Chapter 1: Rebirth
Wealth. Poverty. Economic disparity.
Highly educated. Poorly educated. Educational disparity.
Urban and rural areas. Regional disparity.
Those who are young and disadvantaged and those who are old and privileged. Generational disparity.
That world is a desperate struggle between these two elements. Those who lived high-class lives and those who held nothing. These are just a few examples I mentioned, yet they truly represent the difference between heaven and hell. The prominent thing to remember is that not all realities are stagnant. The poor can rise to become wealthy, and the rich can fall to become poor. For example, if you don't like regional disparities, you can move to the city, at least in theory.
And there are some things you are entitled to even if you were born into poverty. Human rights, we call these. However small these rights feel, you are still entitled to them.
However, there is one more disparity that destroys these common basic rights.
The one between those who aren't experimented on and those who are for the sole reason of progress. The disparity between those with rights and those that are not.
While many of us deny that it happens, the truth is that human experiments still exist. Humans are interesting creatures we deny things that we know to be a reality for our self-preservation. It is why things like Mob Mentality exist, or the Bystander Effect exists.
For the sake of averting our gazes from the truth to keep ourselves safe.
Truly it sounds cynical, yet, it is the truth.
This is merely human nature, under the depths of our outwards persona is an empty being full of masks. Whilst we may be true in some forms, we aren't fully accurate with an outwards persona.
Hey you, yes you reading this right now I have a question I like to ask you, please answer truthfully.
Would you kill another human being in self defence? Would you try to resolve things peacefully or will you fight in order to survive?
After giving your answer to that one please answer the next one.
Now tell me would you kill other human beings as your job? If it was your job to take the lives of others who might have families, friends and people who care for them, would you kill them?
These questions appear to be inconsequential, right? After all you can answer through a monitor and a keyboard or even refrain from answering entirely.
Some of you probably read that and immediately out of spite typed an answer in, right?
Point is, you can answer anonymously, thus you can be as open as you want with your thoughts and feelings. This is the Online Disinhibition Effect which refers to the lack of restraint one feels when communicating online in comparison to communicating in-person.
Though it is not actually restricted to online as Darren Brown has shown through many of his Social Experiments of anonymity. This effect is just the state of being anonymous.
I guess I should stop with the seamless reality breaking questions and actually get to the point, huh?
I stood inside a void of blackness, where there was slight colours of small spheres around me guiding me forwards.
What was going on? Did I not die? No that is stupid, nobody could have survived with the amount of Carbon Monoxide I breathed in should've killed me. I died via the smoke of a fire. One that should never have happened if it wasn't for the stupidity of a poorly educated man.
Curious, I took steps forwards. Feeling like I wasn't walking, yet I was? It was truly a strange sensation yet I did. As I walked the spheres seemed to shine, against the void around us providing me light to see as I walked.
At the end of the tunnel was not a light, nor fiery depths but rather 2 chairs and a table. I was extremely confused now.
Of course I had confirmed that I was dead, and logically speaking, the afterlife did not exist. But I wasn't strictly set in my ways, that's why whilst I was slightly confused, I managed to believe that I was going to an afterlife after a bit of thought. But this, this right here was mega confusing. I began to think of many things that could lead to this.
Was I being judged for my sins and virtues, then? That'd work and should be the case.
A sudden burst of a brilliant glow of yellow appeared, and out from it stepped a woman, "Well, well, it seems you are quite confused." A soft, angelic voice came from the woman as the glow dissipated.
This woman had long silky crimson hair with lustrous silver eyes holding small yellow star-like symbols as the pupil of both eyes. She was incredibly beautiful and held a kind gaze.
She wore a flowing, ethereal gown which drapes elegantly off her shoulders, with a deep V-neckline. It shimmers with soft gradients of purples, pinks, oranges, and blues and intricately embroidered on the gown where 3 symbols representing the cycle of life itself. The ouroboros, phoenix feathers and a blooming lotus flower.
Around her waist, she wore a belt that appears to have been made from a band of stardust, shimmering in the colours of the cosmos. The belt has a central buckle in the shape of an hourglass.
She wears sandals crafted from woven vines and leaves the straps of which wind up her calves, holding tiny charms representing the seasons. Blooming flowers for Spring, green and vibrant for summer, rich with hues of orange, red, deep blue, dark green and yellow for autumn, finishing with frost like patterns for winter.
Around her neck rests a necklace with a pendant shaped like a moon in its various phases perhaps signifying the waxing and waning of life. The pendant holds a single, glowing pearl at its centre, which could represent the soul.
She has earrings that are delicate spirals, made of silver and gold.
Her head is adorned with a delicate circlet made from woven branches, leaves, and flowers. In the middle rested a large gemstone, which was moonstone specifically.
Finally was the bangles on her wrist, made of interlocking rings representing the chain of reincarnation. Each ring is inscribed with symbols I did not know, but instinctively understood to mean life and death.
At this point, I had enough information to understand what this being in front of me was.
So that's why I'm here, huh?
"If I am not mistaken, you are a goddess, right? And if I have to be specific, a Goddess of Reincarnation."
"A Goddess of Reincarnation, Rebirth and Transmigration specifically."
"So, I'm being reborn, or reincarnated." I stated, since it wasn't a question but a statement.
"Of course. Take a seat with me, why don't you?"
"I don't see myself staying long enough to sit down."
That was true. In all honesty, I would probably be sent to hell the second she saw what I've done, right? Still, to that after I died, I'd suffer my first ever loss. It felt strangely comforting in a way.
The Goddess's expression changed to one of sadness as she reached out her hand and my reflexes kicked in, where I immediately gripped her arm, stopping it from moving.
"Ah, sorry." I let go of her arm after realising what I did.
"It's fine." She reached out her arm again, unlike last time I didn't react. Thus she touched my hair smoothly, running her hand through it's locks, comforting me strangely. Why was I being comforted by this? "It's fine, you are to be reincarnated, Kiyomi. Despite what you did in life, or your mindset."
I see, so she knows everything, huh?
I sighed, at the very thought of that notion.
"I see. I'll take a seat then."
There was no point in arguing here, since I at the very least had a chance, thus I sat down in the leather chair, as did she.
"Right, let us get down to business, now, but first." With a snap of her fingers, 2 teacups and a teapot appeared with an elegant look to them. The teapot seemed filled with tea, "Would you like some tea?"
"I guess," Frankly I was curious, what tea would a Goddess serve, thus I asked. The teapot responded as it levitated in the air, pouring us both cups of tea which floated to our sides of the desk with saucers appearing as well.
The liquid was yellow-hued revealing it was Genmaicha tea. The tea was simple to make, it was green tea mixed with roasted brown rice. The taste was simple, yet pleasant. Light, toasty and slightly nutty.
I take a few sips before setting it back, I liked the taste of it, but that's about all I could say as now it was time to get back into business.
"You are being reborn as stated earlier, but before I can do so we need to go through the process of utilizing KP or Karmic Points. KP is essentially well Karma earned through your past life. All the good you have done and the suffering you have went through is what gains you Karma. Some bad deeds or otherwise crimes can grant you KP if it is done for purely selfless reasons. And well, if it is your job to kill people and you go out of your way to kill as little as possible, such as being in the Army, that can lead to no effect on your KP. Of course killing as many as possible leads to decreases in KP. Essentially, avoiding killing as much as possible leads to no effect, but the opposite leads to decreases."
Morality is grey so it's about intent mostly.
"I understand."
For the readers who don't understand, think steal from the rich give to the poor. That is a good intent with a bad to good action, leading to an increase in KP. If you stole from the poor to keep, that will be bad intent with bad action leading to a decrease. And of course, stealing from the rich to avoid stealing from the poor is a bad action with good intent leading to no increase but no decrease either.
After that the Goddess continued to speak, "The main idea for KP is that when a person dies they are given access to perks that effect their next life. We actually use a booklet that changes based on the world the person is reincarnating into displaying KP and the perks. Now based on the fact that you have a high KP score you are also allowed to choose an advanced perk for free such as having another worlds powers for your own." She spoke and then a wheel was summoned behind her.
"That is the rebirth wheel, where we select a world a person is reincarnated to, and I assume you understand the rest."
Yeah, I did, simply reading the wheel, I saw many fictional worlds, and non fictional ones. Meaning, I can be reborn into an anime, movie, or book.
I took a sip of my tea as the Wheel started to spin, with a nod of my head to the Goddess.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
I began to count the seconds as it spun simply for fun, at the time it finished, my tea was also finished.
596, 597, 598, 599, 600. The wheel stopped finally, and the world was not what I expected.
"Naruto, hmm, in that case, this book works."
She summoned a small book and handed it to me. The title reads 'Advanced Perks' simply showing the advanced perks.
Six Eyes, Limitless, Shrine, All Fiction, Saiyan Genes, Ki, Noble Phantasms, the powers I could gain yet...
I chose to gain something that allowed me to quantify my own strength easier and gain it faster.
Why? Because I didn't want to make things easy, well too easy at least.
Welcome new Gamer would you like to read the tutorial? Y/N
I used my free advanced perk for exactly the thing I needed. I tapped yes and made sure everything worked as I suspected it to do finding something truly unique about this system as well.
Social links are unique bonds that are formed with a specific person. These bonds have 10 ranks to them and each social link is based on an Arcana from tarot cards. A bond can also be formed in several ways or a certain requirement has to be met in order to rank a social link up. You can only form 20 social links.
"The gamer, I see." She stated, the book of advanced perks vanished as another one replaced it, simply titled, 'Naruto Perks' reading it displayed my KP at the side on the right 10000 KP.
I read through all of the perks very carefully selecting Massive Chakra reserves first as it'll be helpful to have that 500. After that I chose the clan selection perk choosing Uchiha as my clan simply because of its benefit. That put me down to 6000 KP. I proceeded to use 600 to grab access to the 3 affinities perk. 300 to be adept in chakra control from birth. After that I choose to gain the Jutsu creator perk which allowed me to gain bonuses with the Jutsu I create.
That all brought me down to 4700 KP left. Hmm, for 1700, I could get that, huh?
I selected a perk that was overpowered.
Massive Prodigy (All): Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, all of it comes naturally to you. Your ability to grow is considered unprecedented and can be scary, yet your abilities are very strong and reliable.
I of course was sold to this instantly. Of course that left me with 3000 but it was worth it. Of course, a normal person wouldn't see the exact details but with a simple look into my Perks section with the Gamer since I've brought it already.
Massive Prodigy (All): Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, all of it comes naturally to you. Your ability to grow is considered unprecedented and can be scary, yet your abilities are very strong and reliable. You gain a 5X increase in EXP gain from all skills. You learn at an accelerated rate and your brain processes information much quicker by 500%
Imagine your thought process being increased to be 5 times faster? Now imagine that when you're already able to compete with Government funded supercomputers in a game of Chess. Though it is a bit of an overstatement.
I only beat it once, and that was out of 5 games.
Anyways, I selected 2 other perks, which costed 1500 for both.
The first, was simple. A Tool Starter kit and the second, a Jutsu Starter Kit.
The first, gave 20 Low grade Kunai, Kunai, and Senbon. A few bottles of Chakra imbued Ink, apparently a requirement for Fuinjutsu making, and 10 parchment paper. Apparently Parchment when used makes Low Grade Fuin's or seals, like weak explosive tags.
And the 2nd gave, 3 E ranked Jutsu scrolls and 2 D ranked ones that are random, the perk reads like this...
Jutsu Starter Kit: Through a random event, you can gain 5 Jutsu Scrolls of low grade.
However with the Gamer, I gain all 5 in my inventory straight away. I can presume that these scrolls are just randomly given to the person, like an even of incredibly good luck. And that goes for that first perk. Also I can't access the scrolls yet because they are randomised after my rebirth. Literally in my inventory they appear as ? Jutsu Scroll. All 5 do.
The tools I could though. Low Grade did mean low grade.
Low Grade Kunai: Kunai that whilst sharp, aren't as sharp as one would expect from a Kunai. Damage is dependent on part of the body that is hit but it is common for it to deal10 damage at long range and 20 at close range.
And it's similar with all of them, though it is slightly more damage than one would expect. Either way I had 1500 KP left, and so I decided to check something.
I looked through the book, and finally encountered it. 100 KP later, I had Heterochromia. Why was this useful?
Depending on the timeline, I want to look as little like an Uchiha as possible and hope I'm an Orphan or something. To avoid death from Itachi. And since the particular Perk was cosmetic based, I could choose my eye colours, one would be black and the other blue. Oh, even better, I changed my hair colour to purple for my new body.
I could choose how I looked, so obviously I made the person beautiful. Why? Because appearances are important, I mean, so is money, but appearances matter.
Would someone hire a person who dresses in casual clothing to an interview despite a brilliant and excellent Resume or CV's? No, they wouldn't, you could be the most perfect fit for a Job, yet the second you stepped into that room with the interviewer, they will take note of your appearance.
No as opposed to that. A person would hire a smart looking person despite a bad resume because they looked serious. A person who could work hard in other words.
Why? Because a lot of people's opinions of you form in the first 7 seconds upon meeting you, often called a first impression. This can also form in a tenth of a second. How it works is simple, you meet a person, they observe you, if you are ugly, they don't like you based on first impressions, if you are the opposite, they will.
A cruel reality, is it not?
Oh and if you, the one reading this right now is looking for a relationship, start being attractive is a good first step. Oh and it's not impossible otherwise, you just need money.
And apparently some guy named James has neither.
All jokes and life lessons aside, I looked at the last perk I wanted.
I selected it for a strange reason in fact.
Combative Insight: You are a natural born combative genius. Your ability to read the ebb and flow of battle is insightful and predictive allowing you to understand the battlefield more closely. You can accurately recall information on the battlefield, see through enemy tactics and strategies, and you plan counterattacks effectively. You can see weaknesses where most do not consider and many people will rally to you for you insight.
I was already pretty good at this stuff already, having read many stories in my past about the arts of war, including The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Pair that knowledge with an innate ability to read it, and you have an incredibly powerful perk.
"Now then, we can move on to our next stage. Now then I've decided to make you orphan being born the day before Naruto is born. But of course, we've decided to make it so you immediately reincarnate into a 3 year old you, with memories."
"I see, that makes things easier."
She nodded her head and chuckled lightly.
"You really look like a doll you know? Your expression has not changed once, then again that's characteristic of you and from your past."
"Yeah."
I almost forgot she knew my past.
"Say," I started, "Can I get your real name?"
"Oh, it's Saishin."
"Saishin, well thank you Saishin."
After I said that the void surrounded me as I lost my vision.
"Bye, Kiyomi. I'll see you again, one day, not to reincarnate you though."
"And I won't be back anytime soon, now will I?"
Saishin simply chuckled ominously.
"We'll see, we'll see."
That was unsettling,
As the last wisps of light vanished, I felt a pull and then, black.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone