Year 33 of Konoha.
Ninja Academy.
Homeroom teacher Akaishi Kishimoto walked into the classroom with two little kids trailing behind him.
“Quiet down!”
Kishimoto slammed both hands onto the desk, making the tabletop tremble.
The classroom instantly fell silent, and every pair of young eyes turned toward the front.
“We have two transfer students joining the class today.” Kishimoto adjusted his glasses and looked at the two red-haired children beside him.
“Go ahead, you two.
Introduce yourselves.
Your names, ages, dreams, things you like or dislike—anything is fine.”
“My name is Mirai Uzumaki.
My dream is to become Hokage.”
“My name is Kushina Uzumaki.
I’m the woman who’s going to become Hokage!”
One wanted to become Hokage.
The other wanted to become “the woman who would become Hokage.”
Right.
Very spirited children.
The two looked at each other.
Kushina’s face instantly turned scarlet.
Her red hair flared as she punched Mirai on the head.
“Idiot!
Mirai, don’t copy my dream!
Everyone now thinks I’m copying you, bastard!”
A huge bump swelled on Mirai’s head.
He hurriedly raised a hand in protest.
“But I clearly said it first, Kushina!”
“Exactly!
If you hadn’t said you wanted to become Hokage, would anyone misunderstand what I meant?!”
“I already came all the way here.
If I don’t become Hokage, wouldn’t this trip be a waste?”
The two started arguing right there on the platform, completely ignoring Kishimoto’s increasingly dark expression.
The students below burst into roaring laughter.
“Hahahaha!
Kishimoto-sensei, where did you find these two comedians?”
“And their hair is red!
It looks like tomatoes.
Does anyone in our village even have hair that color?”
“Looks more like a chili pepper to me.”
“Then let’s call them Red Chili Peppers!
Hahaha!”
“Red Devils sounds better!”
Kishimoto’s face had gone completely black.
He slammed the desk again.
The poor thing wobbled beneath the abuse.
“You brats, I said ENOUGH!”
His voice thundered through the room, instantly silencing everyone.
“They’re your new classmates!
Even if you don’t welcome them, you can’t just start making up insulting nicknames!”
“Get along with each other, damn it!
Did all those lessons about the Will of Fire go in one ear and out the other?!”
Then he pointed at Mirai and Kushina.
“And you two!
Fighting on the platform during your introduction—what kind of behavior is that?
Go sit in the last row!”
“Now!
Immediately!
Class is starting!”
Mirai and Kushina shrank under his glare and hurried to the back of the classroom.
Kishimoto-sensei was scary when he got angry!
There were two empty seats in the last row, so they became desk mates.
“This is all your fault, Mirai!
You got me yelled at.”
“Hey, don’t go making things up.
You’re obviously the one who—”
Mirai suddenly felt a murderous stare drilling into the side of his head.
It came from Kishimoto at the front of the classroom.
He immediately shut up.
Fine.
He’d give the old man some face for now.
He was still young and weak.
This was the time to keep a low profile and grow.
“Now, we’ll continue with the Will of Fire.
Chapter Two, Section Four, Paragraph Six.
Everyone, pay attention…”
The boring lesson resumed, and Kushina immediately began nodding off.
She had never been the studious type.
Even forcing herself to sit still and listen to a lecture about the Will of Fire accomplished absolutely nothing.
Knowledge treacherously slipped in through one ear and escaped from the other without leaving a single drop behind.
Mirai cared even less.
The Will of Fire?
Even a dog would shake its head after hearing enough of this stuff.
Back in his previous life, he had complained about it countless times while watching Naruto.
That’s right.
Mirai Uzumaki was a transmigrator.
He had been a die-hard Naruto fan.
Aside from watching the anime, he had also become hopelessly addicted to a bootleg Naruto mobile game called The Eye Legends of the Five-Village Brawl.
He had just spent 648 yuan and pulled a hidden reward—a juvenile Ten-Tails—when he suddenly transmigrated into the Naruto world and became an orphan of the Uzumaki Clan.
Then, together with Kushina Uzumaki, he had been brought to Konoha.
Perhaps Konoha wanted a backup candidate for Kushina.
Starting life as an orphan didn’t bother Mirai much.
Because he hadn’t come alone.
The juvenile Ten-Tails had come with him.
At the moment, it had transformed into a tiny Divine Tree sapling rooted inside his soul.
Unfortunately, although the seed had taken root, it refused to grow, much less bear fruit.
His dream of eating a Chakra Fruit, instantly evolving into a higher life-form like the Otsutsuki, and skipping straight to the endgame had shattered on the spot.
Still, Mirai wasn’t discouraged.
Getting to enter the Naruto world at all was already more than enough for a fanatic like him.
‘In the older generation there’s Princess Tsunade.
Around my age there’s Kushina, Mikoto, and Konan.
And later there’ll be even more—Kurenai Yuhi, Shizune, Rin, Yugao Uzuki…
Outside the village there’s Mei Terumi with her Water Release, Pakura with that amazing figure, and pale-skinned, ridiculously stacked Samui…’
This place was heaven!
The more Mirai thought about it, the more excited he became.
Who said being a “true Naruto fan” was only about ninjas and battles?
He mainly loved the anime girls!
“Hello.
I’m Minato Namikaze.
Welcome to our class.”
A blond, spiky-haired boy sitting in front of them had turned around to greet them.
His warm smile was like a little sun, making people instinctively feel comfortable around him.
Only then did Mirai realize that class had already ended while he was lost in fantasy.
Kishimoto had left the room as well.
“Hmph.
I don’t need your welcome!” Kushina turned away with a huff.
She hadn’t forgotten how everyone had laughed at her and Mirai during their introductions.
Minato scratched his head awkwardly, then turned his attention toward Mirai.
Only to find Mirai staring at him with undisguised vigilance.
“Kushina, stay away from him.
Blond guys are usually bad news!”
In the original story, Kushina’s destined partner was Minato Namikaze!
And since Mirai had already decided that Kushina was his, he felt absolutely no guilt smearing Minato’s reputation.
He and Kushina were already close because they both came from the Land of Whirlpools.
Two people far from home naturally relied on each other.
Minato’s smile stiffened.
“It seems Mirai has a rather deep prejudice against people with blond hair…”
Before he could finish, several other students gathered around and started pointing at the two redheads.
“Whoa!
Their hair looks even redder up close!
Red Devil Chili Pepper really fits!”
“What a weird hair color.
I’ve never seen anyone in the village with hair like that.”
“Then they definitely aren’t from our village.”
“She’s turning red!
Look!
The girl’s face is red too!
It’s almost redder than her hair!”
“Hahaha!
She really does look like a chili pepper!”
“How about we call one Red Tomato and the other Red Chili Pepper?”
“Hahahaha!
I vote yes!”
Mirai shot to his feet.
“Hey!
Why am I the tomato?!
Do I look that round to you?”
“Are Konoha people always this rude?!”