A pristine white.
Unable to distinguish up, down, left, or right, every direction was a monotonous white.
The figure of a small child was crouching, hugging his knees, not far in front of Hiiro Koi.
"Ah, so it's you, isn't it? The original owner of this body."
Raising a hand to scratch his hair, Hiiro Koi offered an insincere apology, then reached his hand toward the child's head.
"My apologies, but this body belongs to me from now on. You can just go peacefully to the afterlife."
"Wait… wait a minute!"
Seeing Hiiro Koi's movement, the child squeezed his eyes shut and shrank back, yet he shouted in a trembling voice.
"You can have my body! But… but you have to promise me one thing!"
Even though his body was trembling like a leaf, he clenched his fists and stood up.
Noticing the slight resistance at his fingertips, Hiiro Koi pouted and withdrew his hand.
"…Hmph?"
Since the "original owner" was willing to talk, he didn't intend to spoil the mood.
Besides, he hadn't yet figured out the relationship between souls and bodies in this world, so acting rashly wasn't a good idea.
"If you get the chance, please find the shinobi who killed my mom and dad and avenge them!"
Without the slightest hesitation, the child quickly stated his request, as if he would have said the same thing even if Hiiro Koi hadn't stopped moving.
"That's too much trouble; I don't want to. Anyway, a brat's soul like yours can be easily dealt with…"
"It's different! If you don't agree, you won't be able to… uh, use my body easily!"
Before Hiiro Koi could finish speaking, the child interrupted him eagerly and aggressively.
However, the pause caused by his limited vocabulary and the tears in the corners of his eyes made him seem less than confident.
"And the pendant Mom and Dad left for me can only be used by my soul! It's a valuable treasure, even for the Uzumaki Clan!"
"Tsk…"
Regardless of the "treasure" claim, Hiiro Koi had indeed felt a slight sluggishness both just now and when circulating his Life Force.
This proved that if he didn't deal with the child's soul properly, he would indeed be hindered.
Considering the child was only five or six years old, it was hard to guarantee that no irreparable flaws would remain even after forcibly processing it.
Moreover, if he was going to act in this world later, he would eventually need to find a faction to join, and avenging his "family's" murderers was a useful excuse.
Although the child seemed overly eager, overall, he wouldn't lose anything.
After a brief consideration, Hiiro Koi found nothing amiss and didn't intend to refuse.
However, being "threatened" by such a small child still annoyed him a little.
"Aren't you worried I'm just agreeing verbally?"
"…It doesn't matter anyway, because… I can't hold on much longer. Even if you don't agree, Big Brother, I can't do anything about it. But since you asked, does that mean you've agreed?"
The child's anticipated flustered reaction didn't appear.
He seemed to let out a sigh of relief, revealing an awkward smile.
"Ha, so that's how it is."
Before he could finish speaking, the child's figure gradually dissipated like a bubble, turning into tiny specks of light.
At the same time, this pure white world showed signs of collapse.
Hiiro Koi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, not overly surprised.
After all, the child's eagerness meant he could have dragged it out a bit longer.
However, his own condition wasn't great, and he didn't really want to gamble.
"If you hadn't entered my body, Big Brother, I might have completely disappeared already…"
The child pursed his lips, took a few steps forward, and awkwardly averted his gaze.
"Mom and Dad taught me not to lie, but now that they're gone, a little white lie should be okay, right…?"
"I think it's very much not okay… Well, it's too late to say such things now."
Watching the child completely disappear, he complained with a subtle feeling.
Perhaps because the child's lingering traces were too faint, Hiiro Koi hadn't even felt the connection between them until the child himself spoke of it.
In reality, the child's true soul had long since dissipated.
What appeared before Hiiro Koi now was merely the lingering obsession and memories within the body—an echo formed by the ripples emanating from his own soul.
Even though his parents left behind a treasure sufficient to protect him, his spirit was too fragile to utilize this precious opportunity.
This unwillingness clung to Hiiro Koi's soul, becoming an obstacle.
This was the so-called "self-resistance."
And after Hiiro Koi agreed to the request, he achieved a Binding Vow of sorts—exchanging "vengeance" for complete possession of this body.
Now, no one could discern that his soul was not the original, and that echo had vanished.
The conditions were very broad, with no time limit.
As for the effect… it was hard to say if it would be useful.
Amidst Hiiro Koi's complex thoughts, the pure white world collapsed.
Consciousness rising.
"Troubles just keep coming, one after another. For a "beginning," isn't this a bit too arduous?"
After thoroughly sorting through the original body's memories, Hiiro Koi muttered, head lowered.
As he predicted, this was the world of Naruto, and the original body was indeed a pure-blooded Uzumaki.
Hiiro Koi scratched his head in annoyance.
The sticky blood on his hand made his crimson hair clump together, which only made him itch more.
Just like his current predicament.
Knowing the name of this world naturally meant he had watched the series.
But as mentioned before, his purpose in watching these "fantasy" works was very pragmatic: simply to find inspiration for creating Cursed Tools.
To save time, Hiiro Koi always focused only on the techniques, special substances, and valuable skills within them.
As for the memory of the plot, that "by-product"... he usually ignored it.
"However, considering the current timeline, remembering the plot actually doesn't have much impact…"
He fiddled with the pendant hanging on his chest, circulating his Life Force internally to slowly compensate for the weakness from blood loss.
Simply put, although the original body and his parents were pure-blooded Uzumaki, this forge was not located in the Uzumaki Clan's ancestral land.
In fact, the vast Land of Fire separated it from the Land of Whirlpools.
The original body's parents grew tired of life as shinobi, so they faked their deaths during the First Great Ninja War, changed their names, and wandered all the way to the Land of Rivers to live in seclusion.
Yes, from time to space to bloodline, the point in which Hiiro Koi found himself was in a subtle state.
It might have some connection to the original story, but it might also not.
After the death of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and the loss of his absolute deterrent power, the unresolved conflicts between the Five Great Nations were exposed.
The false peace treaties were torn up, and the First Great Ninja War erupted.
Nearly a decade had passed since that war, which had severely depleted the Five Great Nations.
The armistice treaties signed then were now beginning to lose their restrictive effect.
The Great Nations were stirring, and the smaller nations harbored their own schemes.
During this period, even if the original work didn't mention it, it was easy to imagine the turmoil this world was in.
Honestly, judging solely by its stealth effect, fleeing to the Land of Rivers was indeed a good plan.
Because red hair was quite common in the Land of Wind, the Uzumaki Clan's distinctive hair wasn't conspicuous here, near the border.
The couple did indeed spend several relatively peaceful years there, even having a child.
After all, while their strength didn't reach the Jonin level, it far surpassed ordinary Chunin.
If they simply wanted to live a stable life, it wasn't difficult.
But the problem arose with the "original body."
With a child, there were simply too many things for the couple to consider.
Especially since the timing of the child's birth was truly not good.
The couple's ability to live in anonymity far from home naturally involved an element of luck.
But their ability to pull it off also indicated their excellent discernment, and they could certainly sense the increasingly restless atmosphere in the ninja world.
Under these circumstances, they began making various preparations for their son's peaceful life.
For example, the pendant between Hiiro Koi's fingers.
It was a "container" created by combining the Sealing Techniques of the Uzumaki Clan, imbued with the Chakra that the couple had continuously poured into it over several years.
In their anticipation, the Chakra in this container could both heal their son when he was injured and subtly enhance his physique.
He hadn't felt it before, but now, completely fused with this body, Hiiro Koi could clearly sense the power within it.
In a sense, this pendant had similarities to the Special Grade Cursed Objects he had handled in his previous life.
The former allowed "unrelated people" to be completely unaware of its special qualities, while the latter, at the cost of a "not harming humans" vow, gained almost invincible physical resistance.
Perhaps the parents, inadvertently, touched upon the power of a "binding" through the Sealing Technique.
And perhaps it was to create this very container that this couple, whose strength was almost on par with Jonin, became so weakened that they were easily killed by some unknown shinobi.
But regrettably, although this gift indeed saved the child's life, his spirit could not withstand the shock of witnessing his parents' deaths.
If not for that, Hiiro Koi would not have so easily inherited everything.