Itsuki POV
What would you even do if one random day you went to sleep as a teenager… and woke up in the body of a child? Not "younger." I mean an infant. Barely able to move your own fingers.
I don't know if most people would call that lucky or cursed. Some might say lucky, a second start, a fresh roll of the dice. But that is easy to say when you were never rich or powerful to begin with. I am talking about real power, the kind that shakes the world, not the type where you can fight ten men in a street brawl but die the moment the eleventh shows up.
Then imagine finding out the world you were reborn into isn't your old world at all.
It is fictional. A place you only ever saw in anime episodes, manga panels, movies.
And suddenly you are standing inside it. Breathing the air you once believed someone had drawn.
Tell me honestly, wouldn't you start doubting everything? Was this world always real? Were you the one who misunderstood? Or worse… are you even real anymore? Are your thoughts truly yours, or are you just acting out someone else's story?
You think about it. Then think again. And eventually you realise none of those questions have real answers. So you simply move on, because what else can you even do?
After the crisis settles, you start planning your new life. That stupid isekai optimism kicks in.
"I will get strong."
"I will get rich."
"I will enjoy powers I could only dream of before."
Except reality hits very differently.
Because this place is not a peaceful fantasy world. It is a place where children are shaped like weapons. Where loyalty to the village is drilled into your bones before you even learn multiplication tables. Sure, this kind of conditioning exists in the real world too, but here it is pushed far beyond anything you knew.
Then comes the part that truly breaks you.
You are trained to kill.
Someone like you, someone who hesitates even while eating a chicken leg, is suddenly expected to take lives. Not grown men in self defence. Other kids. Enemy shinobi barely older than you.
And they insist it is for the greater good. For your safety. For the future of a family you do not even have yet.
Maybe that is not entirely wrong. Or maybe they are completely insane. I still cannot tell.
You know you will go to war. Everyone does. Most do not survive unless they are exceptional.
Then one day, something worse hits you.
It does not matter how hard you train or how much potential you think you have.
Your clan is doomed.
You will not even reach your twenties.
You laugh, not because it is funny, but because pain sometimes escapes in strange ways.
Now you understand. You are part of that clan. The one destined to be wiped out from within.
A prodigy will choose the village over his own blood. He will slaughter his parents, his relatives, his childhood friends. Everyone. Everyone except his little brother, because his love is twisted into something unrecognisable.
Imagine knowing all this years before it happens. Knowing your life already has an expiration date written by someone else.
You try to plan your survival. You think about running far away. Hiding so deep that even the Hokage could not find you.
But you know you can't stay hidden forever specially with dangers like otsutsuki roaming around the universe.
"But how do I survive them?" It is the same question I ask myself every single day, and I still do not have an answer.
I need one soon though. The Academy will not last forever. After graduation I will be thrown straight into the war. And a few years after that, the Nine-Tails attack. My entire life feels like a countdown clock ticking louder every time I close my eyes.
I cannot be too talented. That is the real problem. Shine too brightly and I end up on Danzo's wishlist. Show too much loyalty and I become another disposable pawn of Hiruzen.
Shisui's death is proof enough. Loyalty means nothing when the elders decide sacrificing you is convenient.
So what do I do now? Follow those typical fanfiction ideas? Tell the father of the so-called future saviour about the coming attack and hope he ignores Hiruzen, forms some Uchiha ANBU squad and magically fixes decades of hatred and suspicion in the village?
No. I hate that plan. Too many things depend on other people changing. Too much relies on Minato's personality, the council's mood, and the public's bias. And why would I reveal my meta-knowledge anyway? It is the only cheat I have besides the Sharingan I will unlock someday.
If I tell even one person, everything changes.
The plot shifts. Cause and effect shatter.
And if someone decides I know too much… well, Uchiha or not, one needle to the neck is enough to end me.
[DING]
Congratulations for completing the condition for unlocking the system
(SURVIVE 2555 DAYS)
Gacha System unlocked.
"....."
Oh yeah it's my birthday.
It's late but not too late. I didn't waste time in complaing about my experience to bot and already started to get used to it.
Grinning, I looked at the holographic screen floating in front of me, giving off serious Solo Leveling vibes. I immediately checked the system and understood all the functions.
It's a standard gacha system where you spend points to spin and get cards… and those cards can be anything: templates, summons, weapons, items, powers, consumables, literally anything.
I can get points in two ways. One, I get a point daily just for existing, basically one point per day. The second way is by exchanging 30 ryō for 30 points. That's the limit too. No "33 ryō for 33 points" loopholes.
I didn't hesitate. I opened the drawer beside my bed, grabbed the toad-shaped pouch, and took out the money.
A second later, the cash vanished as soon as I thought about exchanging it and my points jumped from zero to thirty instantly.
Now then… let's do the spin.
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