Naruto: Prodigy

I stirred, feeling a cool splash of water hit my face. My head pounded, and my body felt stiff, like it wasn't even mine. Groaning, I blinked against the harsh light, my vision slowly clearing. The sharp smell of saltwater hit me next, making my nose twitch, followed by the creaking of wood underneath me.

I was on a boat. Not just any boat, a raggedy raft, patched together with worn wood, drifting aimlessly on an endless sea.

"Where the hell…?" I mumbled, struggling to sit up. The world spun for a second, but I managed to steady myself. As things came into focus, the scene in front of me began to settle in. Water stretched out as far as I could see, surrounding me in every direction. Calm waves gently rocked the raft, and the sky above was a bright, blinding blue. The quiet was eerie. No city sounds, no honking cars or distant music. Just... water and silence.

My hand instinctively went to my side, where I always kept my phone. Instead of feeling the familiar device, my fingers brushed against some strange, rough fabric. Confused, I glanced down and froze. My clothes, gone. No baggy hoodie, no jeans. Instead, I was wrapped in something that looked like it came straight out of an old kung-fu flick. But that wasn't even the strangest part.

I looked at my hands. They were smaller, thinner. Panic rising, I stood up, almost tipping the boat over in the process. Stumbling to the edge of the raft, I leaned over and stared at my reflection in the water.

A kid. I was a damn kid. Eleven, maybe twelve years old.

"Yo… what the fuck?"

It didn't take long for the pieces to fall into place. Something was seriously wrong. I remembered the fight, the gang, the bullets flying, and the chicken. Damn, the chicken!

I'd given it my all in that brawl, but then… I touched my chest, remembering where the gunshots had hit. There should've been wounds, pain, but there was nothing. No holes, no blood. I was fine. Better than fine. I was in a whole new body, a younger one.

"This some reincarnation or transmigration shit?" I muttered, trying to make sense of it. It was the only explanation that fit. I must've died back there, and now… well, here I was. On some random boat, in the middle of nowhere.

I slumped back down, resting my head in my hands. This wasn't my first time hearing about something like this. I'd watched enough anime and read enough web novels to know how this went. One minute you're in your world, the next you're in some fantasy land with powers and magic. It wasn't like I'd asked for it, but there wasn't much I could do about it now.

Sighing heavily, I looked up. In the distance, I could make out a faint strip of land on the horizon. It was small, but it was something. Maybe I wasn't as lost as I thought. I grabbed the oar beside me and started paddling toward it. Wherever I was, I needed answers. And if there was land, there were probably people. People meant information.

As I rowed, a thought hit me. If this really was some new world, did it have the stuff I'd always seen in those stories? Magic? Chakra? The idea nagged at me, growing stronger with each stroke of the oar. In all those shows and games, people always started with some kind of advantage. Maybe it was time to figure out if I had one, too.

I'd never tried anything like this before, but it couldn't hurt to experiment. Closing my eyes, I slowed my breath, letting the rhythm of the waves help me focus. I imagined energy flowing through me, just like in the anime I used to watch. In those stories, energy, chakra, ki, whatever they called it, flowed through the body like a river. Maybe it worked the same way here.

At first, nothing happened. Just the sound of the water and the gentle rocking of the raft. But after a few minutes, I started to feel something. Faint, like a low hum in the air around me. I furrowed my brow and concentrated harder.

The sensation grew stronger. It wasn't just outside, it was inside me, too. Flowing, pulsing, in sync with my heartbeat. I didn't know what to call it, but there was definitely something there. And if I could feel it, maybe I could control it.

I focused on drawing the energy into my body, willing it to move. It wasn't easy. The flow was weak, sluggish, like trying to push water through a clogged pipe. But I wasn't about to give up. Slowly, I directed the energy toward my heart, picturing it spreading from there through the rest of me.

The energy moved, but it hit resistance. The 'veins' or pathways, whatever they were, felt rough, almost blocked. It reminded me of muscles that hadn't been stretched in a while. Maybe it was the same thing, these pathways were underdeveloped, unused. Gritting my teeth, I pushed harder, forcing the energy through, smoothing out the rough spots little by little.

I thought back to what I knew about biology. Blood flows through veins, clearing blockages with enough pressure. This energy had to work the same way. The more I circulated it, the stronger the flow would get, just like building up muscle.

It was tough at first. The resistance made it slow, but as I kept at it, I could feel the pathways smoothing out, letting the energy pass through more freely. The more I pushed, the easier it became. My body started reacting, growing stronger with each cycle. My muscles felt tighter, more defined. Even my breathing became steadier, more controlled.

I couldn't help but smirk, eyes still closed. Whatever this energy was, I was getting the hang of it. It felt good, like I was leveling up in a video game. I didn't know how far I could go with it, but I wasn't about to stop now. I was gonna push these pathways until they were wide open, ready to handle as much power as I could generate.

After what felt like hours, I opened my eyes. The land was much closer now, just a short distance away. My whole body buzzed with the strange new energy, stronger and more alive than ever before. I grinned, clenching my fists.

"Alright, new world," I muttered, staring at the shoreline with determination. "Let's see what you got."