As he opened his eyes, he found himself in a cramped, unfamiliar room. Two old bunk beds stood against the walls, their metal frames rusted and their thin mattresses worn flat. A few dented lockers and wooden shelves served as storage, barely holding the meagre belongings of the children who slept there.
'Where am I? I was at my desk studying for my exam.'
He starts to panic, multiple thoughts crossing his mind about why he is here, what is this place, and what happened to him. He shakes his head violently as if trying to come back to his senses.
He notices a window next to his bed and bolts to it, not worrying about his surroundings. This resulted in a loud noise from his fall.
"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" "WHO IS IT?" "WHAT WAS THAT?" The three boys in the room yelled upon hearing the noise.
"Ryō, what are you doing?" The boy on the lower bunk asked with concern.
Ryō did not notice what the boy was saying; he was in a state of shock. 3 seconds later, he starts to laugh like a madman.
"AHAHAHA, MY DREAM HAS COME TRUE" he yelled.
"I think he went mad" one of the boys said.
Unknown to the boys, what Ryō was seeing was nothing less than a miracle for him. He saw the Hokage mountain, and he immediately understood he was in Konoha. It was like his long-lost wish coming true.
"Ryō, what is your problem? Why are you acting so strange? You never laughed before." one of the boys asked.
"It's nothing, I just remembered a joke."
'Oh shit, I could have made a better excuse. I think I really went mad.'
The boy who asked the question raised an eyebrow, but didn't dig further.
"Whatever. I don't want anything to do with you." The boy went back to sleep, and so did the other 2 boys.
Ryō went back to bed with a smile stamped on his face.
'I did really reincarnate in the Naruto Universe. Wait, why can't I remember my old name, and I do remember dying, but how?'
Ryō had many questions about his past identity; he could only remember being a Biology student at university and studying for the exam before arriving here. Ryō could remember everything he studied or other knowledge of the modern world, even everything about Naruto. But nothing about his name, family and how he died or any other information.
'Wait, what is my identity now? The boy said my name was...' Tears began to stream down his cheeks as the memories of the real Ryō flooded in.
-
Kokuō estate, 5 years ago, 11 months old Ryō.
A woman crying frenetically is holding a scared boy with black hair and bright blue eyes, trying to protect him from the man in front of her.
The man in front of her was wearing an elegant kimono with a mountain and flag symbol on the back, with dark green hair and bright green eyes, giving off the aura of high ranking man. In fact, he is Enji Kokuō, the clan leader of the Kokuō clan. Beside him were 3 other men, one with similar attire and an almost identical face. The other 2 were wearing ninja clothing with the same mountain and flag symbol on the back.
"Yua, give me that child" Enji spoke in a commanding tone.
"No, Enji-sama, I cannot give you Ryō! He is my life." Yua spoke while crying.
"Silence Yua, how dare you disobey my brother!!!" The man beside Enji snapped at Yua.
This man is second in command of the Kokuō clan. Iwao Kokuō, the brother of Enji Kokuō, also...
"How can you let your son go through such a procedure?" Yua snapped at Iwao.
Iwao's face twisted with anger, erasing any trace of the noble man he once was.
"This bastard is just a mistake; you should have gotten rid of him."
"How can..." Yua tried to retort, but was stopped by Enji.
"Silence, guards get that child. We cannot risk it." Enji spoke with a commanding tone.
The 2 guards in ninja outfits moved swiftly toward Yua to get a hold of Ryō. Yua tried to protect Ryō, but a civilian can never match a ninja. One of the guards pinned Yua down, and the other took Ryō away.
"Let my mother go, let her go!!" Ryō shouted while crying and trying to get out of the guard's hold.
Enji signalled to Iwao to help the guard hold the child still. As Iwao moved toward the child, Yua was trying everything to stop him, but she was too weak to do anything. Yua continued to plead; the room was filled with Ryō and Yua's cries, but the four men showed no compassion or hesitation.
"I will go to the Third Hokage if you touch my child." Yua spoke as if she found hope.
Iwao spoke with an ugly smile twisted across his face, his eyes gleaming with madness.
"Yua, who said you'd still be alive to say that? Hahaha… I definitely can't let my wife and children find out about this. Right, brother?"
Enji nodded with a smile on his face.
"You monster, first you used me. I didn't do anything to harm you, and now you want to harm my son and me. Why?" Yua spoke back to Iwao with a voice full of sadness and fear.
"It's because this bastard has the blood of the great Kokuō clan, and for the sake of my brother, we can't let this matter come to light. We need to get the seal out of his chakra circulatory system." Enji spoke as if disgusted by the question.
The Kokuō Clan is one of the most influential clans in Konoha. Their speciality lies in Fūinjutsu, though they do not rival the Uzumaki Clan in overall mastery. What sets them apart, however, is a unique form of Fūinjutsu that every member is born with, embedded directly into their chakra circulatory system. This ability, known as King Domain, allows the user to create a field that increases the overall capacity of all targets within a designated area. However, Enji and Iwao plan to remove this seal from Ryō's chakra veins—a process that could leave him permanently paralysed, unable to use chakra, or even cost him his life.
"Iwao, he is your son as well. You can't let him die, please spare him." Yua pleaded to Iwao while looking at Ryō's scared face.
"Guard, that's enough, get rid of her", Iwao spoke as he moved toward Ryō.
The guard, as if granting her mercy, ended Yua's life with one swift strike of his blade.
"No, Mother! NOOO!" Ryō cried out, his voice breaking as he watched her head fall to the ground.
While Ryō screamed and cried, Iwao and the guard held him firmly in place. However, the moment he saw Enji approach and his eyes fell upon his mother's lifeless body, he stopped struggling altogether, as if he had lost his will to live.
Enji pressed his hand against Ryō's chest, pouring his chakra relentlessly into the boy. The instant it entered, Ryō's scream tore through the room, pure agony echoing in every corner. Enji methodically targeted ten points along Ryō's chakra veins, breaking them one by one. The ordeal dragged on for two torturous hours, the pain so intense it threatened to shatter his mind. When the last point was broken, the seal erupted from his body in a blinding wave of chakra, and Ryō went limp, unconscious.
"Uh," Enji muttered. "The boy is alive… not paralysed, but he can no longer channel or store chakra. Guards, take him to the orphanage. Bribe the caretaker to keep him there. No one must know he's connected to us. Keep this quiet—everything must be discreet."Enji's face showed a hint of exhaustion from the procedure as he issued the orders.
Guards bowed and started taking Ryō with them.
"WAIT, Brother, what is the need to let this boy live?" Iwao questioned Enji.
"Iwao, even if you don't acknowledge him as your son, he still bears our clan's blood. Since he managed to survive, I'll allow him to live. And in his current state, he poses no threat to us."Enji replied, his expression completely emotionless.
Ryō was abandoned in a remote orphanage on the outskirts of the village. Before the current Ryō inhabited this body, the original owner had lived like a walking corpse, his spirit broken and his body unnaturally frail.
He never once smiled in his short, miserable life. The caretakers, disgusted by the condition he was abandoned in, treated him with neglect and cruelty, leaving him deeply traumatised. Even the other children avoided him, as if he carried some kind of curse.
No one could ever connect him to the Kokuō Clan, because of his appearance being completely different from theirs.
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AUTHOR NOTE:
Thank you for reading this chapter. Please leave feedback in comments so I can improve.