"Kitazawa, long time no see."
Kurenai Yuhi approached, her slender legs wrapped in white bandages.
"It hasn't been that long. We just saw each other last week."
Kitazawa's eyes drifted down to the bandages on her hands.
In his previous life, he'd always wondered why Kurenai wore bandages around her thighs and hands.
"Kitazawa, I need your help with something."
A faint smile played on Kurenai's fair face as she spoke.
Kitazawa blinked in surprise.
Although Kurenai, like him, held the rank of Chunin, there were vast differences in strength even among Chunins.
She possessed powerful Genjutsu. Her father, Shinku Yuhi, was one of Konoha's rare Jonin-level genjutsu specialists.
If Kurenai stood at the very peak of the Chunin rank—a half-step away from Jonin—then Kitazawa was solidly at the lower end of the Chunin scale.
"I recently became a private tutor," Kurenai said, her tone troubled. "But this student is incredibly stubborn, and I was hoping to ask your advice."
Kitazawa fell silent, deep in thought.
In the original timeline, Kurenai had led Team 8, which included Hyuga Hinata, Shino Aburame, and Inuzuka Kiba.
But she'd also once taken on another student: Yakumo Kurama.
Yakumo possessed a rare genjutsu kekkei genkai that allowed her illusions to become reality.
Genjutsu was a Yin Release art, and Yakumo's powerful Yin chakra frequently caused her physical and mental health to deteriorate.
For her safety, her parents had refused to let her attend the Ninja Academy and instead hired Kurenai as a private tutor.
But Yakumo was obsessed with becoming a ninja.
After enduring repeated rejections, she developed a monstrous Yin-based entity in her subconscious called Ido. Ultimately, she lost control—and killed her parents.
Sensing the danger, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, ordered Kurenai to eliminate the monster lurking within Yakumo.
"You've been voted the best teacher at the Ninja Academy three years in a row."
Kurenai clasped her hands together, bent slightly at the waist, and said, "Please, old classmate—I need your help!"
Just as Kitazawa was about to answer, a glowing blue screen popped up before his eyes:
Current Mission: Help classmate Yakumo Kurama return to the Ninja Academy.
Mission Reward: Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death.
[Accept?]
Kitazawa's brow shot up. 'This actually triggered a mission?'
But the more missions, the better—so he chose to accept.
"No problem," Kitazawa said, smiling. "I'm pretty confident when it comes to teaching students."
"Thank you!" Kurenai said, patting her chest in relief. "With your help, I feel a lot more at ease."
"Come find me after classes tomorrow," Kitazawa added after thinking it over. "I'll share some teaching tips with you then."
"Mhm!"
Kurenai nodded, her eyes bright. "I'll treat you to drinks tomorrow night as thanks!"
"Deal," Kitazawa said without hesitation. "And we're not stopping until we're both plastered."
"You've never managed to out-drink me since we were kids. I'll probably be dragging you home again," Kurenai shot back with a triumphant grin.
"The past is the past. This time will be different," Kitazawa retorted stubbornly.
"Then I'll look forward to your performance."
Kurenai gave him a playful punch on the arm. "I'm off. See you tomorrow!"
Kitazawa watched her go, shaking his head with an exasperated smile.
He and Kurenai had been childhood friends, classmates since they were six years old—a friendship spanning fifteen years now.
Among his other classmates back then were Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Uchiha Obito, and Rin Nohara.
But most of them had died in the Third Great Ninja War.
—
There was no doubt about it: Kitazawa was a transmigrator.
After leaving a snarky comment—"Have you ever even been a ninja? Some of these things are written all over the place, just assuming stuff!"—under a Naruto fanfiction titled Undercover in Konoha, Part-time Hokage, Kitazawa suddenly found himself in Konoha for real.
Both of his parents had been Chunin, so when he turned six, he was enrolled at the Ninja Academy like countless other shinobi children.
Unfortunately, his talent turned out to be painfully average.
He eventually scraped through and graduated as a Genin at thirteen—only to be hit with the devastating news that his parents had died.
It was then that Kitazawa realized how brutal reality could be.
Shouting about bonds and friendship and charging at Uchiha Madara was something only protagonists got to do.
Guys like him were cannon fodder among cannon fodder. So he made a firm decision: he would become a teacher instead.
Before landing that job, he'd even joined an experimental Medical Ninja training program founded by Tsunade.
But unsurprisingly, he'd shown zero aptitude for medical ninjutsu either.
In the end, Kitazawa became a teacher at the Ninja Academy, specializing in lectures about the Will of Fire and Konoha's history.
He was known for promoting his own theory inspired by the Will of Fire: "The Hokage is the sun, and the Hokage's kindness knows no bounds."
Thanks to that—and his genuinely solid teaching skills—he'd been voted Best Teacher at the Academy three years running.
For a moment, Kitazawa stood in thought, then decided not to return to the academy right away. Instead, he headed north.
With Iruka Umino managing the new-student registrations, there was nothing urgent on his plate.
'System, show me my character panel.'
The thought popped into Kitazawa's mind, and he silently triggered the command.
Name: Kitazawa
Age: 6
Ninjutsu: Clone Jutsu, Body Replacement Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu, Body Flicker Jutsu, Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm, Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu.
Evaluation: So-called genius is merely your starting line; you were born to be a ninja, destined to become the strongest.
Kitazawa rolled his eyes.
He strongly suspected the system was mocking him.
A "genius ninja" at twenty-one years old? If word got out, the Uchiha clan would laugh for three days straight.
Still, when he glanced at the listed age on his panel, he realized the system wasn't lying. It was simply operating on a timeline bug.
Kitazawa remembered an old saying: If a bug runs fine, don't fix it.
—
Training Ground, outskirts of Konoha.
Kitazawa came to a halt and formed a quick string of hand seals.
Chakra surged into his throat. As he opened his mouth and exhaled, a massive fireball, five or six meters wide, roared into existence.
The scorching air shimmered with heat waves, the temperature spiking dramatically.
Boom!
The fireball crashed into the earth, leaving a charred black crater in its wake.
"This system… is actually pretty damn good."
Kitazawa blinked in surprise, then grinned in satisfaction.
The strength of any ninjutsu depended on both chakra reserves and mastery.
Kitazawa had watched many shinobi unleash the Great Fireball Jutsu over the years—but none of them had ever packed the raw power he'd just produced.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that, with enough chakra, his Great Fireball could rival even Uchiha Madara's.
That was the benefit of a system that instantly maxed out proficiency.
—
Hokage's Office
Hiruzen Sarutobi unfurled a scroll across his desk.
The document contained a record of Uzumaki Naruto's activities for the day.
When he noticed Kitazawa's interactions with Naruto, he fell silent, deep in thought.
A moment later, Hiruzen sifted through his memory for everything he knew about Kitazawa.
An unremarkable Chunin overall—but one with unique insights into the Will of Fire.
"He shouldn't know Naruto's true identity," Hiruzen murmured to himself.
While most villagers regarded Naruto like a dangerous beast, Kitazawa treated the boy with simple fairness—a sign, in Hiruzen's eyes, that he genuinely embodied the Will of Fire.
"I wonder what Naruto will learn from him…"
A faint glimmer of hope and curiosity lit up Hiruzen's expression.
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