He had been twenty–two years old when he died. Not by accident, not by tragedy — just exhaustion.
Exhaustion from rejection emails. From interviews that went nowhere. From watching friends move forward while he stood still, empty-handed and skillless, or so he believed.
He had no talent worth mentioning, no achievements to speak of. Bills stacked. Expectations suffocated. The world did not wait for those who hesitated.
In that quiet despair, stories became his refuge.
Fan fiction. Isekai novels. Manga panels filled with impossible power and second chances. Those worlds saved him more times than he could count. They kept him from making choices he might have regretted forever.
That night, after finishing another long fic about shinobi and destiny, he fell asleep with his phone still in his hand.
And then—
Darkness.
Not the darkness of closed eyes. Not the darkness of night.
An endless, internal void.
He could not see his hands. Could not feel the ground. Could not even sense his own body. There was only awareness — floating in nothingness.
Then he blinked.
Light.
Blurry shapes. Noise. A woman's voice. Another softer one.
His body felt wrong. Small. Heavy. Weak.
Before he could process it, he drifted back into sleep.
---
When he woke again, time had passed.
He could not understand the language around him, but the sounds were familiar. Sharp syllables. Certain tones.
Japanese?
Chinese?
No… it felt more like the language from the anime he used to binge.
Days turned to weeks. Weeks into months.
He was a baby.
And as his mind matured faster than his body, realization dawned slowly, then all at once.
This was not Earth.
This was the world of shinobi.
The world of Naruto.
He was reborn.
---
His name was Ren.
And somehow — somehow — he was the younger brother of Tsunade.
He did not understand how that worked. Timeline-wise, biologically, logically — none of it made sense. Tsunade was supposed to be decades older.
Yet here he was, five years old in the Hidden Leaf, and officially listed as her little brother.
To make things even stranger, his birthday was September 23.
The exact same day as Ino Yamanaka.
Same year.
Same age.
"AU," he muttered to himself once he was old enough to think clearly. "This has to be an alternate universe."
And with that, he stopped questioning it.
If he had been granted a second life, he would accept it.
---
He had no parents in this world.
No memory of them. No grave. No explanation.
He had Tsunade.
And Shizune.
Tsunade was around forty–three or forty–four, yet she behaved like a chaotic older sister with zero restraint when it came to him.
Shizune, barely in her early twenties, balanced that chaos with gentle care.
Between the two of them, he was utterly spoiled.
Tsunade would ruffle his black hair until it stuck out in every direction.
"Look at him, Shizune," she'd grin. "He's getting cuter every day."
"I'm not a doll, nee-san," Ren would protest weakly.
She would pinch his soft cheeks mercilessly.
"Oh? Then why are these so squishy?"
Shizune wasn't any better.
As he grew older, she started doing it too — rubbing her cheek against his.
"You smell nice," she would say absentmindedly.
"I just bathed…"
"That's why."
He was, unfortunately, extremely cute.
Azure-blue eyes. Jet black hair. Soft cheeks that seemed engineered to be poked.
He had accepted his fate.
---
Even his friends were guilty.
Ino could never resist.
"Ren-kun, just once more!" she'd say, already reaching for his face.
"That's what you said last time!"
Sakura would sigh but still poke him anyway.
"It's not our fault your cheeks are so soft!"
Shikamaru would watch from the sidelines, hands in his pockets.
"What a drag…"
Choji would nod sympathetically.
"Stay strong."
Ren would glare at them.
"Help me."
Both boys would immediately look away.
They were not foolish enough to interfere.
---
There was one more girl.
Quiet. Gentle. Soft-spoken.
Hinata Hyuga.
They met on her third birthday.
Tsunade had been in the village at the time and was obligated to attend the celebration of one of Konoha's most prominent clans — the Hyūga.
She was not leaving her three-year-old brother alone.
So she brought him.
The Hyūga estate was grand, disciplined, filled with watchful eyes.
Ren remembered hiding slightly behind Tsunade's sleeve when he first saw Hinata.
She had pale eyes that seemed to shimmer softly.
She looked at him.
He looked at her.
"…H-hello," she whispered.
"Hi," he replied.
They wandered off from the adults, two shy children seeking quieter space.
They talked about nothing important — favorite sweets, birds in the garden, which clouds looked like animals.
And then—
A presence.
A flicker of killing intent.
A shadow moved.
A Kumo shinobi lunged.
Ren barely had time to react before chaos erupted.
Hiashi Hyūga appeared like a phantom and struck the attacker down.
But this time, things were different.
Because Tsunade was there.
And Ren had a small scratch on his arm.
That was enough.
---
The Kumo delegation demanded explanation.
Tsunade walked forward slowly, her expression dark.
"You want an explanation?" she asked quietly.
One of the Kumo shinobi stiffened. "Yes. Your village killed—"
She moved.
A single punch shattered the ground beneath them.
Cracks spidered outward.
Several shinobi were thrown back, bones snapping audibly.
"You want an explanation," Tsunade repeated coldly, "go and tell your Fourth Raikage."
Her golden eyes blazed.
"There will be no explanation from Konoha."
"If he wants one," she continued, voice deadly calm, "he can come and ask me in person."
The Hyūga clan stood firmly behind her.
Hiashi did not argue.
The message was clear.
Kumo had already suffered heavily in the Third Shinobi War. They had lost the Third Raikage and countless shinobi.
They were not prepared for another conflict.
They swallowed their anger.
Their mission had failed.
---
Elsewhere, in the Land of Lightning—
A roared in fury.
"You brainless idiots!" he shouted, lightning crackling faintly around him. "Couldn't you have waited until she was alone?!"
The shinobi knelt, trembling.
"Lord A, we didn't know he was Lady Tsunade's brother—"
"That woman would have killed every one of you if that boy had been seriously hurt!"
Silence filled the chamber.
And thus—
The Hyūga heir was not kidnapped.
No sacrifice was demanded.
History shifted.
---
Present day.
Ren was five years old.
He had fully accepted that his cheeks would never know peace.
Tsunade still messed up his hair daily.
Shizune still hugged him too tightly.
Ino and Sakura still attacked him without warning.
Hinata still blushed whenever their hands brushed.
Shikamaru still sighed.
Choji still sympathized.
Ren stared at the sky above Konoha.
Second life.
Alternate timeline.
Stronger future.
He clenched his small fists.
"This time," he murmured quietly, determination flickering in his blue eyes, "I won't be useless."
Behind him, Tsunade called out—
"Ren! Where are you hiding?"
He froze.
"…I'm not hiding."
"Come here!"
"…Why?"
"So I can see your face!"
He sighed deeply.
Some fates, it seemed, could not be avoided.
And thus began the life of Ren Senju — little brother of Tsunade, friend of Hinata, target of relentless cheek harassment… and a variable that would change the shinobi world forever.