Transmigrating to Naruto

He opened his eyes slowly, every movement feeling as though it drained the last of his strength. An endless exhaustion left Li Zhong feeling utterly bewildered, and questions began to surface in his mind of their own accord.

Where am I?

Didn't I get hospitalized because my stomach cancer had metastasized?

There is no scent of antiseptic here, nothing like the usual hospital. Li Zhong struggled to open his eyes, moving his neck with great difficulty to look around. What met his gaze were gray, bare walls; one was stained with mottled soot, and beneath it sat a mud-brick stove.

The room was only about ten square meters, much like a rural house from thirty years ago. Aside from the dilapidated wooden bed covered by a worn-out sheet, there was nothing else—the room was completely bare.

"Hideaka, Hideaka. The medicine is ready. As long as you drink it, you will get better..."

Suddenly, a person stepped through a square opening that let in a dazzling white light. Given the enclosed nature of the room, Li Zhong could guess that this opening, which lacked any covering, was likely a door—the only entrance connecting the room to the outside world.

The man who entered was about thirty years old. He wore equally tattered clothes, and his messy, yellowing hair was stained and matted together. His turbid eyes held a hint of concern. His hands, covered in wrinkles and calluses, held a chipped brown bowl filled with a dark, herbal decoction.

He was not speaking Chinese; the sounds were rapid and rhythmic, much like Japanese. Strangely, Li Zhong could understand every word, and he felt a sense of familiarity toward the man.

"Wh-where is this? Who... who are you? Hideaka... Hideaka, who is Hideaka? My name is Li Zhong, and what kind of hellhole is this? I... I've changed!"

Li Zhong struggled to sit up, but as he braced his arms, he was shocked to find that his once-slender limbs had become short, soft, and chubby, like a lotus root. These were clearly the arms of a child!

What is going on? Wasn't I in the hospital waiting for treatment? Stomach cancer metastasis... the surgery had less than a ten percent success rate, but my parents insisted I go through with it, and then they administered the anesthesia...

How could I have suddenly arrived in such a strange and unfamiliar environment? And even more absurdly, turned into a child?

"Come, Hideaka, drink it. This is our village elder's secret recipe, brewed from four different herbs. Drink it and your high fever will break..."

The middle-aged man held the chipped brown bowl to Li Zhong's lips. A pungent, medicinal odor filled his nostrils, and only then did Li Zhong realize his breath was searingly hot. He was clearly suffering from a high fever!

In a daze, he swallowed the bitter, herbal liquid. A wave of exhaustion washed over him from deep within his mind, and he drifted back into sleep.

Over the next few days, the middle-aged man came by intermittently to bring food and medicine. Through their interactions, Li Zhong learned the identity of the body he now inhabited.

The previous owner of this body was named Sato Hideaka, a child of a farming family in the village. When he was three, his father was killed by bandits while traveling to trade during the off-season. Later, his mother bore the burden of the household alone, but after a year of grueling labor, her health failed, and she passed away.

Orphaned at five, Sato Hideaka had no way to produce food, and with no wealthy families or nobles to take him in, he survived on the charity of the villagers, eating "hundred-family rice" to grow up.

Seven days ago, while five-year-old Sato Hideaka was fishing by the river, a torrential downpour caught him off guard. After being drenched for an hour, he caught a severe cold and developed a high fever, which was when Li Zhong arrived in this body.

As for the man who brought the medicine, his name was Yoda Eisuke. He had been a neighbor and close friend of the boy's father, so Sato Hideaka's mother had entrusted the boy to his care.

Furthermore, whenever Li Zhong listened to Yoda Eisuke talk about the outside world, he frequently heard terms like Land of Fire, Konoha, Land of Earth, and ninja. Combined with the villagers' varied hair colors and the language they spoke (Japanese), Li Zhong was ninety percent certain he had arrived in the world of the anime "Naruto."

After resting in the shack for several days, Li Zhong's fever gradually subsided, though the weakness left by the illness remained. Taking advantage of the bright sunshine, he stepped out of the wooden hut.

Scattered around the exterior were various wooden houses with thin wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys. Beyond them, aside from rows of towering trees reaching ten meters in height, there were crisscrossing paths and small, partitioned fields.

The air was fresh, the sun was bright, and the sounds of birds and insects filled the air.

This place was far from the noise and pollution of the concrete jungle. If not for his empty stomach, Li Zhong might have thought he had arrived in the utopia described by Tao Yuanming.

Yoda Eisuke, wearing a straw hat, was working in the fields. Sato Hideaka called out, "Uncle Eisuke, good afternoon..."

"Oh, it's Hideaka. How are you feeling now? Is your body any better?" Yoda Eisuke straightened his back, resting his hands on the handle of his hoe with a smile.

"I'm much better, thank you, Uncle Eisuke."

Sato Hideaka felt deeply grateful toward Yoda Eisuke. If not for his attentive care and the medicine he had brewed over the past few days, the fever would not have broken so quickly.

"Good, as long as you're recovered. Once I finish up here, I'll brew you a few bowls of hot porridge. You'll be full of energy after that."

No sooner had Yoda Eisuke finished speaking than several strong men came running from the distance. They were clutching hoes, wooden clubs, and rusted kitchen knives, their faces filled with panic and tension.

"Eisuke! The rogue ninja and bandits from the mountains have come to our village again! They seem to be heading for the granary. What do we do?"

"Damn it! This is the third time this year. They already took half our grain. Are they trying to starve us to death? We're dead either way, let's fight these bandits!" Yoda Eisuke gripped his hoe, his expression fierce and resolute. He turned to Sato Hideaka and said, "Hideaka, find a place to hide... make sure those bandits don't see you."

With that, Yoda Eisuke and the other men called out the villagers, rallying about twenty young men armed with "weapons," and ran toward the village granary, seemingly prepared for a bloody battle.

Bandits, thieves, rogue ninja—how chaotic is this world?

Sato Hideaka watched them leave, filled with worry and anxiety. He didn't know the true nature of the bandits in this world, nor whether the villagers would suffer casualties.

Looking at his surroundings, Sato Hideaka was just about to find a place to hide when he suddenly saw three men ahead. They were young and strong, carrying heavy bags and wearing swords. Their faces were scarred and vicious, and they were brandishing their blades as they chased down the unarmed villagers.

The three bandits were ruthless. Whether it was the elderly, the weak, women, or children in their path, they slashed at everyone they saw, drawing blood with every strike without a hint of mercy.

Cries for help, screams, and maniacal laughter filled the air.

Seeing the three bandits heading toward him, Sato Hideaka turned and ran toward the outskirts of the village. These vicious, lawless bandits were truly capable of murder—they didn't seem like humans at all, but rather beasts!