A six-year-old child stood by his window, peering out into the darkness of the night as a cold breeze brushed against his face. A pale blue holographic screen flickered into view before him in the dim light.

 

*Sigh*

 

The child let out a weary sigh. "Finally, I've figured out how to use it," Kai mumbled to himself.

 

Kai Ikazuchi was the new name he received after transmigrating into this world. 

 

Once a regular programmer employed by a multinational corporation, he met his demise due to a stroke, brought on by a combination of poor lifestyle choices and the relentless demands of his company's overtime culture. 

 

However, instead of meeting his anticipated fate in hell, something pulled his soul away and deposited it into the body of a child in the world of Naruto.

 

‘The automation window can record any of my actions and perform them when certain trigger conditions are met,’ Kai thought as he combed his fingers through his short pitch-black hair. ‘Let me try it one more time.’

 

He lifted his right arm and thrust it out the window while making a weird pose with his middle finger sticking out. Immediately, a recorded animation of his action appeared as a thumbnail in the automation window.

 

‘Once I think of playing it…’ Kai's thoughts immediately triggered something.

 

His body began to move as if possessed, completing the entire motion of giving a middle finger to the world exactly like he had done before.

 

‘...I am repeating it.’

 

The movement was flawless, an exact copy of the initial one. It was as if he was playing a character emote in a game.

‘Once an action is recorded, I don't need to spend extra brain power in executing. It becomes similar to a reflex action.’

 

 ‘This is so cool. Maybe in the future, I can use chakra and jutsus like this. The possibilities are infinite.’

 

Kai decided to look at it in an optimistic light even though he didn’t fully grasp what his ability was. 

 

‘Luckily, the gods didn’t abandon me. They gave me a straw to hang on when they pushed me into this world.’ Kai felt the innumerable worries in his mind decrease by a lot. 

 

After transmigrating, he had indeed received a cheat ability.

 

The cheat ability he possessed was difficult to master and took half a year to manifest. However, this posed no problem, considering he was just a child and still had time to grow. With time, he could study more and improve his mastery of it.

 

‘Should I call it a kekkei genkai,’ he thought with a smirk.

 

It had been six months since he was transported into the world of Naruto. The prospect of living in a fictional universe seemed preferable to facing death, but he couldn't ignore the harsh reality of his new surroundings.

 

The god-awful ninja world was filled with the ultimate form of crazy people and lunatics. 

 

For instance, the nine-tailed fox incident that brought his soul to this world was committed by one such lunatic. There were many more lunatics, like Orochimaru, the entire Uchiha clan, and Zetsu currently living, making this world an unimaginably dangerous place.

 

When Kai thought about living in a world like that forever, he had his concerns. After all, even just surviving would be hard due to the profession he wanted to choose. But having a special ability somehow calmed his heart down. 

 

There was still hope.

 

Maybe he can be a ninja without worrying. 

 

The name Kai was not a well-known one, which in itself points out the cannon fodder life the original led. 

 

A cannon fodder that died during the Ninetail's attack. 

 

So, with the cheat-ability he gained, Kai’s confidence soared. He now had hope that he could break away from a similar fate.

 

‘Now I can sleep with some peace of mind. Tomorrow, I have to go to the academy.’ Kai's mind sank into the depths of sleep as soon as his body settled on the nearby bed.

 

—

 

Early in the morning, Kai stirred awake in his bed. 

 

Kai’s parents were ninjas who died during the Kurama incident, leaving him alone in this world. It was also that day his soul transmigrated to the lifeless body of the original Kai. So, there was no one except him inside the large house his parents left him.

 

Kai quickly washed up and ate a simple meal of scrambled eggs and bread before preparing to leave his house.

 

Today was the day the ninja academy’s classes began. 

 

It was the first step he was taking to become a ninja. 

 

–

 

*Knock Knock*

 

Someone knocked on the front door of Kai.

 

“It’s Haru from the Konoha Orphan Welfare Department. Please open the door.” A lady spoke.

 

An unexpected visitor had come. 

 

Kai quickly opened the front door. 

 

“Hello.”  He greeted the young lady politely. 

 

It was a familiar face. Her name was Haru and she had previously visited his home when he was injured during the nine-tail attack. Later, she occasionally dropped by to check on him.

 

“Kai good morning.” The lady smiled brightly when she saw him. 

 

“I heard you were going to attend the ninja academy this year, is that correct?” She inquired. 

 

"Yes."

 

"Should big sister come with you?"

 

"No."

 

"Ah! You're speaking like that again. Only giving single-word answers, mostly yes or no. Didn't I tell you that you need to learn how to speak better if you want to make friends at the academy?"

 

"Yes."

 

"That was not supposed to be a question."

 

"Oh!"

 

*Sigh*

 

The lady sighed and placed her hand on her forehead, observing the unresponsive Kai. 

 

He has always been like that, speaking the least among the orphans she was responsible for. And exceptionally good at making her job very difficult.

 

“Anyway, let big sister bring you to the academy.”

 

“No need. I know the way.”

 

“How do you know that? I heard that you rarely go outside your house.” 

 

‘How can I not know when there is an entire mountain with faces carved right next to the academy?’

 

"I went to the academy before to confirm my admission," he stated, though he thought something else. 

 

The admission confirmation part was a lie he dished out to free himself from the unexpected social interaction.

 

For the past six months, Kai has been resting in his home barely interacting with anyone. Other than occasionally going out to buy food, he didn't even step outside.

 

Kai knew that orphans had a difficult life in the leaf village. So, he was deliberately keeping a low profile. He didn't want to get kidnapped by a certain someone.

 

Meanwhile, Haru realised that it was impossible to convince Kai to accept her help. He was just as cautious as usual. 

 

The same happened last year when she suggested for him to go to an orphanage. He had immediately dismissed her even then.

 

Whatever she did, she couldn’t gain Kai’s trust.

 

‘Does he know? There is no way that’s possible.’ Haru looked at him doubtfully. 

 

“Then, big sister is leaving. If you need any help, you can always come to me.” Haru said and left the house.

 

After leaving the house, she quickly changed her clothes and went to an underground hideout. It was the meeting place of root ninjas. 

 

Currently, Haru was wearing a generic Anbu uniform while talking to another person.

 

“How many did you recruit?” The person asked.

 

“Five this year,” Haru replied. 

 

“You were asked to recruit six this year. What happened to the last one?” He inquired.

 

They were talking about Kai. He was the last one they mentioned. 

 

"That..." Haru felt a little apprehensive. It was a mistake on her part. Kai had done something unexpected "...He has already confirmed his academy admission. I missed the chance."

 

Haru couldn’t read the expression of the other person due to the mask he was wearing. But she knew he was disappointed from the long pause he took after her words.

 

“Failure is not tolerated in the root.”

 

“Sorry team leader.” Haru immediately apologised. 

 

“Send the five recruits to the root training centre. And stop your contact with the last one. We can’t allow the Hokage to doubt our actions. You should also continue your work within the orphan welfare foundation to secure the next batch of recruits.” 

 

“Yes.”

 

Haru replied in affirmation after receiving her orders.

 

Then they dispersed without saying another word.

 

—

 

Unknown to Kai, something disastrous almost happened to him.

 

He was almost recruited into the Root by Haru.

 

Orphans indeed had it hard in the leaf village.

 

Fortunately, his caution and general dislike of interacting with people saved his ass that day.

 

If he hadn’t lied about confirming his admission, he would have most likely found himself within the root, working under Danzo.

 

*Chill*

 

Suddenly, Kai felt a chill creep up his spine when he was about to close his door.

 

‘What is that? Am I coming down with a fever?’ He asked himself while closing the door.

 

It was time to take his first step to being a ninja. 

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