The Unexpected Returnee

Note:

The protagonist is Izuna, a cosplayer who transmigrated from a parallel world. The parallel world setting leans more toward onmyoji, and the writing style leans more toward female-oriented fiction. This is something I wrote out of boredom, and any pairing is welcome. I drew the cover myself; you can find previous covers in the community. Note: I don't post any images or text on any account outside Fanqie. If you see any, they're pirated, so please, please report them.

I'm busy with real life and use assistance when writing. There are tons of typos; I'll do major revisions after finishing. If I run out of ideas, I'll abandon it. The author is ready to abandon it at any time. Please don't be too hard on a creator who both draws and writes~

Leave your brains here.

"..."

"Um, can I ask which way the bathroom is?"

Of the four people staring at one another, three pointed in the same direction.

"Oh, thanks."

The person who had asked the question strolled away from the suffocating place.

The three remaining people stared at one another again.

And those three were Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and Madara Uchiha.

Here was what had happened.

The person who had just gone to the bathroom was Izuna.

That was right, Uchiha Izuna, his mortal enemy, who had died after he slashed him across the kidneys.

Everyone knew Uchiha Izuna was dead. Afterward, Madara Uchiha and Big Brother had fought a great battle, then founded a ninja village together.

In short, there were a lot of problems, and the village Madara Uchiha had named Konoha was not exactly harmonious.

Nearly half a year had passed, and the various clans still hadn't truly come together.

The Hokage election was coming up. Although Big Brother insisted on making Madara the Hokage, anyone with eyes could see whom everyone wanted as the village leader.

Just when he thought the matter was about to be settled—

This guy who called himself Uchiha Izuna had appeared at the Konoha Gate.

How had he come back to life?!

Had someone stolen his research notes on Impure World Reincarnation? But this Izuna didn't have the distinctive cracks of someone brought back with Impure World Reincarnation. Could there be another way to bring someone back to life?

No, that wasn't the most important thing. How he had come back to life was certainly important, but the crucial point was!

The first thing this guy did after coming back wasn't to find his precious Big Brother. Instead, he ran to my Big Brother, Hashirama, and pressed a handful of seeds into his hand.

Only then did he go looking for Madara Uchiha. Tobirama didn't know what he had given him, but he'd given him something.

And finally, he'd actually come to Tobirama too! He'd given him a fluffy collar!

And the whole time! He'd looked like he was in a great mood! As if he'd just come home from a mission with souvenirs for his family!

That wasn't right, was it?!

Didn't this guy hate the Senju?! And he'd actually been pleasant to Tobirama! He—

Tobirama Senju sat silently in the meeting room after dismissing everyone else, his face dark as he held back the acid churning in his stomach.

The other two didn't look much better.

Hashirama felt like he was a little bit dead.

He was also very much in doubt about whether this Izuna was real, but that wasn't the most important thing right now.

Madara loved his younger brother dearly, and as far as Hashirama knew, Uchiha Izuna was also obsessed with his elder brother. But just now, "Izuna"—once again, they hadn't confirmed whether that was Izuna—but in any case, the first person Izuna had gone to was actually him?!

I'm done for! Izuna, why did you come to me first?!

I'm dead, I'm definitely going to die.

Madara is definitely going to tear me to pieces!

Beside him, Madara's silence was deafening.

Madara didn't think that was Izuna.

Because Izuna... was already dead.

He had seen his younger brother buried with his own eyes.

And just now, he had personally confirmed that Izuna's remains were still there.

The dead couldn't come back to life. That "Izuna" wasn't his younger brother.

How dare this guy impersonate Izuna? He would die a horrible death.

But that familiar feeling made it impossible for Madara to strike, no matter what.

The warmth of their embrace still lingered on his arms, making him yearn for it.

So why on earth was Izuna so close to Hashirama?!

"Damn it."

Hearing Madara's muttered curse, Tobirama couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Enough with the 'damn it,' Madara Uchiha. Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how Uchiha Izuna came back to life?"

"He didn't come back to life." Madara's face was grim. "Izuna's bones are still in the coffin. They haven't been touched."

"Are you saying that guy isn't Uchiha Izuna?"

"I think that is Izuna," Hashirama said, scratching his head. "His Chakra feels exactly like Izuna's. You can sense it too, can't you, Tobirama?"

"Hmph."

Madara looked up at Tobirama. "Don't tell me you've invented some strange new jutsu to use against me."

Tobirama narrowed his eyes. "What would I gain from that?"

Madara sneered. "Who knows? Maybe you're the reason Izuna is acting so strangely."

"Heh, unlike you, I don't go around provoking enemies for no reason."

Madara knew what he was insinuating. "Hmph, those pieces of trash aren't even qualified to negotiate with Konoha. All they need to do is submit."

"Brainless extremist."

"What did you say?"

Hashirama hurried to smooth things over. "All right, all right! Izuna will be back soon! Stop arguing, stop arguing!"

Madara and Tobirama turned their heads away, and silence fell once more.

Just then, the door opened and Izuna walked in. Completely at ease, he asked, "What were you talking about? It sounded pretty heated."

"Nothing, nothing!" Hashirama pushed the plate of Three-Colored Dango toward Izuna. "Here, here, have something to eat."

Izuna glanced at the Three-Colored Dango, then at the three of them. He sighed as if he had a headache. "Seriously, you three are acting really strange. What on earth happened?"

Tobirama spoke first. "That's what we want to ask you. Why did you suddenly come back?"

"Suddenly..." Izuna tilted his head. "I just took a short-term survey mission. You were the one who commissioned it, remember? You told me to look around for a place to build a power plant, so I came back once I found one. But if you ask me, it would be better to have Brother Hashirama make an artificial waterfall. Building a power plant near the village would be better than..."

The three grew even quieter as they listened to Izuna go on and on about the benefits of creating a waterfall near the village.

Izuna spread out a map and kept talking about where to put the waterfall, but inwardly, he understood the three men's attitudes perfectly well.

Because he wasn't Uchiha Izuna. He was just a cosplayer.

That was right. In his previous life—or what should be called his previous life, since he was already dead—he, Uchiha Izuna, had been an innocent college student.

His greatest hobbies were watching anime, cosplaying, and writing stories about parallel worlds.

When he transmigrated, he had been cosplaying Uchiha Izuna from a parallel world he had made up.

In that world, when Hashirama and Madara met at the Naka River, Izuna and Tobirama, who had been watching nearby, were discovered. And so the number of people discussing their dreams by the Naka River grew to four.

After their fathers found out, all four were deeply saddened, but none of them gave up.

Unlike when only two of them had opened their hearts to each other, having four people involved showed them more possibilities.

If the four of them could put aside their differences, then their two clans surely could as well!

Though the process was full of twists and turns, with Black Zetsu causing trouble along the way, their efforts ultimately weren't wasted. The Uchiha and the Senju still formed an alliance.

They formed an alliance and then founded Konoha.

In the setting, before the alliance was formed, Izuna and Tobirama went to live with each other's clans to demonstrate both sides' resolve.

Uchiha Izuna lived with Hashirama for three whole years, while Madara and Tobirama spent three years together.

Over those three years, they grew closer, and their relationships with one another also differed from those in the original story.

Leaving the details aside for now, that was why Izuna acted so close to the Senju.

Originally, all of this had just been an innocent college student's daydream. But on his way to a Comic Convention, he was unexpectedly crushed to death by cargo from an out-of-control truck.

So in a situation like this, there had to be a system, right?

That was right, there was. But this system couldn't speak at all, and there was only one task in the task list.

Act as Uchiha Izuna and make the people of this world believe you are Uchiha Izuna.

The better the performance, the more energy accumulated. Once enough energy was accumulated, he could return home.

The unnamed innocent college student: Okay.

Luckily, he had inherited all the combat strength he had given Izuna in his setting, and he had the corresponding ninja tools on him. The system also came with a wickedly useful map, letting him easily act as though he knew exactly where the three of them went about their daily activities. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have known how to fool these three big shots.

"...In short, those are the benefits of building a power plant near Konoha." Having finished, Izuna looked up confidently. "Well? This is better than the place I surveyed, isn't it?!"

The room remained silent.

Izuna looked helpless. "Come on, Tobirama, can't you give me some kind of response? This was your idea. I know you hate all these tedious matters, but something like this can only be decided by a research fanatic like you."

"Oh, mm." Tobirama really didn't know what to say. Although she had indeed had a similar idea, there was no definite plan to put it into action yet. With Izuna telling him all this now, he simply couldn't respond.

But Izuna seemed quite used to that reaction. He appeared to take it for something else and let him off easily. "Forget it. Anyway, my mission is done. Good luck, you three. I'm going back to rest."

With that, he got up and walked to the door.

Madara immediately stood up. "I'll go back with you."

"Huh? Big Brother, aren't you busy today?"

Keeping his usual expression, Madara chose his words carefully. "It's been too long since I saw you. I want to talk with you."

Izuna looked a little concerned. "But what about the village's affairs...?"

"Let Hashirama cover for me for a while. It'll be fine."

"All right, then." Izuna turned to Hashirama and Tobirama, smiling until his eyes curved. "Thanks for the effort, you two."

Hashirama smiled awkwardly and waved the Uchiha brothers off. Then he immediately dragged Tobirama, who had goosebumps all over, after them.

Tobirama rubbed his arms, his expression full of disgust. "That guy... there's definitely something wrong with him. The real Uchiha Izuna would never speak to us in such a friendly tone."

"But he really did act naturally." Hashirama's gaze was calm. "Until we confirm that he isn't Izuna, we have no way of knowing whether he is."

"You could subdue him first, and then we could interrogate him directly."

Hashirama said dejectedly, "But Madara will hate me if I do that."

Unable to bear it, Tobirama turned his head away.

"Madara's already not in a very good mood... I don't want to make him angry..." Hashirama's gloom began to spread. "Can't we really give Madara the position of Hokage...? Why doesn't everyone like Madara...? He's so gentle..."

Tobirama muttered, "Enough. Can you stop acting like this every day?!"

Walking beside Madara, Izuna naturally knew that Madara still suspected him. He would have to start a conversation on the way back, and in fact, he knew what he should say.

He didn't need any special experiences. Something ordinary would do.

"Brother Madara, you wouldn't believe it. Before I came back, I passed a cliff and saw a sheep hopping around on it."

"A bharal?"

"No, when I got closer, I saw it was just a tree. Draped in white cloth."

"Uh."

"You have no idea how disappointed I was. I was thinking of getting Tobirama a bharal-fur collar, but come to think of it, where would a bharal come from in the Land of Fire? I'll get some next time I go to the Land of Lightning."

Madara's expression was hard to describe. "You... and... Tobirama... when did you become... so close?"

Izuna gave him a puzzled look. "We've always been close, haven't we? Brother, you really are acting strange today."

Madara fell silent.

Izuna glanced at him a few more times but didn't press him. After that, though, he stopped talking too. He seemed to have finally noticed something was wrong, and he became visibly wary.

Madara had originally intended to see whether this "Izuna" knew where he was going, but when they reached the door to their home, he still had a little trouble holding himself together.

This is Izuna.

There's no mistake!

Following his impression of Japanese household customs, Izuna took off his shoes and stepped onto the wooden floor as he entered.

Then he thought about what he did first after coming home.

I'll have some water first.

But when he went to the kitchen, he found it completely empty. There was nothing there. That's right, nothing at all.

Izuna was puzzled, but he soon figured out why.

Madara should have already made up his mind to leave Konoha by now.

But he couldn't show it.

Because "Uchiha Izuna" couldn't possibly know about it.

"Brother, was our kitchen ransacked? Why is there nothing here?" Izuna looked at Madara, who stood silently in the kitchen doorway, his expression grave. "What on earth happened?"

Madara was silent for a moment before saying with difficulty, "Izuna, you died."