Chapter 1 (Patreon)

“Get out of here, demon fox! I’m not selling you anything! You bring nothing but trouble!”

The fat, middle-aged shopkeeper shoved Naruto Uzumaki to the ground, his face twisted with disgust.

“That demon fox should have been killed. The Third Hokage is too soft on him.”

“My parents died in the Nine-Tails’ attack twelve years ago. If the Fourth Hokage hadn’t sacrificed himself, I probably would have died too.”

“Go on, get lost! No one in Konoha is going to sell you anything!”

The villagers’ insults came from every direction. Each word cut into Naruto, and he could only sit there for a moment, staring at the faces around him.

He sighed inwardly.

‘So this is what Naruto had to deal with. I can’t even buy something to eat. At this rate, I’ll have to steal food or catch fish in the river.’

The boy sitting on the ground was no longer the Naruto Uzumaki this world had known.

Inside him was a Naruto fan from Earth.

He had been playing a Naruto mobile game when a window labeled [Fate Selection System] suddenly appeared. Without really understanding what he was looking at, he had selected one of the two options.

The next thing he knew, he was Naruto Uzumaki.

He had been in this world for less than half an hour, yet that was already enough to understand what it felt like to be hated by everyone around him.

It was suffocating.

He had done nothing to these people, but they looked at him as though his very existence offended them. Anger built in his chest, threatening to spill over.

[Ding! Fate Selection System loaded.]

[Beginner Mission: Find something to eat.]

[Option 1 — The Virgin’s Choice: Beg the shopkeeper to take pity on you and sell you some food.]

[Reward: Eternal Virginity. This effect permanently prevents the host from having sex.]

[Option 2 — The Devil’s Choice: Take revenge on the shopkeeper who mistreated you. Answer violence with violence.]

[Reward: Deidara’s Explosion Release kekkei genkai.]

Naruto stared at the interface in his mind, one eyebrow lifting.

‘That’s the system that popped up in the game... Did it bring me here?’

Then he read the first reward again.

‘Wait, eternal virginity? Are you kidding me?! I just want something to eat! What kind of system calls that a reward?’

Before he could dwell on it, his stomach growled.

He was hungry, miserable, and still sitting in the dirt. Looking up at the shopkeeper and the villagers gathered around him, he tried to reason with them.

“I’m not the demon fox. Think about it. If I were, why would I be asking you to sell me food? Why wouldn’t I just eat you?”

“Because the Third Hokage keeps you under control! You can’t turn back into the fox!”

“That’s right! You’re still that monster, no matter what you look like! They should have executed you!”

More insults followed. None of them had any intention of listening.

Then the shopkeeper’s lips curled into a sneer.

He went back inside, returned with a carton of milk, and held it out toward Naruto.

Naruto’s face brightened. He quickly got to his feet, bowed in thanks, and reached for it with both hands.

Disbelieving murmurs rose from the crowd.

Just as Naruto was about to take the carton, the shopkeeper turned away and poured the milk into a chipped bowl beside the entrance.

Naruto recognized it.

It belonged to the man’s puppy.

“A fox eats on all fours, doesn’t it?” the shopkeeper asked, sneering at him. “There you go. Why don’t you get down and lick it up?”

“Hahaha!”

“Look at him! Just like a dog!”

“Well? Go on, demon fox! Eat!”

Laughter filled the street.

Naruto froze, still bent forward with his hands outstretched. His face burned.

He looked at the system interface and chose the second option without hesitation.

[Ding! Option 2 selected. Reward granted: Deidara’s Explosion Release kekkei genkai.]

[Complete the mission within twenty-four hours. Failure to do so will result in the reward being revoked.]

[Ding! Completing this beginner mission will also earn you a special reward.]

Naruto looked around at the villagers, committing each of their faces to memory.

Then he straightened, quietly scooped up a handful of dirt with his right hand, and headed home.

According to the memories he had inherited, Naruto lived in the run-down, two-story building directly across from the shop.

He was the building’s only resident, though only the corner room on the second floor belonged to him.

Once inside, he heated the only carton of milk he had left and drank it, even though it had already expired.

There was nothing else to eat.

The original Naruto had stolen that milk from the shop across the street. The shopkeeper had caught him and beaten him badly for it.

Before long, night fell.

Naruto lay on his bed, thinking back over his short, unsuccessful life on Earth. At last, he let out a breath and said goodbye to it.

‘There’s no going back anyway. From now on, I’m Naruto Uzumaki. This is my life now.’

It was the sixtieth year since Konoha’s founding. The events of the story were about to begin, and the Ninja Academy’s graduation exam was tomorrow.

There was no way he could make up for all his shortcomings with a single night of training.

Besides, he had something else to take care of tonight.

Five hours later, the streets had gone dark and quiet. Konoha was asleep.

Naruto remained on his bed, his hands hidden beneath the covers.

A grotesque mouth had appeared in each palm. Both were chewing the dirt he had picked up earlier, turning it into explosive clay.

With the ability he had received, he could mix his chakra into ordinary earth through the mouths in his palms, producing white explosive clay. He could then shape that clay into animals, control their movements, and detonate them to attack his enemies.

After five hours of work, he had made fifty tiny clay ants.

Every time he remembered the shopkeeper’s sneering face, anger surged through him again.

Even so, he decided to leave the man alive.

He had never killed anyone. What he wanted was to teach the shopkeeper a lesson he would never forget.

Naruto sent out only thirty of the ants. One after another, they slipped through the gaps in the floorboards, crept out of his apartment, and made their way into the shop across the street.

The shop occupied the front of the property. The man who had humiliated him lived in the house behind it.

Naruto gathered fifteen of the ants inside the shop, then pulled the covers over his head. Unable to contain his excitement, he shouted:

“Art is an explosion!”

BOOM!

The shop across the street was reduced to rubble.

Every window in Naruto’s apartment shattered, but he barely paid it any attention. He sprang out of bed, put on a frightened expression, and hurried to his doorway to see what had happened.

The shopkeeper came running out of the house behind the shop, stark naked. When he saw the ruins, he broke down in tears.

Watching him, Naruto felt a pang of guilt.

‘Did I go too far? I didn’t need to destroy the whole shop just to frighten him...’

In his previous life, he had been an ordinary, law-abiding citizen. He had never bullied or deliberately hurt anyone.

No one had been injured in the blast, but the explosion had jolted all of Konoha awake. The village had enjoyed peace for so long that the sudden noise sent people rushing from their homes.

The Third Hokage arrived as well, though he stayed out of sight.

First, he spoke with the Anbu assigned to watch Naruto. Only after confirming that the jinchūriki had shown no unusual behavior did he relax.

“You chased Naruto away this afternoon, and now your shop’s been blown up,” a villager whispered to the shopkeeper. “Could someone be getting back at you for what you did to him?”

The suggestion set the others murmuring.

The shopkeeper looked fearfully toward the second floor of the building across the street.

Naruto stood in the doorway, watching him calmly.

The man’s heart lurched, and he quickly looked away.

Hidden nearby, the Third Hokage frowned. The same possibility had occurred to him, and he was already considering who might have done it.

When Naruto heard the villagers’ whispers, relief swept through him.

‘It worked. Maybe now they’ll think twice before treating me like that.’

Satisfied that he had achieved what he wanted, he was about to turn around and go back to bed.

Then the voices below rose again.

“Don’t be ridiculous. If someone cared enough to stand up for that demon fox, why wouldn’t they just give him something to eat?”

“Exactly! That monster brings disaster wherever he goes. Have you forgotten how he nearly destroyed Konoha twelve years ago?”

“I told you this afternoon not to let him near your shop! And look what happened. It blew up the same night!”

“Why couldn’t that explosion have killed the demon fox instead?”

“Tomorrow, we should go to the Third Hokage and ask him to have the fox executed! He’s always been so kind to us. I’m sure he’ll listen!”

As the villagers spoke, the shopkeeper’s fear faded. Anger took its place.

He jabbed a finger toward Naruto’s doorway.

“Damn you, demon fox! This is all your fault! You bring trouble everywhere you go! Just wait until tomorrow morning. I’m coming over there to beat you!”

The Third Hokage remained in the shadows. He listened to the abuse without intervening, carefully watching Naruto’s reaction.

The villagers’ speculation did not sway him. He knew that Anbu kept Naruto under constant watch. No one could have brought the boy food without their knowledge.

Naruto had already begun to turn away when the shopkeeper’s threat reached him.

He stopped.

Then he lowered his head and stepped farther into the room, letting the darkness swallow him.

He did not want anyone to see the fury twisting his face.