Meka was still in a daze.
His mind spun in a dozen directions, each thought tripping over the other. A minute ago, he'd been staring at a floating blue system screen, trying to process the words "Kiss a Shinobi within 6 hours or die." Now he was standing by a lake in a world that shouldn't exist.
Reality—or whatever counted as reality now—was still sinking in when—
Push!
He stumbled forward, nearly losing balance.
A voice, sharp and full of life, called from behind him.
"What are you doing here, Meka?!"
He turned, blinking in surprise.
Standing there was a girl with long crimson hair that shimmered under the sunlight. Her expression was a mix of annoyance and concern, and her bright violet eyes were unmistakable.
Meka froze.
"Wait… red hair, violet eyes… no way."
Before he could finish the thought, the girl marched up and grabbed his hand.
"Come on! Let's go home. I made soup and I've been waiting forever. Let's eat before it gets cold!"
Meka's brain short-circuited.
He was being pulled along by Kushina Uzumaki. His favorite character's mother. Except—she looked way younger. A teenager. Energetic, impulsive, alive.
His voice cracked as he tried to respond."I–I'm really happy to see you like this…"
She laughed, flashing that same fiery grin he'd seen in old Naruto flashbacks.
"Hehe, my silly little brother's getting sentimental again."
And before he could react—thud!
Her fist drove into his stomach. Not too hard, but enough to make him bend slightly and cough.
"That's for making me wait so long!"
Still clutching his stomach, Meka's mind reeled even faster."Little brother…?"
Wait. Brother?
"I don't remember Kushina ever having a brother," he thought, half-running to keep up with her. "Is this because I'm here? Did my arrival… change something in the timeline?"
Then another realization hit him. When the system appeared earlier, it had shown his name as Uzumaki Meka.
He nearly burst out laughing mid-run. "So I'm Kushina's brother…? Naruto's uncle?! How cool is that!"
By the time he finished mentally celebrating, they'd reached a small wooden house nestled near the edge of a clearing. Smoke curled gently from its chimney. Kushina slipped off her sandals and pushed open the door with a familiar casualness.
Meka lingered outside for a moment, looking around.
From where he stood, he could see the distant outline of a village surrounded by towering walls—the Hidden Leaf. The Hokage Mountain stood tall in the distance, the faces still incomplete.
His chest swelled with excitement."I'm actually here… This is real. I'm living in the Naruto world!"
Then the excitement drained from his face as his eyes caught the glowing system window floating beside him.
Task Reminder:Kiss a female shinobi within 6 hours.
Penalty:Death.
He stared at it, frozen. "Kiss a shinobi… or die. Six hours…"
His eyes flicked toward the house, where Kushina's voice was calling out cheerfully for him to come eat.
"…She's technically a shinobi," he muttered. "But… she's calling me little brother!"
A moral crisis hit him like a Rasengan to the chest."If I don't complete this, I die. But if I do it… does that make me a degenerate?"
He paced back and forth, gripping his head. "I'm not really her brother. I'm just… borrowing his body. I'm from another world!"
For a long minute, Meka just stood there, wrestling with his conscience, trying to reason with the invisible moral committee in his head.
Then he exhaled sharply, looking toward the house again."…Screw it. If this world's logic starts with death-by-kissing-deadline, then morality clearly took a vacation."
He straightened his robes, took a deep breath, and muttered to himself—"Operation: Kiss-for-Survival begins now."