After meditating for a good while, I decided to set up traps to finally get something decent to eat. It's been days since I had a real meal.
I mean, eating berries from the roadside hardly counts as a meal.
With the traps ready, I sat down to reflect on what I know about this world—and the little I remember about the present and the future.
My memories of the events in the Naruto world are vague, but some stand out clearly.
To organize my thoughts, I drew a line on the ground to symbolize the timeline.
In the center, I wrote the names of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, the characters I remember well. If memory serves, they were twelve years old at the start of the story.
Kakashi was their teacher, and I remember him because he was badass. He also had the Sharingan, even though he wasn't an Uchiha.
On the timeline, I placed Kakashi a little before the story began. I don't remember exactly when he got the Sharingan, but I know it was during the Third Ninja War... or was it the Fourth?
These ninja wars seem to have been global conflicts, like world wars. But as far as I know, there hasn't been a "great ninja war" yet. Which means I'm really screwed.
I'm way back in the past. I mean, WAY in the past. If the history of this world resembles the one I came from, there's a big chance I won't live long enough to see Naruto or any relevant character.
There were only two world wars on Earth, for Kami's sake! If the Third World Ninja War is still to happen, I'll be around 300 years old or more by then.
Unfortunately, this feels all too real.
Back to the timeline, I remember the Uchiha clan was exterminated, but I don't know why or how. Kakashi must have gotten the Sharingan before that, but how long before, I have no idea.
Then there was the attack of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Looking at the drawing on the ground, I'm left wondering: did the fox attack before or during the Uchiha massacre?
Leaving that question aside for now, I focus on more vivid memories, like Orochimaru's fight against an old man who was some sort of mayor or governor of the village. I don't remember his title, but I remember his name: Hiruzen.
Even though he had been in power for YEARS, that damned old man seems to have never done anything useful. The village didn't evolve, there were no great scientific discoveries or innovations in ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu. Sure, it's not easy to revolutionize something overnight, but Naruto's parents were alive, and this old man was already old! And when Naruto was 12, he was even older! No one will change my opinion: I HATE Hiruzen just for breathing.
Damn old man...
How the hell did he manage to do nothing but smoke a pipe and walk around?
I hate this man with all my might. When I watched Naruto Classic, I didn't skip as many episodes as I did in Naruto Shippuden. And because of that, I know Hiruzen well, even after 16 years since I first watched Naruto.
How can someone be so incompetent? He lost to his own student. Tsunade hated him for some reason. Jiraiya aged into a pervert.
And the worst of all: the village's greatest weapon, the son of Hiruzen's successor, was left to fend for himself.
I need to stop thinking about this before my chakra explodes inside me. Every day, it gets harder to control my emotions.
Damn old man...
That reminds me of the Leaf Village.
I spent some time thinking. Reflected a bit more, and then thought again.
"This shit isn't helping at all!"
I saw my hair start to turn red as I erased the timeline on the ground with my bare feet.
"No matter the world or the timeline… whether it's an alternate version or not, none of it matters in the end."
I felt my eyes fill with fiery chakra, my hair rising like living snakes.
I walked towards the traps with heavy steps.
"I don't have cancer anymore. I have a healthy body. I no longer suffer from depression, and I have everything I need to defend myself from whatever happens. I'll live one day at a time, and my future self will deal with tomorrow's problems."
With that oath to myself, I decided to live the best way I could.
"That will be my creed, my way of operating."
—------
"My past self is a massive son of a bitch!"
I shouted, running as fast as I could.
It's been a year since I left the camp. At least, I think it's been a year. It's hard to be sure when I have no way of counting days and months. And frankly, nobody cares about that, except farmers and nobles.
My taijutsu training has progressed quite a bit. I never practiced martial arts in my past life for obvious reasons, but I was always a big fan. Boxing, krav maga, taekwondo, Muay Thai, karate... and many others.
But what fascinated me the most were Chinese martial arts. Bruce Lee brought Wushu to the world, Donnie Yen showed us Wing Chun, and so many other films highlighted the beauty and effectiveness of these arts.
It was in Avatar: The Last Airbender that I truly fell in love. Each bending style was based on a real martial art: Tai Chi Chuan for water, Hung Gar for earth, Northern Shaolin for fire, and Pa Kua Chang for air.
Why is this important? Because I'm trying, and somehow succeeding, in incorporating these styles into my taijutsu!
The problem? I never practiced martial arts before. Past attempts nearly killed me. But now, somehow, I'm managing to survive.
But let me be clear, as I said, I never practiced martial arts in my past life. The one time I tried, I almost died and had to undergo emergency surgery because of the amount of blood that accumulated in my lungs.
So, as proud as I am of myself, I only know the theory, and combining the theory of martial arts from memories years old with the Taijutsu I'm learning from outdated scrolls and notes… you could say it's a miracle I'm still alive.
That brings me to my current situation. Over the past year, I've learned to hunt more efficiently, and let me tell you, there's no shortage of animals in this world! By being able to eat better, I gained some muscle and my weight has become acceptable.
Since I know how to fight, and more importantly, I'm not afraid to fight, I've taken on some escort missions.
Someone from Earth might ask, why the hell would anyone hire a child to escort someone or a caravan? And I can answer that: because this world is a mess.
I must be around six and a half years old right now, and I've already killed more than ten people. And I feel nothing. Not to mention, I'm not fighting in wars since my clan died before that could happen.
Every child from a major clan has gone through or will go through this. The current generation of clan leaders, whether from minor or major clans, have all been child soldiers, killing dozens, hundreds of people throughout their lives.
And of course, it's cheaper to hire a child with some skill than to hire a clan.
It was on a mission to escort a merchant's caravan to a nearby town that I had the shock of my life. It was a simple mission, there weren't many bandits in the area, and counting me, there were three Ronin and four Shinobi for the escort. The merchant was a paranoid man like that.
On the second day of the trip, we saw a small battle in a once grassy field.
A young boy, maybe around fifteen years old, was fighting alone against 25 samurai.
Fighting.
Alone.
Against 15 samurai.
I mean, I know this world has some pretty crazy things. I personally saw a tailed beast wipe out my clan. But a teenager fighting 15 grown men, with all 15 wielding katanas while the teenager used only his hands? It was shocking as hell!
It was only when we got closer that I noticed. That teenager was a damned Hyuuga!
Someone might ask: how do you remember the Hyuuga if you barely remember the Naruto story? Simple, because the Hyuuga had one of the coolest powers. Just like I clearly remember Kakashi, Itachi, and Madara.
Hyuuga Neji had one of the coolest fighting styles in Naruto Classic. Tai chi mastered, always hitting nerve endings and tenketsu. How badass can that be? And now, I'm seeing a Hyuuga doing it right in front of me! Neji must have become a great ninja when he grew older. I mean, he practically had eyes on the back of his head. There's no way he died a meaningless death.
"Daiko-san, I'm going to help the Hyuuga! Please continue with the caravan; I'll catch up with you!"
Daiko-san, the owner of this small merchant caravan, stuck his head out from among the rice sacks.
"Are you crazy, boy?! You want to die before you're out of diapers? Be a good kid and stay quiet! Samurai! Speed up this damn cart!"
One of the Ronin accompanying Daiko-san looked at me with thinly veiled contempt.
"If you want to die, wait until we get to the city, boy. I'll help you with that."
"Daiko-san, don't worry, I'll catch up with you!"
I didn't respond to that masterless samurai. His face made me want to punch him into oblivion.
As I ran toward the battle happening a few kilometers away, I noticed two samurais flanking the Hyuuga from behind, with katanas ready to behead the young shinobi.
After observing the scene, I decided that this was the right moment to act. The young Hyuuga was surrounded, but with the mist I had created, I had the advantage of an initial distraction.
I took advantage of the brief lapse of confusion among the samurai and quickly advanced, closing the distance between us. With a single movement, I delivered a powerful punch to the nearest samurai. He was three meters away, but that didn't stop me.
At the moment of impact, I unleashed all my accumulated Katon chakra. A roar of flames spread in front of my fist, creating a cone of fire that incinerated anything in its path. The flames rose, reaching two meters in height and expanding two and a half meters in width.
Who said Katon can only be used from the mouth?
"Let the massacre begin!" I shouted, feeling adrenaline coursing through my veins.
Chaos ensued among the samurai. The mist obscured their vision, and the flames made the environment even more hostile. While the Hyuuga took advantage of the confusion to deliver precise strikes to his enemies, targeting their vital points, I moved forward relentlessly.
Every movement I made was charged with fury and precision. The taijutsu style I had trained in was starting to show its effectiveness, blending what I remembered from the martial arts I admired in my past life with the survival instinct I had acquired in this world. Accurate, swift strikes, and the combination of my chakra with the fiery blows created a true storm of destruction around me.
The sound of the samurai swords slicing through the air was drowned out by the crackling flames and the screams of pain. I moved effortlessly through the mist, disorienting the enemies, while the Hyuuga continued his own massacre with precise and lethal blows.
However, the battlefield quickly began to empty. The samurai fell one by one, unable to defend against our joint offensive. Within minutes, what remained of them were only bodies on the ground, burned or lifeless from the Hyuuga's techniques.
As the mist finally began to lift, revealing the horrific carnage we had wrought, a strange mix of triumph and horror coursed through me. This was the price of survival.
"I think that was more than enough," he remarked, his tone unnervingly calm, as i
f the brutal chaos surrounding us was just another day at the office.
"It was just the beginning," I replied with a smile, feeling exhaustion finally hit me.