Both time-traveled characters ended up as villainous henchmen.

It was a summer afternoon in Konoha Year 42.

On the playground of the ninja academy, a group of children are being led by their teacher in a taijutsu combat training session.

"Next group, Izumi Nen versus Uchiha Obito." The Chunin teacher's calm voice rang out, and then two boys stepped out from the crowd.

Izumi Nen slowly exhaled, stood on the training ground, and looked at the boy opposite him, who was wearing goggles and had a grinning expression—Uchiha Obito.

"Watch closely, I'm going to win big this time!" Obito shouted to the crowd, clenching his fist.

Izumi Nen did not respond, but simply nodded in a friendly manner.

Is the opponent Kenji this time?

A thought slowly surfaced in his mind, and at the same time, more information about Obito Uchiha emerged from the depths of his memory.

Sharingan, Kamui, masked man... However, Obito, who is currently still at the Ninja Academy, is far from reaching his future role in the story.

"Practice battle, begin!"

The teacher's voice interrupted Izumi Nen's somewhat chaotic thoughts. He calmly formed hand seals with Obito, and then assumed a fighting stance.

Unlike Izumi Nen, Obito was not calm. As soon as the battle started, he rushed straight at Izumi Nen and attacked with powerful kicks.

Izumi raised his hand to parry, blocking Obito's chaotic attack, and then quickly launched a counterattack.

The two quickly got into the zone as they exchanged words.

However, they were just ninja academy students after all. Their combat skills were not particularly high; they were simply trying their best to demonstrate what they had learned.

Obito was momentarily careless and lost his footing, which Izumi Nen seized the opportunity to kick him down.

The outcome is decided.

"The winner is Izumi Nen." The teacher's tone remained calm, as if he had expected this result.

"Damn it, this was an accident. Next time, next time I'll definitely beat this guy!"

Obito was clearly very dissatisfied with the result and immediately stood up and started shouting, demanding that the teacher rematch. However, after seeing the figure of a girl in the crowd, he quickly calmed down.

Izumi Nen's reaction was minimal; he remained as calm as ever, silently watching Obito's commotion.

The teacher looked at Obito with a helpless sigh, and after the two formed a reconciliation seal and returned to the team, he began to announce the list of the next group to battle.

In the queue, Izumi Nen watched another group of children battling it out, his thoughts drifting away.

Although he defeated Obito, he was still not very excited.

He knew very well that the ninja academy was just a place for playing around, and the only thing that truly determined a ninja's achievement was the battlefield paved with life and death.

The only things that can help a ninja stand out in life-or-death situations are talent and bloodline.

Unfortunately, Izumi Nen possesses neither of these qualities.

Izumi Nen's real name is He Nian. He was originally a 996 office worker. After his unexpected stroke of luck, he was reborn into the Naruto world.

However, after being reincarnated as Hokage, he did not acquire the various powerful bloodlines and superhuman talents that appeared in the novel.

The Izumi family was just one of the many commoners in Konoha. He was still just an ordinary person, and his ninja talent was only considered above average among commoners, barely on par with those students at the bottom of the ninja clans.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Izumi Nen will most likely become cannon fodder who dies in some unknown corner of the Third Shinobi World War after graduating from the Ninja Academy.

If you're lucky, you might survive until the end of the Third Shinobi World War, become a Chunin based on your achievements, then marry and have children, expanding the Izumi family and achieving a huge upward social mobility for the Izumi clan.

Of course, this is also the wish of the vast majority of ordinary ninjas.

However, even this pitiful hope is now beyond Izumi Nen's grasp.

The Izumi family are outwardly civilians of Konoha, but secretly they have connections with the Root organization, a criminal organization in Konoha.

This story begins with Izumi Shinsuke, Izumi Nen's adoptive father.

His wife died in childbirth, leaving behind a young child to be fed, while the family's ancestral grain business was declining and unable to compete with other shops in the village.

Left with no other choice and in order to survive, Shinsuke Izumi approached the Root organization and agreed to secretly do dirty and tiring work for them in exchange for preferential treatment in his family's business.

Thus, the Izumi family was branded with the Root organization, and their meager assets were essentially controlled by the Root organization.

While earning a living to support his family, Shinsuke Izumi also has to undertake various dangerous information exchange missions passed down from the Root Organization.

Young Izumi Nen became a bargaining chip for the Root organization to blackmail Izumi Shinsuke.

This situation continued until Shinsuke Izumi's unexpected death.

After the Izumi family lost their usefulness, they were abandoned by the Root organization, and their family businesses were completely taken over.

At that time, Izumi Nen, who was young and of low aptitude, was not taken seriously by the Root organization. Instead, he was treated as an orphan in Konoha and became an ordinary ninja academy student.

It was precisely because of this experience that Izumi Nen's ninja school life was overshadowed.

He was almost certain that he was able to get into the ninja academy because, besides the fact that the Root organization didn't care about him, the more important reason was that they didn't want to waste resources on him.

It's estimated that the Root organization will only take over after he graduates from the Ninja Academy, turning him from an ordinary Konoha genin cannon fodder into an outer cannon fodder for the Root organization.

Once someone unfortunately enters the Root organization, their already slim chance of survival will completely vanish before their eyes.

Therefore, Izumi Nen must cherish these few years of peaceful study at the Ninja Academy and do everything possible to get rid of the threat from the Root organization.

One way to succeed is to slack off and remain in the same grade. Perhaps if he slacks off to a certain extent, the root organization will stop paying attention to him.

But this is only a last resort. If possible, Izumi Nen still wants to get out of this quagmire by his own strength.

With extraordinary power right before his eyes, wouldn't it be a waste to give up so easily, given up the good intentions of the great fortune that brought him to the Naruto world?

Eight Gates, Oni-Garuda, Hashirama cell transplantation... There are many things in the Naruto world that can change the fate of ninjas, and Orochimaru's scientific research is also a path.

More than eight years have passed since Izumi Nen arrived in the past, and there is no sign of him gaining a cheat ability, but Izumi Nen has not stopped trying.

On the contrary, he formulated a detailed training plan based on his own experience. In addition to the three aspects of ninjutsu, body, and illusion, he also tried to learn about various theoretical knowledge, medical ninjutsu, etc.

Unfortunately, there has been little progress so far.

"Alright, that concludes today's lesson. get out of class dismissed!"

The teacher's voice pulled Izumi Nian back to reality. He let out a soft breath, suppressing all the complicated and heavy thoughts in his mind, and left the playground with the other students, heading towards the school gate.

The ninja academy training is over; it's time to go back for other training.

Today's practice included physical skills and tree climbing.

With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Izumi Nen hurried toward his private training ground.

By the time I returned to my lodgings, night had fallen.

After quickly preparing a meal, Izumi Nian washed away his fatigue and sat down at his desk to continue studying.

The dim yellow light made the words on the book appear even more distorted, dazzling to the eye.

Izumi forced himself to continue reading, but a sudden wave of drowsiness swept over him.

My body felt weak, my eyelids felt heavy, and even my consciousness was rapidly becoming hazy.

Are you too tired...?

Izumi Nen simply gave up trying to stay awake and slumped onto the table, falling into a deep sleep.