Chapter Text
Ichiro Hayate tried to dodge.
After accidentally walking too slowly to cross a road while reading a novel on his cellphone, he suddenly realized he wouldn’t make it to the other side before the pedestrian light changed.
Fortunately, there was an “island” in the middle of the road. It wasn’t very wide, but its existence as an elevated bit of concrete made cars avoid it. if he could stand on it, he would be relatively safe.
I must make it to the island, at least!
But as Ichiro dashed madly for the concrete island, phone in hand, a driverless truck roared its engine, bearing down on him with the weight of unavoidable fate.
“T-Truck-kun, please!” Ichiro shouted involuntarily, and then there was darkness.
ICHIRO HAYATE. YOU HAVE DIED UNUSTLY.
DUE TO THIS FACT, THE CELESTIAL BUREAUCRACY HAS OFFERED YOU A CHANCE:
REBIRTH IN ANOTHER WORLD, WITH SOME DETAILS OF YOUR LIFE TAILORED TO YOUR LIKING.
PLEASE CHOOSE CAREFULLY, AS YOUR CHOICES CANNOT BE UNDONE.
GOOD LUCK.
Ichiro’s mind was spinning, but after re-reading the message, and realizing that he was currently floating bodiless in a void, he accepted the fact that his life was over.
Since it’s like this, I should see if any anime worlds exist! It would be cool to live life in an anime world as compensation! Oh, but I can’t be powerless. A lot of those worlds, like the worlds of Bleach or Naruto, are always at war. It sucks to be powerless.
THE WORLD OF NARUTO IS AVAILABLE, responded the system.
“Really? So I can go to Konoha? Oh, is there any difference if I start there or one of the other nations?”
COST TO REBIRTH, BY VILLAGE:
AMEGAKURE 5 picks
HOSHIGAKURE 2 picks
IWAGAKURE 3 picks
KONOHAGAKURE 5 picks
KIRIGAKURE 1 pick
KUMOGAKURE 7 picks
OTOGAKURE. 0 picks
SUNAGAKURE 3 picks
UZUSHIOGAKURE 10 picks
YOUR BALANCE: 1000 PICKS
“Ew, not Mist!” exclaimed Ichiro. “Mist ninjas have to kill each other; it’s the most brutal and inhumane village.”
He scanned the list. “Hmm. Otogakure, the Hidden Village of Sound, is even cheaper, but if I recall, it’s Orochimaru’s base for his twisted human experiments. Maybe it’s free to go there because the possibility of turning into a human experiment is high?”
“Oh, wait, why is Uzushiogakure 10 picks? Wasn’t that a destroyed village? Maybe, if the worst choices are 0 or 1 pick, and it’s the most expensive choice, there’s something good about being from Uzushiogakure. But, on the other hand, it doesn’t seem like this is something that can be changed later if I discover the benefits aren’t worth the costs. After all, the text message said that I have to choose carefully, and what if I’m short by a few points for a really cool feature later?”
UZUSHIOGAKURE IS CONSIDERED A STRONG OPTION. IT WILL ALLOW YOU TO ACCESS POWERFUL BLOODLINES.
“System, can you give me a hint? What happens to unused picks if we have any left at the end of the process?”
UNUSED PICKS WILL TURN INTO GOOD LUCK.
“Good luck? What exactly does that mean?”
YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF THE FREE INFORMATION. FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE AVAILABLE IF YOU MANAGE TO UNLOCK FATE MANIPULATION.
Fate manipulation? Did that exist in the original Naruto storyline?
“System, can you tell me how much it will cost to unlock Fate Manipulation?"
FURTHER INFORMATION IS LOCKED UNTIL CHOICES ARE MADE IN THEIR PROPER ORDER. YOU HAVE ASKED SEVERAL QUESTIONS. YOU NOW HAVE 1 MINUTE REMAINING TO CHOOSE A VILLAGE, OR AN ORIGIN WILL BE RANDOMLY CHOSEN FOR YOU.
Well, crap. He didn’t want to spend points without having a good idea of what they were worth, but he really didn’t want to die a miserable death in Hidden Mist or Hidden Sound.
If pressed, he would just go with what he had the most information on, the one that seemed like the most humane village… “System, I choose Konoha!”
KONOHAGAKURE CHOSEN.
The list of Villages disappeared, and was replaced by a new list.
BLOODLINES
KONOHA OPTIONS
NON-KONOHA OPTIONS
OTHERWORLDLY OPTIONS
Ichiro was stumped. “What does Otherworldly options mean?” Oops, I shouldn’t ask too many questions. Still, this one was a reasonable question.
A second window appeared.
OTHERWORLDLY OPTIONS:
ANGEL 777 picks
DEMON 666 picks
DRAGON 300 picks
ELEMENTAL 200 picks
LYCAN 80 picks
SPIRIT BEAST 150 picks
SUCCUBUS 500 picks
UNDEAD 50 picks
VAMPIRE 250 picks
VOIDBORN 25 picks
If he focused on an option, Ichiro found that he could mentally see an image of what a typical member of that race looked like. Angel, Demon, and Dragon all looked cool in his opinion, but they were super-conspicuous. Undead seemed to have generic zombie-like characteristics, and Vampires seemed to have the ability to blend in, appearing as nothing more than a pale and charismatic human. Spirit beasts had animal ears and tails, and lycans were lycanthropes, doomed to lose control of their bodies and undergo a painful transformation on a recurring basis.
Most of these are pretty intuitive, but what is this voidborn thing?
When he focused on the Voidborn, Ichiro beheld a sort of cross between an elongated space alien and an elf. It was tall, thin, and grey-skinned, with unnaturally dark, jet-black eyes. They simply looked physically very weak, though he had the impression that they had some sort of special abilities — superior mental strength, or maybe a slightly different system of moulding chakra.
He paused to digest this.
Okay. At one end, physically powerful races included Dragon, Lycan, Spirit Beast, and undead. At the other end, magically powerful races included the Succubus and the Voidborn. Other races seemed to be all-rounders, such as Angels, Demons, Elementals, and Vampires.
What would be the best choice? Come to think of it, he didn’t know what era in Konoha’s history he was about to be thrown into. In theory, the existence of the villages suggested it was within a few generations of when the show took place. The existence of taijutsu powerhouses such as Might Guy suggested that it was fine to be physically strong and rely on that, but Ichiro couldn’t deny that it would be annoying to be too weak at ninjutsu. After all, stuff like binding someone with their own shadow, or teleporting across a battlefield in a heartbeat were the cool parts of the show!
Also, look at that price tag! It seemed Angel and Demon were basically choices that relied heavily on their innate higher stats. Do I have to be a Vampire or Elemental?
“System, can I ask if the Vampire and Elemental have weaknesses?”
VAMPIRE: WEAK VS. FIRE, HOLY, SUNLIGHT, SILVER. AFFINITY FOR BLOOD, ICE, MIND, SHADOW, STEALTH. RESISTS CHARM, POISON, PSYCHIC, SLASHING, BLUNT ATTACKS, PIERCING.
ELEMENTAL: ELEMENTAL WEAKNESSES AND IMMUNITIES VARY BY ELEMENT. BINDABLE AS A SUMMONED CREATURE.
Whoa, whoa, what? Elementals were all considered summoned creatures? Did that mean that he would be extra vulnerable to sealing jutsu and the like? Or that he would have to have a contractor? By comparison, Vampire seemed straightforward in its strengths and drawbacks. It seemed like it would take reduced damage from taijutsu and swordsmanship. That was a heck of a benefit in and of itself, though Ichiro quickly reminded himself that basically everyone above a certain level in the world of Naruto, including taijutsu experts, had access to powerful elemental abilities. It wasn’t that broken, except in low-level fights.
Do I… have to be a Vampire? Not for the first time, Ichiro was tempted. “System, show me the Konoha bloodline options.”
KONOHA OPTIONS
HYUGA (BYAKUGAN) 500 picks
KURAMA (GENJUTSU) 800 picks
RINHA (COPY TECHNIQUE) 250 picks
SENJU (WOOD RELEASE) 999 picks
UCHIHA (SHARINGAN) 750 picks
UNDERWORLD RELEASE 999 picks
Bloodline powers were expensive! Being a vampire was literally one-fourth the cost of Wood Release or Underworld Release!
“System, if I pick Vampire, do I gain the ability to make other people vampires?”
VAMPIRE SPAWNING, CHARM, BLOOD MAGIC, MEMORY MANIPULATION, SPELL-STITCHING, DEATH CHAMPION, NECROMANCY, AND OTHER ABILITIES ARE CONSIDERED ADD-ONS AND WILL COST ADDITIONAL PICKS.
THIRD QUESTION ASKED. YOU HAVE 1 MINUTE TO PICK A BLOODLINE, OR ONE WILL BE CHOSEN FOR YOU.
Okay, so 250 picks was the baseline cost. He supposed this was to be expected. But 250 picks didn’t seem to be a bad price for what was apparently resistance to all physical attacks, plus some cool additional abilities. He had no body in this place, but mentally, Ichiro Hayate took a deep breath. He was already dead.
“System, I choose Vampire!”
A thrilling sense of power and well-being pervaded him. Ichiro looked down. He had hands and feet! He had a body! He examined his pale skin. He hadn’t been particularly muscular in his last life, and it seemed he wouldn’t be in this life, either. His nails could use a trim, but his body seemed flawless, at the height of youth passing into young adulthood. He felt his face and lips. Two fangs jutted out, and with an effort of will he was able to shrink them to the size of normal human canines.
He felt strong, stronger than he had ever been in his life as a human. He was willing to bet he could run a dozen miles without stopping. This was great! And he had managed not to spend too many points; he still had over 700 left!
Despite the recent shock of his death, now Ichiro was excited. He couldn’t wait to see what was next.