[YOUTH SYSTEM ACTIVATED!]
"Congratulations for activating the YOUTH SYSTEM!
Let the whole world witness the power of your YOUUUTH!
For activating the system in LESS THAN AN HOUR, you get 7 days of X10 General Training efficiency!"
The notification blares in my vision like a digital billboard—bold, vibrant, and impossibly intrusive.
Then the world fades in.
Faintly, behind the ringing in my ears, I hear someone talking on the phone. A woman.
"Yes, a Glasgow 7... no, didn't hook him up to the IV yet... no, I don't have his file, that's why I'm calling... Good."
"What the fuu..." I mumble, not even sure if the words came out or just echoed in my skull.
Sterilized air floods my nose—dry, sharp, overly clean. The cot underneath me is thin but soft, the kind of softness that lets you know it's not meant to be comfortable, just not painful.
Pain, though—yeah, there's plenty of that.
A dull throb pulses through my limbs, bones aching like they've been cracked and glued back together. Every muscle screams, some in sharp stabs, others in low, dragging agony.
I force my eyes open.
Ceiling lights hum quietly overhead. White tiles. Pale blue walls. It smells like bleach and hand sanitizer.
I'm in the nurse's office, huh?
The nurse herself is turned away, still on the phone, gesturing vaguely at some clipboard like it personally offended her.
I glance down at my hands.
Purple. Swollen. Can't even flex the fingers.
... fucking perfect
I test them again—barely any response.
"I must've passed out doing push-ups..." I whisper, more to convince myself than anything.
The world tilts, then tilts again.
Vertigo gnaws at me, but I grit my teeth and force myself to stay awake. No sleeping now.
"H...hey."
It comes out weaker than I intended—barely more than a whisper—but it's enough.
The nurse's head snaps in my direction. She mutters something into the phone, frowning. "—He's awake. I'll call back."
The middle-aged Asian woman taps her screen, drops the clipboard, and rushes over.
She first checks the monitor near the bed, scanning my pulse and blood pressure readings. Her movements are practiced. Her words as well.
"You're awake. Good." She leans in, examining my face carefully. "Do you know what day it is? Can you tell me your name? Do you know where you are?"
I mumble appropriate responses as she checks my corneal reflexes with a penlight, then moves methodically through a neurological exam—testing skin sensation, reflexes, and muscle response as she works her way down my body.
"How are you feeling, Lee?"
"Like someone put my body through a wood chipper," I manage to croak out. My throat feels raw, as if I've been screaming. Had I been screaming?
"I'm not surprised. A student found you collapsed in the hallway. You were having some kind of seizure—your arms were locked up and you were unresponsive." She gently places my arm back down. "Can you tell me what happened before you fainted?"
I try to gather my thoughts. How much should I reveal? Definitely not the part about an interdimensional system granting me powers based on push-ups. That's a one-way ticket to the psych ward.
"I was just feeling really weak," I say, which isn't technically a lie. "Then I just... went down, I guess."
Her gaze narrows. She lifts one of my arms with gloved fingers and hisses softly at the sight.
"Your arms are swollen. Discolored. This didn't come from just 'feeling weak.'" She looks at me, suspicious. "What did you do?"
I did a set of 10 and almost fucking died, but there's no point in admitting anything. I just need some alone time to figure things out.
"I don't know," I mutter again, shifting my eyes away. "I just... felt off, I guess."
"Don't play games with me." Her voice hardens. "If someone hurt you, or if this is some kind of self-harm—"
"No!" I blurt out, a bit too quickly. "I mean, no. Nobody hurt me."
Her eyes lock onto mine. She's not buying it.
My face stays blank. Stone-faced. Just confused, in pain, and very, very tired.
What are the benefits to be gained in this situation, I wonder...
"Then how do you explain this?" she asks, pointing to the bruising along my forearms. "Or the strain in your shoulders? You look like you tried to lift weights with your teeth."
I shrug limply, gaze slipping past her—toward the glowing blue window hovering quietly in the corner of my vision.
She doesn't see it. Would have been quite lame if she did.
[YOUTH STATUS SCREEN]
Chakra Capacity: 30 (Untrained Child)
Chakra Regeneration: 3/hour
Strength: 1 (Untrained Child)
Agility: 1 (Untrained Child)
Endurance: 1 (Untrained Child)
Skills:
None
Quests:
None
Buffs:
x10 General Training Efficiency (7 Days Remaining)
Huh, this is... really cool, actually. A Naruto themed system should allow for decent growth. Might take a while but surviving should be doable... but I have a feeling that it's not going to be so simple as having a Rinnegan handed to me...
The nurse is still hovering, clearly waiting for more answers. I don't really care though.
Glazed expression. Minimal answers. I let her poke and prod and fuss. Whatever makes her go away faster.
Alas, her inspection doesn't stop at my arms.
My shirt is off, exposing the pathetic scrawniness of this body I now inhabit. Not exactly Mr. Olympia material. As such, the bruising is also visible. All along my ribs, deep along my side and lower back. Her fingers hover over the marks as if unsure whether to press or not.
"And this?" she says, quieter now. Less irritated. More... concerned.
Her eyes flick up to the faint swelling around my left cheekbone, the forming purple under my eye. She leans in a bit.
"You're covered in bruises. Stomach, back, face—this didn't all happen from a fainting spell. So what did happen?"
"Well..."
Weeks and months of bullying, apparently. The kind that hides just enough to fly under adult radars. Not that it mattered. Lee had tried to speak up once. A teacher dismissed it. Told him to toughen up.
The second time, they told him to "not provoke them."
He didn't try a third.
I study the nurse's expression with mild amusement. This body's previous owner clearly had no idea how to handle himself.
Hell, one well-placed social media post with these bruises and he could've had the principal fired and the bullies expelled. But instead, he just took it like a champ.
But right now, I don't really want attention. I want peace and time to figure out what this damn system is.
I take a breath. Put on my most serious, grounded tone.
"You see, miss..." I glance at her nametag. "...Matsuda. The truth is that—"
[YOUTH SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Quest: A Competition of Youth!
One of your fellow Academy students has decided to challenge you to demonstrate their taijutsu prowess! Youth burns brightest in battle!
Objective: Defeat the academy student challenging you
Reward: Taijutsu Training Efficiency x10 (7 Days)
"...I fell off the stairs."