(time unknown)
The endless black void, there is nothing in it as far as anyone could see, only empty and silent space, there is no way to even determine where is up or down, or how much time passed, maybe it was a minute or maybe a century has already passed since...
'No... It couldn't have been that long...' A thought surfaced in the foggy and clouded mind of a lonely soul that was floating in the endless void, 'Who am I... Where am I...'
The sluggish mind of a soul that was awakened from a deep slumber has a hard time comprehending the situation it was in.
As an unknown amount of time passed, the mind of a lonely soul gradually cleared up, but as the soul started to think more clearly and tried to figure out the situation, a heavy and ethereal voice pierced the soul's whole being.
[MORTHAL. YOU WILL BE REINCARNATED. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO PICK A GIFT. CHOOSE WISELY]
When the unfathomable voice went through the soul's mind it felt pain, it was too intense, the weight of the voice was almost unbearable for the soul, but as the voice ended its speech, the heavy and unbearable feeling ended with it as abruptly as it started, as if it never happened at all.
Although the voice is gone, the feeling of being watched still could be felt by the soul...
'What was that!? What the hell is going on!?'
As the swarm of panicked thoughts flooded the soul's mind, a program window with user interface appeared in front of the soul. The interface was just like in any generic RPG video game on the character creation screen.
'Huh, what is this, am I in a video game or something!?'
As the soul's mind being in a disarray, the soul idly stared at the interface while thinking about its situation.
'I don't know what's going on here, but I'm pretty sure that I went to sleep, this is the last thing I remember... Is this a dream!? I don't think so, it's too intense and I can't wake up, usually when I realize that I'm dreaming I can wake up easily if I want to, but it's not working right now...'
After the soul's mind cleared up, it remembered who it was.
'I am just a regular guy in my late twenties, there is nothing special about my life or my work, how the hell am I ended up in a situation like this!? And what is my name... I can't remember... There is only the white noise in my memories whenever anyone is calling me by my name...'
...
'Something is really wrong with my memories... And my body... I can't feel a thing... I can see the endless void around me, but I can't even see or feel my own body at all...' A chilling sensation of horror invaded his mind as the situation started to sink in.
'Calm down! I need to calm down! Panicking won't help me right now!'
...
After a while, he calmed down and started to analyze the situation.
'I was living a perfectly boring and single life, working a simple 9/5 job as a software developer in a small company, I was at my own apartments that I live alone in, it was late at night, and I went to sleep, that was my last memory...'
'And it's not only my own name that I can't remember, but there are also other things too, like the names of other people, and things like the name of my own country, as well as the name of my hometown or my own address...'
'That voice... Is the owner of that voice being the one who is responsible for messing with my memories!?'
"Hey you! What did you do to me!?" He shouted when anger and resentment filled him.
...
"Answer me! Who are you!? What does this all mean!? What did you do to my memories!?"
...
No response...
...
As time went on, the anger gradually subsided in him, and he started to think more rationally.
'The voice is not responding, no point shouting, but I still could feel its gaze on me, and it doesn't feel pleasant at all, I feel like a microorganism that is being studied under a microscope... What did it say before? I will be reincarnated, and I have to pick a gift? And then this interface popped up in front of me...'
As his attention returned to the interface and he started to explore it, he noticed something.
'Reincarnation location: Konohagakure; Reincarnation date: 11th October, year 50 after Konohagakure's establishment...'
'Konohagakure... This is the freaking ninja village from Naruto anime I watched at some point!? Isn't that just a fictional world, how the hell am I going to reincarnate in the fictional world!?'
...
'Doesn't matter... It's not like this whole situation could be explained either, the endless void, the voice, the reincarnation... The fictional world of Naruto is not the craziest thing among them...'
'World of Naruto huh, shinobi, chakra, special magical eyes, ninjutsu, all sorts of cool things are available there...'
...
'And there are wars, bloodshed, crazy murderers, evil schemes, Pain, Obito, Madara, Zetsu, Kaguya, Otsutsuki... Ah, and of course there is Danzo, can't forget about that motherfucker!'
...
"Hey Voice! If I die again, can I reincarnate in a more peaceful world next time?"
...
No response...
'Sigh, figures...'
'Pick a gift huh... The interface says I have 1000 points to spend on all sorts of things, I could even change the reincarnation location and date by spending points. Changing the location? I don't think so, Konoha is already the best choice, I think. Changing the date? I have no idea about in what point in time I'm going to end up in. 50 years after Konoha establishment - is this before or after Naruto's birth? I have no idea... 11th of October sounds quite specific though...'
'And there is shinobi related stuff as well, bloodlines, shinobi innate talent, elemental affinities, and I even could pick a jutsu to start with... Not that I would, to choose a jutsu that I could learn later by myself over something like a bloodline or innate talent is just plain stupid.'
'Well, at the very least I will start my new life with some significant advantage it seems.'
After studying the interface more carefully, he decided to skip on the options of changing the starting point or starting with a jutsu, and concentrated his attention on the remaining three options to pick from: innate talent, bloodline and affinities.
'Hm, in Affinities tab I can choose multiple elemental affinities for 100 points each, I can pick all five basic elements at once for the cost of the half of my points, but I don't think I would pick any, it doesn't matter that much, I remember all shinobi have at least one main elemental affinity and able to train any other elements with time and effort, so there is no point to waste my points on this, I could start with a random affinity like everyone else and train other elements by myself.'
'There are also special affinities here, Yin (200), Yang (200), Space-Time (300), Natural Energy (500) ... Should I spend points on these? Yin should be related to Genjutsu and things like the Nara clan shadow jutsu; Yang to medical jutsu and things like Akimichi clan body expansion jutsus; Space-time should probably affect teleportation jutsus like Flying Thunder God (Hiraishin); Natural Energy is related to the Sage Mode... Would I be able to learn Hiraishin and Sage Mode without spending points on their respective affinities? I have no idea...'
'But even if I won't be able to, I feel like it's a big waste of points, they sure are great, but there are better options to pick, like bloodline or talent, I'll skip this Affinities tab for now. Natural Energy should hold most potential among them, I'll keep it in mind and maybe return to it later.'
With that only two options remain to choose from, talent and bloodlines.
'The Innate Shinobi Talent option - it says that this will influence all aspects of a shinobi performance, from how fast my body would improve with physical training and how fast my chakra will grow, to how easily I could learn and master all sorts of ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu and all other things shinobi and chakra related in general.'
'The options to choose from are: average (0), good (400), excellent (700), the best in the world (1000).'
'Spending all points on the best talent - I feel like it is the best option, my new life will be set for sure. And at the very least I should pick a good talent for 400, but that only if there is a great bloodline that will be worth it to settle for lesser talent than the best one. Time to check the Bloodlines tab then.'
'Bloodlines... There are many of them, that's for sure, the list just goes on and on... The ones that catch my attention are: Uchiha (500), Senju (500), Uzumaki (400), Hyuga (400), Kurama (300), Yamanaka (200), Nara (200) ...'
'It seems like since my starting point is Konoha, I could only choose a bloodline among the ones that are from Konoha. And there is a problem, I could only choose one bloodline, I can't choose two and mix Uchiha and Senju, that would be great thing to do, I would've called it the Rinnegan Awakening Path I guess... Or not, with only average shinobi talent awakening the Rinnegan would be mission impossible, it took Madara decades to do it with Hashirama cells transplanted after all... And Madara was the reincarnation of Indra, not sure if that matters for the Rinnegan awakening though...'
'My final options are: best talent and no bloodline; excellent talent and cheaper bloodline like Nara or Kurama for example; good talent and expensive bloodline like Uchiha and maybe some jutsu on top from the Abilities tab...'
'Those are all good starting options, especially the first and the last one, but I don't know which one would be better, probably the last one with Uchiha or Senju bloodline, probably better to pick Uchiha, special magic eyes are the best part of the Naruto world after all.'
'Now I have 100 unspent points, the only option remains to spend them it's the Abilities tab that hold a long list of jutsus, let's see what I can pick from it...'
After scrolling through the long list of jutsus he went through the ones that cost 100 points each but after a while he was left unsatisfied with the available options, it seems like nothing caught his eye on that list of jutsus...
Until...
'The Enhanced Sense of Smell huh? It's not a jutsu is it? It's more like a direct improvement of the one of the human senses... Right, the "Abilities" tab, there are not only jutsus on this list but also special abilities as well, like that one...'
'When I first started to explore the interface and looked at the Abilities tab among the other tabs I saw a long list of jutsus and assumed it holds only jutsus, but I guess there is a reason that it's called the "Abilities" tab and not the "Jutsu" tab.'
With that discovery, he started to hastily scroll through the whole list from the very beginning to see if there is anything special in the list that would justify picking over bloodline and talent.
'Almost everything in here is a jutsu, but among the jutsus sometimes there is an option or two that is definitely not a jutsu, like enhanced sense of smell, or sight or even enhanced chakra reserves, interesting...'
Then he found something shocking...
'The Rinnegan huh... I could get the Rinnegan by spending all 1000 points just here and now... Or the Tenseigan for 800... It is very enticing to start with the Rinnegan just like that... But is it the smart thing to do? Probably not! Without the huge amount of chakra to sustain the Rinnegan like Nagato did with the help of his Uzumaki bloodline, it would be foolish to start with the Rinnegan without the means to wield it... Even Obito was only able to transplant one eye but not both...'
...
'But what if it's fine, there wouldn't be an option like that if it's just a suicide to pick it, right? What if it would be fine, what if it would only activate when I'm ready to wield it or something?'
...
'I don't know, it's too big of a gamble... I already can imagine myself as an average civilian Joe who suddenly appears in the middle of Konoha out of nowhere with the Rinnegan on a stupid face... I could already imagine how many seconds it would take until someone like Danzo appears in front of me and gouges out my eyes, no thank you!'
...
After a while of scrolling the list, at the very end of it he saw something that shocked him once more...
'Space Control (1000), Time Control (1000).'
'That's it, the jackpot! The ultimate cheat that every novel protagonist gets! If it isn't one, then I don't know what is!'
'Talent and bloodline - sure are great options, and I will be set for life if I pick them, it's a sure thing. And these two are all-in unknown abilities with no description is sure a gamble, a big one... But...'
...
...
...
'Ah... Who am I trying to fool? These two abilities both are the novel-protagonist cheat material, I can't just abandon them and go for talent and bloodline!'
'With the cost of 1000 points they sure aren't some mediocre garbage!'
'And even if it would end up as a fluke and I won't be able to use it... Well...'
...
'Then I would die with no regrets! While on the other hand, if I go for a talent plus bloodline option now – I will regret not choosing one of these 1k abilities for the rest of my reincarnated life!'
'Well, it settled then, but which one to pick? Space or Time?'
...
'Space sounds great, I can imagine teleporting around like with Hiraishin jutsu but without the need of the special kunai with a mark, or even bending space itself to create unbreakable barriers of even tearing the space apart in the location of my enemies...'
...
'If it is what I think it is, it sure will make me very powerful in the world of Naruto, maybe even the strongest... But if that is the power of Space, then what would be the power of Time?'
...
'And why are they disconnected like that? I mean the spacetime is a thing, but here they are separate... Maybe it's because the Space-Time Control would be too much for my greedy self... I wish I could pick both, but this is clearly impossible ...'
'Time huh, what would this do... I can imagine slowing down the time for everyone but myself, or even outright stopping it, rewinding time, or time-travel back and forth in time? These things sure are sounds great, and it has some advantage over the space ability, as it implies time-travel, and no matter how powerful Space Control could be, it won't be able to beat Time Control I think... '
'Space is restricted by time, as it can't influence things in the past or future, while Time can't beat Space directly, but it is unrestricted and free... I feel like I'm onto something here with that theory!'
'Space Control seems more powerful, but Time Control, I feel like, holds more potential in general.'
...
'So be it, Time Control it is!'
...
With newfound determination and confidence, he selected the Time Control Ability as a starting gift and confirmed his choice in the interface.
In the next instant he lost conscience and his soul disappeared from the endless void.
But his journey, whatever it may hold, only begins...
--- AN ---
Hello guys, I'm finally back! It's being more than a year since I abandoned the original "Naruto: Time Traveler" fic, and I always wanted to return to writing all this time and now I'm finally able to.
First of all, I must ask new readers - do not read my old N:TT fic, it's not very good, trust me, I read it recently and there are so many things I want to change and make it better. There were also a lot of good opinions and critic in the comments in the old fic that I find helpful and must say thanks to any of you who read and comment on my old fic in the past. Thank You!
The story of this fic will somewhat follow the old one, but not entirely.
The first chapter ended up chunky with over 2500 words, and a lot of things here you may find unnecessary (the whole 'gift choosing part' for example), but this is how I want the first chapter to be. The following chapters will be 1500+ words.
There was a question in the old fic that I would like to ask here as well: What would you spend points on if you were the MC?
Also feel free to ask questions in the comments, I always answer them if they are reasonable.