Takuya slowly forced his eyes open, thoughts gradually returning from the depths of his mind. A trace of caution made him scan his surroundings carefully.
A strange wooden room.
A thin blanket covered him. No bed—he was lying directly on the floor.
Tatami, huh.
He raised a hand to rub his head, trying to sit up, but his body was so weak he gave up instantly.
System.
He whispered the word silently in his mind.
A faint light screen appeared in his head—clear as day.
So it wasn't a hallucination.
Takuya didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He'd just been a normal game designer on some blue planet, when suddenly a system dropped out of nowhere and kicked off a countdown to transmigration. No way to fight it—he only had enough time to use this so-called "Universal Trading System" to trade for a huge life insurance policy and leave it behind for his family.
That feeling?
"Total bullshit," Takuya muttered.
Getting a golden finger with your transmigration was a dream for most, sure—but systems like this were definitely man-made. Whoever was behind it, they had to exist.
He spaced out for a while.
Then, it seemed like Takuya accepted it. What's the saying? If you can't resist, enjoy it. As long as you don't think too highly of yourself, life's full of pleasures.
"Universal Trading System, huh."
He started checking the system's functions.
Super simple.
Make trades with others—no matter what the item is—and the system converts it into something called Trade Points. Those can be used to buy literally anything from the system shop.
Takuya even saw Doraemon's Time Machine. No joke.
Though yeah… the price had so many zeros he didn't even bother counting.
But still—a freaking Time Machine.
One of those "can actually change the past" kinds.
"There's gotta be restrictions."
His thoughts were sharpening. He read the transaction terms.
Yep, restrictions confirmed.
Trades had to be consensual, and the value of the items had to fall within one-fifth to five times of each other.
Takuya's current balance: 110,000 Trade Points.
About the same as what he'd saved from three years of work—minus the chunk he used for the insurance policy.
If one pack of instant noodles cost 5 points, then prices were pretty fair.
Good.
At least it wasn't one of those systems that screw the host on every damn purchase.
"Tch, damn it, I was this close to winning!"
A woman's voice suddenly rang out from outside the room. Takuya snapped to attention, quickly tossing a few strong defensive items into his shopping cart.
Clack.
The sliding door was roughly thrown open.
A woman stepped in, wearing a sleeveless gray outfit. Blonde hair, golden eyes, refined features.
Is that… Tsunade cosplay?
Takuya wasn't an otaku, but he liked anime enough to recognize characters on sight.
And this one—
"Yo, you're awake." The woman, looking exactly like Tsunade from the anime, seemed genuinely happy to see him conscious. She walked over, sat next to him with zero ladylike manners, and reached out a hand. "Just like you see—I saved your ass. Now hand over the medical bill."
Takuya blinked.
From the second she opened her mouth, he'd already spent 30,000 points to get basic Japanese proficiency.
He looked over to the other woman standing by—yup, dressed just like Shizune.
He had a bad feeling about this.
"It's like this," Shizune knelt down politely. "We found you passed out outside and brought you in for treatment."
She didn't mention that Tsunade's actual words had been, "This guy's got soft skin, definitely some rich noble. Time to scam him for a fat medical fee."
"I see." Takuya replied in his newly learned Japanese. "I'll pay for the treatment, and I'm really grateful. But could I have something to eat first? Preferably something soft."
"Tch, already giving orders?" Tsunade stood up with a shrug. "Shizune, he's your problem now. Don't let him run off without paying."
She'd already examined him.
No muscle tone, no chakra in the body.
Just a normal noble or rich guy.
Tsunade usually did treat the rich for cash to fund her gambling, so dragging this guy in was no big deal to her.
Shizune, on the other hand, was way more polite. She agreed, told Takuya to rest and not move around, then went off to get some food.
Only once they left did Takuya's tension ease up slightly.
Judging by their behavior—
Cosplay seemed unlikely.
So… the real deal? Had he really crossed into the Naruto world?
"If that's true… it actually works in my favor."
Takuya wasn't thinking about how cool it'd be to meet his favorite characters—he was thinking about how to survive and profit. Maximize gains while minimizing risk. Enjoyment came after.
A world he knew the plot of was way better than an unknown one!
Like—
Selling a resurrection coin to Tsunade would definitely get him five times the value.
Actually, if he didn't need the system to convert the trade into points, he could probably get even more—since Tsunade really needed it.
But—
"Fulfilling someone's need is the lowest form of trading." Takuya grinned. "Getting them to buy what they don't need? That's real business."
There was this famous business case in his old world—selling combs to monks.
A billionaire had once bashed the idea as a scam, since monks didn't need combs.
But that kind of "scam"?
In gaming? It was everywhere.
Exactly.
What Takuya meant was loot boxes!
Or gacha, card packs, blind boxes—same thing. Players throw in a ton of money chasing one thing, get a pile of useless junk, and still feel great about it.
As a game designer, Takuya knew that trick inside and out.
So, his mind was made up.
Tsunade wasn't called "the legendary fat sheep" for nothing. No way he'd pass up that kind of target.
After eating a bit of liquid food and regaining some strength, Takuya tossed more life-saving items into his shopping cart just in case, then got ready for his first trade.
He requested to settle the medical bill, and Shizune brought him to Tsunade.
He'd already figured out the current timeline: post-Third Great Ninja War. The Fourth Hokage had died over a decade ago. Tsunade had left Konoha.
One of the Legendary Three Sannin, sitting alone, sipping sake. Her skin had that soft glow from drinking, her body… well, "firecracker" didn't even begin to describe it. You'd never guess she was over fifty.
Even with all his movie and TV experience, Takuya couldn't help admiring her.
She was stunning.
"Kid, that look in your eyes is real interesting." Tsunade shot him a sideways glance.
She could tell instantly—his eyes were filled with admiration.
He wasn't hiding it at all.
Not that uncommon, but still amusing.