Kurenai's Request

"Beizawa, long time no see."

Her slender, bandage-wrapped legs lifted as Kurenai Yuhi walked up to Beizawa.

"Not that long—we saw each other just last week."

Beizawa's gaze fell on the bandages around her hands.

He'd been curious in his past life why Kurenai Yuhi always wrapped bandages around her thighs and hands.

"Beizawa, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

A smile appeared on Kurenai's fair face as she spoke.

Beizawa was a little surprised.

Though Kurenai and he were both chunin, there were gaps even among chunin.

Because she possessed family ninjutsu.

Her father was Shinku Yuhi, one of Konoha's rare genjutsu jonin.

If Kurenai was a chunin among chunin, then Beizawa was just an average chunin.

"I became a private tutor not long ago."

Kurenai's tone turned troubled as she spoke. "But this student is very disobedient, so I wanted to learn from your experience."

Beizawa listened thoughtfully.

In the original story, Kurenai Yuhi was the team leader for Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka.

But she also had another student named Yakumo Kurama.

She possessed a special genjutsu kekkei genkai that could turn illusions into reality.

Genjutsu belonged to Yin Release, and because her Yin Release power was too strong, her body often had problems.

For safety, her parents didn't let her study at the Ninja Academy and instead hired Kurenai as her private tutor.

But she was stubbornly fixated on becoming a ninja.

After being rejected again and again, a Yin Release monster named Ido was born in her heart, and she lost control, killing her parents.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sensed Yakumo Kurama's danger and ordered Kurenai to destroy the monster inside her.

"You've been voted the best teacher at the Ninja Academy for three years straight."

Kurenai clapped her hands together and leaned forward slightly. "Please, old classmate!"

Just as Beizawa was about to speak, a blue light screen appeared before him.

code
[Current Mission: Help classmate Yakumo Kurama return to the Ninja Academy.]
[Mission Reward: Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death.]
[Accept?]

Beizawa couldn't help but frown.

Wasn't there something off about the difficulty and the reward?

Or maybe this mission wasn't as hard as he imagined.

After all, this timeline was several years earlier than Yakumo Kurama's story in the original.

But since having more missions didn't hurt and there was no penalty for failure, he decided to accept for now.

"No problem."

Beizawa agreed. "I'm pretty confident in teaching students."

"Thanks. With your help, I feel a lot more at ease."

Kurenai patted her chest and said.

"Come find me after school tomorrow."

Beizawa thought for a moment. "I'll pass along some of my teaching experience then."

"Mm."

Kurenai nodded, giving a bright smile. "Tomorrow night, I'll treat you to a drink."

"Sounds good."

Beizawa said without holding back. "We're not stopping until we're drunk."

"You've never beaten me at drinking since we were kids. I'll probably end up taking you home again."

Kurenai said smugly.

"The past is the past. Now is now."

Beizawa retorted stubbornly.

"Then I'll look forward to seeing what you've got."

Kurenai reached out and punched him lightly. "I'm off. See you tomorrow."

Beizawa watched her walk away and couldn't help but shake his head.

He and Kurenai Yuhi were childhood friends—placed in the same class at age six, and now fifteen years had passed.

Aside from her, his classmates included Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara.

But most of them had died in the Third Shinobi World War, their graves now overgrown with weeds three feet tall.

Without a doubt, Beizawa was a transmigrator.

After leaving a comment on a Naruto fanfiction novel titled Lurking in Konoha, Part-Time Hokage—"Have you ever been a ninja? You're just making stuff up, taking things for granted"—he ended up in Konoha.

Because both his parents were chunin of Konoha, he was sent to the Ninja Academy at age six.

Unfortunately, his talent was mediocre.

He barely managed to graduate and become a genin at thirteen, only to receive news of his parents' deaths.

Beizawa came to understand the cruelty of reality.

Shouting about bonds and friendship while charging at Madara Uchiha—that was something only the protagonist could do.

He was cannon fodder among cannon fodder, so he resolutely switched careers and became a teacher.

At the Ninja Academy, Beizawa mainly taught the Will of Fire and Konoha history, occasionally covering practical combat classes—things like the Three Body Techniques.

Building on the Will of Fire, he proposed the theory: "The Hokage is the sun, and the Hokage's grace can never be repaid."

Because of this, he was selected as the Ninja Academy's best teacher for three consecutive years.

Of course, his teaching ability was also decent.

Beizawa pondered for a moment, then instead of returning to the academy, he headed north.

With Umino Iruka handling registration, he had nothing to worry about.

"System, pull up my character panel."

Suddenly reminded of something, Beizawa thought silently.

[Name: Beizawa.]
[Age: Six.]
[Ninjutsu: Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, Transformation Technique, Body Flicker Technique, Wind Release: Gale Palm, Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.]
[Evaluation: What they call genius is merely the threshold to meet you. You are a born ninja, destined to become the strongest.]

Beizawa rolled his eyes.

He suspected the system was being sarcastic.

A twenty-one-year-old genius ninja? If word got out, it would make the Uchiha laugh for three days and nights straight.

But seeing the age on the panel, he understood—the system wasn't lying; it was just running its program on a bug.

Beizawa recalled a saying: if a bug works, don't fix it.

At the training ground on the edge of Konoha.

Beizawa stopped and formed hand seals.

A massive amount of chakra gathered in his throat, and as he opened his mouth to exhale, a fireball five or six meters in diameter emerged.

The air warped, and the terrifying heat stirred up waves of scorching wind.

Boom!

The great fireball struck the ground, instantly charring it black.

"This system really isn't bad."

Beizawa froze for a moment, then revealed a satisfied smile.

The power of a jutsu depends on the user's chakra and proficiency.

Beizawa had seen many ninja use Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique, but none had the same overwhelming force as his.

Without exaggeration, if he had enough chakra, he wouldn't be inferior to Madara Uchiha.

That was the value of the system maxing out proficiency directly.

Hokage's Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi unrolled a scroll.

The scroll recorded Naruto Uzumaki's experiences that day.

When he saw that Beizawa had made contact with Naruto Uzumaki, he fell into thought.

Soon, he recalled Beizawa's file.

An unremarkable chunin, but with unique insights into the Will of Fire.

"He probably doesn't know Naruto's true identity."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slightly.

While others feared Naruto Uzumaki like a tiger, Beizawa treated him fairly—proving he truly practiced the Will of Fire.

"I wonder what Naruto will learn."

A look of anticipation appeared on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face.