I woke up screaming.
Sweat soaked the sheets, my breathing was erratic, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it echoing in my ears. My hands trembled uncontrollably as I tried to orient myself in the darkness.
Where…?
The room was small and spartan. Worn wooden walls, a simple wardrobe, a desk with rolled-up scrolls, ninja weapons neatly hung on the wall. Moonlight filtered through the window, casting long shadows.
I didn't recognize this place.
No— that wasn't entirely true. I did recognize it, but I didn't remember ever seeing it before. Like a persistent déjà vu. A familiarity that made no sense.
I raised my hands to my face, trying to calm myself, when something flickered at the edge of my vision.
Letters.
Floating in the air.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED][Welcome, User][Loading profile…]
I froze, my hands still on my face, as more text appeared before my eyes. It wasn't an external projection; I felt it directly in my field of vision, as if it were superimposed onto reality itself.
User Profile:
Name: Uchiha Tomohiro
Age: 13
Clan: Uchiha
Ninja Rank: Academy Student
Base Stats
Chakra: 12/100
Strength: 8/100
Speed: 9/100
Endurance: 6/100
Intelligence: 15/100
Free Points: 0
Ninja Specialties
Taijutsu: 8/100
Ninjutsu: 10/100
Genjutsu: 6/100
Chakra Control: 7/100
Abilities– Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Novice)– Shuriken Throwing (Apprentice)
Available Achievements
– First Blood
Commit your first kill
Reward: 2 Free Points
– First Real Combat
Survive your first fight to the death
Reward: 2 Free Points
– Dedicated Apprentice
Completely master a basic skill
Reward: 1 Free Point
– Novice Predator
Kill 5 targets
Reward: 5 Free Points
– Survivor
Survive 30 consecutive days
Reward: 3 Free Points
"What the hell…?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them. My voice sounded strange— younger, with an accent I didn't recognize as my own.
Uchiha Tomohiro.
That wasn't my name. I was… I was…
I tried to remember. My name. My previous life. My previous world. But it was like trying to grab smoke. I knew there had been something before this, but the details slipped away. Only impressions remained: tall buildings, artificial lights, screens. A life without chakra or ninjas.
And now I was here.
In the body of a thirteen-year-old boy.
In the Uchiha clan.
"Oh no. Oh shit. Oh no no no—"
I looked at the numbers again. Twelve chakra. Eight in taijutsu. Ten in ninjutsu.
Academy Student.
Free Points: zero.
I didn't know exactly what those numbers meant, but instinctively— with knowledge that seemed to come from the body I now inhabited— I knew they were low. Pathetically low for someone thirteen years old and about to graduate.
I was weak.
Terribly weak.
And those achievements… First Blood. Novice Predator.
Killing people.
My stomach twisted.
I forced myself to breathe, to think. If this was real— and the cold sweat on my back, the ache in my muscles, and the weight of this body suggested it was— then I needed information.
"System," I whispered, feeling ridiculous talking to the air. "What… what are Free Points?"
Silence.
The interface simply floated there, cold and impersonal.
"System?" I tried again. "Can you hear me?"
Nothing.
Points I could distribute? Like in a video game?
The idea was absurd. And yet, everything else already was.
I focused on different thoughts— dates, information. The panel flickered slightly.
[Temporal Information]
Current Date: March 5
Time: 03:47 AM
March 5.
3:47 in the morning.
Next month would be April. And in April…
The realization hit like a punch to the stomach. Not a memory, but knowledge. Knowledge of a story that had once been fiction in my old world.
The Uchiha clan massacre.
Itachi.
My legs gave out and I collapsed to my knees. Panic turned into something colder. Heavier.
Pure existential terror.
I'm going to die.
What could I do? A mediocre academy student with eight points in taijutsu, against Itachi? Against a genius among geniuses. An ANBU at thirteen.
Against someone who would erase the entire clan in about a month.
I looked at the achievements again. Two points. Three points. Five points.
Even if I completed all of them… it wouldn't be enough.
If there were no more achievements beyond these, then—
Wasn't I completely screwed?
Something wet fell onto my hands. I was crying without realizing it.
"I don't want to die," I whispered to the empty room. "Please… I don't want to die."
The system didn't respond.
I wiped my tears away and forced myself to stand. I walked to the small mirror on the wall.
A thin adolescent stared back at me. Messy black hair. Dark circles under his eyes. Pale skin. Uchiha features, but nothing remarkable.
Just an average kid.
An average orphan. Parents killed by the Kyūbi thirteen years ago. No one who cared whether I lived or died.
Perfect.
I looked again at the line:
Ninja Rank: Academy Student.
Twelve chakra. Out of a hundred.
How much chakra did Itachi have? Eighty? Ninety? One hundred? More?
And I had twelve.
To gain points, I had to complete achievements. And most of them required killing or surviving battles to the death.
Things an academy student like me had no chance of doing.
It was a vicious cycle.
I needed to be stronger to complete achievements.But I needed achievements to become stronger.
And I had thirty days.
I stared at the achievement Survivor – Survive 30 consecutive days.
I don't even know if I'll manage that, I thought bitterly.
Outside the window, the full moon shone in the night sky. A chill ran down my spine. There was something about that moon… something I couldn't quite remember.
A red moon.Red eyes.Pain.
I looked away. Probably just a nightmare caused by the shock.
The system floated silently in my vision.
Academy Student.Chakra: 12/100.Free Points: 0.
Thirty days.
Thirty days to understand the system.
Thirty days to complete impossible achievements.
Thirty days before dying.
"Thirty days," I whispered, staring at my reflection.
Moonlight cast long shadows across the room. For a moment, they looked like claws reaching for me.
But when I blinked, they were just shadows.
Nothing more.
I was completely screwed.