I think about what happened and I remember the blue light from my computer screen and the steady beat of a Naruto Lofi mix. I was twenty-six years old a fan of anime who spent my days talking about how strong characters are on the internet and my nights watching videos to forget about my boring office job.
My back hurt all the time my eyes felt tired. I always worried, about when the next part of the manga would come out. Naruto Lofi mixes were my thing to listen to and I loved reading Naruto manga.
Then this cold and heavy feeling hit me right in the chest. It felt like my heart had become a heavy rock. The room started to spin around the screen, in front of me became a messy blur of bright colors and then everything just went completely black. The darkness that came after that was total.
I woke up. The first thing I smelled was dust. It was really strong. It reminded me of old linens that had not been washed in a long time. The smell of dust and old unwashed linens was, around me.
My first instinct was to reach for my phone. My arm felt really short. When I tried to sit up my head hurt much. It was not a bad headache it was like someone was trying to put a big map in my brain and it did not fit. My brain felt too small, for all this pain.
I fell back onto the mattress and I was gasping for air. I saw things that did not belong to me. I saw a woman who was wearing a grey habit. I also saw a bowl of porridge. The images of faces that were carved into the side of a mountain that was far away were really scary. The faces on the mountain were a disturbing thing to see and the image of the woman in a grey habit was also very vivid, in my mind. The cold porridge was another thing that I saw. It was all very confusing.
Konoha.
"I am in Naruto " I whispered. My voice sounded really weak and high. I quickly sat up. Looked at my hands. My hands were small. The fingers were short and pale. They had scratches, on them from playing in the dirt. I was a kid. I was probably six or seven years old.
Panic was cold and it felt sharp it was like something was clawing at my throat. I knew this world. I knew what it was like. This world was not a fun place to be it was a place where people got hurt. Being an orphan in Konoha during the Third Shinobi War was very bad. It was like being given a death sentence. You were not a hero in this place you were a normal person and you were going to die in a bad way like, in an explosion or something just so another character could remember something from their past.
I was getting really scared. My breathing was getting out of control. Then I saw a little flash of light behind my eyes.
[Template System Initializing...]
A weird see through wheel showed up in the part of my mind. It was split into a lot of small shiny pieces. My breath stopped for a second. This was my life insurance policy. I was thinking about my life insurance policy. How it was like this strange wheel, with all these tiny parts that made it work.
The wheel started to spin. It was really spinning around in a circle. The wheel was spinning fast. I was watching the wheel spin. The wheel kept spinning and spinning.
I thought to myself please do not let me be a person. I do not want to be someone who's not important. As the wheel spun around fast I saw names go by that made me feel sick to my stomach. I saw the name Ichiya from Fairy Tail. I saw Mumen Rider. I even saw the name Mr. Satan for a second. If I got one of these people I would be in trouble. I would be the person who tried to fight a Jonin with a kick and I would end up getting hurt real bad real quick.
The wheel slowed down. It made a clicking sound. Click. Click. Click. The sound of the wheel was really loud. It just kept going, click, click, click like that.
The needle passed a sliver. Then it ticked past an one. My heart was really, in my throat as the needle hovered over a grey section that said Mineta from MHA.
"No, no, no, move! Just one more!"
The wheel gave one turn and stopped on a tiny piece that was a really bright red color. The wheel had one tick and then it landed on this little piece that was shining with a deep red glow. The color was so red it looked like it was, on fire. The wheel stopped moving. The little piece of red was all that you could see.
I have chosen the template for Benimaru Shinmon, from the Fire Force series.
[Initial Synchronization: 1.0%]
The feeling of relief was really strong. It made me feel like I was going to choke. Benimaru. He is called the King of Destruction. In a world where lots of people can use fire I had just gotten the possible person to fight against them. I felt a lot of heat coming from, inside me. It made my skin feel funny. It did not feel like my skin was burning it felt like I had just drunk a gulp of sunlight.
The door, to the room made a noise and slowly opened. The room door creaked open.
Leo are you awake? I just heard a noise that sounded like something fell it was a loud thud.
I looked up. Sister Nanako was standing in the doorway. She looked really tired her face showed all the stress she was under from trying to feed Sister Nanakos forty kids on a budget that was tight because of the war. Sister Nanako quickly came over to me. She put her cool hand on my forehead her hand was rough, from hard work.
"Oh my goodness " she said slowly. "You are really hot. Is it the fever again? I told the Hokages office that the village needs medicine for people, like you who are sick. The Hokages office should have sent medicine by now."
I looked up. Sister Nanako stood in the doorway. She looked exhausted, her face lined with the stress of trying to feed forty mouths on a wartime budget. She rushed to my side, pressing a cool, calloused hand to my forehead.
"Oh, heavens," she breathed. "You're burning up. Is it the fever again? I told the Hokage's office we needed more medicine..."
I looked at her, and for a second, I felt a pang of guilt. She saw a sick child. I saw a world about to be set on fire. The way she smelled of cheap soap and onions—it was too real to be a dream.
"I'm... I'm okay," I managed to say. "Just a headache."
"You collapsed, Leo," she said with weary pity. "Tomorrow is the Academy entrance. If you're too sick, they won't take you. Maybe... maybe that would be for the best. The war is so cruel."
I felt a bone-deep arrogance stir within me—the Benimaru side. A refusal to be pitied.
"I'm going," I said, my voice firmer than a six-year-old's should be. "I'm fine, Sister."
She let out a sigh. Then she went to get me some broth. I used the time to think about the Leo files. My parents were regular people who sold things and they got killed by some people from Hidden Cloud. I do not feel anything about what happened to my parents. I do not have any brothers or sisters. I do not have any grandparents who are sad about what happened. The Leo files are still on my mind. I am like a piece of paper, with nothing written on it the Leo files are all I have to think about.
This was really a thing. Nobody was going to notice that I was sitting differently. Nobody was going to ask why the old Leo did not behave like this.
I had dinner. It was not very good. It was a bowl of cabbage water that was not even warm and some bread that was so hard it felt like a brick. I sat at the end of a table that was all splintered and falling apart.
I looked at the other orphans who were eating with me. The orphans were really skinny. They looked really scared. I thought about it. I did not know the names of any of the orphans.
That night I was lying in my cot. I stared at the dark ceiling, above me. The ceiling was really dark. I kept staring at the ceiling.
I focused back on the flickering screen in my mind. I needed to understand the rules.
[Synchronization Progression:]
Physical Training: Increase strength and endurance to host the Template's power. (0.1% per milestone)
Thematic Combat: Win battles using the Template's style. (0.5% - 2% depending on difficulty)
Mimicry: Acting in accordance with the Template's personality and philosophy. (Variable)
I leaned back against the cold stone wall. One percent. At one percent, I was basically a kid who could run a bit faster and maybe produce enough sparks to light a campfire. But it was a start.
The Third War was at its peak. Minato Namikaze was out there somewhere making a name for himself. The Uchiha were still the proud police force of the village. And tomorrow, I would step into the Academy as a nameless orphan.
I had a choice to make. I could just stay quiet and hide until I got stronger that is what most people in my place would do.
However the System told me that Mimicry is important, for synchronization. Benimaru did not hide he was a King. If I acted like a coward I would never be able to unlock the fire that Mimicry and the System are talking about.
I told myself that I should not be a ninja. I need to be a leader. A leader is what I want to be. The idea of being a ninja is really cool. I think being a leader is more important, for me. I want to be a leader.
I was not going to be a mouthed idiot but I would not be a shadow either. I would be Shimon Leo. This name is a mix of two names for a kind of power. I would be a person who's confident, sharp and I would not back down. I would be Shimon Leo, a person, with a personality.
I closed my eyes. A smirk started to form on my lips. Tomorrow is the day I will be going to school. That is not all I will be doing. Tomorrow I will be staking my claim at the school. I really want to see who is in my year at school. Is Shisui there is Kakashi there.
It does not matter to me who is there. I have this feeling in my stomach it is, like a red flame and it is waiting for me to make it bigger.
"Tomorrow" I said to the room, in a quiet voice."Tomorrow is a new day and a new start"
Authors note
Hello guys this is the first chapter of my novel and I know it's not perfect but I can assure you that I will improve. "Progress not perfection" but do leave a comment if you see a mistake give me some reviews and some powerstones.