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He had reincarnated.
And his new identity was Code.
He took a deep breath. He tried to organize his thoughts, but voices behind him forced him to turn around.
Jigen was watching him as if he were an object. His presence was crushing, cold, almost unbearable for a normal child.
Beside him, Amado took notes in silence, and a few steps behind stood Kawaki, exhausted, freshly released from his own capsule.
But there was someone else.
A third child.
Still.
Calm.
With a Karma marked on his body… one that Code would recognize anywhere.
The same white pattern he bore.
But that boy did not exist in his memory.
He wasn't in the original story.
"What is he doing here? Who is he? Why does he have Karma? This… makes no sense."
He could barely process it when he heard Jigen's voice slice through the air.
"These two," he said, pointing first at him and then at the other boy, "are failed vessels."
Kawaki lowered his head, trembling. He knew he wasn't "a failure"… but he still hadn't accepted himself.
Jigen continued.
"Even if they lack the potential to host a proper Otsutsuki, they can be useful. I want you to analyze both Karmas thoroughly," he told Amado. "I want to know exactly what they're capable of."
Amado nodded.
But his gaze wasn't on Kawaki.
It was on Code.
And on the other boy.
Like a scientist who had just discovered two anomalies too valuable to ignore.
"Their reactions differ from previous subjects," he murmured while reviewing his notes. "Especially these two. Their behavior doesn't match their expected profiles. I need to analyze their Karmas precisely."
Code felt a shiver.
Not out of physical fear… but because of what that analysis might reveal.
He couldn't let Amado discover that his mind didn't belong to that world.
"We will take each one separately for evaluation," Jigen ordered.
The Test
He was taken to a white room, illuminated by cold panels that reflected his dripping body. Amado activated the combat drones, machines designed to measure the resistance of altered subjects.
"Don't resist," Amado said with his detached voice. "Just let your natural reaction show."
The drones fired compressed chakra projectiles.
Code raised his arms instinctively.
And something happened.
The White Karma glowed faintly.
A strong impact pushed him backward, but it didn't pierce him. His body was sturdy… too sturdy for a child.
Amado wrote down every detail.
"My strength and resistance… I've never felt anything like this before. This is real."
"And the Karma… it absorbs damage, but not external chakra."
"Am I evolving differently?"
The drones withdrew.
Code, panting, tried to recover.
On the other side of a dark glass, Kawaki had been watching him.
His eyes showed something between respect and fear.
For the first time, Code felt empathy toward him.
Both of them were trapped.
Both of them were going to suffer.
The Other Boy
When they were done with him, he heard metallic crashes coming from the other room.
The unknown boy's training.
The sound was different: fewer hits, more bursts of unstable chakra.
Code subtly moved closer and peeked through a crack, seeing Jigen watching the boy with genuine interest.
The boy's Karma emitted a strange aura… irregular… almost as if it were "alive."
"Unstable and very powerful—he destroyed the drones easily," Amado said. "Potentially more advanced than the white subject."
"Dangerous," Jigen corrected. "But not to be discarded."
At that moment, the boy looked up.
He stared directly at the crack where Code was hiding.
A deep look.
Too aware.
Too… human.
Code stepped back.
His heart skipped a beat.
"He's not normal either. He… he thinks like me."
But he said nothing.
Not yet.
Jigen's Order
That same night, Jigen gathered the three of them.
He made them stand in a line before him.
His chakra was so heavy that none of them could lift their heads.
"Failures," he began, "but useful.
All of you will serve Kara. Each in your own way."
His eyes lingered on Code for a second longer than the others.
"You, especially… I need to know what that White Karma is and that ability you possess will be useful to me."
Code clenched his teeth.
That interest was anything but good.
Finally, Jigen left.
Amado also walked away, reviewing his instructions.
Kawaki stared at the floor.
The other boy raised his gaze… toward Code.
And Code felt a familiar chill.
A strange connection.
As if two minds from the same world recognized each other without explanation.
But neither spoke.
Not yet.
As they were escorted to their rooms, Code had a burning realization.
"In the original story, child Code idolized Jigen.
I don't.
And that alone… will change everything."
He looked at the hand marked by Karma.
Then at the unknown boy.
"And that kid… shouldn't exist.
He's like me.
A reincarnated one."
But he still didn't know who he was.
Nor what he wanted.
And as the door to his room closed behind him, he understood something important:
His destiny would not be that of the original Code.
And the future of that world… wouldn't be either.
The game had just begun.