"I never thought this would happen to me, like some shitty Isekai fanfiction. Of all the anime and manga I've read and watched, I end up in the Naruto world!" he said in disappointment as he looked out at the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf Village. However, noticing some changes in the village, it seemed smaller than he thought it would be, and the mountain showcasing the carved rock faces of the Hokage only had three on it. This made Ethan rub his eyes and squint at the village just in case he was seeing something wrong, but his assumption was right. "Well fuck... I'm in the era where the young Legendary Sannin are at." Stressing him out, he constantly rubbed his head in frustration. Why oh why was he at the time of the Second Shinobi World War—even though that war hadn't started yet—and not in the Naruto era? That was just unfair!
Taking a long sigh, he needed to think about it before heading to the village. "Alright, I can't tell everyone I'm from another world like some lunatic. I need a new name too; Ethan is too foreign to them. Hmm..." Trying to think of a new name for this world, after countless attempts to find one, he snapped his fingers at what he would call himself with his new name. "Eitan Heiwakari... yeah, that's it. That's the name I'll pick. Finding a random new name just gave me a headache." Now that his name was already picked, it was time for him to walk toward the village, hoping they would allow his younger self to enter there.
While walking through the forest, Eitan carefully scanned his surroundings in case any predators tried to lunge at him in his vulnerable state. Ethan—or rather, Eitan now—took out a scroll and summoned a book. These items were what he had found at the spot where he had woken up in the first place after dying from drowning. Looking at the book while walking, he noticed a note attached to the front cover that said, "Read it, very important." He opened the book and began reading out loud.
"Hello, Ethan, I'm very sorry for what happened to you; it must have been a painful experience. But don't worry, this book will guide you through how to survive in this world—or maybe you already know what kind of world you've been given. For beginners, head to the green mark, or if you have decent knowledge about this world, head to the red mark. All of that has more information than you might think. Good luck!"
Of course, Eitan had decent knowledge about the Naruto world; he had constantly read fanfics on sites that rotted his brain with countless ass Naruto fanfics, making him want to bleach his eyes and remove his brain cells. There was some weird shit in there that he would not say out loud with his mouth. "Alright, red it is."
He turned the pages to the red mark, where all the information was given to him—everything he needed to know about what had happened and why he was in this era instead of the Naruto era. Taking a seat next to a tree, he read the content inside. "Alright, let's see here..."
The book then began to explain everything he needed to know. "If you have decent knowledge about this world, then it would be easy for me to explain the important things. As you can see, like many others, you died and were Isekai'd into a new world. However, unlike many others who get ridiculous overpowered abilities from their own creations, I will not do that. So, you have to start from scratch without using some system—train hard through blood and sweat. But fortunately for you, you can change this story through your perspective and alter the endings however you want. Furthermore, that is not an easy task, and there are some catches to what happens if you change things significantly. If you prevent characters from turning evil, I won't hesitate to put my own villain characters into this world. Why would I do that, you ask? Well, without the villain part, it's kinda boring if you keep preventing every important character from turning into a bad guy in this story."
Eitan turned to the next page. "That's all for my intervention; the rest is up to you whether you change things or not. As for the reason why I picked this era, you have time for preparation before my own villains arrive in this world and cause havoc. They're no joke to mess with, though they will carry out missions like the Akatsuki. So, spend your time becoming stronger than any other ninja in this world." After reading it, even though the book had short words inside, the information was clear to him. Now, what he was going to do was rely on his past memories—where he had watched random Naruto clips, read fanfics, and looked up some random jutsu on fandom websites.
"Well, it's gonna suck, isn't it?" He let out a sigh before standing up and continuing on foot to the village.
---
Meanwhile, at the Hokage's office, a young man who was the current leader stood in front of the window, watching over his village while smoking his pipe. This was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, also known as the God of Shinobi. He was taking a moment to de-stress from the endless pile of paperwork, though he still kept at it diligently—it was what leaders did on a daily basis. Just then, an Anbu appeared behind him. "What is it?" asked Hiruzen at the Anbu's sudden appearance, who knelt before him as the young Hokage puffed out smoke from his mouth.
"Lord Hokage, there's a sudden unknown wave of chakra reserves emanating from the nearby forest. A child who holds that amount of chakra let it out without realizing," the Anbu answered him.
Hiruzen turned his head with a raised eyebrow. "Impossible. No one ever does that unless they have a death wish or are trying to bait us into an ambush. Are you certain it's a child?"
"No doubt. I don't see any ninja following him. The child is alone. What should we do?" the Anbu quickly responded.
"Hmm..." The Third Hokage rubbed his chin while thinking about it, then nodded at the Anbu. "I want to see this child first and understand what this random situation is about. Go find that child immediately and bring him to me. Understood?" he ordered his personal Anbu.
"As you command, Lord Hokage!" The Anbu then vanished, leaving him alone inside the office.
Hiruzen smiled at this, intrigued. "An interesting day."