Chapter 1: In Konoha; A Late Bloomer

(T/N: There is now a p.atreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early release of up to 20 chapters edited smoothly. https://www.p.atreon.com/INeedRest)

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The Land of Fire, Konoha Village.

It has been four years since the Nine-Tailed Fox's Attack, and this village, which was once devastated by the mighty Tailed Beast, has gradually recovered its former prosperity.

At sunset.

A small figure slowly walked down the residential street, with sweat on his forehead, yet a faint smile on his face.

This person had black hair, black eyes, and attractive facial features.

Anyone who saw him would sigh in admiration, he looked like a good young boy.

The villagers who noticed him greeted him warmly.

"Colt, you're back!"

"Colt, did you go training again? You are really diligent at such a young age."

"Yes, that lazy bum in my family just knows how to play every day, I'll give him a beating when I get home!"

"Here Colt, this fish is for you, take it home to regain your strength."

"..."

Along the way, such greetings came one after another.

And the kid named Colt was also very polite and responded to them one by one.

In just ten minutes, he crossed a distance of hundreds of meters, before arriving in front of a detached small house, his home.

Skillfully opening the door, Colt walked in, and the smile on his face disappeared.

Rubbing his slightly stiff cheeks, he sighed helplessly.

"Being too popular is also very tiring!"

Colt, full name unknown, was orphaned during the Nine-Tailed Fox's Attack when his parents perished, leaving him alone in this world at a young age.

He was a reincarnated soul, originally from another world.

In his previous life, he was simply one ordinary being among many, with no particular nostalgia for that original world.

His only regret was that he couldn't delete his internet browsing history on his phone before dying…

"Hopefully that gas explosion at least destroyed my phone too..."

Muttering to himself, Colt also recalled the vision of the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox demon he witnessed as a newborn infant after being reborn into this world.

The nine tails covered the sky like a crimson cloud, the sun blotted out, entire districts demolished by a casual lash of its tails.

If the Fourth Hokage hadn't appeared in time to move away the Tailed Beast Bomb, Colt feared he may have become the shortest-lived reincarnated soul in history.

Since then, Colt understood which famous world of ninjas he had been reborn into.

The story of "Naruto: Shippuden", the "Legend of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi", the "Tale of the Otsutsuki Mother of Chakra", and the debate over "Is Hinata a Better Match for Naruto than Sakura?"

While the power system was regarded as rather generic, this particular ninja world held distinctive charm.

Colt's previous life persona had been very familiar with this being one of the "Big Three" shounen manga/animes and rather enjoyed it.

Aside from the distorted ideology many characters held, the various dōjutsu bloodline abilities and ninjutsu skills were still highly appealing.

But when he truly found himself reborn into this world, it was a lie to say Colt didn't panic initially.

After all, his surname was neither Uchiha nor Senju, and he did not possess any inherent abilities or huge chakra reserves.

In the Naruto verse, the emphasis on potent bloodlines and genetic legacies was so strong, Kishimoto may as well have slapped everyone across the face with it.

Hard work alone wouldn't cut it if you lacked a special heritage.

Of course, Might Guy's final impressive kick that shocked the ninja world proved an exception, but it also cost him his life.

Were it not for Naruto sharing his Six Paths chakra, Guy likely would've been kicked into the dirt permanently before the War was over.

Therefore, after two years had passed without any sign of an ability awakening, Colt completely accepted his seemingly ordinary fate.

For the rest of his life, he can't dream of standing beside the Six Paths Madara or facing the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya herself.

'Training diligently to bolster my strength, and simply enduring until the Infinite Tsukuyomi would be a successful life'

Colt felt satisfied looking at his slender but unusually toned arms and legs for his young age.

With a clear goal in mind, he naturally wouldn't just sit idly waiting to die, making physical training his top priority.

In the ninja world, the importance of one's chakra was unquestionable, a prerequisite for becoming a proper shinobi.

But the body formed the root foundation for everything.

Colt understood this well, which was why despite possessing his parents' chakra meditation techniques left behind, he was in no rush to practice them.

Forcibly attempting to awaken his chakra now could earn him the "genius" label, putting him one or two steps ahead of his peers temporarily.

But?

Not only might he become targeted by Konoha's "Root" as a potential threat... but, prematurely straining his chakra pathways at too young an age risked irreparable damage to his still-developing body.

Like the two most famous genius examples of Kakashi and Itachi...

Kakashi graduated from the ninja academy at five, became a Chunin at six, and a jonin by twelve.

Even without his Sharingan transplant, his sheer chakra reserves were nothing outstanding.

As for Itachi, a true prodigy, his situation was even worse.

Struck by a debilitating illness in his early twenties, compounded by the strain of frequently using his Sharingan's powers...

Even if Sasuke hadn't killed him, his shortened lifespan was inevitable.

Colt's ambition was to simply live out this lifetime in relative peace until the Fourth Great Ninja War occurred.

He wouldn't take any unnecessary risks.

The rest could be left to Sasuke and Naruto as the true protagonists.

Perhaps because this was a different world, with different rules, the standard power progressions couldn't be directly applied.

When he was just over two years old, Colt began a regimen of physical conditioning tailored to his young body's capabilities.

From running laps around his own modest house to jogging circuits through Konoha's village streets.

His bodily health was extremely robust, allowing for accelerated development far beyond ordinary children.

By four years old, he already stood 1.2 meters tall, half a head taller than his peers.

And today, he finally decided to begin training his chakra as well.

After eating the gifted fish from the kind neighbor, Colt retreated to his bedroom and retrieved a scroll from his belongings.

This contained the chakra meditation legacy left behind by his birth parents.

Along with the method for molding chakra, he also inherited five ninjutsu techniques:

Four C-rank skills - Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, Wind Style: Gale Palm, Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu, Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet.

Plus, one B-rank - Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu.

It seemed his parents must have specialized in these two nature transformations of Wind and Fire.

However, Colt didn't yet know his own elemental chakra affinities. Without an affinity match, learning these techniques would prove difficult.

...

Sitting cross-legged in his modest bedroom, Colt relaxed his mind and focused according to the scroll's instructions.

Chakra was the fusion of physical and spiritual energies...

Mixing his mental energies with the physical Yang extracted from his very cells at a precise ratio, Colt suddenly felt a warmth blossoming within his body.

"It seems my talent is quite good to mold chakra so swiftly."

With his eyes closed, savoring this wondrous sensation in his core, a mechanical voice unexpectedly sounded in Colt's ears...