Rei was back to bed and before he went to sleep, his brain was blasted with another set of foreign memories. Just like last time.
Phase II
Your previous contracts will remain the same.
For the next 2 years you will be able to traverse to Earth-199999 (MCU). The time will stagnate here whenever you cross to the other world and vice -versa when you are there. This is being done so that your soul and body is properly assimilated/adapted to both worlds' time flow.
You will need to complete 2 years here and 2 years on Earth-199999, if you fail to do so, you will be taken to the either world forcibly to complete the 2 years time.
At the end of the 2 years your age will still be 2 years older from now(11 years old).
Rei stared blankly at the information floating in his mind for a very long time. He went through it again. Then one more time after that.
"…What?"
That single word perfectly summarized his current mental condition. Because this? This was absurd even by transmigrator standards.
First he got reincarnated into Naruto with magical contract powers. Now apparently his ability had decided that wasn't chaotic enough and casually unlocked multiversal travel like it was some kind of downloadable update.
Earth-199999.
MCU.
Rei slowly sat upright in bed while trying to process the sheer implications behind that sentence alone.
Because unlike Naruto world, the MCU opened completely different avenues for growth. Technology, super soldierss genius inventors (not that it would be of much help technically speaking), Infinity Stones, alien races and of course magic.
In Naruto, his contracts were limited by who he could realistically approach without getting murdered politically. Here though? The possibilities expanded massively.
Scientists, enhanced humans, sorcerers eventually and maybe mutants(I am writing this before Doomsday so I am keeping my fingers crossed) when the multiverse would align somehow. Even some ordinary humans in the MCU occasionally accomplished ridiculous things through sheer intellect alone.
Honestly… the potential was insane. Which naturally meant Rei immediately wanted to test it.
Common sense suggested sleeping first and thinking carefully tomorrow. Unfortunately, Rei had never been particularly gifted in the "ignoring world-changing supernatural opportunities" department.
So naturally…
"…Let's see if this actually works."
The moment he focused on the new ability, space itself seemed to distort slightly around him. Not visually at first and more like his body suddenly felt lighter. Then reality twisted.
And the next thing Rei knew—
Cold air hit his face. He stumbled slightly afterward before quickly stabilizing himself.
"…Holy shit."
Night.
That was the first thing he noticed. The second thing was silence. Not Konoha silence.
Just… suburban silence. Rei slowly looked around afterward. Streetlights, concrete roads, identical houses lined beside each other.
America. Or at least it looked very much like America.
And honestly… for the first time since transmigrating, Rei genuinely felt emotionally disoriented. Because this looked familiar. Too familiar.
The atmosphere. The architecture. The electrical poles. Even the slightly ugly suburban road design itself somehow hit him with absurd amounts of nostalgia.
It felt like home. Or at least… something close to it.
"…Wow," Rei whispered quietly.
For a brief moment, he simply stood there staring around the empty nighttime street while memories from his previous life resurfaced almost painfully clearly. Walking back home from convenience stores late at night. University apartments. Streetlights reflecting after rain. Cars passing by lazily in distant roads.
It felt unreal. Ironically more unreal than Naruto sometimes.
Still, after wandering around for roughly twenty minutes and confirming that yes, he genuinely existed in another universe now, Rei eventually decided to return home before accidentally getting flagged by someone and then the authorities would get involved.
The return process thankfully worked instantly too. One moment suburban America existed around him. The next moment he was back inside his bedroom in Konoha like nothing happened.
Rei stared at the ceiling afterward. He had checked the watch. Not a single second had passed since he left this place. This was awesome.
"…I'm definitely not sleeping now."
The next day however, Rei approached things more rationally.
Or at least… slightly less irrationally.
After waiting until he finished Academy classes and making sure nobody suspicious followed him, not that he needed it, since he had figured it out that the time would stop whenever he would traverse to other world. Rei returned home, pretended to lie down early and then used the dimensional ability again.
This time he arrived during daylight. And immediately the environment became much clearer.
Suburbs. Definitely suburbs.
And after wandering around cautiously for another hour while reading road signs and observing the city layout, Rei eventually confirmed something important.
New York.
Or more specifically, the outer suburban areas around New York City.
"…Of course it's New York," Rei muttered tiredly. "Everything insane happens in New York."
Still… walking through the streets felt strangely surreal.
Because unlike Naruto world, this place actually resembled the life he remembered. Cars moved through intersections. People walked around with coffee cups while looking tired and mildly annoyed at existence. A teenager argued loudly with someone over what looked like an bit old age phone nearby.
It felt… normal.
And honestly, that normalcy hit Rei harder than expected.
For the first time since dying, he genuinely felt the weight of his previous life again. Because somewhere in another timeline, another universe… his parents probably still thought their son disappeared forever.
That thought lingered unpleasantly in his chest. Unfortunately, while Rei was busy having a small existential crisis near a suburban park, another problem gradually emerged.
He looked like an unattended child.
And America, unlike Konoha, apparently had laws regarding random children wandering around alone for hours.
Rei first noticed the patrol car slowly approaching from down the street. The previous night he had already thought out a plan of how to tackle the situation of documentation. Before the car gotten near Rei had quietly grabbed a nearby stone from the ground and without hesitation slammed it directly against the side of his own head.
He was going to play a role that would make his case believable. Soon the car stopped near him and then a cop came out.
"Hey kid," the officer called out carefully. "You alright?"
The officer's eyes widened as he came near him. "…Jesus Christ!"
Rei collapsed onto the sidewalk afterward while deliberately looking dazed. Which honestly wasn't difficult to act considering he had just smashed his own skull with a rock.
"…Kid! Hey!"
By the time the officer reached him, Rei already looked genuinely disoriented.
"…What's your name?" the officer asked urgently.
Rei blinked slowly.
"…I…"
Then deliberately hesitated.
"…I don't know…"
The officer froze slightly.
"…What?"
Rei grabbed his head weakly afterward.
"…I can't remember…"
Honestly… amnesia was probably the most cliché lie imaginable.
But thankfully, blood dramatically improved credibility.
And thus, through the power of self-inflicted stupidity and surprisingly convincing acting, Rei Amagi successfully entered the American foster care system under the category of "mysterious traumatized child with no identifiable records."
Honestly, the next one month was one of the strangest periods of Rei's life. Which was honestly saying something considering he had already died once, gotten reincarnated into Naruto and now somehow ended up inside the MCU.
The doctors checked him repeatedly. The police questioned him multiple times. Social workers tried to gently coax information out of him while believing he was some traumatized runaway child who had lost his memories after a head injury.
And thankfully… Rei was naturally calm by personality. Or rather mentally exhausted enough by life that adults automatically categorized him as "well-behaved."
Apparently speaking politely, sitting quietly and not trying to bite other children already made him some kind of miracle child inside the foster system.
Honestly, that realization alone concerned him slightly.
Still, maintaining the amnesia act wasn't particularly difficult. Rei simply mixed half-truths with selective silence. He genuinely was confused about his existence sometimes. He genuinely had memories from another world. And technically, "I don't know where I came from" wasn't entirely false anymore either.
The authorities meanwhile searched extensively for his supposed family. Missing persons reports. Databases. Facial recognition attempts. Nothing matched.
Which of course made sense because Rei technically did not exist in this universe at all.
At one point, a social worker had gently asked him if he remembered anything about his parents.
Rei had stayed silent for almost a full minute before quietly answering, "…They were kind."
And honestly… that answer somehow made the woman tear up slightly.
He felt a little guilty afterward.
The foster home itself wasn't terrible thankfully. Not perfect either. But manageable. There were other children there, some loud, some quiet, some clearly carrying problems far heavier than they should at their age. Rei mostly stayed out of everyone's business while observing modern society again with growing fascination.
The year was 2005, which came as a relief to Rei. It was still early in the MCU and thus he would have time here to set up his life before this world, just like the Naruto world would be thrown to chaos.