The Reincarnator Minato Namikaze

"I've got to admit, my life was a bit of a failure!"

As Minato Namikaze's consciousness began to fade, he sank into memories of his life. A calm, emotionless voice rang out in his mind. "System startup in progress. System startup complete!"

"Am I hearing things because I'm dead? Whatever."

Minato's thoughts grew increasingly hazy. A white light enveloped his soul and carried him away from the Western Paradise where the Soul Reapers dwelled.

When the light faded, Minato found himself lying in a vast, white space, as empty as the edge of the world. A soft glow filled the area around him. Looking toward its source, he saw an enormous orb of light above his head, shining faintly.

A voice rang out in his mind once more.

"Welcome to Main God Space, Reincarnator: Minato Namikaze."

Minato calmly got to his feet. He

thought this place didn't seem much like the Underworld he'd heard people talk about.

"Who are you? Where is this?"

[You may address me as "Main God." This is Main God Space. You have been selected as a Reincarnator. Here, you will complete the missions of Main God Space and earn rewards, which you can exchange for anything you desire: power, authority, wealth, eternal life, even resurrection...]

Minato didn't quite believe what the voice was telling him. But when he checked his condition, he found that he wasn't in a spiritual state; his body was perfectly intact. Yin Nine-Tails was still inside him, though no matter how he tried to reach out to it, it didn't respond.

Minato naturally had no idea that Zhu Shen had sent his soul into Main God Space and generously spent over a thousand points to restore his body. It was all so he could serve Main God Space more conveniently.

A soul would have been sufficient, of course. Zhu Shen could think of at least one world to send him to in that state. But people from the ninja world had souls no stronger than ordinary people's, and the weak could earn only a limited number of points. So Zhu Shen had invested in him first and brought him back to life.

Minato didn't believe what Zhu Shen had told him, but Zhu Shen offered no further explanation. He simply activated the world-travel function and tossed Minato into another world to get to work.

A deserted island in the One Piece World,

Minato appeared out of nowhere. Staring at the seemingly endless sea and unfamiliar scenery, as well as the protective barrier overhead that looked like a bowl turned upside down, he stood on guard in shock.

"Where am I now?" Several lines of text appeared before Minato:

[Reincarnation World: One Piece World, Sea Circle Calendar year 1512

Background: Eight hundred years ago, twenty kings jointly founded the World Government. They called themselves the Celestial Dragons, "descendants of the creators." The Celestial Dragons wielded supreme authority in this world and lived in the world's holy land, Mary Geoise.

After Fisher Tiger the Fish-Man freed the Celestial Dragon slaves in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, he founded the Sun Pirates. He was eventually betrayed by humans and died. Arlong, a member of the Fish-Man Pirates, was furious and prepared to take revenge on the Marines!

Mission One: "Bell-mère's Tragedy." Objective: Kill Arlong the Fish-Man.

Mission Two: Undetermined

Mission countdown: 09:59

Mission One reward: 2,000 points, 2 C-rank side-story missions. Failure penalty: Execution!

Note: Revealing information about Main God Space to anyone outside Main God Space will result in execution!]

The mission display vanished. Feeling his strong, steady heartbeat and the restless Yin Nine-Tails inside him, Minato began to accept that none of this was an illusion or a fantasy. It was real!

But what did One Piece World mean? Was it another world? He could worry about the rewards later, but failure meant execution!

Minato's expression turned grave. His top priority was to gather information and figure out what was going on.

As he thought, he saw the mission countdown begin to tick down: 59, 58...

Beyond the protective barrier, several warships appeared by the island's shore. They were moored there for repairs while soldiers unloaded supplies nearby.

Underwater, not far from the ships, a figure sped toward them.

Before long, the figure took advantage of the Marines' lack of vigilance, leapt out of the water, and landed on deck. Empty-handed, he launched a frenzied attack on the soldiers around him.

"Come to terms with your fate, you damned humans!" The one attacking the Marines was Arlong, a sawshark Fish-Man.

"You! You're a Fish-Man!" a Marine shouted, firing at Arlong.

But Arlong was a Fish-Man, with strength and endurance far beyond those of ordinary people. He easily dodged the attack, and the surrounding soldiers swarmed him. Laughing wildly, Arlong fought them all at once.

"You're so noisy."

A languid voice spoke, followed by a yellow laser that instantly pierced Arlong's chest. It struck so fast that Arlong had no time to react before he was blasted away, landing on the shore.

Golden laser particles gathered in front of Arlong, forming a human figure. A man in a gray pinstripe suit, wearing a black hat and a Marine coat, appeared before him.

From behind the protective barrier, Minato watched. Arlong had landed not far from it, and the people around him didn't seem to notice Minato inside the "barrier." Yet Minato could see them perfectly well through it.

Just then, Main God's mechanical voice rang out in Minato's mind:

[Hidden missions activated. Optional missions; failure carries no penalty. Details:

Mission One: Kill Marine Admiral candidate Kizaru. Reward: points, 3 B-rank side-story missions.

Mission Two: Persuade Marine Admiral candidate Kizaru to leave the Marines. Reward: points, 3 B-rank side-story missions.]

Marine Admiral candidate Kizaru? Minato considered the matter. That must be the officer who used the lasers. The rewards were much greater than those for the main mission, so Kizaru was probably extremely powerful. And what were side-story missions? Minato had many questions.

In fact, Zhu Shen had added the side-story missions as an extra reward. They were like proof of mission completion and came in seven ranks: D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS, corresponding to the first through seventh levels of strength.

Four side-story missions of a lower rank could be combined into one of the next rank, but only one rank higher. For example, sixteen B-rank side-story missions could be exchanged for four A-rank ones, but not one S-rank mission. This was also meant to prevent people from farming points and becoming too powerful too quickly. On top of that, high-level exchanges of S-rank and above consumed a great deal of system energy.

Zhu Shen planned to restrict the more powerful Bloodline skills available to Reincarnators by requiring side-story missions, thereby encouraging them to complete their missions.

Zhu Shen had created this hidden mission after observing Kizaru through the Main God Sub-System. As one of the Three Admirals in the Marines, the greatest force of violence in the One Piece World, Kizaru was renowned as one of the Marines' strongest fighters.

At the time, Kizaru was an Admiral candidate. The system rated his strength as mid-level third tier, with his peak likely at high-level third tier. He was only one step away from a fourth-tier being, a level the system considered capable of manipulating the laws of nature.

The system currently rated Minato's strength as low-level third tier, or ordinary Kage Level. That put him one rank below Kizaru.

Of course, the system's strength ratings were only estimates based on supernatural energy levels, a person's skills, and other factors. The outcome of an actual battle still depended on how both sides performed and on all sorts of other circumstances.

For example, Minato's energy level was only that of an ordinary Kage, but his genius-level battle sense and absurdly powerful Flying Thunder God had let him achieve feats beyond the ordinary Kage Level.

If Minato could kill Kizaru or change his allegiance, he would effectively seize the fortune of both Kizaru and the Marines, earning a large number of points. But that was much too difficult for a new Reincarnator like Minato, so Zhu Shen had made it an optional hidden mission rather than a requirement.

In fact, Zhu Shen had agonized over the mission when he issued it. The system's world-travel function could send people through time, but the cost in points was rarely worth the potential gains, so it could only choose a random time.

After the first trip to the One Piece World, any future trips there would use the initial time period as their reference point unless extra points were spent to change the timeline.

Weighing the challenge against the rewards, Zhu Shen had set the mission as killing Arlong the Fish-Man, who had affected the fate of Nami, one of the main characters in the Pirate King's crew. Arlong wasn't particularly strong, but because his fate was connected to Nami's, one of the main supporting characters, the system's gains from killing him would exceed the reward cost by a few thousand points. It wasn't much, but it was enough for a first trial.

As for the mission's difficulty, that mainly lay in Kizaru. Minato might not be as powerful as him, but Zhu Shen figured that Minato's Space-Time Ninjutsu would make the mission achievable.

——

Back to Minato, who now had a basic understanding of the situation.

Inside the barrier, Minato quietly drew a kunai. Keeping an eye on the countdown and watching the situation unfold, he prepared to act.

Outside the barrier, Kizaru strolled toward Arlong, who had been knocked down.

"So you're Arlong." Kizaru put down his cigarette and casually planted a foot on Arlong's chest. "What are you doing back here, shamelessly showing your face again?"

"I'll kill every human who betrayed Brother Tiger!" Humiliated by humans, Arlong had tears in his eyes, his bloodstained face looking like that of a demon. "I'll find the local who informed on us and kill everyone there!"

"So you're after revenge."

"That's right! Brother Fisher Tiger died! You humans, a lower race, killed him!"

"Oh, is that so? He died, then." Kizaru showed no reaction; not a ripple disturbed the calm in his eyes. "But I'm still going to have to take you in." He lifted his foot, preparing to haul Arlong back to the ship.

At that moment, a kunai seemed to appear out of thin air, flying straight at Kizaru's head. Kizaru didn't react at all and let it strike him.

But, strangely, the kunai passed through him as if he were an illusion and landed on the ground nearby. A hole had been punched through Kizaru's head, yet there wasn't a trace of blood. Golden light shimmered and flowed around the edges of the hole, which closed up again in the space of a breath.

"That was scary. I nearly died." Kizaru pursed his lips. Facing the figure who had suddenly appeared before him, he wondered why his Observation Haki hadn't detected when this person showed up.