Chapter 17: NotificationThe walk back to the inn was uful, the quiet streets of the Hidden Leaf Vilge still reverberating with the tensio by the earlier attack. Kuro moved with a practionce, though his mind ed with questions. The earlier frontation with Kakashi and Might Guy had been a dance of carefully chosen words. Eatera had been deliberate—each gesture, each pause, eace, carefully calcuted. Yet the oute had been anything but straightforward.
Kuro's thoughts swirled like the leaves in the vilge streets, stantly shifting with new questions, new s. Had the enter with Kakashi and Guy been just another part of the system’s maniputions, or was there a more subtle game being pyed here—ohat even the sharpest eyes could not immediately perceive?
Perhaps the individuals Kuro enters in this shinobi world are not truly real people at all. They might simply be illusions, maions created by the system that surrounds him. The idea that they could be nothing more than structs is quite pusible, 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 ws of nature ay. It has all the characteristics of something supernatural or even otherworldly. Kuro, now caught in this strange and uable world, finds himself p the true nature of those around him. He must be careful in how he is with the people here, as they may not be as real as they seem. His approach to this new reality will o 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 oh, Kuro was nothing more than an ordinary young man. He led an average life with raordinary qualities, and his body and abilities were just like any other human’s. He had no special powers or remarkable skills. However, that all ged 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 pletely out of p experiehat could only be described as surreal. He found himself in possession of something known as the "system," ay that, in Kuro’s previous life, he had only ever seen in anime, novels, or video games. The cept of a system, something that governed and shaped reality, was entirely fn to his old world, a here he was, bound to it in ways he couldn't fully prehend.
Even now, as he tries to make sense of the world around him, Kuro, whose real name is James, 't shake the feeling that what he’s experieng may not be real at all. He ’t help but wonder if this entire world, with all its strange occurrences and unfamiliar rules, is simply a long and eborate dream—ohat exists only in his mind, perhaps as a vision after death. It seems like the only reasonable expnation, as there is no other way to at for the surreal nature of his circumstahe 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 he inn, Kuro’s thoughts returo 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 importahere was a reason the Firefly was rarely seen, and even more rarely uood. Kuro’s mind tio as he repyed the exge from earlier in the day, trying to make sense of every gnce, 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 addi 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 insignifit. 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 bee on could be more dangerous than he'd ever imagined. In this world, they pose a greater threat thasutsuki, as they possess ons powerful enough to effortlessly destroy aire p.
He closed his eyes briefly, as though the darkness behind his lids could give him some crity. But instead, he was left with the same gnawing uainty. The sensation was suffog, like a storm slowly building on the horizon, just waiting for the right moment to strike. Every instin him told him that something was ing, something that would ge everything.
Kuro was alo the moment, as his two panions had gone off to attend to some important business. What exactly that business was, Kuro had no idea—and frankly, he wasn’t particurly ied 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 vilge life outside melted away, repced 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, c the simmering chaos beh. Somethi wrong, and Kuro couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched.
He crossed the room to his usual er, the wooden floor creakih his boots. It was a small, quiet er, tucked away from the main bustle of the inn, where he could think in peace—or so it had always seemed. Today, however, the silen the air felt different. The faint murmur of voices and king mugs did little to reassure him. There was an ominous uoo 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 pce but impossible to ignore.
His eyes fluttered shut as he sought answers in the silehere, in the darkness behind his closed lids, he searched for something—anything—that could bring crity. But the silence was broken by a familiar chime.
Kuro’s eyes snapped open, his body instinctively tensing as a translut notification appeared before him, its edges flickering in the dim light of the inn. The familiar cold, detached feeling washed over him, a remihat whatever happened , he was not in trol. He had no say iiming, in the location, or iure of the events that were unfolding.
“Scroll of Truth: Click to reveal your mission.”
