Potential New Snippet? (Patreon)

So, writing is coming slowly today. In fact, I've basically sacked off the whole day. Doing some beta reading before bed. I'll be writing two Invincible fic chapters tomorrow to complete Tier 1. But while reading, I realised I fielded an entire snippet idea on the thread that didn't make it here. Which is a shame, because there's like hundreds of you on here, so why not get some more thoughts.

So, in a similar vein, I'm going to post the inspiration picture alongside my accompanying spiel so you don't have to hop between tabs:

New story idea brought on by this image. Why? Fuck knows. The hot asf art of Sakura really has nothing to do with the idea itself lmao.Basically, an insanely batshit isekai-ed MC decides to pick up those Uzumaki masks during the Chaos of the Leaf Village invasion and barter with the Shinigami for power. He's like 15 and sees that he's plateued at mid chunin-level. Seeing that it's one of the gods tacitly implied to be around the Naruto world, he thinks 'why not?' since there's a decent chance of freedom once Orochimaru nabs the mask. So, totally ripping off Eternally Regressing Knight, the Shinigami instantly gets a read of what the MC wants and decides that he'll give him exactly what he wants—but should he lose his will, the Shinigami will consumes his soul. Of course, our boy thinks he simply can't die and that he has a regeneration kind of thing, but in reality, the Shinigami meal.There's only so much suffering one lifetime can generate, after all. This is something mostly zany tbh. As a friend said, timeloop stories can be very hit or miss. I think in this story, the time-loop aspect would be threaded throughout all facets of the story. It takes a lunatic main character and turns him more cerebral by showing him the ability to do what you want doesn't necessarily make the outcome better. The ability to regress essentially lets him use his body as live test material. Of course it won't be easy. I could give this a drawback in that he doesn't go back to the start of the day he dies, but rather, some arbitrarily "start" point. Maybe the "beginning" of the series of events that leads to his death. Like the moment he's assigned a mission, etc.

I reckon the MC's impatience and slight insanity only works if this is close to canon tbh. Thus, him being a random chunin having been around for a decade but not too powerful. He's still like 15-16, and strong for in-verse standards. But coming from a world with no magic and the knowledge of what the peak looks like and what's coming, can't square his desire to be able to act on that foreknowledge. Hence him pulling that absolute gamer move that is bartering with the god of death.See, his "logic" is that so long as he doesn't do the seppuku ritual, he won't die by Shinigami lmao. And he's kind of right, but there's a twist here that basically underpins the entire concept. Basically, being a non-native soul, our boy won't go to the Pure Lands when he dies. The Shinigami has known of him since he's crossed into the world and his very existence is an insult to everything he stands for. So, imagine his glee when the slight itself walks in and decides it wants to discuss what amounts to his own execution? Of course, he has to willingly give his soul over, hence the monkey's paw "immortality" he's granted.The Shinigami will be there after every painful death, egging him into oblivion. What I have in mind with the two of them is a Kurama-esque relationship where the Shinigami gradually ends up rooting for our boy, and at the end of his natural life, he walks off into the light as a friend to wherever he's going next. No "zero-cost Reaper Death Seal" here lmfao. This idea itself is basically a testing ground for having the really serious, fucked up consequences with specific timelines becoming sources of much-needed cerebral character growth for a garden variety idiot who thinks he's smarter than he is. Of course, this won't be torture porn. He'll actually take to this with gusto and grow, but I won't shy away from the downsides either.Like I said, it's heavily drawing from Eternally Regressing Knight. Only the MC wants more than mindlessly growing stronger. I like that aspect of Eternally Regressing Knight, but Encrid feels wooden in the sense that he desires nothing but more power. We barely know why he wants that power, what his life was like before we run into him, what his childhood is like, what he wants after all this is said and done, etc.But I digress. This story is pretty in medias res. Our MC, like many others will be an orphan as a result of the Nine-Tailed Fox. His life will have existed prior to the start of this fic. He'll have relationships with canon characters, etc. No "Naruto's big brother" here, though. He'll be familiar and friendly with Naruto, but mostly keeps his distance to make sure things remain predictable where the No. 1 Knuckleheaded Ninja is concerned.So when he gets shunted back, the well of "experience" will lead to an imbalance between his physical and spiritual energies. As a result, the chakra produced when the two are mixed will be of lower quality because he'll need to expend more chakra to activate jutsu or make said chakra as effective that produced by mixing near-equal physical and spiritual energy. Lower efficiency, essentially. It's not really a drawback that'll happen much. It's dependent on how long an "event" goes without him dying. I only ever plan on using it once to force him to actually slow down and decompress—specifically mentally. By the nature of how the regression works, it won't really have the chance to happen again. It won't blindside the MC since he'll be aware of the energy imbalance notion from the very beginning. He has an abundance of spiritual energy on account of being a reincarnate, and thus has been working at it his entire life.

The energies are still imbalanced at the start of the fic, but not grossly so and his general larger-than-average chakra reserves make up for it. Puberty and his rigorous physical training have him on-track to having perfectly balanced energies by his early to mid-twenties. Regressing, even for that backslide arc I have planned will only force him to sit tight for a month, which again, is more for his mental health rather than anything else.

Of course, this won't be a constant thing that puts a damper on the plot, since a lot of his early regressions won't have lead to this issue. I plan on it being a reveal to incentivise the guy to be smarter, because it'll mean taking time off to bring his physical energy up to par.

He's got a sizeable pool of chakra, more than average for his age on account of being a reincarnate, though it's nothing crazy. He's not smart enough to lay traps or fight a cerebral kind of fight, thus he's either in your face or drowning you in ninjutsu. Primary fire affinity, but he's got a few earth ninjutsu in his repetoire. Again, for his age and rank he's actually pretty damn strong. The issue is that there's a ginormous gap between chunin and jonin, and then jonin and kage-tier. To mention nothing of the few monsters beyond even that.

Luckily, this fic's regression is less like The Hundred Reigns and more like Eternally Regressing Knight. The regression moves forward with him, and so the people around him don't suddenly regress 4 years or something. That said, he will lose important people regardless. I don't plan on putting him through the ball-busting "lose all the loves of your lives" speedrun. That specific plot will only happen once, I think.I reckon that he probably won't sleep with every woman ever. My idea for romance is actually going to be pretty streamlined. If this goes I'm planning it to, he'll probably have 3-4 partners over the course of the fic. Maybe one or two more depending on one-night stands and stuff. Anyway, if sleeping with canon girls is something that happens, it happens, but generally, like anyone, he simply goes for whoever's around that he is into. After all, dating isn't a priority, even if sex is a base need.Mainly, the regression will be used to make him stronger than he could ever be in 1 lifetime. That, and to beat some humility into him. His foreknowledge and willingness to act on it can and will make things worse if he doesn't prepare adequately.

Thoughts?