Died at the Start

In Orochimaru's laboratory, an experiment involving the Impure World Reincarnation was underway. Orochimaru extended his long, damp tongue to lick his lips; if this attempt succeeded, he could prepare for the resurrection of the First and Second Hokage. After all, cells were scarce and had to be used sparingly. He traced the hand seals: Tiger-Snake-Dog-Dragon, then slammed his palm onto the ground: "Impure World Reincarnation!"

As the technique activated, bizarre arrays spread out from beneath Orochimaru's hand. The Sound Ninja serving as the sacrifice wore a look of sheer terror as he was gradually covered in dust and ash, until he let out a final, mournful wail... dying without ever understanding why Orochimaru had killed him, or why it had to be him.

Simultaneously, a long-haired man wearing clothes marked with the Uchiha clan crest gradually coalesced within the dust. His eyes slowly opened, and three tomoe formed within them.

Seeing this, a gleam flashed in Orochimaru's eyes. He'd hit the jackpot! These cells had been collected haphazardly from a battlefield; he never expected to acquire a fallen Uchiha with three-tomoe Sharingan. Not only was such a person difficult to kill, but the Uchiha clan was effectively on the verge of extinction. Obtaining enough cells for a resurrection this time was an absolute, unexpected windfall.

Orochimaru circled him. After a while, he noticed that although the resurrected body's eyes were open, it remained motionless for a long time. His initial excitement gradually faded. Was there a flaw in the technique? Had the Impure World Reincarnation failed? No, that couldn't be it; when he resurrected the Kazekage previously, the body had possessed a high degree of autonomy, even breaking free of his control due to the technique's immaturity.

Thinking this, he left the resurrected body aside for the moment and began carefully scouring his experimental notes to see where the technique had gone wrong.

As for the Uchiha, he remained motionless because...

Who am I? Where am I!? What about that kid? Forget it, I can barely save myself, why think about these things... Why does this guy look so much like Orochimaru from the anime?

Seeing Orochimaru turn his back, he grinned, relaxed slightly, and moved his fingers. He felt no tactile sensation, yet he could clearly see his fingers moving.

He looked at the dead-skin-like cracks covering his body. His expression twitched; a mixture of surprise, fear, and a subtle hint of excitement flickered across his face, but all were eventually buried under a sense of profound annoyance and misery.

If he wasn't mistaken, he had transmigrated into Naruto and kicked the bucket. He was currently in a state of Impure World Reincarnation; if his consciousness were erased, he would be nothing more than a mindless puppet working himself to death for someone else.

Although Orochimaru had his back turned, he had been monitoring the movement behind him. He slowly turned around, grinning, "Heh, it seems the technique is fine, but you don't seem surprised at all. Can you tell me who you are?"

"Who are you?" he echoed Orochimaru's words. "Who am I?" This was a philosophical question regardless of where one stood.

Orochimaru pondered. Was the soul not fully summoned? "Do you remember your name?"

"Name..." At this moment, a system panel appeared in his mind: "Uchiha Gen."

Orochimaru muttered, "Uchiha Gen..." His expression then tightened. "What else do you remember?" Hearing this, Uchiha Gen shook his head.

"I am Orochimaru, your creator. Which is to say, I created you, and I can easily destroy you." As he said this, Orochimaru's eyes narrowed, revealing a hint of killing intent.

He didn't know if this person calling himself Uchiha Gen was truly suffering from amnesia, because without sufficient clearance, it was impossible to know about the Impure World Reincarnation technique, let alone the closely guarded secrets of the Uchiha clan. But even a sliver of possibility meant he was uncontrollable.

Undeniably, Orochimaru was intrigued. After being utterly crushed by Itachi, this three-tomoe Uchiha before him might not even need the technique to retain his combat power, which would complement his experiments. Plus, he counted as a Jonin-level asset. "From now on, you must obey my orders unconditionally."

Hearing this, Uchiha Gen paused as if he had finally understood something, then lowered his head submissively. "As you command."

Due to his suspicion of Uchiha Gen, Orochimaru conducted several more experiments afterward. Excluding Uchiha Gen, the other resurrected bodies behaved quite "normally"—they had to be controlled by the technique, otherwise, they were impossible to command, and some even tried to fight him to the death (well, they were already dead) the moment they appeared.

This confirmed Orochimaru's lingering doubts about Uchiha Gen. He licked his lips with a wicked smile; once he brought Sasuke out, regardless of whether Gen was faking it, he would use the technique to control him directly. As long as Gen didn't know how to perform the Impure World Reincarnation himself, his control over him would be absolute.

Standing in his coffin, Uchiha Gen pondered how to escape Orochimaru's control. He didn't think his previous "dim-witted" performance could fool Orochimaru for long.

Being inexplicably brought here in a dead state was tragic enough; if he were to have his consciousness erased and be forced into slave labor, that was truly not a life for a human.

As for this system, it was less of a system and more of a Skin Shop. It only had one skin available, appearing to be 18 or 19 years old. It looked very similar to his original self, just a bit more effeminate and possessing an air that made him seem difficult to get along with. Below that were words indicating other skins were waiting to be unlocked...

For now, Uchiha Gen could only purchase this one, which served as the starter skin, but it cost 100,000 Ryo. There were no usage instructions, though a warning noted that if the skin suffered catastrophic damage, it could not be repaired or repurchased.

Although he didn't know what the skin was for, he had no other goals right now, so trying it out couldn't hurt. The key problem was how he, a controlled resurrected puppet, was supposed to get his hands on 100,000 Ryo. Uchiha Gen felt incredibly depressed that he hadn't memorized the hand seals for the Impure World Reincarnation when he watched the anime.

System scanning...

Current host status: Under control. The hand seals to break the Impure World Reincarnation control are: Rat-Ox-Monkey-Tiger-Dragon-Boar. Please collect 100,000 Ryo as soon as possible, or the system will execute a purge.

Purge!! Uchiha Gen frowned. It wasn't that he feared the word, but he sighed internally. Troublesome~ He didn't feel particularly friendly toward the system. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, and the threat of a purge was clearly the system trying to boss him around.

However, in his current situation, he had better play it safe and figure out the state of things first...

Time passed, and the coffin lid was raised. Facing the sudden light, Uchiha Gen instinctively wanted to close his eyes, only to realize he felt no discomfort at all.

He remembered then that he was already dead, though it didn't feel very real.

"Kabuto, go test the strength of this Uchiha Gen."

Uchiha Gen looked up at Kabuto standing before him, tilting his head in confusion, though his face remained expressionless.

Orochimaru grinned. "Test your strength. It's just a pity that your vessel is a low-level Sound Ninja."

Kabuto, meanwhile, felt a headache coming on. Based on previous examples, he had discovered that his Chakra Scalpels were completely ineffective against the dead. He pushed up his glasses, looking at the emotionless resurrected body, and a bead of cold sweat involuntarily rolled down his forehead.

Uchiha Gen nodded slightly, simply standing there, making a casual gesture for Kabuto to go first.

Kabuto knew the monstrous nature of these resurrected bodies and felt no anger at being looked down upon. The moment Uchiha Gen finished his gesture, Kabuto threw several kunai around him, the chakra threads attached to them tightening instantly in an attempt to bind and restrain him.

Uchiha Gen stood there as if foolish, allowing himself to be bound. His eyes shifted slightly, noticing that these chakra threads had over ten explosive tags attached to them. The next second, the tags detonated!

Kabuto leaped out of the blast radius, pushed up his glasses, and stared at the smoke with a grave expression. He didn't think this would destroy the resurrected body; he only wanted to force Uchiha Gen to react so he could gather intelligence. If Uchiha Gen refused to take the initiative, gathering intel would be even harder.

Just as Kabuto's attention was diverted, Uchiha Gen suddenly appeared behind him. Kabuto seemed completely unaware, his eyes still fixed on the explosion site, failing to notice Uchiha Gen's approach at all.

Uchiha Gen held a kunai to his throat, and just as he was about to strike, a crisp sound of clashing metal rang out. Uchiha Gen looked at the kunai that had been knocked out of his hand, then at Orochimaru. Without a word, he stepped back and stood quietly to the side.

...Genjutsu? Orochimaru extended his long, damp tongue to lick his lips, smiling meaningfully. "I think I understand now. But if you kill him, where am I supposed to find such a good assistant?"