Chapter 1
Rei sat in the soft grass outside his family’s small house, his tiny fingers touching into the earth as he stared at the world around him.
The sky seemed impossibly blue. What a crap shit world he was in!
The memories had been fragmented in the beginning. He remembered that he belonged to another world, had another life. He was happy, well not all of it, of course, because who was happy all the time.
That would be absurd. But he knew he had parents and was quite educated, not among the savages that he was at the moment. Okay sorry, not savages, but rather a place much more dangerous than his previous life. It didn’t take long for him to realize that he was in the world of Naruto.
Who would doubt once you see that famous leaf headband on the heads of his parents and going out on missions once in a while. He knew at the moment that survival was the best he could do with the options he had been given.
Born in a family with no bloodline connection. Go figure !
Starting phase was fine. But the arrival of the 4th great ninja war was a death sentence for young kids like him. Wait! Will/Can I even pass through the Academy and become a genin? Naruto was Naruto, he is the protagonist. His name didn’t have the surnames of famous clans.
Even if he did survive what would come later would be another nightmare.
Gods roamed around in the universes or at least that’s what they were called. And here he was trying to figure out if the mud in his hand could be wiped away since he just stumbled. A 3 year old kid, like him, trying to run like a normal person was quite the challenge.
The trees, the air, the breeze, the different tones of the birds were quite refreshing to him, among all that what wasn’t natural were his emotions and thoughts.
Yup, that’s right. Let’s go a couple of years back to understand how Rei came to this particular family.
------
Few months had passed since Konoha had been devastated by the attack of the Nine-Tails, and it had been quite the event and tragedy. The village still carried the scars, and in many cases, open wounds which would probably take a lot of years to heal.
Rebuilt walls stood where entire districts had once been erased. The scent of fresh timber and plaster lingered in the air, mingling with grief. The memorial stone had added quite a few names in the past couple of months, including the name of one significant figure in the shinobi world.
The 4th Hokage.
But as they say, life moves on. Because even if the whole world was dead, it should still move on, as time waits for no one. In a quieter part of the village, away from the main roads and reconstruction zones, stood a modest home belonging to the Amagi family.
Inside, the atmosphere was anything but quiet.
“Breathe, Hana, breathe... breathe....slowly!”
“I am breathing, you idiot, you are the one who is panicking!”
“I’m not panicking!”
“I don’t care, you need to get out.” Hana growled. Daichi was a bit sad but he knew that this was the normal procedure around.
Daichi Amagi, a standard chunin of Konoha, stood utterly out of his depth. He had faced rogue shinobi, completed escort missions through dangerous terrain, and survived the chaos of the Nine-Tails’ attack, if by surviving you mean was away from the village, then sure, he survived. But none of that prepared him for this moment.
His wife, Hana Amagi, lay on the futon. Unlike her husband, Hana was a medical-nin, a skilled one at that. Under normal circumstances, she would have handled a situation like this with practiced calm. And she did have help, but sadly right now, it clearly wasn’t enough for her liking.
A midwife and an older medical kunoichi knelt beside her, guiding her through the process with steady voices.
“Good, Hana. You’re doing well,” the older woman said. “Just a little more.”
Daichi hovered outside the room like a bodyguard.
“Daichi,” Hana snapped between breaths, “if you keep walking like that, I will throw a kunai at you and I will make sure it gets struck to you after breaking the door.” Hana shouted from inside the room and this made Daichi stop in his tracks and just stand while turning his head around.
Meanwhile, after sometime, Hana collapsed back against the futon, utterly spent, but her lips curved into a faint smile as the midwife carefully lifted the child.
“It’s a boy,” she said warmly.
The baby’s cries filled the room, stronger than most of the children she had seen. Tiny fists clenched, face scrunched in protest at being brought into a world that he definitely did not give consent to. That tired baby face emoji? yeah that one!
Daichi knocked on the door, very so slowly, and the midwife allowed him inside.
“Can I…?” he asked.
The midwife nodded, gently placing the child into his arms. And just like that, the seasoned chunin looked utterly terrified.
“He’s so small…” Daichi whispered.
“That’s because he’s a baby, Daichi.”
“I know that, I just...what if I drop him?!”
“You won’t.”
Dark hair, barely there but visible. A small face that would one day grow into something unknown. His breathing steadied, tiny chest rising and falling with life that felt… miraculous.
“You… you did it…” Daichi said.
“Yes,” she murmured. ”We did.”
The words put a smile on Daichi’s face, though he never thought he did anything worthwhile for the birth of their first child, especially at a time of huge upheaval. He had taken only two missions since his wife got pregnant, and even those stopped after the attack, as directed by the Third Hokage for internal peace and security.
His wife saying that he too had contributed to the birth of their beloved child did put a huge smile on his face.
“What should we name him?” Daichi asked.
“Rei.”
Daichi blinked. “Rei…?”
Daichi looked down at the child again.
Rei.
“…Rei Amagi,” he repeated, testing the name.
The baby shifted slightly in his arms, letting out a small sound, almost as if acknowledging it.
“It suits him.”
1 year later
The winter had come and gone, and with it, some of the sharper edges of grief that had once gripped Konoha began to dull. And in a modest home tucked away from the busier streets, something unusual was quietly unfolding.
At just six months old, Rei Amagi did not behave like other children. At first, it had been small things.
“He’s… very attentive,” Hana had said one evening, watching her son lie quietly on his futon instead of fussing like most infants. She had taken care of babies before in the hospital as part of her medical training, thus she had a good idea of what she was watching.
“That’s good, right?” Daichi asked.
At the time, they had both believed so.
By eight months, it became harder to ignore. Rei didn’t babble at all. He would always be observing and sometimes one might be looking into his eyes and have the thought that this baby definitely had cognitive thoughts, but that was impossible. Wasn’t it?
Dark eyes followed movement with unsettling precision. When Hana worked with herbs or medical supplies at home, his gaze lingered around. Like trying to understand the things around.
At nine months, Rei stood. Not stumbled or wobbled like most kids. Daichi had nearly dropped the cup he was holding when he walked into the room and saw his son gripping the edge of a low table, legs steady.
“Hana.”
Both of the parents were now watching the child, who seemed to carry himself quite differently.
By ten months, he walked straight. There was no clumsy trial-and-error most children displayed. Rei moved like someone who had already understood the concept before attempting it.
Daichi crouched a few feet away, arms open.
“Come on, Rei. Come to me.”
Rei looked at him and paused. Then walked forward—one step, two, three—before stopping just short of his father’s reach. Not because he couldn’t go further, but because he chose not to.
“You’re going to give your old man a heart attack at this rate,” Daichi laughed nervously, scooping him up anyway.
Rei didn’t laugh. He simply looked at him. If one could discern any meaning behind his look, one would understand that Rei wanted to say:
“I am an adult. I would not like to be scooped by a grown man.”
Yup. Rei Amagi was a transmigrator. If it wasn’t stated before, then it was time for it to be made clear. Rei had been aware of his surroundings at around five months after his birth. He thanked the gods for not giving him awareness in the womb itself.
Now that would be quite the tragedy.
But right now, Rei was anything but jolly. There was a reason why he hardly cried, because he hardly laughed either. He might smile once or twice seeing the antics of his parents, but in his mind, he was already trying to find ways to save himself from this disaster of a world.
It didn’t take long for Rei to understand which world he was in, nor that he did not give consent to being born here. He had been quite a successful “nerd” in his previous life.
Born and brought up in the USA, graduated from NYU with a degree in Marketing, and eventually landed a job in a growing startup in San Diego. His parents were quite wealthy, and thus he didn’t have to struggle with student loans or even searching for a job. His parents had all the connections.
Not that he ever gave anyone any reason to doubt his ethical or moral compass. He had always been straightforward in his previous life and spent most of his free time watching movies, anime, and series—anything to take him away from reality.
And now that he was far away from his “reality,” he didn’t know what to feel. He was terrified and also excited. He was sad for his parents, who lost their beloved and successful (as his dad used to say) child, but also excited for what was to come.
Or rather, how to survive in this world.
5 years later
“Happy Birthday to you.”
“Happy Birthday to you.”
“Happy Birthday to my dear Rei… Happy Birthday to you.”
“Mom, can you not smother me so much?”
“Hahaha… Your cheeks are so squishy! Of course I want nothing more than to kiss them and touch them.”
This made Rei roll his eyes, making the couple laugh out loud.
Today, Rei was 5 years old. Five years since he had been in this world. He was glad that he was born in the same time as Naruto, which meant he and Naruto would go to the same Academy.
Though his parents lauded him as some kind of genius, he knew full well that his genius level was only at an intellectual level. He didn’t know if he had any affinity for chakra, so he wasn’t proud or arrogant despite his parents hailing him as the best child in all of Konoha history.
Yeah… they were dramatic that way.
Having Naruto as his fellow age-colleague meant he knew exactly what plot was going to follow and thus knew when to act and how to act, provided there wasn’t a massive butterfly effect from him.
As he was going through different thoughts, his mind suddenly seemed to gain access to a kind of memory…
That he never had before.
