Red Hot Habanero and Red Tomato

Year 33 of Konoha.

Ninja Academy.

The homeroom teacher, Akashi Kishimoto, walked into the classroom with two little runts trailing behind him.

"Quiet, everyone!" Akashi Kishimoto slammed his hands onto the desk, making it shudder.

Instantly, the classroom fell silent as all the little brats turned their gazes toward the front.

"We have two transfer students joining the class today," Akashi adjusted his glasses and looked down at the two red-haired tots.

"Come on, kids. Introduce yourselves. Tell us your names, how old you are, what your dreams are, what you like, what you hate—whatever you want."

"My name is Mirai Uzumaki, and my dream is to become Hokage."

"My name is Kushina Uzumaki, and I'm the woman who's going to be Hokage!"

One wanted to be Hokage, and the other was the woman who would be Hokage.

Well, they were certainly spirited.

The two kids exchanged a look—

Kushina Uzumaki's face flushed crimson, her red hair fluttering as she landed a punch on Mirai Uzumaki's head.

"Baka! Mirai, you aren't allowed to steal my dream! And don't you dare say such misleading things, you jerk!"

A large bump rose on Mirai Uzumaki's head as he reached out to stop her: "Hold it! Kushina, I said it first!"

"If you hadn't said you wanted to be Hokage, would people have misunderstood what I meant?"

"I'm already here, aren't I? If I'm not going to be Hokage, then what was the point of coming?"

The two began to bicker on the podium, completely ignoring Akashi Kishimoto's livid expression.

Meanwhile, the students below burst into raucous laughter.

"Hahahaha—where did Teacher Akashi find these two clowns? They're killing me."

"And their hair is red, just like tomatoes. Do we have anyone in the village with hair that color?"

"I think it looks more like a chili pepper."

"Then let's call them the Red Hot Habaneros, hahahaha!"

"Red Devils, more like, hahahaha!"

Akashi Kishimoto's face had turned black.

He slammed his hand down heavily, the desk shakily enduring the impact.

"Enough, you bratty kids! I said that's enough—" His voice, imbued with chakra, cowed the entire room.

The noise on and off the stage died down.

"They're new students, for goodness' sake. If you aren't going to welcome them, fine, but how can you just go around giving people nicknames?"

"Show some solidarity, you jerks! Did you just throw the Will of Fire to the dogs?

"And you two as well! What kind of behavior is it to fight and bicker on the podium? Get to the back row and sit down!"

"Now! Immediately! Class begins!"

Mirai Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki trembled like cicadas in winter and scrambled to the back of the classroom to take their seats.

Teacher Akashi Kishimoto's aura was terrifying!

There were still seats in the back row, so the two became desk-mates.

"It's all your fault, Mirai! You got me scolded by the teacher."

"Hey, don't talk nonsense. You were the one who started—" Mirai Uzumaki was about to retort when he suddenly felt a death glare.

It was coming from Teacher Akashi Kishimoto at the podium.

He shut his mouth immediately.

Fine, he'd give the old guy at the front some face. He was still just a kid; he needed to keep a low profile and grow.

"Now, we begin our lesson on the Will of Fire, Chapter Two, Section Four, Paragraph Six. Everyone, pay attention..."

The boring lesson dragged on, and Kushina Uzumaki was nodding off on the spot.

She wasn't the type to love studying anyway; even forcing herself to focus on the Will of Fire was completely useless.

The knowledge always snuck out of her ears, not a drop remaining.

Mirai Uzumaki couldn't care less.

The Will of Fire? Even a dog would shake its head at that. In his past life, he'd already felt the urge to roast it countless times while watching Naruto.

That's right, Mirai Uzumaki was a transmigrator.

He was a die-hard Naruto fan who, besides loving the anime, was obsessed with a pirated mobile game called Legend of the Five Villages Eye Brawl.

He had just topped up his account with 648 yuan and pulled the hidden reward—a Ten-Tails Cub—when he was transmigrated into the Naruto world, becoming an orphan of the Uzumaki Clan.

Along with Kushina Uzumaki, he had been brought into Konoha.

Perhaps Konoha just wanted to find a backup for Kushina Uzumaki.

Although he'd started as an orphan, Mirai Uzumaki wasn't depressed.

Because he wasn't alone; he had brought the Ten-Tails Cub with him.

At this moment, the Ten-Tails Cub had already transformed into a Divine Tree Seedling, planted deep within his soul.

It was a pity that while the seed was planted, it wouldn't grow, let alone bear fruit.

His dream of eating a Chakra Fruit to reach the finish line in one go and evolving into a high-level being of the Otsutsuki Clan had been shattered on the spot.

But Mirai Uzumaki wasn't discouraged.

He was already satisfied enough that a die-hard fan could arrive in the Naruto world.

"Looking back, there's Princess Tsunade. Around my age, there's Kushina, Mikoto, Konan. Looking forward, there are even more—Kurenai Yuhi, Shizune, Rin, Yugao Uzuki. Outside the village, there's the Water Style expert Mei Terumi, the back-baring Pakura, the cold-skinned cow Samui, and so on."

It was practically paradise!

The more Mirai Uzumaki thought about it, the more excited he became.

There was no such thing as a pure Naruto fan; it was mostly just an appreciation for the 2D aesthetic!

"Hello there, my name is Minato Namikaze. Welcome to our class."

Just then, a blond hedgehog-head in the front row turned around to greet them.

His smiling expression was like a little sun, making one feel a wave of warmth.

It turned out that while Mirai Uzumaki was lost in his fantasies, the bell had rung.

Akashi Kishimoto had already left the classroom.

"Hmph, I don't need your welcome!" Kushina Uzumaki turned her head away, feigning indifference.

She hadn't forgotten how the class had mocked her and Mirai during their introductions earlier.

Minato Namikaze scratched his head awkwardly at her words and turned his attention to their new classmate, Mirai Uzumaki.

Then, he saw that Mirai Uzumaki's gaze toward him was filled with wariness—

I almost forgot about this little blondie! Kushina, you need to stay away from him. Blondes are rarely good news!

In the original story, Kushina Uzumaki's destined match was Minato Namikaze!

Since Mirai Uzumaki was determined to have Kushina Uzumaki for himself, he felt no psychological pressure in smearing Minato's name.

Don't let their current closeness fool you; that was just because they both came from the Land of Whirlpools. As the saying went, "A stranger in a strange land, missing home during the holidays"—ahem, he was getting off track.

In short, they just felt like they had to rely on each other to survive.

Minato Namikaze's smile faltered.

"It seems that classmate Mirai has some deep-seated prejudices against blondes—"

Before he could finish, several more students gathered around, pointing fingers at Mirai and his companion.

"Wow! Looking at them up close, their hair is even redder! Calling them the Red Devil Peppers is spot on!"

"What a strange hair color. I've never seen it in the village before!"

"Then they definitely aren't from our village."

"It's red, it's red! Look, the girl's face is red too, almost redder than her hair!"

"Hahaha, she really looks like a chili pepper!"

"Why don't we call them Red Tomato and Red Habanero?"

"Hahahaha, I agree!"

Mirai Uzumaki stood up with a jerk: "Hey! Why am I the tomato? Am I that fat?"

"The villagers of Konoha are so incredibly rude!"