Chapter 5
In the Hokage's office, the soft morning light filtered through the windows, illuminating the figure of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, hunched over his crystal ball.
The shiny surface reflected a clear image: a brown-haired boy moving with purpose in a familiar backyard. Hiruzen watched in silence, his unlit pipe resting between his lips, his wrinkled eyes holding a mixture of curiosity and melancholy.
"Itsuki Sarutobi," he murmured, adjusting the orb to follow the boy.
He had seen many young shinobi shaped by the loss of a loved one, but something about Itsuki intrigued him. Since the death of his parents, the boy had seemed different – more focused, more mature, as if pain had forced him to grow up overnight. "You remind me of Kakashi in his youth… channeling frustration into training, seeking strength to fill the emptiness."
He looked at the scene before him.
Inside the orb, Itsuki was waking up with the first ray of sun, his futon neatly folded in the corner of the room. He dressed in his genin attire – black and white ninja vest, dark pants, sandals – and stepped out into the yard, his body already moving before the sky had fully brightened.
Hiruzen observed as Itsuki ran laps around the grounds, his pace steady, sweat beginning to shine on his forehead. The boy stopped to perform a series of push-ups, squats, and sit-ups, each movement executed with near-mechanical precision.
Then, Itsuki approached a sturdy training post, rooted in the ground like a pillar.
He took a taijutsu stance, fists clenched, and began to strike.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The blows echoed, fast and powerful, the bark of the post splintering under the impact. To Hiruzen, each punch seemed charged with restrained anger, an echo of an orphan's pain – but he couldn't see the truth in Itsuki's eyes.
Itsuki no longer felt the weight of loss. The pain Hiruzen imagined was, in fact, determination.
He was finally getting used to the grief that came with this body, his mind from another world accepting that reality as part of his new life.
Each strike wasn't frustration – it was just a more serious form of training, a desire to become stronger.
He knew, from the memories in his mind, that the Land of Waves arc was close, and if he wanted to survive what came next – the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki – he needed to be at least Jōnin-level in strength.
That's why he'd decided to train harder.
When he finished, Itsuki stepped away from the post, his hands slightly red, but his expression calm. He took a deep breath, feeling chakra coursing through his body, and shifted his focus to the day's training.
Hiruzen, still watching, furrowed his brows, intrigued.
---
Itsuki sat on the ground, resting, with the Shadow Clone scroll open in his lap, but his mind was elsewhere. Instead, he reflected on the morning's training – his Lightning Needle jutsu had improved, but he'd sensed a subtle instability in the chakra flow, a reminder that despite the memories inherited from the body, his control was still not perfect.
"I can already climb trees and walk on water without a problem," Itsuki muttered, looking at his calloused hands. "But that's just basic control."
He knew, from his past life's memories, that chakra control was the foundation of everything in the ninja world—except for pure Taijutsu.
"What can I do to improve it even more?" he murmured, falling deep into thought for several minutes. He remembered training with leaves on the forehead, walking on trees and water. All of that was easy now. He needed something more challenging.
Suddenly, an idea lit up in his mind, inspired by a memory from the anime – with Rock Lee and his training weights, which made every movement harder.
"Maybe if I make the basics harder, my control will improve faster," he said, rising with renewed determination.
He ran back inside the house, rummaging through a cabinet where, according to the body's memories, his parents had stored training gear.
Among worn kunai and old bandages, Itsuki found what he was looking for: two pairs of leg weights, made of reinforced metal with leather straps. They were heavy, probably used by his parents for resistance training.
He strapped them around his shins, feeling the immediate pull on his muscles. "This'll be interesting," he murmured, smiling.
Back in the yard, Itsuki chose the tallest tree on the property – an old oak with rough bark, perfect for climbing.
He focused chakra into his feet, the familiar sensation of energy clinging to the soles of his ninja sandals.
With a leap, he began to climb, but the extra weight on his legs threw off his balance. His feet slipped, and he fell onto his back with a loud bang.
Itsuki groaned and reached for his back, wincing from the pain.
"Okay… this is harder than it looks," he grumbled, rubbing his back.
But the failure only made him believe the plan might actually work.
He got up again, adjusted the chakra flow – steadier, more consistent – and tried once more. This time he made it two meters up before losing control, sliding down with a grunt.
Attempt after attempt followed, each one getting him a bit higher. The sun climbed higher in the sky, and sweat dripped from his brow, but Itsuki didn't stop.
He visualized the chakra as an extension of his body, flowing from his core to his feet, supporting not just his body but the weights that seemed determined to drag him down.
"Come on, Itsuki," he told himself, channeling the resolve from his past life. "You've died once already. This is nothing."
And then he ran again.
After an hour, he finally reached the top of the tree, his feet firm against the trunk, his body tilted at an impossible angle. He breathed deeply, feeling the chakra gripping tightly to the surface of the tree, maintaining a continuous flow. But it wasn't enough. He wanted more – he wanted the level of control he'd seen in medical-nin like Sakura and Tsunade in Boruto, who had honed that focus to perfection.
"Next step," he muttered, adjusting his stance.
Carefully, he released one hand from the trunk, balancing solely on his feet. The weight on his legs seemed to double, and his chakra faltered slightly, but he steadied the flow, holding firm.
Then, with a defiant smile, he flipped his body upside down, his brown hair falling toward the ground.
"Whoa!"
The world looked inverted, and the blood rushing to his head felt uncomfortable, but Itsuki laughed. "If Rock Lee can run with these weights, I can at least stand still." he smiled.
He held the pose for several minutes, testing his limits, adjusting his chakra each time he felt his balance waver.
When he finally came down, his legs were trembling, and the ground felt oddly light without the strain of holding himself up. He removed the weights, his muscles aching in protest, but a deep satisfaction filled him.
"That was just the beginning," he said, looking at the tree marked by his efforts. "If I keep this up, my chakra control might be on par with medical-nin in no time."
---
Sitting on the floor, Itsuki reached for the storage scroll, his eyes falling to the corner where the mysterious purple lightning scroll was kept. He picked it up again, curious.
The sunlight gleamed off the golden edges of the scroll, which seemed to crackle with a near-living energy. He held the object carefully, his fingers tracing the stylized symbols that glowed subtly under the light.
As a Naruto fan in his past life, he couldn't shake the feeling that this scroll was something out of place – something that didn't belong in the world he knew so well.
"Where exactly did this come from?" he murmured, frowning.
He mentally reviewed every arc from the anime, every technique, every artifact mentioned in the episodes—even the fillers. Nothing matched.
There was no mention of a scroll with unknown writing or purple lightning in Naruto or Boruto. Hiruzen's earlier comment echoed in his mind:
"Impossible to open, even with Fūinjutsu." It was strange that he, the Third Hokage – known for his vast knowledge of seals and techniques – hadn't been able to decipher it. That only fueled Itsuki's curiosity.
Itsuki looked at his hands, feeling chakra flowing gently through his body. He knew that his affinity with purple lightning – or Shiden, as he suspected – was rare. Maybe the scroll was connected to that, since it came from his parents.
"If Hiruzen couldn't open it, but I have this affinity… could it be a compatibility thing?" he thought, hesitant.
He wasn't an expert in Fūinjutsu, but his intuition, mixed with the knowledge from his past life, pushed him to try.
Taking a deep breath, Itsuki channeled a small amount of chakra into the scroll, letting the purple, crackling energy flow from his fingers into the paper.
And to his surprise, the scroll reacted instantly. The lightning symbols flared brightly, and a faint crackle echoed through the room. With a soft sound, like a breeze, the scroll unfurled itself, revealing its contents.
Itsuki's eyes widened, his heart racing.
"What…?" he whispered, immediately leaning closer to read the words written in an elegant yet firm calligraphy.
But the first line made him freeze.
Shinjutsu.
"Shinjutsu?" he repeated, voice filled with disbelief, stopping right there as the term resurfaced in his memory.
He vaguely recognized the word from the Boruto universe.
Shinjutsu were divine techniques, near-mythical abilities tied to the Ōtsutsuki – beings who transcended the limits of ordinary shinobi. They were powers that manipulated reality itself, like Isshiki's Daikokuten or Sukunahikona. But how could something like that be in his hands, in Konoha, during Naruto's era?
His eyes then dropped to the name of the technique:
Kaminari no Tensei – Reincarnation of Thunder.
____
[A / N: If there's anyone reading this, and has any ideas or criticisms for this story so far, leave a comment. I'm not the best with ideas, so it may be slower to release. If you liked it, leave a comment too, it inspires me to continue.