"Awakening"

A new book sets sail~

Same old rule—first, a place to store your brains ---> (...)

The summer evening air felt as though it had been soaked in water, thick and stifling enough to suffocate.

Above, heavy lead-gray clouds hung like an enormous slab of metal, pressing down upon this small town, long deserted and utterly ruined.

Suddenly, a fierce wind swept in from the surrounding wilderness, carrying hot, humid air as it stirred up the dead leaves strewn across the town. They spun through the air and slammed into the low, dilapidated houses with muffled bang, bang, bang sounds.

The next instant, a silver fissure abruptly split open across the dim distant horizon. Rolling thunder rumbled through the depths of the black clouds, followed by bean-sized raindrops hurtling desperately toward the ground.

The rain came pouring down!

Crack!!!

All at once, a thick bolt of lightning cleaved through the clouds, tearing them in two.

The already dim evening sky, obscured by clouds as far as the eye could see, was lit brilliantly by that streak of lightning flashing across it.

At the same time.

At the very instant the lightning struck.

A thick blue-violet pillar of light descended from the heavens, smashing into the very center of the town with astonishing speed and force.

The next moment, a storm carrying vast amounts of rainwater and endless dust erupted from where the pillar had struck, sweeping everything nearby into its midst and triggering a violent tremor.

When the pillar of light faded and everything fell silent once more, leaving only the sound of rain pouring down, a boy appeared at the spot where the blue-violet pillar had just struck. He was sprawled on the ground, barely managing to prop himself up with both hands.

The boy had soft black hair, though the ends were broken into wispy, uneven strands. It looked somewhat messy, yet still neat enough. His black eyes glimmered with a faint sharpness, like stars shining in the night sky.

However, he was in a miserable state.

He wore a tight combat suit that had been soaked in blood until it had turned an eerie dark red, giving off a pungent smell of rust. His breathing was ragged, accompanied by violent yet weak coughing, while blood continually spilled from the corners of his mouth.

Clearly, the boy had been injured for some reason.

Fortunately, although the exposed parts of his body were covered in countless fine wounds of varying sizes, none of his injuries were fatal. Quite a few of the smaller wounds had already begun to scab over and slowly heal.

Raising his bloodless, pale face, the boy frowned deeply as he looked around, confusion in his eyes. "Where... is this?"

He desperately searched through his mind, trying to piece together the forgotten fragments and recall everything that had happened before.

Yet no matter how hard he tried, all he could find in his memories was the name "Yin Jie," engraved deep within his mind, and the fact that he was six years old.

(Yin Jie's birthday was January 1st.)

Everything else was nothing but chaos shrouded in mist.

As time passed, beads of sweat continually formed on Yin Jie's forehead. His lips trembled faintly from the strain, and waves of stabbing pain began to pulse through his brain, as though countless fine needles were stirring deep within his mind.

Yin Jie collapsed limply onto the ground. At that moment, not a trace of strength remained in his entire body.

"Am I going to die..."

Yin Jie murmured softly, his tone incomparably calm.

After all, he could no longer remember anything about his previous life. If he died like this, that was fine too...

But at that very instant.

Suddenly.

Countless utterly unfamiliar memories surged out from the deepest recesses of Yin Jie's mind all at once.

Scene after scene came flooding in like a silent film or a slideshow, flashing rapidly through his mind. They were convoluted and chaotic, with neither beginning nor end, completely devoid of logic, as though they would burst Yin Jie's brain apart the next second.

Pain!

It hurt too much!

Yet at that very same instant.

Streams of warmth were born from countless cells within Yin Jie's body. They combined with the spiritual energy rapidly rising in his mind due to the sudden influx of memories, gathering into strands of bright blue energy that flowed into his meridians. They slowly nourished his dried-up body, which had nearly run out of fuel, restoring a sliver of strength—weak, but enough for now.

The rain grew even heavier.

Yin Jie's harsh, heaving breaths mixed with the sound of raindrops striking the ground, echoing endlessly through the center of town.

After a long while...

As his ragged breathing gradually calmed, Yin Jie's expression, which had become somewhat contorted with pain, slowly relaxed as well.

Then, after some more time had passed.

Yin Jie forcefully shook his head back and forth, trying to ease the dizziness caused by his mind being suddenly filled with so many memories.

Then he vigorously rubbed his inexplicably sore, stinging eyes. Shock and panic he could not suppress appeared on his face, drenched in sweat and rain.

"Holy... shit!!!"

A familiar curse slipped unconsciously from Yin Jie's mouth.

Because he did not belong to this world.

More precisely, he was a transmigrator who had crossed the boundaries of time and space.

Those memories that had suddenly appeared in his mind were the memories of his previous life, now "awakening."

Before transmigrating, Yin Jie had been a standard corporate slave working for a major internet company. His only hobby in his spare time had been curling up at home to watch all kinds of anime produced by that neighboring country whose citizens supposedly lived pretty good lives.

Yet he had never expected it.

The legendary encounter with a "big truck" had actually happened to him.

An out-of-control heavy truck came roaring toward him head-on while he was on his way home from work, sending him off on the spot in an incredibly "peaceful" manner.

However, after transmigrating into this world, the memories of his previous life had not immediately "awakened." Instead, they had remained hidden—or rather, "sealed"—deep within his soul, only surging out all at once today.

Amid the torrential rain, Yin Jie forced himself to calm down. His expression shifted uncertainly, looking utterly grim.

The name "Yin Jie" clearly carried the strong flavor of that neighboring country. As a veteran anime fan who had taught himself and mastered that country's language, how could he fail to recognize the bright blue energy that had just appeared inside his body? It had clearly been formed from the fusion of physical energy and spiritual energy, and had narrowly pulled him back from the brink of death.

So, if nothing unexpected had happened, he had transmigrated into the world of Naruto—the ninja world where war had continued for a thousand years, conflict was everywhere, and the average lifespan did not even exceed thirty or forty.

Of course, he could not be too certain.

Without proper verification, he could not be one hundred percent sure.

But for Yin Jie, regardless of which world he had transmigrated into or whether it was a world he knew, his most urgent priority was to survive.