Fox Demon

The wooden clapper sounded three times, and Zhang Ming opened his eyes.

Konohagakure Street, inside a cramped apartment.

Everything before him was dim. In the midsummer night, the wind chime on the balcony swayed in the breeze, making a lonely sound.

A foreign soul had descended upon Konohagakure and taken over Naruto's body.

Ding! Slacker System loading

7%

Zhang Ming's head throbbed violently, and his vision was a blurry blood-red haze.

I'm not blind, am I?

It hurts! Hisss!

It was just a game. Was sudden death really necessary? How was he supposed to go to work tomorrow?

He was about to finish his internship and become a full employee. He had almost made it through the grind.

As the pain gradually faded, Zhang Ming opened his eyes. In the hazy light, he saw an unfamiliar, cluttered room.

The air was filled with a faint stench. Old, moldy pale-yellow wallpaper covered the walls, while clothes and books lay scattered across the wooden floor.

Zhang Ming seemed to realize something and looked down at his hands.

His pupils widened slightly. With a cry, Zhang Ming fell backward.

His hands had shrunk?

System loading progress: 13%

A mechanical synthesized voice rang out in his mind. Fragments of memory immediately pierced Zhang Ming's consciousness, making him howl in pain as he rolled around on the bed.

Voices kept crawling into his ears like ants, and the pain nearly made him pass out.

Was that the child? So disgusting!

I told you not to play with him. Who knows what that freak might do!

That fox demon killed the Fourth Hokage.

Naruto, do you have the Will of Fire?

Lord Hokage is the strongest person in the village, the one who protects us. Naruto, you have to work hard too. You have to strive to become Hokage!

"Hokage? What kind of joke is this?" Zhang Ming's head felt as though it were splitting apart.

Darkness surrounded him. Two small holes lay some distance away.

He staggered over, pressed his eyes against them with all his strength, and discovered people outside—people of every kind. Their eyes held contempt, indifference, and disgust.

Get lost, you monster!

I'm not selling to you! Get out!

Why don't you just die? How do you still have the nerve to live in this world, you monster?!

Icy emotions mixed with agony surged into his heart, and Zhang Ming nearly suffocated beneath them. He rolled over, gritted his teeth, and pounded his chest with all his strength before he could breathe again.

System loading progress: 17%

Zhang Ming suddenly opened his eyes. Lying on the bed, he saw a panel slowly appear before him. He had read plenty of novels and played plenty of games, so he roughly understood his situation.

He had transmigrated and become Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto. He was probably still at the Ninja Academy stage and would soon face the graduation exam to become a genin.

What reassured him was that transmigration was one thing, but the system unique to outsiders had come fully equipped as well. It still seemed to be loading. What system was it again?

Whatever. Having a system was better than not having one.

Looking at the night outside the window, Zhang Ming had no desire to sleep. He got out of bed and fumbled around until he found the room's light switch.

With a click, the bright light dispelled the unease in his heart.

"From now on, I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

He ignored the messy room and the foul-smelling desk. No one could blame an unloved orphan for failing to tidy his room when there was not even anyone to scold him.

Naruto sat at the desk, took out some paper and a pen, and tried writing a line. He had automatically mastered Sakura script.

Yet Naruto could understand it as well. He tried saying something, and it seemed he had several languages to choose from when he spoke. He could switch freely between three or four languages, though it was useless in this world. Knowing Sakura was enough.

He pulled open his shirt, but he could not see the Nine-Tails' seal on his stomach. That was a little troublesome—a dual Four Symbols Seal.

Nine-Tails' chakra leaked from the gaps in the seal, flowed through his extraordinary meridians and eight channels, and finally transformed into ordinary blue chakra.

Although he could temporarily use Nine-Tails' chakra, it was not a long-term solution.

After thinking for a long while, Naruto wrote down a training plan on the paper. In this world, only the strong had the right to speak.

Becoming as strong as possible would also help his future growth.

Then there was daily life. Naruto scratched his head, stood up, and walked over to the full-length mirror. Looking at the young face in the mirror, he bared his teeth in a broad grin.

To hell with being Hokage!

Who wanted to become something like that and protect people who despised him? Dream on. They might as well all die! Bastards, trash!

He vented all the negative emotions that had built up inside him and instantly felt much lighter.

Forget about becoming Hokage, but making his own life better was still necessary.

Companions, the village, the Will of Fire—they could all go to hell. Living was for enjoyment. Once the system finished loading, he would be able to swagger through the village.

Humming a tune, Naruto wrote down his genin training plan on the paper.

"Become the coolest guy in the village!"

System loading progress: 34%

The next day, dawn had fully broken.

After waking up, the first thing Naruto did was call up the panel to check the system's loading progress. This damned loading speed was just like a 2G network. It was infuriating.

System loading progress: 79%

Naruto yawned. He had barely slept the night before. Now that it was already light out, he could only drag himself out of bed and wash up.

There were still a few ninja theory classes in the morning. He could catch up on sleep by lying on his desk in the classroom. In his classmates' eyes, Naruto had always been like that. No one would care about an ill-omened person.

After washing up, he spent another hour tidying the room.

When it came time to choose what to wear, Naruto hesitated. His old outfit made him look like some wannabe tough guy, and the oversized jacket was too hot for summer.

After a moment's hesitation, Naruto chose a casual black short-sleeved shirt and brown knee-length shorts, leaving the goggles on the desk.

He was not a genin yet, so he did not have a Konohagakure forehead protector.

"I'm heading out!" he called, but no one answered in the empty room. He did not care, and shut the door with a bang.

He lived in an old apartment building on Konohagakure Street. To get downstairs, he had to wind through twisting alleys before reaching the street. Seeing the people standing in the sunlight, Naruto paused for an instant.

Only after noticing the dislike in their eyes did Naruto shrug indifferently, lower his head, and silently weave through the crowd.

The villagers' expressions were grim and cold. Their narrowed eyes lingered on Naruto before quickly drawing away.

System loading progress: 87%

At the Ninja Academy, Shikamaru casually swept his gaze over the crowd, then seemed to spot something. He nudged Choji beside him and pointed in a direction for him to look.

"Isn't that Naruto?" Choji stopped eating his chips. "Did he get beaten up again on the way here?"

"Probably." Shikamaru wore his usual dead-fish expression. "That bunch is going too far."

Choji tossed the last chip into his mouth and crushed it with a crunch.

The two of them swaggered toward the gathered crowd, using Choji's round build to force their way through. No matter how arrogant the people bullying Naruto were, they would not dare offend the three clans of Ino-Shika-Cho.