I woke to the feeling of suffocation, as though a dense blanket had been draped over my mouth and nose. What followed that thought was the sound of an earth-shattering roar. At first, I thought it was a passing truck or thunder from a sudden storm. My eyelids fluttered open, and I expected the dim glow of my phone charger or maybe the flicker of city lights through my curtains. Instead, I was greeted by a flurry of red messages hovering in my field of vision.
[SYSTEM ACTIVATING…]
[Starting a new session. Player recognized.]
[Synchronizing data with current environment…]
[ERROR DETECTED: Forced initialization.]
'Wait, what?' My heart lurched. This was not a dream or some VR simulation. The shortness of breath and the warmth felt a little too real for it to be a lucid dream. I jerked upright, only to find the oddity of my body now being tiny—thin arms and short legs that flailed about as I had difficulty recognizing them as mine.
The sudden movement caused the messages to flicker as if my abrupt motion had jarred them, and I realized I wasn't even in my bed. Instead, I was crouched on a tatami mat in a small, wood-paneled room. Fire—actual flames—flickered from the cracks in the walls, sending shadows dancing across the floor.
A child's shrill voice escaped my mouth as I coughed. "What the…?!" My words sounded foreign, echoing in a younger and higher-pitched throat. Pain stabbed at my lungs when I breathed in. There was smoke in the air—thick, acrid smoke. My eyes stung as I felt dizzy. Everything seemed to be closing in. Where am I? The question ricocheted through my mind, spiking my pulse.
As if to answer, more lines of glowing text appeared in front of me, tinted in a swirling mix of orange and red.
[LOCATION: Konohagakure – Shinobi District]
[ENVIRONMENT STATUS: High Threat (Ongoing Attack)]
[QUEST ALERT: Survive the Nine Tails' Rampage]
'The Nine Tails' Rampage?' My brain short-circuited as the sparks were quickly connected. 'Wait? That's… from Naruto'. Yet here I was, apparently stuck in the middle of that very event. It made no sense, but the swirling reality around me—smoke, flames, and that horrifying roar outside—told me it was real. The feeling of dread—whether it was because of the situation or because of the evil intent of the fox— made it difficult for me to move.
I struggled to stand. My arms wobbled from the effort, and I realized how weak this new body felt compared to the adult physique I was used to. Another message blinked into existence, transparent and overlaid on the scene.
[Character Status]
[Name: Ren ??? (Data incomplete)]
[Age: 5]
[Title: Transmigrator]
[Level: 1(0/100)]
[CP: 10/10 (Chakra Points)]
[Physique: 1]
[Vision: 2]
[Speed: 2]
[Reflex: 3]
[Intelligence: 23]
[Chakra: 1]
I would've been giddy in any other situation—I had a literal status screen floating in front of me. The holy grail for any enjoyer of a role-playing game. But right now, alarm bells were ringing. My eyes flicked through the screen, taking in everything, but I didn't get much time to appreciate the red text.
[WARNING: Smoke Inhalation – Risk of gaining temporary negative status effects.]
I coughed again, the warning seeping in as the acrid taste of charcoal burned the back of my throat. 'I have to get out'. That single command echoed in my mind, overriding every other chaotic thought. I forced my tiny legs to move, stumbling toward the sliding shoji door that was half-splintered from some impact. The wooden frame was hot to the touch, and pain lanced through my fingers.
'Fuck' I cursed as I pulled my arm back. My eyes danced on the still-floating status screen as I realized the glaring loss of a protective blanket. 'There is no HP bar.'
An invisible shock jolted my body, and I realized that there was no loophole to take advantage of like in an RPG game, as I looked at my slightly singed fingers. A spike of adrenaline fueled me, even as tears stung my eyes from the smoke. I grabbed the small indent at the door again, hissing at the pain, and pulled. My weak body struggled to move the door, but maybe it was related to a flawed mechanism. The door gave way after a while, and I was blasted with a thick black cloud of smoke. I closed my eyes and pushed through the small opening; I opened my tear-filled eyes to look at a flames-filled corridor. The air outside was even thicker with smoke but still enough to survive... for now.
Over the rumble of collapsing timbers, I heard it again: a powerful roar that seemed to swallow every other sound. The Nine Tails—Kurama—the demon fox. The same being that, in the story, attacked the village on the night Naruto was born. Except now, I was living it. I'd read fanfics about people transmigrating into fictional worlds, but experiencing it firsthand was an entirely different matter.
[QUEST UPDATED:]
[Objective: Escape the Burning House (0/1)]
My heart pounded as I suppressed the flinch at the sudden notification, each beat amplified by the ear-splitting roars outside. Flames crackled around me, and the corridor floor was a labyrinth of fallen debris. Time was my enemy here, and hesitating anymore would cement my death. There was a possibility that this was just a very lucid dream, but I was not going to bet my life on that hunch.
I grit my teeth and closed my eyes for a moment, ignoring the near-constant coughing fits. 'Focus', I told myself. If this was anything like a game, maybe I could do more. In a shaky voice, I whispered, "Skills?" hoping the system would respond. A small panel flickered:
[SKILLS:]
- [Language Comprehension Lv-Max]
'That's it'. I was fucked. I bit down the wave of despair. There are no overpowered cheats yet. I had to rely on basic survival. Another chunk of the ceiling groaned and fell to my right, sending a shower of sparks my way. Jumping backward, to be honest, I stumbled rather than dodged; I managed to avoid direct contact, but the intense heat made sweat pour down my cheeks.
[DING!]
[You have learned a new Skill: Basic Dodge (Lv 1).]
[Through quick thinking and reflexes, you've begun developing the ability to avoid harm. Your ability to avoid damage depends on your primary stat Reflex.]
...