When Nexus clicked, the world seemed to hold its breath with him.
The screen, which had been static until then, reacted instantly to the touch of his finger as if it were alive—as if that thing had been waiting for that gesture from the very beginning. A new window opened: clean, cold, direct, with no concern for softening what was written.
[Warning!]
[Death in any one of your lives will result in the death of your existence]
[Do you wish to proceed?]
[Yes] [No]
Nexus's eyes widened the moment he read it.
His body hadn't changed, but something inside him tightened like an old reflex—the same kind of clench that comes before a fall, the same chill that crawls up your spine when you realize there's no trick, that there is no "going back."
"If I die in any simulation… I die for real?"
The question came out quiet, more like a thought slipping free than something spoken to anyone. He didn't even know if there was anyone there. Until now, everything had looked like a system. A mechanism. A program.
The answer came immediately, almost impatient—as if the screen itself considered the doubt childish.
[Correction]
[None of these lives are simulations. All of them are real]
The silence that followed was heavy.
Nexus didn't move for a few seconds, staring at those words as if repeating them in his mind might reveal some hidden gap between the letters. But there wasn't one.
"Real…"
The word hadn't had weight until that moment. Now it did. The kind of weight that sinks into your chest.
He had thought it would be something like training. A test without real consequences. The idea of taking control of a life, living a known plot, collecting power and returning… it was dangerous, but it still seemed… manageable—because, deep down, he'd clung to the comforting notion that nothing there could truly hurt him.
But it was real. Too real.
A part of him—rational, cowardly, human—wanted to press "No" immediately. Not out of shame or weakness, but instinct. Pure survival.
But another part, older and more bitter, answered first.
To keep living in his world without power… was to live with the certainty of being irrelevant. To live inside limits that were too tight. To wake up every day knowing there were things out there he would never reach. That there were people above him, forces above him, destinies above him.
He'd felt that as a silent humiliation, a kind of sentence no one announced out loud, but that was visible in other people's eyes.
Without power, he was nothing.
And he was tired of being nothing.
Nexus drew a deep breath, slow. Tried to control the faint tremble in his hands. It wasn't just fear of dying—it was fear of the unknown, fear of losing control, fear of betting his own existence on something he didn't fully understand.
Even so, the decision hardened inside him like stone.
"Staying in this world without power is worse than death… even if I have to risk my life to get stronger… I will."
There was a strange firmness in his own voice. As if saying it out loud sealed a contract with himself.
Then, with a finger that suddenly felt heavy, he pressed "Yes."
The screen reacted as if it had always been inevitable.
[Randomly selecting world]
[Selection complete]
[World selected: Naruto]
[Protagonist: Naruto Uzumaki]
[Initiating new life]
Naruto.
The name hit Nexus like a double impact.
On one hand, it was familiar—a world he knew, rules he understood, dangers he could predict. On the other, it was exactly the kind of world where death wasn't metaphor.
It was real. Present. Frequent.
And now "real" had a definitive meaning.
Before he could think any further, a sensation overtook his body and mind at once, as if his very consciousness were being pulled out by invisible hands.
After the last warning, Nexus felt his awareness emptying.
It wasn't like falling asleep.
It was like someone was ripping the strength out of existence itself.
The sounds around him grew distant. The world went dark, but not gently. It was a violent blackout, like reality had slammed a door in his face.
In a few seconds, he was gone.
————————————————————
When he opened his eyes again, his first instinct was to breathe in deeply—and he failed.
Air came in, but in a strange way: small, insufficient. As if his body had limits that didn't match the mind inside it.
His vision took a second to adjust. And when it did, what he saw was impossible to mistake.
A massive orange figure—colossal—eyes filled with hatred, like a gigantic fox.
Nexus recognized it instantly.
Kyuubi.
Kurama.
The bijuu that would later be known by the name the world would learn to fear—and, with time, to understand.
It was wrapped in yellow chains. Chains that shone with an energy that wasn't just chakra, but something deeper—as if every link had been written with will and sacrifice.
The fox snarled, and the sound seemed to make space itself vibrate. The roar wasn't just noise; it was pressure, threat, a warning to any living being within that radius of existence.
Nexus tried to move, but his body answered in a way that froze him from the inside:
Small. Weak. Uncoordinated.
His arms… were a baby's arms.
His heart sped up.
"I… I'm already…?"
He couldn't finish the thought.
His eyes—small eyes that were his now—followed one of the fox's paws until they locked onto two figures, impaled on one of its claws.
The image was brutal. There was no way to romanticize it.
One of them had blond hair. His face, despite the pain and blood, carried affection and responsibility. A kind of sad serenity, like he was accepting the inevitable.
The other had red hair. A beautiful face, but marked by exhaustion and suffering. Her expression held love… and guilt.
Nexus recognized them too.
Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.
The Fourth Hokage and the current jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.
Naruto's parents.
His parents… now.
The word "parents" cut through Nexus in a way he hadn't expected.
Because he knew the story. He knew how it ended. He knew what came next. And still… seeing it happen, being there, feeling the real weight of the scene—not as a reader, but as part of it—was different.
It was worse.
"I'm sorry, Kushina… I couldn't protect you."
Minato's voice carried sadness, but also determination. He didn't sound like he was apologizing for cowardice. He sounded like he was apologizing for being human.
Kushina answered right after, her voice tired, as if she were clinging to the world through sheer stubbornness.
"You don't need to apologize… You managed to save our son. That's enough."
Something strange rose from Nexus's stomach to his throat.
Sadness.
But not distant, theatrical sadness—the kind you feel when you're watching. This was sadness that tightened his chest, that made a real knot in his throat, that made his eyes burn before he even understood why.
Seeing the failure on his father's face… seeing the impossible tenderness in his mother's gaze…
It stirred something in him that had been buried for a long time.
He tried to lift his arms. Tried to speak. Tried to say anything—to say he was there, to say he understood, to say he wanted… he didn't even know what.
But all that came out was a baby's cry.
A weak, uncontrolled sound that felt ridiculous to a mind that wanted to scream full words.
Even so, Kushina reacted as if she understood.
"Don't cry, my love… Mommy's here."
She forced herself, even exhausted. Her body trembled. There was blood. There was pain. Yet she still stretched her arms as far as she could and pulled the baby into them.
Her touch was warm.
And for a second, Nexus… forgot the system, forgot the death warning, forgot the weight of what was happening.
Because there was something simple and cruel there: affection.
The kind of affection that, for one reason or another, he felt as if it had been missing from him for a long time. And now, receiving it even for an instant, hurt more.
Kushina held Naruto—held Nexus—with desperate care, as if the embrace were a shield against fate.
"You have to grow up healthy…" she began, and her voice failed for a second before she continued. "Don't forget to eat well and exercise."
It was almost absurd to hear such ordinary advice in that place, amid chains, monsters, and death. But precisely because of that, it sounded even more human.
"You should also try to get along with others and make friends… but if someone doesn't treat you well, you need to stand up for yourself."
Nexus listened to everything, even though he couldn't respond. And for some reason, those words landed as if they were aimed straight at him—not at a newborn.
Kushina kept going, stubbornly, as if speaking were the only way to hold time still for a few more seconds.
"In the future… you should look for a pretty, caring girl and build a family with her."
She gave a faint smile—a tired, broken smile, but real.
"And also…"
"Kushina." Minato interrupted, his voice firm, but carrying a pain he didn't hide. "We're running out of time. I need to seal the Kyuubi into him."
Her smile fell apart. The sadness rushed back. It was as if she'd tried, for a few seconds, to pretend this was just an ordinary farewell. But it wasn't.
Even so, she nodded.
Minato moved, and Nexus watched his hands begin to form seals.
Fast, precise seals, like a prayer practiced a thousand times—a sequence that couldn't fail.
Kushina tightened her adamantine chains, restricting the fox's movements even further.
The Kyuubi snarled with fury. The sound made leaves tremble and the air vibrate. It was as if the whole world was reacting to the concentrated hatred of that being.
Even restrained, it looked too large for that place.
Minato finished the seals.
For an instant, his gaze fell on the baby in Kushina's arms. And in that second, Nexus saw something there that wasn't just the Hokage's duty.
It was a father.
"Shiki Fuujin."
The words echoed like a sentence.
After he said it, something appeared behind him.
A tall, spectral figure with white hair and red horns. Its eyes looked empty and ancient. And there was a blade in its mouth.
That presence was so intense that Nexus felt cold shoot through his body—or maybe it was something else. A primal fear. An instinct screaming that it didn't belong to the world of the living.
Minato pushed himself to the limit.
Nexus didn't understand the full technical depth of that jutsu in that moment, but he could feel its consequence in the air: an unavoidable cost.
First, Minato split the Kyuubi's chakra in two.
Nexus sensed it not because he saw "chakra" as light, but because he felt the world shift—like something enormous had been cut, like a roar had been separated into two screams.
Then Minato sealed half into himself.
And the other half… into his son.
Into that small body.
Into the body… that was his now.
Nexus felt something invade his being.
It was extremely uncomfortable, almost unbearable, as if a giant force were trying to occupy a space that didn't exist.
His chest tightened. His stomach turned. His head felt too heavy for a fragile neck. It was as if his body were trying to reject it, like an organism realizing poison has entered.
He tried to resist, but there was no way.
It wasn't just physical. It was… presence. Will. Hatred. A vast shadow trying to fit inside him.
Tears filled his eyes without his consent.
Kushina saw the baby's expression and hugged him tighter, as if she were afraid of losing him right then. As if she could, with her own body, stop that thing from entering.
"It's going to be okay…" she whispered, with no certainty at all. "It's going to be okay…"
Nexus wanted to believe her.
He tried to endure.
He tried to cling to his own consciousness. He remembered the warning: "death in any life."
And in that moment, the phrase gleamed with cruel clarity.
If he died there… it would be over. Forever.
But what could he do? He was a newborn. A body that barely knew how to breathe properly.
The pressure increased.
The Kyuubi's presence became a crushing weight, a wall pushing from the inside out.
And then, before terror could become something greater, Nexus… blacked out.
Not like before, when the system pulled him away.
This time it was a real faint. A collapse of a body that couldn't handle it.
When his awareness returned, everything felt distant, like he was underwater.
There were voices. There was wind. There was the smell of blood and earth.
But he couldn't open his eyes right away.
Within minutes, it was over.
Kushina sat on the ground, still alive through sheer resilience. Beside her lay Minato's body, already lifeless.
Even without seeing clearly, Nexus felt the emptiness.
Felt as if something in the world had been torn out.
When his eyes finally opened again, what he saw was the image he'd always known existed… but that now felt crueler than any description.
Minato didn't move.
His presence—that silent steadiness—was gone.
And Kushina… Kushina was there, shoulders slumped, breath weak, her face marked by tears she didn't even try to hide.
Her eyes glistened when she looked at her husband's body.
But at the same time, there was a kind of sad peace in her gaze.
She knew it wouldn't be long before she joined him.
The world around them was ruined. Broken trees. Torn earth. Chakra scars on the ground. A scene that didn't look like a "fight," but a disaster.
Then footsteps echoed.
A group of people approached, led by a man holding a staff, his expression mixing exhaustion and shock.
Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The Third Hokage.
He stopped when he saw it.
His gaze moved over Minato's body, Kushina's state, and the baby sleeping—or pretending to sleep—in her arms.
For a second, it looked like he was going to say something. Anything. Maybe an apology, maybe a promise, maybe a cry of outrage.
But Kushina cut him off first.
"Hiruzen… don't say anything. I don't have much time." Her voice came out low, weak, but firm. "The only thing I ask… is that you take care of Naruto."
Hiruzen felt a knot tighten in his stomach.
Nexus noticed it not through words, but through the way the man stiffened—as if his body were holding back a massive emotion so he wouldn't collapse right there.
It was a horrible feeling.
The weight of losing a successor, a student, a son who wasn't his—while also feeling the weight of a responsibility he couldn't refuse.
Even so, he forced himself to stay calm.
"Don't worry." Hiruzen's voice came out deep, filled with truth. "I swear I'll take care of this child as if he were my son."
He stepped closer.
Even with a foggy mind, Nexus understood the intention.
Hiruzen held out his arms to take the baby.
Kushina used the last of her strength to hand him over.
It was a slow, heavy gesture, as if every inch of movement cost her a piece of herself.
Before letting go, she leaned in and kissed the baby's cheek.
The kiss was soft, almost imperceptible, but loaded with everything she could no longer say.
"Live a happy life… my son."
With that last sentence, Kushina closed her eyes.
And fell asleep.
But unfortunately, it was the kind of sleep you never wake up from.
Nexus didn't understand everything in that moment the way he would later.
But he understood the essential.
The first scene of his life in that world was a sacrifice.
It was love becoming a seal.
It was death becoming protection.
And it was his newly arrived consciousness being marked by a weight he never asked for—
but that was his to carry now.
And somewhere deep inside that new body, something answered.
Not the Kyuubi.
Not the system.
Him.
A silent promise, instinctive, carved into the same place where the fox's chakra now existed.
"I won't fail."
Not out of empty ambition.
But because that life… had already cost too much to be wasted.
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