Iruka woke up to find himself facedown on a solid wood desk. The desk was piled high with scrolls, one of which was unrolled right in front of him. Iruka rubbed his eyes and unconsciously glanced at the open scroll. On it was written:
Land of Fire Ministry of Education: Meeting Minutes on Implementing the Spirit of the Daimyo's "Audience"
Land of Fire? Daimyo? Those words snapped Iruka wide awake. He looked at the scroll again. It was covered in squiggly symbols, definitely not any Chinese characters or letters he recognized. But for some reason, his brain just... read them. Automatically.
Transmigrated? Where is this? Who am I?
Iruka found a mirror in a drawer. The moment he picked it up, he saw the leaf-like symbol on his forehead protector.
Holy crap! This is a Konoha forehead protector! This is the world of Naruto!
So... who am I? He slowly raised the mirror to his face. The action, just a few seconds, felt like an eternity.
An average face. No mask. A scar across the bridge of his nose... This is... Umino Iruka?
I go through all the trouble of transmigrating just to become a side character? Is there no justice?! Other people get to be super-OP or the main character, and I get... this guy? A Ninja Academy teacher? An eternal Chunin?
Tch... whatever, fine. At least he's the main character's first teacher in this world. That's practically a protected NPC, basically royalty later on. Since I'm here, I might as well learn the job. I was a teacher in my old world anyway, so the whole "educating kids" thing isn't a problem. But... all those hand seals to memorize. At this age, I'm not sure my brain can handle it.
No idea what the timeline is. How old is Uzumaki Naruto right now? Will he be able to protect his 'beloved teacher' when shit hits the fan? Hmm... sounds like someone's here.
The door slid open. A Chunin teacher looked in. "Iruka-sensei, that kid Naruto is drawing graffiti on the Hokage Rock again. You need to handle him."
Before Iruka could answer, the man shut the door and walked off. His voice drifted back, "That demon fox brat... why is he still alive?"
Holy hell! This is... the plot of episode one?
Are you kidding me?! I go through all that crap just to be a side character, and now the main character isn't even strong enough to protect me? What's the point!...Whatever. Fine. Better figure out this whole jutsu thing. How do you mold chakra again? It's the 'Tora' seal, right?
Iruka formed the seal. He focused, feeling the flow in his body. He felt a sudden, hot burn deep in his core, and a warmth spread from there, filling his entire body.
Oh. Looks like a Chunin's chakra reserves aren't half bad. Ninjas really are different from normal people. In a fistfight, I could probably take on ten regular guys, no problem.
The chakra pulsing in him seemed to leak out of the room. Iruka could feel it drifting out the window like a cloud of mist, quickly vanishing.
Okay, what now? Right. That other teacher said Naruto was painting the Hokage Rock. So, according to the plot, I'm supposed to go catch him and then treat him to Ichiraku Ramen, right?
Iruka was just about to leave the office when a small dot appeared in the air in front of him. It suddenly ripped open like a vortex, and a long, white robe appeared inside.
The villain's here already?! But I don't know any jutsu, man! What the hell kind of garbage transmigration is this? Where's my cheat? Is there a system? ANBU! WHERE'S THE ANBU?! Enemy attack at the Academy!
"No need to be nervous!" a voice came from the spatial tear. "I'm just like you. I don't belong in this world either."
Iruka froze. Another transmigrator? And from the sound of it... He's been here longer than me?
He stopped trying to run and looked back. The spatial vortex was gone. The man in the white robe was standing in front of him, and he really didn't look threatening. That was because... the so-called "white robe" was actually a chef's uniform. The matching chef's hat proved it. The man had a kind face, his eyes squinted into a single, friendly line. This is... Old Man Ichiraku!
"You just transmigrate?" this "Old Man Ichiraku" asked.
Iruka nodded. "Yeah. What about you? Where are you from? How long have you been here? Are there others? How did you find me?" He fired off a stream of questions, trying to get a handle on what kind of world this was.
"Yes," Old Man Ichiraku answered. "I got here about two or three months ago. At first, I was just as clueless as you are. But now, I've got a complete picture of the situation here."
"What's the situation?" Hearing that, Iruka was desperate for answers.
Old Man Ichiraku (Teuchi) answered slowly, "This, as you can see, is the world of Naruto. You are Umino Iruka, and I am Old Man Ichiraku."
His expression suddenly changed. "But. Some things here are... different from the original story. For example, Naruto and Sasuke might not be the reincarnations of Asura and Indra."
"Naruto and Sasuke aren't the reincarnations of Asura and Indra?" Iruka had a feeling he knew what was coming next.
"Correct!" said Old Man Ichiraku. "Indra was reincarnated as me. And the reincarnation of Asura... is you! Umino Iruka!"
Iruka finally understood why he'd transmigrated as Iruka. So the main characters of this world aren't Naruto and Sasuke. They're... Old Man Ichiraku and me. Umino Iruka!
"So what do we do?" Iruka asked.
"I don't know," Old Man Ichiraku said. "I'm not sure if anyone else transmigrated, but for now, it looks like it's just the two of us. It's more... uh... logical that way."
Logical, my ass! How is any of this logical?!
Old Man Ichiraku continued, "In my original world, I was a ramen chef. So this world probably chose me for this body. What about you?"
"Me?" Iruka said. "What a coincidence. I was a teacher in my old world."
"That explains it," Old Man Ichiraku said. "I still don't know if anyone else came here, but I only sensed your chakra signature, which is why I came to find you. Maybe... we just have to let the plot play out normally. Then we can find out what happens next, and what kind of power chose us."
Iruka said, "Let the plot play out? Naruto and Sasuke aren't Asura and Indra's reincarnations anymore. How can the plot play out?"
"That's where we'll need to help... from the shadows," Old Man Ichiraku said. "You'll probably understand soon. The moment we arrived, we came with the Power of the Six Paths."
"Power of the Six Paths? We're that OP?"
"Don't believe me? Look." Old Man Ichiraku looked at Iruka's face and opened the eyes that he never once opened in the entire manga.
Rinnegan! He actually has two Rinnegan! No wonder he kept his eyes closed for the whole series! If he opened these things, he could probably wipe out the entire village!
Old Man Ichiraku squinted his eyes shut again and patted the dumbfounded Iruka. "Don't be scared. You have Six Paths power, too. As long as the Otsutsuki clan doesn't show up, we can basically do whatever we want in this world."
"But I haven't even learned the hand seals yet," Iruka remembered.
"You have the goddamn Power of the Six Paths, why the hell do you need hand seals! Just slap your palms together and yell, What jutsu won't come out?"
"Oh. Right."
"Go catch Naruto," Old Man Ichiraku said. "Let's run through the plot and see what happens." He opened his eyes at the wall, and the space twisted into a vortex again. He stepped in, then poked his head back out. "See you later. We've got 600-ish episodes until Kaguya shows up. We've got time to find the answers."
"Ah, okay," Iruka replied.
The spatial vortex vanished. Iruka once again confirmed his identity. He was, without a doubt, Umino Iruka. Except... he was Umino Iruka with the Power of the Six Paths. He was Six Paths Iruka!
Whatever. I'll just follow the plot for now and see what happens. There are still 600-ish episodes until Kaguya shows up....Holy shit. There are ONLY 600-ish episodes left?!
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