Two weeks had passed.
The large town in the Land of Fire had slowly become familiar to Akira. The main streets, the marketplace, the inns, even the quieter back roads where merchants unloaded goods from long-distance caravans.
For the first time since arriving in this world, life had been… peaceful.
No killing.
No experiments.
Just ordinary days.
That evening Akira sat inside one of the better restaurants in town. Warm lanterns hung from wooden beams, casting golden light across the polished tables while the low murmur of conversation filled the room.
In front of him sat a far more expensive meal than anything he had eaten in years.
Orochimaru's money—two million sen—had made that possible.
A wide ceramic plate held slices of perfectly seared beef, cooked slowly until the outer layer formed a crisp golden crust while the inside remained tender and pink. A dark sauce made from soy, garlic, and herbs had been brushed lightly across the meat, giving it a rich aroma that filled the air.
Beside it was a bowl of fragrant rice mixed with butter and finely chopped vegetables.
Another plate carried grilled river prawns, their shells slightly charred and their flesh sweet and juicy. A wedge of citrus rested beside them, the sharp scent cutting through the richness of the meal.
There was also a bowl of thick stew—slow-cooked vegetables, mushrooms, and tender chunks of meat floating in a deep brown broth that released clouds of steam.
And finally a small dessert sat off to the side: soft rice cakes dusted with sugar and served with sweet bean paste.
Akira ate slowly.
Each bite felt almost unreal compared to the battlefield meals he remembered.
As he chewed another piece of beef, he leaned back slightly in his chair.
The last two days had been… the best days of this life.
In fact, the best days of both of his lives.
No pressure.
No danger.
Just good food, a soft bed, and the freedom to exist without someone watching every move he made.
For once, he didn't have to think about future. At least not directly.
At the table beside him, two merchants were talking loudly enough that their conversation drifted over.
"…I'm telling you, that southern trade route is getting worse every month," one of them complained.
"The roads are a mess after all the troop movements."
The other merchant nodded while drinking from a cup.
"Then take the northern path."
"The one near Hoshigakure?"
The first merchant shook his head immediately.
"Yeah, that one."
"I don't recommend it."
"Why not?"
"It's safe enough," the man admitted. "But the road there is terrible. Long, winding, and full of bumps. Caravans move at half speed."
He shrugged.
"You'd waste days going that way."
The second merchant rubbed his chin.
"Still… I heard the night sky there is something special."
The first merchant chuckled.
"That part is true."
"They say the stars there look closer than anywhere else."
He leaned back in his chair.
"If you like staring at the sky, it might be worth the trouble."
Akira paused,His hand froze.
Hoshigakure…
The words from the merchants replayed in his mind.
"…The one near Hoshigakure?"
For a moment he simply stared at the food in front of him.
Then his eyes slowly widened.
Wait.
Hoshigakure?
Akira slowly set the food back onto the plate.
In the anime… Hoshigakure, the Village Hidden in the Star, wasn't part of the main story.
It was from a filler arc.
The Hoshigakure, also known as the Village Hidden Among the Stars, was founded after a mysterious meteorite called the Star (meteorite) fell from the sky about two hundred years before the events of the anime Naruto. The villagers believed the meteorite possessed a powerful and unusual form of chakra.
Fascinated by its energy, the people built a shinobi village around the crater where it landed. Over time, the village developed its own leadership system similar to the Five Great Nations, with the village leader carrying the title Hoshikage. The star quickly became the center of the village's identity, symbolizing both its strength and its pride.
For generations, Hoshigakure shinobi trained with the meteorite through a ritual known as Star Training.
By meditating near the meteorite and synchronizing their chakra with its radiation, ninja could dramatically increase their chakra reserves and learn a unique technique called the Mysterious Peacock Method. This technique allowed users to shape chakra into powerful constructs such as wings, tails, claws, and shields.
These chakra manifestations often appeared as glowing purple energy and could even allow limited flight. Because of this training, the village believed the star was a sacred object that would eventually allow Hoshigakure to rival the great hidden villages.
However, the star's power came at a terrible cost. The chakra radiation emitted by the meteorite was unnatural and extremely harmful to the human body. Shinobi who trained with it slowly began suffering severe side effects, including chronic illness, weakened organs, and a drastically shortened lifespan.
Many of the village's most talented ninja died young after years of star training. Despite these consequences, the leadership of Hoshigakure continued the practice, hiding the true danger from younger generations in order to maintain the village's strength and reputation.
Eventually, the truth about the meteorite's toxicity became impossible to ignore.
A former kunoichi named Natsuhi, who had personally witnessed the suffering caused by the star, revealed that the training was slowly killing the village's shinobi. She understood that the meteorite's chakra was fundamentally incompatible with the human body and that continuing to use it would destroy the future of Hoshigakure.
Realizing the long-term danger, she chose to destroy the meteorite, effectively ending the practice of star training forever.
After the star was destroyed, the power associated with it was effectively banned within the village. The decision marked a turning point in Hoshigakure's history, as the people were forced to abandon the source of power that had defined their identity for centuries.
Although the star had once symbolized hope and strength, it ultimately became remembered as a dangerous relic whose power came at too great a cost. The village thereafter had to rebuild its ninja traditions without relying on the meteorite's unnatural chakra.
Akira leaned back slightly in his chair.
His appetite faded instantly.
That… shouldn't exist.
In the original canon story, Hoshigakure barely mattered to the world. It appeared briefly in a side story and then disappeared completely.
A filler arc, it was an anime only filler!
Something that technically wasn't even supposed to be part of the real Naruto timeline.
Yet the merchants were talking about it like it was a perfectly normal place.
Like it had always existed.
Akira's mind began racing.
He had already started questioning whether this world was truly the same as the anime he remembered.
If even filler locations existed here—
Akira felt a chill run down his spine.
Then this world isn't just the canon Naruto timeline…
It might contain everything.
Canon.
Side stories.
Filler arcs.
Hell what if the Info from the games is real too!? He didn't play those!
Possibly even events that never appeared in the anime at all.
Akira exhaled slowly.
For the first time in peaceful days, his mind felt unsettled again.
So even filler might be real here…
He looked down at his untouched food for a moment.
Then quietly resumed eating while the thought lingered heavily in his mind.