CHAPTER 1

The world faded into darkness far too suddenly. One moment, Aiko Nakamura had been gripping the steering wheel of her car, the shrill sound of honking horns and screeching tires filling her ears as her vision blurred. The next, there was nothing but an oppressive silence. Floating in the void, she could feel neither her body nor the pain she had been bracing for. Just… an eerie stillness.

"Is this it? Is this death?" she wondered, her thoughts somehow clearer than ever before. But before she could dwell on the question, a crackle of light pierced the void, splitting it open like shattered glass.

Her consciousness was yanked forward, and with it came a strange sense of… downloading? A string of unfamiliar words and information flooded her mind. "Reincarnation protocol initializing. Host identified. Skill system glitched. Compensation authorized…" The words made no sense, but before she could process them, the void shattered completely, and the light consumed her.

When she finally opened her eyes, Aiko found herself gasping for air, as though she had been trapped underwater and had only just surfaced. But something felt off. Her body was lighter, smaller—childlike, even. The sight of her own hands, now tiny and unfamiliar, brought her heart to a screeching halt.

"Where am I?" she whispered, sitting up. Her surroundings were strange, almost too peaceful. The soft scent of wood and parchment filled the air, and the tatami mat beneath her felt foreign yet familiar. Through the open window, cherry blossoms danced lazily in the breeze, their petals gently brushing against her skin.

A sudden jolt of pain raced through her head, and memories flooded in. But they weren't hers. A lifetime of training, laughter, pain, and camaraderie flashed before her eyes, like pieces of a puzzle she had never seen before. They belonged to the girl whose body she now inhabited—a girl from a small civilian family in the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Reincarnated… into the Naruto world?" Aiko murmured, her voice shaky with disbelief.

Her shock, however, didn't last long. Another flash in her mind brought up something entirely new—a menu, almost like a gaming system interface. Text floated before her eyes.

System Activated: Welcome, Host.

Infinite Skill Points

Level 1

Chakra Reserves: Low

Physical Conditioning: Weak

"What is this…?" she thought. As if responding to her confusion, the words on the interface shifted, offering her options, skills, and even stat allocations. And then the realization hit her—a glitch in fate had not only reincarnated her into this world but also equipped her with something unheard of in the Naruto universe: a system to grow stronger.

As the weight of her situation began to settle in, Aiko heard the distinct sound of children laughing outside. Steeling herself, she approached the window and caught sight of a group of kids her age wearing identical headbands.

"Ninja academy students..." she whispered, her chest tightening. Among the group, a blonde-haired boy with a wide smile caught her eye. The sight of him was unmistakable. It was Minato Namikaze, the future Fourth Hokage.