2 A Child's Neglect

(8 Years Later)

(July 10, 1128)

(Konohagakure no Sato)

A child no older than 8 years old sat on top of a bed in his room in a meditative stance. His long red hair flowed down to the surface of the mattress, his eyes were closed, he wore a dark robe with rather large sleeves, and everything seemed so tranquil around him.

"Haaaah…" he breathed, and then, he opened his eyes suddenly, revealing his beautiful, violet eyes, before he yelled, "HAH!!"

A huge burst of arcane energy burst out of his body as Helel broke yet another level of the Human Realm. He's currently in level 7, and he's as strong as 254 grown men combined. That's not even calculating the arcane strengthening technique that he could use to increase his strength as long as he puts in the right amount of arcane energy.

Since he had 200 years of experience with the arcane, his control of it far surpasses a cultivator that's in the same level as him. That's why arcane spells such as Fireball or Thunderbolt would need less energy for him to cast. 

Helel felt his sweat dripping off his forehead, and realized that he was drenched in it. He grimaced.

He looked at his clock on top of the door frame, and saw that 4 hours have passed since he started cultivating. It's now 5 o'clock, just in time for him to get ready for the academy.

His foster mother is probably making breakfast down stairs, so he better gets going.

With that, he stood up and fixed his bed, making sure that it was spotless. Then he went towards the door and left after doing all that.

(30 Minutes Later)

(Downstairs)

"Have you gotten your bento? Your napkin? How about the apple juice I gave you? Or your bag?"

She gave him question after question, and he couldn't help but smile at his old foster mother, replying, "Yes, don't worry, I've got them all with me. And don't stress yourself too much, or your old age might catch up to you soon."

She smirked at him, ruffling his hair, saying, "Brat, I'm still plenty young. I'm only sixty-nine."

He chuckled before he turned around to leave the house that used to be an orphanage, but not before looking back at her, saying, "Anyway, I'll see you later, Maha-san," as he waved goodbye to her.

She softly waved back until she saw him leave completely.

She sighed, "They really do grow up so fast."

Maybe it's just her age but she keeps reminiscing about the day when her house was full of children. They would run around when she tried to change their diapers, or when they reached their early teens, they became more angsty but they never did try to rebel against her teachings. Because they knew that she only wanted the best for them.

And now, they have their own lives and families. Wives and children. Some of them even became wealthy enough to live the rest of their lives in peace.

But still, as small as this village is, they rarely ever visited her. It made her lonely but since the day Ren came to her arms, her loneliness lessened. She promised to take care of him, and she'd be damned if anything were to happen to him.

Yet as time went on, it only made her realize that Ren is strong, far stronger than any child should be. He never made trouble for her, he would always be there to take care of her when she falls ill, and even sometimes, he would be the one to cook for the two of them.

It reminded her of Minato a little. Who knows, Ren might be the second-coming of the fourth hokage himself.

She chuckled at that before going back to her house, and as she did that, she pulled out a letter from her pocket, while ignoring all of the signs outside of her fence saying "Demon Lover", "Monster", "Old Witch", and "Fox Bitch".

(With Ren/Helel)

He could feel their stares, degrading him and ridiculing him. He heard their whispering, calling him a demon and a monster. But he simply ignored them. They cannot hurt him according to the Hokage's law, and if they did, the punishment for it is execution.

He also lied about Ren's past, making up that he had a mother named Asahi Yume, and she died while giving birth to him so that released the kyuubi onto the village, and after defeating it, he sealed it into her son, who he kept the identity a secret.

He couldn't help but be amused at the fact that Minato played the villagers' ignorance against themselves since they couldn't understand what fuinjutsu is and how everything works in the shinobi part of the world.

But the Namikaze had already anticipated that the villagers would find out about his identity, one way or another, and put a rule that whoever dares to harm him within the village will personally get executed by the Hokage himself.

It seems like, in some way, his 'father' loves him very much. Only that he probably doesn't know that what he's protecting isn't him but the villagers. They would've died a long time ago if they decided to attack him, and the only reason they aren't dead right now because of their constant harassment towards himself and his foster mother is because he has to keep low-profile.

He might be strong at the moment but he cannot fight against multiple ninjas by himself. From their physical prowess alone, he could estimate that most genins are around the cultivation level 1-3 of the Human Realm. Some are even in level 4.

Anyway, at the moment, he's probably as strong as a jounin, probably even stronger if he uses his arcane energy. But that still doesn't mean he can take on dozens of jounins by himself, they would absolutely destroy him. Not counting the genins and chunins that are always patrolling the village, along with Uchiha Police.

Speaking of the Uchiha, along with the Hyuga, they are very, very annoying little shits. Since they have eyes that can see the inner workings of someone's body, they could very well see the arcane energy in his body that had replaced his chakra. So most of the time, he has to hide his arcane energy using some of his stealth techniques.

Sometimes, he would have the sudden urge to just pluck out their eyes to take it for himself but they're lucky that he has a lot of self-control.

Helel was distracted from his thoughts when he saw the gates of the Ninja Academy. He noticed the parents outside, saying some things to their children. And then, simultaneously, they all turned their heads towards him.

It was very creepy.

Then they all turned their eyes away from him, and silently whispered things to their children.

He ignored them and entered the academy doors.

His classroom is just right around the corner, which is Class 1-A, where all the rich kids are. His father was probably the one who set him up here since maybe he wanted him and his twin sister to get along. But so far, that hasn't worked out quite well.

He could hear loud noises inside the classroom, and when he opened the door, they all quieted up. Then, they started chatting again.

He moved to his seat, which is to the front. As he sat down, laying his bag to his side, he could feel the stare of one Namikaze Azumi, the daughter of the fourth hokage, trying to sear her eyes to his back.

Short and spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, three whisker marks in each cheek (He used to have the same whisker marks but he managed to get rid of it after modifying the skin on his face with a little bit of arcane magic), and always wearing the same short, orange, sleeveless, cheongsam dress.

For some reason, Azumi believes only those with shinobi heritages can become shinobis. She despises children with no shinobi parents or relatives. She believes this because she thinks she's special, because she's a Namikaze, child of a Hokage.

She surrounds herself with Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, and the ever overbearing heiress, Hyuga Hinata.

He was confused at first when he saw that since Sakura didn't have a shinobi heritage, and she had a lot of insecurities to the point that she had a dual personality disorder, and Hinata was as shy as a mouse in the anime. Now, for some reason, Sakura is the proud, playful yet cruel girl and Hinata is the cold and arrogant heiress of the Hyuga Clan.

And then there's Ino, who hasn't changed that much except that she's a wee bit nasty towards boys. She believes that girls are superior to boys, and in every spar, if her opponent is a boy, she'd always humiliate him by pulling down his pants or stepping on his head while he's down.

That's not all.

All of the main characters of the series have changed, for the better or for worse, he didn't know but he'd be too much of a busybody if he continues to look into their lives.

He laid his head down for a moment, to at least get some rest before the teacher came in. He didn't sleep much last night since he did his best cultivating. Maybe for a minute or two he can take a nap.

Then, he felt something hit the back of his head. It was light and rough. Probably a crumpled paper.

He sighed. Azumi is always doing this for no other reason than to be a bitch. He's petty so he'll get back at her once they've graduated, and maybe then she'll learn her lesson.

"Hey, tomat—"

Azumi couldn't finish her sentence because the door suddenly opened, and there entered Iruka. A stern and sophisticated man, who seemingly has his life together.

He's his favorite teacher because he's the only one who is treated the same as the other children. He never looked at him with hatred nor did he call him a demon. No, as a teacher, he knew his duties. He had his priorities, which is deserving of respect.

He put the books in his hands to the table in front of the class, and said, "Now, have you done all twenty of the homeworks I gave you all yesterday?"

And there came the reason why he is also his most hated teacher.

(Hours Later)

It was time. 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Now he can finally leave this shitty academy. He wondered why his foster mother wanted him to study in this place. It's a real hassle, maybe he should just drop out and leave the village after the old woman dies? After all, nothing is stopping him from doing just that.

Nah, too much trouble will be coming his way. He has the village's weapon inside his belly, and Konoha will not stand for that. His father will probably try to take him back by force if he does that.

As he left the academy, he couldn't help but notice it again. While all the other kids had their parents come pick them up, he saw Azumi walking towards her home alone.

She noticed his gaze and sneered at him, while flipping him off.

He just shook his head, and left the academy.

Azumi stared at the back of the fading red head before harrumphing and also turning around in a different direction.

As she slowly walked, she couldn't help but sigh. A frown appeared on her face as she rummaged through her pockets, only to find 700 Ryo.

She felt a bit happy, seeing that. That means she has enough money to at least buy ramen for today until she gets her monthly allowance.

Even though it's been barely a week, she has spent all of her money buying things like kunais or shurikens or snacks. She's not being wasteful unconsciously but she does this purposely.

Because the only few times she could see her father is when he's giving her allowance.

She didn't know why but when she was around 3 or 4, she would always see her parents fighting. Her father would strike up a conversation and her mother would always have something to argue about. And when she was 6, her mother suddenly started going to missions more often. Most of them, from what she had heard, are A and S Rank Missions. And those take months to finish.

 So the only time she sees her mother is when she has just returned from a mission, and a few days after that, she would leave the village for another mission.

She didn't know why she would do that. She wanted to know but her mother would always coldly shut her up when she tried to ask.

In a way, she knows that the reason she always bullies civilian students is because of the repressed anger and loneliness inside her. She only hides by telling the others it's the usual reason why, which is that they are civilians trying to be ninjas, even though they have no ninja heritage.

But still, a part of her knows that it's wrong, that it's making her a bad person. But what else could she do? She's nothing but a child, and in this world filled with cruelty, she feels so little.

As she turned her eyes to the Ichiraku Ramen stand, she suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore. She felt tired, and she just wanted to sleep.

So with that, in her steps filled with praises for being the Hokage's daughter, she went back to her house, to her soulless home.