At the border of the Land of Fire, at the Frontline Hospital.
In an ordinary ward, a young ninja lay in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
After the brutal First Shinobi World War, the war-weary Shinobi World had enjoyed nearly twenty years of peace. But stability among the Great Nations meant their power continued to expand, steadily squeezing the living space of the Small Nations, which could survive only in the cracks between them.
By now, those Small Nations had reached the point where they could survive only by fighting back. The Second Shinobi World War broke out, marked by Hanzō, leader of Amegakure in the Land of Rain, launching attacks on three fronts.
Yuzuru tried to recall the circumstances behind the outbreak of the Second Shinobi World War, but no amount of thinking could improve his current situation... About a month ago, the original owner of this body, a ninja named Yuzuru, had been mortally wounded on the battlefield. By the time he was finally rescued, the soul inside the body had already been replaced by one from Earth.
An ordinary young man from Earth had crossed over into the Shinobi World and become a Konoha Ninja.
His critical injuries were miserable, but the time spent recuperating gave Yuzuru long enough to accept reality. After getting through his initial panic, he began to consider how he would survive from here on.
His injuries were nearly healed, which meant he couldn't stay in the hospital much longer. He would have to return to the front lines.
The stark white canvas overhead covered the rudimentary frontline ward. Yuzuru savored the peace that was about to end.
"Sixteen years old, Genin, raised in the Orphanage, civilian..."
Yuzuru only had to take stock of his circumstances to understand his place on the battlefield... cannon fodder.
Escaping the battlefield was impossible. He didn't have the ability, and deserters would be swiftly dealt with. If he wanted to improve his odds of survival, there was only one thing he could do: become as strong as possible before heading back to the battlefield.
But the Shinobi World was a place where bloodlines reigned supreme. A ninja's strength was largely determined by their background. Ordinary ninjas had few ways to grow stronger, and the ceiling above them was as plainly visible as the roof of the ward.
"Fortunately..."
Fortunately, Yuzuru had a path to strength. As a transmigrator, he had received a gift when he came to this world. He didn't know whether to call it a "system," but it was the only lifeline he had.
Night fell, and darkness enveloped the frontline hospital camp. To keep it from being attacked, trees shielded its perimeter and barriers protected it. At night, strict blackout measures were enforced.
Once darkness had completely surrounded him, Yuzuru slowly closed his eyes. As his consciousness sank deeper, a line of text slowly appeared in the void.
"Host's mind has entered a deep-dive state."
"Loading Nine-Tails' Rampage instance..."
"Loading map..."
"Instance mission: Kill or defeat the Mysterious Masked Man responsible for the chaos, and capture or seal the Nine-Tails."
"Complete the mission to receive a huge reward."
"Entering Nine-Tails' Rampage. Please prepare yourself, host."
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
Time nearly stopped. For an instant, Yuzuru's thoughts seemed to snap. When his awareness returned and he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the frontline hospital. He was in Konoha.
Yuzuru looked up. A dark red Blood Moon hung in the sky. When he looked straight ahead, a map of Konoha appeared before him.
He was already quite familiar with this so-called "instance." He had entered it many times before. This was Konoha more than a decade in the future, in the middle of the "Nine-Tails' Rampage."
He could only ignore things like "instance missions and rewards." He couldn't even beat an ordinary ninja, let alone face the boss.
The next moment, a tremendous boom shook the earth. Then a massive, orange-red figure appeared in the village, letting out a savage roar. The negative emotions swirling around it were enough to overwhelm anyone's mind.
"The Nine-Tails..."
This was the Nine-Tails. Even though Yuzuru had seen it several times already, he still found it hard to believe.
With the Tailed Beast's arrival, huge amounts of corrosive energy filled the air. Yuzuru's skin prickled with a faint, burning pain.
The instance felt utterly real. The Nine-Tails could easily crush Yuzuru underfoot, but he wasn't panicked... not because he was confident, but because he wasn't afraid of dying.
In fact, he had already died in the instance before, simply killed by an unknown area attack from the Nine-Tails. But death's only penalty was forcing him to leave the instance and increasing its cooldown... a negligible punishment.
By now, Yuzuru had figured out how the instance could help him. Simply put, it really was just like a game dungeon... If he killed ninjas here, he could earn experience, which would let him level up and grow stronger.
But this growth came with two restrictions. First, although Yuzuru could enter the instance repeatedly, he could only gain experience from each ninja once. Second, he had to land the final blow to earn experience.
Aside from that, dead ninjas sometimes dropped ninjutsu, though the odds were low.
Yuzuru watched the Konoha Ninjas stir into action as the Nine-Tails rampaged. They were all walking experience points to him, but he wasn't strong enough to attack them... If he could cut them down effortlessly here, he wouldn't need to be here at all.
Before, whenever Yuzuru had ventured into the instance, he could only sneak around and land the finishing blow. If he saw a ninja badly wounded and on the verge of death by the Nine-Tails, he would creep up and finish them off... a classic kill stealer.
As you might expect, sneaking around like that rarely brought him much. His experience gain was slow. But this time was different. This time, he planned to do something big.
Yuzuru glanced at the Nine-Tails, then ignored it and quietly opened his status panel... Only in the instance did his abilities and strength appear in numerical form:
Name: Yuzuru Level: Lv2 Ninjutsu: Lv2 Taijutsu: Lv3 Genjutsu: Lv0 Strength: Lv3 Speed: Lv3 Hand Seals: Lv5 Intelligence: Lv7 Chakra: Lv3 "Assessment: 1. Your intelligence is perfectly normal. Congratulations. 2. If you're described as cannon fodder, you know that's actually a compliment."
At Yuzuru's level, surviving the battlefield last time had been pure luck. He couldn't count on being that lucky every time.
To gain the ability to protect himself, Yuzuru decided to take a bold step. Ignoring the burning village, the panicked crowds, and the furious ninjas fighting the Nine-Tails, he sprinted in a certain direction... toward where the Nine-Tails would appear at the end, and where the Fourth Hokage would soon seal it again.
He hadn't run far when a brilliant flash lit up the distant sky, turning night into day. A rumbling sound rolled from that direction, and even the air trembled... The Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb, teleported away by the Fourth Hokage with Flying Thunder God, had exploded in the distance.
Yuzuru only glanced at it. He didn't stop; he sprinted as fast as he could to the spot he had picked out, then waited quietly.
Konoha's response to the sudden Nine-Tails attack was undoubtedly half a beat too slow. Only after the Nine-Tails had rampaged through the village for a while did the Third Hokage forcibly drive it beyond the village walls.
Yuzuru couldn't see the battlefield from where he was. After he had waited patiently for a while, the Nine-Tails suddenly appeared nearby, its enormous tail almost sweeping right past him... Clearly, the Fourth Hokage had defeated the Masked Man and brought the Nine-Tails far from Konoha.
A barrier sprang up, confining the Nine-Tails to the area. From what Yuzuru knew of the story, the Fourth Hokage would seal it again next.
Yuzuru was inside the barrier. He had to watch out for the shock waves from the battle. If he got clipped by one of the Nine-Tails' attacks, he would die.
Don't see me. I'm just here to pick up the scraps. He could only pray silently.
In truth, even if the Nine-Tails or the Fourth Hokage noticed him, neither would have time to deal with him.
Yuzuru was too close to the Nine-Tails. The stinging sensation from the savage Tailed Beast Chakra grew stronger, and he could only draw on his own feeble chakra to barely resist its corrosive effects.
Only when another enormous chakra erupted inside the barrier, and golden chakra chains bound the Nine-Tails, did he feel a little better.
The sealing was about to begin. Yuzuru couldn't wait any longer. Risking being trampled to death by the Nine-Tails, he ran toward the center of the battlefield.
Halfway there, the Nine-Tails suddenly vanished.
Yuzuru sped up again, but by the time he reached the center of the battlefield, the Fourth Hokage and his wife seemed to have finished saying goodbye to Naruto.
The Nine-Tails' claws had pierced the couple through the chest. When Yuzuru reached them, he realized he was still too late. Kushina Uzumaki had already died, while the Fourth Hokage was on the verge of death... Unfortunately, only one target for experience remained.
"Lord Hokage, hold on! I'm here to save you!"
Yuzuru called out loudly. The Fourth Hokage had to hold on. Just a few more seconds would do.
What did Kushina Uzumaki look like? It didn't matter. Had Yuzuru stepped on her when he rushed over? That didn't matter either. She was already dead, after all.
He slid in front of the Fourth Hokage. Looking at the man's unfocused eyes, he spoke urgently. "Lord Hokage, please hold on!"
Then Yuzuru took out his Ninja Tool Pouch and dumped everything inside—the medicine bottles, bandages, Kunai, Shuriken, Caltrops, and all the other odds and ends—into the wound in the Fourth Hokage's chest.
The pain in his wound made the Fourth Hokage's body twitch. Even his unfocused eyes sharpened a little. He glanced down and saw a young Konoha Ninja stuffing all kinds of junk into his chest.
"You..."
Was this supposed to be medical treatment?
The Fourth Hokage wanted to lift his eyelids and see who the kid in front of him was, but he was already on the verge of death. In the end, he couldn't hold on.
His final complaint remained unspoken, and his consciousness sank into endless darkness.
Yuzuru might only have dealt five points of damage to the Fourth Hokage, but those five points were enough to empty his health bar.
The next moment, a huge wave of experience washed over him, bathing him in a gentle glow.
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