Kushina Uzumaki

Unlike Naruto and the others in the original story, who wanted to protect everyone, Uchiha Matsuri wanted to become Hokage for one reason only: to survive in this cruel, dog-eat-dog world—and to research forbidden space-time jutsu.

"Hello. May I sit here?"

A sweet voice instantly interrupted Uchiha Matsuri's musings. He looked up to see a short girl with long red hair falling over her shoulders, smiling at him.

"Of course." Uchiha Matsuri smiled, then turned back to lose himself in his thoughts again.

"Um, I'm Kushina Uzumaki. I hope we get along," Kushina Uzumaki said.

"Uchiha Matsuri. Pleased to meet you," Uchiha Matsuri replied.

It wasn't until the girl introduced herself that Uchiha Matsuri realized the girl sitting beside him was Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother in the original story.

I can't believe I've ended up in the generation of Naruto's parents, Uchiha Matsuri thought.

But wasn't Kushina Uzumaki supposed to be a fiery tomboy? No matter how he looked at her, the girl before him didn't match the Kushina Uzumaki he remembered at all!

"Hey, look! Isn't that Tomato Head?" a boy suddenly shouted.

"Hahaha, Tomato Head! That's hilarious. Let's call her Tomato from now on," another boy chimed in.

"What a strange hair color!"

"I've never seen hair that red before."

"Tomato Head is sitting beside that boy. How unfair!"

Uchiha Matsuri frowned slightly and glanced at Kushina beside him, waiting to see how she would react.

Bang!

Kushina Uzumaki slammed her hand on the desk. Sitting beside her, Uchiha Matsuri could clearly sense that a storm was about to break.

After several boys let out a few screams, Kushina Uzumaki dusted off her hands and looked smugly at Uchiha Matsuri.

Uh, now this was the Kushina Uzumaki from the original story!

Uchiha Matsuri couldn't help thinking.

At the same time, a boy with golden hair and white clothes came over from the front row.

"We're all classmates now. As boys, we shouldn't pick on such a cute girl," the blond boy said with a smile. "Inuzuka, Akimichi, don't you agree?"

If the girl with the tomato-red hair was Kushina Uzumaki, then the golden-haired boy in their class was probably Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage and Naruto Uzumaki's father!

Uchiha Matsuri, who had read the original Naruto story, reasoned.

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

"Sorry, Kushina. I shouldn't have made fun of your hair," Kiba Inuzuka said, bowing in apology.

"Yeah, I shouldn't have laughed at you either. Please forgive me," said the slightly chubby Chōji Dōtō, bowing as well.

"All right, I can see that Akimichi and Inuzuka didn't mean any harm. Since they've apologized, I hope you'll accept their apologies, too, Kushina. We're all classmates, and we might even end up on the same team after graduation. We should look out for one another."

Minato Namikaze kept smiling as he spoke to Kushina Uzumaki.

"Hmph. Since Minato says so, I'll let you two off this time," Kushina Uzumaki said casually, without pressing the matter.

Uchiha Matsuri watched the little scene unfold, smiled, and said nothing.

A few minutes later, with a sharp "bang," a man wearing glasses and leaning on a cane opened the classroom door. The students, who had been chattering noisily, fell silent at once and stared at him.

The man glanced around the classroom from the corner of his eye, then hobbled to the lectern, leaning on his cane.

"Ahem. My name is Ino Yamanaka, and I'll be your teacher from now on," the man said slowly. "Let's introduce ourselves in order, starting from the front."

After speaking, Ino Yamanaka swept his gaze across the classroom. An odd, barely perceptible smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Uchiha Matsuri noticed Ino Yamanaka's strange smile and couldn't help frowning.

The Second Shinobi World War was nearing its end. Most teachers at the Ninja Academy were disabled shinobi who had been pulled from the front lines. Ino Yamanaka had probably injured his leg, leaving him unable to gather chakra in it and continue fighting. He could only retire from the battlefield and take a supporting role as a teacher training shinobi.

"My name is Kiba Inuzuka. My dream is to become Hokage and protect everyone by myself!" Kiba Inuzuka stood up at once and declared proudly.

"Um, I'm Akimichi Chōza. My dream is to protect my family."

"My name is Minato Namikaze. I want to become a shinobi as respected as Lord Jiraiya."

Listening to the children introduce themselves, Uchiha Matsuri noticed that, apart from a few like Akimichi Chōza, most of the students dreamed of becoming Hokage. It was like asking a four- or five-year-old child in his previous life what they wanted to be when they grew up. He imagined most would say they wanted to be police officers.

Dreams were beautiful, but reality was harsh. Children who wanted to become police officers rarely achieved that dream when they grew up. And Hokage, the most powerful person in a village, was an unattainable position for the vast majority of shinobi.

To become Hokage, one needed not only exceptional talent and superhuman effort, but also the right background.

There was no need to say much about the First and Second Hokage. They were powerful, and each had led one of the two great clans that founded Konoha: the Senju of the Forest.

The Third Hokage had been a student of both the First and Second Hokage. He had also been the strongest of the six members of the Second Hokage's squad.

The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had been the Third Hokage's grandstudent and the most gifted pupil of Jiraiya, one of the Sannin.

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

All things considered, having a prestigious background was undoubtedly important for anyone who wanted to become Hokage. But opportunity mattered even more than strength. Having someone from the Hokage's lineage as one's teacher was unquestionably the most important thing.

Yet Konoha currently had only three jōnin from the Hokage's lineage who could lead teams: Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade. On top of that, each team could have no more than three members.

That meant that, among the several hundred students in the school, at most nine would have the luck and qualifications to compete for the Hokage Position. And that was without even considering their strength or whether they wanted the position.