NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 6: ch6
After the monthly practical classes concluded, the rest were all theoretical classes.
Mr. Carter was on the podium explaining the relationships between Ninjutsu, and John Smith was feeling drowsy in the audience.
It's not that he doesn't study hard; it's that he knows these things better than everyone else in the Divine Tree Continent.
Ninjutsu's relationships can be useful, but they are also somewhat impractical. He's seen individuals who could use these relationships to defeat the First Hokage and Madara.
He wanted to understand the Hokage world more than the relationships between Ninjutsu, but the textbooks issued by the school left him with no desire to read them. He was afraid they would drive him to despair.
That's right, despair. John opened a book titled "The History of the Ninja World: The Land of Fire," and there was a line on the first page that nearly made him laugh out loud.
[The Land of Fire, Konoha Village, the strongest Hokage in history—Hiruzen Sarutobi]
John's mouth twitched when he read this, suppressing his laughter as he closed the book and complained internally.
Is the Third Hokage the strongest?
How would the First Hokage, with his world-conquering Wood Style, and the Second Hokage, the originator of Flying Thunder God, feel about this?
"Hey, it seems that the school can't teach me anything other than Chakra refinement."
John sighed. He didn't think that the school deliberately made a mistake, but rather that no one in this world knew about the history of the Warring States Period.
The Hokage world skipped the first three ninja wars when it debuted. For so many years, no one has completed the major tasks that affect the plot, causing time to be stuck in the period of the Uchiha massacre.
...
"That's it for today's class," Mr. Carter said from the podium. "In a week's time, it will be your awakening day. The school will give you a break during these days. Go home, have a good rest, and prepare to go all out."
"Oh yes!"
The students were immediately excited when they heard about the holiday. Ashley Thompson even said happily, "That's great, I can go to the city to have some fun again!"
"John, are you coming? All expenses are covered!"
"No, I have to go back in the next few days to refine Chakra for the final sprint so that I can stand out in the future." John picked up his schoolbag and left. Ethan Johnson looked at his back in confusion.
"He can't even see a rich girl like you? How blind is he?"
"Is he still waiting for the future? If it were me, I'd just kneel down and grab onto those coattails, reaching the pinnacle of my life."
"Do you think everyone is as shameless as you?" Ashley snorted and glanced at Ethan with contempt. "John is very ambitious; how can he be the same as you?"
"Yeah, isn't that guy just a little bit more handsome than me? You're so focused on looks."
"A little? Change your mirror quickly."
...
After leaving school, John took the school bus for almost an hour before returning to his home community—Richvale Community.
"If a wealthy community is not wealthy, they are all poor." He sneered at the name of the community.
Although it is no longer the dark age of a hundred years ago when mystical creatures invaded and slaughtered humans wantonly, the cruel class divisions that remained from that time have not changed.
The entire Sacred Tree Continent is divided into two regions. The southern part of the continent, where John is located, is controlled by the Parliament, and the Speaker has absolute power.
The north is controlled by an organization called the "Bounty Hall." There have been constant wars between the north and the south for hundreds of years. Each of the two major forces wants to destroy the other and unify the continent.
Generally speaking, the Bounty Hall has the upper hand, with three Kage-level experts.
In the Parliament, only the Speaker and the Grand Councilor are Kage-level. The other members are either noble but not talented as ninjas, or they are powerful but only Elite Jōnin.
Everyone knows the situation in the Divine Tree Continent, and naturally, so does John.
But he doesn't care about who runs the Parliament or the Bounty Hall. He just wants to ensure that he and his family have a good life.
Thinking of his family, he quickly walked to unit 401 in a certain building, took out the key, and approached the door as usual. However, a conversation in the room stopped him.
"I don't want to drop out of school!" an angry female voice sounded. "Why should I make sacrifices? Why doesn't John drop out of school?"
"Emily, you are a girl, and John is a boy. How can you, as a girl, become a ninja? Why don't you find a good family to marry into in the future?"
Another middle-aged woman's voice reached John's ears, and he knew it was a quarrel between his sister Emily Smith and his adoptive mother, Sarah Feng.
Adoptive mother Sarah Feng and adoptive father Jack Smith are two ordinary people who work in a factory with a meager monthly income. They have not saved much to support both John and Emily in school over the years.
And going to college costs a lot of money. If an ordinary family can afford to support one child, that's pretty good.
In addition, siblings John and Emily are only a few months apart and both will go to college this year. The burden of two children has long made the couple consider supporting only one.
"No, I am your biological daughter. I don't want to drop out of school!" Emily cried. "If I don't become a ninja, I will be useless for the rest of my life. I don't want that!"
"Nonsense!" Jack, John's adoptive father, said, "What is biological or not? You and John are both our children."
"The reason why I asked you to drop out of school is not just because you are a girl. Emily, can you say that your grades can compare with your brother's? It's fate that you are not as talented as John."
"After going to college, learn Ninjutsu, eat mystical creature meat, or hire extracurricular ninjas to teach you, which one doesn't require a lot of money?"
"Fifty thousand mainland dollars a year is not enough. If your mother and I can support each other, we are still selling the pot. Are you trying to force us to death by going to college?"
"Wah, you are so unfair. I don't want to drop out of school and work at such a young age..."
As Emily cried, the quarrel in the room grew louder.
John outside the door sighed when he heard this and tiptoed back to the second floor.
Then he walked toward the fourth floor with deliberately heavy steps, making a "tapping" sound, pretending to have just come back.
Sure enough, when he was halfway to the third floor, the people in the house immediately stopped arguing when they heard the footsteps, and John knocked on the door.
"I'm back."
Creak.
The door opened, and a middle-aged woman about 5'3" tall and wearing gray overalls appeared. It was John's adoptive mother, Sarah Feng.
"Aunt Sarah."
"Come in quickly, dinner is ready." Sarah smiled and pulled him in.
As soon as John entered the room, he saw a girl with good looks and figure, wearing a blue school uniform, sitting on the sofa with red eyes—his sister Emily.
The adoptive father, Jack Smith, was sitting on a chair smoking with a silent expression. He was not very tall, just 5'7".
However, his body was very strong, and his exposed dark skin was the best proof of his years of hard work.
"Sister, Uncle Jack."
"Well, let's eat first now that you're back," Jack said in a low voice. Emily looked at him with complicated eyes and said nothing.
John understood in his heart but pretended not to know anything. He went to the kitchen to help Sarah with the rice. Soon the family sat at a small wooden table to have dinner.