Prologue

Konoha:

The night was calm, interrupted only by the soft rustle of the wind moving through the leaves of the trees surrounding the orphanage. In one of the small rooms, there was silence. Three children were sleeping peacefully in their beds.

Suddenly, the peace was shattered by a scream. Kamado Yoichi woke up abruptly, screaming in pain and clutching his head before losing consciousness.

His scream woke his roommates.

„Yoichi, are you okay?" one of the boys called out, getting out of bed.

Not hearing a response, they decided to fetch the caretaker.

A few minutes later, Yoichi regained consciousness, but the headache was still unbearable.

„Damn it, what's going on with this pain?! Even when I overdid it with alcohol, I never had a hangover like this…"

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. He frowned, noticing the unfamiliar surroundings.

„Where am I? This is not my room… Why are there two more beds here?"

He tried to get up, but suddenly realized:

„Why am I so small? What's going on, have I gone back to the past?!"

Before he could analyze the situation, the door opened again. Two children entered the room together with the caretaker. The kids immediately ran to him, and one of them asked:

„Yoichi, are you okay?"

Yoichi looked at the people entering the room, thinking:

„Who are they? Wait, I think I know them. But how? Damn, this headache is unbearable. I need to sort my thoughts somehow."

The caretaker approached him and asked:

„Did you have another nightmare after that attack?"

Yoichi felt the pain still throbbing in his head, and his thoughts were chaotic.

„Who are they? Why are they so worried about me? A… Yoichi? Is that my name?"

Not knowing how to respond, he just nodded.

The caretaker smiled reassuringly and patted him on the head.

„It's okay, it was just a bad dream. Everything is fine now."

Yoichi nodded again, then lay back down and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep. In reality, he was trying to understand the situation.

The caretaker, seeing that he had fallen asleep, decided to leave. Standing at the door, she said:

„You should all go back to sleep as well."

Not waiting for their response, she left.

Yoichi, hearing the sound of the closing door, wanted to start thinking about what to do in this situation, but he didn't get the chance. He began to recover foreign memories—memories that belonged to Kamado Yoichi. It took him a while to sort them out in his head, and the pain only intensified his confusion. When full awareness finally hit him, his thoughts became clear.

„Shit! I've transmigrated! And into the damn world of Naruto?! Of all places?! How?! I don't even remember dying… Is that even required? It also means... a whole life of war. A whole life of fighting and killing. Quite possibly, a very short one."

For a few minutes, he lay there processing the new reality. Finally, he calmed down and began to analyze the situation.

„Alright… I guess from now on, I am Kamado Yoichi."

From the absorbed memories, he learned a few key things. Yoichi's parents were chūnin and died during the Nine-Tails' attack. He miraculously survived and, having no close relatives, was placed in the orphanage. After being admitted, he underwent tests conducted by Root. One-third of the children disappeared, but fortunately, he wasn't chosen.

„I need to check if my parents left me any inheritance… Maybe some techniques? Money? A house? There should be something; after all, they were chūnin and had some power."

His thoughts started racing even faster.

„If Kurama's attack happened recently and I'm four years old… That means I'm four years older than Naruto! Okay, that gives me more time to train and gain strength. The Uchiha massacre should happen roughly when I'm finishing the Academy. Then I still have five years before the main storyline starts. With this much time, I should come up with a plan and find a way to survive."

Fatigue slowly began to overtake Yoichi's mind.

„Tomorrow, I need to check if I have chakra. If I do, I need to start training as soon as possible to get into the Academy…"

With that thought, he stopped pretending to sleep and finally fell asleep for real.