It had always felt like fiction.
The loud orange kid.
The lonely glances.
The oversized headbands and overdramatized chakra lessons.
Just animation and voice actors and nostalgia.
But when the lightning hit, the fiction burned.
He didn't scream when it happened.
Just a sharp inhale and the sound of reality cracking — light blinding through his chest, electricity crawling through his bones, as the phone in his hand lit up one final time with Naruto's face frozen mid-run on screen.
And then it was gone.
All of it.
Erased in white.
Reset in silence.
The first thing he felt was the weight of the sunlight.
It was heavier than it should be — thick and warm and somehow realer than anything he'd ever remembered.
The second thing was eyes.
Too many of them.
Staring.
He blinked.
A classroom. Hardwood floors. Open windows. Desks lined in rows. A fan lazily turning above. Every single student frozen like a paused scene in a movie — except this was no movie.
And they were all staring at him.
A boy stood at the center of the room. Uniform crisp. Hair a burnished silver-white, wild but immaculate. His eyes? Electric blue, impossibly deep, and glowing subtly in the morning light. He wasn't trying to be the center of attention — he was. Like gravity pulled the world around him.
Ryujin Namikaze.
A transfer student. A myth stepping through the door.
Iruka-sensei stood beside him, one hand raised toward the class. "I'd like you all to welcome a new transfer to the Academy — he'll be joining this class starting today."
Whispers exploded like firecrackers.
"Namikaze?! As in…"
"The Fourth Hokage?!"
"He looks just like—wait—he's related to Naruto?!"
"Why's he just showing up now?"
"His chakra... it feels weird... dense…"
Naruto froze in place. His grin twisted into something confused, suspicious — then wary.
Iruka glanced at Naruto, then back to the class. "Yes… he's from the Namikaze bloodline — and before you all lose your minds, yes, he's a distant cousin to Naruto. But this isn't about lineage."
He turned to Ryujin. "Go on. Say something."
Ryujin stepped forward. He didn't rush. He didn't smile. He let the silence bloom like frost before he spoke — his voice smooth, deliberate, laced with an almost arrogant elegance that didn't feel put-on. It fit.
"I'm not here because of the name." "I'm here to prove why it still matters."
Sakura straightened in her seat. Sasuke's gaze sharpened. Naruto tilted his head, scowling.
"Wait, wait — hold up!" Naruto stood up, pointing. "If you're my cousin, how come I've never heard of you?"
Ryujin's lips curled slightly, not a smile — just a shape that hinted he could, if he wanted to.
"Maybe no one thought you could handle the competition."
"OI—!"
The room erupted in quiet laughter. Even Iruka fought back a grin.
Ryujin walked calmly past the rows of desks, the sun following his stride like it knew him. Girls leaned in to whisper. Boys sat up straighter. Every movement was precise — he didn't just walk. He arrived.
He took the empty seat beside Sasuke, two rows behind Naruto.
No one dared fill the space next to him. Not yet.
And as he sat down, the system clicked.
His fingers twitched slightly. The internal voice — the one he hadn't heard since the lightning strike — returned in a whisper only he could summon.
"P_REX."
DING.
| MENU |
- STATUS
- SKILLS
- QUESTS
- INVENTORY
- SHOP
The glow was faint, visible only to him. It hovered like glass before his eyes, clean, cold, and comforting. Like control.
He selected STATUS.
| STATUS |
Name: Ryujin Namikaze
Age: 12
Affiliation: Konohagakure
Rank: Academy Student
Chakra Core: Seraphim [Active]
Bloodline Signature: Namikaze
Relation: Direct Line (Cousin to Naruto Uzumaki)
Level: 6
Combat Tier: B+
Chakra Output: S
Speed Threshold: S+
Potential Rating: SS+
The Seraphim pulsed quietly within his chest. A second heart. A core of power no one here could detect — yet.
He closed the system. Reality resumed. The room didn't notice the pause.
Sasuke glanced sideways at him. "So… Namikaze?"
Ryujin didn't look over. "That bother you?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Not yet."
Naruto, from the row ahead, twisted in his seat. "So you're really my cousin, huh?"
Ryujin tilted his head, finally giving him a full look. "That depends. Are you ready to act like one?"
"Huh?!"
"Blood ties mean nothing if you embarrass the name."
Naruto opened his mouth to yell but Iruka clapped his hands.
"Alright, alright — that's enough! Team placements are being finalized. I expect all of you to cooperate."
He glanced at the clipboard and paused.
"Interesting…"
The class hushed again.
"Team 7 will be… Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha…" He looked up. "And Ryujin Namikaze."
Even Iruka blinked.
Sakura gasped. "FOUR people?"
Sasuke frowned slightly. Naruto's face twisted in a hundred different emotions at once.
Ryujin just exhaled.
Of course.
The system chimed quietly again:
| QUEST UNLOCKED |
Title: Canon Divergence: Sibling Rivalry
Objective: Survive Team 7
Bonus: Surpass Naruto without alerting the timeline
Reward: Trait Unlock — [???]
He leaned back in his chair, sunlight catching on his silver hair like liquid moonlight.
Let the story begin.