Even though I had access to memories, it wasn't at all what I had imagined.
It wasn't a flood of information pouring into my head.
It was as if my memory card had been swapped with someone else's.
If I searched for a keyword, I could immediately access memories related to it.
First, I thought about what my name was.
Finding the answer was harder than I expected because I didn't get an immediate response to my question. Probably because people instinctively rely more on their memory than their intuition to remember their own name.
Realizing that this wasn't working, I wanted to access a memory where I had written my name.
Hundreds of images appeared in my mind at once.
I could tell that each image was connected to a different memory.
I immediately chose one of the most solid memories, and the memory fragment flooded into my mind.
Futao Hozuki. That's my name.
When I enrolled in the ninja academy, I made a mistake on the paper where I wrote my name, and because I was so young at the time, it became a frightening and unforgettable memory for me.
Then, before I had a chance to search for more information, Mei must have gotten tired of touching my real body, so she stood up and told me to pick up the corpse on the ground.
Before obeying her order, I quickly surfed through my memory and checked which of us had the higher rank.
As a member of the Hozuki clan and the direct descendant of the 2nd Mizukage, even as a Chunin, I should have been higher in rank than him, but apparently, the owner of this body secretly liked Mei Terumi.
That's why he accepted every order from her as a regular Chunin would accept an order from a regular Jonin.
When Terumi Mei waved her hands suspiciously in front of my eyes, I quickly sprang into action and hoisted my original body onto my shoulders.
Thanks to the intense power flowing through my body, this task was easier than usual for me. I felt as if I were lifting a scarecrow made of straw, not a human being.
Fortunately, Terumi Mei didn't want to chat any longer and leaped onto a tree ahead with a jump.
I immediately understood the situation and began to absorb everything about jumping from tree to tree from Futao's memories without delay.
I didn't want to mess up here. Even though my new technique seemed invincible, I barely managed to defeat the spirit of a chunin like Futao, who was focused on his muscles.
If I tried to take over the body of Terumi Mei, who was probably a genius of the highest order, I would fail without exception.
"Hey, Futao, are you hurt?"
Terumi Mei showed her kind side and guessed that my abnormality was due to an injury.
Her voice pulled me out of my memories, and in one leap, I landed beside the tree where she stood.
Or rather, I thought so, but it turns out that jumping from tree to tree is a game that the Nijjas have been playing since childhood, and I have no experience in this matter.
Looking back on a few memories, I realized I hadn't learned it as well as I had imagined.
Even though I managed to grab the tree in one go, based on the method Futao learned from his grandfather, I couldn't disperse the kinetic energy that built up after landing on the branch, and after swinging back and forth, I fell back to the ground.
Even managing to regain my balance in the air and land on my feet was a good achievement for me.
Of course, Terumi Mei didn't know what I'd been through, so she raised one eyebrow and looked at me like I was an idiot. It was as if she'd never seen a monkey fail to jump from branch to branch before in her life.
"Ahem. Sorry. I hit my head on the tree while dealing with this guy and lost my balance a little."
"Oh, really?"
Terumi Mei replied in a tone that said she wasn't buying my nonsense, while continuing to stare at me.
She probably started to suspect me, but what could she do? Nothing.
On my second attempt, I managed to stand on the branch.
After setting off again, I failed a few times jumping from branch to branch because I used too much force, but I quickly adapted. After all, even if the person is gone, years of muscle memory are still there.
After a day of traveling by land and a day of traveling by water, Terumi Mei and I finally arrived at the gate of the secret mist village.
It hadn't been long since my last visit here, and now I'm back again. Once more, I'm standing in front of the big gate with Terumi Mei.
Maybe it's fate, who knows. ...
During the first few hours of the journey, Terumi Mei kept looking at me strangely, so I couldn't dig into my memories, but when we ate together at our first rest stop, Terumi Mei finally started looking at me more normally, and I took this opportunity to dig into my memories.
The main things I learned: Almost all of my family members were recently killed by assassins. A few survivors managed to escape the village. The reason was sudden discrimination against those with kekkei genkai in the Hidden Mist Village. The assassins were probably other ninjas from the village.
The main reason I survived these assassinations is that I am known as a kind person and that I have not awakened my family's kekkei genkai, known as the "Liquefy jutsu."
I live alone, I'm 32 years old, I like Terumi Mei, but I can't confess because of our age difference (Terumi Mei is 22-23 years old but looks younger because she hasn't gotten the milf buff yet), and I'm extremely stupid.
I'm really stupid.
I've never passed a written exam, I know very few jutsu, I have no friends... The only things this body has are muscle strength and chakra quantity. Of course, since I took over the body, the chakra channels are wide, but the chakra consumed takes much longer to recover.
"Hey, Futao! Stop staring like an idiot and come sign!"
When I came to my senses at the voice of the ninja responsible for guarding the door, I realized a terrifying possibility.
Could this man's stupidity have rubbed off on me? I didn't used to get so carried away.