Ninja Pretending House

After walking for a while, Makoto Ito finally arrived near the Ninja Academy. Once he was there, the area became much more crowded.

It was full of little kids, around six or seven to eleven or twelve years old, along with their parents who were dropping them off for school.

They were all gathered in groups of three to five, excitedly discussing how their Clone Jutsu had improved, or how their Transformation Jutsu had become so realistic it was indistinguishable from the real thing!

Or perhaps how they'd aced their last theory class exam and gotten first in class again.

In short, it was all childish stuff. After all, the current Makoto Ito was completely different from the previous one!

The current Makoto Ito would be more than qualified to be a teacher at the Ninja Academy, even!

[Hashirama Senju: Here! Here! Is this the current Ninja Academy?!]

[Makoto Ito: Yes, Big Hashi, this is the Ninja Academy that the Second Hokage established! And I'm currently attending school here too.]

[Hashirama Senju: Gasp!! Tobirama! What you've done here is truly amazing! I thought all you did was tinker with forbidden jutsu all day long! The Ninja Academy looks really great! What an excellent idea!

Madara! Do you see this?! Isn't this the scene we both dreamed of once? All the children won't have to go to war anymore; they can live out their childhoods carefree! Madara, it seems we weren't wrong to establish Konoha together back then!!!

Do you see it, Madara! Look at these children, aren't they all so happy!!!]

[Madara Uchiha: I see it. Now shut up! I'm not blind! It's just a bunch of kids playing house, what's so great about it?]

[Hashirama Senju: Tsk, Madara, stop being so stubborn! This was our dream back then! And now, it has come true! You must be very happy inside too! Hehehe…]

[Madara Uchiha: Tsk…]

[Tobirama Senju: But the Ninja Academy looks much bigger now than when I first established it! It's completely changed!]

[Minato Namikaze: I have to say, the Ninja Academy that Second Hokage-sama established was truly excellent! It gave many commoner ninjas the opportunity to learn! And I was a commoner ninja myself!]

[Hashirama Senju: Really?! Fourth Hokage, you seem very outstanding then! To grow from a commoner ninja to the Fourth Hokage! You must have been a prodigy in your youth!]

[Minato Namikaze: Haha, First Hokage-sama, you flatter me! It is our duty to forge the glory of Konoha, and we will not shirk it!!!]

[Madara Uchiha: Tsk, what a joke!]

[Tobirama Senju: Madara Uchiha! What are you being sarcastic about now? Evil Uchiha! Damn Uchiha! You Uchiha are an evil clan!]

[Izuna Uchiha: Shut up, Tobirama! Do you want to fight?]

[Shisui Uchiha: Uh…]

[Fugaku Uchiha: Uh…]

[Mikoto Uchiha: Uh…]

[Madara Uchiha: What "Ninja Academy"? What "commoner ninjas"? I think this is just a place for ninjas to play house! Look at what these little brats are talking about? Transformation Jutsu, Clone Jutsu? Substitution Jutsu? And how to throw Shuriken? Are these really things a ninja should be learning?]

[Tobirama Senju: You bastard, Madara!!! Don't belittle the Ninja Academy I founded!!!]

[Madara Uchiha: Am I wrong? This is clearly just a game of playing ninja!

Do you really think Konoha would be willing to hand over those Ninjutsu to these commoners? Heh, you're dreaming! Look at what kind of messy stuff they're learning now? Clone Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu—I stopped playing with those things when I was three!]

[Tobirama Senju: If we're talking about the clan with the most Ninjutsu, it's probably your Uchiha Clan, isn't it? With the Sharingan, you can copy any Ninjutsu! I wonder if your Uchiha Clan would be willing to share those Ninjutsu?]

[Madara Uchiha: Hmph! Don't mention the Uchiha Clan to me! They have nothing to do with me anymore! When I left the Uchiha, I unilaterally expelled all of them from the Uchiha Clan!]

Clearly, Madara Uchiha was very displeased that the Uchiha Clan had not followed him when he left Konoha.

And Tobirama Senju wouldn't let such a good opportunity to mock Madara Uchiha pass him by.

[Tobirama Senju: That's hilarious, you unilaterally declared you expelled them from the Uchiha Clan! Shouldn't it be that you were expelled from the Uchiha Clan? You Konoha rogue ninja!]

[Izuna Uchiha: Shut up! Tobirama! Don't you dare speak ill of my big brother! Do you want to fight?]

[Tobirama Senju: Let's fight then, who's afraid?!]

After arguing for a few sentences, they stopped talking. After all, there was no point. Tobirama Senju wouldn't actually fight Madara Uchiha; after all, he couldn't win, so why bother looking for trouble?

Meanwhile, Makoto Ito was getting closer and closer to the Ninja Academy.

Finally, someone couldn't resist speaking up.

[Kushina Uzumaki: Group Leader! It looks like you're about the same age as Naruto, right? Do you know Naruto?]

[Makoto Ito: You mean Naruto Uzumaki? Of course I know him! We're good friends! We're always competing for first place in our class!]

[Kushina Uzumaki: Really? Is Naruto that good at studying? And he often gets first place? That's great, Naruto is so excellent! Wait... Naruto Uzumaki? Shouldn't it be Naruto Namikaze?]

[Makoto Ito: Ah, it's Naruto Uzumaki! And I think you might have misunderstood something? We're competing for last place...]

[Madara Uchiha: Pffthahahaha! Kid, so you're a dead last, huh!!!]

[Tobirama Senju: Last place, is that something you even need to compete for?]

[Hashirama Senju: Ah, well...]

[Kushina Uzumaki: Last place????]

At this moment, Kushina Uzumaki in the Pure Land helplessly rubbed her hair...

Why was her son competing for last place?

How embarrassing!

[Kushina Uzumaki: But that's not right, Naruto should be called Naruto Namikaze, shouldn't he? Why didn't he inherit Minato's surname, but instead inherited my Uzumaki surname?]

[Minato Namikaze: Perhaps the Third Hokage did it to protect Naruto? After all, I sealed the Nine-Tails inside Naruto's body! And I had many enemies back then! Not letting Naruto inherit my surname was probably a form of protection...]

[Kushina Uzumaki: Minato, you've really been through so much...]