"What a hellish experience! I swear, I love traveling to parallel universes, but I hate soul-crossing!"
A pale golden mote pierced through distorted space and time, dropping like a falling star into a village surrounded by dense forest.
The village was in chaos.
Buildings lay half-collapsed, fires still smoldered, and the air was thick with dust, blood, and chakra residue that hadn't yet dispersed. Cries of grief echoed faintly in the distance, mixed with hurried commands and the sound of running footsteps.
That speck of light was Noah.
Or rather-Noah's soul.
A soul, when stripped of a physical shell, naturally reshaped itself according to its owner's will and self-perception. Since Noah was smuggling himself into a universe with a completely alien power system, he had gone out of his way to make his soul look as inconspicuous as possible.
No radiant wings.
No cosmic pressure.
No abyssal dragon shadow.
Just a weak, newborn spark-barely brighter than a candle flame.
He had done everything right.
And yet...
"I still feel like I've been stuffed through a meat grinder," Noah muttered internally. "Next time I promise myself I'm finding a way to physically cross over."
If there even was a next time.
After making his promise to Hermione, Noah had first returned her safely to Earth, then immediately checked the situation at Kamar-Taj.
The reforms were progressing.
Slowly-but correctly.
The curiosity of the sorcerers had predictably slowed everything down, yet none of them had crossed the line. They recorded what they couldn't yet understand, sealed dangerous insights for later review, and pushed forward with discipline.
That alone was enough to satisfy Noah.
If they had truly started fooling around at a time like this, he might have lost his temper.
After confirming that Kamar-Taj was stable, Noah had personally informed Wong and Mordo that he would be leaving for an important task and might be gone for some time.
The reaction had been... intense.
Both Master Mages were visibly unhappy.
Only when Noah mentioned that the Ancient One herself would temporarily return did their opposition collapse almost instantly.
That reaction still amused Noah.
Even now, after everything, the Ancient One's presence still felt more reliable to them than his own.
Not insulting-just honest.
At least they still had some conscience; once the shock passed, they stopped arguing and began worrying about his safety instead.
After all, Noah was now the legitimate Sorcerer Supreme.
If something happened to him, it wouldn't just be personal-it would be catastrophic.
Noah, for his part, had always prioritized survival.
Which was exactly why he had sought Odin out one last time before leaving.
The All-Father's words echoed clearly in his mind.
"You are already a Tenth Rank existence. Even if you are killed, your soul will not perish."
"And I will imprint my power upon you. When your task is complete, activate it. I will find you."
That reassurance alone had allowed Noah to take this risk.
Now, drifting above the ruined streets of the Hidden Leaf Village, Noah assessed his condition.
As Odin had said, nearly all of his power was sealed.
No mana circulation.
No domains.
No space-time authority.
Only the faint remnants of Holy Light and Darkness hidden within his eyes-powers that transcended dimensional rules and therefore could not be fully stripped away.
Everything else?
Gone.
Useless.
Even the four elements behaved differently here; they existed, but were bound to this world's chakra-based logic rather than mana. For now, they were effectively inaccessible.
Thankfully...
The System was still there.
That alone was a blessing.
With the System, Noah could analyze, adapt, and rebuild-slowly reconstructing his former strength through this universe's rules.
As he stabilized his presence, Noah finally lifted his awareness and looked outward.
His soul froze.
"...Is that..."
Far away, an immense, violent aura roared skyward-wild, furious, and ancient.
Nine distinct tails of hatred and chakra lashed against the sky.
"...The Nine-Tails?"
Noah's mouth twitched.
"My luck really is something else."
He hadn't watched this anime in decades. His reborn life had been deeply rooted in Western worlds, and although he knew the East held terrifying existences, he had deliberately avoided it.
Island nations were especially dangerous.
You never knew when you'd bump into a random high schooler with absurd power scaling.
"I seem to remember..." Noah thought, "the Nine-Tails was sealed by the Fourth Hokage using the Reaper Death Seal, right?"
Before he could finish the thought-
The aura vanished.
Completely.
"...Ah."
Noah paused, then sighed.
"Timing, as always, is impeccable."
He didn't dwell on it.
Whether the Reaper Death Seal existed or not was secondary.
What truly mattered here was that technique.
Reanimation Jutsu.
A method of forcibly dragging souls back from death, binding them to the living world.
From a metaphysical standpoint alone, it was priceless.
"That alone makes this trip worth it," Noah decided.
Now, the immediate problem was survival.
He needed an identity.
And thanks to the Nine-Tails' rampage, the village was filled with tragedy-collapsed homes, broken families, lives cut short.
It was... convenient.
Noah carefully avoided certain clans.
The Uchiha were a terrible idea-especially now.
The Hyuga? Even worse. Too much focus on physical combat.
He needed a civilian identity. Quiet. Unremarkable.
Soon, he found it.
A small household, likely merchants or craftsmen.
The house was half-destroyed.
The father was pinned beneath debris-clearly dead.
The mother lay nearby, missing an arm, her life already gone.
And between them...
An infant.
Recently deceased.
Noah hovered for a moment, silent.
"I really hate doing this," he thought.
But occupying a living body was out of the question.
This... was the best option.
"Fortunately," Noah murmured inwardly, "I still have Holy Light."
Golden radiance spread softly.
The infant's body twitched.
Breath returned.
The heart began to beat.
But the soul did not.
As Noah expected, the child's soul had already passed beyond the threshold.
The body was alive-but empty.
Footsteps echoed outside.
Voices approached.
"There's something here too! Get inside and check quickly!"
"Yes, sir!"
Noah didn't hesitate.
The pale golden light condensed.
In the next instant, his soul merged seamlessly into the infant's body.
The world exploded into sensation.
Cold air.
Pain.
Sound.
Weight.
A sharp cry tore from his throat-instinctive, unavoidable.
A baby's cry.
The door burst open.
"There's a survivor!"
"An infant-alive!"
"Quickly, get him out of here!"
Wrapped in rough cloth and unfamiliar warmth, Noah felt himself lifted.
As consciousness settled and the foreign chakra system brushed against his senses for the first time, Noah closed his eyes.
Hidden Leaf Village...
Konoha...
"...All right," he thought calmly.
"Let's start from zero."