Gojo Yoru

The Ninja Academy had six grades. Each school year began in April and ended in March of the following year.

It was divided into three terms: the first term ran from early April to mid-July, the second from early September to late December, and the third from early January to the end of March.

The Ninja Academy of this era stipulated that the enrollment age was five to six years old.

In Konoha Year 28, Nawaki, the five-year-old younger brother of the Princess of the Land of Fire and Grandson of the First Hokage, entered the Ninja Academy founded by the Second Hokage. The true Crown Prince had officially enrolled.

Konoha Year 30, July 18.

Today was the final day of the first term for every grade at the Ninja Academy.

Third through sixth graders, who had already undergone the second and third stages of training, had been taking their final exams in academics, practical combat, and the Three Body Techniques since daytime.

As for first and second graders, who still used pebbles in place of shuriken for throwing practice, their most valuable—and only potentially injurious—assessment was... the Taijutsu Duel.

And that assessment had been scheduled for last.

That afternoon, on the school field, in the area for First Grade Class One.

The boys and girls stood or sat in a circle, watching a battle that was extraordinarily intense for children their age.

At the center of the circle, two little boys with different hair colors freely displayed their talents.

While their peers, and even older students, still only knew how to rely on brute strength.

The two of them had not only already learned to use Chakra to incorporate speed into combat, but also relied on their mature mental composure to predict their opponent's next move through their eyes and brains, either dodging or luring out attacks.

This visual feast, rare even among upperclassmen, left the students staring in stunned silence. Even the Chunin Teacher serving as referee beside them wore a shocked expression.

When he was young, he had never understood why he was inferior to those geniuses.

Now, as a mature observer, he finally realized just how vast the gap had been between his student self and those geniuses.

These two little boys before him were undoubtedly the kind of geniuses who had already left their peers far behind!

And unlike other fights, which ended quickly because the contestants could no longer endure the pain or because one side completely overwhelmed the other.

The battle between these two little boys lasted quite a long time.

Only when the blond boy began to run out of strength, his reactions and speed dropping drastically, did the white-haired boy opposite him, who was in somewhat better condition, gain the upper hand. He created an opening, sidestepped the other's straight punch, seized his arm, threw him to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw, and finally subdued him with a grappling hold.

Seeing this, the Chunin Teacher immediately announced, "The battle is over. The winner is Gojo Yoru. Form the Seal of Reconciliation."

As the teacher's voice fell, the students, who had been gaping with eyes as wide as bells, finally came back to their senses.

Then the scene erupted.

"That... that's incredible!"

"So this is Minato and Gojo's true strength? They were actually hiding their abilities all along!"

"Maybe they weren't hiding their abilities. Maybe none of us ever pushed them to go all out. If they hadn't been matched against each other this time, we never would have known they were this amazing!"

"What a pity for Minato. If Gojo hadn't developed better than him, Minato might have been the one to win in the end."

"Hey, keep your voice down when you say that. Don't stand next to me—I don't want Gojo to notice me."

"Oh no, he didn't hear that, did he?!"

"..."

"Minato-kun and Yoru-kun are both so cool. I didn't even know who to cheer for just now."

"Yoru-kun is better. That icy look of his is so cool, and he's so strong. He beat up an upperclassman as soon as he enrolled. He makes me feel so safe."

"I think Minato-kun is easier to get along with."

"..."

Amid the students' chatter, the two little boys, whose heights differed by half a head, completed the Seal of Reconciliation.

"Thank you for the lesson, Yoru. You're really strong," Namikaze Minato said with a gentle smile, speaking sincerely.

"You're not bad either."

Looking at Namikaze Minato, whose face bore a few bruises, Gojo Yoru, who was similarly battered, had a trace of complicated emotion flash through his eyes.

Rather than feeling any joy from victory, he was filled with pressure.

Because only he knew that he was no genius at all.

Though both were "otherworldly little supermen" with 130 trillion cells, no one knew that Gojo Yoru actually housed the soul of an adult in his twenties.

An adult had spent so long narrowly defeating a real six-year-old. What was there to be happy about?

Instead, this battle had allowed Gojo Yoru to witness the potential of the most perfect ninja. That terrifying reaction speed—it was no wonder Minato could become the second person in Konoha to master the Flying Thunder God Technique.

This was only the first term!

At this rate, wouldn't he soon be left far behind?

At that thought, Gojo Yoru's mood sank once more.

Outwardly, he simply returned to his spot with an expressionless face.

Because of his "cold and aloof" and "school tyrant" image, neither boys nor girls dared approach and disturb Gojo Yoru.

This formed a stark contrast with Namikaze Minato on the other side, who was immediately surrounded and comforted by both boys and girls upon returning to his group.

The exams continued, and as one Taijutsu Duel after another ended, the first term finally came to a close.

When the teacher announced the holiday, Gojo Yoru was the first to leave school and head home.

Gojo Yoru's home was a three-story Western-style house with a small courtyard, located on Konoha's Central Street. Whether in location or value, it ranked second only to those of the Ninja Clans.

This showed just how well-off Gojo Yoru's family was.

After changing shoes in the entryway, Gojo Yoru crossed the living room and headed straight for the bathroom, passing a shrine displaying two memorial portraits along the way.

Warm water sprayed from the tiny holes of the showerhead, filling the bathroom with a hazy mist.

Gojo Yoru raised his head and let the water strike him, running both hands through his white hair and slicking it back. The white brows that had been furrowed all day finally slowly relaxed.

After standing beneath the shower for some time, lost in thought, Gojo Yoru finally opened his eyes.

They were blue eyes just like Namikaze Minato's.

But unlike Namikaze Minato's azure blue, Gojo Yoru's were an icy blue tinged with white. Combined with his expressionless face, they gave off a distinctly cold feeling.

After briefly washing himself, Gojo Yoru emerged wearing a bathrobe.

Standing before the mirror and drying his hair, Gojo Yoru looked at the little boy in the reflection and could not help mocking himself in his hometown tongue. "Heh... We obviously have the same surname, similar hair color, eye color, and appearance, so why don't I have some overpowered cheat too? If I had invincible strength, lived freely for a few decades, then even if my body got cut in half in the future, it'd still be worth it."

After drying the droplets from his hair, Gojo Yoru checked the time. Rather than cook dinner to fill his growling stomach, he went to the storage room on the first floor, lifted an inconspicuous tatami mat, and entered the basement hidden beneath it.

As the kerosene lamp flickered to life, the basement came into view.

It was a small room whose walls were covered in tadpole-like incantations. There were only two rows of bookshelves around it, filled with a large number of scrolls and books, along with several boxes.

Labels beneath these items sorted them into Ninjutsu Scrolls, secrets of the Warring States Period, various Ninja Tools and pills, as well as vast quantities of gold, silver, and treasures.

This should have been the foundation of the Gojo Family, as well as the inheritance Gojo Yoru's parents had left him.

It was also Gojo Yoru's greatest reliance as a transmigrator!

(PS: The chronology of the Naruto World is a mess, with several different versions. This book uses the version where the Nine-Tails' Rampage and Naruto's birth occurred in Konoha Year 48.)