Chapter 1: Reborn in the Land of Whirlpools, Just After the Clan's Annihilation

The Ninja World.

The Second Great Ninja War was about to erupt.

Konoha, the Hidden Stone Village, and the Hidden Sand Village.

These three great ninja villages had turned the Land of Whirlpools into a battlefield; their ninja armies faced each other from afar, locked in a standoff.

It seemed as though war would break out at any moment.

Yet none of the three villages wished to be the first to strike, leaving the situation in a stalemate.

The Ninja World sank into an eerie calm.

But just then, news like a bomb shattered that tranquility.

The Land of Whirlpools, an ally of Konoha since its very founding, had been annihilated!

This news spread like poison throughout the Ninja World.

Some were shocked, some remained calm, but most were bewildered.

The destruction of the Land of Whirlpools had been too fast, too sudden!

With Konoha as an ally, this made no sense!

Had Konoha sent reinforcements, the nation could never have been destroyed.

Moreover, why was Konoha's reaction so calm after the fall of the Land of Whirlpools?

Countless doubts swirled in their minds, yet they could never know the truth.

In the Land of Whirlpools, within the Uzumaki Clan.

Beneath the ruins of a collapsed ancestral hall.

A hand, smeared with mud and blood, reached out from under the blue bricks.

Soon, a red-haired youth crawled out from the rubble.

Blood covered the youth's face, obscuring his features.

He struggled to his feet, gazing at the scene before him, a stifling rage burning in his chest with nowhere to vent.

Shattered corpses, dilapidated buildings, and earth soaked through with blood.

The corpses were his clansmen, the buildings his hometown, the earth his home.

He was Uzumaki Chihiro, the young master of the Land of Whirlpools.

He was also a transmigrator, yet due to the mystery of the womb, his memories from his previous life had remained buried in the deepest recesses of his mind.

Had this catastrophe not occurred, Uzumaki Chihiro would never have known if his past-life memories would ever awaken in this life.

But even now that those memories had awakened, it was already too late.

Faces of his clansmen flashed through Uzumaki Chihiro's mind—those who had covered his retreat and fallen in pools of blood.

And the parting words of his father from this life.

"Chihiro, go to the ancestral hall, take the Death God's Mask, and leave the Land of Whirlpools!"

"As long as the Death God's Mask remains, my Land of Whirlpools will never perish!!"

The Death God's Mask...

Uzumaki Chihiro raised his hand, his gaze calm, simply staring silently at the Death God's Mask.

Until the ancestral hall collapsed, he, still without his awakened memories, had kept that mask tightly clutched in his hand.

Merely because of his father's single sentence, he had believed this mask could save the Land of Whirlpools and the Uzumaki Clan.

Of course, it might also have been due to the Uzumaki Clan's generations-long devotion to the Death God's Mask.

The Uzumaki Clan had always believed this mask concealed immense power.

They were not mistaken in that feeling.

But Uzumaki Chihiro, now awakened to his past-life memories, understood that while the mask did harbor a special power,

that power was merely capable of communicating with the Death God.

This mask could not save the Land of Whirlpools or the Uzumaki Clan.

Only the Uzumaki Clan itself could save the Uzumaki Clan!

Even Konoha, their most trusted ally, had not extended a hand when the Uzumaki Clan requested aid.

Indeed, even Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the First Hokage and once a princess of the Uzumaki Clan, had remained unmoved by the Land of Whirlpools' plea for help.

Power—only when held in one's own hands was it the true path!

However, these were matters for later contemplation.

For now, Uzumaki Chihiro still had to find a way to escape the Land of Whirlpools.

Although three days had passed since the fall of the Land of Whirlpools,

and most ninja had already departed, a small fraction remained within the Land of Whirlpools, scouring everything for resources and spoils of war.

Within the perception of Uzumaki Chihiro's Kagura Shingan, a small team of ninja was approaching his location.

If he could not evade this crisis, let alone reviving the Land of Whirlpools, he doubted whether the Uzumaki bloodline could even continue.

"Judging by their chakra levels, is it one Special Jonin and three Genin?"

Uzumaki Chihiro moved his arm, and a sharp pain shot into his brain.

Having some injuries was bearable.

But the Uzumaki Clan was not skilled in combat-type ninjutsu; most of their arts were sealing jutsu lacking lethal force.

He had no confidence in his ability to kill that ninja team.

If he could not guarantee an instant kill, the commotion of battle would attract other ninja teams; once surrounded, death would be certain.

Run?

Ninja were searching everywhere; even if he ran, he would be discovered.

Now, he seemed to be trapped in a deadly situation.

Uzumaki Chihiro looked up at the sky, where the cloud-shrouded heavens mirrored his gloomy mood.

"Looks like I'm about to bring shame to the great army of transmigrationers."

"Ding!"

A crisp notification sounded in his mind, sweeping away the gloom from his heart.

"Host's memories detected as awakened; the God-level Troop-Explosion System has been activated!"

"Drawing from the troop card pool..."

"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have unlocked the Death God series troop card pool!"

It seemed he wouldn't have to die after all?

Uzumaki Chihiro closed his eyes and quickly grasped the system's functions.

The God-level Troop-Explosion System, as its name suggested, was a troop-explosion style system.

But troops couldn't just be exploded into existence at will.

First, one needed to unlock a troop card pool.

Only after unlocking a troop card pool could one recruit troops.

Moreover, one could only recruit troops from the series that had been unlocked.

For example, since he had only unlocked the Death God series of troops, he could only recruit characters from the Death God world.

Secondly, recruiting troops required either Reputation Points or Recruitment Items.

Only by consuming Reputation Points and Recruitment Items could recruitment be performed.

Between 100 and 999 Reputation Points allowed for the recruitment of Common troops.

Between 1,000 and 9,999 Reputation Points allowed for the recruitment of Advanced troops.

Between 10,000 and 99,999 Reputation Points allowed for the recruitment of Elite troops.

Between 100,000 and 1,000,000 Reputation Points allowed for the recruitment of Heroic troops.

Recruitment Items were divided into four grades: Common, Advanced, Elite, and Heroic, corresponding respectively to the four grades of troops.

After understanding the system's mechanics, Uzumaki Chihiro opened the system panel.

[Host: Uzumaki Chihiro]

[Identity: Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools, Uzumaki Clan]

[Strength: Tokubetsu Jonin]

[Abilities: Chakra Extraction Technique, Sealing Jutsu (Mastered)]

[Sphere of Influence: Land of Whirlpools]

[Heroic Troops: None]

[Elite Troops: None]

[Advanced Troops: None]

[Common Troops: None]

[Unlocked Troop Pool: Death God Series]

[Reputation Points: 31,356]

The Identity column listed him as the Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools.

It seemed that after his father from this life died, he had automatically inherited the title of Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools.

Unfortunately, his status as Daimyo now existed in name only.

After all, with the Land of Whirlpools gone, how could there still be a Daimyo?

Uzumaki Chihiro continued reading downward.

Strength: Tokubetsu Jonin.

If judged solely by chakra volume, he differed little from Kage-level figures, but because he had not mastered high-level ninjutsu capable of inflicting damage...

...the drawback of knowing only sealing jutsu bound his strength to the Tokubetsu Jonin stage.

Then came the Reputation Points; the huge sum of 31,356 fixed his gaze.

If these were his personal Reputation Points, they should not have been so high.

Although he was the young lord of the Land of Whirlpools, he was not famous in the ninja world.

"System, are these Reputation Points my own, or do they belong to the Land of Whirlpools?"

"Ding! Detected that the host is the Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools and is deeply bound to it; these are the combined Reputation Points of the Land of Whirlpools and the host."

"Just as I thought."

After taking one last look at the Reputation Points, Uzumaki Chihiro spoke: "System, consume all Reputation Points to recruit Elite troops!"