Renji.
That was his current name. Current, because he had reincarnated in this world. He didn't remember everything from his previous life, only fragments. Sometimes one thought would lead him to another, allowing him to remember more, and that bothered him a little, but he couldn't control it, so he resigned himself to it.
Of all the possible universes in his memories, which were few at this point, he had ended up in this one; a place where children learned to kill and where invaders sought to drain the planet to gain power. He would have preferred to wake up in the one with the "walking disc balls," there he would literally have everything easier, the world would literally give him a wife.
But no… it had to be here.
Sometimes he wondered what his funeral had been like in his previous life. He also regretted leaving his mother alone, but there was nothing he could do now. All that was left was to carry on and try to survive.
If you asked him if he wanted to be a ninja, the answer was a resounding no.
But in this world, what other choice did he have? Sit and wait for death? Not a chance.
Resigned to his new reality, he watched the old woman carrying him. She reminded him of his other grandmother, the one from his past life, a woman who had raised him in his childhood. His father in this life was a mystery, and his mother… or so he'd heard, had taken her own life, leaving him in his grandmother Chiyo's care. Why she'd done it remained a mystery. He'd only heard something about Kumo Village, and frankly, he hadn't cared much; he hadn't had time to get attached. Today, at just three months old, he had already begun experimenting with his chakra. Like every reincarnated baby, something common in cases like this. According to fragments of his memory, it seemed that in his previous life he had read many alternate histories about this world, and he also seemed to know certain events in this world well. Since events were repeated in all these stories, he assumed they were things that would happen unless he intervened. In some, the protagonist intervened, and the events changed for better or for worse. He also noticed with interest that in each of these stories, the chakra functioned differently, which puzzled him. But he theorized that, since the stories were different, the chakra's behavior varied, so he couldn't simply copy the steps of the strongest characters. He analyzed the sensation of this energy: that rapid and constant flow that ran through what he assumed were his chakra channels. He tried to manipulate it, even testing whether he could leave any part of his body without energy, but it proved impossible. The only thing he managed to do was alter the speed of the flow and accumulate it very slightly.
His reserves were unbalanced: much more spiritual energy than physical, something logical and common given his resources. A memory of another story came to him; in this one, the regressor was in Naruto's body, and having two unbalanced souls seemed to cause communication and comprehension problems, at least initially. He considered himself lucky not to have to deal with the same thing.
But back to him... considering his condition as a baby, this imbalance made him more sensitive to other people's chakra, provided it was a considerable amount. He realized this when his grandmother took him shopping. As they passed near someone dressed in a peculiar way, he sensed them, even though he couldn't see them. He estimated his perception range was a meter at most, because he didn't detect the other individual observing him from further away. He assumed that as he grew, recovered his memories, and practiced, he would improve.
During that walk, he also noticed the stares. They were the same ones that, in the anime, were directed at Naruto. That disconcerted him, although he didn't give it much thought. What did catch his attention was the mountain with sculpted faces. Three faces.
That was a bad omen.
It meant he would have to participate in at least one war, which had its pros and cons.
Good, because he would have relatively much time to train and gain experience. Bad, because he could be used as cannon fodder, or kidnapped by Danzo, or die through carelessness.
He sighed inwardly.
In this world, even being born came with disadvantages.
Well, complaining doesn't do any good.
But as a baby, he had no way to do anything other than practice with his chakra.
This month he turned one year old. He had discovered things about chakra. The best part was that he discovered that even as a baby, he could make certain things stick to his body, like the leaf training, but for a shorter time. This served as exercise; his reserves, which were slowly improving due to his faster-than-usual movements and the expenditure of this exercise, were gradually increasing. He thought about exercising, but immediately dismissed the idea. He didn't want to injure himself permanently, so he resigned himself to just crawling. With time and reflection, one day he asked himself a question: Could chakra be affected by emotions or intentions? He wondered this because of the beasts with
His chakra was harmful by nature or due to his repressed emotions.
And if it was the latter, it also applied to humans. From his memories, he only had a vague mention of the Zero-Tails biju, which had been created by an accumulation of negative feelings and chakra, but he wasn't sure. Therefore, his only option was to experiment with his chakra. He tried and failed; he didn't know why, but he theorized that his emotions weren't strong enough. The closest he came to success was a fingertip with chakra more erratic than normal, so he left it for later. Aside from this, the only thing he had focused on was learning the language. It was complicated, but he had learned the basics. It felt strange to learn with such relative ease, but he dismissed it as a consequence of his chakra or his age. This led him to another thought: how did chakra affect the brain? But he wasn't crazy enough to experiment on himself in such a sensitive area, so he left it for when he could clone himself. As for his grandmother Her relationship with her was good; it was lovely to see her smile happily when her first words were "grandma."
NOTA:This work is a fanfic inspired by the Naruto universe, created by Masashi Kishimoto. The characters, locations, and original concepts belong to their respective authors and copyright holders. This story is not for commercial purposes; it is created solely for entertainment and as a tribute to the original work. The author of this fanfic does not claim intellectual property rights over Naruto or its derivatives.