One quiet night, seven boys sat in their separate bedrooms—connected not by words, but by chakra.
Inohiko (mentally): "Test, test—can anyone hear me?"
Karasu: "Yeah, loud and clear. Everyone in?"
Inohiko: "All green on my end."
Karasu: "Good. Let's get to it—status update?"
Inohiko: "Thanks to our chakra reserves, I can keep this telepathic link going for short bursts now. Not quite 24/7 yet, but for emergencies or strategy talks, it's solid."
Kyuta: "Each of us has a kikaichū from my colony. If anyone needs to talk, just send a tiny pulse of chakra into your bug. I'll pick it up and give Inohiko the green light. He connects us. Should take... 1.5 seconds total."
Karasu: "Efficiency. I like it."
Kogi: "Efficiency aside—let's not forget that we offed a Kumo kidnapper not too long ago. Stuck the body in Kiri territory. And the Raikage? Not the kind to let that go. We neutralized a spy just last month—thanks, Tatsumaki—but they're probably gonna keep coming."
Shikajiro (groaning): "So much for living an easy life. Time to stay on high alert, huh? How troublesome..."
Chosuke: "There it is! The classic Nara catchphrase! Took you long enough."
Karasu (chuckling): "Alright, let's get serious for a sec. No matter what happens, keep each other safe. Got it?"
Shikajiro: "Actually, Karasu... have you decided what you'll do when that whole Uchiha coup thing starts unfolding?"
Karasu: "Still weighing my options. Even if I manage to save a few people, the coup will probably go down anyway. If I save only my direct family, I might avoid interference... but would that be enough? Would it matter if Danzo, Itachi, or Obito still swoop in afterward?"
Shikajiro: "You think about it and keep us updated. We've got your back."
The link disconnected—all except for the Ino–Shika–Chō trio.
Inohiko: "Can you believe this all started with an online questionnaire?"
Shikajiro: "Be honest. You were hoping this would happen. We all read too much fan fiction not to want it."
Chosuke (laughing): "Speak for yourself. I was just trying to get free snacks in the afterlife."
FLASHBACK: The Questionnaire
Chat: "Fine. Who's the fourth kid?"
Josh: "That one's an Akimichi with the ___ Release. Oh—and immune to the Akimichi pills' side effects, just in case."
Chat: "Convenient. What's the family background?"
Josh: "Mom's from ___, daughter of a political figure who got shafted. She defected to Konoha after the Third War."
Chat: "That combination only works if you make him focus on ___."
Josh: "Exactly the plan."
Chat: "Fifth kid?"
Josh: "Nara Clan. With ___ Release. And yep—his mom's the sister of ___, left over political drama."
Chat: "You're aware that this is reaching absurd levels of coincidence, right?"
Josh: "Hey, the questionnaire said to be creative. I'm just following orders."
Chat: "Right. Sick mind. What about the sixth?"
Josh: "Yamanaka. With the ___ Release. And yes, he'll have medical talent and chakra control like a super-nurse-ninja. Physical and mental healing on the table."
Chat: "You're not building a ninja team—you're assembling an RPG party."
Josh: "Exactly. We've got our healer, our DPS, our tanks, and our shady support character."
Chat: "...You scare me. Next."
Back in Present Time
Chosuke: "Honestly? I'm glad we got reincarnated into our favorite world."
Shikajiro: "Zzzzzzzzzz."
Inohiko: "Figures. The one time he doesn't complain about being tired, he actually is."
Chosuke: (grinning) "Good night, boys."
Inohiko: "Yeah... good night."
Academy Entrance – Hokage's Speech
As the Hokage stood before the gathered children, delivering his rousing speech about the Will of Fire, Shikajiro leaned back slightly and sighed internally.
Shikajiro (thinking):
Here we go again—the famous Will of Fire.
I've read enough forum debates in my last life to know half the fandom thinks it's just brainwashing. But honestly... isn't the whole point of being a good person risking yourself to protect the people you love?
Still, let's not pretend everything is sunshine and ramen.
Sure, the Hokage gets blamed for a lot of things—and yeah, a lot of it's valid. But it's not like the rest of Konoha's leadership gets to walk away clean either.
The Second Hokage? A brilliant strategist… and the biggest control freak to ever live. Literally invented half the problems we're dealing with.
The First Hokage? Tree-hugging demigod, but let's be real—handing out tailed beasts like party favors was not peak intelligence.
And the Fourth Hokage? Ah yes, the Yellow Flash.
Killed 1,000 Iwa ninja in the war. Amazing. But what happened to his own team?
– Obito: crushed by rocks, became evil.
– Rin: kidnapped, then killed by her teammate.
– Kakashi: left to live with that trauma forever.
And where was Minato during all this? No one knows. Probably flying around like a discount lightning bolt.
Then we've got the Legendary Sannin.
What a joke. A drunk, a pervert, and a ped_____ walk into a village… oh wait, that's not a punchline, that's our legacy.
– One wears kids' skin and calls it a fashion statement.
– One abandoned his godson to write smut novels.
– And the last is drinking herself into bankruptcy—while being the medical ninja. Ironic.
Let's not forget the fact that they got this legendary title by losing.
Honestly, all of them deserve a solid punch in the face.
Compared to that circus, Hiruzen looks like a saint.
Let's go through his greatest hits:
– Let Danzo force White Fang into suicide? (Couldn't stop it.)
– Let Danzo orchestrate the Uchiha massacre? (TBD…)
– Let Naruto grow up hated and alone? (Fixed that already.)
– Allowed Hizashi to be sacrificed? (Prevented that too.)
And for all the things we can't confirm—Nawaki's death, the Uzumaki abandonment—it's still mostly speculation.
Let's look at the positives:
– Won two shinobi wars.
– Kept the economy stable.
– Kept Danzo from doing worse.
So… yeah. Hiruzen's no angel. But in a village surrounded by idiots, he's the least disappointing adult around.
…
Looks like the speech is done. About time.
Over a year had passed since Naruto's first surprise birthday party—and a lot had changed since then.
They had celebrated a second birthday together, now an annual tradition marked by chaos, grilled meat, and questionable gift ideas (Kaito still insists the cat was a great choice). But birthdays weren't the only signs of progress.
The children had grown—faster, stronger, sharper.
Training & Growth
They had begun training in weighted gear, something usually discouraged for children due to its negative impact on physical development. But these weren't ordinary kids. With their bodies brimming with tailed-beast-enhanced chakra, the added strain only honed their strength. No amount of metal could slow them down.
Secretly, each of the seven began pushing their limits beyond the public eye, experimenting with their secondary bloodlines and talents:
Kyuta unlocked Mind's Eye of Kagura, allowing him to sense chakra across vast distances with precision. He had also taken an interest in sealing arts—studying under the radar, slowly building toward something more complex.Kugi continued practicing his Shikotsumyaku, the deadly Kaguya bloodline technique. Though he still masked it around outsiders, his control and creativity with it were steadily advancing.The others, too, trained in secret, nurturing their unique talents, developing techniques that would soon set them apart even among prodigies.
Meanwhile, Naruto had begun a structured study routine under Kyoi's watchful eye. He wasn't allowed to play until his lessons were complete—reading, writing, chakra theory, and basic history. He complained often... but secretly enjoyed having someone care enough to enforce rules.
Tatsumaki's Evolution
Tatsumaki, Kaito's ever-mysterious companion, had continued to evolve. After consuming a massive cobra during a training excursion, he gained venomous capabilities—his twin tails lengthened, and he could now spit a fast-acting deadly poison. His shadowy form had grown sleeker and more serpentine, even more dangerous in motion.
Karasu's Advancement
Karasu had been refining his combat style as well. He'd begun training seriously in kenjutsu, using a compact retractable blade in his dominant right hand. His left hand, however, remained dedicated to thread manipulation, wielding fine steel wire infused with chakra like deadly silk. He could even perform one-handed seals now, giving him a dangerous edge in battle.
The Shinobi Suits
To assist in covert operations, the group had commissioned specialized ninja suits—sleek, dark uniforms that covered their entire bodies, complete with reinforced goggles to protect their identities and chakra signatures. Designed for stealth and utility, they wore them only during off-the-books activities.
The Uchiha Dilemma
The most pressing concern, however, remained the approaching storm.
The Uchiha Massacre was no longer a distant inevitability, it was creeping closer with every passing day. Karasu and Shikajiro had already begun planning. Together, they had outlined a multi-phase operation:
Surveillance: Identify which Uchiha were truly involved in the coup, and which were innocent.Extraction: Relocate key individuals quietly, without alerting the clan or village authorities.Diversion: Stopping Danzo from killing Shisui by giving him a bigger target.Containment: Ensure no loose ends remain that could endanger their cover or provoke another conflict.
The plan was still incomplete. Risky. Complicated.
But it was more than anyone else was doing.
And as the village slept under the illusion of peace, seven children trained, plotted, and prepared—for war, for loss, and for each other.
"Echo in the Steam"
The Hidden Leaf bathhouses were often overlooked—too mundane, too routine. That's what made them perfect for eavesdropping.
The second Kumo spy, disguised as a traveling healer, had integrated into Konoha's daily life with remarkable subtlety. She frequented the women's bathhouse, rarely spoke, and always had a faint herbal scent that earned her a kind nickname: Miss Steamleaf.
But Kyoi noticed her.
She always noticed those who didn't belong.
That evening, the bathhouse emptied out earlier than usual. The mist curled along the floor like low fog, thick and warm. Kyoi sat alone in the water, eyes closed… but senses open.
The woman entered quietly, settling in across from her.
"Long day?" the spy asked, feigning a smile.
Kyoi opened one eye.
"Not over yet."
A kikaichū landed on the woman's shoulder without her noticing. Another slid under the door and whispered to Kyuta through the hive link.
Confirmed—non-resident. Chakra irregular. Monitoring.
The spy tried to play coy, striking up small talk. But Kyoi began weaving subtle hand signs beneath the water, masked by the steam.
"I was wondering," the woman said slowly, "what do you think of the Aburame lately? Some say they're… evolving."
Kyoi's eyes opened fully.
The lights flickered.
The steam thickened unnaturally.
By the time the woman realized something was wrong, the water beside her was bubbling—but not from heat. It pulsed with silent chakra vibrations.
From beneath the surface, Tatsumaki's inky form rose like a phantom. Kyoi stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself, leaving only a soft command:
"Feast."
The woman barely managed to scream before the symbiote enveloped her head-first, dragging her into the scalding depths with barely a ripple. By the time the staff returned, the tub was empty—and the water crystal clear.
Kyoi left the bathhouse into a clearing and transformed back into Kaito.
The Boy Who Followed Too Long
The third spy was young. Too young, perhaps.
He played the part of a delivery boy. Harmless. Fast. Slipped through markets with a smile and a basket full of parcels.
But he wasn't watching the clans.
He was watching Naruto.
And Naruto started noticing.
The boy was too consistent. Too quiet. Always within earshot—at Ichiraku, near the training field, near the Hokage monument.
One day, Naruto mentioned him in passing to Shikajiro.
"Do your delivery guys usually hang out that much?"
Shikajiro's eyes narrowed.
"No," he muttered, "they don't."
That night, the kids staged a decoy meeting in the training grounds—loud enough to draw the spy in, but vague enough to sound like innocent chatter. Shikajiro layered the area with a series of shadow tripwires. Inohiko jammed basic sensory tools with chakra static.
They waited.
At exactly 2:13 a.m., the shadow tripwire twitched.
Kugi and Karasu appeared behind the spy in an instant—one with bone, the other with steel threads.
The boy turned, trembling, eyes wide.
"You don't have to die," Karasu said coldly, "but you do have to tell us who sent you."
The spy reached for a seal tag in his sleeve.
Wrong move.
Kugi didn't hesitate. A sharpened radius bone extended from his wrist and drove cleanly into the boy's shoulder, pinning him to the ground.
"You're lucky," Kugi said, voice like glass. "Normally, I aim for the heart."
"Kyuta," Karasu whispered into the kikaichu link.
Seconds later, a rustle in the leaves. Tatsumaki arrived in complete silence.
Kugi stood, pulling his bone free.
"Make it painless," Karasu said.
Kyuta's voice answered in all their minds.
"No such thing. But it will be quick."
The spy vanished beneath oily black, leaving only his delivery bag behind—still warm sweet buns inside.