Chapter 1 — Shuriken
"Truly delightful, Gojo Satoru."
"I probably won't forget you for the rest of my life."
With Sukuna's slash cleaving him at the waist, the strongest sorcerer of an era finally fell.
Darkness. Chaos.
Gojo Satoru gradually lost consciousness.
When his awareness slowly gathered again, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar world.
His body had become that of a child. Three long whisker-like marks stretched across each side of his face, and the iconic blindfold was nowhere to be seen.
In its place were golden hair and blue eyes.
Yet within those eyes, the power of the Six Eyes still shimmered brilliantly—only now it existed in a far more concealed form.
Gojo Satoru examined this child's body and muttered to himself,
"A binding vow? A cursed corpse? A summoning technique? No… this is a real body."
At that moment, Naruto's memories began to overlap with Gojo Satoru's.
"Demon fox, get out of our village!"
"Hmph. Rules are nothing more than toys I break."
"His very existence is a curse upon the village!"
"Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one!"
...
Scene after scene from Gojo Satoru's past intertwined with Naruto's memories.
A few seconds later, the fusion of the two sets of memories was complete—indistinguishable from one another.
"Naruto" slipped his hands into his pockets. Confidence appeared on his face, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Rebirth, huh? Interesting. Chakra? That seems quite similar to cursed energy… And the Six Eyes were reborn with me as well?"
At this moment, he was the new Naruto—Naruto with the soul of Gojo Satoru.
Gojo Satoru stretched his body in his characteristic manner, gradually adjusting to the flow of chakra within this new vessel.
Using the analytical power of the Six Eyes, he precisely sensed and dissected the flow and transformation of chakra, as though every minute particle of energy was laid bare beneath his gaze.
It didn't take long for him to fully grasp how chakra circulated.
What surprised him was that this child Naruto possessed such an immense amount of chakra within his body. In particular, the fox sealed in Naruto's abdomen—by Gojo's judgment—was essentially a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
However, with such powerful chakra at his disposal, Gojo could do whatever he pleased.
"Limitless Technique—activate."
As Gojo murmured softly, a flash of light passed through his azure eyes. An invisible force erupted from within his body and enveloped him completely.
The Limitless Technique had no inherent offensive capability. Instead, anything approaching Gojo would slow down more and more, as though time itself were being halted. In that state, no attack could ever truly reach him.
In a completely unfamiliar world, survival came first.
After his battle with Toji Fushiguro, Gojo had practically never turned off the Limitless Technique.
Moreover, after keeping it active for such a long time, once the Limitless Technique was activated, it would operate automatically—extremely convenient.
Gojo surveyed his surroundings.
His Six Eyes functioned like a precision scanner, capturing every detail of Konoha Village while simultaneously analyzing the chakra flow of every nearby person.
At that moment, a familiar figure slowly entered his sensory range.
"Hey! Dead-last, can you move a little faster? This is a C-rank mission—don't drag me down!"
A black-haired boy with proud eyes walked over.
From Naruto's memories, Gojo learned that the boy in blue was named Sasuke, a rival who had been stepping on Naruto's head since childhood.
Seeing Sasuke, Gojo was suddenly reminded of his own student, Megumi Fushiguro. Memories flashed through his mind, leaving him momentarily distracted.
"Hey! Hurry up and catch up!" Sasuke said impatiently, his face stern when he saw Naruto standing there in a daze.
"Alright, I'm coming."
Gojo's lips curled into a faint smile.
This world seemed rather interesting as well.
In his previous world, he had failed to protect the people he cherished. But in this world, he would never allow that mistake to happen again.
Gojo made up his mind.
He would become even stronger—strong enough to protect anyone.
This time, Team Kakashi had accepted an escort mission. The person they were to protect was the master bridge builder of the Land of Waves—Tazuna.
The mission sounded simple enough.
After all, it was only a C-rank mission. All they had to do was protect Tazuna while he built the bridge.
Arriving at the village gate, the group prepared to depart.
Kakashi led the team, followed by Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
When Tazuna saw Naruto—the last one to arrive—his expression turned somewhat dissatisfied.
"Is that short brat reliable? He looks ridiculously dumb…"
Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura all turned to look at Naruto at the same time.
They had expected Naruto to explode in anger.
But to their surprise, Naruto merely smiled and waved his right hand.
"Sorry about that."
The three of them were stunned.
Was this really Naruto?
Someone insulted him, and he didn't fire back?
Sakura in particular was so shocked that her mouth hung slightly open. This Naruto was completely different from the one in her memory.
He didn't snap back, didn't shout about becoming Hokage.
He simply smiled.
Seeing that Naruto didn't talk back, Tazuna clicked his tongue.
"Is this kid really going to be okay?"
"Don't worry. You've got a jōnin like me along with you," Kakashi quickly said, trying to smooth things over.
And it was just as Kakashi said. With a jōnin accompanying them, and with it being nothing more than a C-rank mission, there was really no need to worry.
As they walked along the road, the group remained relatively quiet.
Kakashi couldn't help glancing at Naruto a few more times. The boy was strolling along coolly with his hands in his pockets.
Is this kid trying to imitate Sasuke?
Come to think of it, he's actually doing a pretty convincing job…
Kakashi wondered to himself in confusion.
In the past, whenever Naruto was around, the entire team would be noisy and lively. Now that Naruto had suddenly become quiet, Kakashi found it rather strange. If he cracked a joke and no one responded to it, that would be truly terrifying.
Perhaps because the atmosphere in the group had become too dull, Sakura took the initiative to start a conversation with Tazuna.
"Mr. Tazuna, your country is the Land of Waves, right?"
Tazuna glanced at her.
"Yeah. What about it?"
Sakura then looked toward Kakashi.
"Um, Kakashi-sensei… does that country have ninjas too?"
Kakashi replied calmly,
"The Land of Waves doesn't have ninjas."
"Most countries have different cultures and customs, but they usually have ninja villages and shinobi. A ninja village represents the military power of a country. However, ninja villages aren't actually controlled by the country—they simply stand on equal footing with it."
"There are also places like the Land of Waves. It's a small island nation that isn't easily interfered with by other countries, so there's no need for a ninja village to exist."
Taking the opportunity, Kakashi also gave them a brief lesson, introducing the Five Great Ninja Villages.
The Land of Fire — Konohagakure.
The Land of Water — Kirigakure.
The Land of Lightning — Kumogakure.
The Land of Wind — Sunagakure.
The Land of Earth — Iwagakure.
Both Sasuke and Sakura listened very attentively.
Gojo Satoru listened just as carefully. After being reborn as Naruto, the memories he inherited didn't include much of this world's knowledge. It was also possible that Naruto had heard these things before but simply couldn't remember them—after all, a child's memory could only hold so much.
After finishing the explanation, Kakashi patted Sakura on the head.
"Don't worry. In a C-rank mission, there absolutely won't be battles between ninja."
When Sakura had asked earlier whether there were ninjas in the Land of Waves, it was actually because she was worried about the possibility of fighting.
Upon hearing that combat wasn't likely, Sakura smiled.
"That's good. Then we won't have to worry about running into foreign ninja."
After all, they were still children. For a group with absolutely no real combat experience, the prospect of battle was still quite frightening.
After that, the atmosphere along the road became much lighter, almost like they were going on a camping trip.
Gojo Satoru continued walking the same way as before, hands tucked in his pockets.
At that moment, he glanced forward. His eyes suddenly lit up—only to dim again shortly afterward.
A while later, just as the group passed a puddle on the road, something unexpected happened.
Suddenly, two ninjas burst out from the puddle.
In the next instant, the two figures shot out like phantoms, their speed astonishing. Almost at the same moment, they landed steadily on the ground.
Both were ninjas clad in tight black outfits. Their faces were covered by specially made masks, leaving only a pair of sharp, eagle-like eyes exposed, glinting coldly even in the dim light.
In their hands they gripped a seemingly ordinary yet unusually heavy chain that connected them both. The chain was lined with sharp, gear-like blades. With their perfectly coordinated movements, the chain carved silver arcs through the air, weaving together into a dense, inescapable net that rapidly closed in on Kakashi not far away.
Everyone happened to have their backs turned toward the puddle, completely unprepared for such a sudden ambush.
By the time Kakashi reacted, the two nets of chains had already surrounded him with unstoppable force.
The sharp gears spun and clashed around Kakashi's body. Every collision sounded as though the air itself were being torn apart.
In just an instant, Kakashi was shredded into pieces by the chain's blades.
Sakura's eyes widened immediately. She instinctively raised both arms to shield herself and screamed loudly.
"Ah!!!"
At the same moment, Gojo Satoru's Six Eyes shifted, looking toward a nearby tree.
How interesting. What kind of technique is this… a substitute?
Gojo pondered.
Kakashi hadn't died. His real body was currently hiding in that very tree.
Noticing Gojo's gaze, Kakashi froze for a moment.
A coincidence?
It had to be. Kakashi knew Naruto's abilities very well. There was no way he would believe that a fresh graduate from the Ninja Academy could see through his Substitution Technique.
Just then, the two ninjas moved with incredible speed and arrived behind Gojo.
Gojo's lips curled into a smile.
Now things were starting to get interesting.