1991, New York City, USA, a pier on Manhattan Island.
A wicked transaction was taking place here.
Darkness should have been the only witness to this deal, but tonight, a third party was lurking.
High on the steel beams of the warehouse roof, a shadow, almost one with the night, coldly observed the two sides involved in the transaction.
Suddenly, the lights went out, and the warehouse, which had been brightly lit, was plunged into complete darkness.
"Water Style: Great Shark Bullet Technique!"
A voice, sounding incredibly young, echoed from above them.
The sudden sound of something breaking through the air was like a rapidly moving object plummeting downwards.
Accompanied by the sounds of collisions and splashing water, a short, sharp scream erupted from the crowd below, only to be cut off abruptly.
The muzzle flashes briefly illuminated the scene inside the warehouse, but when they looked up, they saw no sign of their enemies.
"Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Along with this strange shout came an even larger surge of water.
After that, various exasperated voices filled the warehouse.
A black shadow darted back and forth inside the warehouse.
The dock warehouse went from a flurry of gunfire to only a few sporadic shots, then back to silence, all within a matter of minutes.
The warehouse door slowly opened, and a young man walked out.
The moonlight gently spilled across his face, softly outlining his perfect features.
In the dim light, the young man's long, black eyelashes fluttered, and his mismatched eyes emitted an eerie glow in the darkness.
Just as he was about to leave, the young man paused, his gaze fixed on a sports car outside the warehouse.
A moment later, the roar of the engine faded into the distance, leaving only a scene of desolation on the dock.
Shortly after the young man departed, two transparent figures suddenly materialized from the air in the empty space beside the warehouse.
"It seems young Kyle is quite energetic. What do you think, Newt?" The old man with the long white beard looked at his companion and said with a smile.
The old man called Newt slowly replied, "Without any instruction, he's already mastered such a profound spellcasting technique as wandless magic, and he has even created a few interesting spells. I think Hogwarts will be lively soon."
The white-bearded old man seemed very pleased with Newt's assessment, and his tone became somewhat proud: "After all, he has some Dumbledore family blood running through his veins."
Hearing Dumbledore's self-praise, Newt mercilessly exposed him. "He doesn't even have the last name Dumbledore."
Dumbledore's face fell. "Come on, Kyle is practically my son!"
Newt thought for a moment, then delivered another blow, right to Dumbledore's heart.
"Sent to the Orphanage, and then lost your son?"
Dumbledore was furious, and decided not to discuss anything related to Kyle's background with Newt anymore.
"Let's go! We're going to pick up Kyle!" With a loud boom, Dumbledore instantly vanished from where he stood.
Immediately afterward, Newt's figure also disappeared, leaving only the sound of approaching sirens echoing over the docks.
A sports car sped along under the moonlight, its engine roaring, the sound echoing on the deserted highway.
Soon, the car entered an abandoned factory in Brooklyn and came to a stop on a level surface.
Kyle, sitting in the driver's seat, slowly formed several hand seals.
"Earth Style: Earth Core!"
The ground beneath the car slowly sank, like the lift of a multi-story parking garage.
In fact, it was indeed a lift, but driven by "Chakra."
The lift finally stopped in a spacious underground space.
This was the underground base where Kyle had lived for five years.
After parking the car, the piece of land above, under the control of the Earth Style: Earth Core ninjutsu, rose again until it was flush with the ground above, showing no trace of anything unusual, before coming to a halt.
Kyle picked up the briefcase from the passenger seat and walked to an iron door, which led to his actual living space.
The base was fully equipped with living necessities and recreational and fitness facilities, making it extremely luxurious.
Deeper underground, there were several generators continuously providing electricity to the base.
A smile appeared on Kyle's face as he looked at the fruits of his labor.
Over the past five years, he had unknowingly accumulated so much wealth.
Kyle placed his spoils from tonight on the table in the center of the living room and began to examine his haul.
Looking at the stacks of Franklin in the briefcase, a bright smile bloomed on Kyle's face. This was his most fruitful harvest in the five years since he left the Orphanage.
That's right, Kyle was an orphan. Theoretically, he should be in the Orphanage or at the home of someone who adopted him.
However, besides being an orphan, Kyle had another identity: a transmigrator from China.
A bolt of lightning had directly zapped him across worlds.
When he woke up again, he was a one-year-old kid, and it was 1980.
Later, after roughly understanding the world through newspapers, he found that it wasn't much different from the world he had lived in before, except the timeline was slightly earlier.
Originally, he planned to develop peacefully in the Orphanage. Once he was capable of earning his first pot of gold, he would leverage his understanding of future societal developments to become a winner in life.
However, this plan went awry when he was six years old.
Kyle was shocked to discover that he seemed to be a superpowered individual.
That day, a feeling of electricity suddenly surged through his body, and the energy uncontrollably poured out.
When he came to his senses, the area around him was a mess.
Fortunately, no one was present when he awakened. He quickly cleaned up the scene, pretending nothing had happened.
After many clandestine attempts, Kyle, who had devoured web novels and anime in his previous life, finally found a way to roughly control and utilize the energy within him, drawing from what he'd read before.
It was hand gestures, or rather – hand seals.
Uh… so his cheat ability is Chakra?
To avoid his abnormality being discovered by those around him, and also to have a place where he could practice his abilities, Kyle left the Orphanage. He ultimately chose an abandoned factory in Brooklyn as his base.
During the day, he would practice the Naruto Ninjutsu and Taijutsu he remembered inside the factory.
At night, for the sake of making ends meet, Kyle would go fishing on the streets, hoping some careless hoodlum would be kind enough to donate their money to him.
The strangeness of the ninjutsu gave Kyle the ability to easily defeat an ordinary adult. Punishing some street thugs was no problem at all.
After years of exploration and training, Kyle had now mastered some relatively basic Water Style and Earth Style ninjutsu.
As for the Water Style: Great Shark Bullet Technique and Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave he'd just used, those names were completely made up. Their actual power was probably only at the level of C-Rank Ninjutsu.
And this secret underground hideout was something he'd built using Earth Style ninjutsu, spending a lot of energy and time on it.
Because of his improved combat ability, Kyle's "ATM" had also leveled up from small-time hoodlums to more dangerous gang members. After all, he couldn't squeeze much out of the former, while the latter…
The briefcase of Franklin in front of Kyle now proved just how lucrative they were.
After roughly counting the night's haul, Kyle tossed the pile of Franklin on the table into the nearby safe.
But just as he was about to close the safe door, he heard an unusual sound—the sound of the Chakra-powered elevator in the hideout being activated.
Notice: Most of the ninjutsu in this book have been changed back to their original names.
If there are any remaining omissions, please contact me in the comments section to correct them.
(End of Chapter)