3 Chapter 3

I took them to the park and Ino was playing with Sakura, more like bickering with her. There were other girls around them, but kept their distance and watched them quarrel while enjoying it.

When I walked closer to them, the girls waved at me, but their hands soon went down when they saw Naruto behind me.

They all just walked away, leaving only Ino and Sakura, who noticed their actions and turned to me. Ino waved at me with a smile while Sakura stared at Naruto and Hinata.

I walked up to them and asked "Can they play with us?" to which, Ino looked at Naruto and Hinata, and said "Well, it looks like you already have decided what to do. Sure, I already know Hinata. As for this kid, I believe he is Naruto."

I nodded my head and Naruto stepped forward as he stated "I am Naruto Uzumaki. I am going to be the hokage." which I was getting tired of hearing.

I then felt Sakura pull my hand and she took me away from Naruto. She said "Hatsuo, haven't you heard the rumours about him. Everyone in the village say that he is a monster."

Typical human. She believes anything when everyone around her say something. I asked "Sakura, would you stop playing with me if someone told you I was bad and shouldn't play with me?" and this managed to make her stutter.

She didn't know what to tell. She immediately shook her hands and said "No, I would never stop being friends with Hatsuo."

"See, he is also a good kid. Someone started rumours about him and now everyone treats him like a monster. Try being friends with him once. He is a good kid." I said and she looked at Naruto for a while before replying " Sure, if you say so." and returned back to the group, who were happily talking about something, well except Hinata. She was just giggling and smiling without taking.

Just like that, I got two more friends and well, life was starting to get better and more busy from here.

I was getting too involved in the story and I wasn't confident that I could take on the villains that would start appearing. So, I started training more than usual.

Normally, I would just do one rep of his training and call it a day, but I went for two reps daily, slowly increasing it as my body got used to the training. I was really starting to like the laws of physics and biology in this world.

My body was improving daily and to help me with my combat training, I got many genin visitors.

Well, after I had broken someone's nuts, I managed to piss off everyone in the village, but the chunin and the jonin were busy with their work. So, the jobless genin would try and pick on me everyday, but they would never go extreme and use ninjutsu, as it was not allowed and it would give a reason for the Uchiha policemen to arrest them. So, they would only try to beat me up with taijutsu, which was helping me train in taijutsu.

And just like this, 16 months passed and I got more friends to play with. Basically all the main characters from the ninja academy from the show and a few others. Even though I was way passed playing age due to my rebirth, I still enjoyed the time with them. I guess being a loner really is dangerous.

Many things happened during these 16 months, but the best thing was that kids were slowly starting to get closer to Naruto and started considering their parents' words as rumours.

Its just that, Naruto is a very lovable character, but they didn't even interact with Naruto and believed what everyone talked said. Another good thing that happened was that Sakura wasn't chanting and simping over Sasuke like in the show, which might be due to my interference, but it is better though. I went from hating her to actually considering her as a friend.

As for me, my physical strength has improved a lot and I am now strong enough to easily beat up an adult, but have to struggle a lot to fight with a genin. It is difficult to gain power when chakra isn't powering you up. Chakra also helps strengthen the user's body. That's the reason ninjas are stronger than normal citizens, as the chakra increases their physical strength.

I was making steady progress though. I was happy with the progress and life was peaceful. I was happy with my life and was enjoying it. That's when reality decided to wake me up. I heard that Hinata was about to get kidnapped by kumogakure ninja, but was saved by her uncle.

This caused Hinata to get locked up in her house with security so that it doesn't repeat again. So, I didn't get to see her much for a couple of months.

I was currently doing my last 100 pushups of my third rep of Saitama's training. "97....98....99....100..." I counted and stood back up.

Even at the age of 5, I already had visible muscle lines under my baby fat and even after three reps, I was only tired. My body had greatly adapted to the training and was getting stronger.

That's when I decided that I needed weights. I had a place in mind where I can find rocks of various sizes for my training.

I wiped off my sweat with a towel when Ino came running to me and said "Hatsuo, you are training again. We are going to attend the Academy from tomorrow. We will have proper classes there. So, you don't have to strain yourself."

"What are you talking about? Don't you know that I won't be joining the academy?" I said and this was shocking for her. She immediately asked "Why?" and I replied "Well, since I don't have any chakra in my body due to my weird physique, I won't even be able to enter the academy. Even if I did, I would get kicked out immediately."

Even though that was the truth, it wasn't the reason why I didn't join the academy. Who would go back to school after already experiencing how it is going to be.

"What? You don't have chakra? Why don't I know anything about this?" she asked and I replied "Well, no one asked and there wasn't any situation where I had to bring this up. Why are you overreacting this much?"

"Overreacting? This is the normal reaction of a person who gets to know that a person doesn't have chakra, which isn't normal, as even trees and flies have chakra." Ino said.

"Ok, calm down. I do have chakra its just that, it is immediately consumed by body for functioning and thus, I have no chakra to use in jutsu." I replied and Ino still couldn't believe that I didn't have chakra.

It took her a while to calm down. I then asked "Why did you get so worked up over that? I don't think anything will happen even if I don't have chakra."

"About that, I was talking to my friends and Sasuke was brought up by one girl. She went on about how he is handsome and there isn't any other good looking boy in the village. I got mad and said I knew the most handsome boy in the village and would introduce you to them in the academy." Ino said and was sad about it.

And here I was expecting some serious thing. I chuckled and said "Well, we can meet them now if you want and I don't have to go to the academy for you." and she agreed.

She then took me to her friends and proudly presented me to them and enjoyed how they completely agreed with her while I was enjoying Ino's expressions.

They then returned back to their homes, but Ino stayed back. She turned to me and said "Sooo...Hatsuo, did you know that a new stall opened in the village that sell fresh ramen, instead of that ramen imported from the capital city. Soooo....I was thinking.... would you like to go try it out with me?"

This was weird for me. A small girl was asking me out for a date. This isn't me having impure thoughts. I can clearly tell by her face and how she was moving her feet in circles on the ground.

I then looked at her face, which had a slight blush, but also was expecting me to accept. I sighed and thought "I think I can do this if I think of her as a child and this as a casual dinner with a child."

It was still weird for me even though she was the same age as my body and it is completely natural if I was the same age as my body.

I said to her "Sure, I was starving." I said and she immediately jumped with a bright smile on her face before saying "Alright. Change your clothes and meet me at the entrance of the park."

She then took off to the entrance and I returned to my secluded area and got changed to washed clothes. Since I didn't have time to take bath, I was still stinking from all the sweat.

There were no deodorants or perfumes in this village yet, so I had to go on my first date in this world stinking, but I didn't have a choice.

I then went to the entrance of the park, where Ino was waiting as she moved around with a bright smile on her face. As soon as she saw me, she came to me and asked "Shall we leave?" and I nodded as we walked through the streets of the village.

Everyone were busy in their work and didn't notice me, which was a good thing as, of they did, they would say something and I would beat them up, ruining the moment.

As we walked through the streets, I noticed how Ino was trying her best to come closer and hold my hand, but couldn't muster up the courage needed to do so, which was cute. I decided to help her, and caught her hand, which surprised her, but she slowly held my hand tightly as she swung it while walking.

It was amusing and all the while, I was thinking about Ino, who had started to show signs that she liked me. Now, I wasn't attracted to her tiny body and I prefer women, but knowing that she would turn into a great beauty in the future, I decided that I can date her.

Also, she was the first person who spoke to me the longest after my parents. So, she was special to me. Before long, we arrived at the ramen shop famous in the show, Ichraku ramen.

The aroma from the shop itself was enough to get customers running to their stand. As to why the ramen stand actually became popular is that, the village didn't have any ramen stalls. The only thing they got to taste close to ramen is the cup ramen imported from the capital city.

So, when they got to taste the real ramen, they loved it. So, the stall had opened one week ago, and is still packed with people, with a line outside waiting for their turn.

We waited patiently and and when it was our turn, we went in and the shop and Teuchi, the owner looked at me and said "Welcome Hatsuo, would you like the usual?" and then looked at Ino. He raised his eyebrow and smiled as he said "You are here with someone today. So, what would the cute lady here like to have?"

He was talking to me like this because, I was the first customer to their stall when they first opened and you can say that I was the one who got them customers at the beginning.

When they first opened, no one knew about the stall and didn't care. My stupid reputation in the village managed to draw attention to his cart and before long, he was flooded with customers due to the taste. Also, I visited his stall everyday and that's how we were familiar with each other.

Ino looked down due to embarassment and I said "Get us something you think would suit the situation." and he smiled before getting back to work.

Ino was still thinking about how Teuchi reacted when she was with me. Before long, Teuchi was back with our order, which was a ramen with a light broth and the toppings had a boiled egg, a seaweed, few spring onions and two thin slices of pork.

He made the portion small so that Ino can eat everything, which was less than what I usually eat. Ino dug into the bowl of ramen and loved the taste. She didn't speak anyone in the stall, which I don't know if it was due to her embarassment or her focusing on her food.

We paid for the food and left the stall. I offered to walk her home, but she refused saying that she didn't want her father finding out about me yet.

"Ok then, see you tomorrow." I said and waited for her to leave, or atleast reply. She then immediately got closer to me and gave me a peck on my lips before running off.

I was just standing there, looking at her run through the busy streets. "I wasn't expecting that" I said to myself and smiled before I headed back to my house.