Chapter 1: The Last Crawl
The boy lying in front of the gate of Shrek Academy was not unknown.
Everyone here knew his name.
Ji Lin.
The boy who came from a distant world known as the Blue Star.
The boy who possessed neither a martial soul… nor exceptional talent.
And yet—
he continued to fight in his own way to remain in this place.
But on this freezing night…
everything was collapsing for him.
The gate of Shrek Academy had turned into a stage of suffocating sorrow.
The night was bitterly cold.
And the light of the torches had lost its brilliance.
The sky above the gate—instead of bringing hope—looked like a solid surface, like shattered glass.
On the smooth stone pavement lay a boy no more than thirteen or fifteen years old.
Motionless.
His slender body was bleeding slowly, as if he had lost everything.
Blood seeped from his head… from his hands… and from his entire body.
As for his heart—
it was beating with deadly difficulty.
As if the blood itself had passed judgment on him.
Then—
a scream burst from his chest and tore through the night.
It was not merely a cry of physical pain…
but the voice of a soul shattered by betrayal.
I will take revenge… I will destroy Shrek Academy… if I am granted another life!
The words came out broken.
Fragmented.
Yet every fragment carried a deadly determination.
Not a single tear fell from his eyes.
There was nothing left in his body to form them.
And what seeped out instead…
was the ink of pain and rejection.
As for the reason—
it was simple and cruel at the same time.
Ji Lin was merely a traveler from a distant world known as the Blue Star.
He arrived in this world carrying knowledge of the future and an innocent hope.
But this world shows no mercy.
Here—
the martial soul determines fate.
Power determines status.
And the weak are crushed without mercy.
As for him…
he possessed no martial soul.
No exceptional talent.
No genius.
Only a sincere desire to become more than just a janitor in the academy.
More than just a shadow beneath the feet of the strong.
On his first day—
he built great hopes.
But reality was harsher than stone.
He was not a spirit master.
Nor a person worthy of mention.
And yet—
he clung to his place.
He used his knowledge of the future.
He worked without rest.
He swept the halls.
He gathered the ashes of shattered dreams.
And brushed the dust from the shoes of the arrogant.
But he did not accept this fate.
Being a traveler from Earth pushed him to seek something greater.
And so—
he decided to approach Tang Wutong.
To get close to her enough to carve a place for himself in this world.
But he did not realize
that some fates cannot be touched without paying a price.
They accused him of sneaking around.
They accused him of disturbing them during training.
And they accused him of trying to spy on them.
But the truth did not matter to anyone.
The beating was not merely a punishment.
It was a clear message.
Your place… beneath our feet.
After that, he is subjected to brutal torture.
At the hands of
both
Huo Yuhao
and
Tang Wutong.
Then he is handed over to Mu En.
But the torment does not stop.
Her overwhelming presence strikes his body like a hammer.
A rib cracks.
An arm collapses.
His knees lose the ability to carry him.
His dignity—
is crushed beneath her cold gaze.
And in the end—
he is thrown outside Shrek Academy.
Like something that no longer has any value.
The academy gate stands behind him.
Tall.
Cold.
Silent.
But his fingers…
move.
Very slowly.
They grip the stones.
Then—
he drags his body forward.
He crawled.
A short movement.
Painful.
Yet he moved.
Once again.
He pulled himself farther away from the academy.
The stones scraped his skin.
And the blood left a long red trail behind him.
No one noticed.
No one cared.
But his body did not stop.
One arm pulled.
Then the other.
His knees scraped against the rough ground.
Pain burned through every nerve.
And yet—
he continued.
One meter.
Then another.
The night grew colder.
But his will did not break.
And with every movement…
memories began to surface.
Faces appeared within the mist.
Tang Ya.
His childhood companion.
The cheerful girl who never stopped laughing.
How many times had she stood before him and said with confidence:
We will restore the glory of the Tang Clan… you will see.
She was always pushing him forward.
And as the years passed…
that friendship slowly turned into something deeper.
Something neither of them ever named.
Then another face appears.
Ling Luochen.
The Ice Princess.
The girl before whom everyone stands with respect.
But with him…
she listened.
How many times did he tell her stories of heroes?
And made her imagine that she was the heroine…
and that he was the hero.
At first, it was just a smile.
But with time—
it was no longer merely imagination for her.
Then another memory appears.
Jiang Nannan.
The gentle girl who carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.
When she was about to sell herself to treat her mother…
despair surrounded her.
And at that moment—
he extended his hand and helped her.
Without asking for anything in return.
And from that day…
something different began to grow in her heart.
Then another smile appears.
Zhu Lu.
Proud.
Strong.
She respected only the strong.
But his knowledge of the future…
and the advice he gave her…
made her look at him in a different way.
Until she became drawn to him without realizing when it happened.
Then a calm face appears.
Zhang Lexuan.
Mature.
Composed.
Their relationship was not simple.
Long conversations.
Quiet discussions.
And sometimes, a light flirtation from him.
Her smile always seemed to hide something unspoken.
And finally—
Xi Xi.
The girl who loves food more than anything.
How many times did they sit together while he offered her sweets from Earth?
Sweets this world had never seen before.
At first, she came for the sweets.
But with time—
she no longer came just for the food.
Six faces.
Six girls.
Each of them carries a memory with him.
And because of that—
even while he crawls across the cold ground…
even while blood leaves a trail behind him…
he continues to move.
One arm pulls.
Then the other.
Kilometer after kilometer.
Until the lights of Shrek Academy disappear behind the trees.
Ten kilometers.
Ten kilometers of crawling over the cold ground.
Only there—
his body finally collapses.
His face presses against the damp soil.
His breaths grow faint.
Broken.
But his lips move once again.
I will not forget…
I will never forget.
Not a threat.
But an oath.
If life refuses to grant him a place—
then he will seize it himself.
Even if he must turn his soul into an ember that never fades.
His vision begins to fade.
The sounds grow distant.
As if they are coming from deep beneath water.
His body grows cold.
And a strange heaviness pulls him away from the world.
Away from the earth.
Away from everything he has known.
But—
the memories of those six faces…
are still warm inside his heart.
And for that reason alone—
he does not allow himself to die here.
Heh… what an irony.
That is my true nature.
A contradictory man.
Wasteful.
Cowardly.
A man who loves himself above everything else.
Everything I did may have appeared noble from the outside…
but inside—
it was nothing more than an echo of my selfish desires.
Hahaha…
And finally, I managed to escape.
I crawled…
I crawled for more than ten kilometers.
I broke my leg.
My spine was shattered.
And now—
I am crippled.
I cannot even stand.
All I can do…
is crawl.
I never imagined that this would be how it ends for me…
because of something so trivial.
At that moment—
I realized that I was still carrying a small envelope.
A letter.
I had not been able to open it all this time.
I turned it over again and again.
But to no avail.
And finally…
I took it out.
I closed my eyes.
And began to open it slowly.
To my surprise—
it opened.
When I opened my eyes…
I was no longer in the same place.
A void surrounded me from every side.
A strange space.
Silent.
In front of me—
a massive wheel of fortune.
Glowing with a faint light.
And upon it were clear words:
You have only four spins.
I did not hesitate.
I extended my hand.
And began to spin it.
The wheel turns…
then slows…
then stops.
One name shines before me.
Naruto.
And in the next moment—
a box appears before me.
A simple box.
Yet it pulses with a strange energy.
I open it without hesitation.
Inside—
the Scroll of Forbidden Seals.
Beside it lies a card bearing the crests of two clans.
The Senju Clan.
And the Uchiha Clan.
The words written on it are clear:
Uchiha Clan Bloodline with a special gift
Mangekyō Sharingan — Tsukuyomi, Kotoamatsukami, Kamui.
And the Senju Clan Bloodline with a special gift—
The Sage Body of Hashirama Senju — Wood Release.
Beside them lies another card.
Engraved upon it is a single name.
Itachi Uchiha.
His techniques.
His skills.
The moment my fingers touch the card—
it disappears.
And a surge of energy explodes within my veins.
It rushes through my entire body.
Suddenly—
I understand.
I have awakened a new bloodline.
I touch the second card.
A torrent of knowledge floods my mind.
Itachi's techniques.
His methods.
His combat experience.
All of it pours into my thoughts as if it had always existed inside me from the beginning.
And finally—
I grasp the Scroll of Forbidden Seals.
Light suddenly bursts from it.
A tremendous wave of information strikes my mind.
Like a flood of sacred fire.
And in that moment—
everything becomes clear.
I was born from my.