Chương 2: Cultivation brings me happiness.

After returning home, Dongye Zhen headed straight for the bathroom to wash up before sitting properly at the dining table, ready for a meal. Food was already laid out. Although the style and flavors differed significantly from those of his previous life, he had long since grown accustomed to them; it was a small price to pay, as long as it wasn't some kind of unidentifiable, revolting mystery stew. Across from him sat his biological mother in this world—a beautiful young woman with long, flowing brown hair.

Her name was Dongye Hui. She was a commoner by birth, originally known simply as Hui before taking her husband's surname after marriage. Zhen's father, Dongye Jirō, was a man of average features but possessed a tall, powerful frame and solid skills as a Konoha Chunin. He wasn't home at the moment, having been away on a village mission for quite some time. Zhen was not an orphan in this world.

He was fortunate enough to have both parents alive and well, which meant he lacked that "heaven-defying protagonist buff" typically reserved for those with tragic backstories. At not even four years old, the five-or-six-point resemblance between him and his mother was already striking. This gave Zhen confidence that as long as he didn't grow up "deformed," he would likely become quite the handsome man—or perhaps a bit of a "pretty boy."

He was fairly certain he wouldn't end up looking too feminine, however; he knew for a fact that no one in his family carried the bloodline of the Land of Water's Yuki Clan, and he certainly hadn't been a proctologist in his past life to appreciate such irony. Hui had been twenty when she gave birth and was now twenty-three. Jirō was the same age; the two had even been classmates. They were incredibly young—so young that Zhen's psychological age surpassed theirs by more than a decade.

Yet, he had to call them "Mom" and "Dad." Zhen felt no embarrassment about this. He hadn't transmigrated into someone else's son; he had been born directly from Hui's womb. They were his genuine flesh-and-blood parents. Calling them Mom and Dad was only right; in his previous life as Li Sen, he had never been the ungrateful or pretentious type. During the meal, Hui asked curiously, "Zhen, I remember you've been training this early every day since you were three. Is it exhausting?"

"Not at all, Mom. Actually, I enjoy it. I like the feeling of getting stronger."

"And why do you want to be strong so badly?"

"This is Konoha. I'm going to be a shinobi eventually. Does wanting to be strong really need a reason?"

"Doesn't it?"

"Does it? Fine... I want to be a powerful ninja so I can protect you and Dad in the future." In front of his mother, Zhen didn't bother with the "political correctness" he used outside. He didn't mention the village or his comrades.

"Zhen, thank you." Hui smiled and ruffled his hair, looking genuinely happy.

"But you've got it backward. It's supposed to be your father and me protecting you. Still, hearing you talk big makes you finally look like a child your age. You've always been a bit too precocious, you know? You're not even four yet. To be honest, you've given me very little 'motherly achievement.' I don't think you've ever even wet the bed. Even as an infant, you'd make specific noises to tell me you needed the toilet. I never even got a chance to get used to changing diapers.

It's not like what the other moms said—being a mother hasn't felt difficult in the slightest." Faced with his mother's long list of complaints, Zhen felt a bit helpless and decided to be a bit cheeky.

"Oh? So me not wetting the bed was actually a disappointment to you, Mrs. Dongye?"

Bonk! Hui landed a light fist on her son's head.

"Call me Mom! Where did you learn that 'Mrs. Dongye' nonsense?"

"Alright, Mrs. Dongye. I learned it from Uncle Kuroda downstairs." Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Bonk!

"I told you to call me Mom!"

"No problem, Mrs. Dongye."

Bonk! After breakfast, Hui went to her bedroom to change and hurriedly prepared to leave. Before heading out, she instructed, "Zhen, Mom's going to work. Take care of yourself. If anything happens, come find me at the hospital."

"Got it. See you later, Mom." Like her husband, Dongye Hui was a shinobi. In terms of professional rank, she was actually half a level higher: she was a Special Jonin specializing in Medical Ninjutsu, currently working at the Konoha Hospital. Years ago, Lady Tsunade, moved by the death of her brother Nawaki and countless comrades, had proposed that the village strengthen its training of medical-nin and integrate them into ninja squads to reduce mortality rates.

Although the policy hadn't been fully implemented before her boyfriend Dan Katō also passed away, the village officially adopted her proposal after the war ended. Hui was a beneficiary of this policy. Her combat talent was limited, but she had a natural gift for Medical Ninjutsu, which required supreme chakra control—an area where women often held a natural advantage. After giving birth to Zhen, she had taken over two years off to recover, care for her son, and continue her studies.

Once Zhen demonstrated he could look after himself, she returned to the hospital. Medical-nin were specialized and difficult to train, so there was always a shortage of staff. Fortunately, Zhen had always been remarkably mature, allowing the couple to feel comfortable leaving him home alone and saving them the expense of a nanny. As was his routine, once Hui left for work and Zhen finished the dishes, he picked up his books and began to study in earnest.

Children in the Shinobi world were generally precocious, but he was a reincarnated soul with the mind of an adult. By age two, with his mother's help, he had mastered the basics of the written language and begun reading various books about the world. To live well here, he first had to understand it. This primarily involved geography and history. Geography was straightforward; he could find plenty of non-classified materials on various countries in the family study or the Konoha Library.

History, however, was sparsely recorded. It seemed as though very few people in this world dedicated themselves to chronicling history, especially the thousand-year Warring States period, which was almost a complete blank. He wondered how much effort a certain "black, filial son" had put into erasing those records. Perhaps the ancient clans—Senju, Uchiha, Hyuga—or the noble Daimyo families kept their own records, but those weren't accessible to him. Fortunately, Zhen's goal wasn't to be a geographer or a historian.

The geographical knowledge he had gathered gave him a basic grasp of the world's layout. As for history, with his memories of the "original plot," he likely understood the broad strokes of the last millennium better than 99% of the population. That was enough. He had finished those studies by age three. Afterward, he entered the second phase of his training, which focused on three directions. First was daily physical exercise, with a regimen designed by his parents that he adjusted based on his own limits.

Second was learning the fundamentals of chakra and human anatomy, as well as practicing hand seals to prepare for future chakra refinement and jutsu. Third was the study of natural sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and cryptography. Yes, shinobi had to learn these subjects. One only had to look at the written portion of the Chunin Exams to see that, even if the questions there were geared toward Chunin-level intellect.

A competent ninja didn't need to be a polymath, but they needed a fundamental understanding of these fields—with the exception of hot-headed idiots like Naruto who only knew how to fight. The Academy taught these subjects but didn't require students to delve too deep. Konoha was a military stronghold, and its primary mission was producing combatants. Combat ability was the ultimate metric of a shinobi.

Students who lacked combat talent were filtered out and directed toward specialized fields like sealing, code-breaking, R&D, or medicine based on their aptitudes. Though Tsunade demanded that medical-nin also be capable fighters, not everyone possessed the Senju and Uzumaki bloodlines to be a "tanky healer" who could carry the team with sheer brute force. Zhen's goal was similar. He studied these subjects as a service to becoming a more well-rounded shinobi, not to become an expert.

Now, approaching his fourth birthday, his introductory studies were nearing their end. The next goal was to officially become a ninja. This had been his life for the past two years: a daily, unwavering, almost terrifying level of self-discipline. The drive for this discipline came from his past life. Once, he had been a naturally gifted boy who took first place in every exam. But laziness and a love for play had ruined his future and his life.

Given a second chance, he refused to tread the same path he had taken as Li Sen. To the current Dongye Zhen, studying was a joy, and training was pure, unadulterated bliss.