"Rikuya, wake up… we're gonna be late!"
The repeated calls broke through the haze of sleep, rousing Rikuya Hayashi from where he'd been sprawled over his desk.
When his eyes opened, the first thing he saw were two boys—one chubby, one skinny—standing in front of him. They were in a bare, empty classroom.
"Did you forget? Today's the graduation exam."
The chubby one's eyes were full of exasperation.
Graduation exam?
Rikuya suddenly remembered.
Right. Today was the day of the graduation assessment. Without another thought, he stood up at once.
"Eiji, Koji, let's go!"
He strode out of the classroom without hesitation.
"Hey, wait for us!"
The two boys scrambled after him.
Yes—Rikuya Hayashi was a transmigrator.
And this was the world of Naruto.
A world he'd once only seen in an anime before crossing over… but this was no cartoon. This was the real deal—bigger, grittier, and far more dangerous than the series had ever shown. Many parts of it were downright terrifying if you thought too hard about them.
And right now, he was in the very center of that world—Konohagakure.
Not a bad starting point… all things considered.
At first, waking up in a handsome, well-off body and successfully crossing over had seemed like a blessing.
But then he'd remembered—it was the Naruto world.
A place where human life was worth less than grass, where even children could be sent to war and expected to kill, and where the mortality rate was… frankly horrifying.
So, during these past two and a half years—without any "system" to give him cheats—he had only one strategy: keep his head down and survive.
Not that he had a choice.
If you went around shouting things like "My fate is my own, not Heaven's!" here, you'd be "escorted" straight to a torture cell to see how far your bravado could really go.
Ninjas were people with incredibly sharp instincts for danger. Even the smallest suspicion could make them strike. They had secret techniques and cruel methods to wring out information—dead or alive.
That was why ninja corpses had to be destroyed after death—to keep their secrets safe.
In a brutal world like this, Rikuya wasn't about to play the hero.
And today was the final step in his plan.
If he failed the graduation exam, he could finally live the life he wanted—carefree, sponging off others.
Becoming a ninja meant becoming a tool for the village. Even if you were given a suicide mission, you had to obey. Try to leave without permission, and you'd be branded a rogue and hunted down.
Only as an ordinary civilian could you escape the cruel and dangerous ninja system.
From the day he'd arrived, Rikuya had been setting things up for this outcome.
And now, at last, his chance had come.
If he acted useless enough today, there was no way they'd let him pass.
Lost in thought, he headed toward the training grounds with his two closest friends.
The chubby one was Eiji Honda, whose dream was to become the richest merchant in the shinobi world.
The cold-faced one was Koji Yamanaka, a boy from a small ninja clan who dreamed of restoring his family's lost glory.
Over the past two and a half years, Rikuya had worked hard to befriend—and even subtly manipulate—them, until they were as close as blood brothers.
As someone who had watched the Naruto anime, Rikuya had also seen all the future main characters in person.
And his strategy? Keep his distance.
Because in this world, the people who died fastest were the ones closest to the protagonist.
Without protagonist-level plot armor, getting too close was basically signing your own death warrant.
His scrawny, cheatless transmigrator self had no intention of joining that death parade.
In this world, survival was the ultimate victory.
Just look at Obito: as long as he stayed hidden, he was practically untouchable. The moment he popped out into the spotlight, everything went downhill—and he didn't last long.
Or Madara: a master of lying low, completely invincible while in the shadows, until he finally showed himself… and got stabbed in the back by a certain "dutiful" junior.
And then there was the ultimate hiding master of the Pure Land—someone who not only survived but thrived, becoming the last true winner of the game.
All of these "predecessors" proved one thing:
Stay hidden, and you can win.
That's why Rikuya's only goal was to keep his head down and survive. The more flashy you were, the faster you died.
After two and a half years of "hard work," his reputation was rock bottom. To anyone watching, he was dead last in class—barely ninja material at all.
And this wasn't like Obito, who was only "dead last" because of various accidents but was secretly pretty strong. No—Rikuya was the real deal.
Before long, they arrived at the training grounds.
But something was… off.
There were way too many people.
Figures stood on walls, rooftops, and tree branches, watching from all around—and they weren't just random villagers. These were some of the most important people in the village.
Most eye-catching of all…
Was the man in the Hokage hat and long robes, surrounded by attendants in one corner of the field.
Hiruzen Sarutobi—the Third Hokage himself.
The strongest man in Konoha.
But Rikuya's gaze didn't linger on him.
Instead, his eyes shifted to the man at Hiruzen's side—his right eye and arm wrapped in white bandages, a cane gripped in his left hand.
Danzo Shimura.
Ruthless, cunning, utterly cold-blooded—the perfect words to describe him.
Even if you offended the "gentlemanly" Third Hokage, you never wanted to cross this man.
Rikuya had gone out of his way to avoid Danzo ever since arriving, terrified of earning his "favor."
Thankfully, Danzo's interest was only in geniuses.
For a true slacker like Rikuya, he couldn't care less. Otherwise, Rikuya might have been forced to grab a bucket and run for it long ago.
When Rikuya first realized he'd landed in Konoha, his first thought had been to escape.
But unlike the lax anime version—where even a genin could just walk out (looking at you, Sasuke)—the real Konoha was locked down tight.
The guards and defenses were so strict that even a jōnin couldn't just slip away.
And once Rikuya learned what the world outside the village was really like, he stopped even thinking about leaving.
Because out there, human life really was worth less than a dog's.
Ordinary people starved so badly they ate grass—or each other. For warmth, they stuffed themselves with straw. Blankets were a luxury. If you got sick, you either toughed it out or died. Add roaming bandits and endless wars, and it was a living hell.
Average life expectancy? Under thirty.
By comparison, Konoha was a paradise—safe, comfortable, and stable. No wonder so many villagers would rather die than leave.
Getting in from the outside was nearly impossible. Rikuya would have to be insane to walk away.
And besides—he'd managed to latch onto a very "white and fluffy thigh" for support.
But first, to live the easy life he wanted, he needed to fail this exam.
Once you became a ninja, you were tied to the village for life—no salary unless you held an official post, no pension, and the only ways to retire early were by dying or being crippled.
The death rate for ninjas was absurdly high.
That was probably why academy students started dating early, and why people married in their teens.
If you didn't have kids fast, the profession would've gone extinct ages ago.
While Rikuya was lost in thought, his classmates were taking their turns in the exam.
It was a combat assessment—fighting against a chūnin examiner to decide if you passed.
That kiddie play version from the anime? That was probably invented in a future era of peace.
Right now, in Year 42 of Konoha's history, the world was on the brink of war. The village needed cannon fodder—lots of it. No one was getting held back for low pass rates.
Graduating was easy.
But your future depended on your results.
If you were a genius, clans and teachers would fight to recruit you.
If you weren't… you could look forward to a life of grunt work—or being sent to die as cannon fodder.
That's why so many kids fought desperately to be labeled "genius." It brought danger, but it also brought real benefits.
Rikuya, however, wanted none of that.
If he were ever called a "genius," Danzo's Root division would come knocking.
And the reason for that was simple—his surname was now "Uchiha."
Yes, that Uchiha clan—beautiful, proud, tragic, and hopelessly overdramatic.
He hadn't been born into it, though. In fact, he hadn't had a surname at all before.
He'd married into the clan.
Yes… that kind of marriage.
The previous owner of this body had hated the arrangement, working himself to the bone trying to escape it… and gotten himself killed in the process, leaving Rikuya to "inherit" the situation.
But Rikuya thought the guy had been an idiot.
A free meal ticket? And you're trying to throw it away? People would kill for that opportunity!
Rikuya intended to enjoy it for as long as possible.
Even if things eventually went south, he could at least wring a nice "breakup fee" out of it. Either way, he couldn't lose.
"Uchiha Rikuya!"
The teacher—Sarutobi Nagakawa—called his name loudly from the middle of the training field.
"Good luck!"
"Show them what you're made of!"
His two friends shouted encouragement from the sidelines. Even Koji, usually expressionless, managed to squeeze out a rare smile.
(End of Chapter)