NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Notification
The walk back to the inn was uneventful, the quiet streets of the Hidden Leaf Village still reverberating with the tension left by the earlier attack. Kuro moved with a practiced nonchalance, though his mind churned with questions. The earlier confrontation with Kakashi and Might Guy had been a dance of carefully chosen words. Each interaction had been deliberate—each gesture, each pause, each glance, carefully calculated. Yet the outcome had been anything but straightforward.
Kuro's thoughts swirled like the leaves in the village streets, constantly shifting with new questions, new concerns. Had the encounter with Kakashi and Guy been just another part of the system's manipulations, or was there a more subtle game being played here—one that even the sharpest eyes could not immediately perceive?
Perhaps the individuals Kuro encounters in this shinobi world are not truly real people at all. They might simply be illusions, manifestations created by the system that surrounds him. The idea that they could be nothing more than constructs is quite plausible, especially given the mysterious nature of the system itself. After all, this system is something far beyond the ordinary, something that seems to defy the laws of nature and reality. It has all the characteristics of something supernatural or even otherworldly. Kuro, now caught in this strange and unpredictable world, finds himself pondering the true nature of those around him. He must be careful in how he interacts with the people here, as they may not be as real as they seem. His approach to this new reality will need to be more thoughtful, more cautious, because there's no telling what the true nature of this world—and its inhabitants—might be.
In his past life on Earth, Kuro was nothing more than an ordinary young man. He led an average life with no extraordinary qualities, and his body and abilities were just like any other human's. He had no special powers or remarkable skills. However, that all changed when he was tragically killed by a school bully. In what seemed like a cruel twist of fate, Kuro found himself waking up to something that seemed completely out of place—an experience that could only be described as surreal. He found himself in possession of something known as the "system," an entity that, in Kuro's previous life, he had only ever seen in anime, novels, or video games. The concept of a system, something that governed and shaped reality, was entirely foreign to his old world, and yet here he was, bound to it in ways he couldn't fully comprehend.
Even now, as he tries to make sense of the world around him, Kuro, whose real name is James, can't shake the feeling that what he's experiencing may not be real at all. He can't help but wonder if this entire world, with all its strange occurrences and unfamiliar rules, is simply a long and elaborate dream—one that exists only in his mind, perhaps as a vision after death. It seems like the only reasonable explanation, as there is no other way to account for the surreal nature of his circumstances. The more he reflects on it, the more it feels as though his previous life (before death) was just a fleeting memory, and this world could be a dream-like illusion he's living through as part of some post-mortem experience.
As he neared the inn, Kuro's thoughts returned to the Fire Fly Corporation. The Firefly was involved, and wherever that entity went, nothing was ever as simple as it seemed. The Firefly was an enigma—elusive, subtle, and always involved in matters of great importance. There was a reason the Firefly was rarely seen, and even more rarely understood. Kuro's mind continued to churn as he replayed the exchange from earlier in the day, trying to make sense of every glance, every word, every fleeting moment.
"What is the system's goal now? Why am I here? And why is the Firefly here? Firefly never moves for something useless."
The thought echoed in his mind, each word adding weight to the questions that already pressed against him. The Firefly's movements had always been deliberate, each step taken with an almost unnerving sense of purpose. It never acted without reason, and it never involved itself in something insignificant. Kuro could feel the unease grow in his chest. If the Firefly was involved, the stakes were higher than he had anticipated, and the mission he had been sent on could be more dangerous than he'd ever imagined. In this world, they pose a greater threat than the Otsutsuki, as they possess weapons powerful enough to effortlessly destroy an entire planet.
He closed his eyes briefly, as though the darkness behind his lids could give him some clarity. But instead, he was left with the same gnawing uncertainty. The sensation was suffocating, like a storm slowly building on the horizon, just waiting for the right moment to strike. Every instinct in him told him that something was coming, something that would change everything.
Kuro was alone at the moment, as his two companions had gone off to attend to some important business. What exactly that business was, Kuro had no idea—and frankly, he wasn't particularly interested in finding out.
With a weary sigh, Kuro pushed open the inn's wooden door, the creak of the hinges breaking the silence of his thoughts. The familiar buzz of the village life outside melted away, replaced by an eerie stillness within the walls. The inn was warm, the faint murmur of patrons giving the illusion of a peaceful, normal evening. Yet, there was an undercurrent of tension here as well. The air was thick, oppressive, as though the calm within the inn was nothing but a veneer, covering the simmering chaos beneath. Something felt wrong, and Kuro couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.
He crossed the room to his usual corner, the wooden floor creaking beneath his boots. It was a small, quiet corner, tucked away from the main bustle of the inn, where he could think in peace—or so it had always seemed. Today, however, the silence in the air felt different. The faint murmur of voices and clinking mugs did little to reassure him. There was an ominous undertone to it all, as though the entire room was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation, a tension that was hard to place but impossible to ignore.
His eyes fluttered shut as he sought answers in the silence. There, in the darkness behind his closed lids, he searched for something—anything—that could bring clarity. But the silence was broken by a familiar chime.
Kuro's eyes snapped open, his body instinctively tensing as a translucent notification appeared before him, its edges flickering in the dim light of the inn. The familiar cold, detached feeling washed over him, a reminder that whatever happened next, he was not in control. He had no say in the timing, in the location, or in the nature of the events that were unfolding.
"Scroll of Truth: Click to reveal your mission."