When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was the lack of a concrete floor.
I was floating in an endless expanse of milky white clouds, a suspension of consciousness that felt less like heaven and more like a waiting room where the receptionist had gone on an indefinite lunch break.
My mind felt fuzzy, like trying to recall a dream five minutes after waking up.
Where am I? And how did I get—
THWACK!
A sharp, stinging pain suddenly radiated from the top of my skull. It felt like getting whacked by a baseball bat.
"Ow! What the hell?!" I yelped, clutching my head.
"Hey, focus pal, we don't have all eternity."
I looked up. Hovering a few feet in front of me was a ball of light about the size of a yoga ball; it gave off the same sensation as a star in space. It pulsed with an impatient rhythm.
The blow to the head seemed to have done something to me because my mind seemed to clear instantly. I remembered who the ball of light was—The Guiding Light—and I remembered what happened to me. I had died—In a very embarrassing way (read chapter 1 of Book 1 for more details). I had earned an obscene amount of karma, based on positive and negative actions I had taken in my previous lives. And now, I was being processed for transmigration, once again.
"Right," I muttered, rubbing the phantom bump on my head. "That reincarnation thing."
"Your Karma evaluation is complete. You have gained a substantial amount."
"Reeeally, so what does that entail?" I asked, brow raised. "Refresh my memory."
"Acclimating any chosen power onto your newly transmigrated self."
"Any at all?" I questioned. "There are usually drawbacks to these types of things. Are there any?"
"No. Now, please choose."
"Alright, If there's no drawbacks, then I want a System," I said clearly. "But not just any system. I want a hybrid system. Give me the growth mechanics and interface of a Video Game, but mix it with what Sung Jin-Woo has from Solo Leveling."
I don't care where I go. I'll make sure I'll be the one to dictate my own growth.
The Guiding Light paused. It spun rapidly for a second, processing the request.
"You are requesting 'The Shadow Monarch' archetype mixed with the 'Gamer Logic' system, correct?"
"That's the one," I said without hesitation. "I also want the system to be ever adapting and expanding; seemingly endless. I want to be able to ask questions and receive answers or solutions when possible."
The Light went silent for a moment. "Very well. It shall be done."
A massive, golden wheel materialized out of the mist behind the Light. It clicked softly as it waited to be used. The slices on the wheel were filled with multiple names of different worlds. I saw titles like 'One Piece' written in bold red. 'Bleach' in jagged black. And 'Dragon Ball' in blue.
"Now for the destination," the Light said. "Tell me when to stop."
The wheel spun and blurred into a kaleidoscope of colors.
"STOP!" I shouted as it came to a dead stop on 'Naruto' in a swirl of orange.
"The destination selected is the Naruto Universe."
"Ayyyeeeee!" I screamed. "One of my favorites!"
"And for your vessel?" the Light asked. "You may choose to inhabit a custom body, or overwrite an existing one."
"Overwrite," I said immediately. "You think I'm gonna step foot in that world and not be my boy?! That would be insulting! Man, quit playin' and place me into Naruto Uzumaki."
The Light flickered. "Naruto Uzumaki? Are you sure? The host is currently compromised."
"Compromised? What do you mean?"
"The boy is currently in critical condition," the Light said, tone indifferent. "An incident involving a prank, a mix-up between confetti tags and a military-grade explosive tag, and a very enclosed classroom. He is technically clinically dead. If you enter now, you will be reviving the corpse."
My jaw dropped. "He blew himself up?!"
"Spectacularly."
"W-what about the Nine-Tails?!"
"It's currently contained, though the seal is strained. If you take over, the System will have to reconfigure the containment method to ensure your soul isn't shredded upon entry."
I weighed my options. Dead body. Angry fox. Everyone in the village probably hating me even more for blowing up a school.
Decisions, decisions.
"Shiiiit send me in," I said. "A little adversity builds character."
The Guiding Light nodded and began glowing blindingly bright.
"Initiating transfer. Good luck, Player. You're going to need it."
The white void shattered.
The sensation of floating vanished, replaced instantly by a crushing weight and a world of pain.
It felt like my body was two sizes too small. My head was throbbing with a rhythmic pounding that matched the annoying beeping echoing somewhere to my left.
I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt like they were glued shut. I was heavy. So incredibly heavy.
"...a miracle he's breathing, Lord Hokage," a muffled voice drifted through the haze. "The blast concussion alone should have liquified his organs. If it weren't for the... peculiar resilience of his lineage, we'd be planning a funeral."
"A prank..." A deeper, raspy voice sighed. It sounded old, tired, and laced with the smoke of cheap tobacco. "He mistook them for special confetti tags. He just wanted to make the class laugh."
I listened to the words, but they floated in my mind without anchoring to anything. Hokage? Confetti tags? Lineage? The terms felt familiar, like words I'd heard in a dream, but I couldn't place them. I tried to reach for the definitions, to pull up the context, but my mind hit a brick wall.
What the fuck are they talking about?
I forced my eyes open. The harsh fluorescent lights of the hospital room blinded me for a second, stinging my retinas. As the white spots faded, the room came into focus.
Sterile white walls. A window showing a dark night sky. And two figures standing over my bed.
One was a man in a white coat holding a clipboard. The other was an old man in strange, ceremonial robes and a wide-brimmed hat with a Kanji symbol on it.
The Old Man looked down at me, his wrinkled face softening into a sad, grandfatherly smile.
Who's this guy? I thought.
"Naruto?" the Old Man asked, leaning in gently. "Can you hear me, my boy?"
Naruto? I don't know who that is either, I stared at him. Is that my name?
I tried to search my brain. I tried to pull up a name, a face, a location—anything to tell me where the hell I was. But there was nothing. Just a static void where my memories should have been.
Suddenly, a transparent blue window slammed into my field of vision, hovering right over the old man's face.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING... 10%]
[CRITICAL ERROR: DATA ARCHIVES COMPRESSED.]
[STATUS: INSTALLING "WORLD_DATA_NARUTO"... PENDING.]
[STATUS: INSTALLING "EARTH_PRIME_MEMORIES"... PENDING.]
Installing? What is this? I tried to recall what I was seeing, but my mind was completely blank.
The Old Man frowned, his brow furrowing as I failed to respond. "Naruto?"
I opened my mouth. My throat felt drier than a desert. I wanted to ask him who he was. I wanted to ask him why he was dressed like that. But mostly, I just felt a profound, blank confusion.
"...Who?" I croaked. My voice was dry, cracking like a stepped-on twig.
The room went silent. The man in the white coat scribbled something furiously on his clipboard. The old man's shoulders slumped, his expression shifting from hope to deep concern.
"It seems the trauma was severe," the Old Man muttered to the doctor, though he kept his eyes on me. He reached out, patting my hand gently. His skin felt rough, like parchment. "Rest now. Don't force it. We'll talk when you're stronger."
I watched them turn and leave the room, the door clicking shut behind them. The blue progress bar in my vision pulsed.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING... 12%]
[ESTIMATED TIME TO UNPACK: 8 HOURS.]
Unpack? So I have to wait eight hours to find out who I am and where I'm at?!
I sighed as my consciousness began fading from exhaustion. Awaiting the time when the download finished.
A Long While Later…
When I woke up again, there was no sunlight. There was only the pale blue glow of the moon filtering through the blinds.
As well as, a pale blue rectangle floating directly in front of my face.
[SYSTEM REBOOT: SUCCESSFUL]
[WELCOME, PLAYER.]
I blinked, the grit in my eyes clearing away. The pain from earlier had dialed down significantly.
"Alright," I whispered, my voice sounding a little less like a dying toad. "Talk to me. Tell me what I wanna know."
A window on the interface expanded instantly, splitting into several tabs. It looked sleek.
[STATUS]:
Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Titles: The ??????? (Sealed), The Dead-Last, The Prankster, The Unpredictable
Level: 1
HP (Health): ??/200 (Regenerating via External Source)
CP (Chakra): Locked (Coils Damaged, Reconfiguring)
[PLAYER STATS]:
STR (Strength): 6
CON (Constitution): 8 [(+??) Hidden Passive, Unlocks At Level 10]
DEX (Dexterity): 5
INT (Intelligence): 4 [(+??) Hidden Passive, Unlocks At Level 20]
WIS (Wisdom): 6 [(+??) Hidden Passive, Unlocks At Level 10]
CHA (Charisma): 7 [(+??) Hidden Passive, Unlocks At Level 20]
I stared at the name, Naruto Uzumaki.
This must be who I am. But what are these 'Player Stats' and why are they so abysmal? What are these 'Titles'? And what is 'Chakra'? And why is it damaged?
"Wait," I muttered. "Regenerating via 'External Source'? What does that mean? And what's with a majority of these things being locked?"
I tabbed over to the [SKILLS] menu. It was mostly empty, grayed out with "LOCKED" icons, except for two passive abilities that were glowing softly.
[PASSIVE SKILL: GAMER'S BODY]: Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game. Sleeping restores HP, MP and heals all status effects.
A videogame? What the Fuck?
[PASSIVE SKILL: DIMENSIONAL STORAGE]: A sub-space dimension housed within the user's soul. Capable of storing non-living items and... [REDACTED] entities.
[CURRENT OCCUPANTS]: 1/Infinite.
Storing non-living items and entities? So like an inventory, I pondered, raising a brow. But what does that entities part mean? And who is the one occupant?
I focused on the [DIMENSIONAL STORAGE] section to see if I could get a look at what was hiding in there.
[SYSTEM ALERT!]
[ACCESS DENIED: LEVEL SIGNIFICANTLY TOO LOW.]
[WARNING: THE OCCUPANT OF THE STORAGE IS A HIGH-DENSITY CHAKRA ENTITY. DIRECT INTERACTION AT CURRENT LEVEL WILL RESULT IN POSSIBLE SOUL COLLAPSE]
I recoiled instantly, snapping my focus back to the hospital room.
Looks like I won't be knowing what that is for a while.
I looked at the notifications again.
[ALERT: SIPHONING CHAKRA FROM OCCUPANT FOR REPAIR.]
[REPAIR PROGRESS: 0.5% PER HOUR.]
So the thing being stored is now being used like a battery to fix the damage from whatever explosion had happened to me, I thought. Hmmm, that's kinda broken, but convenient and not unwelcomed.
I let my head hit the pillow. The blue window was still there, but now a new progress bar had taken center stage, pulsing with a slow, steady rhythm.
[INSTALLING: WORLD_DATA_NARUTO... 45%]
[INSTALLING: EARTH_PRIME_MEMORIES... 45%]
[ESTIMATED COMPLETION: 12 HOURS]
Another god damn wait time?! Goodness gracious!
I closed my eyes as another wave of exhaustion hit my body. I knew who I was now (Naruto Uzumaki) and I knew what I had (some sort of Video Game System), but I still didn't have the context of this specific life. I didn't remember the prank, the Old Man that came to visit, or the place I lived.
"Twelve hours," I muttered as I began to fall asleep. "I'll have to just wait and see what happens."
When I woke up again, the sun was high in the sky.
The pain that had radiated all over me was completely gone. I sat up and flexed my fingers. No stiffness. No soreness. The 'External Source' seemed to have done its job.
[SYSTEM ALERT!]
[HP RESTORED: 200/200]
[CHAKRA COILS: RESTRUCTURED]
[CP RESTORED: 200/200]
[DOWNLOAD PROGRESS: 98%]
"Ninety-eight percent," I muttered, swinging my legs off the bed. "Almost there."
At least I'm feeling much better than I was, so there's that.
The door creaked open. The Old Man in the robes and funny hat walked in. He stopped when he saw me standing up, his eyebrows raising in genuine surprise.
"You're up," he said, a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. "And moving? The doctors said you would be bedridden for at least another few weeks."
"I guess I heal fast." I shrugged, then my stomach growled. "I guess I'm hungry too."
The Old Man chuckled, the sound raspy. "That sounds like... well, like you. Come, let's go get you something familiar. Maybe it will jog that memory of yours."
He handed me a set of clothes—an orange jacket that wasn't bad looking with orange pants that I wasn't a huge fan of.
Is he my grandfather? I thought, putting on the clothes. He's the only one that's visited me, so he must be a relative right?
I dusted off the pants and left the jacket unzipped.
I got that shit on, I'm not gonna lie.
We left the hospital and stepped out into what the Old Man called the village.
The place was vibrant. Like something out of a movie. There were stone faces looming above and red roofs that gleamed in the sun. It was picturesque. Even the air felt different.
Everything was going pretty well, or so I thought.
As we walked down the main street, the atmosphere shifted. It wasn't subtle. Conversations stopped, mothers pulled their children closer, and I felt dozens of eyes on me.
[WARNING: HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED!]
I looked around. These weren't just coincidental looks. This was a visceral reaction; fear mixed with disgust.
"Aye, Old Man," I said, keeping my voice low. "Why are they looking at me like that?"
The Old Man didn't look at the villagers. He kept his eyes forward, puffing on his pipe. "People are wary of loud noises, Naruto. You caused quite a scare with that explosion at the Academy. You nearly brought the building down."
I narrowed my eyes. I could see the hatred. This wasn't about whatever he was talking about.
"And where are my parents again?" I asked suddenly. "Did they come to the hospital?"
I saw the Old Man's step falter, just for a fraction of a second. He recovered instantly, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
"Your parents were heroes. They died protecting the village during a Great Fox attack many years ago. You are a child of the village now like many others," he said, his voice taking on a practiced, rehearsed tone.
"A child of the village, huh?" I looked at a shopkeeper who was blatantly glaring at me, gripping a broom like a weapon. "The village doesn't seem to like their kid very much."
The Old Man stopped. He looked down at me, his expression unreadable. "Grief takes many forms, Naruto. And forgiveness takes time."
[DOWNLOAD PROGRESS: 99%]
"Forgiveness for what?" I pressed.
The Old Man didn't answer. He gestured ahead to a small stand with fabric flaps hanging down. "We're here. Ichiraku Ramen. Your favorite."
We stopped in front of the shop. The smell of broth was intoxicating, cutting through the tension of the street.
Damn, whoever made that, put their whole foot in that ramen.
"Go on," he urged gently. "The food is inside."
I was about to enter, until the download bar in my vision suddenly ticked over.
[DOWNLOAD COMPLETE.]
[SYNCING MEMORIES...]
It hit me like a freight train. Causing me to grab my head.
It was then that I saw the lonely nights in the apartment. The graffiti. The desperate need for attention. The crushing loneliness of a child who didn't understand why the world hated him. And the swing, that damn swing.
And then, everything else hit. The entire knowledge I possessed from my previous life.
Minato Namikaze. Kushina Uzumaki. Hiruzen's indecisiveness. The politics around the village. And the constant manipulations of the ninja system.
The confusion in my eyes vanished. I didn't step into the ramen shop. I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Naruto?" the Old Man asked, sensing the shift. "What's wrong?"
I turned slowly to face him. I didn't give him the goofy grin he was expecting. I didn't scratch the back of my head. I looked him dead in the eyes, my gaze flat and cold.
My voice dropped low, losing the childish whine. "You keep telling me things about who I am and what I've done. But now that my head is clearer, it makes me wonder..."
My head tilted slightly upwards. My blue eyes darkening as I met his.
"...Who are you?"