Currently, Uchiha Tatsumi, who is in his fifth year at the Ninja Academy, is set to move up to the graduation class after this summer vacation.
At that point, he'll be considered a full-blown senior.
Of course, due to a minor incident, Uchiha Tatsumi will be spending this summer confined to a bed in Konoha Hospital.
But honestly, there's nothing too bad about that.
Free, nutritious hospital meals. Mikoto's loving homemade bentō. And when bored, Kushina drops by to tell loud, animated stories that somehow end in a wrestling match with the bed curtains.
Uchiha Tatsumi never expected that at just nine years old, he'd be living what could only be described as a miniature version of a royal life—attended to by a devoted entourage.
This was the dream life. The ultimate lifestyle Tatsumi aspired to.
But peace never lasts long.
After his friend Minato (Watergate) heard he'd been injured, everything started to unravel.
Minato wasn't the type to start chaos intentionally—but it turns out knowing troublemakers is often enough. Especially kids like Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Chōza, who were all too happy to "fill in the blanks."
Before long, word spread among their circle that Uchiha Tatsumi had been hospitalized.
That, in itself, wasn't unusual—but the rumors quickly spiraled into madness.
At first, it was said that Tatsumi had fought a chūnin and gotten injured.
Then that chūnin became a jōnin.
Then, somehow, the story evolved into a dramatic, world-shaking battle where Uchiha Tatsumi fought both the Raikage and Kazekage for three hundred rounds before finally being hospitalized.
Eventually, the tale reached absurd heights—someone even claimed that a hospital nurse overheard Tsunade talking about Tatsumi kicking the Sage of Six Paths into the afterlife with a single taijutsu move.
All this just from visiting friends.
When Tatsumi caught wind of these rumors, he knew peace was officially over.
And sure enough, within three days of waking up, the door to his hospital room became a revolving one.
Uchiha Tatsumi had become the number-one target on both the "I want to marry him" list and the "I want to beat him up" list.
Every day, he had to fend off a mixture of swooning fangirls and bratty kids who came just to test their skills against the 'legendary hospital hero.'
Eventually, he resorted to his ultimate move: fake his own death.
Whenever someone came in, he'd throw the quilt over his head and let out a weak groan.
Surprisingly effective—it terrified one particular kid named Tani, who was actually Uchiha Ryō in disguise, trying to get a rise out of him.
The rumor mill pivoted again: now it was said Uchiha Tatsumi was terminally ill.
The waves of fans and noisy visitors vanished. The flower baskets disappeared—replaced by wreaths.
Throughout all this, Kushina and Mikoto stayed by his side, loyal and overprotective.
It was exhausting for them too, so Tatsumi insisted they only visit at noon and in the evening.
That left mornings peaceful.
Most of the time, Tatsumi lay in bed doing absolutely nothing—occasionally flipping through the H-manga he'd borrowed from Nawaki.
Their tastes differed. Tatsumi liked ponytailed girls with long legs. Nawaki, weirdly enough, had a thing for manly styles. Disturbing.
When the door knocked, Tatsumi instinctively shut the magazine and stuffed it under the pillow.
"Excuse me," came Minato's voice from outside.
Tatsumi gave him a narrow-eyed look the moment he entered.
Minato scratched his cheek with a sheepish smile. He knew the rumors started thanks to his asking around.
After returning from a mission, Minato hadn't seen Tatsumi or Nawaki at the Academy. He asked Jiraiya-sensei, who was—as always—lurking around the women's bathhouse.
Still, Jiraiya mentioned Tatsumi had been assigned a new mission.
A week passed. Minato ran into Nawaki—but no sign of Tatsumi. Only then did he learn that Tatsumi had been seriously injured and rushed back to Konoha by Tsunade herself.
Minato wanted to visit, but was told Tatsumi's condition was unstable. He waited patiently until visiting was allowed.
Now, standing beside the hospital bed, Minato placed a bag of apples on the cabinet.
He pulled a chair closer, took Tatsumi's hand gently, and asked, "How are you feeling now?"
"I'll be good before classes start again," Tatsumi smiled.
Their conversation was unusually ordinary. The two caught up on what they'd missed over summer vacation.
They exchanged stories, ninja tips, and information—Minato even shared some improvements he'd thought of for his custom seal scroll.
It was that scroll that saved Tatsumi's life during the last mission. Without it, he wouldn't have had the chakra to activate Chidori.
Tatsumi's biggest bottleneck wasn't talent—it was chakra reserves. He was still a kid, after all.
But his system points weren't enough to boost his chakra pool yet.
Then Minato leaned forward and said seriously, "By the way, Tatsumi… something's been bothering me."
"What is it?" Tatsumi's smile faded.
"The atmosphere in Konoha's been… off lately. I noticed that several Academy instructors have left the village."
"When did that start?"
Minato furrowed his brows. "Now that I think of it... it started right after Tsunade-sama brought you back."
Tatsumi fell into thought.
"Looks like the Second Great Ninja War is about to begin," he murmured.
"What?! But Jiraiya-sensei told me the Land of Rain agreed to peace talks. A war shouldn't break out."
"When did he say that?"
"During our last mission," Minato replied.
Tatsumi shook his head. He began to recount the details of his latest mission—what he saw, what he fought, what he barely survived.
There was no classified seal on the mission yet, so it was okay to share.
But given the circumstances, it wouldn't be long before it was.
Minato listened in silence.
Outside, the looming faces of the Hokage Monument gazed silently over the village.
Tatsumi looked toward them.
"It's clear now… this mission was the fuse that'll ignite the Second Shinobi World War."
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