2 Character Creation

[Rewards have been distributed. Proceeding to character creation.]

At this, the screen that had previously been the size of half his height enlarged to roughly 2.5 times its previous size. Within the screen now showed a life-size model of what could be described as a typical Uchiha teenager – with black hair, dark eyes and pale skin, compared to his own healthy tan. Next to the figure was two left and right buttons, titled Preset appearance.

Jeremy deadpanned, cringing slightly at the generic RPG character creation menu that had appeared before him. "I guess it kind of makes sense I can't customize my appearance since I am going to be born to actual real parents, Uchiha or otherwise. It would be pretty wild for an Uchiha to have weird ass pink hair; people might think I was a bastard Haruno child."

Before scrolling through the preset options, however, he first found a prompt at the very top that asked for a name.

Jeremy Rothschild of course. Sorry, bad joke. If he was going to be living in the Naruto world, he had to have a similarly Japanese sounding name to fit in after all. Hmm… taking inspiration from another of his favorites animes he knew what was going to be his name: "First name Shinji, last name Ikari. Confirm."

The first preset option had a very common appearance, a kind of forgettable face that would usually be deemed as 'Villager G', skipping right through A to F. Given the choice to choose what he was going to look like once he grew up, he at least had to get a more attractive appearance. Jeremy began flipping through the preset options.

"Too fat, too skinny, nose is too big, this one has a butt-chin, oh nice face but the eyes are too small, uh what's with that weird forehead?"

As he swiped through the options, he stopped at preset option #69. "Haha, nice. Oooh, Ikemen! But he looks too similar to Sasuke, and I wouldn't want anyone to correctly guess I had Uchiha blood until I decide when it is time, so pass."

A few more swipes and Jeremy found the perfect avatar. A handsome, but not too handsome face that looked different enough from Sasuke or Itachi. The preset option looked more like Kiba with paler skin, charcoal black hair, sharper nose and cheekbones, and obviously sans the distinctive red fang markings on his cheeks.

Alright, next up, lineage?

Father: [Uchiha]

Mother: [Blank]

A drop-down list of options was available. Which only revealed one background: Civilian. No Senju option for the possibility of mokuton bloodline or any other choice really. Seeing no other alternative, he could only select the Civilian background and with that he ended character creation.

[Character created. Confirm?]

This time, a physical button was present with a Yes/No option. Holding back a sigh, Jeremy pressed on Yes.

[Character confirmed. Processing…]

Jeremy gave an excited grin before frowning. That was really fun, but too bad this was all just a dream and he was going to wake up soon. But it was still entertaining while it lasted and he just had to compliment his brain for imagining such a fun little scenario.

[Reincarnating user in 10 seconds. This time, please remember true altruism comes from a place of selflessness and not just the deed itself. And most importantly – have fun!]

Without a warning, the sea of green around him swirled into a kaleidoscope of colours, before being subsumed into an all-encompassing blackness that first swallowed the blue screen in front of him and then quickly consuming his body. It went from the brightness of a green that reminded him of the one place he had always been the most comfortable at to an instant darkness that swallowed his surprised yell.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(MC's POV)

I woke up from my bed, yawning slightly and giving my torso a light stretch. Oh man that was a really weird dream I just had. And strangely enough I can remember everything that just happened. Don't people usually forget most or at least some of their dreams when they wake up? Must have been different for lucid dreams I suppose.

[You have slept in a bed. HP & CP has been fully restored.]

I chuckled; my overactive imagination must have still been hallucinating my dreams. I swiped a hand through the translucent blue screen and saw it faded away. See? My brain that had just woken up was just playing a trick on me. Good morning brain, please function properly. I have an interview with Vogue later that I can't mess up.

I opened my eyes blearily still adjusting to the light, only to find myself not in my penthouse New York apartment, but in a dusty, bland old room. I was not on my thousand thread count luxurious bed, but on an even dustier and older blanket than the surrounding architecture if that was possible.

The room I was in had dirty walls, and childish doodles drawn in crayon or some other material covered a good third of the peeling wallpaper, and a distinct smell of what I perceived to be poverty emanated from the surrounding furniture – which consisted of little ramshackle beds, chairs and tables shelves and in a corner of the room a box of what seemed to be broken toys or other items in various states of disrepair.

My first and immediate thought was that I had been kidnapped. Which almost impressed me as I had seemingly been abducted from my home, a fortified bunker designed as a posh, upscale apartment , which was guarded by a platoon of very professional and very lethal bodyguards, all without being woken up.

My second thought, however, was cut short as I looked down and found that my decidedly adult, 34-year-old body had been replaced by the body of a bloody toddler. My hands were tiny, with grubby little fingers that looked softer than marshmallows. I almost screamed in shock before catching myself and realizing that the kidnappers who turned me into a child could possibly hear me – that very line of thought was absurd yet there could be no other explanation.

I looked around desperately before spotting a body-length mirror on the opposite wall that spotted two long cracks and a large fragment missing from the bottom corner. Rushing to it, I observed the visage before me.

My formerly dirty blonde hair had been replaced by charcoal black locks. The eyes that stared back at me was an unfamiliar black, instead of the usual hazel brown. My sun-kissed tan had faded into an almost unhealthy paleness. And most crucially, I was in the body of a 7-year-old child.

Seeing the face, my face, I was immediately reminded of the character I had created in my dreams. Yes, my dream. It was all just a dream… right? I pinched my cheeks, and felt the distinctive light sting from my now child-like fingers. Ouch. This couldn't be happening.

I gasped, if this was somehow real, then last night's dream… I had to test it out.

"Status."

A translucent blue screen appeared out of thin air.

[Name: Shinji Ikari]

Age: 7

Level: 1

Next Level: 0/100

HP: 100/100

CP: 350/350

STR: 1

VIT: 1

DEX: 3

INT: 6

CHA: 3

Points – 0

Ryo – 0

"Fuck."