Hiding within countless energy streams and drifting along the current, Ethan's original plan was to use these free-floating energies to recover some strength before finding a suitable world to conceal himself in.
However, he quickly discovered that after releasing all the energy in his body, the various rule powers he had comprehended and mastered over the years were, due to the impact of the previous battle, beginning to more thoroughly integrate with his being.
Upon realizing this, he immediately halted his attempt to absorb surrounding energy and instead focused on observing the integration of the rules with himself, curious to see what changes this situation might bring.
After only a short period of observation, he determined that this was the path he was meant to take next. Once his spiritual universe stabilized, his own energy became steady, and his divine body truly matured, the next step was to integrate the various rules into himself.
As a result of an unexpected event, he had entered this stage ahead of schedule.
The advantages were obvious. He could access a higher level earlier, and because he was in a weakened state, he wouldn't resist the fusion of these rules, which accelerated the process.
The disadvantages were just as clear. He was extremely weak during this time and had to decide whether to halt the integration to prioritize recovery, or continue fusing the rules, raise his upper limit, and recover strength afterward.
Even though he was currently within enemy territory, Ethan still chose to prioritize increasing his strength limit.
Such an opportunity wasn't something that came often. More importantly, a powerful enemy was lurking nearby, waiting to kill him.
According to his original plan, as long as he recovered a bit of strength, he could leave this universe, improve his abilities gradually, and return for revenge once he was strong enough.
Now, he had a different option: directly enhance his strength, and instead of fleeing, stay and fight Abraham to the end.
Based on his observations, he concluded that once this fusion was complete and he recovered his "health," his strength would be enough to face Abraham head-on.
"After so many years, I finally get the protagonist treatment."
In the past, he had always trained quietly in safe places, rarely facing life-and-death situations. So this was the first time he had broken through his limits because of a major battle.
Even though the opportunity had come so suddenly, Ethan didn't lose his composure.
While the prospects were promising, there were also many problems.
He had to remain well hidden. Otherwise, he could easily be discovered.
Before the fusion of rules was complete, he had no way to quickly recover strength. During this period, he was at his weakest. If discovered now, his only option would be to explode again and use the spatial shockwaves to escape.
However, doing so would damage his origin and might even cause him to fall from the divine realm. He wasn't sure he could return to that state again.
"Overthinking it. Whether I retreat or continue charging up, I need to find a place to hide first."
The energy currents flowed endlessly, constantly passing by one world after another. Sometimes, when too close, they would be pulled into certain worlds and become part of them.
Ethan seized the chance, adjusting his position to the edge of the stream. When he passed a world with a decent energy concentration, he entered it together with the absorbed energy.
He didn't know what kind of world it was. He simply found a parallel world that was neither near the core nor too close to the edge, then started searching for signs of life.
It turned out the creatures in this world were easier to find than expected, or perhaps the location he entered was just particularly favorable, because not far away, he found a village surrounded by a dense forest that seemed to have just experienced disaster and was in chaos.
Ethan only needed one glance to know what world this was.
"..."
Green vests, blue or black sandals, metal forehead protectors that could be worn in various positions but were mostly worn on the forehead.
Not only did he recognize what world he had arrived in, he could even determine the exact point in time, because he saw the couple who had just died, often jokingly referred to as the "Tomato and Egg Stir-fry Couple," and the newborn protagonist of this story.
"I actually ended up in this world."
Thinking it through, it wasn't all that surprising. The Reincarnators who had previously invaded his Type-Moon universe had used abilities from the Naruto world, so Drake definitely had this world in his collection.
Ethan just hadn't expected that a randomly chosen world would turn out to be this one.
Looking down again, he saw that Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, had already fallen in battle. That meant the Nine-Tails Attack had just ended, and Konoha was about to enter a relatively peaceful period.
This made it a good place for recovery. And since this was a parallel version of the Naruto world, not a mission dimension, he didn't have to worry about Reincarnators showing up suddenly.
So, his next step was to create a suitable identity for himself and settle down in Konoha.
Thanks to the Nine-Tails, the destruction caused by the rampage had resulted in massive casualties and widespread damage. But for Ethan, this provided the perfect opportunity.
He soon found an inconspicuous family.
Although his strength was critically low, basic illusion techniques were still usable.
As a dignified god, if he could be discovered by ordinary people—or even ninjas—then he might as well self-destruct and be done with it.
This was an ordinary household, seemingly running a small business. The house was half-collapsed, heavily damaged. Ethan had no interest in the details of their trade.
He had come here because he noticed a baby who had just died. He could take the identity of this infant and use it to stay in the village.
The child's father was buried under rubble, with only his legs sticking out. Clearly dead.
Only one of the mother's hands remained, which meant she was beyond saving.
It was precisely for this reason that Ethan chose this family.
He had no connection to them, but since he was benefiting from their misfortune, he felt he should at least do something in return.
"Even with my power nearly gone, handling a few ordinary souls isn't difficult."
Several clusters of light slowly floated from the corpses and merged into Ethan's current form—a light sphere. For now, this family of three would rest inside him. Once he recovered a bit, he could send them into the paradise within his divine realm.
After doing this, Ethan made the baby's original body vanish. Then the light sphere twisted and reshaped itself, becoming an infant lying in a relatively safe spot nearby. From the scene, it looked like the mother had thrown her child far away at the last moment to save it.
In truth, that was more or less what had happened. This child's luck had simply run out...
To avoid trouble later, Ethan forcefully left the name "Ethan" on the swaddling cloth he was wrapped in.
That way, he wouldn't need to change his name.
Only after doing all this did he realize he had overlooked something.
"Huh? What was this family's surname?"
What if the full name sounded terrible? For someone who could agonize over character creation for hours in a game, that would be unacceptable.
Just as Ethan was considering whether to investigate further or find another family if the name wasn't suitable, a rescue team had arrived and discovered the "miraculously surviving" Ethan.
"There's still a baby alive in here!"
"Looks like the mother tossed the kid away at the last second... What luck. Do we have this family's records?"
"Uh... they just moved here and were renting the place. They hadn't completed the registration procedures yet."
"What about the landlord?"
"The landlord lived next door. That family's already been checked."
No one survived.
"There should be records of their entry into the village, right?"
"You know how messy those logs are. Even finding a person while they're alive takes forever, and now..."
A ninja glanced at the corpse that had been smashed into a pulp and fell silent. This meant that although the child had survived, they couldn't match him with a registered identity.
"Looks like he'll have to be sent to the orphanage."
"Captain, his name's written on this cloth."
"Good. At least they left something behind."
Ethan listened to the conversation among the rescuers and felt everything was going smoothly. It looked like he wouldn't need a surname after all.
As for the orphanage... wasn't Konoha's orphanage a bit notorious?
Reality was that Ethan couldn't even get in. Due to the massive destruction from the Nine-Tails attack, the orphanage was already overflowing. Konoha was now trying its best to place the orphans into regular households.
Older kids rarely got adopted, but babies as young as Ethan were welcomed by many families.
At that age, they had no memories. Families could raise them as their own—many of them had lost children during the chaos.
Ethan ended up being adopted by an elderly man who had lost his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. What pleased Ethan the most was that this man had no surname himself and naturally wouldn't change Ethan's name or add one.
Not everyone in this world had a surname, after all.
And so, Ethan began his quiet path of growth in Konoha Village... or at least, it should be quiet... probably...
(To be continued.)