The annual entrance exam for the Ninja Academy was always a massive event in the Hidden Leaf Village.
Right now, the school training grounds were packed with people and buzzing with noise.
Hundreds of five and six-year-olds were lined up in a long queue. Minato stood quietly among them, moving along with the other kids taking the test. Under the strict supervision of the instructors, they were being tested in groups of three.
Thud, thud, thud—
Three throwing stars slammed precisely into the bullseye. A black-haired boy straightened up, a touch of pride flashing across his slightly flustered face.
"Shinnosuke Sarutobi, perfect score!"
The proctor announced it loudly, making sure everyone heard.
Whoa—
The parents watching from the sidelines erupted in excitement.
"As expected of the Hokage's son..."
"Looks like young Master Shinnosuke is a lock for valedictorian of this class, huh?"
Hearing the envious chatter from the parents, Hiruzen Sarutobi, standing at the front of the crowd, chuckled and took a deep drag from his pipe. He was in a great mood.
"Ooh, not bad. Shinnosuke's got some skills."
Behind Hiruzen stood a young Jiraiya with his signature white hair. He crossed his arms and laughed heartily. "He's a genius, just like me!"
Standing next to him, Orochimaru glanced at the target. A faint smile played on his lips, but it hid a hint of disdain.
He didn't deny that Jiraiya was a genius now. Sure, back in school, Jiraiya was a total idiot who ranked dead last, but his current strength was undeniable—he might even have the edge over Orochimaru in a straight-up fight.
But if a kid like Shinnosuke Sarutobi counted as a "genius," then the word had lost all its value.
Anyone with a head on their shoulders could get good at throwing stars with a few months of hard practice.
Back in the day, Jiraiya's accuracy with a throwing star was lower than his odds of winning the lottery. He didn't know a single spell, but that didn't stop him from getting into the Academy.
Why? Because at the same age, that idiot had double Shinnosuke's energy reserves.
With Shinnosuke's current energy levels, the kid would peak at "Elite Captain"—he'd never go higher.
Tsunade, standing nearby, clearly felt the same way. She twirled her ponytail impatiently with her slender fingers, just wishing this boring test would end so she could go hit the casino.
As the direct disciples of the Third Hokage, they had to show up since their teacher's kid was enrolling.
But showing up was all they were doing. Shinnosuke's talent wasn't really worth their attention.
"Next group! Naoto Tsuchiya, Rin Toyama, Minato Namikaze!"
Hearing his name, Minato stepped forward briskly.
The moment he took his spot, the girls behind him started whispering excitedly.
"Hey! Look at that boy! Isn't he totally cute?"
"Yeah! He's not just cute, he's got this... vibe. And his smile is so warm..."
"Right, right? You have good taste!"
Hearing the gossip behind him, Minato gave a polite, sheepish smile and awkwardly scratched his cheek with his index finger.
The teacher nearby didn't bat an eye. Kids in the ninja world grew up fast; this happened every year.
But the little blond kid in front of him really was handsome. He lived up to the highest compliment a man could get—he looked even better than the teacher did in his prime.
With hair the color of the sun and blue eyes like sparkling sapphires, he was striking.
Even though his pale face still had a bit of baby fat, his features were so perfectly balanced that he was destined to be a heartbreaker for life.
Of course, for a ninja, looks were just a bonus.
Power was the only thing that actually mattered.
Just as the teacher was thinking this, the boy's finger twitched. In a blur of motion, three throwing stars appeared between his fingers and vanished.
Thud.
A single muffled sound. All three stars were buried in the bullseye ten meters away.
Hm?
At the front of the crowd, Hiruzen Sarutobi paused. Even Orochimaru and Tsunade, who had been zoning out, shot surprised looks at Minato.
"That's some beautiful throwing form..."
Jiraiya rubbed his chin, looking at Minato's handsome face with genuine interest. "Hmm... and he's almost as good-looking as the great Jiraiya himself!"
Laymen just saw the result, but experts saw the technique.
Since every finger has a different length and strength, the trajectory and force of every throwing star usually vary slightly.
To make three stars hit the bullseye at the exact same instant like Minato just did requires more than just practice. It takes incredible dynamic vision, muscle control, coordination, and finger flexibility.
In other words: Talent.
Even in the Uchiha clan—a family famous for doing fancy tricks with throwing stars—very few kids could pull this off at his age.
"Minato Namikaze! Perfect score!"
The scoring instructor shouted, looking at Minato with undisguised admiration.
"Hmph. Not bad, but I won't lose to you!"
The boy next to him, Naoto Tsuchiya, looked pumped. He wound up and threw his stars with all his might, sending them flying in three wildly crooked arcs.
Two hit the dirt. One hit Minato's target...
"Naoto Tsuchiya. Zero."
"Dammit!"
Hearing his score, Naoto's face turned beet red. He wiped away a tear, turned around, and ran off, sparking a wave of laughter from the crowd.
Minato watched him go, a bit speechless. He wanted to laugh, but it felt rude.
However, when he saw the boy dive into his mother's arms and start sobbing, any urge to laugh vanished.
That kid had a mom.
Probably had a dad, too.
For Minato, that was a luxury he lost six months ago. Back then, he was just a normal kid.
His father had been a mid-level ninja, but because Minato's mother had poor health, his dad retired from active duty to become a traveling merchant. They had been well-off.
But accidents always happen when you least expect them. During a heavy storm, the merchant caravan got caught in a landslide. His father was crushed by falling rocks while trying to save someone else and died before help could arrive.
As a certain green-haired swordsman from another story once said: disasters always come in waves. That is the cruel truth of the world.
When the news of his father's death reached home, his mother's health collapsed. She passed away from grief less than a month later, dying suddenly in the night.
The moment he watched his mother die, a cold, dark power exploded in Minato's mind. Countless memory fragments flooded his brain like shards of broken glass, giving him a splitting headache.
In those memories, he was originally an incredibly ordinary college student. He was kind, humble, and loved by his teachers and parents.
After his parents in that life died in an accident, he started working part-time to pay for school. Because he was gentle and handsome, a rich upperclassman from the anime club drafted him to cosplay as Minato Namikaze at a convention. The pay was three hundred bucks a day.
When the convention ended, he was crossing the street carrying a box of action figures when a semi-truck came barreling toward him.
Maybe it was the "skin bonus" from cosplaying Minato, but in that split second, his body moved on instinct. He lunged forward like a yellow flash, narrowly dodging the savage impact.
But before he could scramble to his feet, the truck literally transformed into a Cybertronian robot, twisted at the waist, and punched him!
Everything went black. In the darkness, he heard a faint electronic voice, sounding almost mocking: "Time to go to another world, kid!"
When he finally sorted through the memories, Minato's consciousness arrived in a strange dimension.
It was a boundless, bright white space where time and distance didn't exist. Standing in front of him were three statues.
When he saw them, he was stunned.
They were the exact action figures he had been carrying in the box before he died!
The first was Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, wearing red armor with a wooden dragon coiled behind him.
The second was Madara Uchiha, also in red armor, with his kaleidoscope eyes activated and a giant spectral avatar standing behind him.
The third was from a totally different franchise. It was Borsalino (Kizaru), the Navy Admiral from One Piece, whom he had stuffed into the box to save space while packing.
As if sensing Minato's gaze, the three statues suddenly vibrated and turned into streaks of red, yellow, and green light that shot into his body.
When he woke up, he was in the village hospital, having been brought in after fainting. With the help of neighbors and his parents' friends, he buried his mother next to his father.
It was a hellish day. He lost his mother, but at the same time, he awakened the powers of the Glint-Glint Fruit, Hashirama's Wood Magic, and a pair of Kaleidoscope Eyes...
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( Notes ):
Note 1: This book assumes the protagonist Naruto was born in Year 51, and the original Minato died at age 24. This timeline gives us more room to work with. Also, since the original timeline is a mess, some ages and dates might be tweaked. If you want to complain, complain to the original creator first. Thanks!
Note 2: The author owns the original manga, the color edition, and the official data books. Where there are conflicts, I'll pick the version that makes the most sense. Again, complain to the original creator, not me.
Note 3: Unless absolutely necessary, I don't like making up my own settings. Please don't use fan theories from other fanfics to criticize this one. Thanks!