Ninja Make-Believe

After walking for a while, Makoto Ito finally arrived near the Ninja Academy. Once he got there, the number of people around him increased as well.

They were all little kids around six or seven to eleven or twelve years old, along with parents seeing their children off to school.

They stood around in groups of three or five, discussing how their Clone Technique had improved again,

or how their Transformation Jutsu had become so convincing it could pass for the real thing!

Or how they had once again ranked first in the class on their theory exam.

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

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

Hashirama Senju: Here! Here! Is this the Ninja Academy of today?

Makoto Ito: That's right, Big Hashi. This is the Ninja Academy founded by the Second Hokage! And I'm studying here now too.

Hashirama Senju: Amazing!!!! Tobirama! What you did was way too cool! I thought that whenever you had nothing to do, you just tinkered with forbidden jutsu! The Ninja Academy looks really great! What an excellent idea!

Madara! Did you see that?! Isn't this the scene the two of us once dreamed of? None of the children have to go to war anymore. They can all live out their childhoods without a care in the world! Madara, it seems we were right to build Konoha together back then!!!

Did you see it, Madara?! Look at these children, every single one of them is so happy!!!

Madara Uchiha: I saw it, so shut up! It's not like I'm blind! They're just a bunch of children playing make-believe. What's so interesting about that?

Hashirama Senju: Hmph, Madara, stop pretending! This was the dream the two of us once shared! And now, it's come true! You must be very happy inside too, right? Hehehe...

Madara Uchiha: Hmph...

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

Minato Namikaze: I have to say, the Ninja Academy established by the Second Hokage was truly excellent! It gave many civilian ninjas the chance to learn! And I came from a civilian ninja background myself!

Hashirama Senju: Really?! Fourth Hokage, then you must be very outstanding too! You grew from a civilian ninja into the Fourth Hokage! You must have been a genius boy in your youth as well!

Minato Namikaze: Haha, First Hokage, you're flattering me! It is our bounden duty to forge Konoha's glory!!!

Madara Uchiha: Hmph, that's hilarious.

Tobirama Senju: Madara Uchiha! What are you being sarcastic about now? Evil Uchiha! Damned Uchiha! Your Uchiha Clan is 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 civilian ninjas? I say this is nothing more than a place for ninjas to play make-believe! Look at what these brats are talking about. Transformation Jutsu, Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, and how to throw shuriken? Are these really things a ninja should be learning?

Tobirama Senju: Damn it, Madara!!! Don't underestimate the Ninja Academy I founded!!!

Madara Uchiha: Did I say anything wrong? This is clearly just a game of ninja make-believe!

Do you really think Konoha would be willing to teach those civilian ninjas its real ninjutsu? Heh, you're thinking too much! Look at the random junk they're learning now. Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, Transformation Jutsu—I stopped playing with that stuff when I was three!

Tobirama Senju: If we're talking about the clan with the most ninjutsu, it would probably be your Uchiha Clan, wouldn't it? With your Sharingan, you can copy ninjutsu at will! I wonder whether your Uchiha Clan would be willing to share those ninjutsu?

Madara Uchiha: Hmph! Don't mention the Uchiha Clan to me! They have long had nothing to do with me! When I left the Uchiha Clan back then, I unilaterally expelled them all from the Uchiha Clan!

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

And Tobirama Senju would not miss such a perfect chance to mock Madara Uchiha.

Tobirama Senju: That's absolutely hilarious. You unilaterally declared that you expelled them from the Uchiha Clan? More like you were the one expelled from the Uchiha Clan, right? You Konoha Rogue Ninja!

Izuna Uchiha: Shut up! Tobirama! Don't you dare talk about my brother like that! Do you want to fight?

Tobirama Senju: Bring it on! Who's afraid of who?!

After arguing for a few moments, they all fell silent. There was no point in continuing, and Tobirama Senju was not actually going to fight Madara Uchiha. He could not beat him, so why ask to be humiliated?

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

Finally, someone could not help but speak up.

Kushina Uzumaki: Group Leader! It looks like you're about Naruto's age, right? Do you know Naruto?

Makoto Ito: Naruto Uzumaki? Of course I know him! We're good friends! We often compete for first place in class!

Kushina Uzumaki: Really? Is Naruto that good at studying? Does he often get first place? That's wonderful, Naruto is so outstanding! Wait... Naruto Uzumaki? Shouldn't he be Naruto Namikaze?

Makoto Ito: Ah, he's called Naruto Uzumaki! And I think you may have misunderstood something. The two of us compete for last place...

Madara Uchiha: Pfft, hahahahaha! Brat, so you're a Dead Last too!!!

Tobirama Senju: Last place? Is that something worth competing over?

Hashirama Senju: Ah, this...

Kushina Uzumaki: Last place????

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

Why was her son even competing for last place?

How embarrassing!

Kushina Uzumaki: But that isn't right. Naruto should be called Naruto Namikaze. Why didn't he inherit Minato's surname? Why did he inherit my Uzumaki surname instead?

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

Kushina Uzumaki: Minato, you've really suffered...