The sky above the Hidden Leaf was soft and golden. Spring crept along the edges of the village like a shy visitor. Tree branches leaned heavy with new buds. The wind smelled faintly of sakura blossoms and rusted metal.
But the boy on the swing smelled nothing.
Naruto Uzumaki sat where he always did after class—at the rusted swing behind the academy, halfway beneath the crooked shade of a dead tree. His hands clutched the chain links loosely, but he didn't move. He just watched.
There were parents today. So many parents.
Laughter spilled out from the schoolyard. Students ran to open arms, forehead protectors shining like medals. Sensei stood tall, giving warm words to the proud. A girl held up her certificate like it was a ticket to heaven, and her father kissed her hair.
Naruto blinked slowly.
He had passed—and no one cared.
Not a single voice called his name.
Not a single face turned to him.
His paper sat folded in his pocket, already creased at the corners from his grip.
The boy on the swing wasn't ugly, not really. He wasn't strange or unapproachable. He wasn't hated like some might say. He simply wasn't seen. The students looked past him. The teachers always seemed to forget he was there until someone pointed it out.
He was a ghost with skin. A shadow that walked.
He had a name, but even that was uncertain now.
"Uzumaki, was it?" a teacher had once muttered while taking roll, brows pinched like the name had come from someone else's dream.
Naruto looked down at the dust beneath his feet. His shoes were worn thin. His pants were a size too small. He still had his jacket—the one with the frayed sleeves—but the zipper didn't work anymore.
"I passed," he whispered. The wind almost took it before it reached his own ears.
No one sat next to him. The swings on either side stayed empty, squeaking now and then like they were mourning something. Or someone.
He sat there until the sun began to dip. Until the crowd thinned. Until the sounds faded and all that remained were the echoes of celebration he was never part of.
And then came Mizuki.
The man approached with the casual gait of someone who didn't see the boy as a threat. His eyes were kind. Too kind. The kind of kind that made Naruto nervous.
"You're still here, Naruto?"
Naruto didn't answer at first. Mizuki crouched down beside him, a hand on his knee, voice gentle.
"I heard you passed. That's impressive. I always knew you had potential."
No, you didn't, Naruto thought. You forgot I existed until just now. Everyone always does.
Out loud, he just said, "Thanks."
There was a pause. Mizuki leaned in slightly, his smile never touching his eyes.
"You know... it's strange, isn't it? You pass, and no one congratulates you. No celebration. No applause. Not like it's your fault you know? You didn't choose to be an orphan."
Naruto looked up sharply.
Mizuki continued. "You could've been an elite genin by now, you know. If someone had just... recognized your talent earlier."
A spark lit behind Naruto's ribs. Hope? Or hunger?
Mizuki lowered his voice. "There's a secret test. One that isn't in the books. If you can complete it, the Hokage will promote you instantly. But you can't tell anyone. Not even Iruka."
Naruto blinked. He would take any chance to impress his idol, the fourth Hokage. "Why me?"
Mizuki smiled. "Because no one else is good enough. No one else has your potential. You've just been... overlooked. But I see you, Naruto."
It was the first time anyone had ever said those words.
I see you.
And for a moment—just a breath—Naruto believed them.
The night was heavy with silence. The stars hung dimly above the Hidden Leaf, swallowed by the shadows of the village's towering structures. The Forbidden Scroll, now in Naruto's possession, felt like a lead weight in his hands. Its significance didn't quite register with him, not entirely.
He was still processing everything that had happened. Mizuki's words echoed in his mind, distorted, looping like a broken record.
"You're not like the others, Naruto. You've always been special."
Naruto clenched his jaw and stared at the scroll. He didn't know what to make of it. What did Mizuki mean by that? What did he mean by "special"? The words lingered like an itch he couldn't scratch. The acknowledgement he'd always wanted just out of reach.
He glanced up, the cold air biting at his skin, but the chill didn't reach his heart.
The village was quieter now, the night alive only with the hum of wind between the trees. The distant murmur of the Hokage's tower seemed like another world. Everything felt distant, disconnected.
Mizuki's form was a dark silhouette against the faint light of the alley they met in. The older man had said it was all part of a plan. A test. One that would elevate Naruto beyond anything he'd ever imagined. A secret that no one else could know about.
Naruto had passed the exam. He had become a genin. But none of it mattered. No one cared. No one even acknowledged his achievement. So much for the grand future Mizuki spoke of.
Why am I even doing this? Naruto thought, his gaze drifting back to the scroll in his hands. Something in the back of his mind itched. Something wasn't right. But he couldn't place it. It was like he was looking at a puzzle where a piece didn't fit, no matter how hard he tried.
He shook his head and took a step forward, pulling his jacket tighter around himself. Mizuki's voice cut through the thick silence.
"You've come far, Naruto. I've been watching you for a long time," Mizuki said, stepping closer, his voice warmer now, almost soothing.
Naruto blinked, feeling the discomfort again. He couldn't quite pinpoint it. Why did Mizuki's presence always seem to grow heavier? Like something waiting to suffocate him?
"Do you know what this is, Naruto?" Mizuki asked, his tone now laced with a subtle tension, almost like an act. He tilted his head toward the scroll. "The scroll... It's something that could make you more than just another face in the crowd. If you can unlock its secrets, you could become something greater than anyone ever expected. Not even the creator of this scroll mastered all the techniques he put inside of it."
Naruto nodded slowly, unsure, the weight of the scroll growing in his hands.
"Why me?" Naruto asked softly. "Why do you think I can do this?"
Mizuki paused, as if carefully choosing his words. "Because you're special."
Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion. The implication was there, heavy and strange. "What do you mean?"
Mizuki's expression darkened, a subtle shift that Naruto almost missed. "You've always been overlooked, Naruto. No one ever took the time to see you for what you truly are."
The words dug into him, but Naruto kept his head down, swallowing the growing discomfort. Mizuki's voice lowered, like a whisper in the dark.
"There's something special about you, Naruto. You just haven't realized it yet."
Naruto shifted uneasily, his stomach twisting in knots. "What are you talking about?"
For a moment, Mizuki stood in silence, his face unreadable. Then his eyes flickered with something... wrong. Mizuki looked horrified, like he had seen the deepest pits of hell.
Naruto couldn't explain it. It wasn't just the shift in Mizuki's expression—it was deeper, something in the air around them that crackled. An odd pressure began to suffocate the space, the tension so thick that even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
"You're not just anyone," Mizuki murmured, his voice suddenly quiet, dangerous. "You've always been connected to the village's past... to the demon fox."
Naruto's heart skipped. The name demon fox hit him like a thunderclap, even though he didn't fully understand why it rattled him so deeply.
Mizuki continued, his voice growing frantic now, crackling with static like a glitch in reality.
"Something's wrong. The memories are... they're wrong. You're supposed to have the fox. But you—why don't you have it? You should have—" Mizuki faltered, his face contorted in confusion, eyes darting wildly. He gripped his temples as if trying to hold onto his sanity. His breathing quickened.
"I remember it. I remember the nine tails. I remember it— but you—"
He stopped suddenly, eyes widening in horror as his hands shook. Sweat dotted his brow, his teeth clenched as he struggled to make sense of the fractured memories that refused to settle in place. Fragments of a world that made no sense. Of a village that hated the fox.
The Nine-Tails.
Jinchuriki.
The names. The people. The pain. It was all connected. But it shouldn't be. Not here. Not like this.
"What... what's happening?"
The world around Mizuki seemed to distort, his mind splintering. The memories that shouldn't be there—memories of a different timeline, a different reality—tore at his consciousness.
Naruto's confusion deepened, but his instincts screamed at him. Something was wrong. Mizuki was unraveling in front of him.
The older man gasped, his pupils dilating in shock. He reached out a shaking hand as if to grasp something in the air, his breath erratic, his voice frantic.
"I know this! I know what's wrong—you're the fox's container! The one who was supposed to—"
But before Mizuki could finish his sentence, his body jerked violently, his head snapping back as his mouth opened in a silent scream. His skin stretched taut as if his mind could no longer contain the broken memories that tore at it.
And then, in the space between a breath and an exhale, Mizuki's head exploded with a sickening crack, splattering the ground with blood and fragments of bone. His body crumpled lifelessly to the floor.
The Forbidden Scroll fell from Naruto's hands and tumbled to the ground, forgotten. His eyes stared at the mangled corpse of the man who had once been his teacher, his heart racing as if trying to escape his chest.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Naruto's eyes widened, his body stiffening at the horrifying scene. He felt his chest constrict, a sense of unease washing over him.
What was that?
The moment stretched for what felt like an eternity, the air thick with tension. His mind raced as he stared at the remnants of Mizuki's broken form, still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
He didn't know what was going on. He didn't understand it. But the fear that had been gnawing at him for so long—the fear of something just out of reach—was closer now. He could feel it. The weight of something vast that stretched beyond his understanding. Something that was waiting to tear his life apart.
He watched as Mizuki's body started evaporating, as the last vestiges of Mizuki's life dissipated into the night air, a creeping realization began to settle in; this wasn't possible, he had to be dreaming.
It was all wrong.
The night seemed unnaturally still. The moon, barely a sliver in the sky, cast only the faintest light over the streets of the Hidden Leaf. A heavy silence blanketed the village, broken only by the occasional rustling of leaves in the wind. The Forbidden Scroll that he had risked his life for hours before lay untouched at his feet, but he barely noticed it anymore. He could hardly think about anything beyond what had just happened.
Mizuki's body was gone, the only reminder across the ground was a grotesque mess of blood and bone. He couldn't quite place it, but the unease had settled deep into his bones. The air itself felt off, as if reality had shifted just out of his grasp.
He glanced at the scroll at his feet, still unread, the forbidden knowledge that had called to him before no longer seeming alluring. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to end with the first person to acknowledge him dead and him here, standing over the remains of his former teacher, the man who had manipulated him, taunted him with promises of greatness, now nothing more than a pile of goop on the floor.
Mizuki's final words echoed in Naruto's mind, over and over, like the grinding of a broken record.
"You're the #* *! *."
He couldn't make sense of it. What was it even that Mizuki had said again? The words felt wrong. They didn't belong to him, and he couldn't recall them. He'd never heard anyone speak like that before. His chest tightened, and an icy shiver ran down his spine.
He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? All he'd wanted was to pass the exam, to be seen, to be acknowledged for once in his life. But now… Now, things were spiraling out of control.
A flicker of something—something cold—passed through him, and his vision blurred for a moment. When it cleared, everything was the same. The alleyway. The night. The blood on the ground gone. Something felt different now, something that made his stomach twist.
It didn't make sense. None of it did.
Naruto's legs wobbled as he slowly stood again, his gaze fixed on where the lifeless body of the man who had been his teacher previously lay. The ground beneath him felt unsteady, like the world was tilting. He tried to take another step, but his feet seemed glued to the earth.
A sudden noise broke through the silence. Footsteps, soft but deliberate, growing louder by the second.
Naruto's heart skipped a beat.
He spun around, eyes wide, adrenaline surging through his veins. He wasn't alone. Figures emerged from the darkness, their silhouettes cutting through the dim light of the village. They were elite shinobi, he could tell by their posture, their movement. Three of them. They walked with purpose, as though they had no reason to be cautious, no reason to fear.
"What happened here?" the shinobi asked, his voice calm but laced with a strange sense of authority.
Naruto's throat went dry. He should say something, should explain. He didn't know what happened, but Mizuki had just—he had just—
The words caught in his throat, his mind unable to form a coherent response. The figures didn't seem to notice him standing there, not at first. They didn't even look his way, even though he was standing right there in front of them. His heart pounded in his chest, the tension in the air suffocating. It felt like he was invisible, like he didn't belong in this space, this moment.
One of the shinobi bent down to examine the scroll, retrieving it ready to bring it back to the Hokage. The other two scanned the area, their expressions unreadable.
"Who did this?" the shinobi muttered, his voice low but heavy with authority.
But none of them looked at Naruto. None of them even acknowledged him.
Naruto's pulse raced. It was as though he was nothing, invisible in a world that was moving around him as if he didn't exist. His hands clenched into fists, his fingers trembling. Why couldn't they see him? Why couldn't they acknowledge him?
A horrible thought struck him, making his stomach churn. Had he always been this way? Invisible? Forgotten?
He wanted to scream. He wanted to shout, to demand answers, to force them to look at him. But the words wouldn't come. The silence in the air wrapped around him, suffocating him. His chest tightened, and for a moment, he thought he might suffocate under the weight of it all.
The shinobi continued to the area. They whispered among themselves, but Naruto couldn't hear their words. It didn't matter anyway. None of it mattered.
And then, the worst part.
One of the shinobi looked right at him. Their eyes locked for a fraction of a second, and Naruto's breath caught in his throat. His heart skipped.
And then… they looked away. As if Naruto didn't exist.
The world seemed to tilt again. His knees buckled, and he staggered backward, dropping to the ground. The scroll—his only connection to whatever Mizuki had been talking about—lay in the anbu's hand, forgotten.
What was happening? Why didn't anyone see him?
Why was the world so broken?
Naruto went home in silence that night, dragging his feet through streets that never remembered him. He curled into bed like a corpse trying to fake life. The next day, and the day after that, the world ticked forward, uncaring. The ramen stand treated him like a stranger again. The old woman who sold dango didn't recognize his face. The villagers still forgot him the moment he turned away. The ache in his chest dulled, not because it hurt less—but because it never stopped hurting.
A week passed. It was time for team placements. Naruto sat straighter than usual, a flicker of hope burning like a match in a hurricane. Maybe this time—maybe now—someone would say his name. Iruka began reading the lists:
"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Konohamaru. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."
"Team 9: Hinata Senju, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei will be Kushina Uzumaki."
"Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi. Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."
"That's it for teams—"
Naruto opened his mouth to ask—but Iruka never finished the sentence.
He froze. Not like someone stunned. Like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Then, in front of the entire class, his mouth vanished—flesh sealing over the space where speech should've been. He clawed at his face in silent horror as his eyes filled with primal fear.
And then, without warning, a voice carved itself into their minds.
"You've lived for free long enough."
"Your debt will now be paid… in entertainment."
Reality buckled. The roof above them was ripped open—not broken, not shattered—peeled back like paper. Through the gaping hole, something impossible looked in. A turtle the size of a mountain loomed over the academy, each eye layered with clocks that ticked in reverse.
"The Scenarios begin now."
"This isn't funny Iruka-sensei" Ino chimed, trying to play it off as a joke to make their reality seem less horrifying.
A suffocating silence followed.
No one screamed. No one moved. Even the wind outside seemed to vanish as the shattered sky stared down at them. The turtle—if it was even a turtle—remained motionless above, suspended in a void that had replaced the sun.
Then, glowing letters—red as blood and burning into the air like molten iron—began to write themselves across the open air.
SCENARIO 1: "THE FIRST SACRIFICE"
You are parasites who've lived without cost. From this moment, that ends.
Objective: Take a life.
Reward: Continued existence.
Time limit: 30 minutes.
Failure Condition: Everyone dies.
The air turned heavy, pressing down on them like drowning water.
Sakura whimpered. Sasuke stood slowly, eyes narrowing, unsure if this was some genjutsu. Kiba growled and shouted something useless—Shino already had his insects buzzing in confusion. Hinata stared at the scenario, her hands trembling, lips moving wordlessly. Konohamaru tried to joke, a nervous chuckle catching in his throat.
But Naruto didn't speak.
He'd seen this before. Or something like it. The tug in his chest, the stillness in the air.
He knew. Somewhere deep in his bones, he knew this wasn't a game.
"Kill someone?"
"This has to be a joke, right?"
"Who wrote that? Is this part of the test?"
"IRUKA-SENSEI?!"
Iruka stood in place, his mouth still gone. He shook his head violently, eyes wide, silent sobs rattling in his chest. He tried to reach for a kunai, maybe to protect the children—but he couldn't move his fingers. His body refused to obey.
Then came the sound.
A chime. Ding.
Everyone's wrist burned. A glowing band of red energy appeared around each student's arm, etching into their flesh like molten shackles.
You have received a personal mission:
TAKE A LIFE.
Progress: 0 / 1
Reward: You will live.
Penalty for failure: Obliteration of body and soul.
Screams started then. Real ones. Some students bolted for the door—but it had vanished. The academy walls now stretched endlessly, looping into a twisted mockery of the real world. The windows showed nothing but fog and black water.
The academy classroom trembled under the weight of the turtle's massive presence above them. Dust cascaded from the cracked ceiling. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The voice that had entered their minds—calm, mocking, omnipresent—had left a silence thick enough to choke on.
Then came the message box.
It wasn't written on the walls. It wasn't floating in the air.
It was inside their minds.
[Scenario #1: The Debt Begins]
Main Objective: Take a life.
Time Limit: 0.5 hours.
Reward: Survival.
Failure Penalty: Death.
They didn't need to speak to realize it had appeared for all of them. Terror filled the room like smoke.
"W-What kind of sick joke—" Ino clutched Shikamaru's sleeve, voice shrill and rising.
A loud crack—like bones snapping all at once—shut her up.
The floor near the front of the class split open slightly. Everyone stepped back from it, but Ami, a civilian girl with soft brown hair and trembling hands, remained in place. She had never been good at taijutsu. Barely scraped by in written exams. She wasn't a ninja. Not really.
She shook her head. "No. No, I won't. This is fake. This is a prank. There's no way we have to kill someone—this is just—I won't do it I quit!"
The moment the words left her lips, the turtle above gave a thunderous growl.
Then, without warning, she popped.
Not like a body falling to pieces. Not like a slashed throat or a stab wound. She burst. Skin peeled back. Bones shattered into brittle dust. Her body detonated like a melon dropped from a great height—blood splattered across desks and faces, chunks of tissue scattered across the floor, and in her place was a heap of red pulp and yellowing intestines still twitching. Her organs steamed in the air-conditioned classroom. Her face was unrecognizable.
People screamed. Sakura vomited. Konohamaru pissed himself.
Naruto stood frozen, staring. Something was crawling in the mess—white, writhing.
Maggots.
They wiggled through her intestines like they had always been there. Crawling. Breeding.
No one moved.
But Naruto stepped forward.
Everyone turned, expecting him to lose his mind. To cry. To scream.
Instead, he crouched, his shadow falling over the pulpy remains of Ami.
He stared at the maggots.
And then, one by one, he began to crush them with his fingers.
Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.
He didn't blink. His breath was steady. Blood caked his nails. The other students stared, wide-eyed and mute.
As he crushed the last one, a notification filled his mind.
[You have fulfilled the hidden requirement: Cleanse the Rot]
You have earned 7,000 SP.
Bonus: First Clear (Solo) - 3,000 SP
Total: 10,000 SP awarded.
Naruto's fingers twitched. The number rang in his head. Ten thousand points. Ten thousand. Whatever that meant.
And yet, the classroom was dead silent. He stood up slowly, eyes darker than anyone remembered them being. Not angry. Not scared.
Just present.
And that's when the screaming started again—but not from Ami's remains.
Kiba Inuzuka stood at the edge of the room, clutching a kunai in one hand, eyes wide, pupils dilated.
"He did it," Kiba said, voice cracking. "He did it. He took a life. That was the requirement, right? He passed. We can all pass."
"No—Kiba, stop—" Hinata said, stepping forward, but she didn't have the ability to stop him. She wasn't a Prodigy. She was just a girl with strong blood and steady chakra, no clairvoyance. No foresight.
Kiba raised the kunai.
"If I kill someone, I'll get points too, right? I mean… that's the rule, right?! That's the goddamn rule!"
Iruka began trying to make a screaming noise, but his mouth was still gone. He couldn't speak. He only shook his head furiously, eyes wide with terror.
Kiba turned, eyes locking onto Udon.
The boy didn't even scream. He just froze—tears pooling behind his glasses as his small frame trembled. He was the kind of kid who'd cry when he tripped, who flinched at the word "spar."
Kiba lunged.
A clean, brutal arc—too fast for Udon to dodge, too fast for anyone to stop.
The kunai sank into his throat with a wet shlkk. Udon gurgled once, knees buckling, blood spraying across the chalkboard as his body crumpled.
A soft ding echoed in all their minds.
[You have completed Scenario #1.]
Reward: Survival.
Bonus Reward: 1,000 SP
Kiba's breathing quickened. His chest rose and fell like a dog that had finally tasted blood.
Then he smiled.
No—grinned.
And it was all teeth.
"I get it now," he muttered, eyes gleaming. "More kills. More points. More power."
He stepped over Udon's twitching corpse, scanning the room for the next weakest target.
Moegi screamed.
Shino backed away.
Choji looked like he might vomit again.
And Kiba charged.
But before his foot even hit the floor—
Naruto moved.
No one saw him start—only that he was suddenly there, between Kiba and his prey.
The system spoke to him again, smooth and cold:
Would you like to convert SP to stats?
Naruto's mind sharpened. The interface flared before his eyes.
Yes.
Current Stats:
STRENGTH: 3
STAMINA: 9
CHAKRA: 100
SPEED: 3
Select upgrades:
He didn't hesitate. His fingers moved faster than thought.
STRENGTH: 3 8
SPEED: 3 8
SP Spent: 10,000
SP Remaining: 0
Power surged into his limbs like lightning poured into flesh. He felt dense, like the air around him had slowed to accommodate the new weight of his body. His heart didn't race—it hummed, cold and efficient.
And Kiba didn't know.
Didn't know who Naruto was. Didn't remember his name. Didn't remember that Naruto had once taken every hit Kiba ever landed without retaliation. Didn't remember the shadow always watching from the edge of every classroom photo.
He didn't know that Naruto fought like a cornered ghost.
Kiba's kunai arced toward Naruto's shoulder.
It never landed.
With blinding speed, Naruto sidestepped, pivoted low, and struck—a knuckle to the solar plexus so hard it lifted Kiba off his feet.
The dog-nin crashed against a desk, gasping, blood flecking his lips. He tried to scramble up.
Naruto was already there.
He grabbed Kiba's wrist—bent it the wrong way with a nauseating crack—then slammed his elbow down on the joint, shattering it.
Kiba screamed.
The sound didn't last long.
Naruto drove his fist into Kiba's face, once, twice, a third time—until the screaming stopped and the blood pooled beneath the boy's shattered nose.
A new notification blinked in Naruto's mind, but he didn't look at it.
He stood slowly, body humming with lethal momentum.
The classroom was deathly silent. Even the turtle above paused, as if watching.
Naruto turned to the rest of the class.
He didn't speak.
He didn't need to.
No one dared move.
Something deep in their bones was afraid of the boy who moved like death and wore silence like a crown.
Kiba coughed blood and wheezed.
His face was a mess—purple swelling, cracked teeth—but rage still burned behind the swelling. A deep, rabid fury that refused to die. He staggered upright, body hunched like an animal, broken wrist dangling at his side.
"I'll kill you," he spat, bloody foam flecking his lips. "You think you're some kind of hero? You think you're better than me?!"
Naruto stepped back once.
That was when it hit him.
A cold whisper at the base of his skull—not a voice, but something older. Something inhuman.
A system notification blinked into existence. But it looked different from the others. Distorted. Like a memory glitch bleeding into reality.
[Trait Activated: Fox Tale]
Subtrait Unlocked: Reflection Reading
You are not supposed to exist. Therefore, you see what others try to hide.
Mind Reflection active.
Reading Target: Kiba Inuzuka.
Naruto's vision fractured.
For a second—just a breath—he saw Kiba's thoughts like echoes in glass.
He humiliated me. He made me look weak. Everyone saw.
If I don't kill him, I'm nothing. I'll keep stabbing until the system makes me strong enough.
No one cares what I do. No one will stop me. Not anymore.
The thoughts bled into Naruto's head like oil slicks on water. They weren't just words. They came with emotion. Burning shame. Ugly pride. Fear masquerading as fury.
It made Naruto feel sick. Like he was drowning in someone else's hate.
He blinked—and the vision snapped.
But Kiba was already moving.
One good hand on the kunai. A lunge fueled by desperation, betrayal, bloodlust.
Naruto reacted on instinct.
His new speed exploded beneath his muscles—eight-speed, fast enough to blur—fast enough to vanish from where he stood.
Kiba's slash hit air.
Naruto reappeared behind him and drove a knee into Kiba's lower spine.
Kiba screamed.
The kunai fell from his hand.
He twisted, trying to slash with his broken wrist out of reflex—but Naruto caught the wrist mid-motion and twisted.
Another crack. Another scream.
Naruto dropped Kiba to the floor and pinned him there with a knee on his back.
"Why?!" Kiba howled. "Why won't you let me win?!"
Naruto's breath hitched.
His hand tightened around Kiba's throat.
[Warning: Hostile Intention Detected. Kill Threshold Reached.]
[If you choose to kill Kiba Inuzuka, you will receive Scenario Completion Bonus Early Threat Elimination Bonus.]
Naruto's fingers trembled.
He looked around the room.
No one moved.
No one screamed.
Even Konohamaru was frozen. Staring. Pale.
No one would stop him.
Not this time.
Not ever again.
Kiba's throat gave under Naruto's grip.
The sound of air being cut off. The pulse fluttering beneath skin.
Naruto looked into Kiba's eyes as the boy realized.
You're not the main character.
[You have killed Player: Kiba Inuzuka]
5,000 SP
Hidden Achievement Unlocked:First System User
Title Acquired: [First Pawn]
Title Effect: You are more likely to be unfairly targeted by the scenario.
Kiba's body slumped, twitching once before going still.
Naruto's fingers stayed clenched around his throat a moment longer than necessary. Then he let go—slowly, mechanically, as if lowering something unclean.
His hand came away wet.
Blood and spit and heat.
But Naruto felt cold.
Colder than ever.
Another notification slid across his vision like a shiver:
[System Notice: Scenario Progress Updated]
Number of Remaining Participants: 23
Player Elimination Count: 1
Player: Naruto Uzumaki
Alignment: Unbound
Special Note: Observers have taken notice.
Above him, the turtle shifted.
Its body no longer shimmered with lazy detachment.
Its single cyclopean eye glowed a deep crimson, narrowed—focused.
Naruto met its gaze.
For the first time since the scenario began, it felt like the turtle was gazing on him.
Then—
[Scenario Update]
First Blood Phase Complete.
Second Phase for those who completed the first: "Predator's Ration"
Objective:
—You must consume an entity you have slain.
—Failure to comply will result in System Retaliation.
The text blinked.
Naruto stared.
So did the rest of the class.
No one breathed.
The word consume echoed inside their skulls like static.
"W-What?" someone whispered. It might have been Moegi.
Shino took a slow step back.
But the system didn't care.
Timer: 60 seconds
Select a corpse. Eat. Survive.
Remaining Time: [59]
Naruto didn't move. How could he? He would have to eat Kiba or one of the maggots he had killed.
Blood dripped from his knuckles onto the floor, silent.
Behind him, Kiba's body twitched again.
A hiccup of nerve death.
The class waited for him to scream that it was a joke. That there was another way. That he's still alive and didn't kill anyone.
He didn't.
They knew better.
Naruto stood at the center of the room, breathing hard, his body still trembling from the brutal act of killing Kiba. He couldn't afford to think about that now—he had no choice but to survive. And in this hellish game, survival came at a price.
His eyes scanned the room, the cold reality setting in: everyone had to kill something. Anything. The system wasn't playing around. Most people had 26 minutes left for this part.
That was when Shino stepped forward.
Calm and eerily composed, Shino reached into his sleeve, and as if in response to his will, a swarm of bugs crawled out, moving like a living cloud. His face remained emotionless as he began walking towards each student, offering them the tools they needed to survive.
"You must kill something," Shino said, his voice soft but carrying an undeniable weight of finality. "We all have to."
He was offering them his bugs.
One by one, Shino walked down the rows, placing a bug in each student's hand. His precious bugs he offered his skin to just so that they could be killed quickly and used to complete the deadly task at hand. His bugs were obedient, crawling eagerly into their new homes, waiting to be crushed, squashed, or torn apart.
Naruto could see the hesitation in the eyes of some of his classmates. Ami, her face pale, looked at the bug with a mixture of disgust and fear. Konohamaru had his hands clenched, but there was no doubt—he knew this was the only way forward.
"I'll go first," Shino said, his tone unwavering. He raised a bug to his lips and crushed it, the tiny creature's body breaking easily in his hand.
"Done," he said, his voice flat. No emotion. No hesitation.
The others followed suit, their hands trembling as they crushed, squashed, and killed. Sasuke's eyes burned with rage, but he was forced to kill the maggot in his hand, squishing it with a savage motion. The others seemed to fall into line—each student, one by one, killing something to meet the system's demands.
And then the system chimed.
[System Update: All students have killed something. Transitioning to the next phase for everyone.]
Naruto watched, a sick feeling in his stomach, as the rules shifted once again. They weren't done yet.
Now, they had to eat what they'd killed.
The students began to look around, the reality of the next part sinking in. They could see the glistening maggots, the squished beetles, the bloodied remains of their living prey, some still twitching in their hands.
The system's voice broke the silence once more:
[System Update: You must consume the creature you killed within 60 seconds, or you will be eliminated.]
The others started to look at each other, their eyes filled with panic, disbelief.
Iruka, frozen at the front of the classroom, watched them all with wide eyes, his hands trembling as he looked at the bugs they had killed and were now holding.
Iruka still had no mouth talking to himself in his mind all he could say was, "This isn't real. This can't be happening."
But it was.
And he knew it. The look in his eyes said everything.
The clock began to tick. 60 seconds remaining.
One by one, the students began to eat. Some gagged. Others, like Konohamaru, seemed to force the bug down, trying to suppress the disgust. Ami took a deep breath, her body stiffening, then closed her eyes as she shoved the bug into her mouth, the squishy texture making her gag. The classroom was filled with the sounds of reluctant eating, the students struggling to survive in the face of horror.
But Iruka stood still, staring at the bug in his hand, his entire body frozen in disbelief.
His face going pale, he looked up at the students, then back down at the bug he had killed, its tiny body now limp in his hand. He was paralyzed. His hands shook as the seconds ticked by.
The system's voice rang out again, cold and unforgiving:
[System Update: 30 seconds remaining. Consume or face elimination.]
Iruka's breathing grew shallow, his eyes wild with panic. His hands gripped the bug harder, but he couldn't do it. The cruelty of having no mouth sinking in, he just began to accept his fate.
The seconds continued to slip away.
15 seconds remaining.
Iruka glanced around the room, his face filled with desperation. Everyone else had eaten. He was the only one left. But his mouth didn't return, his eyes welled up with tears and he shook his head.
5 seconds remaining.
And that was when it happened.
Iruka tried to scream, the class heard the sound of a man breaking under the weight of his own helplessness. His body spasmed violently, convulsing as if something were tearing him apart from the inside out. His skin began to stretch, his throat swelling grotesquely as if it was trying to suffocate him. His face stretched wide like a silent scream, but nothing came out—he had no mouth to consume the bug.
Iruka's body twisted and snapped unnaturally, his limbs contorting in ways they shouldn't, skin tearing as his muscles locked in place.
In the final moment, as the clock ticked to zero, Iruka's body exploded in a horrific, gory mess. His chest ruptured as if something within him had been violently pushed to its limit. Blood and organs splattered across the room, leaving a macabre scene behind.
The students stood frozen, eyes wide with horror, too afraid to move.
And Naruto—Naruto just stood there. His stomach churned. His mind screamed at him to do something, but there was nothing to be done. Iruka was dead.
The system chimed one last time.
[Iruka Umino has failed the scenario and perished.]
[The scenario continues.]
[System Update: Scenario Complete.]
The classroom, still drenched in the chaotic aftermath, fell into a thick silence. No one spoke. No one moved. The smell of death lingered in the air, a harsh reminder of what they had just witnessed. The classroom, once familiar, now felt like a graveyard.
The timer, which had once counted down so relentlessly, stopped. The ticking of time now felt distant, almost irrelevant. The system's voice had fallen silent, replaced by the heavy weight of an unspoken truth.
Naruto stood at the center, his stomach still churning, his hands trembling. His breath came in shallow gasps as he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened. Iruka, their sensei—someone who had always tried to guide them—was gone. The reality of the scenario, of the game they were now a part of, crashed down upon him with a force that left him reeling.
Then, a deep, rumbling voice echoed in the classroom. It was neither the system's cold monotone nor the frantic, desperate screams of their dying teacher. No—this voice was different. It was ancient, powerful, and it filled the air like a thunderstorm on the horizon.
"Enough," the voice said, cutting through the stunned silence. It was the voice of the turtle, the creature that had watched over them since the beginning.
The students looked up, eyes wide with disbelief. The turtle's massive form was still looming overhead, but now, its single eye glowed brighter, its crimson hue seeping into the very atmosphere around them. There was something undeniably sentient about the way it gazed upon them. It no longer felt like a mere creature—it felt like an overseer.
"The cycle of Asura and Indra, endless and tiresome," the turtle rumbled, its voice reverberating in the minds of the students. "The gods have grown bored. The drama of reincarnation, the endless rebirths of old rivals, has lost its appeal. They no longer find joy in watching such events unfold, for they know how it ends."
Naruto's heart pounded in his chest as the words sank in. The gods? What gods? The idea of gods, of forces beyond comprehension, suddenly felt all too real.
"You, the participants, are no longer players in a simple game. This is no longer a mere cycle of life and death," the turtle continued, its voice heavy with the weight of something ancient, something unfathomable. "This world is no longer under the dominion of fate. The gods tire of their petty games. They wish to watch something... real."
The classroom seemed to shift. The walls pulsed, the very fabric of reality warping under the turtle's presence. The students felt it—a sensation of things unraveling, of the world stretching in ways it was never meant to.
"You are now part of something greater, something that transcends your understanding. The scenario you have just witnessed... is but a small part of the story. The gods will now shape this world into something new, something chaotic—something worth their attention."
Naruto's mind reeled. What was happening? He had just seen his teacher die in a horrific display of failure. He had seen his classmates, some of them barely holding it together, fight their own internal battles as they were forced to consume the creatures they had killed. But now... now it seemed like something bigger was unfolding—something that stretched beyond the confines of the classroom, beyond the rules they had known.
"The world has changed," the turtle said, its tone heavy with finality. "The gods will no longer simply watch from afar. They will shape the world as they see fit, for their entertainment. And you, the chosen ones, will be the instruments of their amusement. Your fates are no longer your own. The cycle has ended. The game has only just begun."
Naruto felt a chill crawl up his spine as the implications of the turtle's words sank in. The gods... they weren't just watching anymore. They were involved. They were creating chaos, shaping the world like puppeteers pulling at the strings of existence.
And they were going to make him part of it.
"You must prove yourselves. Not through death alone, but through the strength of your will, your spirit. The gods will reward those who entertain them. And for those who fail... well, the consequences will be... spectacular."
A new system notification flashed across Naruto's vision.
[System Update: Transitioning to the Next Phase.]
The air around him seemed to shift, growing heavier, charged with an energy he couldn't explain. The once familiar classroom now felt alien, like the boundaries between this world and something far darker had thinned.
The classroom continued to tremble beneath the weight of the turtle's words, the walls cracking and bending as if the very world were trying to escape the grasp of its unnatural reality. The air was thick with tension, each breath a struggle as the students—shaken, disturbed, and terrified—stood frozen in place. They had heard it. They had heard the gods' decree. The rules had shifted. They were no longer mere participants in a deadly game—they were now pawns in an ancient, chaotic theater of gods, forced to entertain them.
Naruto's mind was reeling, his thoughts a jumbled mess of confusion and fear. The world was breaking apart. The classroom seemed to warp, as if reality itself was bending to the will of these invisible gods. What had been a familiar, comforting place now felt like a tomb, a graveyard of broken fates and shattered lives.
Then, as if to reinforce the chaos, the ground below them cracked. A deep, groaning rumble split the earth in two, sending shockwaves through the room. Students stumbled, some falling to their knees, others gripping anything they could to stay upright.
The air grew thick with an unnatural heat, and the classroom seemed to breathe as the very fabric of existence warped around them. Above, the sky cracked open, revealing dark, swirling clouds, and the once-solid walls of the academy began to crumble into dust. The reality that Naruto knew, that safe little world, was now disintegrating.
And then, just as the room seemed to be collapsing in on itself, a massive bridge of stone and steel materialized above a deep rift that had torn through the earth. The rift stretched impossibly wide, swallowing the once-solid ground and sending plumes of dust and ash billowing into the air. At the bottom of the chasm, monstrous shapes stirred—hulking creatures with eyes that glowed like embers, their mouths filled with jagged, bloodstained teeth.
The bridge stretched endlessly ahead, its stone surface cracked and uneven as it arched high over the yawning chasm. The creatures below, monstrous and incomprehensible, were writhing and clawing at the earth, their eyes glowing with an unnatural hunger. The air was thick with a charged, almost oppressive energy. The turtle's words still echoed in Naruto's mind, as if the game had only just begun. They were no longer mere participants. They were part of something far greater, something far darker.
Naruto stood at the edge of the bridge, watching as the others slowly began to move forward, some hesitating, some determined. There was no going back. The chasm below was too wide, the creatures far too deadly. They had no choice but to cross.
But Naruto... Naruto wasn't like the others.
The rules had changed. The system chimed, its cold, mechanical voice cutting through the air.
[System Update: The bridge will only allow two participants to cross at a time.]
Naruto's heart sank as he heard it. Two people at a time. There were twenty-one of them, but no one would cross with him.
The realization hit him like a blow to the chest.
He was alone. Again.
His breath caught in his throat, and he looked around at his classmates. They were all moving toward the bridge now, some trying to pair up, some looking lost, others fighting for position, their eyes filled with a mix of desperation and fear. But as Naruto scanned the faces of the students, no one was looking at him. No one was coming to pair up with him.
The rules had made it clear: two people could cross at a time. And with twenty-one students, someone had to be left behind.
And it was him.
Naruto swallowed hard, his throat dry, his mind spiraling. He wasn't even sure why he expected anything else. His entire existence had been shaped by this: being forgotten, overlooked, and abandoned. The others were already starting to pair off, their fear driving them into each other's arms for support. But no one was going to cross with him.
He stood frozen at the edge of the bridge, staring at the swirling abyss below, feeling the pull of its darkness. He had no one.
Then, just as Naruto's heart began to break, the air around him seemed to crackle. A presence appeared seemingly out of a portal, the figures of his classmates seemingly unaware of this newcomer.
A masked man—cloaked and with a cold, unsettling aura—appeared from nowhere, his presence sharp, like a blade cutting through the thick tension. The man's figure was barely a blur, as if his existence itself was out of sync with the rest of the world.
Naruto's eyes widened in shock as the man stepped closer, his voice smooth, yet laced with an underlying danger.
"You're still here?" The masked man's voice was a low chuckle. "Did you think the game was over?"
Naruto turned toward the man, his heart beating faster as a strange sense of recognition pulsed in his chest. "I… I don't have anyone to cross with," Naruto stammered. "The rules… there's no one—"
"Of course there is," the masked man interrupted, his voice dripping with malice. "I can help you cross."
Naruto blinked in disbelief. "You—?"
"Yes." The masked man tilted his head slightly, his eyes hidden beneath the shadow of his mask. "The bridge only allows two to cross, yes? But one of them need not be so lucky." The man's hand reached out, hovering near Naruto's shoulder. The air seemed to ripple with energy as he spoke, his tone cold but oddly enticing. "You want to survive, don't you? You want to make it to the other side?"
Naruto hesitated. His heart pounded. Could he trust this stranger? Should he? But the feeling of being completely abandoned, alone at the edge of the bridge, urged him to take the offer.
"I…" Naruto's voice wavered. "I do. I just want to get out of here."
The masked man's lips curled into an almost invisible smirk as his hand came to rest on Naruto's shoulder. "Then follow me." He began to walk toward the bridge, and Naruto, too caught in the strange, intoxicating sense of relief, followed behind.
The masked man's hand was steady, guiding him, as if he already knew the path. Naruto's anxiety ebbed slightly with each step, the strange sensation of someone caring for the first time in what felt like forever. But as they neared the middle of the bridge, something shifted in the air—something cold and cruel, like a shift in fate.
Naruto's thoughts were interrupted as the masked man abruptly turned and shoved him hard in the back.
"Wh—what—?"
Before Naruto could even react, he felt his feet slip from beneath him. The bridge wobbled under his weight as he lost balance and stumbled forward.
"No!" Naruto's hands shot out, trying to grab onto anything—anything at all—but there was nothing. He was falling, falling into the abyss below.
The masked man's voice echoed faintly as Naruto plummeted. "You don't deserve a way out."
It was too late. The darkness of the chasm swallowed him whole, the horrible creatures at the bottom already lunging toward him.
Naruto screamed, but the sound was lost to the wind, drowned out by the monstrous roars below. His body was torn apart by the creatures, the pain far too much to comprehend, his life extinguished in a flash.
Everything went black.
Naruto shot up screaming, hearing his alarm clock going off. Naruto's stomach twisted. His hand shot up to his face, feeling the familiar, still-too-warm pulse of life flowing through him. He was alive again.
But how?
The pain. The death. The fall. Everything... had been real.
But it was the morning again?