When Uchiha Shigure opened his eyes, the world felt strangely wrong. The air around him carried a weight he couldn't name, and the clothing of the people passing in the street was unfamiliar. He saw flashes of forehead protectors, kunai pouches, and shinobi moving about as though it were the most natural thing in the world. The scenery looked both alien and familiar, unsettlingly so.
"Where… am I?" Shigure muttered, pressing a hand to his temple. His memory was blurred, fragments refusing to come together. Yet the solid feel of the wooden street beneath his feet and the chatter of merchants around him told him one thing beyond doubt—this wasn't a dream or some elaborate prank.
"Did I… travel through time? Or is this some dream I can't wake from?" He pinched his forearm hard.
The sharp sting made him yelp. "It hurts! No dream then… I actually traveled through time?!"
When his eyes shifted upward, his breath caught. Towering in the distance stood three massive stone faces carved into a mountain, watching over the village with timeless gazes.
"Impossible… those… are the Hokage faces?! This… this is Konoha?!" Shigure's voice cracked with disbelief.
Before he could take another step, a sudden chime rang inside his skull.
Ding!
A mechanical voice followed, cold and crisp:
"Binding…
Binding…
Bind complete. Congratulations, Host. The Strongest Bloodline System has been activated. Would you like to claim the first launch reward?"
Shigure's instincts spoke before reason could protest. "Yes! Use it now!"
Ding!
"Reward dispatched. The initial reward—Otsutsuki bloodline—will now be fused. Confirm fusion?"
His chest tightened, but the answer slipped out without hesitation. "Confirm!"
At once, light burst into his body like liquid fire. A wave of euphoria flooded him, flooding his mind with unbearable pleasure. His brain swam as though drenched in chemical joy.
But the system's voice cut through again. "Dopamine production has been increased. Preparing for neural resistance against upcoming pain."
The paradise ended instantly. Agony slammed into Shigure's body with hurricane force. His blood felt as though it would boil through his veins, his muscles tearing apart and knitting themselves back together. Every nerve screamed.
He bit down until iron filled his mouth. But not a sound escaped.
"Host, hold on! Fusion nearly complete!"
"Three…" The voice echoed, while Shigure thrashed in silent torment.
"Two…" His vision blurred, the world swimming.
"One!"
Darkness claimed him.
Fusion complete. Otsutsuki bloodline successfully integrated—the purest lineage achieved.
But Shigure heard none of it. He had already collapsed into unconsciousness.
A gentle voice stirred him. "Shigure… Uchiha Shigure!"
His eyelids fluttered. He found himself lying on a cold hospital bed, the smell of antiseptic sharp in the air. A black-haired girl hovered above him, her eyes dark as obsidian, wet with tears.
"Shigure…" she whispered again, relief softening her features.
"Is… that my name?" he rasped.
The girl's lips trembled. "You don't remember?" Her voice broke, tears spilling over. "Shigure… Brother Shigure… it's my fault. I begged you to take back that necklace, and now you don't even remember me!"
He blinked, struggling. Memory was a blank canvas. "I… really don't remember. You called me Uchiha Shigure? Then… I'm of the Uchiha clan?"
"You don't remember me either…" She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. "It's me—Hoshiko. We grew up together. You always called me your little sister."
"Hoshiko…" He tested the name, awkward but sincere. "I'm sorry. I don't remember, but… can you tell me what happened to me?"
Her trembling hands fumbled for a mirror, which she pressed into his grasp.
His reflection looked back: jet-black hair brushing his forehead, sharp obsidian eyes beneath strong brows, and a face that was almost perfect. Almost. Because a fresh scar slashed from his left brow across the ridge of his nose, brutal in its permanence. It lent his handsome features something feral, dangerous.
"You were attacked," Hoshiko whispered. "Some of the Uchiha bullies cornered you. They took my necklace, and you chased them down to return it. But they ganged up on you. One of them cut your face. When I found you, you were already unconscious… and now look. You've lost everything—your memories, your smile—because of me."
She sobbed harder, guilt weighing down every word.
Shigure offered a weary smile, a little clumsy, a little forced. "Don't cry, Hoshiko. Even if I've lost my memories… I know I'm alive. That's enough for me."
Inside, though, his thoughts whirled. So this is real. I've crossed into the world of Naruto. My soul slipped into the body of Uchiha Shigure, an orphan of the clan. The rest… the system, the Otsutsuki bloodline… that part is mine alone.
Their conversation filled in the blanks. Yes, he was Uchiha Shigure, abandoned early in life after his parents died in battle. An outcast among his clan, sneered at and ignored, he survived on scraps of kindness. Hoshiko was his only true companion, her own past equally bitter. The two relied on each other to keep from breaking in the darkness around them.
And it was because of her, and the Uchiha who mocked them, that he had struck his head in the fight. And through that accident, his soul traveled worlds.
Shigure's expression hardened when the picture was complete. Uchiha clan… so proud, yet so cruel. Sneering at their own blood. Hmph. Things won't be so easy for you anymore.
"Hoshiko," he said at last, "you should go rest. Didn't you say I've got the Academy graduation exam tomorrow? Let me prepare."
She hesitated, wiping her eyes. "Promise me you'll be careful?"
"I'll be fine," he reassured, but as soon as she slipped from the room, his heart pounded with restless hunger.
The system has awakened. Otsutsuki bloodline fused. What kind of power have I gained?
He closed his eyes, sinking into the strange new sensations thrumming in his body. His veins pulsed with a surging energy, pressing at the edges of his consciousness. His skin tingled, his eyes burned as though they wanted to reveal something.
Then—release. His joints cracked as energy roared outward, wrapping every inch of his body in power so sharp it made his nerves sing.
"…This feeling… It's chakra!"
The elemental lifeblood of the shinobi world, flowing through him now in endless rivers. Familiar, yet utterly intoxicating. For the first time since he had opened his eyes, Uchiha Shigure smiled—not out of politeness, not out of habit, but with anticipation.
And thus, the boy who carried both Uchiha blood and the Otsutsuki legacy rose in Konoha, his path about to collide with fate itself.