Kaiji settled onto the mat, it's like this gritty texture of this desert environment telling him that this is where he will live from now on.
'Let's see how much of anime knowledge might actually be useful here,' he thought, the analytical part of his mind asserting itself despite the recent shock.
Several minutes passed in quiet contemplation. "I'm not in Konoha," he murmured, the realization firming. "So everything I know about Konoha's story is useless."
His memory of Sunagakure from the series and manga was significantly less detailed.
He began attempting to correlate his past world's knowledge with the new reality of his Sunagakure memories.
The Third Kazekage, Satei, was indeed alive. Sasori, according to the manga, assassinated him with poison at around sixteen years old.
This preceded the Third Shinobi World War. "So, I have roughly one year left," he calculated.
Once the war commenced, Genin, even Academy-level ones, would be thrust into the conflict, often serving as expendable forces.
The next known fact was Rasa, a student of Satei, who would succeed him as Kazekage.
Rasa possessed the Magnet Release, specifically the coveted Gold Sand variant.
Pakura, the user of Scorch Release, is currently a respected Jonin within the village, with her Scorch Release her strength reaches Elite Jonin.
It struck him that he knew so few Elite Jonin-rank shinobi from his current memories when logically there should be many more.
'Perhaps most of the high-level Jonin are integrated into Sunagakure's Anbu squads,' he mused.
Currently, only Rasa, Pakura, Yuta are recognized as known Elite Jonin. Yuta was another student under Satei's tutelage.
Karura, the future wife of Rasa and mother of Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara, was also a student of Satei, though she did not hold Jonin rank.
'The anime never explicitly showed it, but it appeared Rasa and Karura shared a long-standing acquaintance.'
Yuta was a character entirely absent from the anime, yet here he was, another student of the Third Kazekage and an Elite Jonin.
The village also have Chiyo and Ebizo among its ranks, the sibling elders of Village and grandparents of Sasori.
From the anime, he could only recall two more characters present in this era, Baki, who would eventually become a Jonin-sensei to Temari's team, is currently a shinobi of Suna, around same age as Sasori.
Maki, destined to become Pakura's student, likely after graduating from the Academy in the upcoming Genin Exams in six months. Maki was currently the same age as Kaiji and in his class.
Beyond these few, he could not recall other characters from the anime who were present in this timeline.
Given that the war was likely to last three to four years, it was straightforward to estimate his current position.
Approximately sixteen to seventeen years before the main story events even began.
These were the characters he remembered from his old life and whose existence he could verify in his new memories.
The immediate task, however, was to understand his own current capabilities.
His class consisted of sixty-eight students, any no other sections. This shows Sunagakure's lack of manpower of Young ninjas.
By any measure, he was firmly in the bottom tier, ranking among the last Top five.
His current strength was not even comparable to that of a proper Genin. He began to check out his limited skillset.
"I possessed the basic E-rank Ninjutsu, and my proficiency with them is somewhat good."
From the Academy, he had managed to learn only three D-rank Jutsus. Of these, only Wind Style: Wind Clone was something he could utilize reliably.
The other two, Wind Style: Dust Cloud Jutsu and Body Flicker Technique, he knew the hand signs and principles for but could not execute properly.
The Dust Cloud Jutsu remained unusable due to his extremely low chakra reserves.
The Body Flicker Technique was similarly out of reach because his chakra control was abysmal.
Academy taught some more Jutsus, but he only able to learn these.
'Didn't Sakura haruno have excellent chakra control because she had low reserves?' he wondered, a touch of frustration surfacing.
Why was that not his case? Even the Leaf Concentration/Balancing Exercise, a fundamental chakra control technique, was difficult for him till last year.
While it had improved his control marginally, it was far from sufficient.
His Taijutsu skills were basic, resembling a mix of martial arts rather than a specialized form like the Hyuga or Uchiha styles.
"Well, It's the standard Academy Taijutsu, and expecting anything extraordinary from it is unrealistic."
Sunagakure, he knew, did not prioritize Taijutsu heavily anyway, and his physical strength was meager.
He also possessed some training of Kunai and Shuriken throwing techniques.
Although he was merely average in weapon throwing, the techniques were functional for spars or actual combat.
Regarding the basic Genjutsu taught at the Academy, he possessed literally zero talent.
Moreover, these Genjutsu were primarily designed to create mirages and illusions effective in desert areas, meaning in a real battle, they would barely buy him a fleeting moment.
'I need training,' the thought was resolute. 'I don't want to die so early again.'
His path forward became clear. First, he needed rigorous training in chakra control and physical conditioning to build strength.
"For chakra control, I can start with Tree Walking, as this technique not taught at the Academy.
I recall that it wasn't the case for Naruto's team in ninja academy as well."
For physical training, basic exercises would be a solid start like sprinting, pushups, situps, squats, and pullups. "I will start tomorrow," he decided.
Today, he would explore. He would step out and see Sunagakure for himself, personally.