[Friendly reminder: This shinobi world is rather different from the one you know, so please set aside everything you know about Naruto before reading. You can think of this as a parallel world that is completely different from the original shinobi world.]
[This novel changes many things, including but not limited to giving certain people new kekkei genkai, altering personalities as a result of changes in strength, and modifying some of the setting itself. So, as stated above, when reading this story, throw away everything you know about normal Naruto!!!! This is very important!!!]
"Hatake Style: Instant Slash!"
A razor-sharp flash of steel filled the entire training ground. The blade wind tore through the air with a piercing whistle before crashing into the thick earthen wall raised by another ninja.
The moment the sword aura touched the wall, the sturdy mass of earth shattered apart.
It was difficult to imagine that such a vicious slash had been produced by a five-year-old holding nothing more than a training ninja sword.
At the edge of the training ground, Gen Uchiha leaned over the railing as he watched the fierce exchange below. The corner of his mouth twitched.
Sword aura... coming from a five-year-old. Was that really supposed to be normal?
And then there was Guy over by the side of the field. After watching Kakashi's genin examination, the kid had apparently decided to strap a boulder weighing at least several tons onto his back and do push-ups.
Was there something seriously wrong with this shinobi world?
...
While Gen was still questioning reality, the battle on the training ground had already reached its climax.
Kakashi crushed the sand beneath his feet and shot forward.
The short blade in his hand cut through the air in a cold silver arc. Chakra instantly coated the edge, wrapping the ordinary training weapon in flickering lightning.
"Hatake Style: Instant Slash!"
He brought the blade straight down!
The examiner's eyes narrowed. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward. As he closed in on Kakashi, his body suddenly shifted sideways, narrowly avoiding the blade before raising his kunai to block.
Clang!
The sharp ring of metal on metal exploded across the field.
But just as the examiner prepared to overpower Kakashi's sword and knock it aside, a stone hand suddenly burst from the ground beneath him and seized his ankle.
At the same moment, the Kakashi locked in a blade struggle before him vanished with a poof, leaving behind nothing but an already-activated explosive tag stuck to the examiner's kunai.
'When did he use Earth Style?!'
The examiner's heart lurched. He had not noticed Kakashi forming hand seals at all.
The outcome was obvious.
"I lost."
He immediately flung the tagged kunai into the sky, then turned around just in time to face Kakashi, whose blade was already pressed against his back.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosive tag detonated in midair.
Amid five deafening explosions, the examiner formally admitted defeat.
"Congratulations. You're officially a ninja now. I hope one day you'll become the next White Fang of the Leaf—or surpass him."
Illuminated by the firelight from the explosions, the examiner gave the white-haired boy his sincere blessing.
"I hereby declare that Kakashi Hatake has passed the early graduation examination and is officially promoted to genin!"
The ninja serving as referee announced the result at once.
"Whoa!"
The students surrounding the training ground erupted in cheers.
Every one of them was from the Ninja Academy, and all eyes were fixed on the white-haired boy below.
He had applied for early graduation less than a year after enrolling—and he had actually passed!
In other words, Kakashi Hatake had just set the record for the youngest graduate in the Academy's history.
'Forget how ridiculously powerful that explosive tag was for a second. Isn't a normal genin graduation exam supposed to be something like demonstrating the Three Basic Techniques? Why the hell are they allowed to use something that dangerous?'
Ignoring the cheering around him, Gen quietly stared at the flames that had yet to fully fade from the sky.
That explosive tag was absolutely abnormal.
Whose explosive tag detonated five times in a row?!
'This shinobi world is seriously cursed. Damn it, if you're going to transmigrate me, at least send me somewhere reasonable! The original shinobi world was already messed up enough. Why add all this unnecessary difficulty?!'
Gen Uchiha's original name had been Chen Beixuan.
Back on Earth, he had lived on the eighteenth floor of an apartment building. One day, while arguing with someone online over which character in Naruto Mobile was more cancerous, he had become so absorbed in the debate that a truck-kun suddenly appeared and killed him, sending him straight into the Naruto world.
As for how a truck managed to appear on the eighteenth floor... don't worry about it.
Unlike transmigrators who took over someone else's grown body, Gen had retained the memories of his previous life from infancy. His newborn body had simply been too fragile, so the consciousness containing those memories had not fully awakened until he was around two or three years old.
You could call it breaking through the mystery of the womb. Close enough, anyway.
And it was precisely when all his memories awakened at age three that Gen first realized something was terribly wrong with this shinobi world.
How had he realized it?
Well, could you imagine taking a casual after-dinner stroll through the Uchiha compound and seeing two miniature Susanoo swinging swords at each other in a public training ground?
That was Susanoo!
Normally, Susanoo was an exclusive ability of the Uchiha clan that could only be used after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Yet there it was, right in front of him.
Two of them, no less!
They had been reduced in size and wrapped around their users like armor, but Gen knew that appearance far too well to mistake it for anything else. They were definitely Susanoo.
Driven by curiosity—and partly by the suspicion that he had somehow fallen under a genjutsu—Gen had simply walked over and asked about it.
And really, what Uchiha could refuse a question from an adorable little Uchiha child?
So Gen got his answer.
And then...
Hahahahahaha!
Susanoo had somehow become a technique that anyone could learn once they awakened the Sharingan!
Even more absurdly, the form of Susanoo available depended on the stage of the Sharingan. The complete Susanoo armor Gen had seen that day could only be used with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Okay. That sounded slightly more reasonable...
Like hell it did!
As the years passed, Gen read more books and learned more about the world. Little by little, everything he had once understood about Naruto was completely shattered.
For example, the Aburame clan still used insects just like in canon.
The insects were merely a tiny bit different.
You know, things like bugs as large as tailed beasts, or insects capable of breathing fire, shooting lightning, and using ninjutsu.
Nothing major.
Another example was the Nara clan.
They were still famous for their intelligence and still specialized in shadows. Their techniques had only changed a tiny bit too. Things like traveling through shadows, or cutting an enemy's shadow to instantly kill the enemy themselves.
So yes...
This shinobi world was completely different from the one Gen remembered.
Well, maybe not completely.
At least the people he knew were still the same people.
They were just... a little more terrifying.