After Makoto's explanation, every player sat in silence, heads bowed, half-paralyzed by the sheer brutality of this world.
A long moment passed before Yu Ishigami broke the stillness, unable to contain himself.
"So there's no way for us to get stronger here?"
Of all of them, Ishigami had been the most excited after learning the secret behind Makoto's group's power. Not even the Gun Devil's apocalyptic display had doused that fire.
He'd seen a path forward. He was one of the chosen too. He could grow strong, become a real member of Makoto's team, and use that power to slaughter every piece of human garbage like Hikaru Ogino.
But Makoto's words had hit like ice water.
"Not necessarily. People in this world are still physically superior to those in the real world," Makoto said. "If you train seriously, you should be able to reach Yui or Miura's level."
In the original story, the man hailed as the strongest Devil Hunter, Kishibe, barely relied on devils at all. Pure hand-to-hand skill and combat experience. Even so, his physical ability matched an elite Chunin, possibly even a Special Jonin.
Then there was Higashiyama... no, Higashiyama Kobeni. Whether she'd formed a devil contract was never made clear in the source material, but her combat skills were rock-solid. Chunin-level, easy.
This world still allowed humans to reach considerable fighting ability through training alone. It was only against the top-tier devils that it stopped mattering.
Ishigami's gaze snapped toward Yui Yuigahama and Miura Yumiko, and the relief in his eyes was obvious. He'd watched these upperclassmen train.
Compared to Makoto they were nothing, and even against the Akizuki sisters or Utaha Kasumigaoka they didn't rank.
But they could still demolish ordinary people, even trained soldiers, without breaking a sweat.
That was enough.
"I understand now, Makoto-senpai. I see why you've been pushing me so hard."
Ishigami's face shone with gratitude. So all that physical training was to temper my willpower, to prepare me for when the Reincarnation Game chose me. What foresight!
"Huh?"
Makoto blinked.
What was this kid talking about? If he'd known what Ishigami was thinking, he'd have been speechless. He'd made the boy train because back then, before the Reincarnation system had modified him, it was literally the only option. No grand plan behind it whatsoever.
Still, his words gave the newest players, Hiratsuka Shizuka and Yukihira Soma among them, a scrap of comfort. Most of them were high schoolers at the youngest. Starting physical training now, who knew how far they could get? But at least it was something. A thread of hope.
Meanwhile, Miura Yumiko puffed out her cheeks in quiet irritation. Why did he call Yui by her first name but use her family name? What was that about?
Once everyone understood the basic structure of this world, the mood turned bleak. Hearing the veterans, Eriri and Ichinose Chizuru among them, recount what happened in the previous world only made it worse.
Even someone as relentlessly upbeat as Nakano Yotsuba drooped, the ribbon on her head wilting like a rabbit's ears gone limp.
"You guys are so lucky. Your first world was a cakewalk and you came out with superpowers."
Yuki Yoshino pouted as she said it. Her personality ran similar to Yotsuba's, all boundless energy, though their figures were... considerably different.
Even knowing she didn't mean anything by it, Yukinoshita, Miura, and the others wanted to kick her.
Lucky?
Did she have any idea how close they'd come to dying during the Chunin Exams and the Konoha Collapse?
But after a moment's reflection, the Naruto world, brutal as it was, still beat this one by miles.
"Whatever. It is what it is. Let's eat."
Everyone grabbed their rations and chewed mechanically, tasting nothing.
Itou Makoto had also woken up, stretching his neck out like a dog as he greedily gnawed on a compressed biscuit.
He and Tomoya were both in a physical state where urinating was currently impossible for the moment, so dry food was all they could manage. Junk food, all of it, but no one was in a position to be picky.
Two people, however, stood out.
Mana Nakiri and her daughter Erina Nakiri.
They stared at the cheap chocolate bars Marina Akizuki had cheerfully pressed into their hands, locked in deep internal conflict.
Eat this? This... this wasn't even cooking. This was garbage.
Absolutely not.
Both mother and daughter possessed the God Tongue, a palate so refined it amplified every nuance of flavor, the good and the terrible alike.
It was a gift that guaranteed them careers as world-class chefs, but it came with a curse. As they aged and their experience broadened, the tongue grew more sensitive.
Eventually, even the slightest flaw in a dish became unbearable, magnified beyond all proportion.
Nakiri Mana had reached exactly that point. Normal food had become inedible. She'd been surviving on IV nutrient drips.
Around them, everyone crunched through chocolate bars, chips, and instant noodles, all of which registered as poison to the Nakiri palate. The two women sat frozen amid the chewing crowd, conspicuous in their stillness.
"Hm?"
Not far away, Nakiri Leonora, munching a chocolate bar alongside her daughter like a pair of hamsters, one large and one small, noticed the stricken faces of her sister-in-law and niece. She understood immediately.
She nudged her daughter with an elbow and whispered, "Alice, do something."
Nakiri Alice had already spotted the problem, but her mother's words left her incredulous. Me? What exactly am I supposed to do?
"Aren't you on good terms with him?" Leonora kept her voice low, eyes darting meaningfully toward Makoto.
Alice wanted to protest. Her mother was giving her way too much credit. They'd exchanged maybe two sentences. That didn't make them close.
Then she noticed Erina looking her way, eyes glistening.
Alice scratched her head. Great. Headache.
Her relationship with Erina was a lot like Nakano Miku and Nakano Nino's. Constant bickering on the surface, genuine care underneath.
A few seconds later, she steeled herself and walked over to Makoto.
The movement drew attention. Despite sitting in the middle of a ruined wasteland, Makoto looked every bit the emperor.
His head rested on Utaha Kasumigaoka's thighs. His body sprawled in a lazy star shape. The Akizuki sisters gently massaged his hands. His legs lay across Ichinose Chizuru and Megumi Kato's laps while they kneaded the tension out.
Off to the side, the normie trio took turns: one feeding him chips, another holding up a cola with a straw, the third fanning him with a hand fan.
"Incredible..." Soue Nakiri murmured, unable to help himself.
And he was a married man with a gorgeous wife. The younger boys were even worse off. Even Yukihira Soma, who normally showed zero interest in women, caught himself staring. Aki Tomoya and Itou Makoto didn't even bother hiding it, "jealous" practically stamped across their foreheads.
"What? Enjoying the view?"
Leonora shot her husband a glare that made Soue flinch and snap his gaze back to the ground.
Utaha and Megumi's parents, meanwhile, hovered in a state of restrained agony. Does this guy not realize we're right here? His future in-laws?
But then they remembered that without Makoto, the Gun Devil would have killed every last one of them. So they kept their mouths shut. And their daughters weren't objecting, which made it even harder to say anything.
"U-um, M-Makoto..."
Alice crept forward, immediately drawing every eye, his companions' included.
"What?"
She waved Erina and Mana over, then explained. "This is Erina. You've already met her. And this is her mother, Nakiri Mana. They both have the God Tongue. Because of that, they can only eat properly prepared gourmet food. The snacks and instant noodles we have... they physically can't swallow any of it."
The room went quiet. Expressions turned complicated.
Makoto laughed. "What, you want me to whip up some abalone and lobster?"
"N-no, that's not... that's not it!"
Erina waved her hands frantically. She'd never dream of making demands of Makoto. And raw luxury ingredients wouldn't solve anything.
The food still needed a top-tier chef to prepare it, and right now they didn't even have a stove. Even with several talented Totsuki students present, you can't cook without a kitchen.
Alice lowered her voice. "Um, Makoto... do you have some kind of power that could make Erina and Auntie feel full without eating?"
Everyone went blank again. What kind of superpower was that?
Makoto considered it for a second. "I might, actually."
Mana and Erina's faces lit up.
Over where the Polar Star students had gathered, Yukihira Soma and Tadokoro Megumi stared in disbelief.
Alice brightened too. "Then could you..."
"Who do you think you are?"
Before she could finish, Ishigami cut in from the side, a basin of foot-washing water in his hands, his voice flat and cold. "Today you're asking Makoto-senpai to fix a tongue problem. Tomorrow you'll be asking him to fix your sex drive. Do you honestly think you're that important?"
Dead silence.
Even Makoto's expression turned strange. Honestly, if it were the second request, he'd have been more willing to oblige.
"Th-then, Nishikado-sama, is there... is there something you want?" Mana's voice came out thin and fragile. She'd been mid-infusion when the teleportation hit. Her body was already at its limit, and everything since had pushed her to the brink.
"Can you give me what I want?" Makoto's smile deepened.
Soue Nakiri stepped forward, unable to stay quiet. "Nishikado-sama, surely this is trivial for someone of your ability? Why not show a little mercy?"
Makoto lost it. "When your father's academy expelled students, did he show them mercy?"
Soue had nothing.
"You capitalist elites... you'd rather dump milk in the ocean than give it to the poor. You've pulled that kind of stunt more than once. Get out of my face. You're ruining my mood."
Ishigami flashed a Flying Thunder God kunai.
Soue could only slink back, pulling his daughter and sister-in-law's family with him.
Erina was worried about her mother, but she couldn't find a single word to counter Makoto's point.
Every year at the entrance ceremony, she personally set impossible challenges to weed out students she deemed unworthy. Cross her, and she'd blacklist you from the entire culinary world.
What Makoto was doing to them now felt mild in comparison.
Karma, Yukihira Soma thought, watching from a distance. He'd nearly been one of those expelled students himself. The haughty heiress who once made everyone feel fit only to lick her shoes was now reduced to begging.
Then Megumi Kato spoke up, her voice soft, either to ease the tension or for reasons of her own.
"Makoto, the Domination Devil we need to defeat for the instance mission... is it strong?"
Truthfully, back in the Naruto world, Megumi had felt she could stay there forever if not for missing her parents in the real world. But this place? She wanted out as fast as possible. Too much blood. Too much cruelty.
"Stronger than the Gun Devil."
Every face went white again. They'd witnessed the Gun Devil firsthand, a creature that had pushed even Makoto's trump card, the Perfect Susano'o, to its absolute limit. And the Domination Devil was above that?
They couldn't even imagine what that looked like.
"S-so we can't go home?" Eriri Spencer Sawamura's face drained of color.
"Idiot. You don't trust Makoto?" Airi Akizuki fired back immediately. She'd always had a problem with Eriri, this girl who shared her signature twin-tails.
Makoto lifted his head from Utaha's lap and sat up slowly. "I'll handle her. Until then, keep your heads down. Live quiet lives."
"Makoto?"
Watching him rise, the girls felt a nameless dread settle in their chests.
"High-level devils often have surveillance and eavesdropping abilities. If she finds out you're connected to me, she could use you as hostages."
He let that sink in.
"So until I've dealt with the Control Devil, we pretend we don't know each other."
Denji had been tormented nearly to death for exactly that reason. Makoto had no intention of letting history repeat itself.
The color shifted in every woman's face.
They hadn't expected a mission this difficult, one that forced Makoto into this level of caution.
"H-how long will that take?" Kayoko Akizuki asked, unable to mask her reluctance.
"Let's see if I can manage it within ten years."
Stunned silence. Existential crisis on every face.
Even veterans like Yukino, Airi, and Ichinose Chizuru, players who'd crossed over three times now, looked like their eyes might pop out of their heads. They'd spent just over six years total in the Naruto world. And now, to take down one devil, Makoto was talking about a decade?
He's joking. He has to be joking.
But then they thought about the Gun Devil's power, and Makoto saying the Control Devil was stronger still, and ten years didn't seem unreasonable at all.
The half-dead Tomoya and the Kudo Shinichi nearly fainted on the spot. Ten years in this hell? In their current state?
And then, without warning, Megumi Kato rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Makoto from behind.
"Kato, you sneaky little... I want in too!"
Airi leaped to her feet.
Marina Akizuki, Utaha Kasumigaoka, Ichinose Chizuru, all of them moved at once. Even Yui Yuigahama and Miura Yumiko looked tempted.
But before anyone else could reach him, Megumi spoke. Quiet. Crystal clear.
"Makoto, give yourself to me."
Aki Tomoya passed out for real this time.