NOVEL NEXT Chapter 01: Another Chance
Disclaimer:
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 01: Another Chance
His eyes opened, and he was welcomed by the vision of a white ceiling.
Pushing past the stage of confusion, he tried to make sense of the situation.
He was sure he had died during that last battle. After all, he went as far as burning his life force and detonating his own body...all was done, to prevent his enemies from acquiring any of his secrets.
'But…how am I alive then?' A terrible thought came to mind…what if they found a way to stop his death and now he has been captured…waiting for his torture to commence.
He felt very weak, but with some effort, he was able to move his head a bit.
'What?...they didn't bind me?...' He could not believe this. He was just comfortably lying on a bed without a single restraint placed on him.
The door then opened, and a woman dressed in white came into the room.
She gasped in shock when she saw him awake. "I-I'll go call the doctor!"
'Who was that?...doctor?...'
The rest of his body did not seem to respond to him. So, with only his head, he started to look around the room.
There wasn't much to see. Basic furniture, some chairs, a table, and a glass cabinet in one corner.
The window's curtains were closed, so he couldn't glimpse outside, but by the light coming in, he could tell it must be around the middle of the day.
Finally, he gave his own body another look and found something unusual. It looked shorter and much thinner than he remembered.
'Did they cripple my body?! Is that why they didn't bother restraining me?' He wouldn't be surprised if that's what they did. His enemies were ruthless and willing to do anything for their goals.
The door opened again, and the woman from before came accompanied by an older man. "Good day, Uzumaki. I'm glad to see you finally awake."
"Uzu…maki…" He said the name with difficulty. His voice sounded wrong, and it hurt to speak.
The nurse filled a glass with water and placed it close to his lips. "Drink, it will help."
He was feeling thirsty, so he drank. He wasn't afraid of being poisoned at this point. They clearly wanted him alive.
"Now, I would like to ask you a few questions," the doctor said while holding a small notebook in his hands.
'He wants to interrogate me already…' He lifted his gaze to stare at them. "I…I will never reveal my secrets to you!"
The doctor made a surprised expression. "Secrets? What are you talking about, Uzumaki? I was just going to ask you how you felt. Does it hurt anywhere?"
"Hurt?... This is nothing! You can tell Hong Feng that he will never get his hands on my Golden Scripture!"
The doctor and nurse looked at each other. "It must be from one of those video games," the nurse said.
"Uzumaki…do you know where you are or how you got here?" the doctor asked.
He remained silent.
"Mmm…this may be more serious than I thought," the doctor muttered.
"You think he has suffered brain damage?" the nurse asked.
"I will need to speak with a specialist…and we also need to inform the Hokage of this."
He didn't understand what they were talking about, but they completely ignored him and left the room.
"Ugg…!" He then felt a sharp pain on the side of his head.
Random images started to flash in front of him. Unknown people dressed in strange clothes, places he didn't recognize…a large flow of information was entering his mind.
He was somewhat familiar with this sensation. It was similar to what occurred when you tried to read an ancient manuscript containing insights left behind by an expert.
Those old masters were able to leave behind more than just words on a manuscript but also images and even feelings, making it easier to comprehend their contents.
But this was a lot more chaotic. The memories were disorganized and scrambled together with no apparent rhythm or reason.
The bombardment of information continued for almost ten minutes, and when it ended, it left him with a terrible headache.
Disregarding the pain, he closed his eyes and began working on organizing all that information.
The key to his current situation must be somewhere in there.
An unknown amount of time passed, during which he did not open his eyes or move an inch.
When he was finally done, he looked to be baffled at his situation.
Moving his eyes upwards, he caught a glimpse of some blonde strands of hair. "This can't be happening…this is not my body."
But as difficult as it was to accept…the doctor had referred to him as Uzumaki.
The memories he had were from a boy known as Uzumaki Naruto, who lived his entire life in this village where warriors called ninjas were trained.
He attended the academy until very recently when he failed to graduate.
A teacher named Mizuki laid a trap for him and tried to kill him after making him steal some important treasure from the village leader.
That was the last event in those memories. So it must be the last thing that happened to him before…waking up here.
The fastest way to confirm this would be to take a look in the mirror.
There was a small one attached to the cabinet in the corner, but he couldn't move his muscles…
'Wait…' As he was concentrating on his body, he noticed there was still a lot of energy circulating through his spiritual veins.
'My dantian is still here! No, wait…if I'm not in my body, this cannot be my dantian.'
But it was still pleasant to find out he had one... although the energy coursing through it felt very unusual.