(Inside the Mind)
After graduating from university, Zhou Ming became just another cog in the relentless machine of society.
Working endless overtime, staying up late to finish proposals, and dealing with idiot superiors whose words made no sense...
Even when he got a rare legal holiday, he had to make up the time later.
All of that was bad enough...
But then there was his girlfriend from university. Just last week, she cheated on him with her boss.
Even worse, when he caught them, she pointed at him and said:
"You can't give me the life I want. Let's break up!"
"Being with President Zhang has made me feel happier than I ever imagined!"
Not only had she cheated on him, but she even posted about it on social media, turning Zhou Ming into a laughingstock. Countless people mocked him online.
The harsh reality was too much to bear!
Now, Zhou Ming could only find solace in his rented apartment, immersed in the worlds of video games and anime, where he could at least feel a sense of identity—something more than a walking corpse, aimlessly dragging through the life.
———
One night, after sneaking in a couple of rounds of his favorite game, Zhou Ming stood up, feelin an urgent need to take a round of toilet.
However, just as he was about to take a step, life disappeared from his eyes and his head slammed into the keyboard.
——
He had no idea how much time had passed when strange murmurs began drifting into his ears. Slowly, the distant voices grew louder and clearer.
'Wait, what?'
'Wasn't I playing a game?'
'Did I... fall asleep?'
Zhou Ming's eyes shot open, but everything was blurry, as if his vision was pixelated like a mosaic.
'What's going on!?'
'Why do I feel... smaller?'
He waved his tiny hands in confusion, trying to grasp at something in the air. His blurry vision revealed...'a pair of chubby little hands?'
They looked like those of the Michelin Man.
'Huh!?'
'I... turned into a baby!?'
Before Zhou Ming could fully process the situation, a blonde-haired man and a red-haired woman appeared before his eyes.
It hit him then—he had reincarnated...as an infant.
'Blonde hair?'
'Don't tell me this is some middle-school delinquent storyline!'
Seeing the blonde-haired man, Zhou Ming's anxiety skyrocketed.
A blonde father? He worried his new dad might be part of some cheesy "tragic love" clan.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, the scene changed, and Zhou Ming felt his body being lifted into the air. A few seconds later, he landed securely in someone's arms.
'What the hell!?'
'Am I being kidnapped!?'
'Where are my parents!? Somebody help!'
He heard a woman crying nearby, her voice urgent and frantic. Though he couldn't understand what she was saying, it tugged at his heart. The grief in her voice was palpable.
But Zhou Ming had his own worries...
He had just reincarnated! Couldn't he at least be given a chance to grow up before being snatched by traffickers?
He couldn't help but recall the stories his parents used to tell him when he was a kid about children being kidnapped and forced into begging after their limbs were broken.
And now it seemed like he was about to experience that nightmare firsthand. A masked man was carrying him away...
'Wait! A red-haired woman?'
'A blonde-haired father?'
'And a masked kidnapper?'
An odd sense of familiarity struck Zhou Ming, causing him to freeze in thought.
These three clues aligned perfectly in his mind, and suddenly, it was like a light bulb went off.
'Oh crap! I've reincarnated into the Naruto world!?'
Worse still...
'I've become the "Prince of Konoha"—Naruto Uzumaki himself?'
Roar—
As if to confirm Zhou Ming's suspicions, a deafening roar echoed around him. His mind went blank, and he fainted on the spot.
In his final moments of consciousness, he began to curse.
'Damn you, Uchiha Obito! I, Naruto Uzumaki, will remember this grudge!'
Zhou Ming had no choice but to accept his new identity as Naruto Uzumaki.
——
Drip, drip—
The sound of water droplets echoed through a blank space, crisp and clear, as though a tap had been left running in an empty room.
Naruto's eyelids fluttered, and his consciousness slowly returned.
But the scene that greeted him was far from what he had imagined.
"Roar—"
The familiar sound of a beast's growl filled his ears.
'Kurama?'
Naruto turned his head and saw a mass of orange fur behind a grille. Due to his underdeveloped vision, the Nine-Tails in front of him...
Looked like a giant orange cat...
Click, click—
Just then, Naruto noticed a clear interface appear in front of him.
'What the heck!?'
'Minecraft??' [T/N: No ￣ヘ￣ mein campf.]
To his amazement, the interface before his eyes was identical to the one from the Minecraft game he used to play in his previous life!
As he scrolled through the menu, Naruto realized that all the items from the game were available!
Yes! All of them!!
Even enchanted potions and monster eggs were there!
Above all, it was creative mode!
And not just that! There were over 300 modpacks installed!
Every mod he had ever downloaded in his previous life!
There were industrialization mods, magical mods, and more.
For example, the industrial mods included everyday household appliances, while the magic mods had items like magical creature eggs and various mystical portals.
In short, the modpacks contained tons of overpowered items.
So many, in fact, that even Naruto couldn't keep track of them all.
Naruto quickly realized that this was likely his cheat—his "golden finger"—from being reincarnated.
Even though there wasn't some system chiming in with "Ding, ding, ding!" he was more than satisfied.
Setting aside the fact that he was in the Naruto world—already a massive cheat in itself, given his Uzumaki bloodline and his "nine-tailed battery pack"—he now also had access to hundreds of Minecraft mods.
This was as good a start as best as one could hope for.
Naruto willed it, and suddenly a cow appeared in front of him.
From within its cage, Kurama seethed with rage.
He had planned to intimidate the little brat, only to find that a cow had inexplicably materialized in the sealed space.
Even more bizarre...
The cow looked oddly... blocky?
Kurama was bewildered, his curiosity piqued.
For the moment, he forgot about his plan to scare the kid.
"Hey, brat!"
"How did you do that?"
"Abba-abba," Naruto babbled, completely unable to understand what Kurama was saying.
He crawled over to the cow, moving surprisingly fast for a baby, likely thanks to his strong Uzumaki constitution.
Before long, Naruto reached the cow, raised his tiny hand, and gave it a good slap on the hips.
The cow flickered and was pushed back, flying a short distance away.
It was just like in the game!
Overjoyed, Naruto began chasing the cow around the sealed space.
Before long, the cow turned into a pile of meat on the ground, and Naruto burst out laughing.
Kurama, still trapped in his cage, was utterly baffled.
He couldn't make sense of what this kid was doing, or...
Why there was a strange cow in the sealed space in the first place!
What followed was an even more bewildering sight...
Naruto, still giggling, sat on the ground and began placing blocks of dirt. Every now and then, he would plant an oak tree.
Before long, a small, oddly placed forest had sprouted in the gloomy sealed space.
In the middle of it stood a wooden house.
"Hey, brat! Are you mocking me!!?"
Kurama's voice thundered, but Naruto's wooden house had astonishingly good soundproofing. Even though Kurama was yelling at the top of his lungs, only a faint murmur reached inside.
Hmm... It was even quieter than the construction noise from his past life.
Lying on the bed inside his newly built house, Naruto's thoughts began to settle. After the initial excitement of reincarnation, his mind finally started to calm down.
This led him to contemplate his future.
Naruto knew that when his consciousness left this space...
His parents would probably already be gone.
Tsk. He had just reincarnated, and he was already an orphan.
'How depressing.'
And to think that the people of Konoha would hate him in the future...
It made him feel distressed.
His thoughts drifted, and Naruto slowly drifted off to sleep on his bed.
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