashing water everywhere.
"It's Rin. What's up?" Mikami Yuu said.
As a civilian in the village, Mikami Yuu's neighbors were naturally civilians too.
And by a funny coincidence, the person living right next door to him was none other than Nohara Rin—the No. 1 "white moonlight" of the ninja world, the girl a certain Uchiha (who shall remain unnamed) would pine after his entire life.
Since they were neighbors, the two families were on good terms, helping each other out from time to time.
Like right now—
"My dad caught a lot of fish over by the Naka River yesterday. He said there aren't many people at home and we can't finish them, so he told me to bring a few to you and Aunt Mikami. Here—Yuu-kun, hurry and take it. It's really heavy!"
Rin lifted the bucket up and passed it over the wooden fence.
Mikami Yuu hesitated for a moment, then took it. "Thanks. Please tell my mom and me to thank Uncle Hiroshi."
"Hehe, no need to be so polite."
Rin giggled and waved her hand, then looked at Mikami Yuu's well-modeled, clean and handsome face. Her voice softened a little. "Yuu-kun, did you go running with Guy again after school? You've been training really hard lately."
"Early birds get the worm. I graduate next year—if I can't become a ninja smoothly, I'll have to go home and farm. So I've gotta push myself while I still can."
Mikami Yuu joked, then glanced aside. "Oh right, Rin—did Obito not come by to see you today?"
"Him…"
At the mention of Obito, Rin sounded a bit helpless, but still gentle. "Obito-kun said he's been practicing a new jutsu lately, and once he gets good at it, he'll show it to me… When that happens, Yuu-kun, you should come too. I think Obito-kun won't mind."
A new jutsu?
Could it be…
Mikami Yuu was about to reply when—
[You hear from a neighbor about the existence of a mysterious girl, and you become extremely curious about her. Please decide whether to seize this opportunity and have a fated encounter with that mysterious girl: Yes/No]
"…?"
Dude… are you sick?
Nohara Rin is literally standing right here in front of me, alive and breathing, and you don't trigger a romance quest—but you freak out over some jutsu I haven't even seen??
How is that remotely reasonable?
Mikami Yuu forced down the urge to complain. Under Rin's gaze, he nodded and smiled. "Sure. I'd like to see Obito's results too. When the time comes, call me along."
"Mm-hm, I will! Yuu-kun, hurry and go rest. I still have some medicine and bandages at home—I'll bring them over later."
"Thanks."
After a couple more lines, Mikami Yuu turned and went inside. He carried the bucket to the kitchen, then greeted the woman busy at the stove.
Yes—exactly.
As a transmigrator, Mikami Yuu had one very special point:
He had a mom.
This lady, Mikami Aoi, was a librarian at Konoha's library—and in this life, she was Mikami Yuu's mother. Thanks to her, his "character model" this time was pretty solid: even as a kid, he already looked like a neat, handsome pretty-boy. He could go buy vegetables and the shopkeeper would toss in extra scallions.
And thanks to Mikami Aoi's job, Mikami Yuu had been reading tons of general books since he was three or four—math, medicine, ninja world geography, chakra theory, and so on. He had a basic grasp of how this world worked, instead of just remembering a few manga scenes.
As for Mikami Yuu's father, he was an ordinary chūnin. To earn extra subsidies, he'd volunteered two years ago for border rotation duty, a two-and-a-half-year stint.
Earlier on, Mikami Yuu had even suspected he didn't have a cheat because his parents were alive and well.
But now…
Heh-heh. Your boy has awakened!
Wait—speaking of it, how's that new dad doing out there…
"Yuu, why do you look so happy after coming home today? Did your teacher praise you at school?"
Mikami Aoi, who had just finished cleaning the fish, glanced back at him and asked softly.
"Sort of. Teacher said I've improved at the Three Basic Jutsu."
Mikami Yuu lied casually.
"Is that so? Our little Yuu really is the best. Alright, dinner's almost ready—go wash your hands."
"Okay, Mom."
Psychologically, Mikami Yuu was actually older than the Mikami couple—people in the ninja world usually married around twenty, and they were only twenty-seven or twenty-eight now—but since he'd been reborn as a baby, there was no need to obsess over it. Sometimes playing the kid properly saved a lot of trouble.
Soon, a golden pan-fried salmon, a plate of shredded pork with green peppers, and a bowl of mushroom miso soup were neatly set on the table.
Mother and son sat down and started eating.
During the meal, Mikami Aoi asked a few things about school.
Mikami Yuu answered one by one.
After they finished, Mikami Aoi carried the dishes back to the kitchen to wash up.
Mikami Yuu returned to his room, about to figure out how to use that dumb system, when he heard a voice outside the window calling his name:
"Yuu-kun, are you there?"
"Rin?"
Mikami Yuu pushed open the window and saw two kids standing in the yard outside—one boy and one girl. The girl was, of course, Rin. The boy had a messy hedgehog-like spiky head, wore dusty yellow goggles, and had a face that didn't exactly scream "genius."
Well, damn.
Speak of the devil.
He'd literally just asked why Obito hadn't come to stick to Rin today—and here he was. And judging by his expression, he seemed pretty unhappy that Rin had come to call Mikami Yuu over. His face was all twisted like his nose wasn't his nose and his eyes weren't his eyes.
"Yuu-kun, Obito-kun is going to show a jutsu! Do you want to come watch?" Rin called.
"Rin, I'm not going to perform for anyone except Rin—"
"Sure!"
Before Obito could finish refusing, Mikami Yuu agreed immediately, then hopped straight out from the windowsill. "Where are we going?"
No joke—he still had that [Encounter a New Jutsu] task hanging over his head. With an opportunity this good, there was no way he was letting it slip.
"…Hmph!"
At this age, Obito was still a bit thin-skinned. He was annoyed at Mikami Yuu barging in, but since Mikami Yuu was already out here, he grudgingly changed his tune:
"Yuu, you're getting lucky this time—letting you witness the greatness of me, Uchiha Obito-sama!"
"But if you dare tell anyone I learned a new jutsu—especially if you tell that guy Kakashi—I won't let you off! This is my secret weapon to beat him someday!"
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
Mikami Yuu nodded, amused.
How should he put it…
Obito hadn't even said what the new jutsu was yet, but at this age, what could it possibly be? So hard to guess!
It was probably that famously kind jutsu that never hits anyone.
Still, to be fair—even that jutsu wasn't something a normal civilian kid could easily get access to. In theory, Mikami Yuu wouldn't be able to learn anything above E-rank before graduation.
But now…
He had a cheat.
Mikami Yuu really wanted to see how this [Encounter a New Jutsu] task would trigger—could it let him learn Great Fireball directly? If it could… then to some extent, he could treat this stupid galgame system like a Sharingan.
You obviously couldn't demonstrate jutsu in a yard.
So, Mikami Yuu greeted Mikami Aoi, then followed Obito and Rin out the door, heading to a nearby forest training ground.
For secrecy's sake, Obito deliberately went deeper into the training area before stopping.
"Here should be good… Rin! Watch me, watch me!"
As he spoke, Obito took a stance, inhaled deeply, then slowly formed hand seals:
"Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger…"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!!!"
With a loud shout, Obito snapped his mouth open and blasted out a huge wave of flame!
Even though Mikami Yuu had been mentally prepared, when he saw that fireball—taller than a person—burst into existence just a few steps away, scorching the air and warping it into rippling layers, he couldn't help but feel his heart tighten.
And then—
[Ding! Detected a high-quality potential romanceable target: "Great Fireball Jutsu." Time-limited encounter mission triggered!]
[In Konoha's forest, you meet that mysterious girl. Her beautiful appearance and bold, flashy aura make you fall in love at first sight. Please gather your courage and go talk to her.]
"!"