I thought I could raise a Hokage!!!

On the roof of an unfinished building.

The sparse cans roared incessantly.

A man raised his head and poured the beer in his hand down his throat, exuding a heroic aura. The people next to him didn't applaud. Instead, one opened another can of beer and handed it to him.

"Brother Beiyuan, now that you're free, what do you want to do? Let me see if there's anything I can do to help..."

"I..." The man glanced at the desolate suburbs as several pitch-black crows screeched and flew into the sky. These birds... symbols of death.

"I really want to be a crow... Even if unknown to everyone, it would be free and happy..."

"..."

The brother beside him choked.

"Since I came here, Brother Beiyuan, you've helped me a lot, but I've done nothing..." The brother took a sip of beer and began spouting nonsense: "If you really want that, it's not impossible..."

His voice sounded serious.

He raised his head and stretched out his right palm. A golden light filled Beiyuan's entire vision.

Beiyuan was stunned. He suddenly remembered this brother had always been sincere in words and actions, so Beiyuan had taken care of him over the years.

…

After sobering up, Beiyuan was close to breaking down. Good brother... Why do you always have a way to do this kind of indecent thing?

Beiyuan looked around. The forest here was dense, the air extremely fresh.

But, he had really turned into a crow.

Beiyuan was silent for a moment, flapping his wings before flying to a river. He gazed at his reflection in the water.

What's different about this crow? There is something.

Jet-black feathers, pure black, like a lazy designer filling the entire body with black.

The model and design were perfunctory.

The one illogical detail... its eyes were red, as though the dye was watered down, resulting in a dull hue.

This looks like a kindergarten project!

…

The crow flapped its wings and soared. Beiyuan planned to find someone to reverse this. He didn't truly want to be a crow.

After all, who, born human, would willingly want to be a beast?

"Stab... stab..."

A harsh sound caught his attention.

Beiyuan raised his head and saw a little boy falling down a cliff. The child clung to the sharp blades in his hands, scratching the stone wall in a desperate attempt to delay his fall.

The crows in the forest were startled and circled above the boy's head, waiting for their feast.

Beiyuan swiftly darted toward the boy. Humans don't ignore the death of their own kind—it's instinct.

Even if he was now a crow...

His claws gripped the boy's arm tightly. He flapped his wings with all his might, trying to halt their descent.

Oddly, whether the child was too light or Beiyuan was too strong, he actually managed to lift the boy into the air.

This isn't logical... but what part of becoming a crow has been logical?

"Are you... trying to save me?"

The boy looked up at the black figure above him, a sweet smile spreading across his face. "Thank you!"

"Gah?"

The only sound he could make was a crow's cry.

Beiyuan dropped the boy on the grass and prepared to search for the child's parents. Even if he seemed precocious, a three- or four-year-old must have someone looking after him.

But the boy's words made Beiyuan nearly fall from the sky...

"Thank you!" The boy waved happily. "My name is Itachi Uchiha!"

Uchiha... Itachi...

This feels like a bad joke.

Beiyuan flew back down, spreading his wings to hover in front of the boy. "Gah?"

"Do you have a name?" The boy squinted and stroked Beiyuan's feathers, his smile warm.

As he moved, a fiery energy surged into Beiyuan's body. Almost instantly, a greater force erupted from within him, repelling the foreign energy.

The sheer power sent Itachi flying back a few steps.

The child sat on the ground, wide-eyed in astonishment. "This chakra..."

Beiyuan instinctively understood the energy within him. His soul, unnaturally strong, allowed him to grasp control over his body with ease.

Though he didn't fully understand, he recognized the significance of animals wielding chakra.

He, Beiyuan, was no ordinary crow.

He was... a ninja who wanted to become human again.

Beiyuan reflected on how his so-called good brother had turned him into a chakra-wielding ninja and sent him to the world of Naruto.

For over a decade, that guy had lived like an ordinary person, giving Beiyuan no reason to suspect him.

Someone that honest and simple didn't seem capable of such things...

"I'll come back to sign a summoning contract with you once my dad and I learn summoning, okay?"

The boy's words jolted a memory in Beiyuan's mind.

Hai-Xu-You-Shen-Wei!

What the...

How does he know the hand seals for summoning?

Even Beiyuan instinctively crossed his wings on his chest to form seals, slamming them onto the ground. A summoning array briefly appeared.

But nothing happened.

Beiyuan hadn't signed any summoning contracts. He wasn't meant to. After all, he still wanted to become human again.

He thought about ninjutsu—transformation, clones, shadow clones...

All the seals and chakra flowed through his mind. Yet, many techniques felt locked, as if they needed activation.

Summoning, as Itachi had mentioned, might be one of those triggers.

This power feels like a top-tier cheat! Aside from being a crow, what's there to complain about?

Itachi stared in wonder as the crow formed hand seals. A crow performing ninjutsu was beyond belief, even for a ninja.

Beiyuan paused. The boy stopped as well, blinking at him.

"Gah?"

Itachi didn't understand bird language, so he tilted his head and imitated the sound. "Gah?"

You don't need to learn ninjutsu, so why are you trying to learn crow language?

Noticing Beiyuan's stare, Itachi blushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to copy you."

Peeking at others' ninjutsu was wrong, and even at four years old, he understood that.

Beiyuan gestured with his wings for the boy to extend his arm. He landed on it, pointed toward the village in the distance, and let out a cry.

"Gah!"

"..."