Konoha, Year 33.
Ninja Academy.
Akashi Kishimoto, the homeroom teacher, walked into the classroom with two little kids behind him.
"Quiet!" Akashi Kishimoto slapped both hands on the desk, making it tremble.
The classroom fell silent at once, and all the little beans turned to look.
"We have two transfer students joining our class today." Kishimoto pushed up his glasses and glanced at the two red-haired kids.
"Come on, you two. Introduce yourselves. Tell us your names, how old you are, your dreams, what you like and dislike—anything you want."
"My name is Mirai Uzumaki. My dream is to become Hokage."
"My name is Kushina Uzumaki. I'm going to be the woman who becomes Hokage!"
One wanted to become Hokage, and the other wanted to be the woman who became Hokage.
Well, they were both full of energy.
The two children exchanged a look—
Kushina Uzumaki's face flushed red. Her hair flew as she punched Mirai Uzumaki on the head.
"Idiot! Mirai, you can't steal my dream! And don't say something so misleading, you jerk!"
A lump sprang up on Mirai Uzumaki's head. He raised a hand to stop her. "Wait a minute! Kushina, I said it first!"
"If you hadn't said you wanted to become Hokage, would anyone have misunderstood what I meant?"
"We came all this way. If I don't become Hokage, wouldn't it have been a waste?"
The two on the platform started arguing, completely ignoring the furious look on Akashi Kishimoto's face.
Meanwhile, the students below were roaring with laughter.
"Hahahaha—Teacher Kishimoto, where did you find these two comedians? I'm dying!"
"And their hair's red! Like tomatoes! Does anyone in our village even have hair that color?"
"I think it looks more like a pepper."
"Then let's call them Red Hot Habanero! Hahahaha!"
"How about Red Devils? Hahahaha!"
Akashi Kishimoto's face had gone dark.
He raised a hand and brought it down hard. The desk wobbled as it took the blow.
"You little brats, I said enough—" His voice, infused with chakra, shook the whole room.
The classroom fell silent, both on and off the platform.
"They're new classmates, for goodness' sake! If you don't welcome them, fine, but how can you give them nicknames just like that?"
"Show some unity and kindness, you little punks! Have you forgotten the Will of Fire?"
"And you two, too! What kind of behavior is it to brawl and argue at the front of the classroom? Go sit in the last row!"
"Now! Right this instant! Class is starting!"
Mirai Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki fell silent and hurried to the back of the classroom.
Teacher Kishimoto was terrifying when he got angry!
There were seats left in the back, so the two became deskmates.
"This is all your fault, Mirai! You got me yelled at by the teacher."
"Hey, don't go blaming me. You were the one who—" Mirai Uzumaki was about to argue back when he suddenly felt a murderous glare.
It was coming from Teacher Akashi Kishimoto at the front of the classroom.
He shut his mouth at once.
Forget it. He'd let the old geezer at the front have his way for now. He was still young and needed to keep a low profile while he grew stronger.
"Now, we'll begin the lesson on the Will of Fire, Chapter Two, Section Four, Subsection Six. Everyone, pay attention..."
The boring lesson continued, and Kushina Uzumaki began dozing off on the spot.
She wasn't the sort who liked studying to begin with. Even when she forced herself to focus on the Will of Fire, it was useless.
Knowledge kept slipping out of her ears like a sneaky little thing, without leaving a single drop behind.
Mirai Uzumaki cared even less.
The Will of Fire? Even a dog would shake its head at that. Back in his previous life, he'd often found himself complaining while watching Naruto.
That's right, Mirai Uzumaki was a transmigrator.
He was a die-hard Naruto fan. Besides watching the anime, he'd been even more obsessed with a bootleg Naruto mobile game called Legend of the Five Villages Eye Brawl.
He'd just spent 648 yuan and pulled the hidden reward—the Ten-Tails Cub—when he was transported into the Naruto world, becoming an orphan from the Uzumaki Clan.
He'd been brought to Konoha along with Kushina Uzumaki.
Maybe Konoha wanted to find Kushina a substitute.
Though he'd started out as an orphan, Mirai Uzumaki wasn't discouraged.
Because he hadn't come alone. He'd brought the Ten-Tails Cub with him.
By now, the Ten-Tails Cub had transformed into a Divine Tree Seedling and taken root in his soul.
Unfortunately, though the Divine Tree had been planted, it wasn't growing, let alone bearing fruit.
Mirai Uzumaki's dream of eating the Chakra Fruit and instantly evolving into a higher-level life-form of the Otsutsuki Clan had shattered on the spot.
But Mirai Uzumaki wasn't discouraged.
Getting to live in the Naruto world as a die-hard fan was already enough to make him happy.
"Going back in time, there's Princess Tsunade. Around my age, there's Kushina, Mikoto, and Konan. Looking ahead, there'll be plenty more—Kurenai Yuhi, Shizune, Rin, Uzuki Yugao. Outside the village, there's Mei Terumi, who's good at Water Release; Pakura, with her gorgeous back; and Samui, with her pale skin and ample chest..."
It was practically heaven!
The more Mirai Uzumaki thought about it, the more excited he became.
What kind of person was a pure Naruto fan, anyway? What he really liked was that anime-girl vibe!
"Hi, I'm Minato Namikaze. Welcome to our class."
Just then, a blond kid with spiky hair turned around and greeted them.
His sunny smile warmed the room.
While Mirai Uzumaki had been lost in his fantasies, class had already ended.
Akashi Kishimoto had also left the classroom.
"Hmph! I don't need you to welcome us!" Kushina Uzumaki turned her head away haughtily.
She wouldn't forget how everyone had laughed at her and Mirai during their introductions in class.
Minato Namikaze awkwardly scratched his head, then turned to look at the new classmate, Mirai Uzumaki.
Then he saw the guarded look in Mirai Uzumaki's eyes—
"I almost forgot about this blondie! Kushina, stay away from him. Blonds are usually no good!"
In the original story, Kushina Uzumaki's destined partner was Minato Namikaze!
And since Mirai Uzumaki was determined to win Kushina Uzumaki over, he felt no qualms about smearing Minato's name.
Sure, he and Kushina Uzumaki got along pretty well now, but that was because they both came from the Land of Whirlpools. As they say, when you're a stranger in a strange land, every festive occasion brings a longing for a bass guitar—cough, that was beside the point.
Anyway, they felt like they had to rely on each other.
Minato Namikaze's smile froze for a moment.
"Looks like Mirai has a pretty strong prejudice against people with blond hair—"
Before he could finish, several other students gathered around and pointed at Mirai Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki.
"Whoa! Their hair looks even redder up close! Calling them Red Devil and Red Hot Habanero is totally fair!"
"What a weird hair color. I've never seen anyone in the village with hair like that!"
"Then they must not be from our village."
"She's turning red! Look, that girl's face is red, too. It's almost as red as her hair!"
"Hahaha, she really does look like a pepper!"
"Why not call one of them Red Tomato and the other Red Hot Habanero?"
"Hahahaha, I'm in!"
Mirai Uzumaki jumped to his feet. "Hey! Why am I the tomato? Do I look that fat?"
"The people of Konoha sure have no manners!"
Before you continue