Chapter 1: A New Beginning
The setting sun painted Konoha Village in warm shades of orange and red. Ninja footsteps echoed more frequently across the stone pathways as mission-complete shinobi made their way to local taverns in small groups. The savory aroma of grilled meat drifted from restaurant doorways, mingling with cheerful voices and laughter that filled the village with a sense of liveliness and peace.
The Hokage Monument stood prominently against the twilight sky, four carved faces watching over the village below. The Fourth Hokage's visage seemed especially gentle in the sunset's glow. Though his era had long passed, after the Nine-Tails attack the Third Hokage had resumed his duties, while the legend of the Yellow Flash remained frozen in time upon the mountain's face.
However, our story's protagonist wasn't among the village's bustling crowds.
The scene shifts to the forest on Konoha's outskirts.
Sweat dripped from golden hair as three-year-old Naruto caught his breath, hurling a kunai through the air—whoosh!
Cold steel sliced through the atmosphere, striking dead center into the tree trunk's target with perfect precision.
A three-year-old child who should barely manage to grip a kunai properly at this age had just executed a flawless throw. Wiping sweat from his brow, a satisfied smile crossed his lips.
"Impressive natural talent... truly worthy of being the Child of Prophecy. Looks like the original really did waste a lot of time, dattebayo."
Though his voice carried that characteristic childish tone and verbal tic, something unnaturally mature lurked beneath—as if this small body housed far more than an innocent toddler.
Indeed, within Naruto's mind existed memories of another lifetime.
On Earth, he'd been an ordinary office worker, trapped in the same daily grind until one fateful evening when an out-of-control truck delivered him from that world in the most clichéd way imaginable.
...What a completely unoriginal method of reincarnation.
Infant memories remained hazy, shrouded like thick fog. He couldn't even be certain whether he'd truly "transmigrated" to this world, or if the original Naruto had simply "awakened" past-life recollections.
Only one thing was clear: when conscious thought first emerged, every detail about the "Naruto" series—plot points, characters, everything—had been permanently etched into his mind.
Even stranger was "dattebayo."
Nobody had taught him this speech pattern, yet it flowed naturally from his lips, as instinctive as breathing.
Naruto spent days coming to terms with his new reality. Not only had he arrived in the Naruto universe, he'd become Uzumaki Naruto himself—the "Child of Prophecy" from the original story.
Present-day Konoha enjoyed a brief peacetime.
Uchiha Madara's corpse had already begun decomposing, while his pawn Obito had donned his mask and begun orchestrating the Moon's Eye Plan from the shadows, tears hidden behind his Kamui.
The ninja world's greatest "dutiful son," Black Zetsu, still lurked in darkness, patiently awaiting the perfect moment to betray everyone and resurrect Kaguya.
In the Hidden Rain Village, Yahiko was already dead, and Nagato had completely fallen into the extremism of "making the world know pain."
Jiraiya continued wandering the ninja world, searching for his prophesied student while gathering material for his novels, unaware that his target currently practiced throwing weapons in Konoha's training grounds.
Tsunade had long abandoned the village, drifting between gambling halls with Shizune, earning her reputation as the "Legendary Sucker" while numbing herself with alcohol and dice.
The only recent major event was Orochimaru's human experimentation being exposed. The Third Hokage personally ordered his pursuit, transforming the former Legendary Sannin member into Konoha's S-rank missing-nin.
Several years remained before the main plot would begin—even Naruto's enrollment in the Ninja Academy lay far in the future.
He remembered major story beats clearly enough, though details remained fuzzy. After finishing the original series years ago, his renewed interest had come through the mobile game adaptation.
Despite knowing his parents—the Fourth Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina—were gone, passing the Hokage Monument and seeing Minato's carved face still brought a pang of melancholy.
Still, having grown up in an orphanage during his previous life made this loneliness manageable. He'd long grown accustomed to solitude, and this time around he at least had a free apartment plus monthly allowances from the old Third Hokage.
Though Naruto really wanted to ask where exactly his father's inheritance had disappeared to...
The villagers' cold stares and children keeping their distance hadn't escaped his notice, but he'd made peace with it. He wasn't money—not everyone had to like him.
Besides, the future "Konoha 12" he'd eventually befriend were mostly clan heirs. Kids like Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, and Sasuke—their family elders understood the truth about jinchuriki and wouldn't gossip like ordinary civilians.
Honestly, Naruto didn't need to push himself so hard. Following the original timeline, he could marry into the Hyuga family, become Hokage, and reach life's pinnacle... but unfortunately, Boruto existed!
He'd never watched "Boruto," but forum spoilers had revealed enough—alien Otsutsuki, nerfed Naruto and Sasuke, scientific ninja tools... basically a whole mess of complications.
...If only he'd known about reincarnation beforehand and caught up on Boruto too!
No point dwelling on that now. Years remained before the main story, and training beat sitting around doing nothing. Plus, if aliens really showed up later, Talk-no-Jutsu alone wouldn't cut it.
"Alright, let's try something harder!"
Taking a deep breath, Naruto prepared for increased difficulty. Multiple kunai nestled between his fingers as he targeted different bullseyes positioned across the tree trunk. His wrist snapped forward, launching the weapons along intersecting trajectories.
Clang! Clang!
Sharp metallic rings echoed as several kunai collided mid-flight with surgical precision, their angles shifting to redirect flight paths. What appeared to be random throws actually adjusted course after impact, ultimately—
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Every kunai embedded perfectly into separate bullseyes without a single miss.
"...Okay, that's seriously overpowered."
Even Naruto felt stunned by his own performance. He'd known this body possessed decent talent—Fourth Hokage and Uzumaki bloodlines combined—but hadn't expected throwing techniques to reach such levels. The original Naruto never displayed this kind of precision. Had reincarnation somehow enhanced his physical potential?
Could this be the legendary "reincarnation bonus"?
Scratching his head, he started toward the targets to collect his weapons when suddenly—
"That was incredible!"
A young, melodious voice drifted from the treeline, making Naruto jump. Turning around, he spotted rustling bushes before a small figure emerged somewhat frantically, apparently having gasped in amazement involuntarily and now standing frozen with flushed cheeks, clearly flustered.
So adorable...
That was Naruto's immediate reaction.
A little girl around his age stepped into view, silky black hair flowing over her shoulders and highlighting porcelain-pale skin. Large, luminous dark eyes regarded him with equal parts shyness and curiosity. Delicate features seemed almost perfectly sculpted, soft pink lips pressed together nervously, her entire presence radiating an irresistible charm.
Who was this? Had there been such a cute background character in the original series?