A small figure wearing an oversized helmet was crying atop the hokage monument.
His small hands were clenched into fists, pressed against his helmet as he knelt atop the stone face of the Hokage Monument. The sky behind him was orange with smoke, the sound of screams and explosions paralysed him with fear.
A distant blast shook the monument. Kenta flinched, pulling his knees to his chest. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and all he could do was sob.
Then… the wind shifted.
And then came the glow—a sphere of chakra gathering in the creature's mouth. It pulsed with an awful heat, aimed directly at the mountain.
The bomb fired.
Time slowed.
Kenta didn't scream, in that moment he just quietly accepted his fate.
The world lit up— in that brief, flickering moment, he saw a figure standing just in front of him. Cloaked in a white robe that fluttered in the wind.
But he saw the lettering printed on the back, bold and unmistakable:
Fourth Hokage
And then—he was gone.
The bomb vanished with him, and then came along the rumbling and destruction far away from Konoha.
Kenta sat silently on top of the monument with tears and snobs filling his face, "The Fourth Hokage."
…
Kenta felt a sharp tug at his sleeve. He blinked and found himself in the middle of the forest. Shinra was just a few steps ahead, preparing targets.
"Oh, good morning—you're up. Time for training," Shinra said as he walked back toward him.
"What do you mean, morning?! The sun's not even up yet!" Kenta groaned, still groggy.
"Come on, you slept a good four hours, didn't you? Time to train. After all, if you don't, some blonde kid might beat you to becoming Hokage." Shinra handed him a water bottle.
"What?! You want to become Hokage too?" Kenta stepped back, astonished.
Shinra shook his head. "Not me… never mind. Let's just start. You don't want to embarrass yourself in front of the whole class, right?"
Kenta fell silent and nodded.
That night continued with training. Shinra began teaching Kenta how to throw shuriken while on the move, how to adjust the angle of his wrist mid-throw, and how to control the trajectory.
By the end of the session, Kenta had finally grasped how to hit targets from a fixed position. Considering that he previously couldn't land a single shot, this was real progress.
After wrapping up Kenta's training, Shinra began his own.
This time, it was tree climbing.
'First I need to focus chakra to the soles of my feet… then use it to climb without relying on my hands.'
He placed a foot on the tree—and was promptly blasted off. The bark cracked where he stepped.
'Did I use too much chakra?Let's tone it down.'
On his next attempt, nothing happened. Then, on his second step, he slipped and fell.
Training continued until sunrise.
'Not bad. Managed six steps. The purpose of this training is maintaining the exact chakra output every second.'
Shinra arrived at the Academy a few minutes before class. He sat next to Kenta, who looked like he'd just run a marathon.
Reigen entered precisely at 8 o'clock and—as usual—began with the first brainwashing lecture of the day: The Will of Fire.
Shinra had never been a social person. Besides Kenta, his interactions with classmates were sparse—Uchiha Ren and Hyūga Hatori during taijutsu class, Akimichi Chōri during lunch break once.
He glanced around the room and began counting.
'Two Hyūga. Two Uchiha. One Nara. One Akimichi. One Yamanaka. Two Inuzuka. Two Aburame. Two Sarutobi. Two Shimura. Two Kurama…'
'Thirteen civilians—including me and Kenta. Right now, the gap between clan and civilian kids isn't too wide. But the moment they unlock their dōjutsu or learn their clan techniques, that gap will explode. Unless a civilian's a genius or a workhorse, they'll never catch up.'
The lecture ended. Reigen moved on to taijutsu training.
Over the next two weeks, Shinra trained Kenta every day. Minimum of eight hours. Focused entirely on shurikenjutsu.
To Shinra's surprise, Kenta was more resilient than expected.
Meanwhile, Shinra had refined his chakra control enough to climb trees confidently—as long as there were no distractions.
He had also managed to completely narrow down the exact chakra input into the clone technique, there will always be chakra wasted when performing a technique it doesn't matter how good your chakra control is, but you can decrease that waste through mastery of the jutsu to the point where the waste is negligible.
He had already decided to start learning Earth release ninjutsu, until he can afford to buy chakra papers
Today was the final day before the Academy's end-of-year exam. The last class. And the culmination of Kenta's hard work.
One by one, students stepped forward to demonstrate their progress. The average score hovered around 7/10.
"Hashimoto Kenta. Step forward."
Kenta stood, glancing back at Shinra. Shinra gave him a small nod.
Kenta stepped up. Took out his shuriken.
His arms moved quickly—throwing, flicking, adjusting his angles—and every single one of them hit its mark.
"Kenta… 10 out of 10," Reigen announced, his eyes briefly narrowing.
Kenta's grin lit up the room. Reigen, however, wore a much darker expression.
'I made a bet with him. Damn it. No way out now… my pride as a teacher won't let me back down. Just… please don't ask for something outrageous. Fireball jutsu or something basic, please.'
"Well done, Kenta. Come see me after class," Reigen said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Kenta laughed heartily. "Of course! Soon everyone's gonna call me Lord Fifth!"
Shinra smiled and looked away. His hard work had paid off, and now, it was time to cash in.
A/N:
This chapter was actually hard to write, I had to scrap it down three times before I was remotely satisfied with it.
Next chapter: Academy Exams