The world dissolved into white text.
[Available Race Imprint: Quincy]
[Initiating Fusion… Allocating Talents and Skills.]
[Integration Progress: 0.3%... 0.8%... 1.2%...]
It wasn't a gentle awakening. It was a reconstruction.
Indescribable agony detonated in Aokawa's marrow. His skeleton felt as though it were being liquified and recast, while his chakra meridians burned like fuses lit by a divine fire.
Yet, beneath the pain, something ancient and sharp slotted into his mind. Memories that weren't his—the tension of a bowstring, the calculation of wind drag, the absolute stillness before a release—flooded his cortex. Instincts he had never learned were suddenly as natural as breathing.
[Race Imprint Integration Complete.]
[Race: Quincy (Common Rank)]
[Current Fusion Rate: 10.02%]
[Talent Acquired: Reishi Affinity]
[Skill Acquired: Reishi Collection (Basic)]
Description: The fundamental ability of a Quincy. Gathers spirit particles from the atmosphere to fuel power.
[Racial Skill Acquired: Heilig Pfeil (Sacred Arrow)]
Description: Condenses collected particles into solid arrows of energy. Launched via a Spirit Bow.
[Item Acquired: Quincy Cross]
Description: The focus of a Quincy's power. Stabilizes particle collection. Essential for novices to manifest the Spirit Bow.
[Item 'Quincy Cross' has been sublimated into a Spiritual Crest. Location: Right Dorsal Hand.]
[Information Download: Basic Quincy Archery Arts.]
[Objective: Establish a foothold in this world. Obtain Energy Crystals to deepen fusion and unlock elite abilities (Schrift/Voltsändig).]
[Current Energy Crystals: 0]
Heat seared the back of his right hand. A complex, cross-shaped sigil burned itself into his skin, glowing faint blue before fading into a tattoo-like mark.
The pain of his injuries—the shattered ribs, the bruised organs—receded, washed away by a tide of new, surging vitality.
But as the power settled, Aokawa sensed a discrepancy.
Wait.
The system spoke of Reishi—Spirit Particles. But the air in this wooden shack, in this entire world, was void of them.
Instead, what he felt flooding into his pores was something heavier. Wilder.
Nature Energy.
The active, chaotic energy of the earth and sky was responding to his Reishi Affinity, wrapping around him like a second skin. And the fuel required to bind this energy into an arrow wasn't Spirit Power... it was his own Chakra.
The cheat code localized itself.
It adapted the Quincy mechanics to the laws of the Shinobi world. He didn't have time to question the physics of it. He had zero Energy Crystals and a fusion rate of barely 10%. He couldn't act like a sternritter yet.
Aokawa lay perfectly still, feigning death. Behind closed eyelids, his mind raced, calculating distances, angles, and the time required to mold his Chakra into a Heilig Pfeil.
Too slow. I can't manifest the bow yet.
Outside his mind, reality was deteriorating fast.
Rrrrip—!
The sound of fabric tearing cut through the silence.
"Beautiful," the burly missing-nin grunted. "I love this part."
He licked his lips, eyes glinting with a perverse appreciation as he peeled away the woman's ruined kimono, exposing pale, trembling skin to the cold air. He wasn't just a brute; he was a connoisseur of fear, savoring the atmosphere of total dominance.
The woman didn't scream. Her eyes were hollow, fixed on the unmoving lump of bandages on the floor.
That corpse was her last hope.
But the corpse didn't move.
"Give it up, you waste of space," the ninja sneered, following her gaze. He walked over to Aokawa, looming over him. "I'll let you in on a secret. I'm the one who beat this kid into a dog the first time."
He kicked Aokawa's motionless leg.
"Four of them. One Chunin, two Genin. I slaughtered them like pigs. And this one? He was the most useless of the lot."
The ninja chuckled, the sound vibrating in his chest. "If it wasn't for the bounty on breaking that cursed seal on his forehead, a Branch House Hyuga wouldn't be worth the dirt on my shoe. Once I'm done here, I'm taking his head."
The woman shuddered. Desperation broke through her paralysis.
"I... I'll do anything," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Just let us go. Please."
"Let you go?"
The ninja paused, eyebrows raising in mock surprise. Then, a wide, cruel grin split his beard.
"You know, I actually should thank you. If you hadn't dragged his sorry carcass here, I would have missed the payday. You saved me a lot of tracking time."
He leaned in close, inhaling the scent of her terror.
"So, as a reward... I'm going to 'love' you both thoroughly. And then I'll leave your corpses intact. That's mercy."
"You animal!"
The woman snapped.
With the last reserves of her strength, she lunged, sinking her teeth into the thick muscle of the man's neck.
"GAAH! YOU BITCH!"
The ninja roared, pain fueling his rage. He ripped her away, his massive hand clamping around her arm like a vice, and threw her toward the center pillar.
"Eri-chan! RUN! Don't look back!" she screamed to her daughter.
"Mama... no! I won't go!" The toddler wailed, paralyzed by fear.
"LET HER GO!"
Chaos erupted. The ninja advanced on the woman, murder in his eyes.
Now.
The "corpse" moved.
Aokawa exploded from the floor. He didn't waste time trying to manifest a spirit weapon he hadn't mastered. His wrist flicked, standard Konoha steel flashing in the dim light.
Shurikenjutsu.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three shuriken tore through the air, screaming toward the ninja's face and heart.
"Ninja-sama!"
The woman's eyes lit up. The light of salvation. He was alive! He was fighting!
The missing-nin, startled by the resurrection of the boy he thought broken, flinched. Instinct took over. He released the woman and raised a kunai to deflect.
Clang! Clang!
He blocked two. The third grazed his forearm, slicing a deep gash through muscle to the bone.
"YOU BRAT!"
The ninja howled, his face twisting into a mask of pure demonic fury. He turned, ready to tear the Hyuga boy limb from limb. "YOU'RE DEAD!"
But the space where Aokawa had been standing was empty.
The ninja blinked.
BOOM!
Wood splintered. Dust billowed.
Aokawa hadn't charged. He hadn't followed up the shuriken with a hero's strike.
He had turned around, channeled every ounce of his new vitality into his fist, and punched a man-sized hole through the rotting back wall of the cabin.
Without a backward glance, without a word of reassurance, he vaulted through the opening and vanished into the dark forest.
He ran.
He ran?
He... ran?!
The silence that followed was heavier than the violence.
The ecstatic smile on the woman's face froze, then cracked, shattering into a million pieces.
The sound of fading footsteps thumped against the earth—thud, thud, thud—getting softer, farther away. Each step was a hammer blow to her heart.
She whipped her head toward the jagged hole in the wall, her eyes wide, uncomprehending. Then, realization hit.
She let out a wail that tore her throat raw, the sound of a trapped beast realizing the cage is locked.
"TAKE HER WITH YOU!"
She screamed into the darkness, crawling toward the hole.
"PLEASE! JUST TAKE ERI-CHAN! TAKE MY DAUGHTER!"
"NINJA-SAMA! COME BACK!"
"COME BAAAACK—!!"
Her voice broke, rasping into a sob.
The only answer was the hollow echo of the wind through the trees, and the rhythm of footsteps that did not stop, did not slow, and did not return.