When the translucent notification surfaced before his eyes, Evan Kamiyo stopped dead in his tracks. The cold night air seemed to freeze in his lungs, and for a split second, his thoughts went blank.
[Ding!]
Chakra increase. Physical enhancement.
These were the steady, reliable standard rewards he had grown accustomed to over the past month. They were valuable—the bedrock of his survival—but they were familiar. A twenty-point boost was roughly what Evan earned after a grueling double shift at Konoha Hospital, stitching up the torn muscles of exhausted Chunin or soothing the frayed nerves of the village's active-duty scouts.
But the final reward… the one flickering in a faint, pulsating gold at the bottom of the list… it made his pulse hammer against his ribs.
[Reward: Pure Ashura Chakra (Fragment)]
Evan's expression turned deathly serious. He looked around instinctively, checking the shadows of the nearby alleyways, but the street remained empty save for the flickering orange light of the ramen shop behind them.
In the lore of this world, Ashura and Indra—the twin sons of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths—were the origin of all conflict. They had fought for generations beyond counting. One lifetime was never enough to settle their ideological divide. Even death couldn't end their rivalry; instead, their wills reincarnated through Chakra itself, clinging to the souls of those across history who shared their essence.
Every time these reincarnations appeared, the ninja world was thrown into a violent, world-shaping upheaval. Either Ashura overwhelmed Indra with the power of bonds and vitality, or Indra crushed Ashura with the cold elegance of his visual talent. There was never a peaceful outcome.
The previous generation's reincarnations stood as the absolute ceiling of the Shinobi era. With the Wood Release and an almost infinite well of life force, Senju Hashirama had defeated Uchiha Madara, even when the latter commanded the full, terrifying majesty of the Nine-Tails.
Historically, Ashura's reincarnations relied on sheer endurance—the ability to take a thousand hits and keep standing—augmented by the "Sage Body" and the cooperation of others.
Which meant one thing. By acquiring even a fragment of Pure Ashura Chakra, Evan had firmly placed one foot onto the path of a Super-Kage-level existence. He wasn't just a "medical ninja" anymore. He was becoming a vessel for the divine origin of Chakra itself.
He surreptitiously glanced at the system store, searching for the "Pure Ashura Chakra" item to gauge its true worth.
Price: 15,000 points.
"…That's absurd," Evan muttered under his breath. He had barely cracked a hundred points in a month of hard labor. The gap between his current standing and the "God" tier was a mountain he hadn't even begun to climb.
"Whoa! Evan! You can actually use ninjutsu! You're like... a wizard or something!"
Naruto's excited shout snapped him back to reality. The blonde boy was jumping up and down on the snowy pavement, staring at his own arm as if it were a strange new toy.
Because the Nine-Tails resided within him, Naruto's natural recovery was already abnormally fast—the beast's malicious but potent Chakra constantly knitted his skin back together. But it had never felt like this. The healing Evan had provided wasn't forced or painful; it was a gentle, warming sensation that felt like being wrapped in a sun-heated blanket.
Barely two seconds. And the bruising, the swelling, and the deep-seated fatigue of a day spent being chased and hungry were simply... gone.
"My only friend is amazing!" Naruto said, his blue eyes shining with a pure, unclouded admiration that hit Evan harder than any physical blow.
A gentle, slightly weary smile appeared on Evan's face. He reached out and ruffled Naruto's sun-colored hair, a gesture that made the boy beam even brighter.
"I'm still just a trainee, Naruto," he replied calmly, trying to downplay the miracle he had just performed. "If you get hurt again, or if you just feel like your stomach is touching your spine, come to Konoha Hospital in the mornings. I'll be there. Just ask for the kid who looks like he needs a nap."
"So strong!" Naruto's eyes sparkled, his imagination already running wild. "I've decided! When I become Hokage, you'll be the Director of the whole Hospital! No, the head of the whole village medical department! We'll have ramen every day for lunch!"
Evan laughed helplessly, the tension in his chest easing. "Then I'll be waiting for that day. You better start practicing your paperwork, though. Being Hokage isn't all ramen and capes."
"It's late!" Naruto said suddenly, looking up at the moon. "I've gotta go train! If I'm gonna be Hokage, I can't let a medical ninja get ahead of me! Next time, I'm the one treating you to barbecue!"
After Naruto dashed off, his orange jacket a blur against the white snow, Evan's expression turned thoughtful.
Pure Ashura Chakra. It wasn't a bloodline—not yet. It was pure energy, a fundamental building block of the soul. In his previous life, there had been endless debates about Naruto's forgiving nature and his near-unnatural capacity for empathy. Many fans believed it wasn't just a personality trait, but the literal influence of Ashura's "Yang" Chakra—an energy that sought harmony and connection above all else.
If that was true, Evan had to be careful. He didn't want his personality overwritten by an ancient ghost's ideology. He didn't want to become a "saint" who forgave everyone; he wanted to be a "doctor" who chose who to save.
Fortunately, the System was absolute. It stripped away the "will" of the Chakra, leaving only the raw, potent essence.
System, Evan thought, fusing the Ashura fragment. Now.
The moment the decision finalized, Evan felt his world tilt. His Chakra, which had been a steady, cool stream, suddenly surged violently. It was like a dormant volcano had just been granted a vent. His cells responded instantly, undergoing a deep, fundamental transformation at the molecular level.
A soothing, incandescent warmth spread from his heart to his fingertips. Fatigue vanished. His lungs seemed to double in capacity. Every breath of the cold winter air felt lighter, sweeter, and more saturated with life.
"Open status panel," he whispered.
The blue screen flickered to life, the numbers dancing before they settled into a terrifyingly high new baseline.
Name: Evan Kamiyo
Age: 4
Constitution: 35.3 (Sage Body Awakening: 22% complete)
Spirit: 20.3
Chakra: 1.1 Units (Standardized)
Skills:
Chakra Refinement Lv.2 (56/200) Throwing Technique Lv.4 (56/400) Great Fireball Technique Lv.3 (25/200) Transformation Technique Lv.3 (128/300)
Affinities: Wind, Thunder, Earth, Yang (Awakened)
Points: 103
Evaluation:
A physique that defies logic for your age. Exceptional Chakra quality. You have the foundations of a monster, though your combat experience is still that of a fledgling. In a direct fight, you might surprise a Chunin, but a Jonin would still end you in seconds.
Seeing the massive increase, Evan couldn't help but smile. His constitution had nearly doubled. In the ninja world, constitution didn't just mean "toughness"—it meant the speed of recovery, the density of muscle fibers, and the ability to withstand the strain of high-level Ninjutsu.
Even the way his Chakra was measured had shifted. Before, it was a vague number. Now, it had moved into a true universal unit of measurement.
After all, in his previous life, the fans joked that the ninja world only recognized two units of measurement:
The Kakashi — The unit for Chakra reserves (where 1 Kakashi is the baseline for an elite shinobi who is always tired). The Asuma — The unit for monetary value (representing the high price of a bounty).
At 1.1 units, Evan's reserves were already surpassing the average Genin who had trained for years. He was a four-year-old with the gas tank of a marathon runner.
"But Ashura Chakra's real strength isn't just volume," Evan murmured, walking back toward his home.
Raw Chakra meant nothing without the "Sage Body" to house it. The true value lay in the eventual completion of that body—natural, passive regeneration that would make Tsunade's Hundred Healings look like a bandage. He wouldn't need to weave signs to heal himself; his cells would simply refuse to stay broken.
He thought of Hashirama Senju. The man didn't just have a lot of Chakra; he had Chakra that was alive. He didn't need a medical kit because his very presence promoted growth.
"I wonder when I'll get a chance to get Indra Chakra from Sasuke…" Evan mused.
Human desire truly had no limits. He had just touched the legacy of a god and was already looking for the other half of the puzzle. But for now, he knew patience was his greatest weapon. The Uchiha clan was currently walking on a knife's edge, caught between the village's suspicion and their own pride. Sasuke was still a protected child of a noble clan, far more untouchable than the pariah Naruto.
He reached his home, went to his small study, and rolled out a new scroll he had "borrowed" from the hospital's archive of basic elemental theory: Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.
If the future demanded strength, he wouldn't build it with the desperate, clumsy hunger of an amateur. He would build it beautifully, with the precision of a surgeon and the overwhelming power of a legend.
He didn't want to fight like a brawler. He wanted to dominate the battlefield with the effortless grace of Madara Uchiha, while maintaining the unbreakable heart of Hashirama.
He sat down, the golden warmth of the Ashura fragment still huming in his veins, and began to mold his Chakra into the shape of the wind.