A blur of green.
Sounds of footsteps.
Laughter of children.
Then silence again.
He opens his eyes… Slowly.
The ceiling above looks old. Wooden. Traditional Japanese.Not the hospital. Not Earth.This place is different.
He tries to sit up… Can't move.
Only the neck turns. He sees a window. Bright daylight outside. Birds. Trees.
A room made of wood and paper walls.
His body… small.
He brings his hands up.
Tiny.
These aren't his hands.
He tries to speak. But the voice… it's of a kid.
"…Where am I?"
The door slides open.
A boy enters.
Orange jacket. Blond hair. Blue eyes.
He looks familiar.
"Yo! You finally woke up! Granny Tsunade said you were in a coma or something," the boy says.
The name hits hard.
Tsunade.
He looks again.
No… Can't be.
That face. That hair.
"Wait… You're Naruto… Uzumaki?" the words fall out, shaky.
Naruto scratches his head. "Yeah, that's me! Hehe. How do you know my name?"
The boy laughs and leaves.
His heart races.
He isn't dreaming. He knows this world.
He's inside the Naruto universe.
But how?
Why?
His thoughts are interrupted.
He sees a mirror in the corner.
He slowly gets up. Stumbles. Walks to it.
Looks into it…
What he sees… makes his breath freeze.
A kid. Dark messy hair. Sharp gray eyes. A strange scar over the left eye.
He blinks. The left eye glows faintly… but then stops.
It's not a Sharingan. Not Byakugan.
Something else.
Unknown.
His left eye… feels broken.
Suddenly, the door opens again.
Another face.
A woman.
"Good. You're awake."
She's tall. Blonde. Confident walk.
Tsunade.
The Fifth Hokage.
She scans him. "You've been unconscious for three days. No ID. No chakra signature we recognize. Just… dropped from the sky."
He stays quiet.
Tsunade steps closer.
"You're not from any village. Your chakra is strange. But you're not a threat. Yet."
He doesn't speak.
She hands him something. A forehead protector. Blank.
"We'll observe you. Till then, you'll stay at the academy. Naruto vouched for you. Don't disappoint him."
She leaves.
Footsteps fade.
He holds the forehead protector in his hands. Blank metal. No symbol.
"Reincarnated… into the Naruto world. With a broken dojutsu… and no past here."
He closes his eyes.
A memory flashes.
A white room.
A voice that said… "You've been chosen."
But the rest is a blur.
Night falls.
He's in the academy dorm now. A bed. A desk. A scroll.
Naruto's voice from the next room. Loud. Cheerful.
It's quiet now.
He walks to the mirror again.
Stares into the eye.
The left one.
It starts glowing… again.
Red light.
Symbols appear in the mirror reflection.
Unknown symbols. Moving. Shifting.
He sees something. A word.
"Phase One: Awake."
He blinks.
Gone.
His eye stops glowing.
A knock.
Naruto peeks in.
"Yo! Wanna come get ramen with me and Iruka-sensei?"
He forces a smile. "Maybe tomorrow."
Naruto nods. "Cool. You're weird. I like weird."
He disappears.
He looks out the window.
The Hidden Leaf Village at night.
Lanterns glowing.
People laughing in distance.
He whispers to himself… "Why me?"
And behind him…
Something stirs.
The mirror flickers.
The reflection is not his own anymore.
It shows a different face.
Covered in shadows.
And the whisper… soft… deep…
"You're not ready yet."
He turns fast.
But there's nothing.
Only his reflection again.
The night feels heavier now.
He lies down.
Closes his eyes.
But sleep doesn't come easy.