Chapter 1

All I witnessed was a brilliant light and an incessant, piercing sound. Then, darkness consumed everything. As I plummeted endlessly, the black void enveloped me, and consciousness slipped away. With a sharp intake of breath, I awakened, hastily opening my eyes and frantically scanning my surroundings. "Where the hell am I?" I muttered in confusion as I began to look around.

A small window allowed a beam of light to filter in, illuminating the dancing dust particles in the air. As I shifted my weight, the wooden floor beneath me creaked and groaned. Below me was a cheap leather sleeping bag protecting me from the cold of the hard floor.

I found myself in an incredibly cramped room, devoid of any furnishings aside from a solitary sleeping bag. The dimensions of the room were roughly two meters by two meters, providing just enough height for an adult to stand comfortably, albeit smaller than what one would consider normal.

Within the room, my attention was drawn to two doors—one positioned before me, the other to my right—while a small window with closed blinds lay behind. Perplexed, I struggled to recall the events leading up to this moment, realizing with a sudden realization, the spartan conditions of this room being a big clue: "I have been kidnapped!"

Now fully awake, I rose and stealthily approached the wooden door to my right, moving with utmost caution. With a stoic demeanor, I soundlessly opened the door a bit and peered into the next room, keeping a vigilant eye out for my captor. It was a bathroom, a really cheap one. With only a shower, a sink, and inside the shower was a toilet. Not besides, not inside the shower, with the small size of the room it was understandable. Closing the door to the bathroom, I carefully sneaked towards the other door, slowly opening it. Much like the previous rooms, the next one was devoid of any signs of life. It remained unoccupied, amplifying the emptiness that pervaded this peculiar place.

Within the room, the sole presence was a wooden store counter adorned with a scroll and a small leather bag resting upon it. Two windows provided a glimpse of the outside world, while a wooden door with a secure lock completed the surroundings.

I approached the door, attempting to open it, only to discover it was firmly locked. Turning my attention to one of the windows, I found that it could only be tilted and not fully opened. However, if the need arose, I considered the possibility of breaking it and making my escape. Peering outside, I observed individuals strolling along a dusty road. The architectural style of the surroundings possessed a distinct blend of various periods, exuding its own unique charm. It felt strangely familiar, though I couldn't pinpoint the exact source of my recognition. Uncertain of the city or even the country I found myself in, the attire of the people resembled that of Asia, albeit from a different era. But their ethnicity was European with slight Asian traits mixed in.

Left with no alternative, since I was safe for now, I turned to the scroll on the wooden counter. Perhaps it contained an explanation of what was going on here.

As I unrolled the scroll, it revealed the following content:

"Congratulations! You have been chosen at random to embark on a new journey as a shopkeeper in your new reincarnated life! Your illustrious profession entails the art of buying, selling, bartering, and trading. How exciting!

As a shopkeeper, the choice of goods to stock and sell is entirely yours to make. The possibilities are endless. We understand that this transition may be challenging for you, especially as your humble shop has the ability to connect to the vastness of the Omniverse, so we have granted you two closely related special skills to aid in your endeavors.

These skills are called Ultimate Trader and Interdimensional Shopowner. Ultimate Trader gives you the following abilities:

1. You have learned Allspeak, which allows you to communicate with every species in the vast omniverse!

2. As a trader, the ability to appraise goods is a necessity. Don't worry, we've got you covered! You have the ability to appraise any goods for their true value and understand what they truly are.

3. Not only being connected to the omniverse may pose a currency problem, but even a trader between different countries has that problem. As we don't want you to be arrested for counterfeit money or a similar felony, we grant you the ability to convert any kind of money into any other currency you are familiar with.

4. You gain the power of Contracts! This unique skill allows you to write an official contract with various conditions that must be absolutely fulfilled. Not only is the contract binding by the universal laws, but it also enables you to trade anything: skills, experiences, bloodlines, lifespan, and more. Both parties must sign the contract out of their free will and cannot be tricked into signing it.

5. And last but not least, the amazing omniversal body! Your Body is compatible with any Energy, Power or Ability in the vast Omniverse. What kind of businessman would you be if you couldn't even make use of your own products? However, your talent is still your own, so put some effort into it. The rules and possible downsides of any product or technique still apply to you like to anyone.

Interdimensional Shopowner grants the following abilities:

1. Shop expansion and manipulation is possible for a fee, of course. You have the ability to add new rooms or expand existing ones, or move your furniture at will. The building will adjust with your changes, and nobody will consider it strange. If you want to expand beyond your current property, you will have to purchase your neighbor's land. Of course, you will have to provide the furniture yourself. We can't do it all for you; this is not an almighty system acting as plot armor!

2. Combat inside your shop is prohibited. You can assign a special area for it. Caution: This is for your protection; abuse of this ability will nullify it!

3. The door of your owned store is connected to the Omniverse. Of course, you can't be available 24/7 or only want to trade with customers from your own universe for a while. That's why, as long as you possess the key to your store, you can close and open the connection to the Omniverse. Just put your key into the lock and lock it while consciously wanting to close or open the connection. This won't lock your door to your own universe; for that, you have to close or open it normally. Warning: The flow of time in every universe is different; having specific business hours may make you miss customers. It is recommended to only use this feature if you aren't at the store.

4. You can leave your store to other universes as long as you are connected to them. You can't will the door to connect to different universes yourself, unless the Connection was already established once. As long as you are in a different universe, you will always have the ability to feel the location of your store doors. While in another Universe, you can give People direction towards your Store so they can find you in the Future even if they are in a place where no yet opened Door was close by.

Congratulations again! In the pouch on the counter, you will find some starting money and the key to your store. Don't pass out!"

"Don't pass out? What does that mean?" Suddenly, he was overcome by a splitting headache as memories flooded his mind. Not only did he recall what had transpired before his arrival here, but he also acquired a new set of memories. One could argue that these memories were his new identity, considering he found himself in a completely different universe from his original one.

"Funny..." he muttered once the pain subsided. He just remembered that the source of the bright light and loud sound he recalled before waking up was a honking truck that had hit him head-on. While he couldn't recall his old name, he retained awareness of most events from his previous life, albeit without personal details. Perhaps it was for the best, as it spared him from any lingering regrets.

Checking the contents of the pouch, he discovered a metallic key that fell into his hand along with a stack of green bills and a document making him the Owner of this property. The currency was called Ryo, and he had just received 5000 of it. This confirmation validated his memories, and he now realized where he recognized the unique architectural style from—it was Konohagakure, the world of Naruto.

Suddenly, he comprehended the gravity of his situation. The universe he now found himself in was teeming with super-powered assassins, genocidal individuals consumed by their own emotions and god complexes (well, at least one of them), and parasitic beings capable of devouring entire planets. He was in a precarious position, considering that his recently orphaned past self, after the Kyuubi attack, had decided to forgo attending the Ninja Academy and instead choose to open a shop in the building inherited from his deceased parents.

Now, he was a fourteen-year-old teen bound to a village that was destined for destruction in a few years, finding himself somewhere before the beginning of the canon timeline as he frequently encountered Naruto—a Naruto who had yet to graduate but appeared to be not far from that age.

Moving his shop to another location was not an option. Despite possessing the Multiversal Trader skill, the connection to the multiverse was limited to this shop itself. The skill description did not mention the ability to travel to other universes using that skill without the Shop. With only this shop having the capability to traverse different universes he was bound to it, and it happened to be situated in Konoha. The clear workings of this mechanism remained a mystery to him. He hadn't experienced it yet.

The mere fact of his existence already set in motion a butterfly effect, highlighting the profound complexity of the situation. Even a seemingly insignificant action like him gazing out of a window could have altered events enough to lead to catastrophic outcomes, such as Kaguya devouring all chakra in the world or the Otsutsuki clan emerging victorious.

At this moment, none of those concerns held much significance. His current state of weakness rendered him incapable of taking action, regardless. The shop became his sole avenue for gaining strength since enrolling in the Academy to learn the shinobi arts was no longer an option. Having surpassed the age for graduation at 12, and having not much talent in Chakra he had to seek alternative means to grow stronger. And the Omniverse may be a scary place with an infinite amount of powerful beings, but also his only chance to make sure that he would survive. He didn't want to return to that Void he remembers.

Contract's were overpowered. But right now besides a bit of Cash he had not much of worth to trade with. And even if he had there was no guarantee that anybody would trade their Powers for just material Value.

Well it didn't matter; he had to go shopping. He had to work his way up.

- Shop - Shop - Shop - Shop -

"Huh, there is actually a supermarket. Who would have thought?" he muttered as he stood in front of a Konoha-styled building, no automatic doors yet though, as he had to push the double-sided door open.

Grabbing a basket, he checked the stock, comparing the prices to what he remembered from his old world. Stopping at a particularly famous product in this universe, a shelf with cup ramen, he exclaimed, "So plastic exists... where are they even producing it? Right, Choji always eats packed potato chips. Considering the price of one cup of instant ramen in comparison to my old world, then 10 Ryo is around 0.65 Euro." He muttered before he realized that he could actually test it out.

Taking a 10 Ryo bill into his hand, after a short moment of focus, he suddenly had three coins in his hand: a 50 cent, a 10 cent, and a 5 cent coin. "So that checks out. Neat." Before transforming the money back into Ryo, as he didn't have much use for Euro.

"So I currently have the equivalent of 325 Euro as starting capital. Well, it's not much, but at least I don't have to worry about a roof above my head." He sighed in relief as he began to pick out some goods that could be useful in an interdimensional store. "Let's see, some cup ramen, potato chips... these things stay fresh for a long time."

Continuing to walk down the shelves filled with different products, he picked out anything that could be remotely useful: some sweets, medicines (as they didn't require prescriptions in Konoha; everyone could buy them in the store), some lighters, bento boxes that he could eat himself if he didn't sell them, some bottled drinks, and so on. But he made sure to keep around 1000 Ryo as a reserve, just in case he got a customer needing something specific.

- Shop - Shop - Shop - Shop -

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