[Welcome! Your soul has been selected for our Reincarnation Service. You may now exchange your accumulated Causality Points to customize your reincarnation experience.]
[Detected insufficient causality points... Rolling from your Known-Universe Roulette...]
[Congratulations!
"Naruto Universe: Shinobi World" has been selected! A Top 50 fictional world on your planet's entertainment index, and a Top 10 in the action anime/comic category!]
"Naruto, huh? Shinobi world. Well… that's not too shabby."
Being Japanese seemed to help. If it were some Chinese cultivation world, he'd probably be stuck with trash-tier spirit roots and three years of waiting for a 'Strongest Suicidal System'. But this… this was still strange.
"Wait, first of all, reincarnation? What the hell… did I actually die from breathing those weird fucking fumes? I didn't just pass out or imagine it? Fuck!"
It was hard to remember exactly. The apartment had smelled off. His head had gotten a little dizzy. Then nothing.
No blood. No screaming. No final words. Just a quiet end he didn't recognize as the end.
And now this—an AI-looking screen and a system talking like this was all standard protocol?
'So what… I died and got abducted by a cosmic reincarnation service that's more user-friendly than any human UI or customer service I've ever seen?'
Whatever this was, it was above him. And if it could hijack his soul, it could probably erase it too. Playing along was the logical move.
"Okay. So after the universe roll, what exactly happens next? I assume I'm not just getting all this for free. What's the catch?"
He asked calmly. No use freaking out too much. This wasn't the time to panic—it was the time to understand the rules.
[This is an autonomous causality acquisition construct. Consent-based operation required. My creator dislikes erasing souls without due process. Think of this as a whim with utility: you get a new life, and causality gets harvested.]
[You may now access the Store to choose your reincarnation parameters: traits, talents, items, timeline, spawn location, identity... Each selection has a causality cost.]
[Note: Replacing an existing being in a world has variable cost depending on their historical causality output and compatibility with your soul.]
[A Popular Picks section is also available for this Universe.]
[Keep in mind all prices are rounded up for maximum number of zeroes, this system likes clean math.]
Ieyasu forced himself to ignore the scamming confession, "So it's like a metaphysical character creation screen with a budget."
That he could understand. A strange comfort settled over him. If this wasn't a dream, then he was alive—just... not the same kind of alive.
"Alright then. Pull up the store. Let's get this over with." He had played Crusader Kings, he figured it was something similar, except with less incest and genetic malformations and more supernatural abilities.
[Popular Picks]
[Character Setting Cards]
[Native World Abilities]
[Non-Native Setting Compatible Abilities]
[Traits and Talents]
[Items and Equipment]
[Extra-Personal Options]
Available CP: 20,000,000 (rounded down for cleanliness)
Seeing that even his budget was rounded down for "cleanliness", Ieyasu realized he had underestimated the shameless and exploitative capitalist mindset of this store, but he still asked, "Show me the popular picks, I guess."
[Popular Picks]
[Senju Hashirama Setting – 105,000,000 CP]
"SSS-level soul with abnormal will. Difficult to assimilate. Reasonably compatible mentality. Extremely high influence and power evaluation."
[Uchiha Madara Setting – 120,000,000 CP]
"SSS-level soul with abnormal will. Difficult to assimilate. Incompatible personality. Extremely high influence and power evaluation."
[Uzumaki Naruto Setting – 120,000,000 CP]
"SSS-level soul with exceptionally abnormal will. Difficult to assimilate. Marginally compatible personality. Extremely high influence and power evaluation."
[Uchiha Itachi Setting– 35,000,000 CP]
"SS-level soul. Unstable will, easier to assimilate. Incompatible personality. High influence and power evaluation."
"OK, can you show me the Orochimaru and Jiraiya settings?" Ieyasu felt completely disparaged at the prices, he wanted to go for an elite budget option. 'Seriously, only Napoleon or something could have that much causality, I'm just a guy.'
[Orochimaru Setting – 25,000,000 CP]
"SS-level soul. Average will. Incompatible personality. High influence and power evaluation."
[Jiraiya Setting – 30,000,000 CP]
"S-level soul. High will, slightly harder to assimilate. Incompatible personality. Extremely high influence and high power evaluations."
"Holy shit, so influence in the world is as important as power, huh?" Ieyasu still didn't give up on the Sannin generation, he felt like it was the perfect mix of danger and opportunity, he could earn and influence all he needed while already being in a relatively safe period.
'Let's be real, the Second War was basically Hanzo pulling aggro and Suna getting bullied by Sakumo. Kumo was likely not too aggressive and still developing after the Second Raikage was killed together with the rebels, they were probably perfecting their Jinchuriki methods too. Kiri isn't supposed to have been directly involved the Third Mizukage was never even shown, they were not a threat in the war. So Amegakure became a punching bag and the whole thing was probably a border meat grinder, no need to worry too much as long as I'm not cannon fodder or unlucky.' This was his reasoning after reorganizing what he knew. And yes, Ieyasu was a big anime fan, Naruto was one of his favorite worlds, he found it very unique.
"Okay, then. Show me Kato Dan's setting and what it would cost to create my own setting instead of assimilating someone's existence." Ieyasu felt like a good setting was probably going to be the most cost-effective option.
[Kato Dan Setting – 500,000 CP]
"S-level soul. Above average will, not relevant. Slightly compatible personality. Medium-low influence and medium-high power evaluations. Detected natural soul/space-time compatibility, easily assimilated, high discount.]
[Custom Alien Setting – >10,000,000 CP]
"Creating a new entity is a high causality consumption process, a Boosted low-level soul or other character settings are usually more cost-effective, only recommended for unavailable non-human settings."
"Hm, Kato Dan should be it, who asked him to be so money-worth." Ieyasu also remembered that Tsunade was both his and many others' dream anime wife, he felt no qualms about replacing one of her contemporaries, especially this guy. Even if it was somewhat weird, it was too good of an opportunity, he'd just have to force poor guy Jiraiya to not fall in love with her in the first place.
'If I buy the Kato Dan Setting, I basically have Jonin or higher potential with a soul affinity, but honestly, I have to spend my points wisely and find especially high-potential traits to really go far.' He immediately thought of bloodlines, the lifeblood of all Six Paths Level characters.
"Show me the cost of the Senju, Uchiha, Uzumaki and Hyuga bloodlines."
[Are you selecting the Kato Dan Setting as the basis? If yes, these bloodlines are known to be too expensive for Settings that don't possess them, would you like to see Popular Picks previously well-rated for similar character settings?]
"Well, if you say so, just show me the good stuff. Don't trick me, though, I'll go through every single option after I've chosen." He really didn't want to, but after he thought about it some more, Ieyasu felt like it was worth it to check every option, even if there were too many, he tried scrolling to the end, and it didn't end.
That was why he chose to use this AI, but since there seemed to be no time limit, he also felt the need to reassert his choice later.
[Customized Popular Picks]
[Byaku-Sharingan Sub-Hybrid –
3,000,000 CP] "A custom Dōjutsu that chooses that combines all of the features of the Byakugan with the vision perks of the Sharingan. Meaning it's essentially a Byakugan with the additional visual prowess of the Sharingan, no Genjutsu, no Mangekyō, no special Hyuga or Uchiha genes that allow for evolution or influence the body or talent in any way. The eyes are visually like a regular Byakugan without the protuding veins."
[Itachi's Tier 3 Susanoo – 10,000,000 CP]
"An Orange-Red Susanoo that consists of an armored upper body warrior wielding the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror. Users without the Sharingan consume extra chakra instead of ocular power. Can be integrated into other equal or higher-level Susanoo."
[Adaptive Vital Body – 15,000,000 CP]
"A physical body whose cells adapt to environmental stress, injuries, chakra imbalance, and foreign energies. Adaptation is passive, slow, and reactive—not user-controlled. Vital energy and stamina recover faster than normal, but not instantly. Long-term exposure to poison, natural energy, or elements will induce increasingly resistant traits over time. Chakra capacity and bodily capabilities grow steadily with exertion. This body cannot fully regenerate from fatal injuries unless supported by external chakra or jutsu, it can regenerate all injuries given enough time, though. Comparable to high-end Uzumaki/Hashirama hybrids with limitless growth potential but not inherently as powerful. Adaptations have no upper limit given enough time and the right stimulus. Adaptation is triggered through soul-based negative ailment detection and is done through a natural response to the ailment."
"Hell yeah! That adaptive body seems tailor-made for the Naruto world, my body can adapt to Senjutsu, my chakra network can adapt to produce elemental fusion Kekkei Genkkai with enough practice, too, even cell transplants have no risk. It also gives free infinite stamina and body strength growth potential and a really solid healing factor for so cheap. On top of all that it makes me unaging and disease-free by default." Ieyasu felt like this was a steal even if it cost most of his CP.
After looking through several other items, Ieyasu concluded, 'So it really was the right choice to ask for custom options, non-Naruto Abilities are too expensive, and anything game changing is either something I can't afford or not as good as the Byaku-Sharingan + Adaptive Vital Body.'
"Okay, I will take the Kato Dan Setting, the Byaku-Sharingan Sub-Hybrid and the Adaptive Vital Body. Now show me Popular Picks for 1,500,000 CP." Ieyasu wanted to make sure what he had in mind for the last 1,500,000 CP was as good as anything else he might've missed.
[1,500,000 CP Popular Picks]
[Byakugan Sub-Mutation – 1,500,000 CP]
"A Byakugan with no possibility of evolution or effects on the body or talent."
['Hizakura' – 1,500,000 CP
"Kusanagi Blade in the form of a Naginata. Especially sturdy and nigh-indestructible, has the ability to absorb small amounts of chakra, the more chakra it absorbs, the more sturdy it becomes and the better it can conduct and amplify external chakra techniques. Can only be used to defend from chakra based techniques or absorb chakra on contact, cannot nullify chakra based techniques with sufficient power, it can only absorb the equivalent of a regular Great Fireball at most. Perfect to defend against high frequency small-scale chakra based attacks or to weaken larger ones, while not as absolute as the Preta Path, it can defend anything upon contact. It can easily slash past shields and barriers. Can be repaired through either chakra or blood absorption. Can awaken a weapon spirit with special abilities. This weapon's spirit allows the user to use any elemental ability through it in the form of a controllable cherry blossom petal storm, the weapon spirit can continue to develop further after awakening."
'This Hizakura indeed looked incredible, a naginata is a bit weird for the Shinobi world, but this perfectly fits my situtation and also looks cool as hell while being very useful, imagine a Senbonzakura Kageyoshi of Dust Release, Scorch Release, or Truth-Seeking Petals.' Ieyasu had already decided his setup, after checking again and again, he couldn't find a better way to use his measly 20,000,000 CP.
After adjusting his appearance and name settings, Ieyasu discovered that the Hizakura came stored in an invisible body storage seal made by the system, he chose his right palm as the seals location.
Weirdly enough the Byaku-Sharingan came with the option of custom sunglasses or goggles, to describe his satisfaction with this store, Ieyasu had only three words—perfect five stars.
Conveniently setting his birth date to three years before the real Kato Dan was born to match the Sannin's age and selecting to awaken consciousness at 3 years old, Ieyasu said, "OK, send it with those options, I'm read--" As he was speaking, Ieyasu felt his soul freefall into an endless abyss.
In the next moment, he felt his five sensea once again, he was now in the small body of a child, and the Naruto World no longer had a boy named Kato Dan—there had only ever been a Tokugawa Ieyasu.