Land of Fire
Hidden Leaf Village (Konoha)
A small apartment
"Hiss..."
"My head... it hurts."
Uzumaki Naruto, golden-haired and groggy, clutched his forehead as he sat up slowly on the bed.
He couldn't understand why his head was throbbing so badly.
Did he hit it in his sleep?
Still groaning, Naruto opened his eyes — and immediately froze.
This room… this wasn't where he had fallen asleep last night!
Suddenly—
A massive flood of memories surged into Naruto's mind.
"I… I've transmigrated?!"
"And I became Uzumaki Naruto — the protagonist of Naruto?!"
His expression was a mixture of shock and confusion.
But, surprisingly, he didn't panic.
Since he was here now, he would just have to make the most of it.
Naruto took a deep breath and accepted his new reality.
You have been blessed by the Will of Chaos!
You have gained supernatural insight!
That message echoed in his mind.
The next moment, the fog in his head lifted — it was as if a curtain had been drawn back.
Everything became crystal clear. The distractions of the world faded away. His thoughts sharpened.
This must be the effect of the supernatural insight.
But it didn't end there.
A second wave of pain struck his head, stronger than before.
Grimacing, he touched his forehead — and felt something wrapped around it.
Curious, Naruto stumbled toward the bathroom. Standing on a small stool, he peered into the mirror.
That's when he saw it — gauze, tightly wrapped around his head.
He was clearly injured.
Instinctively, Naruto reached out and pressed the bandages.
An icy chill rushed from the wound and spread across his forehead.
"Tch…" Naruto hissed in pain as a sharp memory rose to the surface.
It didn't matter how fuzzy it was — he understood immediately.
This body's original Naruto had been injured… and not just physically.
Naruto clenched his fists, trembling with anger.
Just like in the anime — no, worse — as a child, Naruto was shunned and hated.
He was called the Nine-Tails in human form, blamed for the destruction caused during the Nine-Tails' attack on the village.
Everywhere he went, he was met with cold stares.
If he tried to buy something, shopkeepers either refused to sell or handed him expired and broken goods.
When he approached other children to play, their parents would yank them away and whisper hateful things.
In the entirety of Konoha, Naruto had no friends.
No family. No parents.
The only person who treated him with anything close to kindness…
Was the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage — the most powerful figure in the Land of Fire, leader of the Hidden Leaf Village, and revered by all.
He would visit Naruto once a month to deliver living expenses and speak with him for a few minutes.
To a lonely child, this man became a solitary ray of light.
But that was the illusion.
If Naruto hadn't known the full story — hadn't seen the series himself — he might have been tricked by that old bastard, just like the original Naruto.
Let's be clear:
Uzumaki Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage — Namikaze Minato.
And his mother?
Uzumaki Kushina — the previous Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails.
When the Nine-Tails attacked Konoha, it wasn't Naruto's doing.
His parents died sealing the beast away — protecting the village at the cost of their own lives.
They were heroes.
Yet their son, the only thing they left behind, was called a monster.
A demon.
A curse upon the village.
And those same villagers, who owed their lives to Minato and Kushina, turned around and bullied their orphaned child — with no remorse whatsoever.
How did the villagers know Naruto was the Jinchūriki in the first place?
When he was born, the Nine-Tails was sealed — and only high-level shinobi were present.
So why did this "rumor" spread so quickly?
Why didn't the Third Hokage stop it?
Didn't he know the truth?
Of course he did.
Because he was the one Minato and Kushina entrusted Naruto to — just before they died.
They trusted him with their child's future.
And yet...
The Third Hokage didn't protect Naruto.
Instead, he allowed Danzo — head of Root, the village's shadowy black-ops group — to spread the lie that Naruto was the Nine-Tails.
Why?
Because Danzo wanted control over the Nine-Tails' power.
And the Third Hokage?
He wanted something too — to become Naruto's only source of light.
Let the child suffer in darkness — and then offer him crumbs of affection.
In doing so, he ensured Naruto would become dependent on him.
Desperate.
Loyal.
It was all manipulation.
Naruto had no doubt now.
The village hadn't failed to protect him.
They had deliberately broken him — for power.
And it was time to open his eyes.
The Third Hokage's methods...
They were more refined than Danzo Shimura's.
But also crueler. Colder.
In truth, far more insidious.
He truly was a master politician.
Once revered as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," a man who had mastered all five chakra natures—
Sarutobi Hiruzen, hailed as the "Strongest Hokage in History."
But time had not been kind to him.
His ideals were corroded by age.
His soul, polluted by years of compromise and self-interest.
From his lofty position, he viewed power as his birthright, treating the village as his personal playground.
Everything he did was for himself.
To eliminate threats.
To suppress talent.
The once-thriving Village Hidden in the Leaves, a village of prodigies and pioneers—
Now reduced to mediocrity, its brilliance dimmed.
Who remained among its once-glorious ranks?
Just Sarutobi Hiruzen himself. The last "Kage-level" figure in Konoha.
Once, there was the legendary White Fang of Konoha, the great Fourth Hokage, and the mighty Sannin.
Once, this was the strongest village in the shinobi world.
But now?
All that remains is the hollow shell of that title.
Corruption spreads, hidden beneath the surface.
Rot from within.
Talented individuals were pushed out, driven to ruin by the jealousy of those in power.
Of the fabled Sannin—
One defected.
One wandered aimlessly.
And one—Tsunade, the Slug Princess—was nowhere to be found.
Even the proud Senju Clan, co-founders of the Hidden Leaf, had all but disappeared.
Tsunade might be the only one left.
The Uchiha Clan?
Distrust. Jealousy. Fear.
These emotions festered and grew between the village and the clan.
Until finally, it came to this—
The brutal annihilation of an entire clan.
The Uchiha, co-founders of Konoha, were wiped out in the name of "peace."
Yes, the Uchiha weren't without fault. Some of them were fools who couldn't see the trap being laid.
But still—
A genocide?
Even now, the other shinobi villages are unaware of Konoha's decay.
If they knew...
If they saw how weak Konoha had become, sitting atop its "golden mountain" with no strength left to protect it...
They wouldn't hesitate to strike.
As for the new Naruto—
The Naruto now awakened with the soul of a modern man—
He would not walk the same path.
He would not be the foolish, lonely boy chasing empty praise and the dream of Hokage.
The fate of Uzumaki Naruto?
It ends here.
He would rewrite it.
Konoha needs a storm to cleanse it.
And Naruto?
He would be the one to bring it.