(Bullying + multiple women—this is a must-eat list for anyone transmigrating into Naruto, and we're not skipping a single one. There's even a secret menu. The motto is: have it all! Eat! Eat! Eat!)
(Starting in Sunagakure. Readers who want to experience the customs of the Hidden Leaf Village right away can skip to Chapter 44 and face the Will of Fire!)
On the day Lin Chongshu turned twenty-three, he had just finished his shift at the hospital where he was doing his residency, and his steps still felt a little unsteady.
He squinted toward Los Angeles at four in the morning, turned his head, and was immediately greeted by the great fortune that awaited him.
The next instant, a flash of white burst before his eyes, and his consciousness was snuffed out.
In the chaos, he seemed to float for ages—or perhaps it had only been the blink of an eye.
His sense of smell woke before his mind did.
The earthy stench hit him from all sides, mixed with the dry heat of sand baked beneath the sun, and drilled straight into his nose.
Lin Chongshu lay on the ground, the back of his head numb with pain. Pebbles dug into his back, and his whole body felt as if it had been laid out on a hot griddle.
He struggled to pry open his eyes. Yellow filled his vision: a dusky sky, mud-yellow houses, all squat and crowded together.
As far as he could see, there wasn't a tree in sight—or even a hint of green.
Where the hell had I ended up?
Was this still China?
Lin Chongshu reflexively tried to push himself up, only to find his arms limp and useless.
This definitely wasn't how his body was supposed to be.
A flood of memories that didn't belong to him surged into his mind.
The original owner was also named Lin Chongshu. His parents had been Sand Ninja, and they'd died in battle during Shukaku's rampage.
Naruto?
This was the world of Naruto!
He jerked his head up. A massive, circular building loomed in the distance, a huge character for "Wind" painted across its domed roof.
"Hahaha! Naruto! It's Naruto!" Lin Chongshu sprang up in excitement, his chuunibyou spirit flaring to life. He yelled at the top of his lungs,
"I have no regrets entering Naruto! In my next life, I want to be from the Hidden Leaf—"
Smack!
Before he could finish, something struck the back of his head again. Pain blotted out his vision, and he pitched forward.
A few bloodied pebbles fell beside him.
"What's this black-haired kid freaking out about now? What are you yelling for?" a voice called from behind.
Clutching his head, Lin Chongshu turned around. Four or five boys around his age swaggered out from around the alley's corner.
"Done pretending to be dead?" the red-haired, chubby boy at the front cursed as he charged over.
Before Lin Chongshu could react, fists and slaps came raining down on him.
"Stop hitting me! I'm done! I'm not doing it anymore!" Lin Chongshu yelled.
No one paid him any attention. The blows kept falling.
The original owner's memories continued pouring into his mind.
A cramped, dilapidated shack. An endless ocher sky. The chill of being alone, day after day, and beatings that never let up.
The final memory was the clearest: the original owner had been cornered by this group. As fists and feet kept crashing down, the back of his head had struck the edge of a stone. Then everything had gone dark.
That was how the original owner had been beaten to death.
Lin Chongshu summoned all his strength and yelled again, "Stop! Don't hit me for a second!"
The boys finally stopped.
The red-haired, chubby boy panted and looked down at him. "What the hell do you want now?"
Lin Chongshu touched the back of his head. His fingers came away sticky with blood. "Why are you hitting me? At least give me a reason first."
He couldn't find any history of a feud with them in the original owner's memories. There were only scenes of bullying, with no explanation.
The boys looked at one another, confused.
Fatty thought for a moment, then puffed out his chest and said righteously, "Because you're an orphan."
"What kind of reason is that? Did my parents do something to you before they died?" Lin Chongshu pressed.
"No," Fatty answered without hesitation.
"Did they do something to your parents?"
"No. We're all orphans, too."
Lin Chongshu scrambled to his feet. He moved too fast and nearly blacked out again. "Then why are you hitting me? Are you sick in the head?"
His sudden rise carried the air of someone ready to throw caution to the wind. The boys actually took two steps back.
Fatty turned and saw his companions shrinking away. Embarrassed, he yelled at them,
"Don't overthink it! He deserves to be bullied!"
When no one answered, he stiffened his neck and shouted again, "Our Ninja Way is to do whatever we want! Have you all forgotten? A ninja should uphold his own Ninja Way! Since when do we need so many reasons?"
"Uphold my ass!" Lin Chongshu cursed. "Have you been eating shit?"
The red-haired boy froze for a moment, then flushed with rage and kicked Lin Chongshu in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
The back of Lin Chongshu's head hit the ground again. The pain made his vision go dark. Damn it, was he really going to die again right after transmigrating?
"Gaara! He's here!" someone suddenly shouted from the mouth of the alley.
The boys reacted as if someone had flipped a switch. They immediately left Lin Chongshu alone and all turned to look.
A child stood at the alley entrance, much shorter than Lin Chongshu.
He had red hair, skin as pale as a corpse, deep dark circles under his eyes, and a ragged cloth doll in his arms. He looked over timidly.
The child was tiny, about six or seven years old, and shorter than everyone there.
The moment Gaara appeared, the boys started cursing.
"Monster!"
"Stay away from everyone! Get out of Sunagakure!"
"Why hasn't your dad thrown you away yet?"
Their insults weren't enough for one of them; he turned and spat toward Gaara.
Gaara stood there, completely still.
His gaze slowly swept over them. His eyes were empty, as if there was nothing in them.
He looked at Fatty and the others, then finally stopped on Lin Chongshu, who had just gotten to his feet and stood in the middle of the group.
At that moment, a voice suddenly exploded in Lin Chongshu's mind.
[Negative Emotion Collection System successfully activated] [When the host causes a target to experience intense negative emotions, the host may randomly draw one of the target's abilities.] [This includes, but is not limited to, specialties such as ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and Kekkei Genkai.] [Detected that the host bullied Gaara, causing him to feel intense rejection and hostility. Reward draw complete.] [Obtained: Shukaku's Power: Sand Manipulation, proficiency +1] [Note: Drawn proficiency cannot exceed the target's current level. The host may surpass this limit through personal training.]
Lin Chongshu's heart leaped with joy. A translucent panel appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Lin Chongshu] [Youth (mental age: 23)] [Strength: 1] [Spirit: 4] [Agility: 2] [Constitution: 1] [Speed: 2] [Shukaku's Power: Sand Manipulation (proficiency 1)]
Lin Chongshu stared at the panel for two seconds.
Strength 1, constitution 1. With a body this pathetic, it was no wonder he'd been beaten down just now.
He took another look at "Spirit" and felt a little better.
His body might have gotten smaller, but his mind was still sharp, all-knowing and—wait! This wasn't the time to think about that! He had something more important to do.
He looked up at the short red-haired boy.
The others were still cursing, their insults growing nastier by the second.
"Monster, you killed your own mother!"
"Your mom died because of you! No one will ever love you!"
Gaara's lips started trembling uncontrollably, and his little body stiffened.
Strands of sand lifted from around his feet.
Lin Chongshu was just about to join in, give them a taste of his own brand of bullying, and rack up some proficiency.
Thump!
The mass of sand slammed into a boy standing closest to Gaara.
Before he could even cry out, it clamped around him and crushed him into a heap.
Blood splattered across the ground.
Gaara clutched his head and dropped to his knees, trembling violently as he wailed.
"Waaah..."
Lin Chongshu stared at the heap on the ground, his stomach churning. "Holy shit, you're the one playing the victim here..."
What the hell was the point of bullying him now? This was way too dangerous!
A shadow shot out from the darkness. It was a ninja wearing a Sunagakure Forehead Protector.
Without a word, he scooped up Gaara from the ground and ran.
Then three or four more ninjas appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the remaining boys—including Lin Chongshu—one by one, and swiftly retreated.
The ninja carried Lin Chongshu under his arm as the wind howled past his ears.
He struggled to turn his head and took one last look at the bloodstain, growing smaller and smaller in the distance.
The sun above him glared white, so bright he couldn't see a thing. All he could hear was Gaara's wailing, stretched long by the wind.
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