As evening descended, strange and fantastical clouds filled the sky, painted with a mysterious hue under the glow of the setting sun.
Some resembled a man with a hat atop his head, while others looked like bunnies racing across the sky, their forms dyed golden by the blazing sunset.
Beneath those clouds lay a small but bustling village, vibrant and complete in its own right.
The shouts of street vendors, the laughter of children, and the casual chatter of passersby filled the air with vitality, a scene brimming with peace and joy.
Suddenly, a child turned the corner onto a busy street—and in the next moment, the lively noise faded into silence.
"Hey, look over there!"
"That guy again. Just seeing him brings bad luck."
"Bad luck? You mean he's that demon fox from the village?"
Some villagers who didn't recognize the child asked, stepping back in caution.
To the ordinary people, the demon fox was nothing but a symbol of misfortune.
The man who spoke first shook his head, his gaze fixed on the small figure ahead with a look of disgust.
"Not the demon fox, but close enough. Do you remember that Jonin couple who defected a few years ago?"
"What? Wait... You mean this child is—?"
"Exactly. This is their kid..."
"So it's him. No wonder…I'm staying far away from him!"
As whispers and gossip filled the street, the boy turned to glance at the man who had first spoken. Once the man got his answer, he too avoided him like a plague.
The next second, the boy turned away, ignoring all the stares and continuing forward with a calm expression.
"Kill them, Ryuma! Kill them all! These villagers are too noisy!"
Near him, a mongoose bared its teeth at the crowd.
But aside from Ryuma, no one else could see it.
This creature was bizarre, it was floating without walking and speaking like it was normal.
Ryuma didn't respond and kept walking forward.
He knew that causing a scene on the streets of Konoha would result in him being quickly subdued and punished by the Uchiha police.
Besides, given his current strength, whether he could even kill anyone was questionable.
He had grown used to the scorn and disgust of others since coming to this world.
This was the world of shinobi, and this was the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages—Konohagakure.
He was born in the same year as the Nine-Tails attacked the village for the second time.
The first time being when Madara used his Sharingan to control the Nine tails in his battle with Hashirama.
That was also the year his parents—whom he had never even met—were executed by Konoha as traitor shinobis.
Ryuma had no idea why his parents chose to defect, nor did he care to find out.
Rumor had it they received a mission with little chance of survival and, fearing they would never return, chose to abandon the village for the sake of their newborn child.
But regardless of the reason, the fact remained—they defected. And they failed.
The word "defection" was never a positive one, especially in a world just emerging from an age of war. It was synonymous with disgrace.
Worse still, they had defected during a time of crisis, while the village was under attack by the Nine-Tails. Their actions were utterly unforgivable.
So, although Ryuma had survived, his life wasn't much better than death.
If not for him being a reincarnated person, he would have long since spiraled into darkness in such a hostile world.
If he had shown talent, someone would've surely tried to exploit him. If he had been ordinary, he'd have been used as cannon fodder.
In either case, he'd have been treated like a tool, his life never his own.
Unlike characters like Neji, Haku, Kimimaro, or Gaara, Ryuma hadn't developed extreme beliefs.
But the idealized image he once held of the Naruto world had long since faded away.
"Say something, Ryuma! Are you trying to kill me with your silence?"
The mongoose jumped onto his shoulder, yelling directly into his ear.
"Shut up!"
Ryuma couldn't hold back anymore. He covered his mouth with his arm, hissing a warning to the strange creature that had appeared not long ago.
"Finally, you're talking again! I was dying in there. So where are we going? The bathhouse?
You haven't showered in ages, you know, and your clothes are dirty too.
How about we buy some new ones first, then go get you cleaned up?"
Now that Ryuma was talking, the mongoose's energy returned instantly.
Aside from being an annoying chatterbox, it also had an outrageous obsession, peeping on women.
If it wasn't tethered to Ryuma's side, it would probably be committing crimes far worse than Jiraiya ever did.
"Stop bothering me. I'm not buying clothes or going to the bathhouse. I'm going to train."
With that, Ryuma dropped his hand, his expression calm once more as he resumed his path.
In this world, where survival was a daily challenge, he needed power—immense power.
His talent in ninjutsu was mediocre. That much he knew early on. Even with the low-level jutsu his parents left behind, he struggled to learn the basics.
Before, he would have had no choice but to grind through that path.
But now, he had another way.
The mongoose hadn't come alone. It brought with it a space called the "Equivalent Exchange."
In that space, Ryuma could trade local items for those from other worlds—anything and everything.
The day the space was activated, Ryuma received a Devil Fruit, as well as training methods for Rokushiki and Haki.
These were exactly what he needed. Without ninjutsu talent, a path to strength through physical training and pushing his limits suited him perfectly.
But since this was "equivalent exchange," he had to give something in return.
Currently, he owed the space a Chakra Fruit.
If he didn't pay his debt in time, the space would reclaim all it gave him—and kill him.
The term "equivalent" was deceptive.
No matter how he looked at it, a Chakra Fruit—representing the very essence of a world—was worth far more than a single Devil Fruit, even if offered on credit.
The exchange barely came with a few support cards.
And now, the Fourth Great Ninja War was fast approaching.
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[PS: One more thing, though this is technically a system-based story, the system won't appear frequently—it's just there for convenience.]