I didn't know how it happened. One moment I was crossing the street, scrolling through my phone, distracted by some pointless argument online, and the next… I wasn't.
It wasn't a slow fade, or a long build-up to pain. There was no warning. Just one moment I was alive, and the next, it was black. Pure, empty black.
I expected something more dramatic. I'd seen enough movies and anime to know how these things were supposed to go. But it wasn't like that. No sudden light. No sound. Just… nothing.
And then, suddenly, I was gasping for air. My body jerked upright in what felt like a bed? My heart was pounding, but not from fear. It was a weird sense of confusion—like I was waking up after a really long nap. Except everything felt… off.
I took in a shaky breath and looked around. This wasn't my apartment. This wasn't Tokyo. The room I was in looked like something out of a Japanese period drama—tatami mats, paper doors, wooden beams. I rubbed my eyes, convinced I was still half-asleep, but no. This wasn't a dream.
"Ryo! Get your ass up, we're not going to wait all day for you!"
I froze. That voice—my mom's voice—my mom? I turned toward the door, and there she was. My mom. Standing there, hands on her hips, giving me the kind of look I've seen a thousand times in my life. "Get up! You're gonna be late for school!"
What the hell was going on?
"Wait, what?" I mumbled, sitting up. My voice was rough, disoriented. I looked down at my hands. They were too small. Way too small. I was supposed to be in my mid-20s, not a freaking 12-year-old again! I felt around my chest—this wasn't my body.
"Ryo! Don't make me come in there!"
What? Did I hit my head or something? Maybe I was just knocked out and dreaming... But then I noticed something. The uniform hanging on the chair—a blue ninja uniform with the Konoha headband hanging on the back. The headband. I picked it up, staring at it for a second. This couldn't be real. There was no way. I'd seen the show before. This was Naruto.
But I couldn't be in the world of Naruto. That made no sense.
I hurried to pull on the uniform, the fabric feeling way too familiar against my skin. Like I'd worn it a thousand times before. My heart was racing as I grabbed the headband and tied it around my forehead. Was this some kind of sick joke? Was I dead, or was this some strange alternate universe?
"Ryo! Are you getting up or not?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm up!" I snapped, getting to my feet quickly. I felt like I was in some bad dream that I couldn't wake up from. Everything felt wrong, but somehow, right too. Like I belonged here. What the hell was going on?
I rushed downstairs, my mom's voice still echoing through the house. "Don't make me come up there again, Ryo!"
I slid into the kitchen and froze. There they were—my parents, sitting at the table like nothing was unusual. My mom sipping her tea, and my dad with his nose buried in a scroll. They looked... younger. Like I was still living back in the past. But there was something more—something off about it.
"Ryo," my mom said, not even looking up from her tea, "eat your breakfast."
I could feel the blood drain from my face as I glanced around. This wasn't my world. This wasn't my life. I was stuck in some weird, twisted version of my childhood home—in the Naruto universe, no less.
I slowly sat down, my heart still racing. My head was spinning. How the hell had I ended up here?
But the longer I sat there, the clearer it became. There was no point in denying it. Somehow, some way, I had been reborn into the world of Naruto.
I didn't know how or why, but I wasn't going to waste this chance. I was going to make it count this time. I was going to become stronger. This time, I was going to fight for my future. I wasn't going to die weak again.
"You're really late for school, Ryo," my mom added, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You'd better hurry up."
I grabbed my chopsticks, a strange determination welling up inside me. This was my second chance. My first life had been filled with laziness and distractions. But now?
Now, I was going to survive this world. Whatever it took. Even if it meant risking everything to find out who I really was.
And maybe—just maybe—I'd figure out why I was here in the first place.