c5: Well-known
Konoha Hidden Village?
Fourth Hokage?
What even are those?
Nick Fury furrowed his brow beneath his signature black eye patch. In all his years of tracking enhanced individuals across the globe mutants, inhumans, gamma-powered anomalies he had never heard of a village called "Konoha," let alone someone called the "Fourth Hokage."
Who was this Ryan Wong?
And more importantly where did he come from?
Nick Fury had been fully briefed on Hulk and Abomination before arriving. Banner's alter ego was considered a catastrophic-level threat, a match for even Thor. Abomination, enhanced by a variant of the super-soldier serum combined with gamma infusion, was nearly his equal.
In Fury's eyes, even Tony Stark's Iron Man armor paled in comparison to the raw destructive power those two titans represented.
And yet… both had been singlehandedly taken down no, humiliated by this man who called himself the Fourth Hokage of some "Konoha Hidden Village."
Wong didn't just overpower them he obliterated Abomination, and he subdued Hulk, something only two beings had ever done before: Thanos, and Tony Stark with the Hulkbuster armor.
Fury was stunned but the surprises weren't over.
Ryan Wong hadn't only used teleportation with speeds rivaling Quicksilver or the Flash he had conjured a fireball that looked like a hybrid between Firestorm's fusion blasts and a Phoenix Force flare, radiating such heat that the blast shockwave alone forced seasoned S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to stagger backward.
And in the midst of it all, Ryan Wong had simply leapt away, carrying Dr. Bruce Banner over his shoulder.
The Abomination's corpse continued to burn in the crater left by the Great Fireball Jutsu.
"Extinguish the fire! Now! Get foam on it!"
But it was already too late.
By the time fire suppression foam was deployed, what remained of Emil Blonsky was charred and useless burned beyond any scientific retrieval.
Ryan Wong and Banner were long gone.
Nick Fury stood silently for a moment, jaw clenched in frustration. Then, regaining his composure, he snapped orders:
"Wake General Ross. Secure the perimeter. Get a containment team for cleanup. Full media lockdown now."
But it was already happening.
Click, click, click.
Civilians had recorded the entire event on their phones. Dozens of video feeds from rooftops, apartments, and street corners were already hitting the internet. No way to stop it in time.
In a digital age where YouTube and TikTok moved faster than a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite, secrecy was a luxury that no longer existed.
That night, the footage of Ryan Wong calling himself "Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village" obliterating Hulk and Abomination went viral, ranking as the most-viewed video globally.
Suddenly, the obscure terms Konoha and Hokage became top search keywords across every major platform.
Netizens worldwide began speculating:
"Is Konoha a hidden black-ops village in Japan?"
"Hokage = leader? Like a ninja president?"
"How strong is this guy compared to Avengers?"
The only anchor the internet had was Ryan Wong's own words: he was the Fourth Hokage, and he came from Konoha Hidden Village.
With that, the internet came to a startling conclusion only Japan would use titles like "Hokage."
Was this some ancient ninja society? A secret Japanese government project?
If an entire village of warriors existed with powers like Ryan Wong's, shouldn't they have ruled the world by now?
Under mounting public and diplomatic pressure, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the United Nations formally contacted the Japanese government that same night.
Japan's response?
"We have no record of a Konoha Hidden Village. If not for the video, we wouldn't even know it exists. We cannot confirm or deny anything."
But other world powers weren't so easily convinced.
They believed Japan was hiding something. Japan, in turn, leaned into the mystery:
"Feel free to come and search. We'll cooperate fully. If Konoha exists, it'll be found. If it doesn't, then it's clearly not here."
Weeks passed. Satellites scanned mountain ranges, forests, even beneath Tokyo's underground networks.
Nothing was found.
But these were concerns far from Ryan Wong's mind.
Miles away, amid the quiet rustle of trees, Dr. Bruce Banner stirred awake. Even after the brutal fight, Hulk's regenerative physiology let him survive trauma that would kill most meta-humans.
Ryan gently set him down as Banner groaned.
Ryan still bore the appearance of Minato Namikaze, complete with golden hair, jonin flak jacket, and that iconic flame-trimmed cloak. As long as he chose not to dispel the transformation, he could remain Minato indefinitely.
"You… beat Hulk?" Banner said slowly, sitting up.
His tone wasn't really a question more an awed statement. His voice carried a strange mix of fear, respect, and curiosity.
His eyes searched Ryan's, looking for some sign of arrogance or cruelty.
But Ryan Wong only nodded slightly, gaze calm.
And the world shifted a little more.
The memories of Bruce Banner and the Hulk are not entirely shared but when Banner transforms, he sometimes experiences fractured visions afterward.
Like shards of a broken mirror, they come back in fleeting images echoes of fury, destruction, and pain.
Among those fragments, Banner recalled one chilling scene clearly: Abomination's death, and Hulk's defeat at the hands of a thunder-wielding figure, a blur of yellow cloak and teleportation a man who moved like Thor, but wielded fire like Dormammu.
That man… was the one standing in front of him now.
Ryan Wong nodded silently. There was no point hiding it.
"Yes. That happened," he said.
Now that Banner was conscious again, Ryan turned to leave. "You're back in control. My job here is done."
Was Banner a good person? Undeniably.
That's why Ryan had no reason to treat him coldly.
But Banner reached out, stopping him.
"Minato Namikaze, right?" he asked, referring to the alias Ryan had used earlier. "Can I… come with you?"
Ryan narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
"You can stop the Hulk. You beat him. I need your help," Banner said honestly. "I don't want to hurt people anymore. I can't risk transforming without someone like you nearby."
There was no deception in Banner's voice only truth. A deeply rooted fear of losing control. Again.
Ryan was quiet.
Inside, a debate was unfolding.
His outward expression remained calm, but internally, his consciousness had already sunk into the System Space the mysterious force that had granted him access to legendary characters across the multiverse.
He hadn't had time to study it while fighting Abomination, protecting civilians, or dodging General Ross's tanks. But now, in this quiet moment, he turned his full attention to it.
A golden screen appeared before him:
---
[Host: Ryan Wong]
[Current Persona: Minato Namikaze – Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure]
[Play Progress: 25%]
[Unlocked Persona(s): Minato Namikaze]
[Times Played: 0]
---
It had increased.
Earlier, his progress had only been 15%. He had questioned whether it was simply due to his natural synergy with Minato's temperament calm, tactical, driven.
But now? Now he understood.
"Is it because I just killed Abomination, stopped the Hulk, and neutralized General Ross the source of this entire mess? Was I fulfilling the unspoken will of Minato's persona?"
If Ryan Wong hadn't intervened, Ross would've likely died during Abomination's rampage, and Banner would've been taken or killed by his own alter ego.
There would've been no resolution. Just destruction.
And the system seemed to acknowledge that.
Its voice rang out in his mind once more clear, mechanical, yet infused with an ethereal authority:
---
[This is the Supreme Acting System. You may extract personas from any universe Marvel, DC, anime, multiverse. You may fully transform into them.]
[The deeper you play a character, the higher your performance progress. Increased progress leads to exponential power growth. If progress reaches 100%, your power may surpass the original character's.]
---
Play progress… acting performance.
That was the key.
Suddenly, Ryan understood it all.
What is a ninja?
A shinobi accepts missions. Fulfills them. Gains recognition. Earns rewards.
From Naruto Uzumaki to Kakashi Hatake, from Sasuke Uchiha to Shikamaru Nara, even titans like Uchiha Madara had once followed that path.
Ryan had just completed a "mission"—ending the Abomination's threat and protecting Banner. In doing so, he had fulfilled a kind of karmic role, a narrative arc that the system recognized.
The reward? Access to Minato's deeper essence. Power. Permanence.
From this moment forward, he wasn't just Ryan Wong of Earth-199999.
He was also Minato Namikaze, reborn into the Marvel Universe.
The persona wasn't just a cosplay. It was his.
With that revelation, Ryan's gaze returned to Banner.
This request this plea was more than coincidence. It was a mission.
A chance to grow further. To embody the role completely.
To be Hokage in a world that had never heard of Konoha.
"Alright," Ryan said, voice calm.
"You can come with me."
Banner's eyes widened, a flicker of hope breaking through years of fear.
Ryan continued, eyes gleaming with resolve.
"But if you ever lose control again, I'll stop you. Immediately."
Bruce nodded. "That's all I ask."
And with that, two of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe walked away together one a man seeking redemption, the other a shinobi learning to act like a legend.
And the world would never be the same.