The world of Naruto, Konoha.
The glow of the setting sun fell over the Ninja Academy, lending it an air of quiet elegance.
Yet amid it all, one child seemed out of place.
"Clone Technique!"
Poof!
A puff of white smoke rose, but no clone appeared at all.
"Failed again..."
A faint, wry smile appeared on Uya's face.
Several years had passed since he had arrived in this world.
This was a world of ninja, and Uya had once dreamed of becoming a genius, stunning everyone and standing above the Shinobi World.
The reality, however, was that his body had tremendous difficulty producing chakra, let alone practicing ninjutsu.
He had only a fraction of the chakra other children his age possessed. As for ninjutsu, he could not successfully master even the most basic techniques, no matter how much effort he put in.
"Sure, even if I only practice taijutsu, there are powerful forbidden techniques like the Eight Gates Released Formation. But I don't want a fleeting moment of glory. I want lasting brilliance." Uya gazed at the sky with a hint of resentment.
Heavens above, could you stop messing with me like this?!
"Besides, the Second Shinobi World War will break out in two years at most. When that happens, even chunin and jonin won't be able to protect themselves, never mind genin."
Uya sighed again. He had transmigrated here on the eve of the Second Shinobi World War, a truly terrible time to arrive.
He was only eight years old now.
But he already had little time left.
If he could not gain enough strength to protect himself within two years, he would practically be destined to become cannon fodder when the Second Shinobi World War broke out.
Uya had no desire to be cannon fodder.
"Forget it. Stop overthinking. I'll go to the hill behind the academy and keep practicing taijutsu. Even if ninjutsu is difficult for me, I can't just give up."
Shaking his head and casting those thoughts out of his mind, Uya stood and headed toward the woods behind the academy.
As he walked, students from the Ninja Academy occasionally cast strange looks his way.
"I heard that guy still hasn't mastered a single ninjutsu."
"He probably won't even pass the graduation exam."
"Sure enough, someone from a little ninja village could never compare to geniuses born in Konoha like us."
Murmurs reached him, accompanied by disdainful looks.
Uya simply ignored them.
A bunch of little brats. Once the Second Shinobi World War starts in a couple of years, they'll have something to cry about.
Still, my luck really hasn't been very good.
Coming to this world was one thing. Just becoming an ordinary Konoha ninja would have been fine.
I wasn't even asking to be born into the Senju Clan or the Uchiha Clan... even a normal family would have been enough.
Yet the reality was that he did not even have a home!
Uya had not been born in Konoha. He came from a small ninja village.
That small village had already been wiped out by the Sunagakure Ninja Village, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Uya might have been its only survivor, and Konoha ninja had brought him back to Konoha after finding him.
As someone from another village, even though he was only a child, he was hardly welcome in Konoha.
Cold looks met him everywhere.
And Uya had long since grown used to them.
Arriving at the little grove on the hill behind the academy, Uya walked up to a wooden post.
There was a very obvious dent near the top of the post, hammered into it bit by bit through his countless side kicks and punches!
Even without much talent for ninjutsu, Uya had never thought of giving up.
Looking at the bandages on his hands and feet, Uya took a deep breath, then abruptly kicked out, striking the dent in the post.
"One, two, three... thirty-five, thirty-six..."
Sweat poured off him.
Soon, deep fatigue and exhaustion washed over his body. His ankles in particular gradually began to hurt, aching and throbbing.
But Uya did not stop. He gritted his teeth and continued.
With night nearly upon him, Uya practiced taijutsu hard, all alone in that deserted place.
Since he could not master ninjutsu, taijutsu was the only direction in which he could develop. He had to put in several or even dozens of times the effort of other children his age.
Huff! Huff!!
Gradually, Uya began to pant heavily. Sweat had completely soaked his clothes and was even dripping onto the ground.
Only when his legs had gone numb and he could barely stand steady did Uya finally stop.
"I'll rest a little. Next up, five hundred straight punches, then another two hundred side kicks..."
Uya sat down nearby for a brief rest. Watching the last sliver of sunset on the horizon, his expression relaxed slightly.
It would be nice to spend every day like this, enjoying the beautiful scenery between training sessions.
Unfortunately, with the Second Shinobi World War, the Third Shinobi World War, the Fourth Shinobi World War... so many crises hanging over his head, relaxing was simply impossible.
Just as Uya was about to stand and resume training after resting for a while, he suddenly let out a puzzled sound.
He had noticed that, as the final rays of sunlight faded on the horizon, they seemed to cast a strange shadow somewhere in the woods.
What was that?!
A hint of curiosity appeared on Uya's face.
That shadow wasn't very big, about the size of an apple. Was there some tasty fruit growing in these woods?
Curious, Uya slowly walked in that direction.
As the sky gradually grew completely dark, Uya took out a ninja tool for illumination and continued forward.
After walking a little way, Uya stopped in front of a patch of grass. His expression instantly froze, as though he had seen a ghost.
Clang!!
He was so shocked that even the lamp in his hand dropped to the ground.
The light went out, plunging his surroundings into darkness.
"This... this is..."
Uya hurriedly crouched down, felt around, and picked the lamp up again, then shone it on the object in the grass.
His expression remained blank.
Finally, Uya carefully reached out and picked up the thing in the grass.
It was a bizarre-looking fruit.
Anyone else from the world of Naruto would have had no way of knowing what it was. They would probably have taken it for a poisonous fruit and thrown it away.
But Uya was different.
Having once been an anime fan, Uya recognized what it was almost at a glance.
A Devil Fruit!
"How could something like this appear in the world of Naruto?!"
Staring at the exquisitely detailed Devil Fruit in his hand, which looked nothing like a fake, Uya wore a stupefied expression.
This made no sense!
Could it really just be some poisonous fruit that happened to look like this?
The thought flashed through his mind.
But Uya immediately shook his head again.
For no other reason than that the resemblance was simply too exact-so exact that, no matter how he looked at it, it did not seem fake.