Chapter 1: The Snow Boy
The sky looked slightly gloomy.
Thin clouds surrounded and wound layer upon layer.
The continuous mountain ranges stood all around, and right at the center below lay a tranquil lake.
At this very moment, stepping on the grassy ground along the edge of that lake was a little boy of about three or four years old, dressed in blue and white robes. He quietly looked at the unrippled surface of the lake before him.
After taking a deep breath, he slowly closed his eyes, and the next moment opened them abruptly.
"Snap!"
His two hands suddenly clapped together.
Then he formed a special hand seal.
Hah!
Accompanied by a light shout from the little boy.
Hum!
All around him, a sensation of slight vibration centered on the spot where the little boy's feet stood. In less than a few seconds, solid ice rapidly condensed and quickly spread outward toward all sides of the lake before him.
In a very short time, this large lake transformed into a scene of ice crystals, exuding a faint chilly sensation. A layer of cold air stirred and stung the little boy's skin every moment, while also causing a very pleased look to appear on his face.
Yet this expression of joy remained for less than three seconds.
"Crack!"
A sound of some crystal shattering could be heard-not particularly violent, but clear enough in this quiet atmosphere.
"!?"
Following that.
The lake surface that had just frozen over collapsed layer by layer under the abruptly changing expression of the little boy, with a speed even fiercer than before. The rapidly bursting ice surface, followed by ice crystals evaporating one piece after another-after a brief ripple across the water, this lake returned to its previous appearance in a very short time.
At the sight of this scene.
The little boy's expression collapsed completely.
"Damn it! Still a failure?! Looks like it's still a problem with Chakra control!"
The little boy cursed and muttered.
After letting out a deep sigh.
The little boy tipped backward and fell straight onto the lawn behind him, gazing up at the slightly greyish sky overhead. In the little boy's pupils appeared a trace of endless profoundness that fundamentally should not belong to a little fellow of this age.
"Speaking of which, has it already been four years since I came to this world? I don't know whether this is my good fortune or misfortune..."
The little boy reached out his right hand, as if wanting to tightly clutch this entire patch of sky in his palm, and whispered with a deeply emotional tone.
That's right!
This little boy was not a native person of this world. Well, of course, from the perspective of birth, he truly was an indigenous inhabitant, just slightly unusual-he had come with the memories of his past life. Furthermore, he could not figure out whether he was supposed to be reincarnated after death or if his soul had transmigrated; the only thing he could be certain of was that the moment he reopened his eyes in this world, he was utterly bewildered.
This was not only because he discovered that he came with the memories of his past life, but also because he found that he had been reborn into a country that lived quite a nice little life, named 'Neon'. Although he had not specialized in the language of this country in his previous life, as an anime enthusiast who watched plenty of anime, he could still independently learn a portion of it. He might not necessarily be able to read it, but he could definitely understand it when spoken.
And precisely because of this, not long after coming to this world, he thoroughly figured out that the environment he was in was not what he had previously imagined.
'Ninja', 'Land of Fire', 'Land of Water', 'Hokage', 'Mizukage'!
Upon hearing similar terms, and especially while in the embrace of his mother in this life, seeing the power named 'Chakra'-which fundamentally could not be mastered by humans in his past life-he truly realized that he had come into the world of that renowned manga, Naruto!
Such a discovery left him completely bewildered in his entire being. Although in his past life he was extremely fond of the manga work Naruto and had even said once or twice that he wanted to come to a world possessing such 'extraordinary power', when the matter actually happened upon him, his heart was still incomparably resistant.
This was a cruel and dark world where five- or six-year-old children were sent to the battlefield to kill people!
How harmonious, peaceful, and wonderful the China where he lived in his past life was! Using one's toes to choose, one would certainly be unwilling to come here!
Moreover, the country he came to was not the Land of Fire's Konohagakure, which was known as the number one shinobi village of the Shinobi World and the 'protagonist's village', but Kirigakure of the Land of Water, which bore the moniker of the 'Village of the Bloody Mist'. This was supposedly the cruelest shinobi village in the original story.
One could say that the moment he acquired this information, he was incomparably bewildered, and even somewhat slightly on the verge of a mental breakdown. Of course, if he were truly allowed to choose, he might not necessarily have chosen 'Konoha'. Among the so-called Five Great Shinobi Villages, Kumogakure and Iwagakure were actually the best!
At least that was how it appeared from the internal environment!
However, what is here must be accepted and peace found with it, since this was already an established fact. The only thing worth rejoicing over was that coming to this world, he did not have the terrible identity of a 'commoner', but instead hailed from a great clan, and moreover the most normal shinobi clan in Kirigakure-the Yuki Clan!
Similar to the 'Senju of the Forest' who established Konoha.
They, the Yuki Clan.
Were also called 'Yuki no Minazuki'! (Note: Borrowing the fanfiction secondary creation of predecessors, let the surname of the Yuki Clan here be Minazuki.)
And his name in this life was-Minazuki Kei!
That's right, he was that prominent shinobi clan member in the original story who possessed the 'Ice Release' Kekkei Genkai, standing alongside the Hozuki Clan and the Kaguya Clan in Kirigakure. Unlike certain fellows who must use an 'inferior version of Ice Release' under specific 'snow and ice environments'!
The Yuki Clan were the shinobi clan that mastered 'Ice Release' in the true sense of the word!
Aside from a portion of 'genetic mutations' who had no way to master the 'Kekkei Genkai', among the remaining clansmen, even under the hottest environments, they could display their signature skill of 'Ice Release ninjutsu'!
The only difference lay in the issue of strength.
This depended not only on one's personal bloodline strength and talent in 'Ice Release', but even more so on individual effort!
And Kei naturally inherited the clan's 'Ice Release' Kekkei Genkai, and was even very likely the most perfect 'bloodline inheritor' the clan had ever seen in history!
Because Kei discovered that the moment he was born, he seemed to be able to feel the call of something named the 'power of ice'.
Just like right now, he merely raised a single finger of his own.
"!?"
With a thought in his mind.
A body of ice crystals could be easily condensed.
One had to understand that, let alone among peers, even other young clansmen of the Yuki Clan who were several years older than him could not compare to him.
Of course, what was referred to here was not 'personal strength', but the degree of compatibility with the 'power of ice'.