Three years of jumbled memories surged into Ieyasu's mind in an instant.
He really couldn't complain about the Reincarnation Store—except for the steep pricing for the sake "cleanliness"... but he couldn't do anything about it, and at least it seemed to be honest.
Firstly, he discovered that his parents really were named Tokugawa, not Kato—he had fully replaced Kato Dan with Tokugawa Ieyasu after all.
He also discovered that his eyes had conveniently only awakened the Byaku-Sharingan now, it's good that he wasn't labeled an anomaly as a child.
Thus, Ieyasu immediately took out his custom sunglasses from the system seal in his right palm—they were circular, sort of like a black version of Nanami's sunglasses, but with ear support.
Ieyasu didn't feel the need to expose his eyes for no reason, it'd only be troublesome.
As for where or why he got the sunglasses? Who's gonna care?—his mother did, but she easily accepted it.
'I should check out the Hizakura naginata later, for now, I guess I should train physically and try to mold and control chakra if possible until the Academy starts. I'm not sure how the Academy worked this early on in Konoha, but I think the Sannin joined at 4 or 5 and definitely graduated when they were roughly 6 years old. So I should find out how to join soon.' Luckily, Ieyasu's parents hadn't died yet, so he could just ask them about ninja stuff as they both looked like civilian Chunin.
...
Eighteen months later.
'Finally.' Ieyasu said goodbye to his parents and went on his way to the Academy.
On the way, he thankfully wasn't ambushed by any rogue grandmas like another kid with goggles.
'Even though my parents only recently taught me the three basic jutsu and shuriken throwing, I should now have a body similar to a Senju, maybe? I could have overtrained, but I'd reach a point where it would be too abnormal and it would also affect my chakra control. Only Tsunade could be better than me in the physical aspect at my age, anyway. I'll keep my chakra similar to hers in the Academy.' There was also another reason to be similar to the Senju, Ieyasu wanted early access to Hashirama cells—although he wasn't sure he needed them, it definitely wouldn't be a bad thing to get Wood Release and the insane physique Hashirama had, there was zero risk.
On his way to the Academy he pondered, 'The Valley of the End battle could have happened recently or many years ago. But Hashirama's later death, that was likely from overdrawing his vitality, happened in the last year or so. Surprisingly, Hashirama wasbthe last first generation Kage to die. I can't know the exact details of their final battle as a kid, but the First War has been going on for a few months now, so Hashirama's definitely been dead for a while.'
'I wonder if I can volunteer to get Hashirama cells implanted, could I ask Hiruzen? I really don't wanna meet Danzo unless it's to piss him off or kill him. It's just that I don't want any creeps to know about my Adaptive Vital Body, and I don't really trust Hiruzen to keep it a secret, he'd probably ask Danzo to do research with me.'
'As for the moral aspect of assimilating the cells of Tsunade's grandpa? Ask Hiruzen and Danzo, I'm just a kid that may or may not be the perfect experimental subject.' Although Ieyasu felt weird about the whole transplant scene of the Naruto world, he was determined to follow the trend Madara had kick-started.
Before he had even worse ideas, Ieyasu finally arrived at the Academy's gates.
There, a few others were entering the building, he followed the directions of the staff and arrived at his classroom, where many of his future classmates were already sat.
Scanning through the crowd, Ieyasu saw the snake and the blonde medic, but the pervert hadn't arrived yet.
Seeing that the seat beside the Slug Princess was taken and that he didn't recognize anyone else besides the snake, he found an empty desk.
After sitting at the back of the class, Ieyasu only had to wait 5 minutes for the rest of the students to arrive.
The teacher had also come in by this point, he was a Tokubetsu Jonin from the Sarutobi clan that started off with a speech that honestly just didn't have the same effect as Monkey's.
Ieyasu discovered today that eloquence wasn't in the Sarutobi blood, but thankfully the speech lasted only for a few minutes.
Then came the introductions, Kintaro-sensei introduced himself and asked each student two things, their name and their dream.
A white-haired kid excitedly struck a weird pose and yelled, "It is I, Jiraiya the Gallant, I want to be a strong and handsome ninja!"
Some laughed, some sighed, and some were worried about laughing at a mentally challenged classmate.
A pale kid with long black hair stood up and said as if reporting something, "My name's Orochimaru, and I want to learn all jutsu."
Later on, a smug blonde brat said a bit absent-mindedly, "I'm Senju Tsunade, I want to protect and save people like my Grandpa."
When it was Ieyasu's turn, he realized he hadn't come up with a lie yet, so he said the truth, "My name is Tokugawa Ieyasu, I want to find a good wife and become invincible."
Kintaro shot him a skeptical glance, 'Oi, oi, even I haven't found a wife. And isn't becoming invincible a bit much for a snot-nosed brat?'
Nobody really dwelled on it, but it did earn Ieyasu some weird looks that made him slightly regret the honesty, 'At least I didn't name drop Tsunade, that'd be disastrous, I'll need to wait at least a decade to do any flirting.'
Moving on, the first day basically involved tests that let the teacher know how much each person knew.
Children of Shinobi made up almost the entirety of any Academy class at this point in time, and while not everyone knew jutsu, most still knew how to throw some ninja tools at a beginner level, how to make hand seals, and how to mold chakra.
Ieyasu himself could already throw shuriken and kunai with decent accuracy at mid-range and how to perform the three basic jutsu at a basic level.
Jiraiya's shuriken technique could only be said to be unique, throwing them in every direction was definitely not normal.
Surprisingly, even as a civilian Shinobi, Orochimaru could already throw ninja tools with precision, he even knew the transformation jutsu at genin level.
As for Tsunade, although she was actually quite similar to Ieyasu in the skills tested today, this monster was definitely better than him in chakra control and Taijutsu.
Although Ieyasu had done the leaf balancing exercise during the last year, it still wasn't enough to match Tsunade's monstrous talent.
...
After the Academy was over, Ieyasu immediately rushed home to eat.
Upon arriving home, his parents and his little sister were there, setting the table for their meal.
Yes, shortly after he arrived into this world, his mother had gotten pregnant with who would have once been Shizune's dead mother—she was still a months old infant that couldn't speak yet, though.
Ieyasu had come to appreciate this new family of his during this time, so he would force them to survive.
His parents were going to participate in the First Shinobi War, so he would ask them to retire as soon as they could believe he would be able to support them before their savings were gone, maybe he could convince them by becoming the Hokage's student.
The problem was how that would work—was his presence going to break up the Sannin or make them the Yon'nin?
He simply didn't know, he was hoping to be Hiruzen's student with the Trio, didn't Tobirama also have four students?
It was still early to be thinking about this, all the Nidaime were still alive and there were still going to be many more months of fighting before they all died and the war ended.
Although Ieyasu wished he could get Danzo to die in Tobirama's place, he couldn't contact any higher-ups—even if he found them, he was sure Tobirama wouldn't let anyone die for him.
As for telling them that it was a trap, he simply wasn't going to be that suspicious, and also, Ieyasu didn't want to completely change this war and somehow mess up the years of peace he was going to have.
All he needed to do was show he was a genius so he could get a good teacher.
...
1 year later.
"Tsuna-chan, do you think we're gonna be in the same team when we graduate?" Ieyasu asked.
Tsunade punched him in the shoulder and said, "I hope not! And I've already told you to stop calling me Tsuna-chan, who do you think you are?"
Pretending to not feel the brooding pain on his shoulder, Ieyasu feigned disappointment, "Haah, and here I was, thinking you were a real friend."
Tsunade would have beat him up more if the Hokage hadn't shown up on the podium just then, but for good measure, she still said, "Just shut up and focus! Stop pretending, and fine, I give up, call me whatever you want, Yacchan."
"Hey! Only my mom calls me Yacchan." Ieyasu wasn't exactly against it, but he had to say something.
"Okay then, Ieyacchi~." Tsunade was grinning at the fact that the taunting worked, 'This guy is usually so shameless.'
"Wait, wait, Yacchan is fine, I can even call you whatever you want, just don't call me that." Ieyasu regretted it, 'What kind of bullshit even is Ieyachhi? Aren't we Shinobi?'
"Too late, Ieyacchi. Now listen to the Hokage, he's already started calling people up there to take the headbands." They were lucky to be at the far back, so no one heard them bickering besides the surrounding students.
...
Hiruzen announced the last regular graduate, "Aburame Shinichi, you can come up."
After giving the kid a few words of encouragement and assigning him an instructor, Hiruzen finally moved on to the list of early graduates. "Now, this year we had 22 students that graduated early, due to the war, some of you are also going to be assigned to teams of four just like the regular graduates as there are not enough qualified instructors available to mantain to standard three-man squads."
Ieyasu was initially surprised when he heard of this in the Academy, he had only seen the standard Jonin with three genin or chunin in a team, he had found out a lot of instructors had to be Tokubetsu Jonin or even just experienced Chunin due to war, and even then, sometimes graduating teams had 4 or even 5 genin.
After calling up everyone else, Hiruzen finally called up one of the four he had chosen to personally teach, "Jiraiya, you can come up."
After being told he was going to be Hiruzen's student, Jiraiya couldn't hide the smug grin on his face, when he came down, he gloated, "Orochimaru! Ieyasu! You guys said I wouldn't even graduate, but Lord Sandaime recognizes the fact that I'm a handsome genius, he just said I'm gonna be his student and that I remind him of his younger self."
Orochimaru rolled his eyes and said, "Shut up, idiot."
Ieyasu wasn't surprised, he said, "Of course, it's only natural that a pervert can recognize another pervert."
Jiraiya widened his eyes at that, "Hey, don't insult my teacher like that! Who says he's a pervert? Wait, do you think he could teach me some, uh, scouting techniques?"
That earned him a kick from Tsunade, Ieyasu, and even Orochimaru who didn't wanna be left out.
Then, it was Orochimaru and Tsunade's turns to go up, both were also assigned to be formally taught under Hiruzen once the war was over.
Then, Hiruzen called the last graduate, "Now lastly, Tokugawa Ieyasu, you can come up."
Ieyasu walked up and greeted the newly appointed Hokage with a light bow, "Hello there, Hiruzen-sensei."
Hiruzen was about to greet him back when he realized this kid had imposed upon him the position of teacher.
He hesitated to have more than three students, but thinking of his teacher, he ultimately decided to similarly take on four disciples. He had to say, this one was a wildcard.
"Hey there, Ieyasu, I didn't even give you your headband yet, why do you think I'm gonna be your teacher?" Hiruzen decided to ask.
"Well, aren't you?" Ieyasu made an innocent face, as if saying it was an obvious thing to teach a genius like him—after all, he was first in his class, even with three other geniuses alongside him.
Hiruzen's brows slightly twitched, but he moved on, saying, "It doesn't matter, anyway, yes, after the war concludes, which should be soon, I'm going to officially teach all four of you troublemakers. Here, congratulations on officially becoming a Shinobi, as a Konoha Shinobi, remember to always have the Will of Fire in your heart and protect the village, alright?" Hiruzen righteously declared as he gave Ieyasu the last forehead protector.
"Sure, Monkey." Ieyasu muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"I said alright, Hiruzen-sensei." Ieyasu lied with a straight face as he immediately left the podium and ran back to his friends.
'Maybe four of them was too much, how did teacher manage? Haah, at least Orochimaru seems more obedient and Tsunade has a better personality. Those other two are hopeless, especially that Jiraiya kid, he doesn't even know you can't be obvious when you peep.' Hiruzen had thoughts that were unfit for a Hokage, or even for a respectable human.
As he got closer to the group, Ieyasu waved and said, "Hey, I'm in Team Hiruzen too. Guess you guys are out of luck."
The other two scoffed as they knew his antics, but Jiraiya cluelessly asked, "Why?"
"Of course it's because now you no longer have the chance to catch up with me again. I'll keep it low-key to not embarrass you guys, though." Ieyasu didn't know why, but he couldn't interact normally with these kids, he just really liked to piss them off—maybe it was his way to make interacting with children less awkward.
'I have to tone it down once Tsunade gets stronger, though, I might not die, but I don't want to gamble with my life like that.' Even this bratty version of Tsunade would dislocate and fracture his shoulder all the time after she found out he healed quickly, imagine what she'll do with chakra-enhanced Senju Taijutsu.
In the end, Team Hiruzen was now formed—a four-man squad led and taught by the Sandaime Hokage himself.