Naruto: New Age of Shinobi

Jeff Jaboinski wasn't someone most people would call extraordinary, but that suited him just fine. Living in a bustling city somewhere in Europe, Jeff worked as a small-time lawyer, handling cases that rarely made it beyond local courts. He was the type of person who blended into the background, unnoticed by the masses. His days were spent sifting through legal documents and attending court hearings, defending minor civil cases and sometimes acting as a public defender. It wasn't glamorous, but it paid the bills and allowed him the peace he secretly craved.

But beyond his dull professional life, Jeff harbored an obsession that few knew about—his love for kingdom-building games and books. This passion had consumed his free time since his teenage years. He spent countless hours playing strategy games where he could build empires, manage economies, wage wars, and oversee entire civilizations. Games like Age of Empires, Total War, and Civilization were his go-to escapes from the mundane reality of legal briefs and courtrooms.

His love for kingdom-building books was just as strong. He devoured stories where underdog protagonists would rise to power, founding kingdoms or leading rebellions. Whether it was epic fantasies where kings and lords waged wars or progression novels where a single character slowly built their empire from the ground up, Jeff couldn't get enough. He admired how the protagonists navigated political intrigues, solved resource issues, and managed powerful armies while ruling vast territories. Secretly, he imagined himself in their place.

Yet, despite his grand ambitions in the virtual and literary worlds, Jeff's real life remained unremarkable. He was a man caught between two worlds—the mundane existence of a lawyer and the dream of being something more, someone in control, someone with power.

But the deeper reality was that Jeff felt stuck. His legal career wasn't taking off the way he had hoped. He wanted to be more than just another face in the crowd, but every time he tried to rise above mediocrity, something held him back. His cases were rarely groundbreaking, and the city he lived in had no shortage of talented lawyers, which left him to pick up whatever scraps he could find. It was a cycle of frustration—he would win some, lose some, but nothing ever changed. It felt as if the entire system was a machine designed to keep him running in place.

When Jeff wasn't playing out his fantasies in games or escaping into books, he spent hours on internet forums, discussing tactics and strategy with other fans of the genre. He had a particular fondness for discussing how he would manage different resources, defend territories, and handle alliances in hypothetical scenarios. If someone asked him about politics in the real world, Jeff's answers would be indifferent or practical at best. But in the context of a kingdom-building game or novel, he could debate for hours on the best way to govern a sprawling empire.

Yet, despite his knowledge and love for such things, his life in the real world remained anything but kingly. He rented a small apartment in a middle-class neighborhood, where the distant noise of the city provided the background soundtrack to his life. His most frequent companion was his old laptop, which had been his portal to these fantasy worlds for years.

In his quiet moments, when he closed his legal documents and shut down his games, Jeff would stare out the window, wondering what life would be like if he were the ruler of something greater, something more meaningful than his law practice. What if he could shape a world, control its destiny, and watch his influence spread across lands? What if, instead of being the man trapped behind a desk, he could be the one others looked to for leadership?

But life in the real world rarely offered such opportunities. That night, Jeff sat at his desk for what would be the last time. He stared at the dimly lit screen of his laptop, immersed in yet another kingdom-building simulation, playing out his favorite scenarios of empire-building and strategic conquest. As the hours passed, fatigue settled in, and he finally decided to call it a night.

With a sigh, Jeff closed his laptop, crawled into bed, and let the familiar hum of the city lull him to sleep.

Little did he know, this would be his last night in this world.