A few days had passed since then and I had gotten constant, several headaches that were at least bearable enough to ignore, and you know what?
What. The absolute. Hell.
Not only was I an orphan, but apparently, this kid was from some far, far away place. A very humid place, full of fog. The memory wasn't mine, yet I could recall it clearly. I remember being carried by some woman in a hurry—to save me from what?
Why does everything have to be so damn difficult?
And then, at the age of 3, some kind of beast attacked the... village? And destroyed everything in its path. I could vividly hear, see and smell everything. The screams, the smoke, the debris, every building that was falling apart.
What kind of crazy backstory does Amai even have?!
Besides, this is sounding extremely familiar... to the plot of a certain... anime?
Then, it hit me.
Of course, how could I have been so foolish? It was that easy to figure it out.
Massive beast? Who else could it be other than the Nine Tails? Orphanage? That was practically the starting point for many people in Naruto.
That would also explain the weird, warm feeling in my gut that keeps swirling around without listening to me at all. Must be chakra, right?
...Then again, Naruto.
Naruto, of all places.
Why?! Why the absolute fuck did they choose to reincarnate me into Naruto, of all the damned animes?!
Don't get me wrong, I love the show, the techniques, characters and everything about it—but that's the thing. The series mostly only depicted the parts with sunshines and rainbows.
What they didn't show was the constant killings, wars, bloodshed, the gore, the political aspect of the world, every single bad thing that was swept under the rug. This whole place was entirely ridden with child soldiers, monsters, and people who could kill me within the blink of an eye.
I could've gotten reincarnated in some other place—Dragon Ball, or hell, even a peaceful slice-of-life world where I wouldn't have to worry about get my throat slit in my sleep.
But noooo! Somehow, Lady Luck decided that she doesn't like me, so where does she toss me? A fantasy world set on nightmare mode.
On top of that, I had no cheat. No golden finger to speak of.
At least I think so.
If the damp place from what I remembered was anything to go by, that's likely Kirigakure. And that means I was probably from some kind of clan, and that was somewhat comforting.
This girl has medium-length white hair—I should probably start thinking of myself instead of "that girl" whenever I speak of my own features.
And frosty, cyan eyes. White hair was something common from Kimimaro's clan, so maybe I was part of the Kaguya clan? The Yuki clan is also a possibility, since I don't recall Kimimaro having cyan eyes like mine.
Either way, call me greedy or whatever, but I don't think a simple Kekkei Genkai like that will make the cut. I mean, can't I get a system or something? Like a Gamer's System. I wouldn't have to worry about anything and my life would be easy-peasy, because I'd only make logical, rational decisions while having no limit to my strength's growth.
Then again, that would only be good if you still had your emotions. That stuff suppresses them in some way, right? And completely dehumanizes you, turning you into a robot or the like.
What's the point of having power if you can't even enjoy it? That's like reading a manga with an amazing plot, but completely horrid art.
Plus, there's the risk of addiction. You know that quick dopamine boost you get whenever you see a number go up? Whenever you level up? Whenever you get stronger?
I was familiar with that feeling at one point. I'm sure at least some people I know were victims of that in RPG games. If seeing your character's growth is enough to cause a reaction like that, imagine how addicting it would be to grow stronger in real life from each action.
That'll end up making you keep wanting more, always chasing the next high. Eventually, you'd just become a slave to that very system. All those relationships, your experiences, your emotions—they wouldn't even matter at that point. You'd just care about seeing those numbers rise in quantity and the feeling of power.
In the end, you'd just become a hollow husk and a machine, whose sole drive is to get the next achievement. And even if you did disable the Gamer's Mind, you would just... feel empty. There's nothing to challenge you. You get anything you want with little to no effort and no struggle.
Ah, look at me getting all philosophical, just because I didn't get a good cheat.
Good grief.
I'm also not very confident about my situation right now, because as much of a fan of Naruto as I was, even I didn't know all the little details.
So, I might've forgotten some non-important stuff while retaining the main parts of the plot, such as the Akatsuki, the Konoha Crush, the Uchiha Massacre, Pain's assault, and the Fourth Shinobi War.
...That means I'm pretty much screwed unless I leave this village somehow. But I'd get killed by a rogue shinobi or something instead, and that means I'd have to train. I don't really have the option to stay a civilian either, since I am pretty much flat broke right now.
Training.
I've never trained a day in my life—sure, maybe I played a few sports but I never really got into training my body physically like all the others did by going to the gym or doing workouts at home, and it's not like I could instantly get into it like some maniac all at once, like those pieces of fiction that I've read.
You know, guy who gets reincarnated, and instantly gets to training 8 hours a day to get strong. I'm definitely not "him," or "her," in this case.
I'll just see when I actually get to it. I've still got plenty of time, don't I? Around ten years before the main events of the story start happening, and people grow in strength pretty damn fast here. At least I hope so.
If someone like Lee could do it, then perhaps I can? I've always thought that with enough hard work, you could do anything. It was the mindset that I applied to everything I did back then, be it cooking, doing assignments, or even just trying to get better at a game.
Problem is, this is real life now. It is not just animated characters, but people made of flesh and bone that could actually feel and suffer real consequences. There's no conveniently skipping training montages or fast-forwarding through the struggle—it would all just be pain, blood, sweat and tears.
No second—third chance in my case, if you get killed. You mess up slightly, and you're gone here. No do-overs, no save points and certainly no extra lives.
...Makes me wish I had Subaru's Return By Death.
I'd go insane though, so that's a heavy hell no.
Anyway, how do I even start? I've been exploring the orphanage for a while now, and I know the general way around here.
From what I've seen, this place isn't the worst. Not really that bad—it's a bit rundown, sure, but the caretakers here seemed to care about us and fed us at least two meals a day, even if it was rice porridge, miso soup, and the occasional piece of protein, like some smoked fish.
I don't know much about food costs, nutrition, and stuff like that, but that's generally cheap to produce en masse, right? And it keeps children fed.
I was just lucky that my family was a well-off one, so I never really had to pay attention to the prices of things. Of course, I never stepped over my boundaries and never took things for granted, but... I didn't know the struggle of budgeting for every meal, like the caretakers probably did.
The place is nice, though. Free food, at least a few beds to sleep on, and I had a roof over my head. All of that for the price of doing absolutely nothing.
Yeah, as if. Nothing in life comes free.
We still had to help in our own way, whether it be taking turns washing the dishes which was absolutely insane for my standards. We were five, for fuck's sake. My turn was coming up in a few days, but I don't really mind. I find it kind of relaxing, actually.
Then, there was other stuff such as cleaning. There was at least five mini chores to do every day, and we took turns even for that. Five different kids would participate every day, to sweep the floor, wiping down surfaces, making sure the windows weren't too dirty, etc.
It was probably for the best, though. This was a good system—in the world of Naruto, that is—to teach children about work ethic and responsibility. After all, if you wanted to survive in this world, you had to learn to do things for yourself.
I should probably set some objectives, too. But what?
Hmmm...
My starting package came with the language, but I still didn't know how to write, or how to read, so maybe I should focus on that? That'd unlock hundreds of scrolls and books for me, and you know what they say: Knowledge is power.
Or perhaps I should unlock my chakra first? I doubt that books were that readily available in this orphanage, so I wouldn't get the opportunity to learn that easily. At least not until I'm ready for the Academy.
The Ninja Academy starts when you reach the age of 6, right? And they probably take some kind of entrance exam to see who's good enough to nurture. I mean, not everyone becomes a ninja—most people probably end up being civilians, or maybe they just go into other professions.
Okay, I've made my mind.
Over this week, I'll unlock my chakra, no matter what it takes!