A sudden thought struck Shūyū Hikaru like lightning.
"Right… among the upperclassmen, there's Senju Nawaki—Hashirama's actual grandson—and Uchiha Mikoto, future mom of Sasuke himself!"
His eyes gleamed.
"If special characters are determined by their future roles in the plot, then these two are probably jackpot targets for unique drops."
Even if they didn't yield Special Materials, the odds of obtaining rare ones—Senju Bloodline, Senju Physique, Uchiha Bloodline, Sharingan—were high. And considering they were from prominent clans and already nearing graduation, there was a decent chance they'd learned advanced jutsu.
"If I can extract jutsu materials too, it's practically a double profit."
Fire ignited in Hikaru's veins.
Right now, all he wanted was to sprint across campus and challenge every noteworthy senior he could find.
Of course, Senju Nawaki and Uchiha Mikoto had no idea they were already on some junior's hunting list.
The Next Morning
Hikaru arrived at school with a wide grin plastered across his face.
"Hey, Hikaru, let's go fishing after school today!" Uzumaki Kushina chirped, bounding up beside him the moment he entered.
She was the only person in the whole academy Hikaru could call a friend.
"Kushina, are you slacking again?" Hikaru sighed.
Yeah. This wasn't the first time.
Kids her age had a short attention span. When she first started training with him, she'd been full of motivation. But over the past month? Her "training time" had shrunk to less than a quarter of what it once was.
He'd tried to lecture her, but it hadn't worked. Children were children.
Still, she was a guaranteed source of daily material drops—so Hikaru didn't push it.
And as for training chakra?
Pfft. As if.
He wasn't grinding like some medieval peasant. Not when he had the system.
"I'm not slacking! Just… taking a break. Resting is important too!" Kushina pouted, cheeks puffed in defiance.
"Right, right. Resting, not slacking. Got it."
Hikaru didn't argue further.
In a peaceful age like this, kids didn't need to train relentlessly. Back during the Warring States period, not training meant an early grave. Now? The worst consequence was failing to graduate on time.
After morning classes ended, Hikaru strolled out—and headed straight for Class 2.
He wasn't stupid enough to challenge upperclassmen right away.
Sure, he was strong, but the older students had already mastered the Three Basic Techniques. Some probably knew Body Flicker, maybe even family-exclusive ninjutsu.
With his current loadout? He'd get wrecked.
No, better to farm horizontal before climbing vertical.
Same grade, different class. Still plenty of targets.
And his chakra level was already nearing Chūnin. Just gathering a bit more Chakra (White) would tip him over the edge.
Once that happened? Even upperclassmen would be in reach.
Hikaru pushed open the door to Class 2.
All eyes turned to him.
He didn't flinch.
"I'm Shūyū Hikaru from Class 1," he announced, voice loud and clear. "My goal is to become number one in the whole school. So today, I'm here for a simple reason—"
"I'm challenging every last one of you."
Silence.
Then—
"You got a death wish, kid?"
"Whole school? Try getting out of this classroom first!"
"Must've eaten a bowl of ego for breakfast!"
Sneers, curses, jeers—they came from every corner of the room.
Which was exactly what Hikaru wanted.
"What's wrong?" he said, spreading his arms with theatrical pity. "Is Class 2 full of cowards? All bark, no bite?"
He grinned wider.
"I'll give you a chance. Get on your knees, bow to me, and say 'we concede.' If you do that, I'll spare you the beatdown."
BOOM.
He'd detonated a classroom's worth of pride with one sentence.
"You son of a—!"
"GET HIM!!"
In an instant, the whole class surged toward him like a wave of fury.
Hikaru's eyes shone with glee.
Perfect.
Dozens of new "material piñatas" were charging right into his trap.
Three Minutes Later
"Disappointing," Hikaru said, brushing imaginary dust from his shirt as he exited the room.
Behind him, Class 2 lay in a pile of groaning, twitching bodies.
No one had escaped.
No one had won.
His only regret?
He couldn't stick around to savor the aftermath.
Because…
Next up: Class 3.
Author's Note:Let's gooooo! Daily grind back on—five chapters incoming today! Thanks for the patience, y'all!