Everything felt... utterly unreal. One moment I was in my room, the screen's glow lighting up my face after a session of Marvel Rivals, and the next... I'm here. In the middle of a dark, silent forest, the scent of pine and damp earth filling my lungs. Before me, a man dressed in a standard blue Konoha flak jacket regarded me with a twisted expression; his face was vaguely familiar, like something dredged up from a distant memory. He said something, his words urgent, but my mind was so mired in confusion the sound barely registered.
A few meters away, near some trees, lay another man, this one with a distinctive scar across the bridge of his nose. The familiarity was even stronger with him, a pang of recognition I couldn't quite place. Where did I know them from?
Then, it happened. As if a dam broke in my mind, a flood of information poured into my consciousness. They weren't my memories, or at least, not originally mine. They were images, sounds, emotions... someone else's entire life projected at dizzying speed, like watching a movie on fast-forward yet retaining every detail. The crushing loneliness, the desperate longing for recognition, the taste of Ichiraku ramen, the weight of hostile stares… And with that flood, the understanding hit me with the force of a Chidori: I had been reincarnated. And not just into any body. I was in the body of Naruto Uzumaki.
Yeah, I thought, with a strange mix of disbelief and acceptance, the protagonist of the Naruto anime. How conveniently cliché. I had his memories, his body... but why? And why now, at this precise moment?
My mind raced, trying to process the situation, so engrossed I barely noticed how the world around me seemed to slow to a near standstill. The air was still, leaves frozen mid-fall. I tried to move, but my body wouldn't respond. Only my eyes could move, frantically scanning the static surroundings. It was like watching a scene of Barry Allen entering the Speed Force, an unnatural stillness trapping me.
And then, another layer of information flooded my mind. This felt different, more... artificial. Like a data packet downloaded directly into my brain, with no clear origin, similar to déjà vu but with concrete content. Apparently, the entity responsible for my reincarnation hadn't sent me empty-handed. It had granted me a gift: the Six Eyes. The Six Eyes, like Satoru Gojo's.
Almost simultaneously, I felt my own essence, my nineteen-year-old soul, settle definitively into this body, merging with, or perhaps... consuming what remained of Naruto's original spirit. There was an instant of... something, not pain, but a profound integration, and I felt my mind expand, becoming sharper, more capable. As if the fusion itself had strengthened my spirit and mental capacity. The dreaded sensory overload of the Six Eyes, the one I'd read affected even Gojo... never came. This Uzumaki body, host to the Kyuubi, combined with my reinforced soul and mind... could handle it. In fact, I could use it.
My eyes, Naruto's blue eyes, seemed to flare for an instant with a new, almost electric intensity. I could see it. Not just with normal sight, but with conceptual clarity. Chakra. It flowed all around me, in the trees, in the air, in the two men before me. I could see Mizuki's unstable, bluish chakra, tinged with dark intentions and deceit. I could see Iruka's warmer but fluctuating chakra, laced with physical pain and genuine, fierce concern. And within me... an ocean. A swirling vortex of red chakra, dense, powerful, and filled with ancient fury, contained behind a complex structure... the seal. And alongside it, my own chakra, vast and vibrant thanks to my Uzumaki heritage. The Six Eyes analyzed everything, breaking it down, understanding it on a fundamental level.
Curiously, I felt no panic, nor any great nostalgia for my previous life. My parents were already older when they had me, living their retirement peacefully. Me, at nineteen, I had a decent job as an assistant, financial independence... but no deep ties. No pending dramas. Perhaps that's why this new beginning didn't feel like a tragedy, but almost... like a liberation. A second chance in a far more interesting, albeit infinitely more dangerous, world.
Right, I told myself, pushing those thoughts aside. They're useless now. Focus.
Naruto's memory provided the context. Mizuki. The forbidden scroll. The revelation. He must have just told me the truth about the Kyuubi. According to the original script, I should now be paralyzed by fear and confusion, maybe run away and get hurt protecting Iruka.
But why would I? The answer came swift and clear. This is my life now. Not Naruto Uzumaki's from the anime, but mine. I wasn't going to pretend to be a scared kid. I wasn't going to hide for fear of changing the plot or getting hurt. I'd already died once (or so I assumed), what was the point of living this second life in fear? That didn't mean seeking danger unnecessarily, of course, but not running from it either. It was a simple life philosophy: face whatever comes. Besides, letting Mizuki hurt Iruka or escape... wasn't an option if I wanted to start off on the right foot. The problem needed to be nipped in the bud.
With a calm that surprised even a part of me (perhaps an echo of Gojo's confidence, inherent to the Eyes), I used my new perception to modulate my own chakra flow. With the Six Eyes, it was insultingly easy to direct it, smoothing the intensity flowing to my eyes until the unnatural glow dimmed, returning to a deep but less conspicuous blue. Naruto's memories told me how difficult it had been for him to control his chakra, but for me, now, it was like breathing.
As soon as my control settled, time seemed to resume. The sound of the wind in the trees, the rustle of branches.
Before me, the argument I remembered from the anime was in full swing.
"Shut up, Mizuki!" Iruka yelled, trying to push himself up despite his pain. "Naruto isn't like that monster! He's a student in my class! He's a hard worker, even if he is a bit clumsy...! He's Naruto Uzumaki, a member of the Hidden Leaf Village!" His voice was loaded with a conviction that reached me even across the distance.
"Open your eyes, Iruka!" Mizuki retorted with a cruel, condescending smirk. "He is the Nine-Tailed Fox who destroyed our village and killed your parents! Everyone secretly hates him, and you should too! Or do you really think someone like him can be a ninja?"
I watched the scene, seeing with my new eyes the mix of deceit and hatred in Mizuki's chakra, and the genuine defense laced with pain in Iruka's. No. I definitely wasn't going to let this traitor continue with his plan. It was time to intervene.
Quickly, my hands flew, forming a seal the body remembered by instinct, but that my mind now fully understood thanks to the scroll and the Six Eyes: the Shadow Clone Seal (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu).
Both Mizuki and Iruka turned towards me, surprised by my sudden action and the concentration on my face. But it was already too late.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
POOF! POOF! POOF!
It wasn't a small explosion. It was an eruption. Massive clouds of smoke billowed around me, and from them emerged... clones. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. A tide of identical Narutos filled the forest clearing, all looking at me expectantly, their eyes (my eyes) fixed on the target. I remembered Naruto creating an impressive number in the anime, but this... this was easily ten times that. And the most incredible part: I barely felt a dent in my chakra reserves. The Six Eyes optimized the expenditure to a ridiculous degree. This was... fantastic.
I saw Iruka's jaw literally drop, his eyes wide with disbelief. I saw raw panic replace Mizuki's smirk, his face visibly paling.
I didn't need a complex plan. With a simple mental command, transmitted almost telepathically to my creations, I pointed at Mizuki.
"Take him down."
The orange tide moved as one. It wasn't a chaotic attack. My Six Eyes encompassed the entire field, tracking Mizuki's every move, every fluctuation in his chakra. Guided by my real-time perception, the clones acted with terrifying coordination. Waves of them surged towards Mizuki from all directions: from the front, the flanks, and even popping up from behind trees where my peripheral vision had placed them.
Mizuki, though terrified, reacted like the Chunin he was. He drew a kunai, trying to defend himself, throwing shuriken that were intercepted mid-air by dozens of clone hands before they reached their target. He yelled something unintelligible, a mix of threat and fear, but it was drowned out by the first impact.
One clone landed a solid punch to his stomach, making him gasp and double over. Another swept his legs out from under him with precision. Before he hit the ground, a dozen more grabbed him, while others began striking him. Not with unnecessary viciousness, but with a brutal, systematic efficiency that I directed myself. Punches, kicks, blocks. Mizuki tried to use a substitution jutsu; my eyes caught the seal preparation even before he completed it and anticipated his destination. 'There!' I projected the command, and a group of clones appeared exactly where he reappeared behind the log, meeting him with another volley of blows.
Desperate, he threw a volley of kunai with explosive tags. Several clones, following my directives, interposed themselves without hesitation, detonating in puffs of smoke but absorbing the blast, shielding the others, not halting the advance for even a second. The numerical superiority was absolute, but the key was the precision with which I directed the assault thanks to my eyes. They surrounded, flanked, attacked the blind spots I detected, neutralizing every counterattack attempt before it began. Mizuki had no escape; he was like a fly caught in a web woven by hundreds of spiders coordinated by a single mind.
Finally, after a well-aimed blow to the jaw from a clone I focused my attention on, the traitor collapsed. In less than a minute from when I gave the order, Mizuki lay on the ground, unconscious, surrounded by a sea of silent clones awaiting my next command. With a thought, the vast majority dispersed into puffs of smoke, leaving only Mizuki motionless on the ground and a clearing full of disturbed leaves and the acrid smell of smoke.
I calmly approached Iruka, who was still staring at the scene with a mixture of shock and awe in his face. I noticed his gaze flickered between the unconscious Mizuki and me, a new wariness in it.
"Are you okay, Iruka-sensei?" I asked, trying to sound somewhat concerned, even though the situation had been under control from the start.
"Naruto…" Iruka stammered, his voice still shaky with surprise. "What… what was that? How did you learn Kage Bunshin… and so many? And how did you control them like that! It was incredible!" He paused, then frowned slightly. "But why…? Why did you steal the scroll in the first place?"
Ah, the key question. I needed a believable answer, something that fit the Naruto he knew. I scratched the back of my head, a gesture so typically Naruto it came out naturally. It was useful for appearing less… calculated than I felt.
"Oh, that!" I said, trying to put on a somewhat embarrassed but determined expression. "Mizuki-sensei told me… he told me that if I learned a jutsu from the scroll, they'd definitely pass me! I wanted to graduate, Iruka-sensei! Really!" I kept the explanation simple and consistent with the desperation Naruto would feel for recognition.
Iruka stared at me, his eyes analyzing my face. I could see with my Eyes how his chakra slowly calmed, initial suspicion giving way to the understanding and compassion that characterized the man. I noticed his gaze linger on my eyes for an instant, perhaps sensing that residual intensity, but he seemed to attribute it to the adrenaline of the moment. I saw the conflict within him: surprise at my ability, disappointment over Mizuki's betrayal, and finally, a decision forming. His expression softened.
"Naruto…" he said finally, his voice firmer, warmer. "What you did… it wasn't right to steal the scroll. But… you defeated a traitorous Chunin all by yourself. You protected the scroll… and me." He paused, evaluating me one last time, and then a small, genuine, somewhat tired smile appeared on his face. "Close your eyes."
I obeyed, feeling a knot of anticipation tighten in my stomach. I felt him remove the goggles from my forehead, then the brush of fabric and the light weight of metal being tied in their place. The Leaf symbol, now on my forehead.
"Open your eyes."
I did. Iruka-sensei stood there, smiling genuinely, a look of pride replacing the worry.
"Congratulations, Naruto. You pass."
A wave of emotion washed over me, stronger this time. Was it Naruto's residual feelings, the pure joy of finally being acknowledged by the father figure he admired so much? Or was it my own satisfaction at having overcome my first obstacle in this world, at having made a decision and successfully executed it? Probably a potent mix of both. A huge, uncontrollable grin spread across my face.
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei!" I exclaimed, and without really thinking, I hugged him, an impulsive gesture that seemed to surprise him for a second before he accepted, awkwardly but warmly returning the hug.
In that moment, with the Konoha headband firm on my forehead and Iruka's sincere approval, I felt like my new life had truly just begun. The road ahead would be long and dangerous, I knew that from the anime memories, but now I had the tools – knowledge, power, and determination – to face it my own way.