The rain hadn't stopped.
Yahiko stood alone on the rusted rooftop, the cold wind lashing his cloak against his legs. From here, Amegakure looked like a drowning city. Towers sliced through the fog like iron spears, but everything else—rooftops, walkways, pipes—was submerged in gray.
Below him, Akatsuki tended to their wounded. Some were resting. Others training. All of them watching.
They didn't see a savior.
They saw a survivor.
He exhaled.
Then the air shimmered.
System Notification – Major Milestone Complete
Primary Objective: Survive Hanzo's Trap – Success
Evaluating Performance…
Tactics: 9/10Survival Rate: 85%Morale Impact: High
Bonus Achievements:– Devised counter-ambush strategy– Prevented Konan's assassination– Sustained minimal civilian casualties
Reward Unlocked: Gacha Pull x1
Initiating Roll…
[Rolling…]
Skill Obtained: VECTOR CONTROL (Sealed)
A power originating from beyond this world. Grants manipulation over the magnitude and direction of forces (vectors), including kinetic energy, trajectory, and physical movement.
Fuel Source: Chakra (High Drain)
Current State: LOCKED– Requires Attunement– Chakra Pathway Compatibility: Incomplete
Additional Reward: Fragment of Memory x1 – [Echo of Railgun]
Would you like to access the memory?
Yahiko blinked.
"...What the hell?"
He didn't open the memory right away. Instead, he sat.
His breathing steadied. The rooftop felt colder than before.
Vector Control. He knew what it was—from the other world, from stories and half-remembered scenes. A boy standing alone against tanks and missiles, redirecting them with a thought. A girl walking on rails of magnetized steel, flinging coins at hypersonic speed.
It wasn't ninjutsu. It wasn't taijutsu. It was science. Power shaped by knowledge.
And now it was in his hands?
No… not yet.
He opened the secondary reward.
For a split second, his mind wasn't in Amegakure anymore.
He stood in a glass corridor, overlooking a towering city of metal and lightning. The sky was painted violet. Cars hovered. Lights blinked in the shape of artificial stars.
A girl in a short uniform jacket flicked a coin into the air.
Click.
The sound echoed like thunder.
A blue-white lance of energy tore through a building in the distance.
And she grinned.
"Science, huh?" Yahiko muttered, as the vision faded.
System Update – Skill Tree Fragment: VECTOR CONTROL
Passive Node: Kinetic Awareness (Locked)Active Node: Force Redirection (Locked)
Progress to Unlock: 0%
Task Unlocked: Resonance Calibration – Survive a battle while actively channeling chakra in a high-stress scenario.
Completion Reward: Unlock Stage 1 – Force Redirection
He exhaled again, slow and deliberate.
Power wasn't given. It was earned.
Fine.
He'd earn it.
Later that day, Konan found him sitting in the lower chamber, legs folded, breathing steady.
Her footsteps paused at the doorway.
"You're meditating."
"Trying to," he said. "Doesn't come naturally."
"You always rushed into things."
Yahiko smiled faintly. "Not anymore."
She stepped inside, leaning against the wall. "Nagato's been quiet."
"Because he's thinking," Yahiko said. "This shook him more than he lets on."
Konan didn't respond. But her expression told him he was right.
Yahiko opened one eye. "What about you?"
"I'm watching you," she said softly.
"…Still different?"
"Yes." She crossed her arms. "You're colder. But not cruel. Sharper, like metal that's been reforged."
He looked down at his hands.
"Can I tell you something strange?"
Konan tilted her head.
"I think I wasn't always Yahiko."
Her brow furrowed.
"I think something else… came into me. Or maybe I woke up with memories from a world that doesn't exist here." He laughed quietly. "It sounds insane, right?"
Konan was silent for a long time.
Then, she moved closer. Sat across from him.
"Yahiko," she said. "We live in a world where men turn into sand, where eyes can cast illusions strong enough to kill, and where gods walk the battlefield."
She leaned forward, her voice low.
"If you told me you were a star fallen from the sky, I'd believe you."
He looked at her.
She smiled faintly. "Just don't disappear again."
"…I'll try."
That night, Yahiko stood atop the outer watchtower, watching the horizon.
The city felt different now. Less like a cage. More like a fuse waiting to be lit.
Then a soft hum buzzed behind his eyes.
System Notification:
Hidden Condition Met – First System Awakening
Due to existential acceptance and direct acknowledgment of transmigration, mental sync increased.
Hidden Trait [Lucid Mind] acquired.Allows the user to resist mental interference, illusions, and high-stress cognitive degradation. Passively improves control over foreign powers.
Chakra Attunement increased: 14%
Vector Control Sync: 7%
He felt it in his spine. A slight shift in pressure. The wind changed direction before it happened, and for the first time, he noticed.
That was me… wasn't it?
It was subtle. But real.
Back inside, Nagato stood over a table, tracing paths on a map.
When Yahiko entered, he didn't look up. "We need to retaliate."
"No," Yahiko said. "We need to transform."
Nagato frowned.
"You want to wait?"
"No," Yahiko said. "I want to build something they can't kill. A symbol. Not just a group of idealists in cloaks, but a movement that reshapes the war itself."
Nagato stared at him.
"And how do we do that?"
Yahiko looked toward the window.
"By becoming what they fear most," he said quietly. "A storm with a voice."