In Mount Myoboku; also known as the Land of Toads; in this mysterious place hidden from any privy eyes, a few toads were meeting in a throne-like room. It had walls seemingly built by a row of scrolls, while in the middle, a giant toad sat in a shallow pond, while two smaller toads, only slightly bigger than normal toads, were in front of him.

“Is it true?” Asked one of the small toads, Fukasaku, one of the two Sages of Mount Myoboku.

“It is…” The giant toad resting on the shallow pond nodded with a resemblance of a frown present on his really old and wrinkled face. He was Gamamaru, the oldest and wisest toad in the Land of Toads.

“But why?” The other small toad, who had a small afro and a higher pitched voice asked, she was Fukasaku’s wife, and the second Sage of Mount Myoboku, Shima.

The giant and old toad seemed to think for a moment before he shook his head. “I don’t know. It is a complete mystery to me.”

“What is it?” Behind the two sages, a giant red toad with a scar on his eyes asked with a frown, as he smoked from a really giant pipe. “What are you three talking about?” Asked Gamabunta, the current Chief of the Land of Toads, with authority only below that of Fukasaku, Shima, and the Great Sage Gamamaro.

“Ha… You’re too young to know about it, Bunta-chan…” Muttered Fukasaku. “Even I only heard stories from that time…”

“Huh?” This made Gamabunta frown as smoke left the pipe. “What do you mean? Fukasaku-sama.”

“That tribe… Has come back…” Gamamaru, still serious, mentioned. Gamabunta could swear that the old toad wasn’t looking at them, but something far, far away from them. Even if it was practically impossible to see the eyes of the toad, as they were almost completely closed.

“That tribe?” This only managed to confuse the giant toad more.

“But why?” Fukasaku asked with a frown. “They disappeared long ago…”

“More than a thousand years ago, in fact…” Mentioned Gamamaru. “Years before even the ‘Moon’ was created… I can’t predict what their presence will change… or what their stand will be…”

Gamamaru’s words could only cause the faces of both Shima and Fukasaku to turn severe.

“Can someone tell me what it’s happening?” Meanwhile, Gamabunta was completely lost, without any idea of what the three older toads were talking about.

At the same time, in Shikkotsu Forest, a ginormous slug named Katsuyu looked towards the horizon. She couldn’t help but wonder, why, after so many years. Why did they come back? What are their intentions? She couldn’t help but worry.

But the slug and the toads weren’t the only ones wondering. Deep in Ryuchi Cave, the White Snake Sage had a deep frown on her face. Even her usual cigarette couldn’t be found in her mouth. In front of her, three women with snake-like appearances were present, her faces were a mix between worry and confusion.

“Are you sure?” Ishikichimahime, one of the three snakes in charge of the trials of Ryuchi Cave asked. Worry was clear in her voice.

“Yes.” The Snake Sage said, not even looking at the three present, her eyes lost in the horizon as if looking through the walls. “It’s impossible not to recognize that wave of energy. They’re back.”

All three snakes standing in their semi-human form gulped hard. How could they not? Compared to the others, the snakes were more clear than the rest on what just happened. After all, members of their species have been trying for hundreds, if not thousands of years to ‘evolve’. Only the youngest of their tribe didn’t know it. But how could they, that have been in Ryuchi Cave for hundreds of years not know?

“For whatever reason… The dragons have come back…” The White Snake Sage muttered. “After more than a thousand years, they’re back again…”

“...Could it not be something else?” Tagitsuhime asked.

“No. It’s those lizards’ pocket dimension… I’m sure of that. I can’t forget that feeling no matter how many hundreds of years pass.”

“Ha… Why now of all times? Could it be because of the third war?” Tagorihime asked.

“War?” The White Snake Sage turned to Tagorihime, looking at her intently, before a loud and slightly deeper female laugh resounded in the cave they were present. “...They don’t care about the wars of humans. They’re not ones to care about whatever the humans are going through… I know it well… Even when the Rabbit Goddess summoned that disgusting tree that was slowly drying the world, they didn’t return. No mere shinobi war could call them back… Something else happened… Something that I can’t grasp my tail around…”

At her words, the worries on all three Snake Princess increased. This was serious, they knew it well. But what could they do? No matter how many snakes rushed to invade that tribe, it would be a futile effort. And that was only if they could even find the entrance to their pocket dimension, the biggest defense of the long-forgotten Land of Dragons. Right now they couldn’t even figure out how to find Mount Myoboku, forget about a place that was apparently separated from the current world.

Unknown to the rest of the world, the three sage regions were affronting an unexpected situation that could very well turn the Shinobi world upside down. And they weren’t the only ones.

In a completely white space, a transparent old man that couldn’t be described with another word other than ghost because of his appearance and the way he sat, floating in the air, had his eyes wide open, a frown present on his face.

“What was that feeling? I’ve never felt this presence before…” Muttered the old man. But as much as he tried. Nothing came to mind, so he decided to ignore it. He was just an observer in this world, at least while his mother still rested sealed. His eyes closed once again.

***

While the great sages were worried about the changing currents, somewhere deep in the Land of Water, in a desolate forest, corpses laid littered on the ground, with a single survivor of what looked to be a tragedy. And it certainly was, at least for the last survivor.

“YOU SHITTY GOD! WHY NOT JUST PUT ME IN KONOHA FOR FUCK’S SAKE!” Shouted the sole survivor, a seemingly three to four years old kid. Desperation could be clearly seen on his face. After shouting for a little while, the kid decided to calm down, probably tired of not getting an answer.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I hate my luck…” Muttered Dylan, or who used to be Dylan, while sighing. “Now what I’m supposed to do?” His frustration made itself present on his face as he looked around, and the corpses surrounding him. After laying his eyes on a pair of corpses that were completely different from the rest, he slowly walked toward them. They weren’t that far, and as soon as he reached, he couldn’t help but gulp hard the sadness that rushed towards him subconsciously. Dylan didn’t know these people, a young woman and a young man, not older than 30. But it wasn’t as if ‘he’ didn’t know them. “I’ve lost my parents again… Even in a new life…” He muttered. “And once again… It’s my fault…”

Before he noticed, tears fell from his eyes, uncontrollably. Memories from his past life and his ‘new’ life rushed to him. He has lost his parents in both lives, and from what he recently learned, it was his fault, both of those times.

“Ha… Is that freaking curse really lifted…?” The kid asked to no one in particular as he tried to clean the tears in his eyes without much success. “A demon… huh…” He muttered. His past life wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. But this one wasn’t easier either, even if he only recently recovered his consciousness inside this body. From what he has seen in the body’s memories, he was sure that the kid was always supposed to be him. “He had my cheats, after all… Daisuke, huh… I guess that’s a name I can get accustomed to…”

The dead Dylan, now Daisuke, crouched down, his hands closing the eyes of this body… No. His mother. He felt it deep inside him. All the feelings and memories with this loving woman who decided to risk, and ultimately sacrificed her life in order to save her child invaded him in monstrous waves. With trembling hands, Daisuke traced his small and pale hand along her mother’s face. Her paleness a few levels deeper than his. “I-I’m s-sorry… I’m so s-sorry…” He whispered to her body, tears threatening to fall again, but he held with a broken voice and knot in his heart.

Standing up, he then went to his father. A strict man, with a face that could cause fear in any child. Daisuke could remember his father being strict with him, but even then, he didn’t doubt for even a second to escape their village with him and his wife, knowing that the moment Daisuke’s powers were revealed, they would be hunted down. And hunted down they were.

“I-I’m sorry… I rob you of your futures…” He muttered as he closed his father’s eyes. “I-I swear… That I’ll live… for both of you… I won’t let this life that you sacrificed yourselves to save go to waste…” He said with difficulty as he stood up, the knot trapping his heart slowly traveling to his throat, making it difficult to talk. As he stood there, in front of his parent's bodies, a light rain started covering him. A light rain that sound turned into a downpour, cleaning his old tears, and hiding the new ones.

If anyone stood close, they would have probably heard a loud cry, a loud shout that threatened to rip the throat of the one letting it out. But not only was no one close, but the downpour’s sound was also enough to silence any scream that may or may not be happening.

After calming down, Daisuke, now covered head to toe in the rainwater, looked around him again. Corpses of what looked to be ninjas were littered all around him. Dead. “They should be Genins…” Muttered Daisuke. “There’s no way that I’ve killed Chunins, much less a single Jonin…”

There were a little over a dozen of shinobi corpses. All of them had a different range of injuries. Some of them had cut necks, others had holes in their chest that pierced their hearts, and others seemed to be hit by great strenght.

“That was not a normal outburst of rage…” Daisuke whispered as he studied some of the bodies, he then turned his eyes to his right shoulder blade. It was barely visible from where he stood, but he could see a small trace of a mark. “...He never talked about this…” From his memories, he remembers that when he saw his parents die, a monstrous rage and sadness invaded him, and his shoulder blade started to hurt. It was an indescribable pain, but even then, his rage won over the pain.

While the genins from Kirigakure decided to finish their job and kill him, all the mist around, the famous mist of the Kirigakure no Jutsu, stilled, unknown to the approaching genins. The next thing they saw, was a swing of the arm from the ‘toddler’ in front of them, and immediately after, a thin torrent of water slashed the necks of the genins that approached him.

Shocked, the other genins stepped back at the sudden situation. As the kid that wasn’t more than a toddler in their eyes raised his head, they froze in their place. The eyes that grazed at them were filled with wrath that froze their blood. Two whitish-blue eyes with deep blue vertical pupils looked back at them. Someone shouted to kill the freak, but it could as well have been their mind playing a trick. Sadly for them, their time had already passed.

With a strong wave of his arms, as he crossed them in front, multiple jets of thin, pressurized water shot towards the genins at unimaginable speed, some of them, the farthest of the bunch, were able to evade, but three of the shinobis died at the attack, while others were greatly hurt.

“W-We need to e-escape…” One of the genins said with a trembling voice. The others that were still able to move nodded, but before they could turn around and run, the devil in front of them used both hands to punch the ground with force. Immediately after, thin spikes of ice broke from the earth below them and impaled them in multiple directions. Their screams couldn’t be heard, as there was no one close to hearing them in the first place.

The remaining genins, who were injured, didn’t last much longer, as they were soon killed by a rageful Daisuke. And without any more enemies, the kid couldn’t help but fall unconscious. Unknown to him, a strange symbol was now present on his right shoulder blade.

As Daisuke went through his memories, he couldn’t help but think how broken he was. “This is a really fearsome cheat…” He muttered. “If I can already do all that with less than four years… I can only imagine…” As he was thinking about it, something fell on his head. “What!?” He stood up surprised, thinking that someone was attacking him, but after looking around, he was still as alone as he was before.

As he looked around, he figured out that there was something beside him. “Huh? Two scrolls?” He grabbed both scrolls, and he decided to open one of them. “Huh?” He looked surprised at the scroll. “How not to die the next day 101? Don’t tell me… ARE YOU WATCHING ME RIGHT NOW!? YOU USELESS GOD!” He shouted at the heavens, but again, nothing happened. Deciding it would be better for his mental health to just forget about the wanderer, he decided to grab the other scroll and read it, only for a tick to appear on his forehead.

This time, the scroll was titled ‘How not to fuck it up with your new cheat while not being a lunatic crazily shouting at heaven 101’ with a 2x1 sticker on the top-right corner of the scroll. After making his utmost effort not to shout again, he decided to read this scroll.

“Huh? What do you mean that I won’t be able to use that level of power soon!?” He shouted as he started reading the scroll. It read the following:

[Yo! I know that at this point you’re probably thinking about how broken you are as a three-year-old toddler. But let me tell you something about your cheat, that power was a temporal outburst of power made possible by the Dragon Stigma that grew on you. So don’t think that any rage outburst will save your ass in the future because it won’t happen.

If I had to explain to you, think of it as the second maturation of anyone carrying a similar power to you, or carrying a Dragon Soul. This normally comes later, when someone reaches ten to fifteen years old, but yours was pushed forward given the situation your body was in before your consciousness’ awakening and by losing your parents. It is a one-time thing, as your body won’t create a second Stigma, and the uncontrolled power outburst that this gives won’t happen again. So be careful when treading forward.

Now, I don’t doubt your intelligence, I know it’s at least capable of reaching the level of a monkey, but I was feeling generous and decided to give you a couple of tips and tricks to survive at least a couple of weeks.

Also, in case you were questioning it, no, you didn’t kill the previous soul. In a sense, it was the same soul, with two consciousnesses, weird, I know, but that’s the easiest way to explain it. But after the outburst caused by the Dragon Stigma, the previous consciousness died, and this caused your awakening. Just think of it as someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder that suddenly lost the other identity as it wasn’t strong enough to survive the shock of the premature awakening.

So, don’t worry, that body is and has always been yours, to begin with. The reason why it had access to your cheat, as it was always you. So to finish this quick. A few tips.

* Don’t think you will get that outburst of power again, or you will die. It’s not a failsafe.

* Train your ass off. Not having that outburst of power doesn’t mean you can get powerful quickly. So no slacking.

* Stop shouting like an idiot, you will attract enemies.

* Move your ass, do what you have to do, and move out of there.

Your friendly neighbor, Spider-I mean, the wanderer.]

{This guy has something wrong with his head…} Daisuke thought as he finished reading the scroll. Sweating hard.