Konoha, Year 48, October 10.
At the Uchiha Clan Compound, in the clan head's residence.
The eyelashes of a baby wrapped in a white swaddle twitched. He slowly opened his eyes, and a depth and liveliness far beyond his age appeared in them.
Where am I?
Am I still alive?
Could this be hell?
He felt himself tightly wrapped in something and held in the arms of a boy around four or five years old, who was gazing up at the starry sky. A hint of confusion appeared in his eyes.
Who is this person?
The Death God?
Heh, even the Death God employs child labor?
Looks like hell isn't so scary after all.
His thoughts wandered freely. He opened his mouth and tried to speak, but all that came from his throat were "ya ya" sounds.
Hearing him, the boy gently patted his back, then lowered his head and smiled warmly. "Sasuke, you're awake?"
???
What the heck?
Sasuke?
As a longtime anime nerd with a passing knowledge of Japanese, he froze at the name. Then, seeing the familiar face before him, a flash of insight struck!
Itachi Uchiha?
He raised his tender little hand in disbelief, rubbed his eyes hard, then looked again...
It really was Itachi Uchiha!
And a young, adorable Itachi!
Did he just call me Sasuke?
Did I reincarnate?
And become Uchiha Sasuke?
The soul occupying the baby's body had originally lived in a world where entertainment was everywhere.
As a longtime anime nerd and avid reader, he was naturally familiar with the tired old trope of reincarnation.
At the same time, he had been a promising young man determined to serve his country. He'd died in a car accident on his way to take the prison guard exam. When he woke up, he hadn't arrived in some netherworld—instead, he'd found himself in this situation. That was when he realized he'd reincarnated!
And he'd reincarnated into the Naruto world, which he knew very well, as the story's second male lead: Uchiha Sasuke, a man with a tragic fate and a deep-seated grudge!
Ah—why couldn't I have been Naruto?
Even a background character would've been fine!
Why did it have to be Uchiha Sasuke?
After accepting the fact that he'd reincarnated, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
After all, he knew the story. His parents and clan would be massacred in the not-too-distant future, and the one who did it would be his own older brother. Anyone would find that hard to stomach.
He could try to save them... but he had to admit he wasn't capable of it.
This was a conflict between the clan and the village that had reached the point of no return.
Even on the night of the massacre, he'd be at most seven or eight years old. Forget changing anything—he wouldn't even be able to take part.
But if he did nothing... people were emotional creatures, after all.
Maybe he felt nothing for his parents and clan right after reincarnating, but he'd spend years living with them. Even a dog could become dear to you after enough time together, let alone a person.
Watching the people around him count down the days until their deaths, while pretending not to know and living under the same roof as the killer—just thinking about it gave him a headache...
Should I find a chance to assassinate Itachi Uchiha?
But killing him probably wouldn't solve anything.
The root cause of the massacre wasn't Itachi Uchiha.
In his previous life, he hadn't been much of a fan of Itachi Uchiha.
After all, as an ordinary man, he didn't understand any lofty ideals about killing one's own family. He only knew that, since ancient times, shielding one's kin had never been considered a crime, and filial piety came before all other virtues.
Itachi was certainly handsome, but the fact that he'd killed his own parents was something he couldn't accept.
Even so, he understood that the real cause wasn't Itachi Uchiha, but the long-standing resentment between the clan and the village, and their irreconcilable differences.
Even if Itachi Uchiha didn't act, the Uchiha, who had long harbored resentment toward the village, would still be forced to stage a coup. Danzo would also fan the flames from behind the scenes.
Whatever happens, the Uchiha Clan has to be saved!
Even persuading them to defect would be better than letting the clan be wiped out!
He'd been given a second life and brought to the Naruto world as Sasuke Uchiha. He had no intention of letting his life follow the established script!
Suddenly!
A prison-like building appeared in his spiritual world.
What's this?
A magic treasure? Or a cheat ability?!
Sasuke's eyes lit up.
Familiar with all sorts of webnovel tropes, he immediately realized this was the essential cheat ability every reincarnated person needed. Perhaps this prison-like building was what had brought him here!
As expected, a cheat ability might be late, but it would never be absent!
But why a prison?
Is it because I died on my way to take the prison guard exam?
Even after reincarnating, did the heavens have to fulfill my wish to become a prison guard?
Never mind. I should check what it can do first!
Sasuke connected his mind to the prison in his spiritual world.
The detailed functions of the prison immediately flooded into his mind.
The Soul Prison, also known as the Soul Space, was a place for storing and imprisoning souls.
It could take in the souls of those who had recently died, before they entered the Pure Land, and imprison them in the Soul Space.
As long as an imprisoned soul experienced an intense emotional fluctuation, Sasuke, as its host, would randomly obtain one of the abilities it had possessed in life, including but not limited to ninjutsu, bloodlines, and kekkei genkai!
Of course, if an imprisoned soul willingly bestowed an ability on him, he could obtain that ability directly.
So the best way to get someone's abilities isn't to provoke them, but to persuade them as much as possible?
A forcibly picked melon might quench your thirst, but it wouldn't taste as sweet.
Getting someone to willingly cooperate was the quickest way to obtain their abilities.
But if you thought about it, having your soul imprisoned for no reason and then being expected to cooperate willingly was obviously no easy task.
The method for imprisoning souls was simple and crude, too!
All he had to do was be within a certain distance, wait for someone to die, and, before their soul entered the Pure Land, silently say "collect" followed by their name. Their soul would then be easily taken into the prison in the Soul Space.
After briefly learning how his cheat ability worked, Sasuke couldn't help letting his imagination run wild.
If the Sage of Six Paths came out of the Pure Land, I wonder if I could take his soul into the Soul Space...
Of course, that was just a thought. The information that had just appeared in his mind clearly stated that the Soul Prison could only take in souls that had died recently.
The Sage of Six Paths had been dead for over a thousand years—or, for all anyone knew, he might not even be dead. Either way, he obviously didn't meet the requirements.
Without dwelling on it, Sasuke shifted his awareness, and his consciousness entered the Soul Prison in his spiritual world.
From No. 1 to No. 10, there were ten cells in total, each in a separate space with no connection to the others.
Each cell represented one soul slot.
Once a soul had been successfully taken in, he could place souls from different cells together, but the number of available slots wouldn't change.
In other words, the Soul Prison could hold at most ten souls.
At the same time, the size, layout, environment, time, quality, and so on of each cell could all be changed at will. They could even be transformed into miniature worlds of their own, complete with sunlight, beaches, plants, and animals.
With a thought from Sasuke, Cell No. 1 transformed into a luxurious manor, with a small stream winding beneath a bridge and trees casting shade everywhere.
His consciousness entered the garden. He stepped across the soft lawn, breathed in the fragrant scent of grass, trees, and earth, and listened to the birdsong coming from the woods. Everything felt just like the real world.
This is a pretty good feature...
If they obediently offer up their ninjutsu and kekkei genkai, I don't mind giving them a nice place to live.
But if they refuse?
Heh heh...
The Soul Space can only hold ten souls, so I'll have to plan carefully!
Just then.
Outside, Itachi Uchiha seemed to notice something. He suddenly stood up and stared fixedly at a gigantic creature that had appeared out of nowhere in the center of Konoha, howling at the sky!
"W-what is that?"
In the Soul Space, Sasuke sensed something was wrong. His awareness returned to his body, and he opened his eyes. Following Itachi Uchiha's gaze, he stared in shock.
It's... the Nine-Tails?!
So tonight is the Night of the Nine-Tails?
Recognizing the creature in the distance and realizing what day it was, Sasuke's heart leaped with joy!
Before you continue