Soul Summoning Mutual Defense Technique

On the rooftop of a high-rise office building downtown, a gaunt figure teetered on the edge...

Location: Land of Fire, Hidden Leaf Village.

"Grandpa Third Hokage, can I borrow this scroll?" A boy with black hair and eyes, around eleven or twelve years old, pointed at the ninjutsu scroll in his hand.

"Oh?" A flash of murderous intent crossed the Third Hokage—Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Is it a Fire Release technique? You'll have to practice hard, Yashui."

"Thanks, Grandpa!" The boy named Yashui carried the ninjutsu scroll back to his room.

"That child... has he already figured it out?" The Third Hokage sighed. "Now I have to take care of the village's affairs. It's already night, but I can't put things off until tomorrow..."

With that, the Third Hokage put on his Hokage robes and left the house.

Yashui watched through a narrow gap in the door. Only after the Third Hokage had left did he carefully open the scroll.

"What Third Hokage? What Sarutobi Clan? They're nothing special," Yashui scoffed. "I used a little genjutsu and got the scroll just like that."

Yashui had just used a minor genjutsu on the Third Hokage, making him think that Yashui had borrowed a Fire Release scroll. In fact, this scroll recorded a technique that could increase chakra.

But Yashui, still young, hadn't realized that the Third Hokage had seen through his simple genjutsu long ago.

The scroll read, "Ninja Art: Soul Summoning Mutual Defense Technique." Yashui eagerly continued reading.

"Summon the soul of a powerful person who has just died, erase his consciousness, and make him your chakra? There's no cost, and it isn't even classified as a forbidden technique." After finishing the scroll, Yashui was overcome with excitement.

A technique this powerful, and he'd gotten his hands on it so easily!

Without a second thought, Yashui performed the hand seals in the order shown on the scroll. The next moment, he collapsed.

Xu Fengxin's body slowly tipped forward, letting gravity carry him from the top of the high-rise office building toward the ground. Even an air cushion wouldn't save him from a fall like this.

He closed his eyes. Before he hit the ground, people noticed that the corners of his mouth had curled into a smile.

When Xu Fengxin opened his eyes again, he was no longer in that world.

"Hell? Figures. Someone like me was bound to end up in hell." Xu Fengxin's eyes were open, but he couldn't see a thing. Everything before him was pitch-black.

"What world are you from? What makes you better than everyone else?" a childish voice asked.

"I don't belong to any world, and I'm not better than anyone else." Xu Fengxin sighed. "Are you the God of Death?"

"Of course not." An eleven- or twelve-year-old boy walked up to Xu Fengxin. He was the first person Xu Fengxin had seen. "I'm Sarutobi Yashui... No, my real name is Uchiha Yashui! I'm disappointed that you don't have any special abilities, but I don't really care. Just become my chakra, nice and easy."

"Come on, hand over your strength." The boy named Yashui wore a blue short-sleeved shirt emblazoned with the Uchiha Clan crest on the back. His eyes slanted slightly upward, and he was rather handsome.

"Sorry, but since I'm still alive, I have more important things to do. Where's the nearest police station?" Xu Fengxin took Yashui's words for the deluded rambling of a teenager obsessed with Naruto.

"So you're not going to hand over your strength willingly." Yashui took a step back. "Then I'll just have to beat you and take it!"

Xu Fengxin had trained in all kinds of martial arts. Yashui had clearly opened the distance to prepare for a mid-range fight.

"Got any 'toys'? A whip or a toy bow and arrow?" Xu Fengxin wasn't deliberately picking on Yashui. It was simply a reflex born of years of fighting.

Yashui rapidly formed several hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A fireball more than two meters in diameter flew toward him.

Xu Fengxin was startled. The heat didn't feel fake, and the power was clearly unlike anything he knew. It really did seem like Naruto.

"Too slow." In the blink of an eye, Xu Fengxin was beside Yashui. He grabbed the hand Yashui was using to form seals and bent it backward.

"Ahhh... It hurts!" Yashui was in so much pain he could barely speak.

"Kid, answer my questions. Where are we? Where's the nearest police station?" Xu Fengxin let go of Yashui's hand.

"This is my mental world. Heh, everything here depends on mental power. The Uchiha Clan won't lose to anyone in that!" Yashui turned and put some distance between them again.

"I'm pretty happy to see you can fight. At least that proves your chakra isn't weak!" Yashui began forming hand seals again.

Xu Fengxin unbuckled his belt and skillfully removed the buckle. Before Yashui could finish his hand seals, the buckle cracked hard against the back of his hand, interrupting the seals.

Taking advantage of the opening, Xu Fengxin had already grabbed Yashui by the throat. Just as he was about to squeeze, the scene before him changed.

"What's this? A ninjutsu scroll?" Xu Fengxin didn't have time to bother with the scroll. He wanted to know where he was.

He stood up, startled to find that he was much shorter. When he looked in the mirror, he found that he'd become the boy he had fought.

In his eye sockets, black Tomoe slowly revolved around his pupils, set against the crimson of his eyes.

"Sharingan..." Xu Fengxin looked out the window. The Kage Rock, carved with the faces of past Hokage, was bathed in moonlight.

"Could this really be... Naruto?" Xu Fengxin remembered the ninjutsu scroll and picked it up to take a look.

"Forbidden Technique: Soul Summoning Mutual Defense Technique. At the cost of one's own soul, summon the soul of a powerful person who has just died and fight him in the mental world. The victor will be reborn in the caster's body. The loser's consciousness will be erased, and he will become chakra, a part of the victor."

"I see... The scroll itself contained a genjutsu. It was like a trap set just for me, and I walked right into it, full of confidence. Damn Third Hokage... Are you really determined to wipe out the Uchiha Clan!?" Yashui's voice rang in his mind.

"Since I beat you just now, that's why I was reborn in your body?" Xu Fengxin asked.

"Seems that way." Yashui sounded disappointed. "You were too modest... Saying you weren't better than anyone else. That really wasn't something you should have said."