Naruto: Starting by Reading Minds in Naruto

Tobitake Tonbo dies quietly in his old life and wakes up just as quietly in a new one — as a nobody genin about to graduate into the middle of the Third Shinobi War.

He has no bloodline, no god-tier jutsu, and no interest in changing history. All he wants is a desk job far from the front lines, and he finds it: the Analysis Team, Konoha's mind-reading division, where genin sort through captured enemies' memories and nobody gets remembered for anything.

It should have been safe. Instead, every stolen mind sharpens him a little further — technique, instinct, chakra control, all of it settling into him faster than it should. Within weeks he's outpacing jōnin twice his age. Within months, war has a use for him whether he wants it or not.

He knows how this story ends: with a war far bigger than this one, and a Tailed Beast Ball through Allied headquarters. He knows the players, the timeline, the names that matter. He intends to stay small, stay useful, and let someone else be the hero.

The Analysis Team was supposed to be the safest place in a war. He's starting to wonder if that was ever true.

This is about to be published in NovelPhoenix!