"Hey! Seal the flames, wake up! You got kicked—don't tell me your will's already this pathetic!"
"If you don't wake up, I'm leaving!"
"No one's going to look after you once I'm gone, you stubborn idiot."
"Damn it, I'm going to help an old lady cross the street. You figure out your own life!"
The voice, nagging and relentless, finally faded. On the tatami mat in a small traditional Uchiha household, a pale six-year-old boy stirred. His eyelids fluttered, then slowly opened.
"I... I'm Uchiha Fenghuo?"
Memories not his own surged from the depths of his mind like a floodgate bursting open. The stimulation overwhelmed him—his eyes burned and ached as if ants were crawling beneath the surface, causing intense discomfort.
Fenghuo rolled on the mat in pain, knocking over a nearby mirror. He scrambled to grab it—and froze.
In the reflection stared back a pair of crimson, swirling pupils.
"...Is this... the Sharingan?"
In his blood-colored eyes, a single tomoe spun lazily within each iris—sinister, vivid, and mesmerizing. He was speechless.
"I really became Uchiha Fenghuo... This is the Naruto world?!"
Dazed, he struggled to reconcile what he knew. Naruto... wasn't that just an anime? A story?
Minutes passed before the reality finally sank in.
"In my past life, I was just some nobody—an ordinary kid from a regular family. After graduation, I worked a dead-end factory job, clocking out at 9:30 every night... I didn't amount to anything. My biggest regret was how little I could do for my parents."
Fenghuo sighed. As his mood relaxed, his newly awakened Sharingan faded away. He was still young—his chakra reserves couldn't sustain it for long.
Exhausted by the shock, he slipped into unconsciousness once again.
When he woke the next morning, he felt a lot better.
Just yesterday, the Ninja Academy held its graduation exam. The prodigy Hatake Kakashi, only five years old, had graduated at the top of his class, becoming the youngest graduate in Konoha history. He was being hailed as the next genius of the village.
Fenghuo, a proud and impulsive Uchiha, hadn't taken kindly to Kakashi's smug face. Without thinking, he had challenged him in public... and got kicked halfway across the schoolyard. The entire academy laughed. A total disaster.
"Kakashi's graduation… That places this right between the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars. If I remember right, the Third War was triggered by the disappearance of the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure..."
He didn't care much about yesterday's humiliation. That wasn't really him who challenged Kakashi—it was the original Fenghuo. Now, he was more concerned with recalling everything he knew about the Naruto timeline.
"The Third and Fourth Great Wars were both brutal meat grinders. Each more hellish than the last. Without power, you're just cannon fodder—gone before you even understand how you died."
"Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, the Akatsuki... Those guys are on a different plane entirely."
"And Kakashi's father... Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang of Konoha. A man so feared even the Sannin respected him. If I could somehow get training from him... No, wait. I'm an Uchiha. Our clan isn't exactly friendly with the Hatake family."
His head throbbed trying to piece it all together.
Then—click—the front door slid open.
"Fenghuo, I'm coming in."
A boy wearing goggles stepped inside—it was the same annoying voice from before.
"...Yu... Obito? Uchiha Obito?!"
Fenghuo nearly backflipped in shock. This kid—this was the future masked villain, the mastermind behind the Fourth Great Ninja War?!
Back now, he was just an awkward academy student—constantly at the bottom of the class rankings.
"Eh? Fenghuo, why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Obito asked, casually sitting down next to him and touching his forehead. "No fever... hmm."
"Bastard, I'm fine!" Fenghuo snapped, flustered. He was a grown man internally—being flustered by a kid half his mental age was humiliating.
"That's a relief," Obito grinned. "Anyway, you shouldn't go out alone for a while. Everyone's talking about your loss to Kakashi. A bunch of people in the clan want to 'discipline' you for disgracing the Uchiha name."
"Could you maybe not sound so cheerful about that?"
"I'm happy for you!" Obito beamed. "You've always said you wanted to be famous in Konoha—congrats, your dream came true!"
"You're the worst."
Despite their differences, Fenghuo remembered from his inherited memories: he and Obito had grown up as neighbors. Obito was kind, even if a bit naïve, while Fenghuo was every bit the prideful Uchiha. Still, that never stopped them from being friends.
"Oh, right!" Obito suddenly slapped his forehead. "I made breakfast for you, but on the way here, I helped an old lady cross the road and gave it to her."
"...You live next door. Did you really have to cross a road?"
"I stopped by to see Rin first," Obito replied shamelessly.
Fenghuo was speechless.
Rin Nohara—Obito's long-time crush, the one who would one day die and send him spiraling into darkness. But right now... he was six. Six years old!
"Seriously, how precocious are you? Did you start developing crushes in the womb?!"
Fenghuo sighed, covering his face.
"Don't be discouraged," Obito said brightly. "Kakashi only made it because of his genius dad. If we train hard, we can graduate next year too!" His voice grew dreamy. "Imagine... forehead protectors, Rin watching... Hehehe..."
Fenghuo heard his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten since waking up.
"Let's go get some ramen!" Obito cheered, bouncing to his feet.
Fenghuo groaned as he got up. His body still ached, but the pain was manageable.
"You take forever," Obito complained.
"These clothes aren't like the ones from my world," Fenghuo muttered, fumbling with the ties. He couldn't just ask for help—too suspicious. So, he fumbled his way into them.
Ten minutes later, finally dressed, he stepped outside with Obito.