[Hand your brain over to the zombies.]
[Just be happy, that's all that matters.]
[Female lead: even mosquitoes blush and cover their butts when they see him.]
Hidden Leaf Village.
The lowest level of the Ninja Prison.
Drip... drip... drip...
Moisture from the underground condensed into droplets that splashed onto the cold stone floor.
In the dim, damp chamber, a few incandescent lamps were embedded in the walls, casting a warm yellow glow that barely held the darkness at bay.
The chamber was spacious, surprisingly well-furnished for a prison. Among the furnishings, the most striking was the large bed at its center.
Forged entirely from steel, the bed had a simple, functional design—its key features: durable, and soundproof.
Heavy curtains draped down, isolating the inside from the outside world...
A faint, tantalizing fragrance lingered in the air, sweet and disarming.
Upon that bed, at this very moment—
A woman of stunning beauty lay there, clad in a disheveled black backless outfit...
She was tall, with a willowy waist that seemed crafted by gods.
Her long, green hair was streaked with strands of orange at the tips, cascading freely behind her, swaying like silk in the air.
Her skin was smooth and radiant like polished jade, her lips rosy, her nose sculpted, and her features exquisitely refined.
The flush on her cheeks, paired with the dazed allure in her eyes, painted a scene both seductive and tormented.
Her eyes curved like crescent moons…
But within those autumn-water eyes smoldered a deep, unshakable resentment.
Desire and hatred...
Contradictory, yet impossible to ignore.
Following her gaze, one would see a young man standing nearby, lean and slender, his eyes as bright as stars in the night sky—motionless, like a wooden statue.
Pakura was already exhausted, and now the boy had gone completely still.
This only made her more helpless, and more enraged.
But seeing the mocking glint in the boy's eyes, she flushed with both shame and fury.
"Mm..."
She froze, gritted her teeth, and snapped, "What the hell do you want?"
At her words, the previously unmoving boy curled his lips into a smirk, his voice cold and mocking:
"Didn't you say we had nothing to do with each other? That you were just being coerced by me? So... this is it?"
He was Shin—a transmigrator who had been reborn into the world of Naruto sixteen years ago, becoming a member of the Hidden Leaf.
Since then, fate had dealt him a cruel hand.
His parents died early.
He was scammed, went hungry, fought on the streets, drank until he blacked out, and even slept under the open sky.
Somehow, he clawed his way through the Third Shinobi World War and managed to survive.
Not long ago, in the late stages of the war, he picked up a woman on the battlefield in the Land of Water, and from then on, faded from Konoha's public eye.
"You..."
Pakura's face stiffened at his retort, her beautiful eyes practically spitting fire.
She clenched her teeth. She, Pakura, never begged anyone.
She could do it on her own!
A moment later, a soft, breathy moan escaped her lips: "Please… I…!"
But before Shin could respond—
A voice suddenly rang out from outside the chamber.
"Kakashi Hatake, under orders from the Hokage, requests the presence of Lord Shin at the Hokage's office for a meeting."
Shin paused, his brow furrowing slightly.
Why would Minato Namikaze be looking for him at this hour?
After a moment's thought, he stood up and began dressing.
"Aaah…"
Pakura bit her lip—it was so close.
She reached out and grabbed Shin's arm. "Where are you going?!"
"Someone's looking for me."
Shin's lips curled into a mocking grin. "What, you can't bear to let me go now?"
Pakura gritted her teeth so hard it seemed they might shatter. "W-Wait… just a little longer... can't you?"
Shin let out a cold chuckle. "What do you think?"
With that, he turned and walked away.
"You... bastard!"
Pakura stared at his retreating back, trembling with fury.
...
Kakashi Hatake stood at the entrance to the Ninja Prison—a place that made even the most hardened Leaf shinobi shudder.
Suppressing the discomfort in his gut, he called out clearly:
"Under orders from the Hokage, Lord Shin is requested at the Hokage's office for an urgent meeting."
His voice echoed through the corridor. Not long after—
From the ominous prison gates that seemed ready to devour men whole, a figure emerged.
Shin, clad in plain black casual wear, stepped into the sunlight.
The warm rays of the sun bathed his face, making him appear even more bright-eyed and razor-sharp.
He stood there in stark contrast to the dark, suffocating gloom of the prison behind him.
"That the Hokage would send you personally, Kakashi… must be something serious."
Shin looked Kakashi with a gentle smile.
His voice was calm, warm—like a spring breeze brushing against the skin.
"Lord Shin, your status is special," Kakashi replied without hesitation. "Of course I was the one sent."
The two had once been classmates at the Academy.
Same class, childhood acquaintances.
But when it came to status, power, or achievements—there was a world of difference between them now.
"Kakashi, how is the Hokage doing these days?" Shin asked quietly. "And what's the reason for the summons?"
"I've been holed up down there for so long, I've lost touch with what's going on in the village."
"Sigh…"
Kakashi let out a long sigh and replied:
"Sensei's been deeply worried lately."
"You're familiar with Lady Kushina, aren't you? You must know—her due date is close."
"That's one of the reasons the Hokage called for you."
"Oh? I see." Shin nodded in understanding. "Do you know who else will be present?"
"Lord Third Hokage. And the two Elders."
Kakashi's voice was steady.
Shin nodded slightly.
Three of the Konoha Elder Quartet were already in place. That old schemer Danzo had once again been left out in the cold.
He quickly pieced things together—
So it had already come to this point without him noticing.
It was now Year 48 of the Hidden Leaf calendar. Kushina Uzumaki was nearly full term.
But because she was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the seal would be at its weakest during childbirth.
To prevent the Nine-Tails from breaking free, the Third and Fourth Hokage had to make preparations in advance.
Kakashi glanced deeply at his old classmate and said in a low voice:
"With Lord Shin there, the Hokage can rest easy."
There was a time when Kakashi believed he was the ultimate prodigy.
The strongest of his generation.
After all, he graduated from the Academy at five, became a Chunin at six, and a Jonin at twelve…
Anywhere else, he'd be hailed as a once-in-a-generation genius.
But he never would've imagined—
This quiet, unremarkable classmate from their Academy days had hidden such terrifying potential.
If not for the war they experienced together, no one would've known just how deep Shin's strength ran.
And if it weren't for the fact that Shin didn't come from a well-established ninja clan…
Add to that his strange, brutal combat history…
He might've become a serious contender for the position of Fourth Hokage.
Though in the end, Shin had willingly stepped back—And even openly supported Minato Namikaze's rise to power.
Now, he stood as the most trusted ally of the Fourth Hokage and his wife.
During the Third Shinobi World War, two young Konoha shinobi had made names for themselves.
Minato Namikaze became the Yellow Flash across the battlefields of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth.
While Shin, his classmate, left behind a trail of corpses across the Land of Wind and the Land of Water.
But what continued to puzzle Kakashi—Was how, before the war broke out, Shin had been so quiet, so unassuming.
At the Academy, he barely spoke a word.
His ninjutsu grades were abysmal. He often muttered the weirdest things:
"Ninjutsu? Even dogs don't bother with that."
"I'm going to become a man of supreme divine love!"
In the Academy's practice duels, he had never won a single match…
And yet, even back then, Kakashi had noticed something.
In every unexpected situation—
Shin would always frown slightly, quietly stepping in front of the others to shield them.
His expression unreadable, his thoughts a mystery.
Now, after the war… Shin had chosen to live inside the prison.
Alone, guarding a whole cell block by himself.
(O_O)?
You'd have to be brain-damaged to willingly spend an entire year in prison.
And yet, this man had done exactly that.
Looking back, Kakashi couldn't help but feel—
It might have had something to do with what happened on the battlefield in the Land of Wind, when all of Shin's comrades and instructor were killed.
Maybe that's what changed him—made him darker, more withdrawn.
"Lord Shin," Kakashi suddenly asked, "that Scorch Release kunoichi from the Hidden Sand, Pakura—she's still alive, isn't she?"