Chapter 1 – Kamikawa Natsuri
In a small, slightly rundown yard somewhere in Konoha.
"Natsuri, it's your first day of school today. Don't start crying, okay?" his mom teased as she tugged playfully at his shirt.
"Don't worry, Mom. I won't cry."
The boy, Kamikawa Natsuri, looked a little exasperated as he stared at her hand still clinging to his shirt. Did she really think he was the type to cry?
Actually… had he ever cried before?
Hmm. Maybe once. When he was born. That was the only time he remembered bawling—fresh out of the womb, confused and disoriented, and then BAM, someone slapped him and the tears came. But even then, that wasn't really crying. It was more like... a reflex. Babies had to cry when they were born, or else something was wrong, right?
So yeah. From the moment he was born until now, Natsuri had only cried that one time. And it didn't count. That was just biology doing its thing. Besides, even if he hadn't cried, the doctors would've made sure he did anyway.
His mom, Shinagawa Sinai, gave him a reluctant look. The two of them had been on their own since he was born. Life hadn't been easy, but Natsuri had always been an unusually independent kid. He helped out with chores, never made a fuss, and rarely complained. Honestly, he made things a little too easy.
Still, Sinai had one small regret—her son didn't act like a kid. Not really. He never clung to her like other children did. Never threw tantrums or asked for attention. She sometimes wished he'd be more spoiled, especially now when he was still small and cute.
"Make sure you come straight home after school, okay?" she said, sounding a little defeated.
"Yeah, Mom. Now let go, or I'll be late on the first day."
With a sigh, she finally released his shirt. She'd planned to take the day off to walk him to school, but the moment Natsuri found out, he shot the idea down.
Still, Sinai wasn't that worried. Natsuri had always wandered around the village on his own since he was little, and not once had he gotten lost. He'd even explored the area around the Ninja Academy a few times already.
Now that he was off to school, she had to head out to work too. Everything in their little household depended on her. There was no time to waste.
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Kamikawa Natsuri. Age six. Raised by a single mother.
His father—according to what little he knew—was a chūnin who died during a mission. His comrades said the man had worked himself to the bone, taking every mission he could to save up for the baby. But exhaustion got the better of him, and during one of those jobs, he never came home.
Sinai had been a ninja too, but only a genin. After getting married, she left the shinobi life behind. Once Natsuri was born, she worked all sorts of jobs to make ends meet. Thankfully, her ninja training meant she was stronger and more capable than the average person, so getting work wasn't impossible. And with Natsuri being the little grown-up he was, the tough days eventually passed.
As for Natsuri himself… well, he wasn't just some normal kid.
He was a reincarnated soul—a full-on isekai traveler—who'd been aware of his situation since he was still in the womb.
Finding out he'd been reborn into the world of Naruto didn't shock him much. His old life? Nothing to miss. No wife, no kids, and the only real regret he had was not being able to repay his parents for everything they'd done. As for the Naruto universe, yeah, he'd watched the anime. Not religiously, but enough to know the basics. He skipped through a lot of the long-winded flashbacks, so he wasn't an expert or anything—but hey, having some knowledge was better than none, right?
As for cheats or golden fingers… after six years of careful observation, he had to admit something kind of depressing—he didn't have any.
No overpowered bloodline. No hidden system. No mysterious master showing up to train him.
Just a little plot knowledge and, well, a pretty strong soul. His memory was sharper than it used to be. Not quite photographic, but close enough that he noticed the difference.
Bloodline? Nothing special. No divine powers, no Uchiha eyes, no Uzumaki healing factor. Just a regular ol' human.
And honestly? That kind of sucked.
He really wanted to become a ninja. He didn't come to this world just to live a boring civilian life. If that was the goal, he might as well have been reborn into a ramen shop family or something. A big clan probably wouldn't have accepted him, but a small family business might've worked out.
Still, at least he wasn't an Uchiha. That would've been a death sentence. He happened to know he was the same age as Naruto—and that meant bad things were going to happen soon. Being an Uchiha with no cheats in this timeline? Yeah, no thanks.
So while he didn't have any cool abilities, he also wasn't a walking target. That was a win… kind of?
Anyway, he hadn't been slacking off these past six years. He couldn't train with chakra yet, but physical training? That was doable. Carefully, of course. He didn't want to hurt his tiny body, so he didn't go too hard.
Most of his focus was on his fingers.
Yeah, fingers.
Even though a lot of powerful jutsu later on didn't require hand seals, in the early stages, speed was everything. Fast seals could make or break a fight. So Natsuri made it his goal to master them early.
He started training finger movements as a baby—seriously. Just tiny hands practicing every seal, over and over again.
He wasn't aiming to be the fastest, but being among the fastest sounded pretty great.
Right now, he could manage about three seals per second—not bad, especially since he wasn't using chakra yet. That was his foundation, and he was determined to build on it.
Before he knew it, he'd arrived in front of his classroom.
Taking a deep breath, Natsuri squared his shoulders. He'd done everything he could up to this point. The Academy was the next big step—a place to grow stronger and prepare for the future. And this time, he was going all in. As a regular kid in a world full of monsters, hard work was his only path to success.
And he already had one major goal in mind.
The homeroom teacher hadn't arrived yet. Natsuri scanned the room with a small smile.
Luckily, he'd been placed in a familiar class—Iruka's class. The same one Naruto was in.
He glanced around, looking for familiar faces, then picked an empty seat and sat down. The room was loud with chatter, some kids even crying. Typical first day stuff.
Natsuri calmly placed his hands under the table and started practicing hand seals—one after another, smooth and quiet.
Just then, someone stepped into the classroom.
Short blond hair. Whisker-like marks on his cheeks. His eyes swept across the room until they landed on Natsuri.
His face lit up.
He'd spotted Natsuri.
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