The first thing I felt was the smell. It smelled of damp earth, rotting leaves, and something metallic, reminiscent of blood.
I snapped my eyes open and immediately winced at the bright sunlight filtering through the dense canopy of trees. My head was throbbing as if I'd been hit with a sledgehammer, and a name—foreign, yet now mine—pulsed in my temples.
"Vi... Hiroshi..." I croaked, testing the word on my tongue. "My name is Vi Hiroshi."
The voice was childish and cracking. With effort, I pushed myself into a sitting position and inspected my body. I was wearing coarse clothes made of a fabric similar to burlap, cinched with a simple rope. My hands were small and a bit dirty, but lacked the callouses from kunai training I had expected to see in a "reincarnated-into-the-Shinobi-world" scenario.
I hastily pulled up my shirt. Nothing was glowing near my navel, but the moment I closed my eyes and concentrated, I felt Him. The Ether. It was there, calm and infinite, like an ocean at a dead calm. My core. So, it wasn't a dream.
"Good," I exhaled, calming down. "The Ether is here. Now... Training Room."
As soon as I thought it, a semi-transparent interface flickered before my eyes—minimalist and intuitive. It was collapsed into an icon at the periphery of my vision, ready to expand at my first command.
But then, a blinking envelope icon in the corner of the interface caught my attention. A parting gift? the thought flashed.
I mentally clicked the icon. The text unfurled before me:
[System Message] Recipient: Vi Hiroshi Subject: Welcome Pack and Localization
Greetings to you in your new life. To ensure you don't waste time on linguistic barriers, I have granted you knowledge of the language of this era. Also, considering your love for the canon, I found it necessary to clarify the timeline so you don't go looking for Konoha Village where it hasn't been built yet.
Current Location: Land of Ancestors (outskirts of a settlement). Current World Status: Pre-Chakra Era. Event Timer: Until the arrival of the "Star Wanderers" (Ootsutsuki Kaguya and Ootsutsuki Isshiki): 10 years, 00 months, 00 days.
P.S. Good luck. You'll need it—you are the only one on this planet who can use supernatural energy... for now.
I re-read the message twice. Then thrice.
"Ten years..." I whispered, feeling a chill run down my spine.
I hadn't landed in the era of Naruto Uzumaki. I wasn't even in the time of Hashirama and Madara. I was in an ancient past that the anime only touched upon in the Kaguya filler episodes.
There were no ninjas here. No academies. Not even the concept of "Shinobi." People here fought like ordinary medieval soldiers, and power was determined by the number of warriors, not the strength of jutsu.
I stood up, leaning against the rough trunk of a tree. My brain was feverishly restructuring my plans. Originally, I had thought about how I'd save Haku or prevent the Uchiha clan massacre. But now, the stakes had skyrocketed. In ten years, two monsters capable of destroying planets would drop from the sky to plant the God Tree. And in this world, there is no Hagoromo, no Ten-Tails (yet)—there is absolutely no one who can stop them.
Except me.
A smirk slowly spread across my face. Fear gave way to excitement.
"I have Ether—energy of a higher order. I have the Training Room where I can fight anyone. And I have a ten-year head start."
I clenched my small fist. The Ether inside responded with a joyful vibration, and the air around me distorted slightly, causing dry leaves on the ground to swirl upward without any wind.
"Kaguya, Isshiki..." I whispered into the empty forest. "Get ready. By the time you arrive, I'll have such a warm welcome waiting for you that you'll regret ever picking this planet."
Suddenly, nearby bushes rustled. I spun around, instinctively taking a combat stance, even though my body didn't know a single technique yet. A man emerged from the thicket, dressed in crude armor made of cured leather, wielding a spear. His face was smeared with dirt, and his eyes shifted restlessly.
"Hey, brat!" he barked in a dialect that was foreign, yet somehow perfectly understandable to me. "Who do you belong to? These are the lands of Emperor Tenji! An escaped slave, are you?"
I looked at him. Emperor Tenji. The very man who was destined to become Kaguya's husband.
History had already begun.
The soldier didn't wait for my answer. Apparently, in this era, the rights of a child—especially one dressed like a beggar—were ranked somewhere between the rights of a stray dog and a broken hoe. He took a wide step forward, reaching out a rough, calloused hand to grab me by the shoulder.
"I said, who do you belong to?!" he roared, the smell of sour wine wafting off him. "If you're a mute, I'll find a way to make you talk..."
In any other situation, I might have been terrified. This was the body of a child—weak and untrained. But my consciousness remained that of an adult who had read thousands of stories about battles, and inside me pulsed an energy capable of rewriting the laws of physics.
The moment his fingers almost touched my clothes, I didn't dodge. I simply willed it.
"Begone."
It wasn't a technique. I didn't weave signs or concentrate chakra into tenketsu. I simply pulled a thread of Ether inside me and directed the impulse outward.
BOOM!
The air between us exploded with an invisible wave. The soldier—a grown man in leather armor—was launched into the air like a ragdoll. He flew five meters and slammed into the trunk of an ancient oak with a sickening crunch. The spear slipped from his hands, and he slumped down the bark, his head lolling at an unnatural angle.
Silence. Only the leaves slowly drifted through the air, disturbed by the shockwave.
I looked at my palms. They weren't even shaking.
"Ether..." I whispered, a smile forming on its own. "No hand signs. No delay. Pure will, manifested into reality. This is even better than the Tenseigan."
I approached the fallen soldier. He was alive but completely unconscious. Judging by his labored breathing, he had a couple of broken ribs. Searching him (my conscience didn't bother me; these were harsh times), I found a small pouch of dull coins and a short dagger at his belt. I took the dagger—it was heavy for a child's hand, but better than nothing.
"Leaving him here is dangerous," I muttered. "When he wakes up, he'll tell stories of a 'demon child.' But killing... it's too early for that. Let him think a forest spirit kicked him."
I turned and went deeper into the forest, away from the path. I needed a safe place to deal with my main trump card: the Training Room.
Finding a small cave hidden by the roots of a massive tree, I crawled inside and sat in a lotus position.
"System, open Training Room."
The world flickered.
The damp cave vanished. The smell of rotting leaves was replaced by a sterile freshness, like ozone. I stood in the middle of an infinite white space, marked by a thin black grid stretching to the horizon.
A holographic interface floated directly in front of me.
[Training Room: Level 1] Owner: Vi Hiroshi Current Body Parameters: Child (6 years old). Physical Strength: F- Endurance: F Ether Control: D
Available Functions:
Opponent Simulation (Omniverse Database).
Environment Setup (Gravity, Terrain, Time).
Personal Stats.
I swallowed. An Omniverse Database. That meant I could summon anyone. From Goku to Thanos. But right now, with this child's body, even a common goose could be a problem if I didn't use Ether.
"I need to learn how to fight," I decided. "Ether is cool, but if I exhaust my supply or lose concentration, they'll gut me with a simple knife. I need a foundation. Taijutsu."
I clicked on the "Opponent Simulation" tab. A list of filters appeared. I selected:
Universe: Naruto.
Power Level: Academy.
Specialization: Taijutsu.
The list produced several names, but one caught my eye immediately.
[Might Guy (Age: 7)]
"Perfect," I smirked. "The future Red Beast who nearly ended history with one kick. At this age, he's still the underdog who can't use ninjutsu but works like a madman."
I pressed [Summon].
Ten meters away, particles of light coalesced into the figure of a boy in a green jumpsuit, sporting a shiny bowl cut and thick eyebrows. His eyes were vacant—this was just a simulated puppet programmed for combat.
"Combat Conditions: Until first death or surrender. Post-battle recovery: Instant. Time Ratio: 1 hour outside = 10 hours inside."
Ten hours inside for one hour outside? That's a cheat! In the ten years left until Kaguya, I'll live a century in here!
The simulation of Guy dropped into the "Goken" (Strong Fist) stance.
"Come at me!" I shouted, gripping the stolen dagger tighter.
Guy lunged. Fast! For a seven-year-old, he was damn fast. I tried to track his movement, but my child's body couldn't keep up with my mind.
A kick to the chest knocked all the air out of me. I flew backward, hitting the invisible floor hard. The pain was real.
"Damn..." I wheezed, trying to stand. "Without Ether, I'm just a bag of bones."
Guy didn't wait. He was already over me, pulling back a fist for a strike.
In that moment, I realized my primary task. I couldn't just rely on Ether as a cannon. I had to saturate every cell of this weak body with it. Use Ether for enhancement just like shinobi do with chakra—only many times more efficiently.
I closed my eyes a split second before the impact and channeled the flow of energy into my legs and arms.
"Ether Shroud: 1% output!"
My eyes snapped open, and my irises flashed with a violet light for a moment. The world around me seemed to slow down. Guy's fist was now moving as if through jelly.
I caught his arm.
"Now, let's dance, Beast of the Leaf," I grinned and delivered a counter-strike.