RainThe rain fell without pause.
Not a gentle rain.
Not a living rain.
A heavy, filthy, oppressive rain, hammering metal, stone, and flesh alike—as a constant reminder: this world forgave nothing.
Kaido opened his eyes.
He didn't startle.
He didn't panic.
He observed.
Above him stretched a rusted metal ceiling, supported by cracked beams. Water seeped through in places, dripping steadily into dented basins. The smell was acrid—humidity, old blood, burned chakra.
A broken village.
He slowly sat up.
His body was small. Yes.
But it was not weak.
His muscles, despite their reduced size, were dense. Too dense for a child. When he placed his foot on the floor, the wood creaked faintly.
— …
Kaido narrowed his eyes.
This body…
He no longer had the monstrous mass he once knew.
No more eight meters.
No more strength capable of making the seas tremble.
But he felt something else.
A natural resistance.
An abnormal solidity.
As if his body had been compressed… but not broken.
The door opened.
Two figures stepped inside.
Ninjas. Not amateurs. Their steps were measured, their gazes cautious. They looked at him the way one observes a dangerous animal that hasn't yet decided whether it will bite.
— He's awake, one of them said.
Kaido slowly turned his head toward them.
The younger of the two swallowed.
— …
A heavy silence settled.
— You're in the Hidden Rain Village, the older one finally said.
— Amegakure.
Kaido memorized the name.
We found you on a battlefield. You were at the center of a crater.
He paused.
— Alive.
Kaido didn't respond.
He simply stared at them.
They didn't move anymore.
They're afraid.
Not consciously.
Instinctively.
— You have no detectable chakra, the man continued. None at all.
Another silence.
— And yet… he added more quietly, no normal child would have survived that.
Kaido smiled inwardly.
Normal.
⸻
A Child Who Does Not BendAmegakure wasn't a village.
It was a scar.
Pierced buildings, stagnant water channels, narrow streets where light almost never reached. Civilians walked with lowered heads. Ninjas watched everything. All the time.
War was everywhere.
And Kaido walked through it.
At seven years old, he was already taller than most children two or three years older. Broad shoulders. Heavy stride. Each step carried a faint impact.
— He's strange…
— Did you see his arms?
— That's not normal…
He heard everything.
He didn't care.
They tested him.
Again.
— Focus your chakra.
— Feel it.
— Again.
Nothing.
Not because he failed.
But because there was nothing to channel.
— He's empty.
— Useless.
— A civilian.
The word lingered in the air.
Kaido slowly raised his head.
His gaze met the instructor's.
The man froze.
An invisible pressure weighed down the room. Not chakra. Not a technique.
A raw will.
The instructor stepped back without
understanding why.
Kaido looked away.
You are too weak to understand.
⸻
At Night, the Body SpeaksAt night, Kaido barely slept.
He trained.
Not like a ninja.
Like a beast.
He punched concrete walls.
He lifted debris too heavy for a child.
He ran through the rain until his muscles burned.
His body responded.
A little more every day.
His bones grew heavier.
His skin tougher.
His muscles thicker.
One evening, he struck a wall.
The wall cracked.
Kaido looked at his hand.
Not a scratch.
— …
He clenched his fist.
Good.
⸻
The Anomaly Observes in ReturnThat night, as the rain pounded harder than usual, something changed.
Not a light.
Not a vision.
An awareness.
As if the world… acknowledged him.
Anomaly confirmed
Entity non-compliant with local laws
Compatibility: high
System – Status: dormant
Kaido stopped.
He inhaled slowly.
— A tool… he murmured.
Not help.
Not a promise.
A tool.
I will decide how to use it.
⸻
The ReflectionThe next day, he noticed the child.
Small. Too thin. Too quiet.
The others pushed him away. The instructors ignored him.
— He barely has any chakra.
— He won't survive long.
Kaido observed.
The boy endured it.
Without crying.
Without answering.
Like me.
He approached.
— Your name.
— …Ren.
Kaido looked down at him.
— Do you want to be strong?
Ren nodded. Quickly.
— Then rely on no one.
He turned away.
But deep inside him, something answered.
Concept detected
Domination – Transmission – Mutation
Required source: external power
Kaido raised his eyes toward the eternally
rainy sky.
Monsters.
Not ninjas.
Beasts.