Chapter 1: Dana
The world swam into focus as a swirl of blurry lights and shadows. A dull roar echoed around him, the sound of a dozen people cheering, yet it was distorted and distant.
It felt as if his ears were plugged with a warm, thick liquid, muffling everything into a confusing buzz.
What's going on? he thought in a panic. Am I losing my hearing and sight now, too?
Fear gripped him. Li Da had been bedridden for years, a rare form of spinal cancer arresting his life at the age of twenty-five. In just two short years, he had withered from a healthy young man into a helpless invalid, a mummy with no sensation below his neck.
He had been living on borrowed time, each day a struggle, but he never thought of giving up. His sight and hearing had remained sharp, his only windows to the world, the very anchors of his will to live. They allowed him to still see the world, to hear it.
If he went blind and deaf, there would be no reason to hold on.
As his mind raced, he felt himself being lifted. A sudden cold washed over his body, contrasted by the dry, warm hands that held him. It was then he realized his own body felt… wrong. Small. His vision was still a blur, but miraculously, his hearing began to clear.
He could finally make out the words being spoken around him:
"Congratulations, Lord A, it's another young master."
Japanese? The realization struck him. So, I've been reincarnated...
Thankfully, he understood a little.
Does that mean my other self finally died back in that world? It wasn't surprising. He had been fading away, day by day. He'd signed up for hospice care; hopefully, they found his body in time.
A wave of disorientation washed over him, quickly replaced by a surge of pure ecstasy.
To be honest, this was a definite win. It was a small shame he wasn't reborn in his homeland, but the chance to live again was a piece of luck beyond compare.
This time, Li Da didn't ask for much. Good health was all he wanted. The final years of his illness had taught him the true depths of suffering. For him, this transmigration was a miracle greater than winning the lottery. It was a complete rebirth.
I can be poor, I can struggle, I'll even accept being ugly and dumb, he thought, quickly steadying his emotions. In this life, please, just let me be healthy...
He strained to look at the figure holding him. All he could make out was dark-brown skin and a wild mane of pale-yellow hair. Though his vision was fuzzy, he could still discern the man's powerful, sculpted muscles. A strange thought popped into his head. Quite the look. And he speaks Japanese?
Is this some Japanese-dubbed wuxia drama? The guy holding me wouldn't happen to be the Golden Lion King, would he?
My father in this life is named "A"? What a weird name. It sounds like...
Just then, his tiny body convulsed uncontrollably. Tiny arcs of blue electricity flickered to life around him, crackling softly before striking the large hand that held him. His new father didn't seem hurt at all. He just paused, his expression turning serious. Li Da himself hadn't felt a thing.
A sharp glint appeared in the giant's eyes as he muttered to himself, "Could it be a Kekkei Genkai? One belonging to the Yotsuki clan?"[1][2]
The man inspected Li Da's entire body. When he turned the baby over to look at his back, the excitement in his eyes slowly faded.
There, on the infant's back, a small spinal column was outlined by a network of faint purple blood vessels. It stretched unnervingly from his tailbone to the base of his skull. The sight was bizarre, clearly a sign of something unhealthy.
The giant—who was almost certainly his father—spoke again, his tone strange. His words nearly made Li Da's newborn mind shatter.
"A Kekkei Genkai disease? Or maybe something else."
At that moment, the delivery room door opened. A beautiful woman with a pale face, supported by a maidservant, walked out. She must have overheard A, because her eyes filled with disbelief.
"Honey, how could it be a Kekkei Genkai disease? Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Neither of them knew the child in the swaddling clothes could understand them, but Li Da was terrified.
Kekkei Genkai disease? This is the world of Naruto?!
Oh, for crying out loud! This world is dangerous enough, and I come with a built-in terminal illness? Is it really so hard to just live a healthy life? Li Da had followed the Naruto series, though it had been a long time. He'd caught up on the later plot points through short videos and fanfiction. The moment "Kekkei Genkai disease" was mentioned, he immediately thought of Kimimaro, the kid Orochimaru brainwashed who died in his teens.[3][4]
Others with bloodline sicknesses had all met miserable ends. In the shinobi world, a Kekkei Genkai disease was practically a death sentence, with an extremely high mortality rate and an incredibly low chance of being cured. It meant you wouldn't live to see adulthood.[5]
Dammit! Li Da's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. He frantically began to search his memories, trying to piece together every fragmented bit of Naruto lore he could recall, desperate to find a glimmer of hope for a healthy future.
A looked down at the infant in his arms, who had suddenly stopped crying (he was, in fact, busy recalling plot points), and sighed. He handed the child to a nearby servant woman, intending to comfort his wife.
Suddenly, another crackle of electricity sparked from Li Da's body. A small arc of lightning struck the servant holding him. Again, Li Da felt nothing, but the woman cried out as if she'd been struck by a heavy blow and stumbled backward. Li Da was tossed into the air. Fortunately, A's reflexes were lightning-fast, and he caught his son just before he hit the ground.[6]
Li Da nearly had his life as a reincarnator end with a splat on the floor.
The servant collapsed, a pained expression on her face. She struggled to get up, her limbs refusing to obey her commands.
A rushed over to check on her. She wasn't in mortal danger, but he was all too familiar with the paralyzing effects of an electric shock.
"He can already injure an ordinary person right after birth? This child... is he a blessing or a curse?"
One was a bloodline limit, the other a bloodline disease. A world of difference lay in that single word.
After consoling his wife, A turned and gave an order.
"Summon the clan elders. And keep this matter confidential."
In an instant, several shinobi appeared before A, kneeling on one knee to receive their orders before vanishing as quickly as they came.
Li Da sat lost in thought on the steps of his home. A short distance away, a group of children were playing, but none of them dared to come near him. They would occasionally steal a glance in his direction, only to quickly look away.
"Geez... what an unlucky kid," Li Da muttered to himself.
"Young Master Dada, it is time for dinner." A gentle-voiced maidservant in a kimono stopped a few feet behind him.
"Okay, Ume-neechan," Li Da replied, patting the dust off his pants. He stood up decisively and walked into the luxurious mansion behind him.
A gentle smile touched the corners of the maid's lips, but she carefully maintained her distance as she watched three-year-old Dana walk into the courtyard by himself.
That's right. He had been reincarnated into the world of Naruto. He was now in Kumogakure, the Village Hidden by Clouds, in the Land of Lightning. His name was Yotsuki Dana, the second son of the Third Raikage.[6][7] And at present, he was your standard-issue toddler.
The name "Dana" had a special meaning, but most people called him by his nickname, Dada.
The moment he realized he was in the Naruto world, Li Da thought, Great, I know this place. I've got this.
The only problem was, he hadn't landed in the familiar territory of Konoha, but in Kumogakure.
Here, there were no characters he knew inside and out, whose personalities, strengths, and futures he could predict. There were no major plot events to help him establish a timeline, no opportunities to piggyback on the main story and pick up advantages.
His initial edge had been severely blunted. Furthermore, he'd been born early in the timeline. The First Great Ninja War had ended only a decade or so ago. Besides his father, his older brother, and a retainer named Dodai, he didn't recognize a single soul in the entire village.
Dana wasn't too broken up about not being born in Konoha. Getting a second life was already a massive win, let alone one in the world of Naruto where he had the chance to wield extraordinary power.
Besides, Konoha was no charity. Peel back its smiling facade, and you'd find something rotten at the core.
Through a few years of observation, Dana discovered that Kumogakure was different from what he'd imagined. Or rather, the original story had only shown the tip of the iceberg.