Chapter 166: Feng Zhe Wakes Up

A few days later, standing at the entrance of the Ninja Academy, Feng Zhe suddenly felt a slight headache. He turned to look at Kushina and asked, "Is it really necessary to enter this school?"

Kushina wore a gentle expression and patted Feng Zhe on the head. "Of course it is! The academy is wonderful. Building bonds in there will do wonders for your future."

"Go to class for a day, and when you come back, I'll make you some delicious ramen!"

Feng Zhe let out a soft "oh," adjusted the backpack Kushina had prepared for him, and stepped inside.

The ninja world was currently in the midst of the Third Great Ninja War. The standard three-year curriculum of the academy had been shortened, allowing students to graduate early. Upon graduation, they would be designated as Genin and assigned tasks such as cleaning up battlefields and handling logistical support.

No sooner had Feng Zhe stepped into the school than he was bumped into by another child.

The boy quickly helped him up and apologized profusely. Feng Zhe brushed it off, saying it was nothing.

"You must be a new transfer student, right? Let's get acquainted. My name is Umino Iruka!"

"Oh, hi. I'm Feng Zhe."

With that, Iruka familiarly grabbed Feng Zhe's hand and pulled him along, shouting over his shoulder, "If we don't hurry, there won't be any seats left!"

As a transfer student joining midway, Feng Zhe's arrival instantly quieted the previously noisy classroom.

The teacher instructed Feng Zhe to introduce himself. Without standing on ceremony, Feng Zhe walked up to the podium and spoke.

"My name is Feng Zhe. I come from the Land of Whirlpools and currently live at the residence of Namikaze Minato. Please treat me well!"

"So he's the child of the Uchiha clan left behind in the Land of Whirlpools."

"I heard he's already awakened the two-tomoe Sharingan. Hey, Obito, is he really from your clan?"

Wearing his signature goggles, Uchiha Obito clenched his fists tightly. Glaring at Feng Zhe's eyes, he looked as though he wanted to gouge them out on the spot.

After finishing his self-introduction, Feng Zhe took a seat next to Iruka and began listening to the lecture.

At the Ninja Academy, mornings were dedicated to theory, while afternoons focused on practical training. Today's primary lesson was shuriken throwing.

A whole morning of theory proved exceptionally tedious, but the contents of the lunchbox Iruka opened at noon caught Feng Zhe's attention.

"Wow, such beautiful sushi!"

Iruka was an orphan of war, raised by the village, and his daily meals consisted only of plain rice balls. Exquisitely crafted sushi was a luxury he could only afford on special occasions.

Since Feng Zhe wasn't particularly hungry, he shared some with him, deeply touching Iruka's heart.

"Hey, take this and eat it."

Though he clearly looked reluctant, Uchiha Obito marched over and shoved a chicken leg from his own lunchbox toward Feng Zhe.

Feng Zhe was baffled, but he knew that in the ninja villages, meat was a luxury reserved for the prominent clans—something ordinary commoners rarely tasted.

"The Great Elder told me to give this to you. As long as you return to live with the clan, our clan will take care of you."

Obito was on a mission; his sole purpose was to deliver this message to Feng Zhe.

Instead of looking at the chicken leg, Feng Zhe retorted, "Why should I return to your clan? What does it have to do with me?"

Feeling humiliated, Obito snapped with annoyance, "Don't be ungrateful! Even I don't get to eat chicken legs like this very often."

"Then you can have it back."

Feng Zhe didn't touch the chicken leg, which caused Obito to clench his fists in fury and shout, "Bastard, you're asking for a beating!"

Obito threw a punch, but Feng Zhe was remarkably agile. In his eyes, Obito's movements were practically in slow motion. Not only did Obito fail to land a hit, but he couldn't even graze the hem of Feng Zhe's clothes. After dodging a few punches, Feng Zhe counterattacked, leaving Obito with a bruised nose and swollen eyes.

"Stop right there!"

The teacher intervened to break up the fight, though their punishment was simply to have the two boys hold hands and run three laps around the playground.

Reluctantly, Obito had to comply, and the incident instantly became the latest gossip of the Ninja Academy.

The afternoon shuriken-throwing session, however, left the entire class in absolute shock.

Throwing for the very first time, Feng Zhe hit a perfect bullseye on all targets and effortlessly executed the Two-Stage Drop technique. He was, without a doubt, a prodigy of ninjutsu.

News of Feng Zhe's stellar performance on his first day at the Ninja Academy quickly made its way to the desks of the village's top figures.

"This is nothing short of a genius—a rare genius of the Uchiha clan! Clan Head, I strongly urge you to bring him back to the clan for proper training as soon as possible."

Uchiha Setsuna spat a shower of saliva straight into Clan Head Fugaku's face. Yet, how could Fugaku not realize this himself? The problem was that the Third and Fourth Hokage were currently allied, and while the Uchiha clan was vast, it lacked combat power capable of tipping the scales, which only added to his growing headache.

Meanwhile, in the office of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo slammed his fist onto the desk, loudly demanding that the boy be secured and controlled immediately.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, cunning and deeply experienced, refused to easily reveal his thoughts. He simply remarked calmly that the boy's talent was by no means inferior to Hatake Kakashi, who had just recently graduated.

Back at home, Feng Zhe was summoned into the study by Namikaze Minato, who handed him an encyclopedic ninja manual containing personal notes written by Minato over the years.

The manual detailed various basic ninjutsu, though techniques like the Flying Thunder God Jutsu were intentionally omitted.

Thus, Feng Zhe settled into Konoha, and in the blink of an eye, a year passed...

Over the past year, as Feng Zhe cultivated his chakra and time steadily moved forward, he found himself plagued by bizarre dreams every single night.

Then, quite suddenly one day, Feng Zhe finally regained complete clarity of mind, realizing where he truly was.

"I actually ended up in the Naruto world?!"

Gazing at the bustling streets and the busy ninjas passing by, Feng Zhe couldn't help a sigh of profound astonishment.

Yet, once the shock faded, the harsh reality of his situation set in.

First and foremost, his divine power and Cosmo had vanished completely, leaving not a trace behind, as if they had never existed at all.

Secondly, his current physical vessel was merely that of a seven-year-old child.

Thirdly, no matter how hard he tried, he could no longer connect to the altar space. This meant he would have to start his cultivation entirely anew from this mortal body—a process bound to be long and arduous.

His problems were piling up, and the environment he found himself in was equally bleak.

Currently, it was roughly the 47th Year of Konoha. He had just heard from Obito that Clan Head Fugaku had a newborn son named Uchiha Itachi.

Just last year, in Year 46, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and others had graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Five years had already passed since Kakashi was promoted to Chunin.

Because they were in the midst of the Third Great Ninja War, the frontline's demand for ninjas was immense; consequently, students with passing grades were permitted to graduate ahead of schedule.

Because of this policy, Asuma, Kurenai, Might Guy, and others—who should have graduated alongside him—had already graduated long before.

Only those with less stellar grades, such as Iruka, Obito, and Nohara Rin, remained, along with Genma Shiranui, Ebisu, and a few others—even future Special Jonin like Shiranui Genma had already finished school.

And that wasn't even the worst part. What truly spelled disaster was that less than four years remained until the outbreak of the Nine-Tails' attack and the death of Namikaze Minato. At that time, Feng Zhe would only be eleven years old.

Of course, in the ninja world, eleven was already considered an adult—after all, Kakashi had become a Chunin at the age of six.

These age limitations meant these ninjas grew up entirely too fast, leading to restricted early-stage chakra cultivation, which was by no means a good omen for future growth.