Recaps

Newborn Naruto Uzumaki realized he had reincarnated into the Naruto world as Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki faced the Nine-Tails. He tried to stop Kushina from sacrificing herself, but she mistook his cries for agreement and poured her remaining chakra into restraining the beast.

• Kushina Uzumaki used her Adamantine Sealing Chains to bind the Nine-Tails after it broke free of Obito's control.
• Naruto Uzumaki awoke in Minato Namikaze's arms and realized he had been reborn as Naruto in the Naruto world.
• Naruto understood that Kushina planned to die alongside the Nine-Tails, and he knew she could survive if she stopped using chakra.
• Naruto bawled in an attempt to stop Kushina, but she interpreted his cries as support for her sacrifice.
• Kushina poured her remaining chakra into the chains and thanked Minato Namikaze for everything he had done.

Minato decided to use the Reaper Death Seal to divide the Nine-Tails between himself and Naruto, while sealing Kushina’s chakra inside their son. Kushina protested that Naruto deserved to grow up with his parents, but Minato prepared to sacrifice himself, leaving Naruto furious and unable to stop him.

• Naruto watched Minato and Kushina show affection, then silently raised his middle fingers at his father in protest.
• Minato summoned the Reaper Death God and explained that he would seal half of the Nine-Tails inside himself and half inside Naruto.
• Minato promised Kushina that he would seal her remaining chakra into Naruto so she could help him control the Nine-Tails.
• Kushina shouted at Minato for burdening Naruto and throwing away his life, while Minato argued that protecting the village was also a duty to their son.
• Minato picked up Naruto and declared that willingly dying for him was the only duty he could fulfill as a father, as Naruto raised his middle finger again.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo schemed over the Nine-Tails crisis while Minato and Kushina sealed the beast into Naruto. Naruto passed out after enduring the chakra, and Minato and Kushina disappeared into the seal with the Nine-Tails.

• Hiruzen Sarutobi failed to break Kushina's barrier and told the ANBU that Minato intended to die using the Reaper Death Seal, while ordering them to conceal the danger of another Nine-Tails rampage.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi convinced the ANBU that the Nine-Tails might rampage again, while Danzo watched the Uchiha Clan and imagined becoming Hokage.
• Minato used the Reaper Death Seal to pull part of the Nine-Tails' soul into himself as Kushina restrained it with her Adamantine Sealing Chains.
• Minato placed Naruto on a sealing altar and prepared to use the Eight Trigrams Seal, intending to make Naruto the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki and protect his life.
• The Nine-Tails attacked Naruto, but Minato and Kushina shielded him and sealed its remaining chakra into his body.
• Naruto gave Minato Namikaze a middle finger before passing out, and Minato and Kushina's chakra vanished into the seal with the Nine-Tails.

After Naruto awakened inside the Nine-Tails’ sealing space, he resolved to become a perfect Jinchuriki and avoid repeating his miserable life. Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi concealed his anger over Minato’s death as Kushina entrusted Naruto to him before dying.

• Naruto reflected on his past life and decided he would not sacrifice himself for others as he had in the original story.
• Naruto’s consciousness entered the Nine-Tails’ sealing space, and he headed toward the seal to befriend the Nine-Tails.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi privately lamented that Minato’s death ruined his plan to control Konoha through obedient successors.
• Hiruzen picked up Naruto and ordered the others to take Minato and Kushina to Konoha Hospital.
• Kushina briefly regained consciousness, entrusted Naruto to Hiruzen, and revealed her son’s name before dying.

Three-year-old Naruto endured loneliness and village hostility while building up his chakra and repeatedly trying to befriend Kurama. He went out alone on New Year, angry at Hiruzen Sarutobi and intent on practicing the Rasengan.

• Naruto cooked and ate instant ramen in his tenement, remembering how he had been cast out of Minato's home and mistreated since he was two.
• Naruto spoke to Kurama in the sealing space, but Kurama ignored him rather than accept his offer to work together.
• Naruto recalled that Kurama had stopped leaking chakra, allowing him to build up roughly a Jonin's worth of power and learn ninjutsu more easily.
• After Naruto left the sealing space, Kurama reflected that Naruto needed Minato's sealing key to undo the Eight Trigrams Seal and become a perfect jinchuriki.
• Naruto put on a winter coat, took an inflated balloon, and went outside alone on New Year to practice the Rasengan.

On New Year’s, Naruto found three children bullying Hinata and stepped in, hoping to make an impression on his future wife. Unable to use the Shadow Clone technique, he resorted to his own peculiar taijutsu as the ANBU watched in confusion.

• Naruto spent New Year’s alone, practicing chakra control with a balloon.
• Naruto saw three children cornering and insulting Hinata while her Hyuga guards were occupied.
• Naruto challenged the bullies and declared that he would become Hokage.
• Naruto realized he could not use Shadow Clone jutsu and chose not to use Rasengan on the children.
• Naruto formed the Tiger seal and announced his taijutsu secret technique, Thousand Years of Death.

Naruto rescued Hinata and accompanied her to the Hyuga Clan Grounds, where he enjoyed a meal and extorted money from Hyuga Hiashi. As Naruto left, he warned Hiashi that the arriving Kumogakure delegation might target the Main-Family Byakugan.

• Naruto took Hinata home after saving her from bullies, but a Hyuga guard tried to separate them.
• Naruto insisted on entering the Hyuga Clan Grounds, and Hiashi admitted him despite objections from Naruto's ANBU watchers.
• Hiashi offered Naruto a reward and took Hinata away to continue her Gentle Fist training.
• Naruto ordered a full meal and extorted a hundred thousand ryo from Hiashi.
• Naruto warned Hiashi that Kumogakure's delegation might target the Main-Family Byakugan, then left the grounds.

Naruto provoked the ANBU and villagers as he headed through Konoha, then used their attack and a villager’s insult to demand compensation from Hiruzen Sarutobi. He left Hiruzen facing a public challenge to his authority and a demand for a huge payout.

• Naruto taunted the ANBU guarding him and continued toward Konoha’s commercial district with money from the Hyuga Clan head.
• Villagers and children insulted Naruto and threw stones at him, so he caught the stones and threw them back at the children.
• As the adults charged at Naruto, he considered using the Nine-Tails to force Hiruzen Sarutobi to intervene.
• Hiruzen arrived with the ANBU and stopped the villagers, then asked Naruto if he was hurt.
• Naruto fell to the ground, claimed serious internal injuries, and demanded compensation after a villager called him a demon fox.

Naruto used the money he had extorted to take Hiruzen Sarutobi to an expensive barbecue restaurant, where Hiruzen probed him about the Hyuga Clan. Naruto fled without paying, leaving Hiruzen with the bill.

• Naruto counted the money he had extorted, rejected Hiruzen's offer to hold it, and asked about his parents' savings.
• Naruto invited Hiruzen to a barbecue restaurant run by the Akimichi Clan and ordered the most expensive food.
• Hiruzen asked what the Hyuga Clan had done, and Naruto said they had treated him to a feast and given him one hundred thousand ryo.
• Hiruzen concluded that the Hyuga Clan was showing goodwill and thought about eliminating the Uchiha Clan.
• Naruto finished the meal, ran out when the waiter presented the one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-ryo bill, and left Hiruzen offering to write an IOU.

Naruto sought to speed up Sasuke’s Sharingan growth by provoking and beating him, while treating the Uchiha brothers as key pieces in his future plans. After Sasuke challenged him to protect Itachi, Naruto beat him again, and Itachi urged Sasuke to regard Naruto as a rival worth pursuing.

• Naruto considered using the Hinata affair to earn Hiashi Hyuga’s favor, then spotted Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke at a dango shop.
• Naruto provoked Sasuke and accepted his challenge, hoping repeated fights would hasten Sasuke’s Sharingan development.
• Sasuke charged Naruto with a kunai after boasting about his new training, but Naruto beat him within five minutes.
• Itachi carried his battered younger brother and told Sasuke that having Naruto as a rival was fortunate.
• Sasuke complained that he would face another scolding at home, while Naruto left the training ground refreshed.

Naruto spent several months training at home while planning to seek Might Guy as a taijutsu mentor. Hinata later arrived with an invitation from the Hyuga clan and told Naruto that Fugaku Uchiha had killed the Kumogakure envoy who tried to kidnap her.

• Naruto decided that Might Guy was the best potential mentor to help him avoid being outmatched by Sasuke.
• Naruto returned to his shut-in routine, refining chakra and practicing the feel of the Rasengan while waiting for Guy to return from a mission.
• After several months, Hinata came to Naruto's door with an invitation for him to visit the Hyuga clan, and he asked whether the Kumogakure envoys had left.
• Hinata said she had been caught during the kidnapping attempt, but the envoy had died by someone else's hand.
• A Hyuga guard explained that Fugaku had been visiting the clan when the envoy tried to kidnap Hinata, and Fugaku killed him and challenged Kumogakure to fight if they wanted revenge.

Naruto visited the Hyuga Clan after the Hidden Cloud incident, where Hiashi and Hizashi thanked him for warning them about the danger to Hinata. Hiashi mistook Naruto for the messenger of a hidden ANBU ally and offered to cover his expenses, leaving Naruto with funding for the medicinal herbs he needed.

• Naruto considered how the Uchiha would resist any attempt to force Fugaku from his position and reflected on the Hyuga Clan's political interests.
• Naruto followed Hinata to the Hyuga Clan, where Hiashi, Hizashi, and Neji were waiting.
• Hiashi and Hizashi bowed to Naruto, and Naruto protested that he had done nothing.
• Hiashi reasoned that an ANBU insider had warned him about the Hidden Cloud delegation and realized the threat to Hinata had come from within the clan.
• Hiashi offered Naruto food and money as thanks, and Naruto was delighted to have a source of funding for medicinal herbs.

Naruto began intensive taijutsu training with Might Guy, using the Hyuga Clan’s medicinal baths to recover and grow stronger. After two years, he was six years old and 1.4 meters tall, and he finally headed to the Ninja Academy.

• Naruto stopped worrying about the cost of training after the Hyuga Clan agreed to support him, then joined Might Guy in daily taijutsu drills.
• Naruto trained until he collapsed, and Hyuga Hiashi had him recover in medicinal baths prepared with help from the Nara Clan’s medical arts.
• Naruto grew to 1.4 meters by age six while training, and he sometimes beat up Sasuke and watched Itachi teach Sasuke shuriken techniques.
• Naruto waited for the day he would enter the Ninja Academy.

Naruto attended the Ninja Academy entrance exam alongside Konoha’s prominent clan heirs, drawing a crowd’s attention. He arrived with Might Guy, who celebrated Naruto as his first disciple and promised more training after the exam.

• A large crowd gathered for the Ninja Academy entrance exam, where the presence of Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, and Shino astonished the civilian families.
• The girls admired Sasuke, while Sakura lingered at the edge of the crowd until Ino called her over.
• Shikamaru complained about having to attend, and Choji said the Hokage had told them to come.
• Kiba snapped at Shikamaru for asking why they were there despite already knowing the answer.
• Might Guy arrived doing a handstand and announced that he and Naruto would run ten laps after the exam; Naruto protested that he had only come to take the entrance exam, and Guy called him his first disciple.

Naruto attended the ninja entrance exam, where the Genin administering the hand-seal test deliberately raised its difficulty to target him. The chapter ended as Naruto faced the challenge, with Shikamaru recognizing the unfair treatment.

• Naruto arrived at the exam and noticed civilian parents steering their children away from him while the clan heirs ignored his identity.
• Naruto provoked Sasuke about his injuries, and Sasuke turned away without responding.
• Naruto took Hinata by the hand and led her toward the training ground as the other children followed.
• Naruto learned the exam included hand seals, intelligence, strength, and speed, then approached the Genin in charge.
• The Genin rapidly performed twelve hand seals instead of the usual three, and Shikamaru called out the unfair increase in difficulty.

Naruto walked out of the Ninja Academy exam after an examiner provoked him, then returned when an ANBU promised the cheating would be investigated. He forfeited the remaining tests and received perfect scores, while the offending Genin lost his qualification and was ordered back to school.

• Naruto dismissed the Genin who mocked him and left the examination hall, leaving the other examinees and a watching ANBU stunned.
• An ANBU stopped Naruto at the academy gates and promised an investigation into the examiner's cheating, so Naruto returned after complaining about ninja work.
• The masked ANBU revoked the Genin's examination qualification, took his forehead protector and ninja tools, and ordered him back to the Ninja Academy.
• Naruto called the Genin a dumbass again and forfeited the remaining tests.
• The three Genin examiners stamped perfect scores on Naruto's exam paper as Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata watched.

Naruto led the young rookies away from the academy entrance ceremony, infuriating Hiruzen Sarutobi and worsening his struggle to control the village's clans. As Sasuke entered the academy, Itachi Uchiha was being pushed into the ANBU as a spy, with the Uchiha clan's annihilation only half a year away.

• Naruto, Sasuke, and the other rookies handed in blank answer sheets and left the academy with Naruto.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi learned the students had run off and recalled Naruto's earlier rampages that killed ANBU and Root members during capture attempts.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted that Naruto's faulty seal made him too dangerous to confront directly and relied on feigned concern to manage him.
• The village's clans grew wary of Hiruzen Sarutobi, while Naruto continued provoking trouble and frustrating the Third.
• Sasuke entered the academy as Fugaku Uchiha pushed Itachi Uchiha into the ANBU as a spy, six months before the Uchiha clan's annihilation.

Naruto gathered the young ninja at a barbecue restaurant and told them the history of Konoha’s founding and the real purpose of the Will of Fire. The children began to understand that the village had been created to protect their families from war, and Naruto left to keep a training promise to Might Guy.

• Shikamaru worried that the children’s exam boycott showed disrespect to the Hokage, but Naruto argued that the assessment did not matter and asked them about the Will of Fire.
• Naruto challenged the children’s shallow understanding of Konoha’s founding and explained that the Senju and Uchiha had been the great clans of the Warring States Period.
• Shikamaru confirmed the Senju Clan’s founding role, while he and Sasuke argued about the clan’s history and Shino urged everyone to listen.
• Naruto recounted the history of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, including Hashirama’s wish for his younger brothers to grow up safely away from war.
• The children learned that Konoha had been founded to protect their families, and Naruto left to run laps as he had promised Might Guy.

Shikamaru learned from Shikaku that the Senju Clan had been reduced to Tsunade and women who married into other clans, and he explained how Naruto’s account of Konoha’s history had made the clan heads reconsider their loyalties. Naruto finished ten laps and arrived at the Hyuga Clan compound, leaving the clans to wonder whether the Hyuga stood behind him.

• Shikamaru asked Shikaku what remained of the Senju Clan, and Shikaku explained that Tsunade was its only surviving member who still used the Senju name.
• Shikaku told Shikamaru that Tsunade’s teacher was the Third Hokage and warned him not to spread their discussion.
• Shikamaru told Shikaku that Naruto had explained how Konoha came to be, prompting Shikaku to consider Naruto’s possible ties to the Hyuga Clan.
• The ninja clans’ distrust of Hiruzen grew after the Kumogakure delegation incident, leading several clans to withdraw from active service.
• Naruto completed ten laps and arrived drenched at the entrance to the Hyuga Clan compound.

Naruto warned Hyuga Hiashi that Hiruzen Sarutobi’s conflict with the Uchiha Clan could lead to their destruction. Hiashi doubted that Konoha could afford to eliminate the Uchiha or overpower them, leaving Naruto to reflect that the clan had raised two traitors.

• After the medicinal bath, Hyuga Hiashi called Naruto to the reception hall and asked whether he wanted the Hyuga Clan to cooperate with him.
• Naruto brought up the Uchiha Clan’s growing unrest, and Hiashi described their resentment toward the village and the other clans’ distrust of them.
• Naruto explained that Itachi Uchiha was an ANBU spy and warned that Hiruzen Sarutobi might strike hard against the Uchiha Clan.
• Naruto predicted that the Uchiha Clan would follow the Senju Clan’s fate, but Hiashi argued that Konoha could not afford to wipe them out and would struggle to defeat them.
• Naruto silently blamed the Uchiha Clan’s future on having raised two traitorous ingrates.

Naruto convinced Hyuga Hiashi that Hiruzen Sarutobi might use rogue ninja to secretly wipe out the Uchiha and frighten the other clans into submission. They agreed to wait until the Uchiha Military Police Force was crushed, then join the other clans to protect Uchiha civilians and Genin, while Hiashi warned Naruto to give up on marrying Hinata.

• Naruto suggested that Hiruzen Sarutobi could hire S-rank rogue ninja to exterminate the Uchiha and use the massacre to intimidate Konoha's other clans.
• Hyuga Hiashi realized that the Uchiha's destruction would make the other clans fear Hiruzen's hidden power.
• Naruto argued that the Uchiha hawks should not take power because their aggression could trigger another war and burden Konoha with conquered nations.
• Naruto proposed that the clans wait until Hiruzen crushed the Konoha Military Police Force, then unite to save Uchiha civilians and Genin.
• Hiashi agreed to contact the other clan heads, then told Naruto that Hinata would inherit the Hyuga Clan and that he should abandon his hopes of marrying her.

Naruto returned to class as the new students reacted to their teacher’s announcement that only nine could graduate. The civilian students turned against one another over the single place left for them, while Naruto reflected on the importance of family and inherited power in the ninja world.

• Kiba Inuzuka pressed Naruto to continue the story of Konoha’s founding, but Naruto refused and said he wanted to study.
• Naruto noticed the civilian-born students resented his group for entering without taking the exam and thought about how few of them would graduate.
• Akagi Ganglie introduced himself as the class’s homeroom teacher and announced that only nine students would receive Genin headbands after the practical drills.
• The civilian students realized only one graduation place remained for them and began glaring at one another, leaving Sakura Haruno isolated.
• Naruto mocked the civilians’ selfishness and privately judged Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke.

Akagi Ganglie failed to control Naruto and the other rookie twelve on his first day teaching, prompting Hiruzen Sarutobi to replace him and assign Itachi Uchiha to watch the clan students. Naruto skipped the Academy and tried to break Minato Namikaze’s seal from within the Nine-Tails’ space, passing out after striking its iron gate with a Rasengan.

• Akagi Ganglie singled out Naruto for sleeping in class, but Naruto walked out, and the rookie twelve escaped through the windows while Akagi chased him.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi read the Academy’s report, realized he had chosen Akagi Ganglie, and ordered him replaced.
• Hiruzen Sarutobi asked whether Itachi Uchiha had started his post and had him summoned to watch the Uchiha students.
• Naruto skipped the Ninja Academy, avoided the two ANBU following him, and entered the Nine-Tails’ sealing space to discuss the seal with Kurama.
• Naruto explained that Minato Namikaze’s seal restricted Kurama’s Chakra and that forcing more of it out risked severe damage to his body.
• Naruto struck the seal’s iron gate with a massive Rasengan and passed out, while Kurama noted that he had been doing this for more than three years.

Naruto continued grinding away at Minato’s seal in hopes of learning from his parents, while teasing Hinata and spending time with his classmates. As tension between the Uchiha and Konoha’s villagers grew, Naruto and several clan heirs used their card games as cover to exchange secret letters.

• Naruto recovered after trying to break through Minato’s seal and reflected that it had taken him three years to reach the point of activating a Two-Tails Tailed Beast Transformation.
• Hinata brought Naruto lunch, and he pulled her close and teased her by pretending to feed her sushi before eating it himself.
• Over the next half year, Hiruzen Sarutobi quietly fueled friction between the Uchiha and Konoha’s villagers, while the Uchiha Police Force repeatedly arrested villagers.
• Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, and Ino skipped class to play cards, and Naruto won with an improbable string of high cards and Jokers.
• During the break, Shikamaru, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Naruto secretly passed letters to one another, while the ANBU watching Naruto dismissed their gatherings as idle fun.

Itachi Uchiha watched the Uchiha compound as clan members gathered to discuss their growing conflict with Konoha’s leadership. When he sensed a surge of chakra nearby, he left his ANBU subordinates to investigate, while the meeting questioned the absence of Shisui and Itachi.

• Itachi Uchiha reflected on his ambition to become the first Uchiha Hokage and the dilemma created by his father’s request that he spy for the clan.
• Uchiha clan members accused Konoha’s leaders of restricting and surveilling them, and Fugaku Uchiha recognized that the rift had become difficult to mend.
• Fugaku asked where Shisui was, and the gathered clan members worried that his absence weakened their plans.
• The clan members also criticized Itachi for not reporting intelligence from the ANBU, and Fugaku suspected his son had chosen a side.
• While monitoring the shrine, Itachi sensed violent chakra approaching and told his two ANBU subordinates to keep watch as he went to investigate.