Kushina Uzumaki

Unlike the original work where Naruto and others' motivation was to protect everyone, Uchiha Matsuri's desire to become Hokage was solely to better survive in this world of the strong preying on the weak, and to research forbidden jutsu related to space-time manipulation.

"Hello, may I sit here?"

A sweet voice instantly broke Uchiha Matsuri's reverie. Looking up, he saw a girl of short stature with long, shoulder-length red hair smiling at him.

"Of course," Uchiha Matsuri smiled, then turned his head to continue immersing himself in his own world.

"Um, well, I'm Kushina Uzumaki, nice to meet you," Kushina Uzumaki said.

"Uchiha Matsuri, please guide me," Uchiha Matsuri replied.

It wasn't until the girl introduced herself that Uchiha Matsuri realized the person sitting next to him was Kushina Uzumaki, the mother of the protagonist Naruto in the original work.

I've actually transmigrated to the generation of Naruto's parents, Uchiha Matsuri thought to himself.

But wasn't Kushina Uzumaki a fiery tomboy... This person before him couldn't be connected to the Kushina Uzumaki in his memory no matter what!

"Look, isn't that Tomato Head!" a boy suddenly shouted.

"Hahaha, Tomato Head, that's funny, I'll call him Tomato from now on," a boy next to him chimed in.

"What a strange hair color!"

"I've never seen such red hair."

"Tomato Head is actually sitting next to that boy, how hateful!"

Uchiha Matsuri's brow furrowed slightly. He turned his head to look at Kushina beside him, seemingly waiting for her reaction.

Bang!

Kushina Uzumaki slammed the table hard. Uchiha Matsuri, sitting next to her, clearly sensed a storm was brewing.

Following a few cries of pain from the boys, Kushina Uzumaki clapped her hands and looked triumphantly at Uchiha Matsuri.

Ugh, this is the Kushina Uzumaki from the original work!

Uchiha Matsuri couldn't help but complain in his heart.

At the same time, a boy in white clothes with golden-yellow hair from the front row walked over.

"Everyone will be classmates from now on, and it's not right for boys to bully such cute female classmates," the golden-haired boy said with a smile. "Inuzuka-kun, Akimichi-kun, don't you agree?"

Since this girl with tomato-colored hair was Kushina Uzumaki, then this golden-haired boy in the same class was very likely the future Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, Naruto's father!

Uchiha Matsuri, having read the original Naruto, deduced this.

After listening to Minato Namikaze's persuasion, Kiba Inuzuka and Chōji Dōtō scratched their heads awkwardly, then turned to Kushina Uzumaki.

"I'm sorry, Kushina-chan, I shouldn't have mocked your hair," Kiba Inuzuka bowed and apologized.

"Yes, yes, I shouldn't have laughed at you either, please forgive my mistake," the slightly plump Chōji Dōtō also bowed and apologized.

"Alright, I can see that Akimichi-kun and Inuzuka-kun's mistake was unintentional. Since both classmates have apologized, I hope Kushina-chan can accept their apologies. After all, everyone is a classmate, and you might be assigned to the same team after graduation, so you should look out for each other."

Minato Namikaze continued to smile as he spoke to Kushina Uzumaki.

"Hmph, since Minato-kun says so, I'll give you two face!" Kushina Uzumaki said casually, not dwelling on the matter.

Witnessing this small interlude, Uchiha Matsuri just smiled and said nothing.

A few minutes later, with a "snap," a man wearing glasses and leaning on a cane opened the classroom door. The previously noisy students instantly stopped talking and stared intently at the man entering.

The man glanced at the students in the classroom from the corner of his eye and walked to the podium with a limp, leaning on his cane.

"Ahem, my name is Yamanaka Iruka, and I will be your homeroom teacher from now on," the man said slowly. "Everyone, please introduce yourselves from back to front."

After speaking, Yamanaka Iruka scanned the people in the classroom, a subtle, strange smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Uchiha Matsuri noticed Yamanaka Iruka's strange smile and couldn't help but frown.

It was the end of the Second Shinobi World War, and most of the teachers in the Ninja Academy were disabled ninjas who had retired from the front lines. Yamanaka Iruka must have injured his leg, causing his chakra in his leg to be unable to condense, thus he could no longer participate in combat and had to retreat to the second line to become a teacher cultivating ninjas.

"My name is Kiba Inuzuka, and my dream is to become Hokage and protect everyone with my own strength!" Kiba Inuzuka immediately stood up and said proudly.

"Um, well, my name is Chōza Akimichi, and my dream is to protect my family."

"My name is Minato Namikaze, and I want to become a respected ninja like Jiraiya-sama."

Listening to these children's self-introductions, Uchiha Matsuri found that apart from a few like Chōza Akimichi, most students' dreams were to become Hokage. It was like in his previous life, if you asked a four or five-year-old child what their dream was, most of them would probably say they wanted to be a police officer.

However, dreams are beautiful, and reality is cruel. Not many children who wanted to be police officers achieved that dream when they grew up. And Hokage, as the strongest existence in a village, was unattainable for the vast majority of ninjas.

To become Hokage, one not only needed extraordinary talent and extraordinary effort, but also had to consider their background.

In the original work, the First and Second Hokage were undoubtedly powerful and the leaders of one of the two great clans at the beginning of Konoha's founding, the Senju of the Forest.

The Third Hokage was a disciple of both the First and Second Hokage, and also the strongest among the six members of the Second Hokage's team.

The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was the grand-disciple of the Third Hokage and the most outstanding disciple of Jiraiya, one of the "Legendary Sannin."

The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, was the granddaughter of the First Hokage and a disciple of the Third Hokage. The Sixth Hokage, Hatake Kakashi, was a disciple of the Fourth Hokage. The Seventh Hokage, Naruto, was a disciple of both the Sixth Hokage and Jiraiya, the Third Hokage's disciple.

In conclusion, background was undoubtedly crucial to becoming Hokage. More important than strength was opportunity; having someone from the Hokage lineage as your teacher was undoubtedly the most important.

However, in Konoha at this time, only the Sannin, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, were Jonin capable of leading teams. Moreover, each team had at most three members.

Therefore, among the hundreds of students in the entire academy, at most nine people had the luck and qualification to compete for the position of Hokage. This was an analysis without considering the strength and willingness of these nine people.