Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its characters, or the associated lore. All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, and Pierrot. This is a work of transformative fiction created for entertainment purposes only
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The Forest of Death met us not with solemn silence, but with a cacophony of sounds that would make an ordinary person's hair stand on end. The creaking of giant trees, resembling the groans of dying titans; rustling in the undergrowth; the flapping of leathery wings somewhere high in the canopies. But to my mind, accustomed to operating with structures and data streams, this wasn't just a place—it was an unstable environment.
I walked last, my gaze constantly scanning the surroundings. The System was running in the background, highlighting the most dangerous zones.
[ [ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS] ] Humidity: 87%. Biological Activity: Off the charts. Pathogenic Flora Detected: "Sleep Moss" pollen within a 10-meter radius. Recommendation: Adjust breathing pattern. Frequency: 1 breath every 4 steps.
I obediently changed my rhythm. Raido and Takeshi, walking ahead, didn't care about such "trifles." Their massive bodies, protected by a thick layer of chakra, simply ignored these details. They pushed forward like two outdated tanks, confident in their firepower.
"Hey, skinny," Takeshi turned around, his face slick with sweat despite us only having walked a couple of kilometers. "Why'd you freeze back there? Breathing like a girl before a first date. If you faint from the smell of rot, I'll leave you right here. We don't need extra baggage."
"I'm just optimizing my oxygen consumption, Takeshi-san," I replied calmly. "Your shortness of breath suggests you're wasting 15% of your energy just on cooling your... impressive volume."
Raido chuckled, clapping his partner on the shoulder. "Leave him alone, Takeshi. The kid thinks war is arithmetic. When a tiger-snake jumps him, he'll realize that in this forest, only the size of your fist and the amount of meat on your bones matters."
I remained silent. Arguing with "legacy hardware" was pointless. Their architecture was built on redundancy. Mine, on critical precision.
Contact: Error №1
The forest abruptly darkened. The canopies of the giant trees intertwined so tightly that sunlight turned into rare, sickly-yellow patches on the ground. Suddenly, the System issued a red priority warning.
[ [WARNING: RANK C+ BIO-SIGNATURE DETECTED] ] Type: Wild Overgrown Boar (Earth modification). Distance: 25 meters. Sector: 2 o'clock. Movement Vector: Intercept.
"Contact at two o'clock!" I shouted, but the Chunin reacted a fraction of a second too late.
A massive form burst from the bushes, snapping young tree trunks like toothpicks. This wasn't just a boar. It was a mountain of muscle and horny armor, covered in a layer of caked mud and Earth chakra, making its skin hard as granite. Its tusks, each as long as my kunai, were aimed directly at Raido's stomach.
"Scatter!" Raido roared.
He managed to activate Partial Expansion on his torso, taking the hit to his chest. A sound erupted, like two trains colliding. The Chunin was thrown back five meters, his feet plowing deep furrows in the soft soil.
"Why, you beast!" Takeshi bellowed, his right leg swelling to an incredible size. "Partial Expansion Jutsu: Heavy Hammer!"
He brought a stomp down, trying to crush the beast's head. The boar deftly (for its size) lurched, and the blow landed on its shoulder blade. The ground trembled, a cloud of dust rose, but the beast only squealed furiously. Its Earth armor cracked but did not shatter.
I watched this from a tree branch, where I had jumped in the first second. My mind frantically calculated weak points.
[COMBAT ANALYSIS] Akimichi Attack Efficiency: 22%. Problem: Kinetic energy dissipation across the armor. Target Vulnerability: The junction of the occipital bone and the first vertebra. Area: 4 cm².
The fight turned into a messy brawl. Raido and Takeshi worked as a team, trying to corner the boar, but in the forest environment, their dimensions worked against them. They constantly tripped over roots, broke through bushes, and got in each other's way. The boar, however, was in its element. It used charges, goring the Chunin with its tusks and forcing them to constantly waste chakra on hardening their skin.
After fifteen minutes, it was over. Takeshi managed to catch the boar by its hind leg, and Raido, using "The Tank," literally crushed the beast's rib cage against a massive boulder. The boar let out a final, raspy breath.
The Chunin were breathing heavily, their clothes torn, their chakra tangibly depleted.
"Damn it..." Takeshi spat out blood. "That pig was tougher than it looked. Raido, I'm empty. Need a snack, or I won't be able to maintain Expansion."
"Agreed," Raido looked up at me. "Hey, Engineer! Get down here. Enough lounging on that branch. Take your blade and butcher the carcass. The Head needs the kidneys and the gall bladder. Do it quickly, and maybe we'll give you a piece of meat."
Trade with the System
I jumped down. The beast's carcass was still warm, steam rising from its torn chest. I approached and placed my palm on its stiff, earth-infused bristles.
"System, proceed to component extraction."
[ [ERROR] ] Method "Manual Butchering" inefficient. Time Cost: 45 minutes. Risk: Attracting other predators by scent of blood (Probability 82%).
[ [SOLUTION EXISTS: TRIAL ACCESS] ] Do you wish to activate the [GLUTTONY] protocol in test mode? Cost: 50 BP. Warning: Equipment installation incomplete. The process will be accompanied by extreme overload of the nervous system. You will feel the deconstruction of every cell. Risk of mental contamination: The victim's emotional noise will be streamed directly into your neocortex.
I looked at Raido and Takeshi. They were sitting ten meters away, greedily consuming dried meat from their supplies. They were relaxed, considering me just help. If we were attacked now, they wouldn't have time to react.
'45 minutes of butchering is 45 minutes of vulnerability,' I decided. '50 points is an investment. Pain is just data. Confirmed.'
Deduction: -50 BP. Current Balance: 100 BP. Initializing protocol...
The world around me faded. The sounds of the forest fell silent, replaced by a growing high-frequency whine in my ears. My right arm began to... change. I saw something stir under my skin, as if thousands of black worms were trying to claw their way out. The skin on my palm burst, but instead of blood, coal-black threads, pulsing in rhythm with my heart, erupted from the wounds.
— A-a-a-agh! — The scream got stuck in my throat.
The pain was indescribable. It felt as if my arm had been shoved into an industrial shredder and then doused with liquid nitrogen. But that was only the beginning. When the threads touched the boar's flesh, my brain exploded.
[ [DECONSTRUCTION: 12%... 24%... 45%...] ]
I wasn't just "eating" it. I became it. For a fraction of a second, I felt the boar's cold fear, its rage at those who broke its ribs, its longing for a muddy puddle deep in the forest. This was "mental noise"—garbage data that my unprepared System didn't have time to filter.
"Kaien? Why did you freeze up, kid?" Raido's voice sounded as if from under a thick layer of water.
I saw them jump up. From their perspective, something out of a nightmare was happening. The boar's massive carcass began to literally evaporate. Flesh disintegrated into black, smoking tatters that were sucked into my arm. Bones turned to gray dust, and blood absorbed into my pores, leaving not a drop on the ground.
"What in the world?!" Takeshi whipped out a kunai. "Raido, he's... he's devouring it!"
I couldn't answer. My jaws were clamped so tight my gums began to bleed. All the boar's stored energy—its density, its Earth chakra, its vital force—was being processed by the System and pumped into my muscles. My veins bulged, turning black, and my skin began to glow with a dim, deathly light.
Forty seconds later, it was over. Where the boar had been lay an perfectly preserved empty hide, inside which lay the required kidneys and gall bladder. Nothing else. No meat, no skeleton, not even the smell of blood.
I slowly straightened up. My arm was still smoking, the black veins slowly receding under the skin. I felt... overfilled. Like a bucket of molten lead had been poured into me.
[ [DECONSTRUCTION COMPLETE] ] Gained: +450 BP. Bonus: "Earth Armor" structure integration (Bone density +1.2%). Current Balance: 550 BP. Status: Critical Saturation.
"Kid... what are you?" Raido approached me, his hand trembling as he gripped the handle of his cleaver. "That's not an Akimichi technique. No one in the clan does... this. Where is the rest of the meat?!"
I turned to him. My eyes, usually brown, momentarily became entirely black, with a pulsing blue ring around the pupil—the System interface that had broken through into reality for a second.
"I optimized the process," my voice was dry, devoid of emotion. "You wanted the kidneys? They're there, inside the hide. The rest was dead weight, interfering with transport."
Takeshi took a step back, his face paling. "Raido, this isn't normal. He's not human. Did you see those threads? He erased the boar into dust!"
"Steady," Raido frowned, though I saw fear in his eyes. "We're here by the Head's order. Kaien... if you ever do something like that again without warning, I will consider it a threat to the group's safety. Understood?"
I just nodded and picked up the empty hide with the packed organs. Inside me, the System's voice thundered.
[ [CONDITION MET: 500+ BP] ] Do you wish to purchase a permanent license for the skill [GLUTTONY: VERSION 1.0]? Cost: 500 BP. Effect: Elimination of pain shock during absorption. Full filtering of mental garbage. Ability to extract victim's skills (5% chance).
'Yes. Install. Immediately,' I commanded mentally.
The point deduction happened instantly. But this time, there was no pain. Instead came a sense of deep, cold calm. As if all my sensors had finally been calibrated. My body no longer felt like a "plastic shell." Now, it was a machine.
Balance: 50 BP. Skill Status: [GLUTTONY] — ACTIVE.
"Let's go," I said to the Chunin, who still hadn't fully recovered. "Three hundred meters from here, I smell smoke. And it's not our campfire. The Forest of Death has guests. And they're clearly not from Konoha."
Raido and Takeshi exchanged glances. Their disdain was gone. In its place was fear and... a wary respect. They realized that the "kernel error" had just turned into something standing above them in the food chain.
I walked forward, my internal interface already plotting the optimal route to the new target. The first deconstruction was passed. The program was running. And now I needed much more data.
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Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I'd love to hear your thoughts on a few things:
1.The Protagonist (Kaien): What do you think of his "Engineer" mindset? Is his cold, analytical approach to the Shinobi world working for you?
2.The System: How do you feel about the mechanics? Is it too OP, or does the "price" he pays (like the pain during the trial mode) make it feel earned?
3.Future Content: What would you like to see next? More tactical battles, specific skills for Kaien to deconstruct, or maybe his interactions with other major Naruto characters?