[Spoiler=Author's Note] So, this is my attempt at an isekai novel. I
The goal is for a realistic isekai (as much as such can be) and grounded in tone. There won't be instant godhood, absurd characterizations, or the like. Just a man from our world thrown into another life. The life of the shinobi./spoiler]
Prologue
Before I died, I was a professor of philosophy. A devotee of Kierkegaard and critic of Nietzche my colleagues would call me. The realm of epistemology was mine to wander and it was in ethics I found a passion sweeter than wine. I was a lover of Dostoevsky and his hunt for the beautiful soul. And yet, I died an ugly death. Alone and forgotten with my wallet emptied, thieves ran from my bullet filled corpse. A lonely death and one filled with far less peace than most men deserve.
Perhaps, in return for such ignoble passing, the universe did indeed extend to me the onion of grace that wanton Gruschenka did gift to blessed Alyosha in Dostoevsky's Brothers K. Who can say?
You might think trading the life of a simple professor for a superhero in a manga would be a choice, but I miss my old life. Terribly so in fact. Perhaps it is odd that I would wish to be in the body of my former self compared to who I became, but I miss pushing my glasses up the bridge of my nose. I miss my plaid jackets with leather elbows and a colorful bow tie. I miss a good pizza or a burger. Hell! I would give anything for a proper taco. I miss the comfort I experienced. Most of all I miss my students.
Darren, a footballer with a kind demeanor who struggled so hard just to pass my course. I was so proud to give him the first A he ever received.
Annie, who's parents had sent her to the USA from China and who spoke in broken English but adored my lectures and would always stay after class to work through some more advanced metaphysical concepts.
Joshua, with his insatiable thirst for knowledge and true desire to help his fellow man.
I miss them. I wonder what became of their lives?
When working in academia, there are usually two paths faculty tend to take: research or teaching. Now don't get me wrong, nearly every professor does both, but you'll find that academics tend towards one or the other. Most prefer research and only halfheartedly give themselves to the discipline of teaching. It is research that is the life blood of American institutions of higher learning and it is through research that these organizations are awarded federal grants. Student tuition certainly fills the coffers but it is funding research grants that keep the lights on. Academia, an introverted field as it is, tended to attract those who loved research. Not I.
It was in the classroom I found the freedom to truly pursue knowledge. In the blessed minds of my students I did learn more from them than all of Plato combined. For, in my students, I saw what it was to live and love. I saw what it meant to build relationships and that to pursue harmony with your fellow man is found not in dusty tomes but in the joy and heartache of a life lived well!
But I died. An ignoble death in a forgotten alleyway my corpse did lay. And though a new life was granted to me, what is so easily forgotten in the minds of those who wish for this power fantasy to exist is that my life before was REAL!
As real as flowers in an autumn bloom or the buzzing of a bee in spring so too much life before this change was real and it no less valuable for its lack of power or character.
I lived and loved in all life's passion and this new person I have become…please to those who read my memoir and wish they could be more than they are, do not forget that your life is far more real than words on a page or screen and it is truly worth living to its fullest extent. Because, to be real, is the greatest jutsu of all.