"Hey, Hyuga girl. Show us your Byakugan!"
A boy's voice reached me from a few hundred meters away, and I almost sprawled out flat on the ground.
"If you can't, then get lost!" came another voice, this time from a different kid.
You've got to be kidding me, I thought. Is this some kind of fated encounter or what?
"Your eyes are creepy," a third voice added.
I quickened my pace.
Hyuga Hinata. I'd seen her in class, along with a few other characters I knew from my past life… But now, they were real people.
What a strange feeling, thinking about them. They were complete strangers here, yet they stirred up some leftover emotional attachment.
In class it had felt like I was imagining it, but now it was stronger again. Weird… I hadn't felt anything like that toward Hiruzen or, say, Koharu. Maybe because those shinobi didn't take up much screen time in the plot?
My mind, in my past life, had gone through a lot with these anime characters; I understood their goals, their trials, their grief and triumphs. And also… even though I rarely give in to dark, destructive feelings… this new world still feels, even if just a bit, alien to me. The warmth and all‑encompassing care are gone—they died with my mother. But when I look at someone so familiar, I feel the world get a little closer.
And again, pushing those gloomy thoughts aside—I'm just curious how these characters will behave and develop now that I'm here.
"You're just a monster, aren't you?"
"Yeah, a Byakugan monster!"
By the time I heard that line, I could see everyone involved.
A girl with bluish‑black hair, a light beige scarf, and a reddish‑brown coat was standing with her back to me. Hearing that, she whimpered, covered her face with her hands, then sank down.
I did not like that scene.
But the boys, noticing me coming, fell silent and watched.
Once I got close, I could get a good look at the three of them, who could be described from left to right as the fat one, the tall one, and the average one.
"Hey, why are you guys picking on a girl?"
At my words, the girl in question turned to look at me with big, white eyes that, together with her whole hime‑cut vibe, were actually pretty cute. Adorable—and right now, so damn pitiful…
Hug her, squeeze-squeeze, protect her, sickeningly cute, must-cuddle-must-squish-must-pet… flashed through my head. But I kept myself in check.
"…Is that him?" The three of them shuffled closer, starting to whisper loudly.
"Yeah, yeah, that's definitely the one sensei told us about."
"Are you okay?" I asked Hinata, even though I knew they hadn't actually done anything to her. I got a cautious nod in reply.
"Maybe we should… run?" the average one suggested, eyeing me warily.
"Why?" the tall one asked.
"Sensei said it was almost all illusions. Created by other shinobi, even."
While they were whispering, I helped the girl up and managed to say a couple of comforting lines before stepping in front of her and blocking her with my back.
"You haven't answered my question," I reminded them in a firm voice, but it didn't make much of an impression. The boys were clearly way more into their own conversation.
"A few ninja… lots of other guys. He hired them all," the average one started.
"And his clothes look high‑quality," the tall one continued.
"And he wears pouches, like a shinobi," the fat one added.
"That last part's what's bothering me…" the average one muttered again.
"What's the big deal? It's fine," the fat one slapped him on the shoulder.
"Just some rich kid we're about to shake down," the tall one grinned nastily.
After a last silent round of eye contact, all three of them, grinning, spread out to different sides.
"Done talking?" I raised an eyebrow, frowning.
"Yeah." To my surprise, the average one stepped forward. "Take off your pouches. Weapons aren't toys for kids."
He stuck his hand out, bold as hell.
My face twitched. No need to spell out how hypocritical that sounded.
They were kids… and muggers… and, thinking of the girl behind me, bullies, or whatever you call them. But I couldn't just beat the crap out of them, right?
"Move your ass already," the tall one tried to hurry me up.
"Yeah, or you'll be crawling home!" the fat one added.
My facial muscles started having issues again.
I was about to say something, but stopped when I felt a hand touch my back.
"D-don't. They'll beat you up… I-it's not worth it. Because of me, you'll…" Hinata started, stammering.
"Hey, hey, it's fine," I stopped her, now fully turning my back to the boys. "These losers can't do jack to me, and don't blame yourself. You… uh, well, you were probably trying to hold your head high. But everyone has moments of weakness."
At that, the trio froze up, clearly not expecting to be ignored this hard.
"You're, um… a strong girl. On the inside. You didn't run away, right?" I kept trying to encourage her, dressing her behavior up as courage instead of being frozen with fear. Ahem.
"Hey, are we a joke to you?!" That sounded like the average one.
"Or, it's also possible no one's ever taught you how to deal with this crap," I went on, jabbing my thumb over my shoulder at them like they were a bag of trash. "Watch, I'll show you."
On the last word, I leaned slightly back and caught the leg flying at my spine.
Yeah, this crooked parody of Leonidas—same as the other two—was just a kid. And also, if I stuck to Hiruzen's philosophy, "one of ours," since he was a Konoha resident. Still, I really wanted to smack their heads together. Hard. I was just afraid I'd knock out the last of their brains and push their odds of growing into normal people even closer to zero.
Which meant I needed something that wouldn't cripple them, but would teach a lesson.
I spun around sharply, letting go of the kid's leg, then quickly swung my own up.
"Sh-a-a-a!" I shouted, like I was doing some karate move. Reality was a lot more mundane.
My foot shot between the attacker's legs and slammed into his crotch hard enough to make him almost jump. His eyes bulged, his mouth froze in a silent scream of pain.
The other two, also frozen, watched their buddy with horrified faces. They'd just managed to close in from both sides to surround me, but couldn't take another step.
And I, even without using chakra to boost myself, had moved fast.
"Sh-a-a-a!"
"Sh-a-a-a!"
All three of them dropped to their knees, then collapsed flat to the ground.
Covering the lower half of her face with her hands, Hinata stared at the boys with some unreadable mix of emotions.
"Something like that," I turned back to her proudly. "Got it memorized?"
Another cautious nod.
"Good." I nodded back. "By the way, looks like we're classmates. Let's introduce ourselves properly. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Certified sane, according to one psychiatrist."
I proudly flashed the certificate at her. By then, her hands had returned to their normal position.
"Hyuga Hinata. Y-yeah, I remember when you showed up."
That's not something you forget.
"And… how was it for you?"
"Strange…"
Should I be upset or happy about that? Wait… how far have I fallen, wanting approval from a little girl…
"…Not a bad review," I decided out loud. "Want me to walk you home?"
"I… I don't know. I don't want you to…" she trailed off.
"It won't be a hassle for me. But I'm not forcing it—your opinion matters."
Something flickered in her eyes.
"But even if you say no, I still have to say this. Your eyes aren't creepy, they're actually really beautiful. And you're not a monster. The monster here is me! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"You're not…" Her face went bright red; she clearly had no idea how to react. She bowed her head and, still blushing, started poking her index fingers together. But after a few seconds she finally managed to say:
"Walk me home, please."
"Huh? Okay." I held out my hand, and she timidly took it. "Off we go, then. I don't think your compound's very far."
With that, I stepped right on one of the boys, while Hinata carefully stepped over them, and we headed out.
On the way, we tried to keep a conversation going—mostly me taking the lead, but with a bit of effort from Hinata too. Now that we were officially acquainted, we told each other more about ourselves.
My entrance the day before gained a new epithet: "majestic." I, in turn, once again assured the girl that everything about her was normal—better than normal, even—which made her blush.
When we got close to the Hyuga compound, some girl ran out to meet us, whom Hinata identified as one of the maids at her house. The maid shot me a dirty look and quickly dragged Hinata inside by the arm.
"Don't forget the move! See you!"
I waved, and got the same wave back.
Standing there with the two gate guards, watching them disappear into the distance, I felt a strange sensation.
"Hey, guys, can you pass a message to her father?"
"…Suppose so," the one on the left answered.
"Right. Tell him that I, Uzumaki Naruto, will give that asshole a couple of smacks upside the head if, thanks to his fucking negligence, his own little daughter ends up left without supervision again."
"…"
"…"
They were stunned.
"On her way home, I mean, or just when she's out walking. That's it—later," I added, then turned and left.
There, that should keep them from slacking off, I thought, while the two guards' stares drilled into my back. Though I doubt they'll actually pass the message on. Hinata's father is the clan head, after all, and they'd be the ones catching hell for that. What I'd get out of it is a different question. My age works in my favor; they might just not take my words seriously. Because for now it's still just talk.
After all, I'm a little kid, and if he does take it seriously, other clans might decide the Hyuga are petty—like, instead of doing something actually important, they're picking on a child. And judging by how they let their heiress get pushed around… apparently a reputation for scaring off street punks isn't all that important to them. They're probably more worried about how they look to the other clans.
And finally, I'm a jinchuriki, which means I can do pretty much whatever the hell pops into my head. Within reason, anyway. Insulting the head of the Hyuga for a good reason—and even giving him a beating if the chance presents itself—is well within those limits, as long as no one gets seriously hurt.
I walked like that for a bit longer before cutting off that stream of mostly useless thoughts. Then I picked up the pace and headed for the hospital. I could work on something more interesting there.
The very next day, I had to go back to the academy.
"Yo, pipsqueaks," I said as I walked into the classroom, half‑full of my peers. Flashing a rock‑on gesture, I added, "The king is in the building!"
There were still about fifteen minutes until class started, but a good number of kids had already shown up and split into little groups. About half of them, anyway—the other half sat alone. There were around fifteen people here already, which was… more than in the story I knew, especially considering more students were still supposed to come.
As soon as I showed up, all eyes snapped to me. A second of silence hung in the room, then loud whispering broke out among the groups. Even though I was in my usual clothes, they recognized me one hundred percent.
After a few seconds of soaking in the attention and spotting a familiar face, I lazily strolled between the rows.
There were three rows of desks, and each desk was pretty wide, comfortably fitting three people.
"Hey," I greeted Hinata, who was sitting at the second desk of the middle row. "Mind if we sit together?"
She nodded, a little delayed and surprised, then started blushing shyly.
"How did things go yesterday?" I tried to start a small conversation.
"F-fine."
Yeah? Hm. Feels like she's sugarcoating it. But she'll talk if she wants to.
Looking at Hinata, it seemed she wasn't really in a chatting mood, so I didn't pry.
Didn't mean I had no one to talk to, though.
"Hey, that was you yesterday, right?! Yeah?" some kid ran up, blurting questions that weren't very coherent, but definitely energetic.
"Yep."
"Awesome! How'd you do it?"
"O-o-oh… that's a long story. But short version: I used my savings and borrowed some from the Hokage. Mostly hired low‑paid, unskilled workers, but spent most of it on a couple of shinobi. They were the ones casting the illusions. C‑rank techniques that work kind of like illusionary clones, if that means anything to you," I said. As I talked, the kid's face just got more and more disappointed. In the story, by the way, I was lying, downplaying my own part. "I made the palanquin myself ahead of time. Then it was writing the script and organizing the groups of people. Huge pain in the ass. We barely even had rehearsals. We were lucky it all went off without a hitch. And also…"
"Wait! So you're not a god? And you borrowed money from the Hokage?"
"Yes to both. And those two things bother you equally?"
I was starting to feel a bit irritated that my pretty extensive work—even with the modesty filter on—wasn't being appreciated properly.
"Fraud!" he shouted, jabbing a finger at me before disappearing to the back row.
"…Well, he's not entirely wrong. Although dispelling the technique should've made it obvious it was all fake anyway."
Right then Hinata managed to dig up enough courage to thank me for yesterday. But after that, the conversation fizzled out again.
I spent the rest of the time before the instructor showed up lost in thought.
When I'd walked into class earlier, I'd noticed a few more familiar faces. A pink‑haired girl in a blue kimono, most likely named Sakura. Two boys sitting together—one chubby, with brown hair and what looked like underwear as a headband; the other with a black ponytail and a sleepy face. The first should be Choji, the second Shikamaru. As for others… hard to tell. Little kids all looked kind of similar, and not everyone wore clan symbols. There were three blonde girls, but no way to tell which one was Ino.
What was interesting was that the ones I did recognize stirred up feelings similar to the ones Hinata did, to some degree. It was weird, feeling that…
Soon the number of people in the classroom doubled, but no one else dared to come up to me. Right when class was about to start, Kumao walked in.
Trying not to look in my direction, he gave a short speech about how the rules of conduct at the academy were very important, then moved on to another "important" activity—introductions.
"The strength of a society lies in its unity. Forging bonds, you could say, is the key to strength. Therefore, I believe that learning to take the first step toward others is a mandatory skill for everyone. It will be easier for you to build connections with each other once you know what everyone is into. So I'm going to ask each of you to come up, state your name, and tell us about your hobbies. And also, if you have one and aren't shy—tell us about your dream…" By the end of his speech, the man's head finally turned in my direction. "…Just don't be like the already well‑known Naruto."
I snorted. That was rich—I highly doubted anyone here had the organizational skills, everything else you'd need, plus a whole pile of lucky factors to pull off something like that.
And so it dragged on. Now I knew which of the two Aburame boys in our group—both black‑haired and in glasses—was Shino, and which had a different name. I also learned that yeah, that totally average‑looking kid was Uchiha Sasuke, and that among the two brown‑haired boys, one was Inuzuka Kiba.
So far, none of them looked like anything special, either in appearance or based on what they said they did—just normal kids. Normal for this world, anyway. Sasuke liked throwing kunai at targets, and sometimes at his beloved big brother if he wouldn't play with him for too long. Ino, for example, was into flowers.
To my surprise, they called me up to introduce myself too. I told everyone I dabbled in fuinjutsu development, was poking at genetic engineering, and rattled off about a dozen more hobbies that sounded smart. Sadly, all I got for it were blank stares.
Looks like I won't be finding any kindred spirits here…
Since nobody got it, I added that I lived at the hospital, even though I wasn't a patient—not even in the head—and showed off my psychiatrist's certificate again. Still no "wow" reaction.
After the introductions, Gendai started a standard lecture on the history of the Leaf. Very rough and simplified, so even the not‑so‑bright could follow.
And I got bored, with a growing sense I was wasting my time.
For now, there was nothing to squeeze out of the clan heirs, no matter how much I wanted to. Everyone looked like regular kids, not prodigies who'd already mastered all their family secrets. Which meant that unless those "geniuses" suddenly popped out of nowhere, I'd have to wait until my classmates learned their clan techniques and then try to pry them out of them. Though something told me I wouldn't get much that way…
The kids themselves, as far as I could tell, weren't anything special either. I'd have to wait until their personalities came out more.
I'd looked over the curriculum and, unfortunately, there was nothing interesting for me today or in the coming days. Our teacher was supposedly experienced, but just a chunin, and he had to pay attention to the whole group, not just me. Even if I did manage to get something out of him, it probably wouldn't be anything crucial.
Sitting through the rest of the lesson was, again, boring. So I decided that, say, chatting with the old hag—or getting smacked across the back by her, depending on how it went—would be more fun.
By the end of class I still hadn't seen anything in the faces around me that really caught my interest, and I noted that people seemed kind of afraid to approach me. So, after finding out from Hinata that she'd have an escort this time and telling her not to be bored, I just left the academy. On my way out, I tossed out that I'd go have a word with the local boss if he started giving me shit about attendance, which seemed to calm the Hinata who was worrying about me leaving.
Looked like my behavior was breaking her worldview—as well as a lot of other people's around me.
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