(T/N: An extra chapter since I felt like it and because this was the opening day.)
Kaze stared at Xiaoyu as the cat dropped a strange, pineapple-like fruit at his feet. It rolled across the floor and stopped just shy of his toes.
"Well, this is... unexpected," Kaze muttered, staring down at the fruit.
No matter how he looked at it, the fruit in front of him definitely resembled one of those Devil Fruits from One Piece. You know, the kind that grants you insane powers but comes with the slight inconvenience of being completely useless in water.
Then he glanced up at Xiaoyu, who was proudly puffing out its chest, looking like it had just accomplished some great feat—probably saving the entire world or, more realistically, stealing an ice cream cone from some unsuspecting kid.
"Where exactly did you find this?" Kaze asked, his voice a mixture of confusion and awe.
"Meow, meow, meow!" Xiaoyu proudly meowed in response.
"Yeah, that's... not helpful." Kaze sighed, rolling his eyes. The cat's response, as usual, was completely unintelligible. But the look in its eyes made it clear: You're weak, eat the fruit, and get stronger. This is your ticket to survival, buddy.
Kaze blinked. Then he blinked again. Was that... did my cat just lecture me?
He facepalmed. "No way. I can't believe I'm getting lectured by a ninja cat about life choices."
"No... what am I even thinking? I've got too much on my plate already. The massacre's coming up, I'm still stuck at Chūnin with a two-tomoe Sharingan, and now I'm considering Devil Fruits." He groaned, rubbing his temples. "I need a break. All this stress is clearly getting to me."
Looking back at the fruit, he tried to convince himself that there was no way it could actually be the Rumble Rumble Fruit—he was in the world of Naruto, not One Piece, for crying out loud. This was probably just a weird, lightning-shaped fruit that somehow looked like something out of a pirate's wildest dream.
But then he couldn't stop staring at it. The swirling patterns on its skin... those were too close to the actual Rumble Rumble Fruit for comfort.
"Okay, fine." Kaze took a deep breath. "Maybe it's just a coincidence, right? A pineapple-shaped fruit with weird lightning patterns. Totally normal."
But wait...
"No, no, this is insane. Am I seriously considering eating this? The last time I ate something that looked weird, I was stuck in the hospital for a week because it was just.... I'm not eating some random fruit with lightning on it!"
Still, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that this fruit could make him stronger. He could practically hear Xiaoyu's imaginary voice nagging him: 'Eat it, you idiot Master. What's the worst that could happen?'
Sighing once more, Kaze picked the fruit up, giving it a cautious sniff. He recoiled immediately. It didn't smell like anything he'd ever encountered.
"Alright, I'm going to regret this..." Kaze muttered to himself, staring at the fruit like it was a ticking time bomb. He could practically hear his own internal warning alarms blaring. Maybe I'm not built for this life. I'm a normal guy in an extraordinary world!
(T/N: If being an Uchiha is normal guy, then who is the abnormal guy? The Monkey? or is it the one-eyed cyclops who keeps on thinking that only he can make Konoha great again?)
He held the fruit in his hand, unsure whether he should take the next step. The idea of eating it seemed insane. But then again... was it really any crazier than his current situation?
"Well, I guess this is fine," Kaze said with a shrug, eyeing the fruit in his hands. "Just a lookalike of a Devil Fruit. What's the worst that could happen, right?"
Kaze continued to hold the fruit in his hands, his thoughts racing.
This fruit... it was part of the natural type Devil Fruits, the pinnacle of lightning powers!
Its considered the strongest natural-type Devil Fruit as it allowed its user to unleash lightning from their body, bombarding their opponent with nature's most violent energy!
Once fully developed, the user could even manipulate the lightning's form, releasing a variety of different attacks.
But the most important thing...
The natural-type Devil Fruit user could turn their body into an element, making them immune to all physical damage!
"Even in the Naruto world, the Rumble Rumble Fruit would be an incredibly terrifying power," Kaze muttered to himself, rolling his throat.
But of course, Devil Fruits weren't without weaknesses.
For example, if a user encountered someone with Armament Haki, turning into an element would only increase the area of their attacks.
But wait a second—there was no such thing as Haki in this world!
"Not only is there no Haki, but there's no Seastones here either! And the sea in this world isn't anything like the one in One Piece," Kaze thought with growing excitement.
Based on that, any weakness related to Haki or Seastone was completely irrelevant!
"If this really is the Rumble Rumble Fruit, then… wow, this is insane," Kaze whispered, the possibility dawning on him
But then, suddenly, an idea struck him.
What if it was?
He swallowed hard, his heart racing.
Although reason told him there couldn't possibly be Devil Fruits in this world, what if? What if there was just a tiny chance?
His gaze became completely fixated on the fruit, and he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Xiaoyu, seeing Kaze lost in thought while holding the fruit, shook its head with an almost exasperated look. "Meow."
It was as though the cat was saying, "My master's hopeless."
Then, Xiaoyu stretched out and lazily laid down on the tatami, yawning.
"Well, it's just a fruit, right? There's no way it can actually kill me," Kaze muttered to himself, slowly starting to feel the fruit's strange pull.
Unable to resist any longer, he brought the fruit closer to his mouth, finally taking a bite.
Crunch!
"Fuck!" Kaze's face immediately turned purple as the taste hit his tongue. He couldn't help but curse aloud at the overwhelming nastiness.
The taste... was beyond description.
Disgusting.
Super disgusting.
So disgusting that he nearly spat it out immediately.
Through the mirror, Kaze could see his facial features contorting, as if they were being pulled and stretched in every direction.
It was a level of discomfort he hadn't even felt when his parents had left him.
The pain was so intense, he almost activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, driven by pure emotion. His Sharingan, which had been stuck at two tomoe, flared open automatically from the overwhelming taste, the tomoe spinning rapidly—so fast that they almost locked into the Mangekyō. But, instead, they came to a halt, settling into the third tomoe.
His body instinctively screamed at him to spit the fruit out, but somehow—through sheer willpower—he managed to swallow it.
It took several moments for the overwhelming sensation to finally subside.
"Well, at least I didn't die..." Kaze muttered, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
He tried to shake off the trauma and get his mind back to a normal state.
However, as he exhaled, something strange happened: a faint electric current crackled in the air around him.
Kaze: "???"
In an instant, his breath caught in his throat as he froze in place.
A bolt of lightning, about the length of his hand, shot out from his nose, stunning him completely.
But then… his gaze shifted to the mirror again.
His Sharingan was still active, now with three tomoe. The tomoe were spinning with the intensity of his emotions, and Kaze found himself double stunned—first by the lightning, and then by the sight of the third tomoe in his reflection.
"...Wait, what the hell?"
Kaze quickly glanced at the remaining fruit in his hand.
"This thing..."
"Could it really be the Rumble Rumble Fruit? Or... did Xiaoyu find this as some weird-tasting fruit to help me push my Sharingan?"
He stared at the fruit as if it might reveal its secrets. His mind was racing. On one hand, it was possibly just a terrible tasting fruit that Xiaoyu had picked out to "help" him unlock his next level of power. On the other, it could be the Rumble Rumble Fruit—the one that could give him control over lightning itself.
He couldn't make sense of it. The fruit tasted awful, sure, but did that really mean it was some kind of divine intervention or just his cat's idea of a "training snack"?
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Kaze shot up from the tatami mat with a dramatic thud, nearly tripping over himself.
"Could it be...?"
"But how is that even possible?"
"Stay calm, stay calm..." he muttered, pacing back and forth like a madman. His heart was thumping in his chest like a drum, and his breathing was getting heavier by the second.
On one hand, he was freaking out because he might've just eaten the most powerful fruit in existence.
On the other hand, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was all just one big, chaotic dream. He had that nagging sensation like he was about to get pranked, or worse—he was about to do something incredibly stupid.
"Am I dreaming?"
He pinched his arm hard enough to leave a mark.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch..."
Okay, that hurt. This was definitely not a dream.
"Alright," he said, trying to calm himself down. "Focus, Kaze. If this really is the Rumble Rumble Fruit, I just need to test it!"
He glanced back at the remaining half of the fruit, sitting innocently on the table like a guilty child. He could almost hear it laughing at him, like, "Oh, you're in for it now, buddy."
With the Sharingan already activated from the moment he ate the fruit, Kaze quickly glanced at the mirror. His heart skipped a beat when he saw it—his Sharingan now had three tomoe. The spinning was fast, a perfect, intricate motion—he had done it.
The excitement hit him like a freight train.
"Three tomoe!" Kaze cheered, his grin stretching across his face. "I actually did it! This fruit… it really worked!"
For a moment, he just stood there, staring at his reflection in awe. It was the first time in ten years that he'd managed to evolve his Sharingan. He had finally done what he'd been desperately trying to achieve, all thanks to this strange fruit.
But that joy was short-lived.
"Wait, wait, wait..." he muttered, blinking. "Just to be sure... this could still just be a weird side effect of the fruit, right? I mean, it could be the Rumble Rumble Fruit, but maybe it's something else entirely."
Kaze's eyes narrowed as he refocused. "Time for the next test."
He took a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair to calm his excitement. He needed to stay focused.
"I've got my Sharingan, but the real question is: Does this thing actually have lightning powers? I need to confirm."
With a new plan in mind, he stepped away from the mirror, looking toward the wall in front of him. He raised his hand, aiming with precision, his three-tomoe Sharingan locked onto the target.
"I can do this," he said to himself, his voice growing confident again. "Time to test the lightning powers!"
Then, without further hesitation, he shouted:
"Lightning!"
A bolt of pure lightning shot from his palm with the force of a thousand thunderstorms. The air practically buzzed with energy, and the next thing he knew...
BOOM!
The wall in front of him exploded as if it had been hit with a freight train. The flash of light was so bright, it made him feel like he'd just stepped into a lightning-filled rave party.
"Holy crap!" Kaze yelled as he stumbled back, his eyes wide.
The bolt didn't stop there. Thanks to his Sharingan, Kaze could see the lightning ripping through the air like a wild beast—no mercy, no hesitation. It flew straight toward the roof of Uchiha Fugaku's house.
"Oh no... oh no!" Kaze's voice was barely above a whisper as he watched the lightning barrel toward the roof. It was too fast, and there was no way to stop it.
BOOM!
The deafening crash that followed felt like the entire world was shaking. Kaze could see it all in excruciating detail—thanks to his Sharingan—the roof of Fugaku's house was obliterated. A third of it was gone, turned into smoldering rubble in an instant.
Kaze stood there, eyes wide, mouth agape. He couldn't believe what he'd just done. The chaos was unfolding in front of him in high-definition, and it wasn't pretty.
"I—I think I just blew up Fugaku's roof... maybe even his whole house." Kaze mumbled, his voice a mix of disbelief and dread. "Oh, man, I'm so screwed."
He turned slowly to Xiaoyu, who had been watching the whole thing from the corner. The cat didn't even seem fazed. In fact, it looked almost… proud.
"Yeah, thanks for the support, buddy," Kaze grumbled. "Nothing's better than a ninja cat cheering for the destruction I've caused."
Xiaoyu flicked its tail and gave him a look that clearly said, 'Well done. Chaos is in your nature, after all.'
Kaze's stomach sank as he realized one painful truth: He had officially made a mess. And there was no way he was getting out of this one without a mountain of consequences.
"I am so screwed," Kaze muttered to himself, facepalming.
(T/N: Fun fact: Most of this chapter is me desperately trying to patch up a plot hole from the last chapter. Did I fix it? Maybe. Did I make it worse? Also maybe.
P.S.: Here's the deal—In the original version, Kaze was trying to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan in the first chapter. Sounds fine, right? Wrong. By the end of that same chapter, it was revealed he was still just a Chūnin. A Chūnin with a three-tomoe Sharingan? Yeah, sure. Once you get the third tomoe, you're at least Special Jōnin level in terms of strength. So, I went ahead and fixed that nonsense while also setting up his three-tomoe evolution and giving him a solid reason for his future Mangekyō.
Or I might've completely messed it up. Only time will tell.)
(Also, just to clarify—the above rant is about strength, not rank.)