When Shimizu regained consciousness, he found himself floating high in the sky.
After the initial shock, he instinctively began checking the condition of his body.
Then he froze, because he realized that the person he was now could no longer really be called a "he," but rather an "it."
He had no eyes, no ears, and not even limbs or a torso.
At this point, every piece of information he received from the outside world came entirely through "perception."
For a moment, Shimizu was stunned. He did not even know what he looked like now. Was he a ball of light? A wisp of lingering thought?
Was this… death?
The last image in his memory was the appearance of yet another Mangekyō Sharingan.
Who had it been?
Those damned eyes.
He had never expected that he would still end up dying, and so cleanly at that, without even having the time to leave behind a single final word.
He, Shimizu Uzuki, had truly disgraced the good name of transmigrators everywhere.
After a brief moment of unwillingness, Shimizu discovered something else that surprised him.
He could fly.
In his current state, he seemed to have no weight at all, allowing him to soar freely through the sky.
He looked at the blue sky above him, then glanced down at the white clouds below. As long as he willed it, he could control both the direction and speed of his flight at any time.
What kind of world had he arrived in after dying? Was this still the world of Naruto?
With that question in mind, Shimizu began accelerating toward the earth.
Before long, he heard a strange rumbling sound.
A few breaths later, a pair of steel wings suddenly flashed out from the clouds and passed straight through his body with ease.
It was a civilian airliner climbing through the sky.
The modern world?
Had he reverse-transmigrated?
Carrying those doubts, along with a faint trace of unease, Shimizu continued to descend at greater speed. Soon, he passed through the thick cloud layer and saw what lay beneath his feet.
A distant yet familiar forest of steel.
After more than twenty years, he had actually returned to modern society.
Shimizu's heart immediately surged with emotion. All of a sudden, he desperately wanted to know whether this world was the same planet he had once known.
And so, in his soul-like state, he began searching for the truth of this world. After a patient round of investigation, Shimizu confirmed several things.
First, the current time was 10:17 a.m. on November 7, 2020, while his last memory before transmigrating was from 4:30 a.m. on November 7. That had been the time when he had just finished "cultivating" and was preparing to sleep.
He vaguely remembered that, as usual, he had been cultivating immortality that night.
The timing of his departure and return matched to an astonishing degree.
Second, this place was also called Huaguo, and this city was also called Donghai.
That meant the place he was currently in was the very city where his university had been located in his previous life.
Then, on a commercial plaza, he saw a popular advertisement being played. The person in it was a household-name celebrity from his former life.
Everything was familiar. Memories that had been separated from him for more than twenty years came rushing back all at once.
He was briefly frozen in place.
I… actually came back.
The first thing Shimizu did was fly back to the rental apartment he had found back then for the convenience of his internship.
He could not wait to know whether he was still there.
And then he saw him.
The "him" with a pair of dark circles under his eyes, looking unbelievably lazy, had only just gotten out of bed and was now starting to brush his teeth and wash his face.
He really was… hopelessly degenerate.
Shimizu judged his former self that way.
Twenty years as a shinobi had taught him to value every moment and use every second he had to improve his strength.
And also… did he not have work today?
He remembered that internship had offered fairly good treatment. Otherwise, back then, he would never have had the means or the nerve to grit his teeth and rent a place outside campus specifically to make commuting easier.
Then his gaze caught sight of that divine tool for "cultivation," the electronic screen that felt both familiar and strange, and the date displayed on it.
So today was Saturday.
Heh… even at a time like this, he was still worrying about that sort of thing.
"He" was still "him."
But Shimizu had already become Shimizu Uzuki.
Although he did not know why any of this had happened, it was clear that their completely different experiences had turned them into two entirely independent individuals.
All they shared were the same memories. Perhaps there was also an old affection that had once been buried deep in his heart.
His parents, relatives, and friends…
But the Shimizu Uzuki who existed now could no longer even be called "human."
Unwilling to accept it, Shimizu tried to occupy "his" body, only to find that it was exactly the same as his previous experiments. He could pass through any physical matter, including "himself."
He was alive, and yet all he could do now was see and hear, perceiving the world as though he were watching a film. He could do nothing at all.
What meaning was there in an existence like that?
Shimizu left the small room in an instant and began flying rapidly toward the sky.
Since he had already gone to the world of Naruto, and had already chosen to take root there, why had he been allowed to return at this moment, in this state?
Was fate playing with him?
Did this world truly possess some kind of will, one that was trying to control him, or perhaps influence him?
The deep unwillingness and resentment surging up from within him caused his soul to ripple violently, stirring the clouds in that stretch of sky.
It seemed as though something strange had been absorbed into him.
Shimizu keenly "sensed" that his soul had grown heavier.
Although the change was only slight, it was still captured by his abnormal perception.
Very quickly, Shimizu realized what it was that had entered his body.
It was a form of energy.
What did that mean?
Shimizu immediately began imitating the process, accelerating his absorption of the energy in this world.
Soon, his soul grew heavier and heavier, and his flying posture lost the light, graceful ease it had once had.
If he kept getting "fatter" like this, sooner or later he was going to crash.
More than that, Shimizu had a faint premonition that if he continued absorbing energy this way, his soul might undergo some unexpected change.
He had to find a place with no people, and quickly.
Shimizu also sensed that this energy was actually extremely thin, so thin that when he had first arrived in this world, he had not even noticed its existence. The accelerated absorption just now had directly drained every trace of energy from that stretch of space.
There was far too little of it.
And so Shimizu sped westward, following the direction in his memories. As he flew at high speed, he greedily absorbed every bit of energy along the way.
He did not know how long he had been flying. Countless towns and villages passed beneath him, and after absorbing all the energy along the route, Shimizu finally felt that his soul was about to reach its limit.
As he gradually slowed down, an endless range of mountains appeared in his field of vision.
There, then.
Among high mountains and steep ridges, there would surely be few people. Even if he caused some commotion, there would be nothing to worry about.
Dragging his heavy "soul" with him, Shimizu slowly flew toward that mountain range.