"No… please, let me go…"
"…"
The sounds of stifled sobbing and the rhythmic, tortured creak of old furniture drilled into Cian's skull, pulling him from the void.
Who is it? Making such a racket this early…
He frowned, instinct urging him to roll over and bury his head in a pillow, but his body refused to obey. It felt shattered, every joint screaming in protest, heavy as lead.
Then, the pain hit—sharp, jagged shards of memory that did not belong to him forced their way into his mind.
Hyuga Aokawa.
Konoha. The Hyuga Branch House.
Mother: Deceased in the line of duty.
Father: Alive. Grandmother: Alive.
What the hell?
My stocks tanked, and the shock sent me straight into the chaotic world of Naruto?
"Let me go…"
The woman's voice came again, hoarse with exhaustion and terror.
This time, the fog in Aokawa's mind cleared enough to place the sound. The rhythmic squealing of wood… it was coming from the very bed he was lying on.
?
Oh god.
Adrenaline spiked, piercing through the paralysis. He wasn't suffering from sleep paralysis; he was in a waking nightmare.
He fought to lift his eyelids. They felt weighted with sand, fluttering open just a crack.
The world was a blur of low light and shadows. Beside him, a pale, slender figure was propped up, her body trembling. The scent of fear—sharp sweat and subtle perfume—assaulted his nose. He felt a hand press against his clothes, fingers digging in, gripping tighter with every jolt of the bed frame.
The old wooden structure groaned, threatening to collapse under the strain.
Aokawa's confusion curdled into horror.
Did I transmigrate into a... questionable parody?
He forced his eyes to focus, willing the pixelated blur to sharpen.
Vision returned slowly. First, the pale skin of the woman beside him, her clothes torn and disheveled. Then, her face. She was weeping, tears tracking through dust and grime like rain on a pear blossom. Her lower lip was bitten raw, white with the effort of suppressing her cries.
As Aokawa's eyes fully opened, she noticed.
A flicker of shock—and desperate hope—lit up her tear-filled eyes. Her lips moved silently, shaping words without sound.
Save… you?
Aokawa read the plea on her mouth. Confusion warred with instinct. He shifted his gaze past her, following the line of her trembling shoulder to the figure looming behind her.
Through the tangle of her hair, he saw him.
A mountain of a man. Bald, with a thick, unkempt beard that swallowed the lower half of his face. Muscles coiled under his skin like braided steel, glistening with sweat. His hand, massive as a cattail fan, rose and fell, striking the woman with casual, brutal rhythm.
Snap.
Aokawa's brain went white with recognition. His heart missed a beat, then hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. His pupils contracted to pinpoints.
This wasn't a stranger. The memory surfaced, drenched in blood.
His predecessor—the original Aokawa—had been on a mission near the border. Three seniors: one Chunin captain, two Genin.
They had been intercepted by villagers begging for help against a rogue ninja terrorizing the area—raping, killing, pillaging.
The Chunin captain, confident in his rank, accepted the request.
It was a slaughter.
Three against one, and the Konoha shinobi were butchered like livestock. The rogue ninja was a monster. The captain died first. The original Aokawa, young and terrified, had hidden in the rear, but he hadn't escaped. He was cut down, left for dead in a pool of his own blood.
This woman had found him. She had dragged his dying body to this cabin to hide him.
And now, the monster had returned. He had followed the trail of blood.
Panic, cold and suffocating, clawed at Aokawa's throat. He forced his breathing to slow, fighting the urge to hyperventilate.
Think. You have to think to live.
He scanned the cramped room. The door and the only window were behind the burly man. The exit was blocked.
This man had slaughtered a Chunin and two Genin without breaking a sweat. He was at least an elite Chunin, possibly a Tokubetsu Jonin. A specialist.
And Aokawa? He was a freshly transmigrated soul in a broken body, possessing zero mastery over the Gentle Fist. Charging in now wouldn't be a fight; it would be a "buy one, get one free" funeral special.
Damn it. It's hopeless.
"You're awake?"
The voice was like gravel grinding on bone.
Aokawa's nerves screamed. Instinct took over where logic failed. He rolled off the bed just as the air whistled.
Thunk!
A kunai buried itself into the mattress, right where his chest had been a second ago.
He scrambled to his feet, legs wobbling, desperate to dash past the man toward the door.
But he was too slow.
A thick, hairy leg lashed out from behind the woman, moving with blur-inducing speed. It caught Aokawa in the gut.
The force was immense.
Bang!
Aokawa flew backward, slamming into the timber wall with a sickening crunch before sliding to the floor.
"Stay there, brat. I'll deal with you in a minute. Hahaha!" The man's laugh was wet and cruel.
The woman, seeing Aokawa broken against the wall, turned her face away, unable to watch.
Aokawa lay crumpled on the floor. His ribs felt like shattered glass; his internal organs burned. The impact had rattled his brain, scattering his thoughts.
Lines of text flickered in his vision—hallucinations brought on by the concussion? He tried to focus on them, but they dissolved into static.
"Bad man… let go of Mama!"
A shrill, childish cry cut through the room.
Aokawa's head snapped toward the sound. A toddler, no more than two or three years old, had rushed forward. Her tiny hands gripped the man's leg hair, pulling with all her might, trying to drag the beast away from her mother.
She was there the whole time.
He must have been stepping on her… that's why the woman was so compliant.
"Tch…" The man hissed, wincing.
Despite his strength, having a handful of leg hair ripped out by the roots was a sharp, stinging pain.
"You little brat! You want to die that badly?!"
The man's eyes bulged with sudden rage. He reached down, snatching the girl by her arm and hurling her through the air toward the sharp corner of the wooden table.
"NO!" The woman screamed, a sound of pure, ripping grief.
She reached out, her face a mask of horror, already seeing the bloody outcome in her mind's eye.
Aokawa didn't think.
Before his brain could process the risk, his body moved. The muscle memory of a shinobi, however green, fired. He lunged forward, diving through the air.
He caught the small body inches from the table.
Thud.
His back slammed into the sharp corner of the table instead of the girl's head.
White light exploded behind his eyes. Cold sweat drenched his back instantly. He gasped, lungs seizing, but he managed to set the girl down gently.
Before he could even attempt to stand, a shadow fell over him.
"I told you to stay there."
A boot slammed into his chest.
The force was explosive. Aokawa was launched airborne again, crashing into the same wall he had hit moments before.
"Gah!"
Blood sprayed from his mouth, painting the floor crimson. His insides felt like they had been put through a meat grinder.
The woman seized the distraction. She scooped up her child and bolted for the back door.
She made it two steps before a hand caught her hair, jerking her back with brutal force.
"Not so fast. I'll let you leave 'safely'… after I'm done."
Aokawa lay against the wall, vision swimming in red. The man blocked the only path. The woman and child were trapped. He was broken.
Despair should have crushed him. Instead, a cold, vicious calm settled in the pit of his stomach.
He gritted his teeth, spitting a mouthful of bloody phlegm onto the floor. He glared up at the mountain of a man.
I'm done running.
I already died once. This life is just extra credit.
If I can't win…
His gaze dropped to the man's lower body, dark and malevolent.
If I can't win, I'll take a piece of him with me. I'll make him wish he was dead.
His hand crept toward the ninja tool pouch at his waist. Fingers brushed the cold metal ring of a kunai.
He gripped it.
Just as he prepared to burn the last of his life force in one desperate strike, the world tilted. Vertigo washed over him, and the strength fled his limbs.
But as darkness encroached, the text that had flickered before returned. This time, it was stable. Burning bright blue in his retina.
[All past assets sold. Conversion to Energy Crystals complete. Source energy adequate for transversal.]
[Estimated remaining crystals sufficient to open the Stone Gate: 1 time.]
[Do you wish to consume one attempt to open the Stone Gate and receive a Capability Projection?]
The cheat code. It had finally arrived.
Open! OPEN! OPEN IT NOW!
Aokawa screamed the command in his mind.
Inside his consciousness, a stone gate materialized. The energy vortex within it churned violently, spinning faster and faster until it reached a critical mass.
A blinding white light erupted from the vortex, shooting straight into the center of his forehead.
[Current Available Race Imprint: Quincy]
[…]