(time unknown)
'Uh... It's so bright!'
When he regained conscience, he instantly found himself in a very bright space, for a moment the bright daylight was all he could see.
After a few seconds his vision adjusted, and he saw two kids in front of him in a kids playground.
"Yuta, you are so slow! You will never catch me!" One of the kids glanced back and yelled at him mockingly as both kids continued to run further away.
'That kid called me Yuta just now, or not me but rather the kid whose body I currently inhabit?'
'What is going on? Why am I chasing them? And what with my point of view being so low, am I a child now?... Seems like it...' He thought while his mind was struggling to comprehend the changing situation, 'My body is moving on its own, I can't control it at all, it's like I'm watching a movie with first-person view and VR headset on... Well, not only that, but I also feel what Yuta kid is feeling right now, and its frustration and anger, hate even...'
'Sheesh kid, chill out, it's just an innocent little game, the kid in front is just having a little fun and doesn't mean anything bad...'
As Yuta kid continues to chase after other kids in some sort of a tag game, he tried to take control over Yuta's body or do anything at all, but it all ends up in vain, nothing worked.
He stopped his efforts and noticed something strange all around him, on the edges of his view. Other people around the playgrounds, their faces and clothes were blurry, and they tend to appear and disappear on the periphery of his vision randomly.
'Something isn't right here... That's creepy!'
...
'I think I understand now, it's not the real world but rather a memory of the Yuta kid I'm watching right now!'
After a while longer of him watching kids play, the scene changed, now he was walking holding hands with a woman in her late twenties, she wore simple clothes, has long black hair, blue eyes, and gives a feeling of comfort and safety.
"Mom, why are we stopping here? Let's go home already! I'm hungry!" Yuta yelled impatiently while looking at the two-stories building in front of them, that hosts multiple apartments.
'I feel his frustration, impatience and even anger... Just great, I'm going to reincarnate in the body of a stupid and ungrateful little brat with anger issues... Would I have to behave like that to not cause suspicion? Just great...'
"Yes, yes, we will go home now." Woman said in a gentle and placating tone, "But first, Yuta, look at that address plate on the building over there, I taught you how to read it, remember what it says, and when you get lost next time you could ask people around the way home, ok?"
"I won't get lost again, humph!"
After that the scene changed again, now it's a cozy living room, Yuta was playing with some toys in the corner while someone knocked on the door three times, the knocking felt forceful, confident and demanding, not at all like the usual knocking of the neighbors and family friends when they visit.
'How the hell do I know how the people usually knock on the door of this house?'
...
'Something isn't right with my memories again, it's like the memories of Yuta kid being gradually merged with my own now. I subconsciously know how people usually knock on our door right now and... And how mother usually opens the door and greets our neighbor old man Eiichi that visits regularly to chat with mother and play with... Yuta kid... With me... What the hell? This is creepy! I'm not him! I'm not this irritating brat Yuta! But some parts of me feels like I am now in fact Yuta...'
...
'I'm going to lose my mind if this bullshit goes on... This mind-fuckery is creeping me out...'
...
'I have to calm down, there is nothing I can do about this situation. This memory-merging thing is the part of the reincarnation process, I can only go along with it...'
'Also, there is another scary thought popped up... Am I going to replace Yuta entirely when the memory merging is complete? I mean... Am I going to kill the kid to take his place!?'
...
'Hm... Sorry kiddo, but if it's you or me... I won't sacrifice myself just so some random kid from a fictional world could live... Not like I have a choice on the matter now, but if I would have to choose... I would choose myself over some random kid even if I have to rearrange my bottom lines and morality for that to happen...'
...
"Coming!" Yuta's mother yelled and went to open the door, while he snapped out of his thoughts and started to pay attention on what was going on during this memory scene.
When Yuta's mother went and opened the door, she instantly tensed and froze in place. Yuta from the living room could only see parts of the silhouette of the man wearing the shinobi attire, his view is mostly blocked by his mother's tense back.
'I feel Yuta's excitement, kid thinks it's his father returned from work...'
"Are you Hiromi Arai, the wife of Masahiro Arai?" The man asked in a heavy tone.
"I... I..." Hiromi struggled to form a sentence with a trembling voice, the bad premonition in her heart grows and becomes a certainty, in the end she managed only to nod weakly.
"My condolences." The man said with finality, "Masahiro Arai died in action during his last mission. His body can't be recovered."
"N-no... Th-That can't b-be..." Hiromi weakly mumbled with a trembling voice.
The man just turned around and left without saying another word. Hiromi continued to stand in the door frame, mumbling something incoherent.
"Mom, did the father return? Where did he go?" Oblivious Yuta asked loudly, although he heard the words the man said, his mind didn't process them as he didn't pay attention to what they were saying.
Hiromi jolted and snapped out of her shocked state and turned around and looked at Yuta. Her eyes were red, and tears were flowing down her cheeks.
"Yuta..." She said in a trembling voice, "Father... Father is gone... He is gone forever..."
A deep sense of fear and loss gradually flooded Yuta as the realization hit him. The same intense emotions also invaded the person who was watching the scene through Yuta's eyes. But the next moment the scene changed once again.
...
The same living room, only some items and stuff are missing or moved, and the room looked a little bit emptier and colder. Yuta was standing in front of a window and watching the night skies absentmindedly.
'Damn it! I'm not Yuta, those aren't my parents! I'm not supposed to feel those strong emotions, they aren't mine! I'm an outsider, all of them are strangers to me!'
He struggled as the strong negative emotions from the previous scene are sinking in and still lingering in him.
...
'I can't... I won't... I'm not Yuta! I don't want to experience grief and loss for his father! I'm going to take over the body of this stupid kid but I'm not going to allow his personality and emotions to overwrite my own!'
...
'If this continues any longer, I might lose my mind... This kid's emotions are so intense...'
...
As the peaceful and somewhat depressing memory scene continues, suddenly there was a loud explosion that hit Yuta's senses. The whole house trembled wildly, while Yuta was knocked on the floor and landed on his back because of it.
"AAAA!..." Yuta screamed in fear as another loud explosion resounded, much closer to his house this time.
As an explosion hit the house, the window and a part of a wall were crushed and the debris from it hit Yuta on the floor, while he was desperately trying to shield his eyes and face with his hands. Large and sharp splinter of wood, of the size of a chair's leg, plunged inside Yuta's chest piercing his heart.
A strong sharp and hot pain flooded Yuta's senses and his scream gradually died out. The vision gradually blacked out, and the scene finally ended as Yuta lost his conscience and his life, unable to see how his whole house was crushed and raised to the ground next instant.
...
...
...
"AAAA!..." Yuta screamed in horror as he woke up in an unfamiliar environment.
'D-damn it!... Fuck! Em I alive!? I am alive! Hell, that was intense! I have never experienced such strong pain before! It was so strong that it overwhelmed everything, my senses, my conscience, in that moment my whole world was the hot searing pain... I don't want to experience something like that ever again!!!'
Yuta sat on the bed, panting heavily, his whole body in a cold sweat. Only then did he finally realize that he was able to control his body for the first time.
'It's not a new scene of Yuta's memory, it's a real world now, and I'm finally in control now!'
"Hey, you. You're finally awake." The tired and harsh voice of an old woman sounded nearby.
"Huh..." Yuta mumbled confusedly.
As he looked around, he found himself in a spacious, unfamiliar room with rows of small beds and some other furniture, while he was occupying one of those beds. There are a few dozen of kids in the room, mostly from the age between 2 to 6 years, and then there is an old woman in her fifties who was spoken to him before, as she was walking closer.
The woman wore simple clothes, had gray hair and eyes, she looks tired and stern.
"Don't scream or cause trouble kid!" The woman said sternly, "You are in the village's orphanage now."
"Huh? But I'm not an orphan, I have a mother!" Yuta blurted out anxiously before he was even able to process the situation.
'Damn it! That not wat I was wanted to say... This memory-merging thing messed up my mind, I'm automatically behaving and talking like Yuta kid without even realizing it...'
...
'Well, maybe it's not entirely a bad thing, I'm supposed to behave like a kid and that is what's happening. I just must not let myself blurt out anything about that lethal wound and death...'
...
'Death... Yuta kid did really die that night, didn't he... That wound sure was lethal, and now I don't feel any pain and my chest is fine it seems... So that is how it is, I overtook his place, and his body was healed in the process while original Yuta died... I'm Yuta now I suppose...'
"Village is in crisis, there is a lot of casualties." The woman said, "You were found unconscious and brought here, luckily you were unharmed during the incident. If your mother survives, then she will pick you up later. Give me your name, names of your parents and your home address."
'Crisis huh... And a lot of casualties...' Yuta thought absentmindedly while telling the woman the information she requested.
"Ok then, Yuta, be a good boy and behave." Woman said sternly, "My name is Chitose Koba, I'm the caretaker in this orphanage, call me if you need anything."
"Hey, emm, Koba-san, what exactly happened in the village?" Yuta asked anxiously as Chitose was about to leave.
'Koba-san huh, why did I say it this way... Wait a moment, it is not even English I'm used to speak... is it Japanese? And the way I addressed her felt natural, that must be because of the Yuta kid's memory.'
"The Demon Fox attacked the village last night." Chitose said in a heavy and worried voice, "Many people died, but the Demon Fox is killed as well, so you are safe now, kid." She sighed heavily and left.
'The Demon Fox... The Nine-Tails... Yesterday is the day Minato died and Naruto was born. The Reincarnation date was specified as 11th of October, 50 years since Konoha's establishment, and yesterday was the Naruto's birthday, so that's how it is...'
'Wait a moment, today is 11th of October, that is Yuta's birthday... My birthday... I can remember many things now from Yuta's short life as I've got all his memories... My memories... Damn this is confusing!'
'Anyway, I'm Yuta Arai now, and today is my birthday, I'm four years old now... And I'm in the world of shinobi, chakra and constant bloodshed...'
...
'How did it come to this...'
...
--- AN ---
Rip Yuta kid, hail Yuta MC, prologue is over I guess, and writing this was harder than I expected it would be, more than a year away from writing and I'm rusty...
There is a question that is bugging me, and I would like to get some opinions on the matter.
Before Hagoromo spread chakra to all living things, there was the toad sage that was able to use sage arts, how the toad was able to use sage arts if it relies on sage chakra – mix of natural energy, physical energy and spiritual energy, when both physical and spiritual energies are the two fundamental components of chakra, that the toad sage wasn't supposed to have yet, how you explain this?