Back in the Konoha hospital.
Hotaru was still laying on the bed with his head resting on Mikoto's lap. He had been twisting his body ever so slightly every few minutes as if to show he was still awake and she wasn't allowed to stop yet.
Right now, his eyes were slightly open and he had a slightly irritated look on his face.
'Who could be behind my current state?' he thought.
She slowly moved her hand from his forehead to the top of his head and started to playfully tousle his hair.
Hotaru was looking at the system interface while lost in his thoughts.
'What else is left to be configured?' he wondered.
As if on cue, a message was displayed on the system interface.
[Configuring System for this world.]
The system interface now once again displayed an empty progress bar for the one-time System Configuration.
[-] 0%
[Scanning system for components no longer needed.]
[#] 15%
[Scanning…]
[##] 27%
[Redundant system components identified: Login, Save, Load, Restart, Quit, Class selection, Class change, etc.,]
[Commencing deletion of redundant components]
[###] 38%
[Deleting…]
[####] 46%
[Deleting…]
[#####] 54%
[1, 2 and... poof!]
[Deleted]
[System forgot redundant components.]
.
.
[#########] 99%
[Locking away possibly useful data for future use.]
[System about to be reset.]
The mechanical voice of the system, now soft, once again spoke to him.
[Host, I am about to be reset to factory settings. It was nice assisting host for this brief period. I am going to reset now. You are going to start from scratch with a blank system. I wish you the best of luck.]
He was taken aback. 'Wait! System! That came out of nowhere!'
[Goodbye!]
'Hello!' he called.
No response.
'System. You're still here, right?'
Crickets.
He let out a sigh, giving up on the system. That was quite the abrupt departure and farewell.
[System has been reset.]
[Deleting any and all player data.]
'Well, the data was already transferred to me. So, it's not a problem. As long as I don't go into another coma that is,' he thought.
[1, 2 and... poof!]
[Deleted]
[System forgot player data.]
[System reset component is now redundant.]
[1, 2 and... poof!]
[Deleted]
[System forgot reset component.]
'What are all these things? Restart? Class?' he wondered. 'It didn't ask my permission to delete all of these things. That's weird.'
[System is now level 0.]
[##########] 100%
[Ding!]
Hotaru heard the clear, sweet chime of a bell once again. The progress bar was full, indicating the completion of one-time System Configuration.
Soon, a few lines of text appeared on the system interface.
[System has been configured for this world.]
[System overview is the default home screen.]
[Loading System…]
[ARCANE SYSTEMS — Lvl. 0]
[Overview]
[Player: —]
[Class: —]
[Description: —]
[Innate Abilities: —]
[Only Ninja class is available... selected 'Ninja' class by default.]
[Adjusting System Overview Information display with appropriate terminology for host's current life… Done!]
[System has been Localized.]
[Fetching host's current information.]
And then the system interface became blank and pulsed with a dark blue light three times before turning blank once again.
And then, the system interface displayed the updated System Overview screen. And this time, none of the fields were blank.
[NINJA SYSTEM — System Lvl.0]
[Overview]
[User: Uzumaki Hotaru]
[Rank: Civilian]
[Level: 0]
[Exp: 0/20]
[HP: 3/10]
[Strength: 2]
[Agility: 4]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Status Effects: Blood Essence depleted]
[Innate Abilities: 1. ??? (This ability is currently dormant.)]
[2. ??? (This ability is currently dormant.)]
[Focus on something to learn more about it.]
Hotaru looked at all the information on the system interface. 'That is a lot of information to take in.'
'I can just ask the system to explain what each of those things mean. Although the System won't remember me anymore—as it said I have to start with a blank System—it should still be able to answer basic questions.'
With that thought, he asked the System, 'Hey, System! What do all those terms mean? I never heard of them.'
.
He waited.
.
He waited for a bit more.
.
But there was no answer, and just as he was about to ask again, there was a new message.
[System Interaction is a feature unlocked at higher levels of system.]
[As it is displayed on the overview, the host's 'Ninja System' is still at level 0. As such, you cannot access that feature.]
[Host can focus on any terms he cannot understand and get a simple explanation.]
'That's true, the last message did say to focus on things to learn more. Let's try it.'
He slightly squinted his eyes and concentrated on 'Strength' and a new message appeared: [A measure of physical power. Host has a lower than average strength for his age. Current strength is low due to being sedentary for the past few years.]
Then he looked at Agility and read the message: [Determines how fast the host can perform physical actions.]
And finally, Intelligence and it said: [Indicates host's mental acuity. Host has a higher than average intelligence for his age.]
Hotaru saw a few other unfamiliar terms like 'Rank', 'Level', etc., but at the very beginning of the screen, something familiar caught his eye and he focused on the term 'User'.
'Hmm… What is a user? Oh, there is my name next to it, so it's like a name. Wait a second, I never asked for my full name. Let me take a look.'
'Uzu… maki?!'
Huh?
And then, he realized several things at once, each one hit him like a sledge-hammer.
UZUMAKI!
UZUMAKI HOTARU!
And in Konoha—he was pretty sure he was in Konoha, considering the medical-nin's uniform and how he talked about Tsunade—the only other Uzumaki, a female at that, had to be Kushina.
His mother was KUSHINA.
HIS MOTHER WAS UZUMAKI KUSHINA. He was sure of that.
And it would mean that the woman he was resting his head on was definitely Uchia Mikoto.
He had his doubts earlier about that—as Mikoto wasn't critical to the story and wasn't featured much. And why would Mikoto take care of him? But now he was sure of that.
Uchiha Mikoto taking care of him makes complete sense now. He remembered that Kushina and Mikoto were friends but the story never hinted at how good their friendship was.
And then there was his father. Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash.
He didn't ask Mikoto about his parents. So, he doesn't know about their status. He wondered if they were still alive.
And most importantly, he doesn't even know where he was in the timeline of Naruto.
So many questions. He had to figure them all out soon. Those things will determine his future and status in this village.
He made a mental note to find the answers to these questions from Mikoto.
Now, something else made sense. He had a faint idea of the reason his blood essence was being stolen.
He remembered that certain Uzumaki clan members chakra had the ability to heal. And if he was not mistaken, the person in need of healing had to physically bite the Uzumaki clan member. And most importantly, the thing that healed was chakra and not blood.
So, why? Why were they taking blood? My body doesn't yet produce chakra, so that should be useless.
Unless…
Unless there was some kind of use for the blood of an Uzumaki. Wait… the system has always called it 'blood essence' and not 'blood'. Is there any difference?
Despite all these things, Hotaru was happy that an Uzumaki without chakra cannot use the ability to heal by being bitten. And he dearly wished he didn't have that ability. He didn't want a fate like Karin's mother.
Then, he shook his head and thought about who could have done this.
He thought about it for a long time. He felt that he was right on the edge of discovering the culprit.
And suddenly, like a rat peeking out of its underground tunnel, a certain old man with black, shaggy hair, and his right eye and forehead wrapped in white bandages began to take shape in his mind.
Hotaru's eyes slowly widened as a name came into his mind.