1991, New York City, a dock on Manhattan Island.
A sinister transaction was unfolding here.
This place was meant to have only darkness as its witness, but tonight, a third party lurked in the shadows.
High above, on the steel beams of the warehouse roof, a figure nearly indistinguishable from the night itself coldly observed the two parties below.
Suddenly, the lights went out, plunging the once brightly lit warehouse into pitch blackness.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!"
A strikingly youthful voice echoed from above.
A sharp whoosh cut through the air, as if something—or someone—was hurtling downward at breakneck speed.
Amid the sounds of crashing and splashing water, a brief scream erupted from the crowd below, only to be abruptly silenced.
The muzzle flash of gunfire briefly illuminated the warehouse, but when the men looked up, they saw no trace of their assailant.
"Water Release: Exploding Water Shockwave!"
With this strange shout came an even louder surge of rushing water.
A cacophony of furious shouts filled the warehouse.
A shadowy figure darted through the chaos.
The dockside warehouse, once alive with gunfire, fell silent in mere minutes, save for a few sporadic shots.
The warehouse doors slowly creaked open, and a young man stepped out.
Moonlight gently bathed his face, casting soft shadows that outlined his striking features.
In the dim, flickering light, his long black eyelashes fluttered lightly, and his heterochromatic eyes gleamed with an eerie glow in the darkness.
The young man, about to leave, suddenly paused, his gaze lingering on a sports car parked outside the warehouse.
Moments later, the roar of the engine faded into the distance, leaving behind a scene of utter disarray at the dock.
As the boy departed, two transparent figures materialized out of thin air on the open ground beside the warehouse.
"Well, it seems young Kyle has quite the spark. What do you think, Newt?" said the older man with a long white beard, smiling warmly at his companion.
The man called Newt responded slowly, "With no one to guide him, he's mastered wandless magic—a highly advanced skill—and even created a few intriguing spells of his own. I daresay Hogwarts is about to get lively."
The white-bearded man seemed pleased with Newt's assessment, his tone tinged with pride. "After all, he does have some Dumbledore blood in him."
At Albus Dumbledore's boast, Newt didn't hesitate to cut in, "He's not exactly a Dumbledore, is he?"
Dumbledore's face fell, a touch exasperated. "Kyle's practically half my son!"
Newt thought for a moment before delivering another jab, straight to Dumbledore's heart. "The half-son you sent to an orphanage and then lost track of?"
Dumbledore, flustered, decided he was done discussing Kyle's origins with Newt. "Let's go! We're fetching Kyle!" With a loud crack, Dumbledore vanished on the spot.
Newt's figure followed suit, disappearing as the sound of approaching sirens grew louder over the dock.
A sports car sped through the moonlight, its engine's roar echoing far down the empty highway.
Soon, the car pulled into an abandoned factory in Brooklyn, coming to a stop on a flat patch of ground.
Kyle sat in the driver's seat, calmly forming a series of hand seals.
"Earth Release: Ground Shaking Core!"
The ground beneath the car slowly sank, like the platform of a multi-level parking garage.
In truth, it was a platform—one powered by chakra.
The platform descended into a vast underground space.
This was Kyle's secret base, where he had lived for the past five years.
After parking the car, the patch of earth rose back up under the influence of his Earth Release jutsu, seamlessly blending with the surface above, leaving no trace of its movement.
Kyle grabbed a briefcase from the passenger seat and approached an iron door—the entrance to his true living quarters.
The base was fully equipped with everything one could need: living essentials, entertainment, and fitness facilities, all luxuriously appointed.
Deep underground, several generators hummed steadily, providing the base with a constant supply of electricity.
Looking at the fruits of his labor, a smile spread across Kyle's face.
Over the past five years, he had quietly built up quite the foundation.
Kyle placed his spoils from the night on the living room table and began inspecting his haul.
The sight of stacks of crisp hundred-dollar bills in the briefcase brought a brilliant smile to his face. This was, by far, his most lucrative haul since leaving the orphanage.
Yes, Kyle was an orphan. By all accounts, he should have been in an orphanage or with an adoptive family.
But beyond being an orphan, Kyle had another identity: a transmigrator from Modern Earth.
A bolt of lightning had inexplicably sent him hurtling into another world.
When he awoke, he was a one-year-old child, and the year was 1980.
After piecing together the state of this world through newspapers, he realized it wasn't much different from the one he'd known in his previous life—just set a bit earlier in time.
Originally, Kyle had planned to bide his time in the orphanage, growing up quietly until he could seize his first big opportunity. With his knowledge of future societal trends, he aimed to rise to the top.
But that plan hit a snag when he was six years old.
Kyle discovered, to his shock, that he was no ordinary child—he had powers.
One day, a surge of electric energy coursed through his body, spilling out uncontrollably.
By the time he came to his senses, his surroundings were in disarray.
Fortunately, no one else was around during his awakening. He quickly cleaned up the scene and pretended nothing had happened.
After several clandestine experiments, Kyle—well-versed in web novels and anime from his past life—found a way to roughly control and harness the energy within him.
It was through hand signs—or rather, hand seals.
So… his golden ticket was chakra?
To avoid drawing attention to his abnormality and to secure a place where he could train his abilities, Kyle left the orphanage. He eventually settled on this abandoned factory in Brooklyn as his base.
By day, he practiced the Naruto-style ninjutsu and taijutsu he recalled from his memories.
By night, driven by the need to survive, Kyle roamed the streets, "fishing" for careless thugs who might generously "donate" their cash to him.
The versatility of ninjutsu gave Kyle the ability to easily overpower an average adult, making short work of street punks.
After years of trial and error, Kyle had mastered a few basic Water Release and Earth Release techniques.
As for the "Great Shark Bullet" and "Exploding Water Shockwave" he'd shouted earlier? Those were just names he made up on the spot. In reality, their power was probably closer to C-rank ninjutsu.
This hidden underground base was the result of countless hours and effort, constructed using his Earth Release techniques.
As his combat skills grew, Kyle's targets shifted from lowlife thugs to more dangerous gangsters. The former, no matter how much you squeezed, could only cough up a few bucks, but the latter…
The briefcase full of cash in front of him was proof of just how lucrative his new targets could be.
After roughly tallying his haul, Kyle tossed the stacks of bills into a safe nearby.
But just as he was about to close the safe's door, an unusual sound caught his attention—the chakra-powered elevator to his base had been activated.