In the 49th year of Konoha, deep within a forest along the border of the Land of Fire, Kumamoto Kuro leaned against the trunk of a towering tree, absent-mindedly licking his left paw.
Or rather—his left palm.
Sigh… I haven't eaten properly for days…
Kuro complained silently in his mind.
Despite starving for several days, he could only grumble inwardly—not because he didn't want to curse aloud.
But because…
He simply could not speak human language anymore.
That's right.
A month ago, Kuro had experienced what many would call a stroke of absurd fate—he had transmigrated into the world of Naruto.
Normally, being transported to a world full of shinobi might sound exciting.
But reality quickly crushed that fantasy.
This was a brutal world dominated by chakra, ninjutsu, and endless warfare between villages. Without overwhelming power or a cheat ability from the start, a transmigrator's survival chances were practically zero.
And Kuro's situation was even worse.
Because after arriving in this world, he discovered something horrifying:
He had transmigrated into the body of a black bear.
"God! Just kill me already!"
When he first realized he had been reborn into the animal realm, Kumamoto Kuro looked up at the sky and howled in grief and indignation.
Unfortunately, what actually came out of his mouth wasn't a human sentence.
Instead—
"ROOOAAARRRR—!"
A deep, thunderous bear roar shook the forest.
In the next instant, birds scattered wildly from the treetops, frightened by the sound.
There was no helping it.
Within a black bear's vocal system, this was the only sentence available.
…
After several miserable days, Kuro gradually accepted his new identity.
With no other options, he settled in the forest and tried to adapt to life as a wild beast.
Becoming a black bear came with many inconveniences.
On one hand, Kuro had to adapt to the instincts of his new body.
His senses had become astonishingly sharp. His sense of smell and hearing far surpassed what he had possessed as a human.
He could detect the scent markings of small animals on tree trunks from great distances.
And when he was bored, he often found himself unconsciously licking his left paw… or scratching his backside with his right.
These behaviors happened automatically, as if they were engraved into the body's instincts.
On the other hand, Kuro had to deal with the brutal reality of survival.
The mental pressure came from boredom.
As a former human, he had lost every form of entertainment he once enjoyed.
Sometimes he even fantasized about ridiculous things—like a talking bear suddenly appearing in the forest to chat with him, or some strange bald woodcutter wandering in to keep him company.
But the physical pressure was far more immediate.
That pressure was called hunger.
Although black bears stood near the top of the natural food chain, surviving in this forest was far from easy.
Several years earlier, the Third Shinobi World War had erupted.
The conflict between the Five Great Nations had drastically reduced civilian travel. The roads through this forest, once used by merchants and travelers, were now nearly abandoned.
Those who entered the forest nowadays were almost always shinobi—either scouts, spies, or mission squads from the hidden villages.
For Kuro, this was terrible news.
Without humans wandering through the forest as easy prey…
He had no choice but to hunt rabbits, insects, and whatever small creatures he could catch just to fill his stomach.
"Rooh… rooh… (Sigh… I want to eat people…)"
Kuro rubbed his belly and let out a depressed bear groan.
Just then—
His nose twitched.
He smelled something… familiar.
"Hm?"
Kuro sniffed the air several times.
Sniff. Sniff.
A ninja… from Konoha?
His powerful sense of smell immediately recognized the scent.
Over the past month, Kuro had encountered many shinobi passing through the forest.
Each hidden village seemed to produce ninjas with slightly different scents.
Shinobi from Kirigakure often carried the faint scent of sea salt.
The large, muscular ninjas from Kumogakure tended to have a much stronger body odor.
As for Konohagakure, their scents were more varied.
Some smelled almost exactly like their ninja dogs.
Others carried the unmistakable aroma of food—most likely ramen.
During one encounter, Kuro had even smelled a sweet fragrance from a girl wrapped in red-and-white bandages.
Regardless, he was certain of one thing:
A Konoha ninja had entered the forest.
Fighting a ninja head-on would be extremely dangerous. Even an average shinobi possessed chakra and ninjutsu that could easily kill a wild beast.
So Kuro quickly climbed the tall tree beside him and hid among the branches.
About a dozen seconds later—
A thin Konoha ninja appeared beneath the tree.
"Whoosh… whoosh…"
The ninja was breathing heavily, one hand pressed against a wound on his left shoulder.
He looked severely injured.
Struggling, he sat down beneath the tree and shakily pulled out a roll of bandages, attempting to treat his wound.
"A wounded ninja…"
Kuro observed everything from above.
Judging by the man's equipment and behavior, he was likely a scout-type shinobi who had been injured during a mission and fled into the forest to hide.
Kuro stared at the skinny ninja below him.
After all—
Despite being a large black bear, he had not eaten a proper meal in over half a month.
He had already exhausted the forest's supply of honey and hunted nearly every rabbit he could find.
And now…
Right beneath him…
Was a human who had almost completely lost his fighting ability.
What this meant for a starving bear was obvious.
"Grrr…"
Kuro's stomach growled loudly.
There's no helping it.
He vaguely remembered reading somewhere:
Survival comes first.
Animals' lives mattered too.
Humans ate animals every day.
So what was wrong with a bear eating a human?
"Well… sorry about this, buddy. What bear doesn't eat people? If a bear doesn't eat people, can it still be called a bear?"
"I'm sorry I was born a bear!"
After making up his mind, Kumamoto Kuro fixed his gaze on the ninja beneath him—
And jumped.
A black bear's weight was terrifying.
Kuro didn't know his exact mass.
But he knew one thing for certain.
It was more than enough to crush a person to death.
"GAH—!"
A scream echoed through the forest.
The birds that had remained after the earlier roar were finally frightened into flight.
Kuro felt something beneath him collapse like wet mud.
"Feels good. What about you, bro?"
Thinking this, Kuro looked down beneath him.
The ninja beneath his body…
Was no longer recognizable as a human.
"Hm. Good, good…"
Kuro nodded with satisfaction.
Then he stood up and carefully inspected the meal that had just been delivered to him.
The dead ninja was extremely thin, but Kuro wasn't in a position to be picky.
"Rooh ho ho! (Thank you for nature's bounty!)"
Kuro clapped his paws together, made a few awkward gestures toward the sky, and bowed respectfully toward the corpse.
"Rooh ho ho! (I'm digging in!)"
He let out a low growl of anticipation.
However—
Just as Kuro was about to start eating, his eyes noticed a distinctive pattern on the ninja's sleeve.
A fan-shaped emblem.
A red-and-white symbol that resembled a ping-pong paddle.
"Hm?"
"Someone from the Uchiha Clan?"
Kuro immediately recognized the symbol.
It was the clan crest of one of Konohagakure's most prestigious and feared bloodlines.
Unexpectedly…
Nature had just gifted him a member of the Uchiha clan.
"…Huh."
"For a moment, I can't tell whether you, my brother, or the future Uchiha Shisui, were the one from your Uchiha clan who died the most pathetic death..."
Random thoughts.