Multiverse Portal

Early that morning, Zongyan sat up on his tatami mat. The first thing he did was call out to the system in his mind.

System, open the system panel.

A pale blue panel unfolded before his eyes, displaying rows of information:

[Host: Uchiha Zongyan]

[Age: 8]

[Rank: Special Jōnin]

[Bloodline: Uchiha (Three-Tomoe Sharingan)]

[Skills: Three Basic Techniques, complete advanced Uchiha Fire Release series, Uchiha Swordsmanship (proficient), close-quarters combat (proficient), Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique (proficient), Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change...]

[Draws remaining: 1]

[Items owned: Fragmented Bloodline Altar, basic stamina recovery potion ×3, complete compendium of low-level genetic engineering, one iron mine, complete alloy forging manual, biological anatomy reference atlas, anti-fatigue nutritional paste ×4, calming incense ×4, Senzu Bean ×1]

When he saw "Special Jōnin" in the rank field, Zongyan could not help his lips curling upward.

An eight-year-old Special Jōnin would have stood out in any period of the Shinobi World's history.

Although most of it had come from exchanges at the Altar, the strength was still his, wasn't it?

He was wondering where to train after his police force shift that day when he caught the line "Draws remaining: 1" out of the corner of his eye.

"Right, a new month has started. I've gotten so used to steadily improving my strength that I've become less sensitive to the passage of time."

After saying that, he could not help recalling last month's draw:

He had watched the wheel spin for ages, nervous the whole time.

In the end, it had stopped on a white section, and an ordinary shuriken had popped out with a ding.

He had been so angry that he threw it away on the spot.

"I've been doing draws with this system for over two years," Zongyan muttered. "Is this lousy system even reliable?"

[Host, the quality of system draw prizes is directly linked to the clan's overall strength. The stronger the clan, the higher the quality of the prize pool.]

Hearing that, Zongyan began to think back.

Ever since he went to the Land of Rice Fields and materialized the iron mine, rough iron ingots had been shipped to the clan in a steady stream. Although the initial quantities had not been large, they had already been enough for quite a few clan members to undergo their first or Second Awakening.

Just the night before last, he had heard Fugaku mention that the clan had secretly gained another three-tomoe member at the Special Jōnin level.

Now, what limited the clan members' improvement was instead the insufficient number of uses of the Altar.

Their overall strength had indeed risen another notch compared to a month ago.

"All right, then." At that thought, Zongyan lay back down. "By rights, the prize pool should have upgraded by now. Let's try my luck again."

He took a deep breath and silently said in his mind, System, start the draw.

[Ding! Draws remaining ×1 consumed. Draw initiated!]

The enormous wheel appeared in his mind again, its nine-colored sections spinning rapidly.

Zongyan stared at the rapidly spinning sections, and his thoughts began to wander again.

"I've already experienced the items corresponding to white, green, blue, and gold."

"The gold ones are especially good. I wonder how miraculous the purple, ink-black, and amber items above them must be!"

The more he thought about it, the more curious he became, and the taut string in his heart tightened further.

"Heavens, Jade Emperor, Guanyin Bodhisattva, God, Jesus, Buddha-whichever of you is on duty today, give me something good and broaden my horizons!"

He stared at the particularly dazzling items in those three colors without so much as blinking.

The wheel gradually slowed, and the pointer crept forward one section at a time.

White passed, green passed, and red slid past as well.

The pointer was still sliding forward, as slowly as a crawling snail.

Zongyan even forgot to breathe, hearing only a soft chime.

[Ding! Draw complete! Congratulations, host, on obtaining an ink-black item: Multiverse Portal!]

Zongyan froze for a moment.

Ink-black.

He had drawn ink-black.

He had been drawing for over two years, and apart from his first draw, when his beginner's luck had exploded and landed him a gold item, he had never seen anything higher than blue.

Sometimes, he had even wondered whether those three tiers actually existed or whether the system had put them there to fool him.

Yet today, he had actually drawn ink-black.

"Ink-black... ink-black..." He repeated the words twice before his wild joy came surging out like water through an opened floodgate.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! Ink-black!"

The first thing he did when his awareness returned to his body was slap his own thigh hard, confirming that he was not under a genjutsu.

The wheel had already vanished, and another item had appeared in his inventory.

Zongyan took two deep breaths and tamped down his excitement before focusing his attention on the inventory.

[Multiverse Portal]

[Quality: Ink-black]

[Description: A spatial gateway connecting the myriad worlds.]

[Effect 1: Can open a permanent passage to another world. A new world can be refreshed every three years.]

[Effect 2: Each time a new world is refreshed, the Multiverse Portal can split off and establish a permanent portal dedicated to that world.]

[Effect 3: Anyone passing through the portal automatically has the coordinates of their original world concealed.]

Zongyan mulled those lines over several times, and thoughts began spilling uncontrollably through his mind.

Traveling between worlds... He himself had transmigrated into Naruto, so did that mean the Demon Slayer world really existed too?

One Piece, Bleach, Douluo, Battle Through the Heavens-even the primordial worlds he had only read about in novels in his previous life might all truly exist?

As long as he wanted to, he would have the chance to see those places for himself and watch the characters he had seen countless times through a screen in his previous life stand before him in the flesh.

"Demon Slayer... I can go to Demon Slayer?"

He muttered to himself, images of Tanjiro, Nezuko, and the Hashira involuntarily surfacing in his mind. "The Breathing Styles there aren't as versatile as chakra, but that swordsmanship system is definitely something we could learn from. There's also the Demon Slayer Mark and the Bright Red Nichirin Sword. If the Uchiha could incorporate those things..."

He paused, his thoughts drifting even farther:

"The One Piece world has Devil Fruits, Haki, and Ancient Weapons. Bleach has Zanpakuto and Kidō. Douluo has Soul Rings and Soul Bones, and Battle Through the Heavens has heavenly flames and pill refining... And the primordial worlds go without saying. Any scraps picked up there and brought back would be heaven-defying treasures in the Shinobi World."

His thoughts grew more numerous and far-reaching, and the more he thought, the more frighteningly vast the possibilities hidden behind this door seemed.

A new world every three years, with a permanent portal splitting off each time a new world was refreshed.

One every three years meant three worlds in ten years.

He could never finish exploring these worlds alone, but with over four hundred members, the Uchiha Clan could absolutely occupy them little by little.

Those who had awakened their Sharingan and those who had not could all pass through this door to gain experience in other worlds, obtain resources, learn otherworldly technologies, and bring them back to support the clan.

Then the clan's resources would support him in turn.

His hands suddenly clenched, then relaxed, then clenched again.

After repeating that several times, he rolled over and buried his head in his quilt, remaining silent for a long while before murmuring:

"If ink-black is already this incredible, what the hell must amber be?"

But he did not even notice that his tone had changed, shifting from his initial shock to laughter he could no longer suppress.

Unable to hold it in, he laughed aloud alone in his room, then hurriedly restrained himself, only to burst out laughing again.

He sat up and looked once more at the ink-black glow in his inventory, confirming that it was still there and that his eyes were not playing tricks on him, before letting out a long breath.

"All right," he said softly. "This time, I really hit the jackpot."