Died Right at the Start

In Orochimaru's laboratory, an Impure World Reincarnation experiment was underway. Orochimaru stretched out his long, slick tongue and licked his lips. If this worked, he could prepare to reincarnate the First and Second Hokage. Their cells were scarce, after all, and had to be used sparingly. He formed the seals: Tiger—Snake—Dog—Dragon, then slapped a hand against the ground. "Impure World Reincarnation!"

As the technique activated, strange symbols spread out from beneath Orochimaru's hand. The Sound Ninja serving as the sacrifice before him was gradually covered in dust, his face twisted with terror, until he let out one final wail... He died without ever understanding why Orochimaru had killed him—or why it had to be him.

At the same time, a long-haired man wearing clothes with the Gunbai clan crest began to take shape in the dust. His eyes slowly opened, and three tomoe formed in each one.

Orochimaru's eyes flashed. Jackpot! He had collected these cells at random from a battlefield. He'd never expected to find a deceased Uchiha with Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Not only were Uchihas strong and difficult to kill, but the Uchiha Clan was practically on the verge of extinction. Getting enough cells to reincarnate one this time was an unexpected bonus.

Orochimaru circled him. After a while, he noticed that the Reanimated Body before him had opened his eyes but still hadn't moved. His excitement gradually faded. Had something gone wrong with the technique? Had Impure World Reincarnation failed? No, the Kazekage had shown a great deal of independence when he was reincarnated. In fact, because Orochimaru's technique hadn't been perfected, the Kazekage had even broken free of his control.

With that in mind, Orochimaru left the Reanimated Body alone for the moment and carefully studied the experimental notes nearby, trying to pinpoint what had gone wrong with the technique.

The Uchiha wasn't moving because...

Who am I? Where am I?! What happened to that kid? Forget it. I can barely keep myself alive—why am I thinking about that? Why does this guy look so much like Orochimaru from the anime?

Only after Orochimaru turned his back did he pull a face and relax a little. He tentatively moved a finger, but felt nothing. Still, he could see that it had moved.

He saw cracks all over his body, like peeling skin. His expression twitched. Several emotions mingled in his face: surprise, fear, and even a little excitement. But in the end, they were all swallowed by the sheer misery of it.

If he had guessed right, he'd been transported to the Naruto world and died. Now he was in a Reanimated Body. If his consciousness was erased, he'd be forced to fight for someone else for free.

Though Orochimaru had turned his back, he'd been paying attention to the sounds behind him. He slowly turned around and grinned. "Heh heh. Looks like the technique worked. But you don't seem surprised at all. Can you tell me who you are?"

"Who are you?" he repeated, copying Orochimaru's words. "Who am I?" It was a philosophical question no matter where you were.

Orochimaru thought it over. Had the soul not been summoned completely? "Do you remember your name?"

"My name..." A system panel appeared in his mind: "Uchiha Gen."

"Uchiha Gen..." Orochimaru murmured. His expression then grew a little more serious. "What else do you remember?" Uchiha Gen shook his head.

"I'm Orochimaru, your creator. In other words, I made you, and I can just as easily destroy you." As he spoke, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, revealing a hint of murderous intent.

Orochimaru wasn't sure whether this person calling himself Uchiha Gen had really lost his memory. Without sufficient access, there was no way he could know about Impure World Reincarnation, let alone the Uchiha Clan, who had always been kept under suspicion. But even the slightest possibility meant he might be uncontrollable.

Orochimaru had to admit he was interested. After being thoroughly beaten by Itachi, he could use a Three-Tomoe Uchiha who might retain most of his strength without needing the technique to its fullest. Gen could assist with his experiments and was roughly as strong as a Jonin, too. "From now on, you'll obey my orders without question."

Hearing this, Uchiha Gen froze, as if he'd only just understood something. He lowered his head slightly and obediently replied, "Understood."

Out of suspicion toward Uchiha Gen, Orochimaru carried out several more experiments afterward. With Gen aside, all the other reincarnated bodies behaved "normally." Orochimaru had to control them with the technique, or they were impossible to command. Some of the little nobodies even came out ready to fight him to the death—well, they were already dead.

This confirmed Orochimaru's lingering suspicion of Uchiha Gen. He grinned wickedly and licked his lips. Once he brought Sasuke out, he'd control him with the technique immediately, whether he was faking it or not. As long as Sasuke couldn't use Impure World Reincarnation himself, Orochimaru's control over him would be absolute.

Standing inside the coffin, Uchiha Gen quietly considered how he could escape Orochimaru's control. He didn't believe he'd fooled Orochimaru with his earlier, clueless act.

Being inexplicably brought here in a dead state was already tragic enough. Having his consciousness erased and being forced to fight for free on top of that would be downright inhuman.

As for the system, it was less a system than a Skin Shop. It only had one skin, one that looked about eighteen or nineteen and resembled his former self quite closely. Its appearance was a little more feminine, though, and gave people the impression that he was difficult to get along with. Beneath it was a note saying more skins were yet to be unlocked...

At the moment, Uchiha Gen could only buy that one, the default skin. But it cost 100,000 ryo. There were no other instructions, though the warnings did say that if it was damaged beyond repair, it couldn't be fixed or purchased again.

He didn't know what the skin was for, but he had no goals right now anyway. There was no harm in trying it. The real problem was figuring out how to get 100,000 ryo while he was a Reanimated Body under someone else's control. Uchiha Gen was incredibly frustrated that he hadn't memorized the hand seals for Impure World Reincarnation when he'd watched the anime.

System scan in progress...

Current host status: Under control. Hand seal sequence to release control of Impure World Reincarnation: Rat—Ox—Monkey—Tiger—Dragon—Boar. Please gather 100,000 ryo as soon as possible, or the system will execute a termination.

Termination?! Uchiha Gen frowned. It wasn't that he was afraid of the word. He just sighed inwardly. What a pain. He didn't have any warm feelings toward the system, either. Nothing good came for free in this world, especially when it had just threatened to terminate him. Was it trying to tell him what to do?

Still, he'd better keep his head down for now and figure out what was going on...

After who knew how long, the coffin lid was lifted. When the sudden light appeared, Uchiha Gen instinctively tried to close his eyes, only to realize the brightness didn't bother him at all.

That reminded him that he was already dead, though it still didn't feel real.

"Kabuto, go test Uchiha Gen's strength."

Uchiha Gen looked up at Kabuto standing before him and tilted his head in confusion. His face remained expressionless.

Orochimaru grinned. "We're going to test your strength. It's a shame your sacrifice was a weak Sound Ninja."

Kabuto, meanwhile, felt a headache coming on. Based on the previous examples, he'd realized that the Chakra Scalpel he'd mastered didn't work on the dead. He pushed up his glasses and stared at the emotionless Reanimated Body before him, a bead of cold sweat seeming to form on his forehead.

Uchiha Gen nodded slightly. He simply stood there and calmly gestured for Kabuto to go first.

Kabuto knew how bizarrely powerful Reanimated Bodies were, so he felt no indignation at being looked down on. The instant Uchiha Gen finished speaking, he threw out several kunai, which embedded themselves around Gen. Chakra Threads connected to the kunai snapped tight, attempting to bind and restrain him.

Uchiha Gen stood there as if he were an idiot, allowing himself to be bound. His eyes shifted slightly, and he saw that more than ten Explosive Tags were attached to the Chakra Threads. The next second, the tags exploded!

Kabuto leaped clear of the blast and pushed up his glasses, staring solemnly at the smoke. He didn't think that would destroy a Reanimated Body. He'd only done it to force Uchiha Gen to respond and gather some information. With Gen refusing to attack first, collecting information was undoubtedly even harder.

While Kabuto's attention was elsewhere, Uchiha Gen suddenly appeared behind him. Kabuto seemed not to notice at all; he was still staring at the explosion site and hadn't sensed Gen approaching.

Uchiha Gen held a kunai to his neck and was just about to stab him when the crisp clang of kunai striking rang out. Gen looked at the kunai knocked from his hand, then at Orochimaru. He said nothing, took a step back, and stood quietly to the side.

...A genjutsu? Orochimaru stretched out his long, slick tongue and licked his lips, smiling meaningfully. "I think I understand now. But if you kill him, where am I supposed to find another assistant this good?"