An Uchiha in Tokyo

"Uchiha?"

"Uchiha, Uchiha Naruto... My name is actually Uchiha Naruto now? Did I transmigrate into Naruto?!"

In a two-bed room at a private hospital in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, a black-haired boy with bandages wrapped around his head lay on a bed, murmuring with confusion and fear on his face.

The Uchiha surname was famous throughout the Shinobi World, but the clan's fate was also terribly tragic. Uchiha Naruto, a minor character whose name had never appeared in the original story, would probably end up dead alongside his entire family.

Yet when he looked out the hospital window, he saw modern streets bustling with traffic, towering steel buildings, and men and women dressed in fashionable twenty-first-century clothing. It was nothing like the Shinobi World he remembered.

"Could I have transmigrated into a timeline after Boruto: Naruto Next Generations?"

Just then, more memories surged from deep within his body. Memories of his previous life and his current one intertwined, leaving the boy dizzy and overwhelmed. It took him a long while to recover.

This was indeed Tokyo in the Island Nation. World history, geography, and culture were extremely similar to those of his previous life, but some things had changed.

For instance, many famous creative figures in the arts since the war were different from those in his previous life, and the classic manga Naruto did not exist.

So this could not be the Shinobi World in a future timeline. It was modern Tokyo in some parallel world.

"So it was just a coincidence. My surname just happens to be Uchiha. In this life, my family and I are ordinary people. We don't practice with shuriken at home or suddenly breathe fire. Our relatives surnamed Uchiha back in our ancestral village in Shizuoka Prefecture are country folk who make their living farming and making handicrafts, not a band of ninja."

After roughly sorting through his memories, the boy finally relaxed and smiled.

He had narrowly escaped a death sentence.

In his previous life, he had been an ordinary working stiff. Although he loved the manga Naruto, who would give up a peaceful life to transmigrate into the war-torn, danger-filled Shinobi World-especially as a member of the Uchiha Clan, whose entire family roster was already written in the book of death?

The surname Uchiha had not actually existed in the Island Nation of his previous life. Having that surname in this life seemed to be nothing more than a coincidence in a parallel world.

"To think I awakened my memories of my previous life fifteen years after transmigrating into this world! But how did I land myself in the hospital?"

The moment that thought surfaced in Uchiha Naruto's mind, a needle-like pain stabbed his left cheek. It carried a bone-deep chill that numbed half his face.

Midnight... A black sedan... A car accident...

A run-down apartment... A murder scene... A test of courage...

...The Woman in the White Dress...

So on the night before I started high school, I stayed out wandering instead of going home, suddenly rushed into the road, and was hit by a passing Black Toyota Century, which sent me flying more than two meters.

At first glance, it looked as if Uchiha Naruto had lost his mind in the middle of the night and gone looking for death. In reality, that was not what had happened.

Uchiha Naruto lived in Yayoi-cho in southern Nakano Ward, Tokyo. A few days earlier, a murder had occurred in a cheap apartment building in nearby Shimono Nakano. A woman had been followed home and killed by her former lover.

Uchiha Naruto was fifteen and would not become a high school student until the next day. While discussing the incident online, he had accidentally mentioned that the crime scene was near his home, and a few unscrupulous people online had egged him on to go take some photos.

Doubts, mockery, taunts-after they repeatedly fanned the flames, his youthful hotheadedness got the better of him, and he actually went to the murder scene in the middle of the night.

Then he saw that ghostly thing.

In his memories, Uchiha Naruto had slipped past the police tape at the apartment entrance and sneaked inside. He had only planned to take a few photos at the door to satisfy them, but before leaving, some inexplicable impulse made him push the door. It opened, revealing a ghostlike woman dressed in white.

She made a strange gesture. The next instant, Uchiha Naruto felt himself lose control of his body. Like a puppet on strings, he walked out of the apartment with his arm and leg on the same side moving together, went to the roadside, and waited silently. When a car approached, he hurled himself forward as if trying to commit suicide.

"Screeech-"

The last echo was the piercing screech of brakes. His memories stopped abruptly there.

Fortunately, the sedan had braked in time. After being knocked down, Uchiha Naruto had miraculously suffered only a minor injury to the back of his head. The hospital had examined him, applied some medicine, and wrapped his head in bandages. After a couple of days of rest, he could be discharged.

But the accident had also unexpectedly awakened his memories of his previous life.

"So this world actually has things like that in it. The Shinobi World was dangerous enough, but Tokyo in this parallel world isn't exactly a safe place either."

The stabbing pain in his cheek intensified until Uchiha Naruto could barely stand it. He quickly picked up his phone and examined his face on the screen.

The screen reflected a handsome black-haired boy, with bright, star-like eyes, a straight nose, and features as finely sculpted as a statue.

It was a face worthy of the Uchiha surname.

But that perfection had a blemish. A black spot roughly the size of his little finger had appeared on his left cheek, vaguely resembling a woman's lipstick mark.

It was neither a birthmark nor a bruise from the collision.

"Damn, did that ghost mark me? She controlled me and made me run into a car, but I didn't die. She'll probably come after me again." Familiar with horror-movie tropes, Uchiha Naruto stared at the black mark reflected on his phone and felt utterly helpless.

Although it was two in the afternoon, with sunlight streaming through the window into the ward, Uchiha Naruto felt no warmth at all. Instead, a creeping horror washed over him.

"If this world has evil spirits, then it should have onmyoji, exorcists, and people like that too, right? But where am I supposed to find one on such short notice? I can only turn to the monks. Should I hurry to Senso-ji while it's still daylight and ask for a protection charm?"

As Uchiha Naruto desperately grasped at possible solutions, a light screen suddenly appeared in his mind:

[ID: Uchiha Naruto]

[Rank: Genin]

[Skills: Sharingan LV1 (0/10), Fire Style LV1 (0/10), Three-Body Technique LV1 (0/10)]

"Is this a system? Wait, why does this main screen look familiar? Isn't this the Naruto game I was playing in my previous life?"

"Is this real? Could it be a hallucination caused by the accident?"

Half believing and half doubting, Uchiha Naruto tentatively formed a Tiger Seal. To his surprise, some kind of energy inside him immediately sprang to life. A scorching heat surged up his esophagus and burst uncontrollably from his mouth.

He coughed out a burst of flame more than ten centimeters long!

"Cough, cough!"

Uchiha Naruto coughed repeatedly, choking, and a blister had formed at the corner of his mouth from the heat. Yet he could not hide the excitement on his face.

He quickly glanced toward the other end of the two-bed ward. An old man in his sixties or seventies lay on the bed, looking rather thin. His cheekbones protruded, his complexion was bluish, and he was dozing, completely unaware of what had happened in the room.

Taking a deep breath, Uchiha Naruto slowly closed his eyes, then opened them.

In each of the boy's scarlet eyes, a single black tomoe revolved around the pupil.

"So this is the Sharingan? And that fire I breathed earlier... I didn't just awaken my memories of my previous life. I also got a system converted from that game!"

Uchiha Naruto gazed at his phone screen with fascination, admiring his strange eyes.

The Sharingan was arguably the kekkei genkai with the greatest growth potential in the Shinobi World. Once it evolved to its limit, it could grant power that carried its wielder straight to the world's pinnacle.

Even in modern society, that power would be enough to shake the entire world!

A Susanoo that could cleave mountains and seas with one swing of its sword, casually cutting down the Tokyo Skytree like a stalk of wheat; Planetary Devastation and Tengai Shinsei appearing over Tokyo at the same time-the mere thought of such scenes made Uchiha Naruto almost unable to contain his excitement. But a fresh stab of pain in his cheek quickly brought him back to reality.

It was as though it were reminding him not to get carried away.

"Getting a system is great, but I'm being haunted by an evil spirit right now. The One-Tomoe Sharingan only helps with observation; it doesn't boost my fighting ability. LV1 Fire Style can't even use the C-Rank Great Fireball Technique. Can I really fight that evil spirit with what I have now?"

With the system, Uchiha Naruto had gained a little confidence and was no longer as terrified as before. But he still felt uneasy about facing the evil spirit he had encountered.

LV1 Fire Style was still a little too weak.

"Hhh... Hhh..."

Suddenly, a few rapid, strangled sounds came from the other side of the ward. The old man began convulsing as though having a seizure, sweat pouring off him. His mouth gaped open as he made rasping noises, as if suffocating.

"Is he having a nightmare, or some kind of medical emergency? I'd better call a nurse first."

The old man interrupted Uchiha Naruto's thoughts. Just as he was about to press the call button at the head of his bed, he saw a black tentacle more than half a meter long, covered in fleshy growths, emerge from the old man's mouth!

Then more and more black tentacles crawled out of the old man's mouth.

"What kind of monster is that?"

With the Sharingan enhancing his sight, Uchiha Naruto could see exceptionally well. He could make out exactly how many black tentacles there were and how many growths covered them. He was both baffled and disgusted.

His head grew slightly dizzy. Having only just awakened the Sharingan, he could not control it properly yet, and his eyes returned to normal.

When he looked again, he could no longer see any black tentacles. Only a faint, barely visible cloud of black mist hung over the old man's head.

He activated the Sharingan again. It was as though a filter had instantly been placed over his vision, revealing things he had not been able to see before.

More than a dozen black tentacles extended from the old man's mouth. As thick as fingers and roughly half a meter long, they resembled octopus arms covered in growths, dripping an unknown viscous liquid. Some were wrapped tightly around the old man's face, while most writhed wildly in the air. The sight alone was enough to make his skin crawl.

The old man suddenly sprang off the bed and staggered toward Uchiha Naruto at the far side of the ward!

"Oh, crap!"

He was clearly not coming with friendly intentions. Uchiha Naruto quickly flung up his bedsheet, wrapping it around the old man's tentacle-covered head and face, then bolted toward the door.