Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Giyu Uchiha
Chapter 1: Giyu Uchiha
"A demon fox! and a blind girl! Both of you can die! Wahahaha—"
"Hey Blondie, even after we taught you a lesson last time, you dare to meddle in our affairs!"
"Hey hey hey, don't kill the monster. Let that one without pupils (actually, they're there but usually invisible) show me the Byakugan first before we deal with him."
In the forest, three tall children stopped throwing their punches and kicks at Naruto Uzumaki and walked toward Hinata Hyuga, who was sitting paralyzed on the ground.
Through the gaps between them, Hinata saw Naruto curled up motionless on the ground.
Her heart ached like it was being stabbed with needles; her already pale face turned green with fear as tears uncontrollably welled up in her eyes
A few days ago, it was these people who bullied her.
Although Naruto bravely intervened to stop them, but they beat him up, leaving him with bruises and a swollen face, even destroying his scarf.
Today, she coincidentally encountered Naruto again, and as she wanted to express her gratitude for what happened last time, so she sent away the ninja who protected her.
But unexpectedly, the same thing happened again.
[Come on, Hinata, fight back...]
[Just like practicing martial arts with Dad and brother Neji...]
[You can protect yourself, you know!]
In her memory, the scene of her palm breaking the wooden board was vivid.
However, in reality, the closer those three people got to her, the weaker her limbs became, and she forgot everything she had learned.
The faces of those three people transformed into her angry-eyed father and older brother, Neji, deepening her sense of helplessness.
"Hey hey, this pale-eyed monster is crying. Do you think it's real or fake crying?" The leader among the three children seemed very curious. "In theory, her eyes should be different from ours, right?"
Hinata trembled and tightly closed her eyes, desperately retreating until her back hit a tree and she stopped.
[Deji (servant), Dad, Neji, whoever it is, please save me and Naruto!]
"Eh? She closed her eyes. I wanted to observe them more carefully! What a letdown."
"Let's open her eyelids and take a look then."
"If we sprinkle some dirt in, will her eyes still be white?"
"Let's try it."
The three of them exchanged remarks, one terrifying and ignorant idea after another pouring out of their heads.
Meanwhile, the slender Hinata clasped her hands in a praying gesture and loudly prayed in her heart:
[Please, someone, save us!]
"You three! Don't touch her!"
Hinata suddenly opened her eyes, and the three children turned their heads incredulously.
The one speaking was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, who had been beaten black and blue, unable to even open his eyes.
His body trembled as he propped himself up with his arms and pointed at them with his dirty fingers; as if he could collapse at any moment.
"We, we haven't settled the score yet! I'm about to show my true strength now."
"Naruto!"
Hinata exclaimed, covering her mouth to suppress her crying.
[Don't, don't stand up anymore.]
The three children exchanged glances, and their previous disbelief gradually vanished, replaced by a sinister smile.
They mockingly said to Naruto, "Stop talking big. If you have the ability, why don't you come over and stop us, huh?"
They were all children who had attended the Ninja Academy.
So it was clear to them at a glance that it was already a miracle for Naruto Uzumaki to be able to stand up, but now he couldn't even take two steps without collapsing on the spot.
Sure enough, Naruto almost fell to the ground after just one step.
After confirming that Naruto was just bluffing, the three turned around again, preparing to deal with the girl with the Byakugan.
"I told you, your opponent is me!"
Naruto Uzumaki shouted with all his might, then seized the opportunity to pick up a not-too-big but not-too-small stone and threw it toward the three of them.
The targeted child easily dodged and was about to turn around to taunt Naruto when they heard a teeth-gritting cracking sound, as if bones were being broken.
"Crack!"
The three felt a shock in their hearts, quickly turned around, and their expressions changed dramatically as if they had seen their ghosts.
The stone that Naruto had just thrown was deeply embedded in the middle of the tree; like a meteorite hitting the ground.
But that wasn't all.
Around that stone, there were also densely distributed circular cracks, like ripples on the water's surface during rain.
A huge crack extended towards the back of the tree, almost splitting it in half.
It could be imagined that if this stone had hit their heads, they would have definitely died.
"Hey hey, this is a joke, right..."
One of the children felt his legs go weak.
"It's really a monster, huh? Let's just go."
The three of them cautiously glanced at Naruto, who was standing still as if lost, and said, "You wait for us." as they hurriedly leave the main road.
They had only taken a few steps and turned a corner when another figure appeared in front of them, startling them.
As they took a closer look, they saw a child around four or five years old with relatively smooth black short hair (compared to Sasuke).
He had delicate and stern features, wearing a deep red short-sleeved shirt.
Although he held plastic bags filled with vegetables and fish in his hands, giving off a lively atmosphere, he exuded a chilling aura that kept people at a distance.
And that was not the most unsettling thing about him.
The key point was his eyes, like a mist-shrouded deep mountain pond, completely devoid of life. They were deep blue, cold, and lifeless, resembling a pair of dark holes, as if suggesting that their owner had no soul and was merely a walking corpse.
The boy walked towards the three of them with slow yet determined steps, paying no attention to them.
The three automatically made way, their eyes fixed on his every move.
Goosebumps appeared on their skin, partly due to the cold and partly because of the lifeless gaze of the other person.
It was only when the boy passed by them, revealing the emblem on his back resembling a "ping pong paddle (actually a round fan)," that they realized--
"He's a lunatic from the Uchiha clan!"
"No wonder he's so terrifying!"
"Run quickly, or we'll be caught by the security squad and thrown into prison."
After whispering to each other, they used up the little chakra they had and hurriedly escaped.
On the other side, Naruto, completely drained of energy, collapsed into Hinata's arms, but a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
Of course, this satisfaction didn't come from lying on a girl's lap.
It came from the tree that had been hit by a rock and was on the verge of collapsing, seeming like it would split apart.
"Hey, did you see that just now?"
Even though he couldn't even remember Hinata's name, Naruto didn't hesitate to vigorously shake her sleeve. "That's my true strength! I just wasn't serious before! Watch me, I will definitely become the Hokage..."
Hinata nodded, tearfully bobbing her head, unable to hear anything, forgetting even to be shy.
She just hoped that her servant, or anyone from Hyuga, would hurry and come take Naruto to the hospital.
At that moment, footsteps approached their ears, and a shadow loomed over them.
"Ah—"
Startled, Hinata trembled, but she held onto Naruto even tighter.
Naruto could barely open his eyes, thinking that the three people had returned. He was about to struggle to get up but caught a whiff of a strange scent—somewhat bitter yet fragrant.
"..."
Hinata, who applied medicine to her fists every day, was familiar with this scent.
So she immediately took the small box that was handed to her without looking up. Although it had a hint of wisteria flower fragrance, it was undoubtedly a wound-healing medicine.
Then she raised her head and carefully looked at the person's face, gradually widening her transparent eyes. "Giyu Uchiha?"
Giyu Uchiha a boy of same age as her, was the son of the Uchiha clan leader and had a twin brother named Sasuke.
She knew him not only because their clans were nearby but also because her father often used "the unmotivated son of the Uchiha family" as an example when criticizing her lack of effort in training.
Moreover, when she couldn't help and wander around the snack street, she would occasionally see Giyu picking and choosing in the marketplace. For example, in the plastic bag he placed on the ground, there were two nearly lifeless salmon, over half a meter long, making it hard not to notice.
Giyu expressionlessly surveyed the two of them, Hinata and Naruto, as if he could see through them completely, as if they were no longer "human," but rather an organic composition of muscles, bones, and nerves.
Through the observation technique called "Transparent World," Giyu could immediately tell that these two kids were not ordinary.
The blond-haired boy with blue eyes had damaged skin and muscle tissue, which was rapidly being repaired by a strange energy from his abdomen. It was estimated that as long as he had a good night's sleep, not even a minor injury would remain.
His physical condition was impressive, although there seemed to be some, well, malnutrition?
He was truly a contradictory fellow as if his body and that energy belonged to two different owners.
As for the Hyuga family's young lady, judging by the muscular development of her limbs, she was exceptionally strong for a five-year-old, not much inferior to his twin brother, Sasuke, and had a considerable amount of chakra. Yet, these two individuals were being bullied by those three ordinary brats.
Unbeknownst to him, a faint trace of annoyance appeared on Giyu's face. He had seen plenty of people who lacked power and couldn't resist. But someone who had power yet didn't resist and even dragged others down...
He stared deeply at Hinata Hyūga for a moment, ignoring her gratitude, and picked up the plastic bag before leaving. After all, she was just a five-year-old child who probably wouldn't understand those principles. Ordinary people wouldn't have the same awakening as Tanjiro either, considering they hadn't lost something dear to them or urgently sought to protect someone.
"Who was that just now?"
Hearing the footsteps fading away, Uzumaki Naruto asked nervously, "Wasn't he here to cause trouble?"
"No, he wasn't."
Hinata shook her pale face and unscrewed the lid of the ointment box. "He's a good person. He gave you a box of first aid medicine. Let me apply it for you..."
Only now did her face turn slightly red.
Naruto was stunned for a moment before saying, "Can you help me up?"
"But you..."
"I have a question for him."
Naruto's voice trembled a bit as he pleaded, "Please."
On the other side, Giyu walked to a nearly broken tree and looked around as if searching for something.
"Found it."
He bent down, picked up a small pebble not much larger than a fingernail from the ground, touched it with his hand, feeling the terrifying heat on it, and then casually threw it far away.
If one observed carefully, one would notice that the small indentation on the tree trunk where Naruto had thrown the stone earlier matched perfectly with the size of the stone Giyu had just picked up.
In fact, Giyu had thrown a stone from a distance, which hit the stone thrown by Naruto and then collided with the tree, causing that frightening injury. The temperature on the stone was the result of the intense collision between the stones.
"Can the Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust have such power when thrown like this... despite it being a child's body?"
Giyu stared at the tree trunk for a while before deciding to continue moving forward. He still had things to do.
However, Naruto called out to him.
"Wait!"
Giyu turned around.
Unlike Hinata, who had strength but couldn't protect herself, this malnourished child, even in a severely injured state, didn't forget to protect the "weak" child. It aligned well with his values.
So he was willing to waste a little more time.
"What's the matter?"
Giyu asked coldly, as he always did.
"Why did you help me?"
Naruto's state seemed off.
The hidden emotions in his voice, rather than gratitude, seemed more like intense confusion and a strong unease that even Giyu could sense.
[Why does he look so suspicious when someone helps him? What kind of logic is this? Is this some kind of logic for a ninja child? Did Tengen Uzui, also have so many suspicions from a young age?]
Many thoughts flashed through Giyu's mind, but he didn't say them out loud.
Seeing that Giyu didn't intend to answer, Naruto gritted his teeth and spoke loudly, "I'm the monster fox that everyone talks about. Aren't you afraid of me?"
Monster fox?
Giyu shook his head, trying to clear his mind, suddenly remembering the giant red fox he had seen when he was just born, in the arms of his brother Itachi.
His father called it the Nine-Tails and seemed quite fearful. It was after that day that the family moved to a more remote area of the village.
But what does that have to do with this kid?
He stared at Naruto's face for a while, his gaze wandering over the six whisker-like marks as if he had understood something.
Naruto also felt where Giyu's gaze was focused, feeling a mixture of relief and heaviness, and lowered his head.
[He must be helping me because he doesn't know who I am.]
[If he finds out later that the person he helped is a monster, he will surely be angry, and would feel deceived.]
[Rather than letting him regret it later, it's better for me to confess directly...]
The unclear reaction of the other person darkened Naruto's mood even more. Rather than having others like him and then dislike him, it would be better to simply be disliked. At least in the latter case, he was already accustomed to it.
Soon, a pair of shoes appeared in his field of vision. Naruto raised his head in surprise and realized that the black-haired boy was standing in front of him.
However, as his vision was blurry, he could only make out the person's general outline.
"Since you think you're some kind of fox or something..."
While speaking, the boy bent down and rummaged through a plastic bag filled with carrots. After a few seconds, he pulled out a comical wooden fox mask and handed it to Naruto.
"Well, then this is for you."
Itachi had made five fox-shaped warding masks for everyone; he gave the fox mask Itachi had prepared for himself to Naruto. After all, in a certain sense, he wasn't a "true" family member to his parents and brothers.
As he was just a foreign soul; that had taken over someone else's body. Giyu was different from Sasuke.
The child who should have grown up carefree had long been deprived of the chance to survive by him.
Giving the mask to this child who identified as a fox due to his appearance might be just right.
Naruto inexplicably accepted the mask, feeling a complex mix of emotions beyond his young age.
This was the only person who had given him a gift besides the old man and the Ichiraku ramen owner and his daughter. And it was from a completely unfamiliar peer.
Even though Naruto had already revealed his identity to him, the fact that the other person was still willing to give him a gift was a completely new experience for Naruto. He didn't know how to respond.
By the time Naruto snapped out of his thoughts, the black-haired boy had already walked away. Naruto wanted to thank him loudly, but tears flowed into his mouth, blocking his voice. It was then that he suddenly remembered that he didn't even know the person's name.
He turned to Hinata and remembered hearing her mention "Uchiha" before, so he quickly asked, "Do you know his name?"
"Hinata-sama!"
A panicked voice interrupted Naruto's words. A white-eyed boy with a Konoha forehead protector and carrying bags of snacks appeared in front of them.
"Deji." Hinata's face flushed with guilt. If she hadn't sent Deji away to buy things, Naruto wouldn't have gotten hurt.
As Hinata's servant, Deji Hyuga felt displeased when she saw her young miss with this blonde brat again.
Although he couldn't see clearly, Naruto could still feel the familiar malice in Deji's gaze and instinctively lowered his head.
"Young Miss, let's go back now so as not to worry the clan head."
Deji ignored Naruto and forcibly dragged Hinata away, treating Naruto as if he were a disaster.
Whether he was or not, it was better to stay away from dangerous individuals as emphasized by the Lord.
Ignoring Naruto completely was the best course of action.
"Please excuse me."
"Wait..."
The situation happened suddenly, and Hinata was practically dragged away, not even leaving behind the medicine jar she was holding in her hand.
Naruto watched the two of them leave and a tinge of loneliness appeared in his eyes. But when he looked down at the mask in his hand, a faint smile appeared on his bluish lips.
"I'll return the favor later."
Naruto rallied his spirits, gave a thumbs-up gesture to the heavily cracked tree, and limped away, contemplating which flavor of instant noodles he would eat tonight.
One minute later, a ninja wearing an animal mask appeared in front of the fallen tree. He lightly tapped the stone embedded in the trunk, causing the tree to creak and fall with a resounding crash.
The ANBU ninja's hand, frozen mid-air, shook dramatically.
"I must report to the Third Hokage immediately. We must restrain the villagers. We can't let the Jinchuriki be provoked any further, as his power could lose control at any time..."
After speaking, he disappeared with a swift movement.
Since that day, Naruto was never intentionally beaten by the villagers again. But that's a story for another time.
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