The Transmigrators

Upon hearing his name, Ito Makoto stepped out of the crowd alongside Sakura, standing before the ninja who had called them.

The ninja leading Ito Makoto's group was absurdly young, appearing to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. There was a horizontal scar across his nose, and his long hair was tied back.

He must be Umino Iruka from the original story, Ito Makoto thought. The teacher of the protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, and the rest of the rookie nine.

However, with both Umino Iruka and Sakura here, could it be that all the characters from the original story would appear?

Sure enough, after a few more names, a familiar one echoed from the loudspeaker.

"Naruto Uzumaki—"

A boy with golden hair, wearing a white T-shirt, grinned as he filed into the line.

As he appeared, the parents nearby simultaneously wore expressions of disgust.

"Seriously? How can even that demon fox participate in the test?"

"That monster should just hurry up and die."

"The Third Hokage is too merciful, actually letting such a monster take the ninja exam."

The murmurs rose one after another, the malice undisguised.

The golden-haired boy's smile faltered, yet he maintained it as he stood in line.

What disgusting political maneuvering, Ito Makoto thought, taking it all in. To win Naruto Uzumaki's favor, they intentionally stir up this propaganda to isolate a child—a child who happens to be the descendant of the hero who once saved the village.

It's nauseating. The Third Hokage is truly hypocritical.

As the process continued, familiar names echoed in Ito Makoto's ears.

"Uchiha Sasuke—"

"Hinata Hyuga—"

"Inuzuka Kiba—"

"Nara Shikamaru—"

As each familiar figure joined the line, Ito Makoto took the opportunity to commit their appearances to memory. It seemed the lead ninja would become their homeroom teacher after the test, and this class would be the protagonist's class from the original story.

However, what Ito Makoto did not expect was for the names to start becoming abnormal.

"Yamanaka Ino—"

"Yamanaka Masami—"

What the hell is Yamanaka Masami? Ito Makoto wondered, puzzled. Were there other students from the Yamanaka Clan in the protagonist's class in the original story?

Watching the two girls join the line, he saw they looked identical: golden hair and emerald eyes. From their clothing to their features, they were nearly carbon copies of each other.

They were clearly twin sisters. But in the original story, Yamanaka Ino was an only child—where did a sister come from?

Alarm bells rang in Ito Makoto's mind. A matter he had long since ignored was thrust before him once again.

This Yamanaka Masami is a transmigrator.

Although he had previously discovered that Uchiha Itachi was a transmigrator, he had assumed the number of transmigrators wouldn't be high. He hadn't expected another one to pop up during a single entrance exam.

How many transmigrators were in this world? What were their current situations? What were their intentions? Did they want to cause chaos, or maintain peace?

These were all unknowns.

Ito Makoto fell into deep thought, but another name interrupted his contemplation.

"Senju Kotoha—"

Hearing this name, Ito Makoto nearly cursed out loud.

What is the meaning of "Kotoha"? Is the Kotoha from that school-life anime tracking me across worlds, swearing to sever the head of Makoto-kun? But I'm not that scumbag Ito Makoto; I'm the sincere Makoto.

After a moment of confusion, Ito Makoto noticed the girl's surname: Senju.

What is going on? Ito Makoto was puzzled. He was also a descendant of the Senju Clan, and according to his mother, the Senju Clan had already disbanded. Even if there were descendants, they wouldn't carry the Senju surname. How could this girl have it?

The mention of the Senju surname immediately sparked a wave of discussion among the surrounding crowd.

In Konoha, the Senju surname represented the family of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage; it represented one of the two great clans that founded the village. In Konoha, this surname was akin to the royal family of a feudal dynasty from his past life.

As the name Senju Kotoha was called, a girl with a golden ponytail stepped out of the crowd and joined the line.

"That girl looks so much like Lady Tsunade when she was young!" an older parent suddenly exclaimed.

"Indeed, she looks almost exactly like Lady Tsunade as a child."

"And she has the surname Senju. Could she be Lady Tsunade's illegitimate child?"

"It's very possible, even though the Senju Clan has already disbanded."

The crowd buzzed with speculation.

"What are you all babbling about?" A ninja wearing an Anbu uniform suddenly appeared and shouted.

"Miss Senju Kotoha is the descendant of a hero from the Senju Clan who sacrificed their life for the country. Because her parents are both deceased and she has no other kin, the Third Hokage granted Miss Kotoha special permission to reclaim the Senju surname out of care for a hero's descendant."

"So that's how it is!" Hearing the Anbu ninja's explanation, the crowd's murmurs gradually subsided. In Konoha, ordinary people trusted the Hokage blindly; the Third Hokage was the absolute authority.

However, Ito Makoto was not so easily fooled. Familiar with the original plot, he was certain that this Senju Kotoha was also a transmigrator.

Just an entrance ceremony, and it had already caused such a stir. If such a character had existed in the original Naruto world, how could they have remained obscure in the plot?

Ito Makoto was secretly alarmed. Just within Konoha Hidden Village, excluding himself, there were already three known transmigrators. With four other nations in this world, how many transmigrators were there in the current ninja world? Were they friends or foes?

It seemed he would have to be cautious in school from now on. With so many transmigrators, there was no guarantee that one of them wouldn't lose their mind and decide to create a ninja world with only themselves as the sole transmigrator, killing everyone else in the process.

In this environment, the deeper one hid, the less likely they were to be discovered, allowing them to avoid the hostility of other transmigrators.

Ito Makoto made a secret resolution. He had to play it safe until the very end, or at least until he had fully mastered the Rinnegan; before that, he absolutely could not act recklessly.

The subsequent roll call was uneventful, with no surprising names or names that would immediately identify someone as a transmigrator.

Once the list of examinees was complete, Iruka led the group into the examination hall.

Upon arriving at the designated testing site, the first task was the chakra refinement test.

In this test, examinees had to condense chakra into their palms; as long as they emitted a blue-white glow, they were considered to have successfully refined chakra.

Of course, those who wanted to achieve excellent results could also use ninjutsu.

To remain hidden, Ito Makoto naturally couldn't use any ninjutsu, so he passed the test by emitting a plain, unremarkable glow of chakra.

Sakura's test went smoothly as well. Having mastered chakra six months early, she could even perform a simple Transformation Technique under Ito Makoto's guidance.

As for Naruto Uzumaki, while others might still be learning to control chakra, Naruto, with the Nine-Tails constantly leaking chakra into his body, was no different from someone who had mastered it from birth.

Uchiha Sasuke, aiming for a high score, unleashed a Great Fireball Technique. Although the fireball was small, it still counted as a successful execution.

Even Iruka felt that Sasuke's talent was astonishing.

However, one boy seemed annoyed by Sasuke showing off, and he made a shocking move.