Death was supposed to be the end.
A blinding flash. The sound of his name screaming in the distance. A final, aching regret as the world slipped away.
But instead of darkness, Naruto Uzumaki found himself suspended in something colder than death — a blank, endless void.
A line of faint golden text floated before his eyes.
[System initializing… Error: Host death detected. Recalibrating parameters. Executing Null Recovery Protocol.]
His body felt weightless. He tried to move, but there was no body to move, only the faint sensation of thought, drifting in an infinite sea of nothingness.
[Synchronization successful. Warning: Host classified as Null-Class Anomaly. Standard chakra pathways corrupted. Initiating adaptive compensation measures…]
"Wh-what…?" His voice was hoarse, broken, yet somehow the void answered.
A sudden pulse — a heartbeat, maybe — and reality snapped back into place.
Naruto crashed onto cold, cracked stone. He gasped, chest heaving as air returned to his lungs like fire. His fingers clawed at the ground. Sharp, real, painful.
Alive.
He forced his bleary eyes open.
Above him, a blood-red sky stretched endlessly, choked by black clouds that pulsed like veins. In the distance, a towering structure resembling the Hokage Monument loomed — but the faces were wrong. Stone statues of Uchiha smiled down with lifeless, tyrannical eyes.
Konoha… but twisted. Shattered.
Naruto staggered to his feet. His body felt strange, lighter, yet heavier all at once. He reached inward, instinctively calling on his chakra.
Nothing answered.
Panic clawed at his throat.
[Chakra system failure confirmed. Installing alternate interface…]
A second window flickered into existence in the corner of his vision — translucent, semi-digital.
╔════════════════════╗
║ Name: Naruto Uzumaki
║ Class: Null-Code Anomaly
║ Vitality: 60/100
║ Code Points (CP): 0
║ Skills: None
║ Active Quests: Survive Initial Breach (Reward: Starter Rewrite)
╚════════════════════╝
"What the hell is this?" Naruto muttered. His hands trembled. He clenched them into fists, trying to focus.
"Calm down. Think."
Survive. That was the quest. That meant danger. That meant enemies.
Naruto scanned his surroundings.
The village was almost unrecognizable. Streets he once raced through as a child were now littered with debris and strange metallic structures. Banners bearing the Uchiha crest fluttered from broken towers. Shinobi in black armor — faces hidden by tinted masks — patrolled in tight squads.
A guttural roar tore through the air.
Naruto whipped around.
A massive toad, corrupted and fused with machinery, crashed through a crumbling building a few streets over. Its eyes were soulless, its movements jerky — like a puppet controlled by invisible strings.
"No way… Gamabunta?"
The creature sniffed the air, then let out a mechanical screech and charged toward him.
Instinct screamed at Naruto to dodge. His body obeyed before his mind caught up, diving out of the way as the toad's clawed hand slammed into the ground, shattering stone like glass.
Naruto rolled to his feet. His body was slower, heavier than he remembered — like moving through water. Without chakra, even his muscles felt foreign.
He needed something. Anything.
[Emergency Skill Install Available.
Skill: Phase Shift (Lv. 1)
Effect: Briefly distort physical presence. Duration: 0.5s. Cooldown: 60s.
Install? Y/N]
"Yes!" he shouted without hesitation.
A surge of icy heat lanced through his body. His vision blurred, then sharpened.
The corrupted Gamabunta lunged again.
Naruto triggered the skill.
The world twisted. For half a heartbeat, his body flickered, becoming intangible. The massive claw swept through him harmlessly, smashing into a collapsed tower behind him.
The instant the effect ended, pain slammed back into Naruto's limbs — but he was still alive.
The toad bellowed in frustration, its metal-reinforced jaw gnashing.
Naruto knew he couldn't fight it. Not yet. He needed to escape.
He sprinted down a side alley, heart hammering in his chest. The ruined village blurred around him. Every turn revealed more twisted abominations — ninja merged with machine, animal summons corrupted beyond recognition, villagers with blank, glassy eyes.
What the hell happened here?
[Quest Update: Breach Reached. Starter Rewrite Unlocked.]
[Choose 1 Skill Template to Modify:]
Clone Technique (E-Rank)
Substitution Technique (E-Rank)
Transformation Technique (E-Rank)
Naruto didn't hesitate. Survival first. Deception first.
"Transformation Technique!" he gasped.
[Confirmed. Rewriting template… Rewrite successful.]
[Skill Acquired: Phantom Shift (Lv. 1)]
Effect: Temporarily alter personal appearance and chakra signature. Duration: 10s.
He ducked into the shadow of a fallen marketplace, concentrating.
Chakra didn't answer his call — but something else did. A shivering pulse at the edge of perception.
Naruto's body shimmered. His hair darkened, his face shifted, his clothes reformed into a battered Uchiha patrol uniform.
He stumbled into the open, forcing himself to walk casually as a squad of masked shinobi approached.
"Unit 6," barked one of them, voice distorted by a voice modulator. "Area secured?"
Naruto forced a nod, lowering his head to mimic the others.
The shinobi stared for a long, agonizing moment.
Then they moved on.
Naruto didn't breathe until they disappeared into the mist.
His mind raced. Whoever — whatever — had given him this second chance, it came with chains. He wasn't just surviving now. He was infiltrating a world that wanted him erased.
And judging by the patrols, the monstrous summons, and the broken sky overhead… it wasn't just Konoha that was wrong.
The whole world was rewritten.
Naruto clenched his fists. He didn't know who was responsible yet. But he knew one thing.
He was going to find them.
And he was going to rewrite this nightmare back.
[New System Directive Unlocked: Code Override]
[Ability: Absorb and Rewrite Techniques. Progression: 0%]
[Warning: Detected Hostile Entities Approaching. Estimated Time to Contact: 00:00:12.]
Naruto's gaze sharpened.
Footsteps echoed from the rooftops.
From the mist, three figures dropped into view, each wearing a high-collared black coat — not the Akatsuki as he remembered, but a new symbol on their backs: a twisted spiral merging into a shattered fan.
Their chakra — whatever they had — felt heavy. Dark. Wrong.
Naruto shifted his stance instinctively.
No chakra. No Rasengan. No clones.
Just him, a cracked skill, and the will to keep breathing.
The leader stepped forward, pulling down his hood.
Naruto's heart froze.
It was Sasuke.
But not the Sasuke he remembered. His eyes glowed a deep violet, rinnegan patterns spiraling endlessly in his gaze. His smile was thin, predatory.
"Found you," Sasuke said softly.
Before Naruto could react, the three figures lunged.
(To be continued…)