Hidden Mist, Year 27.
In the southern part of the Land of Water, there was a very remote and insignificant fishing village.
By the lake far from the village, a young boy dressed in white sat quietly. His eyes were vacant, his face filled with bitterness as he stared blankly at the lake's surface, looking utterly melancholic.
In truth, he wasn't spacing out. The boy was sorting through memories that had suddenly appeared in his mind.
A day ago, the eight-year-old boy named Seiji had been cultivating the power known as chakra, as he usually did. Suddenly, a large number of memory fragments surged into his mind without warning.
Overwhelmed by the sudden flood of information, he fainted on the spot.
When he awoke, he found many unfamiliar memories embedded within his consciousness.
It took Seiji nearly an entire day to organize those memories and fully understand his situation.
He was not a native of the shinobi world.
He was a transmigrator.
Eight years ago, on Earth, a twenty-four-year-old man had just completed his master's degree. On his way to a job interview, he was struck head-on by a speeding truck that ran a red light and died instantly.
Born in an orphanage, he had managed to grow up thanks to the kindness and support of generous people. Perhaps because the first half of his life had been too harsh and impoverished, under the influence of some mysterious force, his soul completed a transmigration and arrived in the Naruto world, where he was reborn as an infant who was later named Seiji.
Although the shinobi world possessed the extraordinary power known as chakra, the soul of an adult was far too vast for the fragile body of an infant. As a result, Seiji's transmigrated soul instinctively sealed most of itself deep within his consciousness.
That seal had only broken open a day ago.
Having sorted through his memories from his previous life, Seiji—now fully accepting his current identity—felt both joy and confusion.
The good news was that this was the Naruto world he was familiar with.
The bad news was that he had never fully watched the series. Most of what he knew came from high-intensity edited clips he had casually scrolled through online.
After organizing his thoughts, Seiji shook his head helplessly and let out a bitter smile.
"Ah… the Naruto world. A land filled with endless strife."
Expelled from his clan after losing a political struggle. Exiled to a remote border region in the southern Land of Water. A father gravely injured. A mother who died early from depression. Forced to survive in harsh conditions.
To someone who had read countless fantasy novels in his previous life, this was clearly a protagonist template.
Even if he did not know the detailed plot of Naruto, he still knew the ending of Shippuden.
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Black Zetsu.
Uchiha Madara.
Each name alone was enough to bring immense pressure.
Lowering his head, Seiji gazed at the lake's surface. His reflection stared back at him.
His face was handsome, carrying an air of elegance. His complexion was smooth and fair, his features sharp and refined, giving him a cold and noble beauty. Two red markings adorned his brow, further enhancing his graceful and distinguished aura.
Looking closer, one would notice something unusual.
Two small horns protruded from either side of his forehead.
Yet rather than ruining his appearance, they blended strangely well with his features, giving him an otherworldly and enchanting presence.
This was perhaps the only true blessing Seiji possessed.
From the limited clips he had seen about the Ōtsutsuki clan, he understood something important.
What he inherited was not merely the Kaguya clan's bloodline.
It was ancestral reversion.
The horns were a symbol of genuine Ōtsutsuki blood.
Although his bloodline remained thin and he had yet to awaken the Byakugan, he at least possessed the foundation to evolve toward a complete Ōtsutsuki lineage.
After steadying his emotions, Seiji decided not to cultivate that day.
Having awakened his past-life memories and gained such overwhelming knowledge, he chose instead to rest, properly assess his abilities, and plan how to survive in this dangerous world.
He stood and slowly walked along the lakeside, his thoughts swirling as memories from both lives interwove within his mind.
Eight years ago, due to internal power struggles within the Kaguya clan—and because Seiji had been born with horns unlike any other clan member—his father, Kaguya Genji, was expelled from the clan and exiled to this nameless fishing village on the southern border of the Land of Water.
Genji's elder brother, the current clan head Kaguya Musashi, used the excuse that Seiji's bloodline had mutated into something monstrous and did not properly inherit the Kaguya clan's bloodline to deny him recognition.
Before his expulsion, Kaguya Genji had been the strongest warrior in the clan.
He had awakened the ultimate taijutsu bloodline limit—Shikotsumyaku, the Corpse Bone Pulse—at a remarkably young age. He was hailed as the hope of restoring the Kaguya clan's glory.
Genji did not disappoint.
At only fourteen years old, he had already become an elite jōnin of Kirigakure. His strength ranked among the top of the elite jōnin, earning him formidable reputation across the shinobi world.
But perhaps heaven envied geniuses.
At the age of twenty, Genji followed the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu, in a surprise assault against the Land of Earth during the late stages of the First Shinobi World War.
Instead, they walked into an ambush set by the Second Tsuchikage, Mū.
After a brutal battle, both Kage perished together.
The remaining Kirigakure forces broke through in scattered retreat. Only Genji and eight others returned alive, heavily wounded.
At that time, medical ninjutsu had not yet developed into a systematic discipline.
Genji's injuries were irreversible.
His internal chakra pathways were shattered. The flow of chakra within his body became unstable, reducing his strength to that of an ordinary jōnin.
Within the Kaguya clan—a clan that revered martial power above all—Genji's influence rapidly declined.
Originally, he had been the predetermined successor to the position of clan head after returning victorious alongside the Second Mizukage.
Instead, his injuries postponed everything.
His older brother, Musashi, seized the opportunity. By rallying several elders to his side, he caused internal upheaval and successfully ascended as clan head.
Using his authority to control resources, Musashi's strength rose quickly. Within three years, he advanced from an ordinary jōnin to an elite jōnin. With the enhancement of the Corpse Bone Pulse, he firmly secured his position.
Though no longer at his former peak, Genji still possessed jōnin-level strength and remained one of the few in the clan who had deeply mastered Shikotsumyaku.
Only eight members of the Kaguya clan had awakened the Corpse Bone Pulse.
Among them, only Genji in his prime could perform the legendary technique:
Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Early Fern.
To preserve the clan's bloodline, Genji was valued by the Sixth Elder, who had also awakened Shikotsumyaku. He married the Elder's second daughter, Kaguya Yukiko.
A year later, Seiji was born.
Soon after, the Sixth Elder disappeared during a mission.
Genji's influence weakened further.
When Seiji was only seven or eight months old, Musashi escalated matters. Using Seiji's horns as proof of mutation, he expelled Genji's family of three from the clan entirely.
Exiled to the border.
The repeated blows, harsh living conditions, and isolation devastated Yukiko's health.
Under constant surveillance by shinobi sent by Musashi, she could not receive proper treatment.
When Seiji was three years old, she passed away.
Genji, whose crippled body could barely maintain jōnin-level combat power, was guarded by two jōnin sent by Musashi.
Without burning his life through forbidden techniques, he could not win two against one.
If he sacrificed his life, his son would not survive alone.
Helpless, he could only watch his wife fade away.
His shattered body and broken spirit tormented him daily.
The once brilliant genius of the Kaguya clan had completely collapsed.
If not for Seiji, the only thing anchoring him to life, he might have already chosen death.
As the final glow of sunset faded beyond the horizon, Seiji stopped walking.
The memories in his mind finally settled.
After determining his direction, he turned and slowly walked back toward his home.