Naruto: Reincarnated As Azula, From The Same Generation As The Sannin

"...and as the sacred Will of Fire proclaims," droned Instructor Shimura, his voice flatter than a dropped dango stick, "each and every shinobi must diligently plant the seeds of unwavering camaraderie within the fertile soil of teamwork! For only together, watered by mutual trust and bathed in the sunlight of shared purpose, do we truly bloom into the radiant, prosperous future Konoha deserves!"

I blinked, slowly, like a particularly unimpressed owl who'd just heard the world's most boring haiku.

Seriously? Seeds? Soil? Blooming? Was this Ninja Fundamentals 101 or Advanced Metaphorical Gardening? My brain felt like it was trying to wade through three feet of mud.

Was it too early in the day to clutch my stomach, let out a convincing groan, and make a break for the infirmary? Maybe fake a sudden, tragic allergy to… inspirational platitudes?

Because this… this right here… was my grand, glorious, legendary first day at the one and only Konoha Ninja Academy! The hallowed halls where legends like the Sannin would scrape their knees!

The fiery crucible where future Hokages were forged in the fires of… uh… repetitive lectures about flowers? The elite training ground destined to sculpt warriors whose names would echo through the bloody, glorious annals of shinobi history—

And here I was, getting a horticultural TED Talk disguised as ninja philosophy.

My enrollment form definitely did not mention mandatory gardening metaphors.

You know what? Maybe that pint-sized, mustachioed lunatic had stumbled onto one nugget of truth. The whole abolish-all-schools thing started to sound less like villainy and more like a public service announcement.

If I'd known unlocking chakra came bundled with fortune-cookie wisdom about communal flowerbeds, I might have rethought my career path.

Heck, listening to the clan ranting about Uchiha genetic superiority and the crushing weight of destiny suddenly sounded like a riveting podcast compared to this mulch. At least it would have explosions.

"Remember, students," Shimura-sensei intoned, somehow making even that sound like a dirge, "Teamwork isn't just a cornerstone of shinobi life... it is the cornerstone of all missions! Even the mightiest among us, standing alone, is but a leaf before the storm!"

Just end me. Please. I let my forehead thud gently onto the cool wood of my desk.

Forget Uchiha concentration drills. Right now, mastering the Shadow Clone Jutsu felt like the ultimate survival skill. Imagine it: one miserable clone stuck here absorbing the fertilizer of wisdom, while the real me was back home, napping, or maybe trying to figure out how to weaponize ramen. Brilliant. Why hadn't I prioritized that? Isn't it better than understanding Lightning Nature Ninjutsu?

Desperate times called for desperate distractions. My eyes scanned the room like a sensor ninja on perimeter duty.

Sweet relief! I wasn't the sole soul drowning in this sea of boredom! Over there, looking like he was trying to fuse with his desk through sheer force of will, was a young Jiraiya – future super-pervert and Toad Sage, currently embodying the very spirit of 'checked out.'

A few seats over, a Hyuga heir was practicing subtle eyelid calisthenics (probably trying to activate the Byakugan just to see something interesting). Even a couple of the usually attentive, seriously uptight clan kids looked like they were mentally composing epic poems about paint drying.

Sensei didn't bat an eyelash. Dude was clearly a seasoned veteran of the Boredom Wars. As long as no one started a kunai-throwing competition mid-lecture or spontaneously combusted, he'd probably blissfully ignore the comatose state of his students.

Seriously, back on Earth, in the dark ages of mandatory education, you at least had the nuclear option: the phone.

Sneak it under the desk, pretend you're taking 'intense notes,' maybe catch a quick game or doomscroll through cat videos. Risky, yeah, but possible.

But forget it here. Every single teacher prowling these halls was a freaking Chunin. Might not be Kakashi-level legends, but their hearing is very ninja-sharp.

You could drop a pin crafted from the fluff of a baby cloud rabbit in the back row, and they'd know. You could think about sighing too loudly, and they might sense the impending soundwave disturbance.

Your only hope was their monumental, practiced apathy. Pray to the Sage they just… didn't care enough to call you out.

Sighing internally (because external sighing might trigger Sensei's dormant hearing jutsu), my gaze finally landed on the blank scroll of paper in front of me.

Paper, the Naruto World's technological marvel... sometimes. This whole dimension had a tech tree planted by a drunken squirrel.

One minute you've got crystal balls for surveillance and chakra-powered prosthetics, the next you're writing with ink brushes, and messenger hawks are the height of comms. It was gloriously, bafflingly uneven.

Anyway, distraction secured! Since reincarnating into this world, I'd picked up some hobbies, one of them being drawing.

Past-life me couldn't sketch a convincing stick figure to save his life. Seriously, my artistic talent peaked at lopsided smiley faces that I could only do after entering the Zone.

But this time around, dedication plus ninja-grade hand-eye coordination equals... well, I could confidently say I was hovering around 'master level' now.

Portraits, landscapes, detailed schematics of theoretical jutsu that would probably get me labelled a missing-nin if anyone saw them... you name it.

It helped that these fancy Uchiha eyeballs were basically high-definition scanners. I could see the exact point where my line wobbled a micron off course. Perfectionist's dream. Or nightmare.

Sometimes I wondered... if I ever mastered high-level genjutsu, could I basically project the image directly from my mind onto the paper like an internal projector?

No messy hand movements, just thinking the picture into existence.

I know, I know. Pure, unadulterated genius. Probably bordering on lazy genius. Don't judge. You try sitting through hours of 'Will of Fire' gardening similes and see what your brain cooks up.

But seriously though, the whole 'trauma = power-up' mechanic here is... problematic.

I'm the kind of person who gets way too immersed in stories. A well-written character death would probably have me crying in anger for some time, maybe even almost hating the author.

But considering real-life world death, that's... trickier.

Packing two lifetimes' worth of memories into one skull – one lived enough to kill many times, became a psychopath, but managed to live into old age – kinda changes your perspective.

Death sucks, yeah. But it's also... natural. The cycle, y'know? Plus, this is the Naruto world. Death isn't always the final boss.

Between Edo Tensei, Rinne Rebirth, Sage of Six Paths hand-wavy magic, and who knows what else Orochimaru's got bubbling in his basement vats, 'permanent' is kind of a flexible concept.

Knowing you could potentially drag Uncle Bobo back from the Pure Land if you really put your mind to it... well, it kinda takes the raw, world-shattering edge off the grief, doesn't it?

So, picturing some horrific tragedy befalling a loved one... would I be devastated? Absolutely. Would I rage? Probably. Would I ugly cry? Almost certainly.

But would that specific cocktail of despair and loss be potent enough to fry my optic nerves and unlock a funky new kaleidoscope pattern? The Mangekyou Sharingan? Honestly? Doubtful.

It feels like you need that pure, unadulterated, soul-crushing emotion, the kind that shatters your reality before you've built up any emotional calluses or metaphysical loopholes.

Unfortunately, I've got calluses on my calluses and a mental Rolodex of resurrection options. Awakening the Sharingan itself would be hard enough. The Mangekyou would probably feel like trying to win the trauma lottery... and I'm not sure I even wanna buy a ticket.

So I need something that can truly stir my deadass emotions, that may make the sage and wise me cry like a baby or scream into a pillow at 2 a.m. And there's nothing quite like a beautiful, gut-wrenching manga to do the job.

Once I start reading, I'm usually diving headfirst into the pages.

My body stays behind, but my soul is out there dying with the characters, especially if one of them reminds me of that certain Attack on Titan series that once had me rethinking life, death, and possibly therapy.

There are bound to be stories of so many ninja in this world that could wreck me in the same way.

Who knows? Maybe if I find something that hits as hard as Attack on Titan, I'll awaken my Three Tomoe Sharingan out of sheer emotional damage.

Maybe not only me, but something so traumatizing that it makes other Uchiha awaken their Sharingan. I'd like to see Tobirama's face if that happened.

Unfortunately, manga didn't exist in this world, so I'm going to create it.

It's time to share the pain. Not "my friend moved away" pain, but the soul-obliterating, "your entire worldview is a lie and everyone you love dies" kind of pain. The Ninja World doesn't know it yet, but I'm about to drop emotional nukes through manga. Question is… what should I write about?

I thought about my favorite, Attack on Titan, but nah. That one's too divisive. Some people love it, others say it's overrated, and I'm not in the mood for philosophical debates with twelve-year-olds.

One Piece? Too long, too cheerful, and I've skipped enough episodes to make even Luffy forget who I am. Fairy Tail? Finished it. Good vibes, but the power-of-friendship thing isn't what I want to share unless I make Makarov's death real — but this still isn't what I want them to feel.

Honestly, if I drop something as impactful as Demon Slayer, it might start a whole new manga wave in this world. Which is kind of the goal.

That said… I haven't finished Demon Slayer. I dropped it around the part where Muzan blows up his own family. After all, I just don't like people killing their family — but well, he didn't have a choice from his point of view, did he?

Anyway, I just don't like him. It's my anti-family-killing trauma — especially when it comes to certain nephews who might need to learn the fist of love from their lovely aunt (a.k.a. me).

Despite that, I somehow ended up sketching that guy, the Michael Jackson-looking demon boss himself. My hand just moved on its own. It's unscientific. But… I smiled. That can only mean one thing.

My decision's been made. I'm going with Demon Slayer.

While my teacher changed and started blabbing on and on about the Will of Fire like he's some ancient philosopher—there I am, in the back of the classroom, sketching anime characters like my life depends on it.

I'm thinking, "What if I redesigned Muzan to look like Danzo?" For a second, I was tempted. But then I realized that would be an unforgivable crime. Like, ruin-his-whole-vibe type of crime.

Danzo doesn't have the terrifying elegance Muzan does. Muzan is smooth. Still. Calculated. Like a predator in a Gucci cloak. Danzo? He's more like an old crypt keeper with an eyeball fetish. I can't sully Muzan's aesthetic like that. He deserves better.

Still, I had to tweak the design a little. His crimson eyes were too Sharingan-coded. People here might start asking if he's an Uchiha, and I'm not ready for that conversation. So I toned it down, adjusted the shade. Now he just looks like a very angry, fashionable vampire.

After confirming that I may start drawing my manga, I needed to adjust my schedule.

First on the list: learn Lightning Release. In the short term, it's my best bet for raw power. My Firebending is already outperforming most Fire Release techniques, so no need to overtrain there. Time to zap things instead of just burning them.

Second: learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Because that thing is the ultimate life hack. With my chakra control, it'll be easy to learn. Even if I can only make one clone that doesn't fight, I can at least have it draw for me or, better yet, take classes in my place while I'm training to become stronger.

So yeah. That's the plan for the next few days: Lightning Release, Shadow Clone, and drawing the first manga this world has ever seen.

.....

If you like it, don't forget to vote guys and I will be very pleased to receive feedback, ideas and suggestions.