Chapter 6: Interception and Speculation
Like the school bullying prevalent in modern Japan, the Naruto world—a product of Japanese culture—suffered from severe bullying problems.
In his previous life, even the Emperor's grandson had been bullied. The shinobi world was no different.
Anyone unique, introverted, exceptionally handsome, or academically gifted—as long as they didn't fit in—became easy targets for bullying from classmates and upperclassmen alike.
Moreover, Konoha's citizens didn't care about your status.
Whether civilian or clan heir, you'd be bullied all the same.
Kushina Uzumaki—who would become the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, who had Mito Uzumaki and Tsunade's protection, who was under special watch by the Third Hokage and ANBU—had been bullied at the academy.
Even Hinata Hyuga, future heiress of the Hyuga clan main family after the Uchiha massacre made the Hyuga Konoha's premier clan, had experienced bullying at school.
Yet their families, their backers, even the academy itself never intervened.
Similarly, when others faced bullying, neither families nor the school stepped in.
They tacitly approved and even encouraged it!
In this era of war, when manpower shortages could send even academy students to the battlefield, better to be bullied by your own people into dropping out and living as a civilian than dying at an enemy's hands.
Without the courage to resist bullying, how could you face bloodshed and assassination later?
Weaklings had no business being shinobi.
Less than a week after enrollment, Yoru had grasped this reality. He deliberately trained an aloof persona, then engineered a conflict with an upperclassman. Using his mature psychological advantage and pre-mastered ninja fundamentals, he'd beaten down a sixth-year student, achieving instant notoriety.
In the eyes of the academy instructors and certain influential figures, Yoru was now recognized as a civilian prodigy.
With both parents having been jonin and killed in action, his future looked exceptionally bright.
His only flaw was his inability to socialize.
Perhaps the trauma of losing both parents at such a young age had caused this.
If this issue could be resolved, he would very likely become a pillar of the village.
Resolving Yoru's emotional barriers required the right catalyst.
Would that catalyst be a person or an event?
Entering the classroom, Yoru took his seat at the second desk in the back row.
Academy desks accommodated three students.
However, Yoru sat alone.
Not because he'd driven away his seatmates, but because after passing the entrance exam, the academy maintained an observation period.
During this time, if students still couldn't refine chakra, it indicated that despite having adequate physical and spiritual energy, they lacked shinobi aptitude and would be advised to withdraw.
Every first-year class experienced such situations.
Class A had lost three students, including both of Yoru's seatmates.
The moment Yoru entered, the somewhat noisy classroom quieted considerably.
At minimum, students near Yoru didn't dare speak loudly, only whispering among themselves.
Students in the row directly in front of him kept their heads down, not daring to talk at all.
Only female classmates who admired Yoru's face and strength continued stealing glances at him, though they likewise didn't dare approach.
This was actually convenient—at least nobody bothered him.
Yoru propped his chin on one hand, spinning a pen with the other. On the surface, he appeared to be killing time. In reality, he'd habitually slipped into strategic contemplation.
After awakening Space-Time abilities, Yoru had stopped updating his strategy guides and rarely entered the basement.
Possessing power rivaling Kekkei Mora meant he no longer needed to follow his original plans to transform himself into a patchwork monster.
Most of his power-acquisition strategies had been abandoned.
However, certain strategies remained active.
Including the very first entry in his game plan: Intercept Kushina Uzumaki!
Minato Namikaze's rise in the original series stemmed from more than just talent. Two benefactors had been absolutely crucial.
One was Jiraiya, who provided connections and the Flying Thunder God Technique. The other was Kushina Uzumaki, who brought Tsunade's support and the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques.
Gaining these two allies meant earning recognition from two of the Sannin and the Hokage himself. After Kushina became the perfect jinchuriki, Minato gained Konoha's strongest fighter as his backing—so unassailable that even Danzo Shimura couldn't touch him.
Like certain men in his previous life whose marriages to the right women led to meteoric rises, if Yoru could intercept Kushina before Minato, he had complete confidence in achieving similar success as a transmigrator.
If his talent were insufficient, if his background were inadequate, or if he weren't the same age and in the same class as Minato, Yoru wouldn't dare harbor such ambitions.
But discovering he shared a classroom with Minato revealed this as an opportunity to defy fate itself.
For this reason, he'd abandoned any thought of befriending peers or becoming close with clan heirs. Instead, he trained the "antisocial genius" persona.
Only emotional bonds could resolve his manufactured psychological barriers.
Kushina Uzumaki, whose clan had just been destroyed, represented his kindred spirit. They would be each other's salvation.
With this setup in place, Yoru was confident that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Mito Uzumaki behind him wouldn't prevent him from approaching Kushina—unless Minato was secretly Hiruzen's father and Kushina a gift to honor said father.
In that absurd scenario, Yoru would accept defeat.
Otherwise, Kushina Uzumaki was his target!
Yoru's current weaknesses were glaringly obvious: chakra control and Space-Time chakra quantity.
As a transmigrator, he'd already mastered tree-walking and water-walking with his feet. His chakra control actually exceeded fresh genin.
Yet even this level of control remained insufficient to perform ninjutsu with Space-Time chakra.
The fact that Space-Time chakra could manifest externally proved it could be used for techniques—the difficulty was simply astronomical.
How could he further improve chakra control?
Yoru had several methods.
First was training the Rasengan. This A-rank non-seal jutsu developed by Minato represented not only the pinnacle of shape transformation but also extremely advanced chakra control.
It was also the only technique in the original series whose complete training method had been fully revealed. Yoru's memory of it was crystal clear. The moment he could move his hands and feet as a baby, he'd written down the training method.
If not for his chakra capacity and control still falling short of requirements, he'd have begun training already.
Second was medical ninjutsu. If he could master the chakra scalpel, not only would his chakra control improve dramatically, but his hands might transform into black blades as well.
Third were sealing techniques—the ultimate expression of chakra control. Like Space-Time abilities, sealing techniques possessed absurdly high potential in both lower and upper limits.
Sealing techniques were utterly unreasonable. Even the Progenitor of Chakra had fallen to sealing jutsu.
Yoru was extremely curious: Could the Yin Seal solve his Space-Time chakra capacity limitation?
If so, it would give him another trump card for survival.
This idea had emerged immediately after discovering the "bottleneck" within his body.
It was also why Yoru had become even more determined to intercept Kushina Uzumaki.