Speedrunning Naruto to the Top

The Ninja Academy runs on a three-semester system each year. The first semester goes from April 1st to around mid-July, the second from early September to the end of December, and the third from early January until late March.

April 1st, Year 54 in the Village of Konoha.

It's the start of a brand-new school year at the Ninja Academy.

By the end of March, all the sixth-year students have already wrapped up their graduation requirements—some have officially become Genin, some have stuck around to repeat a year, some got fast-tracked by special departments, and others decided to leave the ninja path behind.

Everyone else has just moved up to the next grade. The former first-year classroom has been cleared out, ready to welcome a new class of students who've passed the entrance exam.

Izayoi is one of those new faces.

Unlike the other kids, who mostly show up with parents or older siblings in tow, Izayoi's all by himself. And unlike those newcomers who look on with envy at classmates arriving with family, Izayoi doesn't seem jealous at all—he's just observing them.

But what he's paying attention to isn't their appearance. It's something only he can see:

[Ninja Aptitude (White)]

[Chakra Control (Green)]

[Chunin Aptitude (Green)]

Whenever Izayoi focuses on someone, these little bubbles pop up around them—some colors repeat, some differ, and each bubble has text that matches its color. Of course, there are also people who don't have any bubbles at all, either because they have no talent in the system's view or because their abilities don't meet even the lowest threshold. (Talents tied to everyday life aren't tracked here.)

That's Izayoi's special ability—his "cheat," so to speak.

Izayoi has no last name, just a first name. According to the orphanage director, he got the name "Izayoi" because he was born on the night of June 16th. He stayed in the orphanage until he was three, learning basic reading, speaking, and a few survival skills. After that, the director sent him back to his family home, then took him to the cemetery to see his parents' graves.

Turns out, Izayoi comes from a ninja family: both parents were orphans without family names. His father had been a Chunin in the village but got killed during a mission that wiped out his entire squad, including their Jonin captain. His mother died from complications giving birth, and with her final breath, she asked the doctor to put Izayoi in the care of the orphanage rather than entrust him to her husband or friends.

Because the orphanage is backed by the village, no one ever tried to take advantage of Izayoi's inheritance. And indeed, they never did.

He also wasn't surprised that he had to live on his own starting at three. Once he realized what kind of world he'd ended up in, Izayoi knew that aside from himself, the so-called "Child of Destiny" of this world had also been living alone since the age of three—and was even gutsy enough to wander around in the middle of a snowy night.

This is the world of Naruto, jokingly nicknamed "The Five Villages Showdown of Legendary Eyes" or "Black Zetsu's Mom Hunt." A story that basically revolves around the internal feuds of the Otsutsuki clan—where bloodline is everything. But Izayoi isn't scared. He's also not too bothered that he's an orphan without a surname or a Kekkei Genkai.

Why not? Because he's got his own cheat: the Talent Entry System.

It awakened when he turned one year old. Not only does it let him see those talent bubbles around other people, but he also has this special screen in his mind—visible only to him and impossible to reflect in a mirror. That screen shows Izayoi's personal data, and it came with a "Newbie Gift Pack." By the time he was three, he'd already used that gift pack, and now his profile looks way more impressive.

Walking into the Ninja Academy, Izayoi pulls up that mental display:

[Host: Izayoi]

[Talent Entries: Otsutsuki Bloodline (Red), Super-Kage Aptitude (Gold), Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan (Purple), All-Attribute Constitution (Purple), Medical Genius (Blue), Chakra Control (Blue)]

[Points: 25]

Most people only have one or two talent bubbles—if any. But Izayoi's rocking a whopping six. Of course, when he first got this system, he only had:

[Chunin Aptitude (Green)]

At three years old, though, he managed to change his fate, shooting up to become the biggest prodigy of his generation. Talent-wise, it's basically impossible to top him—someone might match him, but nobody's strictly better.

He categorizes talent entries by color—White, Green, Blue, Purple, Gold, and Red—based on his own research. He's sure there's something beyond Red, but as of now, he has no idea what color that might be.

The system's main feature is letting him acquire other people's talent entries. So far, he's figured out two methods:

1. Defeat your opponent.

In a fair fight, there's a good chance of getting a lower-level entry and a small chance of a higher-level one.

If you defeat someone stronger, you're very likely to gain a higher-level entry, and guaranteed at least a lower-level one.

If you totally overpower someone weaker, there's only a tiny chance of getting anything at all.

2. Use the Newbie Gift Pack.

It offers a one-time freebie: copying a single talent entry from another person.

When Izayoi first realized he'd been reborn into Naruto's world—Konoha Year 48, June 16th, same age as the future "Konoha 9 or Rookie 9"—he was dead-set on using that freebie on Uzumaki Naruto. After all, Naruto is the main character of this era: the reincarnation of Asura, inheritor of the Sage of Six Paths' body, and a dormant Uzumaki bloodline. Plus, he's the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails…

With two "nuclear reactors" worth of chakra inside him, Naruto's reserves climb day by day—whether he knows how to actually harness them or not. If there's a "Sage Body" talent or something similar, Izayoi could copy it and instantly tap into that massive potential.

And if not Naruto, then Uchiha Sasuke is just as appealing—he inherited the Sage's "eyes" and is the reincarnation of Indra.

But while Izayoi was searching for those two, he happened to bump into a Hyuga in the street and had a sudden revelation that made him drop his plan—at least for the time being.

Yes, in this era, Naruto and Sasuke are basically the biggest geniuses—like Hashirama and Madara in the past—both are Sage's reincarnations, both are destined to hit Super-Kage level if they fully awaken, and with the Sage's direct support, they could even break past all previous limits and hit Six Paths-level power.

That's on this Earth, though. What if you look beyond Earth entirely?