Namikaze Minato

Konoha, Ichiraku Ramen.

"Thanks for looking after me today, Uncle Teuchi. See you later."

At the entrance of the noodle shop, Teuchi stood with his hands on his hips, smiling. "Don't be so formal, Yun. We were so busy today, and it's all thanks to you. Keep up the good work tomorrow!"

Tomorrow?

The whole reason for coming here from the Uchiha compound to work was precisely because of tomorrow!

The safest place in all of Konoha: Ichiraku Ramen.

Whether it was the Nine Tails Incident or the later destruction of Konoha by the Six Paths of Pain, this tiny noodle shop never changed its appearance.

And in his memories, if that lunatic hadn't lent a hand, his younger sister Izumi would likely have met a grim fate. This went to show that even the Uchiha compound was not safe on the night of the Nine Tails Incident.

Not to mention his five-year-old body; even with the reaction speed of his past life, staying there would be no different from suicide.

"Phew... don't let me down, today!"

After exhaling, Uchiha Yun hurried toward the Uchiha compound.

The second son of the Uchiha clan head, Uchiha Fugaku, had been born. This event allowed Yun to confirm the timeline: it was October 10th of this year, the day of the Nine Tails Incident!

And tomorrow was October 10th, the day the original protagonist of this world was born. Therefore, after midnight tonight, it would also be the day his cheat arrived.

"I'm home."

Yun pushed the door open. A young girl was sitting in the living room, a tear mole at the corner of her eye making her look very cute.

"Brother, you're back very late. It seems Uncle Teuchi's business must have been great today."

Uchiha Yun walked over and ruffled the little girl's hair. "There were extra customers today. Did you practice today, Izumi?"

Uchiha Izumi nodded and asked, "I still don't understand why Brother has to work at Ichiraku Ramen. You haven't practiced taijutsu with me in a long time."

Yun smiled without answering. At that moment, his mother, Uchiha Hazuki, walked out of the kitchen carrying tea.

"Actually, Yun, you don't have to work so hard. We still have some family savings; it's enough to last until you both become genin and start taking missions."

Yun nodded slightly. "I've saved quite a bit over the last six months. I already told Uncle Teuchi that I won't be going back the day after tomorrow."

Hearing this, Yun's mother breathed a sigh of relief. Sending a five-year-old child out to work for money always made her feel like she was failing her late husband.

Uchiha Yun took a sip of tea, stood up, and said, "I'm a bit tired after a busy day. I'm going to wash up and rest."

As he spoke, he ruffled Izumi's little head again. "Brother can practice with you the day after tomorrow. You better not slack off then."

Izumi puffed out her cheeks in protest. "I've been practicing seriously every day! Brother is only a tiny bit older than me; don't get surpassed by me when the time comes!"

Yun smiled and waved as he headed to the bathroom. As twins, he was indeed only a tiny bit older than Izumi.

Night fell. As the second hand on the alarm clock swept past midnight, Uchiha Yun sat up, unable to contain his anticipation.

Having transmigrated into an Uchiha of the same generation as Itachi, heaven knows how he had survived these past five years.

Before his cheat appeared, he would wake up in a cold sweat every time he fell asleep. He had even thought more than once about finding an opportunity to run away alone.

It wasn't until the five years of living with his family—the love his mother showed in every word, the way Izumi used to call for her brother in her sweet, childish voice—that things changed.

Family, something he lacked in his past life, had become Yun's bond in this world.

And that lunatic who would slaughter the entire clan regardless of age or gender in eight years' time... in his past life, Yun had liked this fictional character, but now that he was truly living in this reality...

Why?

His family of three had returned to the Uchiha clan after his father's death simply to survive.

His family, which didn't even qualify to attend clan meetings, was neither hawk nor dove. His mother went out to work hard every day just to feed her two children.

A family of three, a widowed mother and two orphans—why must they die because of your, Itachi's, bullshit village and clan ideology? Why?!

As someone who had received a modern education, Yun liked the stable life Konoha currently offered, but only on the condition that this stability wasn't bought at the cost of his family's lives.

Uchiha Yun clenched his fists. The actions he took tonight would inevitably affect the future. If he could change things, that would be great. If he couldn't!

Then in eight years... no, he wouldn't need eight years!

Within eight years, he would kill Uchiha Itachi himself, before Shisui's death could trigger his Mangekyou.

[Naruto World plot initiated]

[Information Exchange successfully activated]

[Rule Replication function successfully activated]

Uchiha Yun focused his mind and commanded internally: Open the Exchange, use the beginner's reward to trade with the target: S-rank ninja, Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato.

[S-rank ninja locked: Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato]

[Exchange space time flow altered]

[Do you wish to activate Shadow Mode?]

Uchiha Yun did not hesitate: Activate.

In a trance, the surrounding space blurred before sharpening once more. The wooden bed beneath him transformed into an armchair, and sitting across a long table in front of him was none other than the Fourth Hokage of Konoha: Namikaze Minato.

"Hmm?"

In just a split second, Yun noticed Namikaze Minato across from him frown in confusion.

Yun looked down at himself. Sure enough, it was Shadow Mode—simple and straightforward, identical to the shadow person from Detective Conan who committed crimes in every episode. If he weren't unable to melt into a liquid state, he would be exactly like Black Zetsu, who was determined to save his mother.

"Don't waste your energy. Your Flying Thunder God will have absolutely no effect here. Not only that, but in this space, genjutsu, ninjutsu, and even chakra will have no effect."

As soon as Yun finished speaking, Namikaze Minato's body jolted, only to be pressed back down by an invisible force, rendering him unable to move.

Marveling at his own voice, which now sounded like an electronic distortion, Yun waved a hand casually: "How should I explain this? Here, whether you are the Hokage or the Sage of Six Paths, you cannot attack me. Hmm... in the sense of the rules, no form of attack is possible."

Feeling the oppressive force on his body, Namikaze Minato thought for a moment and stopped struggling.

To be pulled from his living room into this space in an instant, with even the Flying Thunder God rendered useless and all ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu invalidated—under such an unsolvable method, he could only wait and see.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Namikaze Minato asked.

Uchiha Yun shook his head slightly: "I don't want to say who I am. As for what I want to do, you can think about it in your mind; the rules of this space should already be in your head."

Namikaze Minato frowned slightly, taking a long moment to process the information that had appeared out of thin air in his mind.

"So, you are not the creator of this space, and this is merely a trading floor where both parties cannot attack each other, and... cannot lie!"

Yun nodded: "Yes. You don't have to share information you don't want to, or you can explicitly state that you don't want to answer, but you cannot lie."

Namikaze Minato took over: "Once a lie is told, the space will provide a warning and the trade contract will be void? And talents, bloodlines, ninjutsu, and so on can all be used as chips for trading information?"

Yun rested his temple on one hand: "The chips traded do not disappear; they are replicated by the space for me. And as the first party, it is not the case that I can only receive what you give."

"The magnitude of the change in fate is directly proportional to the chips you provide. For example... if a person who was supposed to die survives, and that changes the fate of many others, then the greatest chip I can obtain from you is... your talent for space-time ninjutsu!"

Namikaze Minato pondered for a moment: "I have nothing I wish to trade, and I do not want to replicate my talent for space-time ninjutsu for someone of unknown identity."

Just as Namikaze Minato was about to stand up, Yun immediately said: "Kushina's date of death is today... it is already past midnight. Consider this piece of information a lure."

As the words fell, Namikaze Minato stared intensely at the patterns on the long table.

[True]

The text emerging from the patterns made him clench his hands into fists. The bizarre space and the suppression of the rules made him afraid to gamble on whether this could be real.

Yun, sitting opposite him, said: "The chips only require your consent; you don't need to give anything away, nor do you need to personally teach anything. If everything is false, then your space-time ninjutsu talent will naturally not be obtained by me."

"But if everything is true, then is a space-time ninjutsu talent—which you won't even lose—worth more than Kushina's life? Or... perhaps even Naruto's life?"

New book, thank you for your support.