Special thanks to @littlepiggy33 for helping by test reading the chapter in advance and giving me his opinion.
Check out his stories, relife with karmic gatcha and that 70s hustle.
X_
Location: Amegakure no Sato, Land of Rain
Time: Approximately 60 Years After the Establishment of the Hidden Villages, during the Reconstruction Era following the Second Great Ninja War
---
-Kai POV-
"Here! Take this and leave the line," a guard with a mousy face and Hitler mustache said as he handed me a stale, slightly moldy loaf of bread.
"Next!" his companion shouted as he shoved me aside. A disheveled young woman with slightly torn clothes scrambled to take my spot, her hands extended.
I slowly walked away, my eyes roaming over the long line of people queuing to get anything to stave off their hunger.
Their smeared faces, pitiful expressions, and worn-out—or in some cases, torn—clothes distinguished them from every other group in this godforsaken land.
'I probably would have felt angry or sad if I had seen such a thing in my previous life,' I idly thought as I turned around, lowered my head, and continued to walk away.
There was a small window of time between observing and suspicious behavior—one I had learned about the hard way a few days ago. Thus, it was better for me to disappear for now.
'I can gain more information tomorrow.'
The heavy, consistent rain messed up my line of sight too much and made my walk slightly harder as the muddy roads leading back to the slums fought me with every step.
I didn't try to shield myself or my bread from the rainwater. I had learned that was a fruitless endeavor.
…
The smells of earthy mud mixed with blood, piss, shit, and decomposing bodies greeted me as soon as I stepped into the narrow alleys of the slums—a place where most of those who have nowhere to go live, in dilapidated and abandoned houses.
'Hmmm, where do I sleep today?' I wondered thoughtfully while eyeing my surroundings and trying to stop myself from slipping.
'There. That should be a good place for today.'
I turned left and walked into one of the abandoned houses. The door was broken and lying about right beside the entrance.
The dust, broken furniture, stones from the hole in the ceiling, as well as the blood stains coating the walls, barely fazed me—and why would they? It wasn't like it was the first time I had witnessed such scenes.
Most of the houses around here were like this. After screaming the first time, you learn—the hard way—to quickly stop overreacting and keep your mouth shut.
I observed the place: broken windows, a half-caved-in ceiling, and just an all-around mess. I could have chosen one of the few less dilapidated houses—some even a few minutes' walk away—but I still chose this one for one reason only.
I had food… okay, I had a soggy, stale loaf of bread, but that alone made me a target if someone saw me. This house seemed less conspicuous, a place one would not think to look for me.
…
It was not a smart thought process. I wouldn't deny it, but then again, I was never the smartest cookie in the jar.
Shuffle ~
I stilled as I heard a shuffling sound ahead. My leg froze just above some debris I was about to step over, and I started to frantically look around.
There.
I zeroed in on the source of the sound: a small hole between the big blocks of roof wreckage and one of the rooms.
'That room is sealed, right?' I thought, confused, because the brown wooden door seemed shut tight from where I was standing.
I stared intently as a small child crawled out of there, backwards, wiggling slightly as they slipped out of the small hole.
Standing up and dusting themself off. Long purple hair fell across their face and back, cluing me in on the gender of the child.
She turned around and froze. Her face noticeably paled, body shaking slightly as she stared at me with fear.
I felt a pang of hurt in my chest. It hurt to see a kid look at me with fear. I was not used to such a thing. I was used to smiles, laughter, small trivial pranks from children. Not this…
I tried not to show my feelings, gritted my teeth, and tried to keep my face composed.
I slowly raised my hands up—a gesture of surrender to show that I meant her no harm—as I adjusted my posture and walked back a few steps.
"I won't hurt you," I said, my voice slightly hoarse because I hadn't talked for a few days.
The kid kept staring at me for a few seconds, her breathing slightly erratic, her small hands balled above her chest as she tried to calm down.
I sat down on the ground. The small stones made my posture very uncomfortable, but I didn't move. In fact, I did nothing else until I saw her settle down and breathe normally.
"Want something to eat?" I asked, my hand extending the soggy, moldy loaf of bread.
Brrrr~
Her stomach made a sound, making me chuckle.
"Here," I said, putting the bread on one of the bigger blocks of stone. I stood up and walked to the opposite side to give her space.
She needed to know she was safe from me, and distance spoke louder than words in this case. She knew she could run if she felt danger, and that was enough to put her at ease.
I was now directly under the caved portion of the house, and the rain made sure to remind me of that.
My stomach twisted—a feeling of extreme hunger shooting through me, making me wince.
'Why did I do that?' I asked myself as I stared up at the sky. The rain fell on my face, distracting me from the small aches of my body.
'I don't know,' I admitted. 'No, if I was honest enough with myself, then I'd say there was just something about the fear in her eyes that snapped me out of the extreme survival mode my mind had been going through these past few days.'
Survival instincts that took over my mind faster than I could think after I figured out what happened to me. For what else would a regular, modern guy do if he was in my shoes? Plucked out of my own life—normal and boring it may be, but my life all the same—all because I answered a suspicious survey online.
Even the thought makes me wince inside with how cliché that sounds.
I read about things like these happening in stories and found them fun. Fanfiction writers thinking of different ways to send people to fictional worlds so that they can fuck girls or fight aliens.
As if a normal, regular, everyday person would think: Hey, now that I'm in Marvel, let's kill Thanos.
The sheer arrogance and disconnect between reality and fiction was what made reading those stories fun.
The fantasy of it. The imagination.
'That still didn't mean I wanted to be one!' I screamed in my mind. My fists tightened until I felt pain shooting through my arm again.
Pain. My constant reminder that the current situation was neither a dream nor a hallucination.
---
I brought my hands up, drying my face as I walked out from under the caved part of the house, slowly and carefully, to the opposite side.
The girl froze mid-bite, eyes locking on me, but I just smiled.
It was then that I noticed. She had not even tried to eat the whole thing. In fact, she took less than half of the bread and started to stuff her mouth with it, leaving the rest on the rock where I left it.
A soft smile graced my face as I said, "You can eat everything, you know."
She stopped, looked at me for a few seconds, and quickly shook her head, strands of purple hair swaying with the motion.
I simply sat down, leaning against the blood-stained wall, and said nothing, my mind still occupied with the novelty of natural purple hair.
I may have been in this world for more than a week, but my body and mind were in survival mode this whole time. Sure, I had noticed some people with different colored hairs. Anime hair. But I didn't question it nor even think about it.
After the beating I got on my first day in this world, I kind of locked up.
'It was to be expected, though, now that I think about it,' I mused. 'What else did I think would happen?'
Sure, at the time, I had just woken up in a strange place and was more than a little disoriented and afraid, but telling people they were rocking the medieval fantasy peasant look was just asking for a beating.
'In my defense, I thought I had somehow ended up in a filming location.'
A perfectly logical conclusion to reach at the time, but one that should not be said out loud until after discreetly gathering all the information.
A lesson, painful as it may have been, learned.
Shuffle ~
Shaking the thoughts, I looked up, focusing on the sound, and saw the girl standing up, taking a few steps before she stopped to eye the remaining part of the bread.
"Hey," I called softly, startling the kid as she flinched back and focused on me. "You should eat the rest," I told her again, but she just shook her head.
Sighing, I decided on another approach.
"Okay then, can you bring the rest to me?"
The girl stared at me for a second before she nodded meekly, bent down to take the rest of the soggy bread, and started to slowly walk toward me.
She handed me the bread when she arrived, and I took a small portion of it—a bite-size, really—and handed the rest back.
"Here," I said as I put the bread in my mouth. "Now I am full. You can eat the rest."
She stood there, blinking a few times, before she nodded and started to devour the rest.
The kid was smart. She knew why I did this. I could almost see her understanding what happened in real time, so she just accepted.
Silence fell once again, as neither of us said anything.
'This should be a one-time thing until I can figure out what to do. I could not afford to be kind. Not in this world,' I thought to myself as I felt my stomach turn upon itself.
"Thank you." The soft, almost whispered gratitude that I heard following that thought didn't help with the self-hypnosis I was trying to do.
Nevertheless, I decided to ignore the warm feeling in my belly and close my eyes.
I really had things to think through.
'Like the fact that I was in a world of anime and manga,' my mind helpfully supplied. 'Some fictional story world I had read about in my previous life, which was now somehow real.'
I clenched my jaws as I shoved my feelings back down. I couldn't lose control of my emotions. Not now.
I had read so many explanations on why such worlds could be real—different theories and plots—but even remembering those did not help right now.
If it wasn't for the tingly feeling of chakra going through my body at the moment—a current of constant movement inside me that felt like the sting one would feel after sitting on a hand or a leg too long—I wouldn't have accepted any other explanation than a movie set or a hallucination.
I mean, what kind of person would believe they had somehow woken up in a world of ninja? Where people jump on rooftops and spit fireballs…
I would have probably thought the memories I inherited after I woke up from the beating I got a week ago were some kind of government experiment, but the power—the cheat—I have now kind of erased all of those thoughts.
It was the same power I picked in the survey—more accurately, it was the only power available when I did it.
A power called Choose One. And it came with a black leather case that could be summoned at will.
{You can summon a case containing 10 superpower pills at any moment.
Only one pill can be taken from the case (by someone else — you cannot take any yourself).
You cannot use the pills yourself under any circumstances.
Each pill does whatever you want it to do, as long as its effects do not directly benefit or harm you.
For every pill that is offered and taken (by another person), you earn $10,000 (inflation‑adjusted, tax‑free).
You can design each pill individually: effect, condition, duration, activation method, drawbacks — all up to you.
Once a pill is created, its effects are fixed and cannot be altered.}
Yeah. That kind of sealed the deal for me and made me go into extreme survival mode.
Keeping silent most of the time, paying attention to any sound, observing anything and everything just on the off chance that it might lead to danger.
It had been a rough week.
…
I exhaled slowly, my breath a little shaky as I tried my best to keep my emotions down. I shifted my gaze back toward the kid, getting a closer, more attentive look.
She was tiny. Her face is dirty, her purple hair full of dust and small stones, her body skin and bone. And her clothes, while not torn, were bleak and dirty.
It was clear she had been through a lot.
The only reason she didn't smell as bad as she looked was probably because the only thing Amegakure no Sato did not lack was water.
"So…" I began, speaking softly so as not to startle the girl. "What's your name, kid?"
"…Konan," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
That made me pause. Only for a second, before I filed the question for later.
"Why are you not with other kids your age, Konan?" I asked. "I heard that the orphanage takes care of anyone under twelve, and you don't look older than twelve."
She flinched again but stayed silent.
"Hmm," I hummed thoughtfully before making a show of exaggerated shrugging. "Well, if you don't like it there, then who am I to tell you what to do…"
Konan frowned slightly but that was it. Clearly, she was smarter than me. That or she had seen much more shit than me, and I was betting on the latter.
Still, I was the older one here, so… "Don't worry your pretty little head over anything." I patted her head, noticing how she tried not to scramble out of my reach, but I didn't mind it.
"How about you live with me for a while?" I asked. "I could use someone to talk to, and you could use some food."
Konan looked at my face searchingly, as if trying to find some kind of tell. She didn't find any, so she just meekly nodded her head.
The girl was a fascinating case of environmental influence on psyche. She was smart—that much could be discerned quickly—but she was also meek, suspicious, cowardly—no, not cowardly, more like fearful—and also kind.
That much was clear to me, and I had just observed her for a short amount of time. I didn't know how long she'd been alone, but I didn't care either.
'She could be useful to me in the near future,' I thought before frowning. 'Was I always this much of a self-serving asshole?'
I didn't know, and quite frankly, I didn't care either. This world was dangerous, far more dangerous than my old mundane one.
I could die here without even knowing how because someone sent their child soldier/pet assassin my way.
And the best defense against that is to create my own.
I felt something twist my gut at the thought. I was honestly disgusted that I thought like that, but I soldiered through it. I could not afford weakness, nor could I change the world.
Then again, maybe I can do something if I was the strongest or had the strongest force under me.
---
Three days later
In my previous life, I heard that talking to someone helps. I did not believe such things nor did I practice them, but I had heard.
I was a firm believer in ignoring problems until they went away and shoving feelings down. It was what I had seen my father do, and so that's what I did.
I am now beginning to think I might have been wrong.
There's something therapeutic about unloading all of your feelings and ranting about everything until you can no longer talk.
Of course, this only happened because I knew Konan was young and probably didn't understand most of what I was saying.
'That's why I did it, though, isn't it?'
Honestly? Yeah. That was the reason I even considered talking about feelings and stuff.
If she could understand the references, memes, or more than fifty percent of what I was saying, I probably wouldn't have talked.
No, I would have talked. I just wouldn't have been honest.
"Come on, Kai. We need to go to the market early," Konan said as she started to drag me out of the house.
And… there is the reason for my sudden bout of honesty.
Finding common ground.
Even if she didn't understand most of what I said, she still got the general idea.
Like my hatred for war. The current system. Powerlessness.
My dream of becoming rich and powerful enough to change the world.
All the ideals mostly shared by modern civilized society.
No more hunger. Freedom. Etc…
Was it manipulative? Yes.
Did I feel bad about it? Definitely.
I felt like a piece of shit, but it was for the greater good.
It wasn't like I wanted to harm her or anything. In fact, I wanted her to be happy. But that didn't mean anything here.
---
A week later
"When we arrive at that alley, I want you to run," I whispered to Konan as I handed her a small cloth that had fruits and bread tied in it.
"But…"
"Shhh!" I hissed quietly. "Please, do as I say. I will be fine."
Konan nodded, tears pooling in her eyes as I knelt down on one knee to tie the cloth that functioned as a cap-and-coat combo tighter around her.
She sprinted away as soon as I pushed her, and I stood up and turned back.
Three people walked side by side toward me, their eyes glaring at me with hatred as they understood that their objective was foiled.
"Good day to you, fellas," I said jovially. "What can I help you with?"
"You can start by emptying your pockets," one of the guys said.
A thin, ugly guy with yellow teeth and a scar running all the way from his forehead to his chin.
"Sure," I agreed. "It's not like I have anything." I pulled my pockets inside out.
They did not seem to like how cooperative I was being, though that might also be because I kneed the guy who was trying to follow after Konan in the balls.
In my defense, the guy started running as soon as my hands reached my pockets. Smart, but he didn't seem to account for legs, though.
There was little talk afterward, as the three guys ganged up to beat me up. They didn't succeed much, because they too received multiple strikes, punches, and kicks in the process.
"Ugh!" A loud groan of pain escaped the guy I punched in the throat.
I was quickly thrown into the ground by a kick, mud covering my left side, but I didn't stay down.
I rolled around and kicked the guy who was kneeling right in the balls again and quickly stood up.
The short guy suddenly yelled as he ran toward me, knife in hand.
'This guy is a newbie,' I thought as I tried to take the knife from him.
A big mistake.
He was able to stab me in the arm, but I gritted my teeth and wrestled the knife away from him.
A quick slash on the throat. A reflex, really, because that was the first thing I did when I got the knife.
That was all it took.
His widened eyes, hands grasping his neck as if that would help.
His friends scrambled and ran as soon as they saw this. They didn't even try to take him with them. They just ran, limping in different directions.
'I might not be a master of close combat. But neither were they,' I thought grimly.
Dragging myself back to the house we were currently occupying, I lost the rest of my strength and slumped down on the ground.
"Kai!" Konan raced toward me as soon as she heard my tired and pained groan, but there was little she could do.
"Don't worry about it." I patted her head. "I will be just fine."
"There's blood."
"Don't worry about that too." I reassured her. "The stab wound is shallow at best. I am going to be just fine."
She didn't seem to believe me, and she was right to do so, because I had one hell of a fever that night.
Who knew that using everything you had with every punch and kick would leave the body in such a weak and sore state?
---
Four days later
We were in hiding. Konan and I were now wanted by whatever gang those guys from four days ago were from.
It was only thanks to the old lady at the fruit stand that we knew about this. She told Konan to go and hide when she went to see if she could help in exchange for some fruit the day after that fight.
Since then, I have had to go back to the daimyō's relief post to get a loaf of bread for us to eat.
'We can't go on like this,' I thought. 'It's now or never.'
"Hey, Konan."
"Hmm?" she hummed as she chewed on the bread.
"Do you want power?"
She stopped and looked at me inquisitively.
"You remember when I told you about my power?"
She looked at my hand and said, "Yeah. Your golden finger that is not a finger…"
"Again, that's not…" I stopped and sighed. "Not important."
"You see, I have been thinking a lot. Trying to see if I can use my power myself, but I can't."
"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head cutely. "You just do it like this…" She furrowed her eyebrows. "Grrrr!" She growled as pieces of paper peeled off her arms.
"Bububub!" I gestured for her to quit it by waving my hand in front of her face.
"My power is not like yours," I explained. "I can give others powers, but not myself."
"Oh…"
"Yeah. That's why I asked," I said. "I want to give you the power to protect yourself in case something happens."
Her eyes widened as she caught on, giving me a fearful and concerned look.
"Don't worry your pretty little head over it," I tapped her forehead. "This is just a precaution."
"Umm," she nodded, but I could tell she didn't believe me.
"Okay then… here we go."
I tugged on my power—an always-present limb that seemed just there somewhere waiting for me to move it.
A black stylish suitcase, like those used in mafia movies to exchange money, appeared in front of me.
I opened it, and inside there was a small black velvet cushion with ten colorless pills sitting on it in two rows of five.
"Choose one," I said.
Konan looked at me and then at the case before she extended her hand and touched one of the pills.
As soon as she touched it, everything around us turned grey, including her.
The always-present sound of rain was gone. Nor was the smell. It looked like everything had stopped except me.
I touched her hand, and as soon as I did, I knew instinctively that I could decide whatever I wanted the pill to do.
'Can I make her a god?' I asked, but there was no answer.
It seemed possible, but then again, I couldn't gamble on this, so I would just go with what I originally intended.
· An almost intuitive, aptitude-like talent when it comes to chakra manipulation, jutsu understanding, using, copying, and creation.
'Because that's just good thinking.'
· Excellent mental and physical health along with immunity to poison, sickness, etc.
· Regeneration.
'This way it will be less likely for her to become a typical messed up ninja.'
· A Kage-level instinctive understanding and knowledge of combat, stealth, and CQC.
'Otherwise there's no point to any of this.'
· A Logia-like Kekkei Genkai, making her paper release much better, with more potential and invulnerability.
'This is because I want to see her flex a little.'
· The ability to imbue her paper release with any effect she wants, as long as she has the chakra for it.
'Oh, the ideas…'
· Healing touch: an ability to heal physical injuries, illness, etc.
'This will be helpful to everyone.'
· The ability to mask her presence and power to appear like a normal civilian no matter how powerful she becomes.
'I can't have people try to kidnap her before we are ready.'
· The ability to gain more chakra and physical strength, as well as control over said strength, with age.
'That's just a bonus.'
Side effects / drawbacks: None.
Condition: This power remains with the pill taker as long as she is loyal to the pill creator, in his care, and/or in his employment.
'And this is everything,' I thought as I went over the list again.
'Hmmm, let's add one more.'
· The potential to be one of, if not the strongest, in this world.
"Yeah. This is it," I chuckled as I imagined myself siccing Konan on my enemies.
I then willed the effects to attach to the pill, and everything returned to normal.
A jarring sensation, if you ask me. Suddenly being assaulted by senses you haven't used can be quite a headache.
Konan took the pill—which had now turned purple in color—inspected it with curious eyes, then just threw it in her mouth and gulped loudly.
Her eyes widened before rolling back, and she lost consciousness.
I quickly caught her before her head hit the ground and checked her pulse and breathing.
I let out a sigh of relief when I found that everything was in order.
'Phew. Now we wait.'
---
Next day
Konan
Konan woke up feeling like she had been asleep for years. She felt good. Strong, and not tired at all.
She lifted her head up and saw Kai sleeping, his back against the wall, and his hands holding her tightly in his lap.
She smiled and closed her eyes.
She felt safe. Not because she suddenly knew how to fight, or that she could turn into paper, or anything to do with her new power.
She felt safe because Kai was with her.
No matter how weird Kai was. He talked funny sometimes. He said things she didn't understand, and sometimes, while talking, he just started speaking another language.
But he was kind. She knew this the moment she met him.
Konan had been alone for months before she met Kai. She knew how cruel people were. She heard the caretakers in the orphanage say a lot of things about how they got money if they found a kid with ninja powers.
Kai was not like them.
He looked sad when they first met. And he gave her his food even though he was hungry.
He didn't try to sell her when he discovered her powers. He had told her to try to hide them so that other people wouldn't notice instead.
And now he had given her power.
Really, Kai was the nicest, kindest person she knew.
'I will protect him,' she thought. Her eyes burning with determination.
She then extended her arm, palm meeting his injured right eye, and closed her eyes.
Her hand started glowing green. She opened her eyes to see how effective her healing touch was, only to widen them in surprise.
Kai's injuries were fading at a speed visible to her eyes.
'This is great,' she beamed with a smile as she saw Kai relax slightly. His hold on her loosening.
'I should keep this until I feel tired,' she decided.
It was better this way. She didn't know how sick or injured he was, but she could just keep doing this every day until she was sure he was completely fine.
'That's a good idea,' she nodded to herself.
Brrrr~
Her stomach gurgling was embarrassing but it also reminded her that they had not eaten anything since yesterday.
'Let's go get food,' she thought, slowly wiggling out of Kai's hold.
She then stood up, and jumped up and down a few times before she started to walk out.
Her steps were light as a feather, not even leaving a trace.
She remembered studying how to fight and how to be stealthy but she didn't understand when or remember who taught her.
She didn't care either. At least now, she and Kai could eat a lot of things.
She just had to steal them from that creepy fat merchant in the market and not get caught.
Easy.
---
Kai
I opened my eyes, feeling refreshed.
I yawned, stretched my arms, and stood up.
'Hmm,' I then noticed, 'I feel a lot better.'
I shrugged and started walking slowly toward the exit. I needed to get to the relief post before the queue got too long. I couldn't have Konan go without food today too.
…
'Wait a second.' I stopped dead in my tracks. 'Where the hell is Konan?'
I turned around and started to frantically look.
'Did she return to her hole?'
"Konan?" I called as I knelt down, but there was no sound.
I felt something twist in my stomach as a cold feeling suddenly settled there.
'Did she leave?' I wondered. 'Nobody could have gotten her. Not while leaving me alive.'
So that meant she left…
She gets powers and leaves me here alone.
I leaned back against the hole, the cold stone touching my back, giving me shivers.
'Should I have made a drawback that she can't leave me beyond a specific radius?'
'Maybe increased loyalty or something? No, that wouldn't work. Or would it?'
Ugh. I didn't know. I couldn't think straight.
Shuffle~
My eyes snapped open as I heard the sound of paper. Looking at the source, I saw papers coming together to shape a human before Konan appeared.
"Konan!" I exclaimed as I stood up. "Where the hell have you been, young lady?!"
"I went to get us food," she said, showing me a big paper bag filled with bread, fruit, and who knows what else.
"You can't go without informing me first…"
"But I was close…" she argued. "Just the market."
"Ugh, just forget it…" I was too emotionally tired to argue with a kid.
"Just come here," I said as I opened my arms. She suddenly appeared in front of me.
One second she was there. Now she was sitting in my lap, taking food out of her paper bag and setting it on the floor in front of us.
I sighed.
It was the morning, and I was already tired.
Still, it was good to see that the powers worked just fine.
And it was good she was here.
X_
A/N: I hoper you enjoy this.