Konoha.
In a run-down little courtyard, beneath a withering tree.
Sora slowly put away the shuriken in his hand and gazed at the passing villagers outside the yard, their faces filled with grief. His expression was full of emotion.
"It's already been ten days since I arrived in this world."
That's right!
Sora was a transmigrator—and he had a system!
A system called the Card Pickup System, which could randomly pick up attribute cards dropped by others.
The stronger the person, the higher the level of the card that could be picked up, and the better the attributes Sora would gain.
From strength cards, to speed cards, to ninjutsu cards and more—each card attribute was unique and varied.
Card levels ranged from lowest to highest: White, Blue, Purple, Red, and Gold.
Gold cards were the highest tier.
Unfortunately...
It had been ten days since the system activated.
Sora hadn't even seen the shadow of a gold card. In fact, up until now, he hadn't picked up a single card.
Why? Because the day he transmigrated just so happened to be the exact day the Third Great Ninja War ended.
And both his parents had died in the war, leaving only five-year-old Sora behind.
The panic of transmigration, coupled with the uncertainty of the future, had kept Sora from stepping outside the courtyard.
As a result, during these ten days, he hadn't seen anyone—so naturally, there were no cards for him to pick up.
"It's about time."
Glancing up at the sky, Sora changed into black clothing and headed toward Konoha's cemetery.
Today was the day the heroes who had died in battle would be buried in the memorial grounds. Everyone would attend.
As he walked down the street, looking at the deserted paths and sorrowful faces of the villagers, Sora came to understand just how cruel this world truly was.
Just one war had shattered thousands of families in Konoha.
Some children, like him, had become orphans. Some mothers had lost their husbands and children.
That's right—toward the end of the war, Konoha had even started sending children to the front lines!
"I have to get stronger. Strong enough to control my own destiny!"
He swore to himself silently as he arrived at the cemetery.
At the front stood the still-strong Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
He scanned the rows of mourners and saw others—pale-faced Orochimaru, warm-smiling Minato Namikaze...
But all of them wore sorrowful expressions as they quietly stood in front of the memorial stone.
Seeing no one was paying attention to him—a small child—Sora casually found a corner to stand in.
Although his parents' names were etched on that stone, Sora didn't feel much grief.
After all, he had never even met this body's parents.
Even the original owner had barely seen them due to the war.
No matter how much Sora searched the inherited memories, he only knew that his parents returned home at most once a year.
If they hadn't hired a civilian caretaker to look after him, the original owner might've already died of hunger before Sora arrived.
After learning of his parents' deaths, the caretaker left as well.
Overwhelmed by grief and mental exhaustion, the original body passed away—allowing Sora to take his place.
Even though he had no emotional connection to them, the memorial was still a duty to fulfill.
Just as Sora's thoughts wandered, he suddenly spotted a white card at the foot of the person in front of him.
It looked about the size of a playing card, glowing with a soft, milky-white light—quite beautiful.
When he tried to see what was written on the card, he found nothing legible.
The shinobi in front of him was a stranger, but judging by his attire, clearly a genin from the Uchiha clan.
After a moment of hesitation, Sora couldn't resist the card's temptation. He forced a sad expression and slowly squatted down.
There was no helping it—this was the first card he had ever seen. No one knew how long it would last before vanishing.
Almost everyone present was a ninja, so Sora's movement hadn't escaped their notice.
But seeing it was just a five-year-old child overcome with grief, no one paid him much mind.
Only Minato Namikaze, with his sunny expression, grew visibly somber upon noticing Sora.
Sora, however, was unaware. He slowly reached out and snatched the white card.
Because of the short distance, he easily pocketed it.
Rubbing his eyes, he put on a grieving face and stood back up.
Casually resting his gaze on a random gravestone, he immediately turned his attention inward to examine the card.
These past days, he had been training from morning till night, trying to strengthen his body, but it hadn't helped much.
Clearly, his natural talent was mediocre. The system was his only path to power.
[Ding! White Card: Strength +1. Absorb?]
"Absorb!"
Immediately, a warm current surged through his body.
The comfort made Sora narrow his eyes in satisfaction.
He could clearly feel his body growing stronger.
"Display status panel!"
[Host: Sora]
[Strength: 5]
[Speed: 4]
[Constitution: 4]
[Spirit: 22]
[Skill: Shuriken Basics LV1]
PS: A normal adult averages 10 in all stats.
Taking it all in, Sora turned away.
Other than the Spirit stat, boosted due to transmigration, the rest were pitifully low.
His only skill was the basic shuriken technique he had just learned in the past ten days.
While Sora was only zoning out, to the others, he looked like a child frozen in grief.
Minato gritted his teeth, then softly said to Kushina beside him:
"Kushina, that's the child of Sorahei and Hoshizumi. I want to adopt him."
Sorahei and Hoshizumi were Sora's parents.
They were also civilians and had grown up alongside Minato as neighbors.
Though Minato's genius had caused them to drift apart after he became Jiraiya's student, the bond remained.
During the war, both Sorahei and Hoshizumi—special jonin—were assigned under Minato's command once again.
Sadly, they both perished in battle.
"Alright. Once the ceremony ends, we'll speak to the Third Hokage," Kushina replied without hesitation.
She was familiar with Hoshizumi, and the two were close friends—practically sisters.
As the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, she couldn't leave Konoha.
So whenever Hoshizumi had no missions, they'd often go shopping together.
But after the war began, they had rarely seen each other.
Seeing Sora's dazed expression now, Kushina's maternal instincts surged uncontrollably.
Sora, of course, had no idea that his future had already been decided. He continued scanning around, hoping to find more cards.
Unfortunately, there were no more for now.
"As long as the leaves continue to flutter, the Will of Fire shall never be extinguished..."
After Hiruzen's long-winded speech, the crowd slowly dispersed. Sora made his way back to his little home.
This house, with its small courtyard, was the only thing his parents had left him.
"My own training isn't cutting it. And I still can't extract chakra. Looks like I'll have to wander around and see if I can pick up something useful."
"More importantly, I should try to get into the ninja academy. With so many teachers and classmates, that's a goldmine for card pickups."
On the way home, Sora began planning his next steps.
He was just an ordinary orphan—there was no way he could directly approach powerful ninja.
So the academy was his best bet—to grow steadily and become stronger!
With that in mind, Sora continued walking toward his little home.