"Dad! Mom! I'm back!" Hirofumi Ito called out as he stepped into the house.
"Hirofumi, you're home!" A middle-aged woman in casual clothes hurried out to greet him. This was Hirofumi's mother in this life, Hanako Ito.
Hanako had been a civilian ninja with no clan name back in the day. She met Aoyama Ito during a mission, and the two hit it off, eventually tying the knot. Since she had no surname, she took on the Ito clan's name.
"Mom, what's cooking? It smells amazing!" Hirofumi said, sniffing the air.
"I made your favorites—guobaorou and four-joy meatballs!" Hanako replied with a smile.
Thanks to Hirofumi's transmigration, he'd introduced a bunch of dishes from his past life to this world. It wasn't really his choice—the Naruto world's food scene was pretty lacking. Ramen and barbecue were considered high-end cuisine here! He'd also toyed with the idea of bringing over some tech from his old world, but he quickly realized he didn't have the knack for inventing. Plus, the tech tree in this world was all kinds of messed up—his old knowledge just didn't apply.
A few years back, he'd tried tinkering with some ideas but gave up when it went nowhere. He wasn't Orochimaru, after all—no genius inventor vibes here.
Hanako didn't know about the wild events that had gone down at school. Aoyama and Yamato, Hirofumi's dad and granddad, hadn't told her either. Why worry her when Hirofumi was safely back? They figured it was better left unsaid.
After a hearty dinner, Hirofumi retreated to his room. The system's sudden binding had thrown him for a loop, and it was starting to shift his plans for the future. Originally, his goal was simple: train as much as he could, see how strong he could get, and enjoy the wonders of chakra. Being a savior? Nah, that was for protagonists. He knew his limits.
His plan had been to ride Naruto's coattails, find a beautiful wife, and live it up. Maybe hit up some fancy hot springs or flirt with the ladies at the sake bars—Jiraiya was a regular at those, right? After grinding away in his past life, didn't he deserve to kick back and enjoy this one?
But now, everything had changed. The system's arrival made his future a wild card. And to top it off, he'd landed Madara Uchiha as a summoned beast! With more allies to come, and now wielding Indra's chakra, he might actually have a shot at reaching Madara's level.
No way he was lying low anymore.
The Naruto world was all about passion, friendship, and bonds—who wouldn't want to dive into that? Deep down, Hirofumi also carried that classic ambition shared by so many: to bring honor to his family, expand his legacy, and achieve greatness. Sure, he couldn't exactly "conquer the seas" in this world, but he could aim for something grand, like unifying the ninja world under his banner. Who didn't dream of being an emperor?
The system's abilities gave him a clear path. Summons were divided into five tiers—white, green, blue, purple, and gold—corresponding to genin, chunin, jonin, elite jonin, and Kage-level ninja. Hirofumi wasn't too interested in the weaker white or green summons. In this world, quantity didn't trump quality. A million genin wouldn't stand a chance against someone like Madara. His focus was on high-end power—jonin at the very least, though Kage-level was the dream.
Low-tier ninja didn't offer much in terms of skills or rewards either. Why bother with basic jutsu when he could learn from Madara Uchiha? The guy might be a bit of a tsundere, but Hirofumi trusted he'd keep his word.
Closing his eyes, Hirofumi focused his chakra and entered the summoning space. When he arrived, his jaw dropped.
Madara Uchiha, the legendary Ninja Asura, was… building a house?!
Yup, there he was, surrounded by timber, using Fire Style to char wood and Earth Style to lay a foundation. The summoning space was like a mini-world—lush greenery, flowing streams, chirping birds, even wild animals. Hirofumi had no clue how this space worked, but he had to hand it to the system: it was impressive.
"Madara… keeping busy?" Hirofumi called out, barely holding back a laugh.
"Hmph! Damn kid!" Madara snapped, clearly not thrilled about his current task.
Killing? Easy. Building a house? Not so much. Back when he traveled with Hashirama Senju, Hashirama handled all the construction—slapping his hands together and whipping up a house with Wood Style like it was nothing. After Madara left the Hidden Leaf, he'd just crash in caves. This summoning space was nice, but it lacked shelter. Sleeping under the stars was fine, but Madara was bored, so he figured he'd try his hand at building something.
And now this kid had caught him in the act—with that mocking grin! Was he laughing at him, the Ninja Asura?! Building a house wasn't that weird, was it?!
"Look, Madara," Hirofumi said, trying to sound diplomatic. "If you need anything, just tell me. This world's mine to control, so changing the environment's no big deal."
With a snap of his fingers, a three-story villa popped up right in front of Madara.