Brain storage: readers, please leave your brains here for the time being. They will be returned at the end of the story. Please keep your storage codes safe so you can redeem them later.
Note: all characters in this story are fictional. If any resemblance occurs, you bear the consequences.
Author: Brains, brains, I want brains, so many brains, hahaha, burp~ I'm full...
My name was Liu Qiaoyan, and I was a Naruto game streamer. One day, while livestreaming a paid boosting job, I ran into another booster. With my 3,000-point Super Shadow rank skills, I thought I could easily take the points from this match. If my opponent hadn't ruthlessly swept all three of my characters, I might almost have believed it.
Nearly crazed, Liu Qiaoyan was already tilting hard. All he could think about was winning back the points he had just lost, so he decisively requested a rematch. His opponent seemed to have noticed his impatience and simply stalled instead of accepting Liu Qiaoyan's request. But this behavior undoubtedly enraged a lion.
"Hurry up and accept your daddy's rematch! What are you dragging your feet for?"
A flush spread across Liu Qiaoyan's face. At that moment, the young man's red face said more than any words could. The timer had reached fifty-nine seconds. Just as Liu Qiaoyan was about to cancel the rematch request and keep battling, his opponent accepted it.
Waiting until the very last second to accept a rematch was undoubtedly the most infuriating thing someone could do.
Liu Qiaoyan sneered. Fine, fine, fine. I was only worried you wouldn't accept. Just wait. If I don't beat the shit out of you in a minute, it'll only be because you're holding it in tight.
He had thought he would crush his opponent easily and redeem his humiliation, but Liu Qiaoyan had never expected that, when he entered again, every ninja he had used in the last match would be grayed out. Oh~ So the opposing booster had picked the ninjas he had used last round.
Anger, confusion, and all sorts of other feelings swirled around Liu Qiaoyan, throwing his gameplay almost completely out of shape. Unsurprisingly, the booster swept all three of his characters again, using the very ninjas he had used last round, no less. Someone definitely wouldn't be sleeping now.
The more Liu Qiaoyan tried to endure it, the angrier he got. He ended his stream at lightning speed and started using his own methods to track down the booster from earlier. Before long, he found him. He turned out to be a small-time streamer on the same platform named Tianran. Liu Qiaoyan soon dragged the small-time streamer into his own group and joined some of his disreputable friends there in hurling insults at him.
The insults were utterly filthy. Liu Qiaoyan's "friends" also helped him curse Tianran out. Eventually, some people with decent manners couldn't stand watching anymore and spoke up to stop them, only to become targets of Liu Qiaoyan's indiscriminate attacks.
"What? I was insulting him, not you, okay?"
Perhaps Liu Qiaoyan had gone so far that even heaven couldn't stand watching. The computer in front of him exploded, carrying Liu Qiaoyan's consciousness away as both vanished from the world...
When Liu Qiaoyan woke again, all he felt was a splitting headache. What just happened? Why did I start insulting someone out of nowhere?
Liu Qiaoyan was baffled. Now that he had calmed down, he seemed like an entirely different person from before, as though that hotheaded person hadn't been him at all. He slapped his head hard, trying to calm himself down. He kept feeling as though he had been set up, but he couldn't say what was wrong.
"Damn it, what the hell was I doing back there? Wasn't that a little too inhuman?"
Liu Qiaoyan felt somewhat remorseful, but he quickly came to his senses. Looking at his surroundings, he became even more bewildered.
"Holy shit, where the hell did I end up? Am I still in the country?"
He had clearly been at home just a moment ago, so how had he suddenly ended up in an old forest?
Liu Qiaoyan was completely bewildered. He looked around again. It was dark and damp, and the stillness of the night made it seem even eerier. He unconsciously pulled his clothes tighter around himself. That was when he noticed something wrong. Why had my hands suddenly become so small? Even my clothes had become tiny.
He looked at his little hands in disbelief, finding it rather miraculous. Fortunately, there was a stream nearby. Liu Qiaoyan hurried over, wanting to see what he looked like now. But when he actually saw that familiar face clearly, he became even more miserable.
"Boohoo, where the fuck have I ended up? Why have I turned into the Seventh, Naruto, as a kid? Don't tell me I've transmigrated?"
Liu Qiaoyan wanted to cry but had no tears. Transmigrating was one thing. Transmigrating into the Naruto world was one thing. Even becoming Lord Seventh was one thing. But why did he have to be a child? How was he supposed to survive this? The thought of Naruto's miserable childhood left Liu Qiaoyan feeling awful.
"Damn it! I clearly look so much like Sasuke, practically Sasuke himself, so why did I get transmigrated into the Seventh? And as a kid, at that! How am I supposed to survive? Starting me off on heaven-defying difficulty? How do you expect me to survive?"
After breaking down for a long while, Liu Qiaoyan finally calmed down. He had already transmigrated, so what else could he do? His main task now was to survive. As for everything else, Liu Qiaoyan didn't think too much about it.
Looking around, Liu Qiaoyan finally realized that he was in some unknown forest. He hadn't seen this scene in the original story. There were probably forests like this all around Konoha, but there seemed to be only one this creepy and terrifying-the Forest of Death.
The instant that thought entered his mind, goose bumps rose all over him. Little Naruto hadn't actually wandered into the Forest of Death by himself, had he? That was a map and storyline that only appeared during the Chunin Ninja Exams. He hadn't thought much of it while watching the anime, but things were different now.
He wasn't the real Naruto Uzumaki. If he really was in the Forest of Death, then... He didn't dare imagine it. He didn't dare imagine it at all.
While Liu Qiaoyan was still lost in wild thoughts, he heard strange sounds coming from nearby.
Hearing them, Liu Qiaoyan felt awful, every hair on his body standing on end. Was something coming to catch me? A giant python? Or a huge black bear? Don't tell me I'm going to be sacrificed to heaven right after transmigrating?
Realizing something was wrong, Liu Qiaoyan took off running. But with his short little limbs, he hadn't made it far before he was caught. In his panic, Liu Qiaoyan looked back and found that, fortunately, the one approaching was human. Seeing that he was also wearing an Anbu mask, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew, I scared myself~"
Anything was better than ending up in a wild beast's belly.
The Anbu who had arrived seemed rather unhappy. Not only had Naruto Uzumaki sneaked out and increased his workload, but now he even looked ready to keep running.
Without much thought, he charged straight forward, knocked Liu Qiaoyan unconscious without a word, and carried him away. He was even somewhat rough when he struck. There was an audible thud, as though he were deliberately venting his anger at suddenly having to work overtime.
When Liu Qiaoyan woke again, he was already lying on the little bed in his home. Looking at the empty room, he felt a surge of familiarity. This had to be little Naruto's home, though it was his home now.
He had just tried to sit up when waves of stabbing pain came from the back of his neck. The soreness made Liu Qiaoyan bare his teeth and grimace. That Anbu from earlier had definitely done this. This wasn't over. Enduring the pain, he walked over to the mirror. Looking at that utterly familiar face, Liu Qiaoyan was speechless, though he felt rather moved.
Just a moment ago, I was happily playing games at home. How did I suddenly transmigrate? He couldn't figure it out, truly couldn't figure it out. But since he had become a transmigrator, even without a golden finger, surely he could get by in this world using the storylines he had watched in his previous life. Never mind dragging Princess Kaguya down to warm his bed, but punching Obito and kicking Lord Madara should still be achievable with some effort.
While Liu Qiaoyan was still fantasizing about his future, he had no idea that Hiruzen Sarutobi had already been watching him for quite some time.
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he watched Naruto's every move in the crystal ball. He kept feeling that Naruto was acting a little strange today, and his brows unconsciously knitted together. What's gotten into this child today? Has the Nine-Tails' chakra leaked out?
His suspicion wasn't unfounded. After all, Naruto had sneaked out yesterday. After learning about it, he had even entertained the idea of locking Naruto up. But the last of his conscience told him that a person couldn't act that way, or at least shouldn't.
In the end, he simply attributed Naruto sneaking out on his own to the possible influence of the Nine-Tails' chakra. After all, the Nine-Tails had been locked up for so long that going crazy occasionally was perfectly normal.
He glanced at Naruto in the crystal ball again. Seeing that he was behaving himself, he stopped paying attention.
"Perhaps I'm overthinking it?"
He stopped concerning himself with Naruto. He had something more important to do now. Waving away the hidden Anbu, he deftly switched the image in the crystal ball. When the picture appeared again, all that could be seen was swirling white mist, vague and hazy, followed by pale, gleaming, indescribable things. The sight flushed Hiruzen Sarutobi's face, and he even tossed his pipe aside.
Just then, someone violently kicked open the Hokage's office door. Hiruzen Sarutobi jolted in fright, but his sharp eyes and quick hands instantly switched the crystal ball back to a normal scene.
Seeing that the visitor was his old friend Danzo, he looked at him with some displeasure. Honestly, he always interrupted him when he was enjoying himself most.
But before Hiruzen Sarutobi could speak, Shimura Danzō seized the initiative.
"Hiruzen, is this how you watch over the jinchūriki? You actually let him run outside alone. What if spies from another ninja village discovered him and stole him away? In my opinion, handing the jinchūriki over to our Anbu to manage would be best."
Looking at Shimura Danzō's expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi calmly took a puff from his pipe.
"Danzo, Naruto is someone Minato protected with his life. I won't allow you to set your sights on him. I believe he will be a good child, and an outstanding inheritor of the Will of Fire."
Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Shimura Danzō. Before he could continue, Hiruzen said quietly, "I agree to let your Root expand its recruitment among the major clans. But remember, don't go too far."
But despite gaining an advantage and still playing innocent, Shimura Danzō continued to have designs on Naruto, the jinchūriki.
"Hiruzen, if you ask me, you should hand the jinchūriki over to my Root as well. I guarantee I'll give you an outstanding jinchūriki when the time comes."
But Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't respond to Shimura Danzō again. Sometimes, this old friend of his was far too fond of taking a mile when given an inch. He absolutely couldn't indulge him too much, or he would always forget who he was.
Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi had ignored him for so long, Shimura Danzō snorted coldly.
"Hmph. Hiruzen, don't regret this."
"Danzo, don't forget. I am the Hokage."
Those words seemed to strike a nerve with Shimura Danzō. He slammed the door and left.