{Index II: How Joy Turns To A Nightmare}

[Ding! Ding! Ding! Congratulations to the host for competing against the last opponent of the Battle Simulation, Kaguya Otsutsuki! All rewards and knowledge gained in the system will be integrated and kept with the host… System ending and locking down, Have a nice day~]

And just like that, the robotic voice that accompanied him, taught him, and made him bleed with tears… finally disappeared.

A few hours later.

"Thank you, Ms. Gillium, for the extra pastries! I especially like the long breads of butter and sugar. It gives off a sweet taste every time I take a bite out of it. As excellent as always."

Looking at the kind smile and the warm glow of the teenager's chestnut brown eyes made the wife of the baker smile sweetly.

"It's no problem, Really, I do mean it. Anyway little Tom, by any chance would you be interested in taking my daugh-" Ms. Gillium blinked for a second. It took that precise second enough for Tom to swiftly arrive to the front doors of the old Sweetful Winds Bakery shack.

Tom nervously laughed before gripping the door handle. "Sorry about that Ms. Gillium, I um, hear my father calling for me!" and with a swing of the door, the teenager leapt out, as if escaping from a tiger's den.

"... Drat." Ms. Gillium snapped her fingers. "That boy is so fast in escaping! Oh how times have changed. Back then boys were usually the ones chasing after girls with mischievous looks. When did kids these days get so shy!"

She sighed to herself before waving her wand. A light pink glow flew from her wand and into the stove, bringing out fresh new bread for her customers to buy. She pouted to herself as she arranged them according to their own baskets.

"Is that lazy daughter of mine going to be single forever? Sigh. Well, it's up to me to at least find someone for her. If only that lazy girl could actually find someone, then me and Rady can live happily knowing that we'll have grandbabies in the future."

Tom sighed with relief as he walked further away from his favorite bakery.

True, he did like the goods that this bakery had to offer. Out of all the bakery shops, the Sweetest Winds was the best out of all of them to him.

But to like the bakery so much as to allow himself to date someone? Nope, sirreee.

He will never comply!

As Tom trudged down the streets, looking around he saw kids playing with their wands in the streets, creating colors and shapes with smiles on their faces along with little giggles here and there.

"Hey. How do you do?"

"Doing fine as always. Hey, you busy? Let's have a drink? Money is on me!"

"Look at my magic! It's so much better than yours!"

"Nuh uh! Look at my spell!"

"I can't believe my son failed the magic exam! It's those toys of his isn't it! Watch me throw it all away when I get home!"

"Fruits! Get your fresh fruit here, plucked from the freshest trees with my wondrous magic!"

Seeing these streets, which were full of children and adults of all ages, waving a stick in their hands into the sky and happily reciting spells, Tom couldn't help but smile with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes.

It's amazing to see magic coming to life here in this world, and it wasn't from some fancy magician who knew magic tricks, this was real magic. Yup, with a wand in their hands, spell incantations and everything.

He was just some 23 year old guy with some job at his local gas station. Jesse Flips was his name in his old life, and coming here, he became Tom Burnedead. He was the adopted son of Regro Burnedead and the brother of Mashle Burnedead.

How did he come here to this world? Well, as strange as it sounds, out of all places, who knew that there would be a robbery at his workplace and right when he was about to close the doors to the gas station too. There were three of them in masks and holding guns, they asked him to open the cash register and take out everything it had. He did just that in fear. Of course Jesse was scared, although he values his job, his life was more important!

Then that was when they asked for his wallet, in fear he handed it to them and even his car keys. Who would have thought after all that, he was still shot in the chest!

The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground before being picked up by some stranger, and before he could comprehend his situation, he was pulled into a grassy terrain and before him was a little boy wearing a blue scarf, smirking at him with crossed arms.

"I am going to be the Hokage one day and beat my bro, Naruto!"

Jesse was oddly staring at Konohamaru.

And that was when he was beaten to the ground by the kid!

He was so confused, mentally exhausted, and drained that he just laid on the ground while a little kid mocks him from above.

It soon took awhile to realize that he reincarnated to another world, a baby on the outside, but still himself on the inside.

He got a new life and even got a system, a golden finger that all reincarnations have in special novels.

And Naruto? His favorite anime show and he could learn the ninjutsus from it? Plain out awesome!

But little did he knew, the system was about to torture him in a few months into this brand new world. He would start off fighting with small characters from the Naruto-verse before earning scrolls after the battle to learn new jutsus.

The joy of learning jutsus was slowly gone as the darn system began throwing tougher and tougher opponents.

It wasn't until he met with Haku and Zabuza that he truly felt pain, every slice, every stab, every time he drowned.

He was tortured for so long until he finally beat them.

But the next opponents and the ones after that became more skilled, more cunning, and more frightening.

As of now he was just 15 years old, but inside, in the mindscape where he battled through his life, facing dangers from the smallest of characters, to the big shots and even the legends… time. He didn't know how much time had passed.

If he were to describe it. It is almost like the Tsukuyomi, where just hours, days, weeks or perhaps maybe even years inside his mind was just a matter of a few seconds or maybe minutes in the outside world.

Jes- no, his new name, Tom Burnedead. He won't lie.

Being killed so many times in the simulations made him go crazy for a while. But till the end, he prevailed.

He won, he'd outlasted to the end and now… the system was gone.

A momentous occasion indeed. He was just glad that it was all over, and he can finally rest at long last.

Sometimes, when he closes his eyes just to blink, he is brought into his mindscape to fight. After all this time, he can finally rest and stray away from that endless torture.

He practically mastered many ninjutsus in the form of spell casting, but at what cost? What brought him joy in the beginning was turned into his survival tool.

That joy was gone, but now…

Tom Burnedead let in a sharp intake of fresh air when he stepped into the forest, the nice and warm look turned menacing. "And now is my most favorite part of the day…"

He swiftly took off before stopping when the sight of a 'familiar' building appeared before him.

Tom Burnedead growled before flinging his wand to his side, causing his robe to turn slightly.

The reincarnated soul opened his mouth.

"Come on out! I know you're in there!"

Minutes later, opposite of him, the door to the household opened and a head popped out.

As if facing his greatest enemy, Tom Burnedead arrogantly raised his wand towards the other person, a deadly purple glow emitted from the tip of his wand.

"Ah~ About time you have shown up my dear brother..."

The head that was poking out from the door was as blank as ever.

"Yes, I know, I know. We have both been waiting for this time of the day."

The boy opposite of him: "..."

"Oh, you can keep calm can you..." Tom Burnedead felt his temple burn and twitch at the poker-like face. "As expected of 'The Boy Who Lifted,' but no matter... today is the day, my dear brother. Today I will...!"

"Pops. Brother Tom is acting moody again."

"..." Tom Burnedead stayed silent before furiously piercing his wand forward. "Sage Art: Shadow Style: Thunder Blast!"

"Huh. What? No! Wait, not the house again! AAAAAAAAAH!" An elderly's pitiful cry echoed as the sound of thunder boomed.

And then sparks ignited.