CHAPTER 5: THE COMPETITION

The Competition

The day of the competition arrived early in the morning. Adi's soul, which was residing in a puppet, was liberated from the puppet and converted to his soul form again.

The alpha spoke, "Today is the day of the competition, and we will be teleported to the arena after a while. So, are you feeling nervous, Adi?"

"Why should I feel nervous?" Adi asked with a confusing tone.

"Well, it's a competition where all beings below supercluster will arrive, and the creator himself will be present. It will be a one-of-a-kind competition that will be remembered across the whole universe for the next billion years. If you win the competition, your name will resound throughout the whole universe. Are you not feeling nervous despite knowing that?" The Alpha said with a nostalgic expression.

"You win, you win; you lose, you lose. It's like every other situation in one's life where we can either win or lose. What's the new thing about it? It's just like a game for me, nothing more than that, nothing less," Adi replied with a confident smile.

"Yeah, it's after all a game only, nothing less, nothing more," the Alpha said with an undertone. "So, one question, are all players mortal? And from which worlds are they coming? And what's the criteria for choosing players?" Adi asked in one go.

"As I said, boy, the information about the event will be given at the event so that they can't have any major advantage over another. The rules are made to ensure that there can be as much fairness as possible. Here comes our ride; let's go." The Alpha replied when suddenly a portal opened, and the alpha caught Adi's soul and went through it.

Upon arriving at the event, the spectacle gave Adi goosebumps. A place so broadly decorated that it gave the feeling of insignificance upon everyone who glanced at it. It felt like this place was meant to enjoy something that our mortal mind can't comprehend. Its decorum was so grand that it made one's value of oneself go insignificant.

It's like when a turtle upon its birth leaves its eggshell and upon seeing the majesty of the sea, it falls so miserably that even death cannot stop its approach to the sea. By staying here, I felt my insignificance for the first time in my life, and also the question, "Are you not feeling any nervous?" The answer to that question now would be like, "I am feeling nervous."

There were also beings with the same stature as Alpha around us, and they were also accompanied by soul orbs that contained the soul of us. It seems they are like me, human, and recently died, as they are filled with the zeal of upcoming adventure and also their souls radiate sadness of death. The beings looked coldly around everyone as this could be the major turning point in their lives and could give them a major boost in their powers.

The participants were divided by their realms in the stadium in the order: sun, constellation, neutron star, black hole, galaxy, cluster. The beings with a power level of supercluster were not allowed to participate. Each of these realms represented that each individual with the corresponding realm could destroy each of their realm celestial bodies. It means that since Alpha is a sun-leveled being, he can destroy the sun.

There were six divisions in the event, and the first division contained thousands of participants. The number dwindled as we went down the divisions. The last division, the division of cluster level strength, only had about 13 participants, which was very low compared to the first division. This made sense because the competition was most important to them. If they won, they could finally gain the level of strength of a super cluster and form their own ego.

The competition was finally set on the stage, and all the participants had arrived with their players. The star of the show, the creator, was left, and nonetheless, he soon made his arrival. Upon his arrival, all of our souls felt that something that had been detached for so long was finally in front of us.

After arriving, the creator clearly felt the emotions of all his creations. In response to this, he just smiled and said nothing. After everyone controlled their emotions, he started by saying, "You all have arrived here to participate in this competition, which can change many of your lives. I can see that many of our players have chosen quite interesting choices with their wishes despite the inability of their participants helping them."

"So we will start by mentioning the process of selection of all your players. I have made a lottery of all the fictional worlds created by mortals that interest me across the universe. The selected fictional world, along with their respective world residents, will be chosen as players," the creator explained.

"Each player is randomly allocated to a participant, and each player can only make one wish. That wish cannot be consulted by their participant, and each wish must also be chosen before the participant can impart any knowledge to their player. If a player makes the decision of a wish by their participant's advice, then they will get their wish nerfed, and it can be a random nerfed version. However, it can be promoted in the game if the player understands their wish well enough and has corresponding strength."

"Also, participants can't give too much knowledge to their player as it will make their future body weak, and they will have problems gaining strength. This has been done to ensure fairness in the game."

"The rules of the game are that the players are reborn into the selected fictional world that has already been chosen by me. Each soul will be given basic knowledge about the fiction. You will be allowed to select the time and place of your rebirth. There will be a limit to your strength in the game, and that limit will be the SUN LEVEL strength. You can't go beyond this realm in the game, and your wishes will be nerfed during your baby years. They can only be brought up to full potential once you are in your teens."

"There are some things that are not allowed to happen in the game. First, you can't kill the other player directly, and there will be protection on each one's soul that will protect them from being found out about their player's identity from various wishes. Also, you can't interfere with the plot characters directly or indirectly. If it happens, you will face punishment, and if you survive, the changes will be as they are, and if you can't survive, then changes will be undone. The level of punishment depends on the role of the character interfered. Also, you can't inform the residents of the fictional world. If you try, you will be DESTROYED."

"So these are all the rules of this game, and I hope you will try to enjoy it. As players, you all are going to live once again despite dying, so make sure your life is full of fun."

"And now the world that you are going to be reborn in is THE NARUTO WORLD. It will last until the end of the protagonist's marriage, so prepare yourselves as players. Soon, you will be transported to a different space to receive the memory of the plot of fiction, and you will have to choose the time of your birth. The FINAL BATTLE between all players (those who survived) will take place after the end of the plot."

The creator finished his explanation, and the halls were filled with endless murmurs. Thousands of participants were chatting, creating groups for their players, forming alliances, etc. Everyone was trying to gain the upper hand in this game.

It was a large game with so much at stake that each individual would try to make the best of their situation. It was a game for the strongest beings of the universe, with a temptation that was unavoidable to all beings.

Every player was being educated by their participant, and different scenarios and how to get the most from them made everyone's faces filled with a frown. There was tension, excitement, and the goal that everyone was trying to achieve had finally started.

Suddenly, every participant in the event stood still with vacancy in their eyes, and the soul orb in their hands vanished. It seemed that the game was about to start.

Adi, along with Alpha, was transported to the game-like world where they were told to choose the time of their birth. Alpha suggested that Adi fill in the range of 150 years, as it is the maximum age of a human being, and upon evolution to a higher state, it will boost their life force, thus enhancing their lifespan.

Since Adi decided to start as a human, he set the time 70 YEARS BEFORE THE HIDDEN LEAF VILLAGE WAS FOUNDED, and his place shall be the firstborn of one of the elders of the HYUGA Family. In this way, he would not disturb the plot much, as almost 150 years before the war will minimize his impact on the plot, and he would also have enough time to enhance his strength. Being the elder's first son would give him bloodline purity, and he would not be branded by the cage bird seal.

The Hyuga's eyes can evolve, and they are one of the top families during the Warring States period, just below Uchiha and Senju, so Adi will be safe here for his childhood till adulthood. He will not be the patriarch's son, so nobody will bother to assassinate him. Adi hoped that he was making the best choice.

Adi gave his confirmation, and then the light blinded him, taking him to his new world.

So now our story has finally started, folks. We hope you like it.