6-year-old Jin had more energy than a highly caffeinated golden retriever. Of course, he knew the name of the dog species—it was one of the things he vaguely remembered from…Bob Hasek's life.

It was difficult for the 6-year-old to wrap his mind around but ever since he was a baby, he'd always had that red box in his vision stating: "memory synchronisation" and a percentage. He later figured out the meaning of the word 'memory' and the much harder-to-understand 'synchronisation'.

From what he guessed, it meant that after the percentage reached 100%, he should fully merge his own memories with the ones of another person. It was strange, even terrifying, but something in his gut told him that it wasn't just another person who had their memories implanted in his head. That 'something' in his gut was the same feeling he got when he saved Sayuri from…that time. So he made it a priority to listen to it.

He did manage to will the box away after trying a couple of times though. The first time he did it, it was beyond satisfying to have his vision be just the world around him rather than having a tiny part of it being invaded by some weird text. He'd gotten so used to having it around that when it was gone, it was as if he'd regained a lost eye…alright, it wasn't that dramatic of a change but he appreciated it nonetheless.

He hadn't told anyone about it, nor the actual memories he'd gained. He didn't want anyone to think he was crazy. He remembered asking Sayuri if she, too, had some red letters floating in her vision and her response was to bring him to a medic-nin to get his eyes checked. He'd concluded that the answer was a responding no, and the floating red letters were Jin Takeshi exclusive.

He never brought it up again after that and after he figured out a way to make it stop showing in his vision, he told Sayuri that he didn't have the problem anymore, much to her relief.

In terms of his extra memories, Jin found that he would often remember part of this…other person's life. Sometimes it would be something esoteric and completely incomprehensible without context, other times it was normal mundane things…and throughout it all, Jin knew that the other person's name was Bob Hasek.

He felt a strange…resonance with this other person—like Bob was someone he knew intrinsically. Alas, it wasn't within Jin's mind to worry about it. He just liked discovering nuggets of information that he wouldn't have known about otherwise. Things like doing the dishes effectively and, oddly enough, doing the laundry.

Sayuri had always told him that he was way too mature for his age but she always smiled in that loving way when she did so. It was like she couldn't believe her eyes when he just did normal things like folding his clothes and organising his room…and doing some house chores…doing most of the house chores…actually it was almost all of them except cooking, now that he thought about it.

So what if he did? It wasn't like he had anything to do when Sayuri was out on missions and he figured that if she would come back to a well-organised and clean house, it would be more of an incentive to return home well and unharmed.

A clustered home is a clustered mind, Bob. So let's clean up, shall we?

It was another nugget of wisdom that Jin learned. It was spoken in a motherly tone but he couldn't remember just who it was that said it. Regardless, he could tell that the person who spoke had an incredible amount of love for…Bob, because she sounded just like the way Sayuri sounded to him.

In truth, Sayuri was almost…obsessive about being a good stepmother to him.

Ever since the incident five years ago, she'd been absurdly attentive to all things to do with Jin Takeshi. She'd even felt bad when he did most of the house chores when she was gone. She felt bad for even being gone in the first place.

"Jin-kun!" A voice said from the distance.

Speak of the devil. He was currently spying on some folks practising their Taijutsu at the training grounds, something he liked to do in his downtime. He discovered this hiding spot months ago after he went wandering around the village.

Sayuri would always manage to sniff him out. It was like she had a Jin Takeshi compass that always pointed towards him no matter where he scuttled off to.

Jin looked at the training ground longingly. It was that feeling inside him again. This time it was a sense of fascination with the art of combat. Taijutsu was so…interesting to him for some odd reason.

Sayuri had taught him the basic forms of course, and he took to it like a fish to water. It was like he was relearning something he already knew how to do rather than learning something new entirely. But Jin yet lacked the strength and combat experience to properly spar with other people—he was only 6, after all, and there weren't many other 6-year-olds who knew how to fight properly.

"Mou~" Sayuri said as she picked him up by the scruff of his shirt. "Stop trying to run away and spy on people training. It's an important day today!"

"Hmph," Jin harrumphed, though they both knew that he was only putting on a show, "the things I do for you Sayu-chan."

She put him down only to reimburse him with a bone-crushing hug. "Mou~ You're already 6!—and starting elementary! It felt like only yesterday that you were an adorable chubby munchkin."

Jin rolled his eyes but smiled and gave back the strongest hug he could give her. It admittedly wasn't that strong. Sayuri didn't even react to his attempt, much to his battered pride.

"I'll only be seeing you in the evenings now instead of having you all to myself all day…" Sayuri said solemnly, taking a finger and wiping a tear from her eyes.

"Now you have more time to do more missions Sayu-chan," Jin responded.

"Un," Sayuri agreed and nodded, still embracing Jin.

"…plus, you have time to go make friends now."

Sayuri froze. Then her eyes narrowed as she released the hug and stared at him.

Jin looked sheepish, scratching the back of his head.

"You're lucky that this is already, like, the fiftieth time we've had this conversation," Sayuri deadpanned.

"And nothing has changed!" Jin responded, sticking his tongue out, "You still have no friends…and without me at home to look after you, I get worried."

Sayuri rolled her eyes. "You do realise that you're the 6-year-old here, right?"

Jin nodded. "And you do realise that I'm not the only one who exists in this world, right?"

Sayuri pinched his nose much like she liked to do when he got snarky.

Jin continued, unabated, sounding like a high-pitched chipmunk. "You could go spend more time socialising with other women."

"Oh? Only women?" Sayuri raised her delicate eyebrow.

"Of course! I'm going to marry you when I grow up! I'm gonna be jealous if you started hanging around with sleazy men," Jin said.

Sayuri laughed and for the second time, drew him into a hug.

"Oh, you're the most precious thing in the world little Jin, I wish you'd never grow up and stay like this forever," She said between her chucking.

"Never!" Jin said, "I'll grow bigger and become a responsible adult, just-you-wait!"

Sayuri only laughed harder.

Jin was at his elementary school, just starting out just like other kids his age. During the first couple of hours, there was an assembly of new students and the headmaster talked about starting their journeys into whatever they wished to be and all that. Jin felt like he heard speeches like these before. The back of his mind told him that the speech was a bit overdone and 'cliche'—whatever that word meant.

Regardless, Jin had listened attentively, as a good boy would. He wanted to excel in school and make Sayuri proud.

"Hiya!" Someone next to him said. She was a girl with brunette hair and freckles on her face. "I'm Momo! You wanna be friends?"

Jin blinked at her, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Sure?" He said.

As the months passed, Jin had learnt many things from school. He also got closer to Momo, who was now his best friend. He'd made other friends too, of course, but always grew tired when they went on and did childish things…like screaming at each other when their toys got stolen, having petty arguments, and making tasteless jokes.

Jin had a hard time associating with kids his age but held no ill feelings towards them. It was just that he was a well-behaved gentleman compared to other kids. Or so that was what the teacher told him.

Momo was better than most. She was normally very timid, but very enthusiastic when talking to him. Apparently, their initial introduction was a leap of faith on her part and was actually something her mother told her to do to the first person that caught her interest.

She tried it once again on another girl—went up to her and immediately asked her to be friends…and it didn't work exactly as it did with him. Luckily for her, Jin was taught to treat ladies fairly and remained a friend to her ever since their first encounter. As they talked and started doing more and more school activities together, they become close enough to call each other best friends.

"Jin!" Momo said as she held up her crayon drawing, "I made a painting of you! Do you like it?"

Jin didn't have the heart to tell her that he thought she'd been painting a dog the entire time, so instead, he gave a stoic nod. "Yes, I think it uhh…captures my essence to an exceptional degree."

"…You have the weirdest responses," Momo muttered.

Jin liked to think he was too sophisticated—with his extra memories and all—to spend his time needlessly doodling things into a piece of paper. Although he held no rebuke for those who wanted to express their creative interests, like his good friend Momo, he would rather learn all that he could in his time at school. As such, he had his nose in his books.

He'd learnt many things from scouring the school library, like Konoha's education stages for example. Most would start their early years as elementary school kids just as he did. There were three elementary schools in Konoha, one in the upper echelon of society where the clans of Konoha resides—and consequently the one they sent their children into—and the regular public ones like the one he went to.

He had no qualms about being sent to the less prestigious school as for one, it was cheaper—thus Sayuri could afford it. He always wondered why she refused to touch the money left by his birth parents, especially to use it on his behalf but perhaps she did it because she wanted to prove to herself that she could support him through her own efforts. Perhaps it was something else.

Two, the elementary school he went to was a convenient five-minute walk from his home. He didn't know why his birth parents had bought a house in the civilian district rather than the ninja one but he couldn't exactly ask them…and the death of his parents was always a hard topic to bring up with Sayuri.

The middle schools were the same. There was one prestigious and two regular ones.

When one reached high school, however, was when the differences became distinct. Like the previously followed pattern, there were three high schools: two civilian schools and one Shinobi Academy. Unlike the prestigious elementary and middle schools in the clan district, which didn't differ too much in terms of education and acted as more of a place of socialisation for the kids of prestigious ninja clans, the Shinobi Academy required…qualifications. Those who had the aptitude in manipulating chakra and talent in a particular ninja art were immediately qualified to enter. Those who don't could take an entrance exam to prove themselves.

For some reason that feeling he had inside him—he now deigned to call it the 'Bob' feeling—told him that this was…weird. That it wasn't supposed to be this way. For some odd reason, the 'Bob' feeling thought that the ninja academy should be for those in middle school ages rather than high school.

Which was blasphemous, mind you. Jin thought that training twelve-year-olds in the art of war and the way of ninjas was the type of terrible idea that would lead to disastrous consequences.

After all, one could only be considered an adult in Konoha after reaching 15 years of age, and in his personal opinion 15 was the minimum age one could be to make proper responsible judgements, especially when dealing with the life of another. You were still a teenager at 15 after all.

Interestingly, Jin looked into more books explaining the Academy's particular qualifications in chakra manipulation and found one that was titled: Introduction to Ninja Arts by Hiruzen Sarutobi. It was written by the third Hokage himself!

Needless to say, Jin was currently studiously reading through the book. It was succinct but packed full of useful knowledge.

For one thing, it stated that the ratio between the population of female kunoichi and male shinobi was a whopping 7:3!

That meant that there were more than twice as many kunoichis as there were shinobi. One would think that this would give the female population an undue advantage. However, it was also stated that the males who could manipulate their chakra often had larger capacities than their female counterparts, making them far more potent in ninjutsu. This was mainly why all the previous Hokage were men. That is not to say that kunoichi couldn't win a fight against a shinobi one-on-one. After all, ninjutsu was but one aspect of the shinobi arts.

Jin whistled in wonder.

The book even states that the ability to manipulate and cultivate chakra allows for one to extend their lifespan to up to 500 years!

Jin had learnt many things that knocked him on his butt in surprise and that was undoubtedly one of them. The average civilian who had trace amounts of chakra inside them only lived up to about an average of 90 years. Old man Izu who lived down the street from Jin's house was only 80 and it already looked like a strong gust of wind could knock him over.

For ninjas to be so long-lived could have many implications. Especially politically, when one could hold on to their reign of power for so long.

Fortunately, politics was something Jin didn't really have an interest in.

Politics and politicians. The world could burn around them and they'd still rather waste their time jawing at each other rather than helping everyone else.

It was that motherly voice again that occasionally sparked in his memories. Jin really wished he knew who it belonged to.

"Jin, you're spacing out again!" Momo said petulantly, looking up from yet another drawing she was working on.

Jin shook his head to get back into the present. He often had the habit of staring off into space when he was lost in thought.

"Apologies, Momo. I tend to get lost in my own head."

"…Mou~ Jin-kun. Why do you have to talk like that?"

"Talk like what, exactly?" Jin tilted his head in confusion.

"Like you're some fifty-year-old gentleman who wears a pristine kimono and sips tea every morning," Momo deadpanned. "You gotta act your age sometimes. It's getting kind of lame."

"…"

Momo went back to drawing without hearing Jin muttering: "But…But Sayuri told me to be a gentleman…"

~1 year later~

"Hah!" Jin grunted as his punch landed upon Sayuri's open palm. Of course, he did absolutely no damage to the Kunoichi. But that wasn't the point of the training. He trained to learn how to strike effectively and react accordingly to potential counterattacks. He jumped over the retaliatory leg sweep from Sayuri. It was better to just back up entirely and reengage but Jin had overextended with his previous punch, working to get closer so he could minimise the reach advantage Sayuri had. The manoeuvre had left him in the air like a sitting duck and he could nothing but block the follow-up kick with his arms.

The total mass of his seven-year-old body clashed against the force of a, now, high chuunin kunoichi's kick.

He was sent flying.

Jin hit the ground in a roll before taking up his fighting stance once again.

"That's enough for today, my little Jin," Sayuri said, smiling at him with pride. "You've gotten rather…good for your age."

"I have an excellent teacher," Jin said, bowing his head and making the sign of reconciliation.

"Mou~ You flatterer," Sayuri said, "I see I have taught you well not just in taijutsu."

Jin beamed at her. His pearly whites shone brightly….except for his one missing front tooth.

Sayuri giggled at him. "Alright, so what did you do wrong?"

"I overextended," Jin said, "I got greedy and thought I could land that punch on you."

"Un," Sayuri nodded, "And?"

"…and I was too slow to dodge the counter leg sweep," Jin continued.

"You got greedy. It's important to remember that when I praised you and said that you were extraordinarily good at taijutsu for your age, I do mean by your age. An older, more experienced opponent would be far deadlier. Not just in reach, but in physical strength, chakra abilities, and much more."

Jin nodded. "Hai, Sayu-Sensei."

Sayuri practically preened at the moniker Jin used for her when they were training.

"And what's the best option you have when facing such an opponent?"

"Create a distraction and run," Jin replied immediately.

"Good. Now it's time to meditate."

It wasn't long before they were sitting back to back, each in a lotus position with their eyes closed. Jin practised channelling his chakra, the first stage before manipulating and expanding his chakra capacity by cultivating his coils.

He was told that he'd used a chakra technique to save Sayuri's life when he was but a year old. Yet, he couldn't remember how he did so. He remembered the desperation to save Sayuri…and that was it. The next thing he could recall was that all of a sudden, she stopped what she was doing and came to take him in her arms.

Jin shrugged and continued channelling his chakra whilst breathing in and out. It wasn't like he could do anything other than wait for that breakthrough.

Actually…perhaps…perhaps he could experiment.

With a mental command, he thought:

'Show me my memory synchronisation progress.'

Memory Synchronisation: 21%

Jin was not the one to play many games. He thought that it would be more productive to read during his downtime when he wasn't either training or studying.

It was when Momo was watching her favourite puppet show one time though, that a game advertisement played during one of the episode breaks. It was apparently something new in this world. A breakthrough in the board game industry. They used figurines to roleplay ninja characters and one could upgrade aspects of their abilities when the game goes on.

Alas, while the ad didn't make him want to buy the game, it did make him remember playing video games as Bob Hasek though. MMORPGs, in fact.

Alright, he'd give this a shot.

'Status.'

…

…

Nothing.

'Screen?'

Nope.

'Character Sheet'

Nada.

'Profile?'

NAME: Jin Takeshi (Level 4)

AGE: 7 Years Old

COMBAT GRADE: E- (2/20)

CHAKRA GRADE: F- (9/10)

INTELLIGENCE GRADE: F+ (3/10)

CHARM GRADE: F (8/10)

EXCESS POINTS: 8

~~[Traits | Skills | Affinities]~~

Ambidextrous (level 1)

Massage (level 0)

Dancing (level 0)

Thou Shall See Me (level 1)

Earth Affinity (level 0)

~~[Kekkei Genkai]~~

Lust Release (level 1)

…

…Good Kami.

"Jin?" Sayuri enquired from behind him, "Are you okay?"

Jin must've jumped when his status screen actually showed up and as a consequence, alerted Sayuri to his surprise.

"N-nothing Sayu-sensei," Jin responded, "I must've thought that I had a breakthrough."

Sayuri smiled kindly at him. "It's good to be enthusiastic but remember not to set unrealistic expectations of yourself."

"Hai," Jin said.

They both went back to meditating, though Jin was secretly peering at his screen.

'This is…this is incredible,' Jin thought.

From when he could deduce, all these 'grade' categories were his stats. He'd read through Sayuri's bingo book once before and saw that Shinobi were categorised into ranks. S rank being the highest, and F being the lowest rank. Most would think that D-rank was the lowest—typically for genins—but there also existed an E-rank which is for limited chakra users and F-ranks for civilian-level threats. E and F ranks very rarely made it to the bingo book, so it was no wonder that the general public knew little of its existence. However, there were always a few folks that had no special powers whatsoever but were able to squirm their way into the ninja's bad graces—typically criminal overlords who had stepped a tiny bit over the line and were in over their heads. Needless to say, they didn't stay in the bingo books for long.

It wasn't a surprise to see his stats in mostly in the F rank, considering that he was only 7. Heck, he'd expected them to be a little lower if F were to be categorised as an adult 'civilian' level threat. Jin had no illusions that he would win a one-on-one fight against a grown man, even if they weren't ninjas…unless they were allowed weapons. He might be training every single day, but his seven-year-old form has too many disadvantages over a grown adult's if it came to fighting unarmed.

The only equaliser would be his speed, knowledge, technique and most important of all, chakra…which he wasn't able to use yet.

Still, he was proud that at least one of his stats was at E rank and that stat especially being the combat stat. He was proud of his martial prowess, and only suspects that he would get better with time once his memories were synchronised. His 'Bob' feeling told him that Bob Hasek was a fighter—an elite one at that—but Jin would have to wait and see for himself.

Now onto his traits, skills and affinities.

They were a bit mundane if he was frankly honest. Dancing and massaging didn't seem like exciting skills but they were better than none he supposed.

He didn't know what to think about the 'Thou Shall See Me' skill. It seemed a bit counterintuitive for a skill to make people see him when he was training to be a ninja. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too detrimental.

Earth Affinity, however, was exciting. He couldn't wait until he had enough control over chakra manipulation to train his elemental affinities.

Then…then there was…

[Lust Release]

That.

It sounded…sexual. He didn't want to be the crude person who objectifies women as nothing more than things to do…sexy stuff with. He was a gentleman!

He put it out of his thoughts for now.

"Sayu-sensei?" Jin asked.

"Hm?" Sayuri replied, blinking one of her eyes open, "is there something bothering you?"

Jin shook his head. "I was just wondering…if you'd like a massage after this."

Sayuri's eyebrows rose.

"Eeeep! Ouch! Not too hard on that spot Jin, it's sensitive!" Sayuri cried out.

Of course, Jin wasn't that good at giving massages…but he was learning!

[Massage] has levelled up!

"Ohhh, that's better," Sayuri said into the pillow.

Jin beamed, both in bringing Sayuri comfort and through the level-up notification.

"Sorry Sayu-chan," Jin said, "I promise I'll get better!"

"You don't have to give me a massage, Jin-kun."

"But I want to! One day I'll be good enough to turn you into a puddle!"

Sayuri giggled. "Well, today is not that day."

Jin sulked. "Then we'll have to do this every day then! Can't get better without practice!"

Sayuri only shook her head in amusement.

~1 year later~

"Alright class," his homeroom teacher said, although his tone was awfully monotonous. "I'd like to introduce you to a new member of our class today."

Then the sliding door at the side opened and Jin almost had to pick his Jaw up off the floor.

"Please come and introduce yourself," The teacher continued and again there was that tone of…malevolence? in his voice.

What Jin noticed immediately was the person's bright blonde hair and three pairs of weird—if not adorable—whisker marks. The person—girl, Jin realised—walked to where the teacher was standing and then said: "Uzumaki Narumi, soon to be the strongest ninja in the world, at your service!"

No one made a sound.

…and Jin's 'Bob' feeling was screaming that something was completely wrong with what he just saw.