1 -1- Uchiha Giyu

"A fox demon! A cataract! What a pair of freaks! Wahahaha—"

"Yellow-haired one, I've already taught you a lesson last time, yet you dare to meddle in our affairs again!"

"Hey hey hey, don't kill the monster yet, let the one with no pupils (actually, there are some but generally almost invisible) show me the white of her eyes before we deal with him."

In the forest, three tall kids stopped punching and kicking Naruto Uzumaki and approached Hinata Hyuga, who was sitting on the ground.

Through the gaps between them, Hinata saw Naruto lying motionless on the ground, and her heart ached like needles pricking it. Her already scared face turned pale with fear, tears streaming involuntarily from her eyes.

Last winter, these people bullied her.

Naruto intervened to stop them, but they beat him up badly, even ruining his warm scarf.

Today, she met Naruto by chance, and wanting to express her gratitude for last time, so she dismissed the ninja protecting her.

But unexpectedly, the same thing happened again.

[Move, Hinata, defend yourself...]

[It's like practicing martial arts with Father and Neji-nii...]

[You can protect yourself!]

The scene of her breaking a wooden board with one palm was still vivid in her memory.

However, in reality, the closer those three people got to her, the weaker her limbs became, and she forgot everything she had learned.

And the faces of those three people turned into the furious gazes of her father and brother, deepening her sense of helplessness.

"Hey hey hey, this white-eyed monster can cry too, do you think it's real or fake?"

The leader of the three kids looked very curious, "Her eyes should be different from ours, right?"

Hinata's body trembled, she tightly closed her eyes and retreated desperately until her back hit a tree.

[Tokuma (servant), Father, Neji-nii, whoever comes, please save me and Naruto!]

"Eh? She closed her eyes. I wanted to observe her more carefully! What a letdown."

"Open her eyelids and see."

"If we put some dirt in, will her eyes still be white?"

"Let's try."

One after another, terrifying and ignorant ideas gushed out of their heads.

While the slender Hinata clasped her hands in a praying posture, she prayed loudly in her heart—

[Someone save us!]

"You three! Don't touch her!"

Hinata Hyuga suddenly opened her eyes wide, and the three kids couldn't believe it and turned their heads.

It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, who had been beaten up with bruised eyes and couldn't even open his eyes, speaking.

He shakily raised his arm to support his body, pointing his fingers at them as if he could collapse at any moment.

"We...we haven't...decided the winner yet! I'm just about to show my true strength."

[N-Naruto!]

Hinata Hyuga covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her crying.

[D-Don't stand up again.]

The three kids exchanged glances, the disbelief fading, replaced by a smirk.

They taunted Naruto, "Stop boasting. If you're that capable, come over and stop us."

They were all kids who had attended the ninja academy. They could tell at a glance that it was a miracle Naruto could even stand up now. He wouldn't be able to walk a few steps without collapsing.

As expected, Naruto almost stumbled to the ground after taking just one step.

After confirming that Naruto was just bluffing, the three turned back again, preparing to deal with the white-eyed girl.

"I've already told you, your opponent is me!"

Naruto Uzumaki roared with all his might and seized the opportunity to pick up a medium-sized stone, hurling it towards the three of them.

The one targeted easily dodged, preparing to turn around and mock him, but then heard a teeth-gritting crack—a sound as if bones were breaking.

"Crack—"

The three were startled and quickly turned around, their gazes fixated on the large tree where Hinata Hyuga was leaning against, their expressions changing drastically as if they had seen their own ghosts.

The stone thrown by Naruto Uzumaki just now, like a meteor crashing to the ground, embedded deeply in the center of the big tree, but that wasn't all.

Around the stone, there were also circular cracks, like ripples on the water during rain. A huge crack extended towards the back of the tree, almost splitting it in half.

It was imaginable that if that stone had hit them on the head, it would have definitely cracked their skulls open.

"Hey hey, are you kidding..."

One of the kids felt his legs go weak.

"He's a monster after all. Let's, let's get out of here."

The three of them glanced cautiously at Naruto, who was standing there dumbfounded, and left with a "this is not over" before hurrying away.

They had just turned the corner when another figure appeared in front of them, startling them.

Looking closely, they found that the person was a four or five-year-old child, with a head of black hair, relatively soft (compared to Sasuke), and delicate features, wearing a deep red short-sleeved shirt.

Although his hands were filled with plastic bags full of vegetables and fish, his whole body exuded a chilling aura that warned others to keep their distance.

And that wasn't the most disturbing thing about him.

The key was his eyes, like deep mountain pools shrouded in mist, completely still and deep blue, devoid of any light, resembling dead water.

Those eyes were like black holes, seemingly indicating that their owner had no soul, just a walking corpse.

The boy walked towards them, his steps slow and steady, not even sparing them a glance. The three automatically made way for him, their eyes fixed on his every move.

Goosebumps appeared on their skin, half from the cold, half from the dead gaze of the other person.

It wasn't until the boy passed by them, revealing the emblem on his back resembling a "ping-pong paddle (actually a fan)," that they realized—

"He's from the Uchiha clan!"

"No wonder he's so scary!"

"Let's go, or we'll be caught by the security team and thrown into the dungeon."

After whispering to each other, they used up the little chakra they had left and hurriedly fled.

Meanwhile, Naruto Uzumaki, completely exhausted, was lying in Hinata's arms, but a satisfied smile crept onto his face.

Of course, this satisfaction didn't come from lying on the girl's lap.

But from that tree that was almost knocked down by the stone.

"Hey, did you see that just now?"

He couldn't even pronounce Hinata's name properly, but he forcefully shook her sleeve, "That's my true strength! I just wasn't serious before! You all watch, I, I will definitely become the Hokage..."

Hinata nodded tearfully, unable to hear anything, even forgetting to be shy.

She just hoped her servant, Hyuga Tokuma, would hurry up and take Naruto to the hospital.

At this moment, footsteps creeped into their ears, and a shadow covered them.

"Ah—"

Hinata was startled, but she held onto Naruto even tighter. Naruto could hardly open his eyes, thinking that the three had returned. He was about to struggle to get up when he smelled a strange scent, somewhat bitter yet fragrant.

"..."

Hinata, who applied medicine to her fists every day, was very familiar with this smell, so she immediately took the small box handed to her. Although it was mixed with a scent of wisteria, it was definitely an external wound medicine.

Then she raised her head and carefully looked at the person's face, her transparent eyes gradually widening: "U-Uchiha Giyu?"

Uchiha Giyu, the 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 the two clans were not far apart, but also because her father often warned her about "the unambitious son of Fugaku's family" when criticizing her lack of effort in training.

In addition, when she couldn't fill her stomach and wandered around the snack street, she occasionally saw Uchiha Giyu picking and choosing in the market. For example, the plastic bag he put on the ground now contained two almost dying salmon, each over half a meter long, which was hard to ignore.

Uchiha Giyu scanned the two of them expressionlessly. To Hinata and Naruto, it felt like they were being penetrated by a gentle light, exposing all their secrets.

Little did they know, in Uchiha Giyu's vision, they were no longer "people," but organic entities composed of muscles, bones, and nerves.

Through this observation method called the "Transparent World," Giyu could easily see that these two were not ordinary children.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy's damaged skin and muscle tissue were rapidly repairing from the strange energy emanating from his abdomen. It was estimated that after a good night's sleep, he wouldn't even have a scratch left. His physical resilience was terrifying.

But, hmm, how should one put it? Malnourished?

He was truly a contradictory guy, as if his body and that energy belonged to two different owners.

As for the heiress of the Hyuga clan, by the standards of a five-year-old, her limbs were well-developed with muscles, not much different from his twin brother Sasuke, and she had a considerable amount of chakra.

But these two people were still bullied by those three ordinary little brats.

Unconsciously, a hint of almost imperceptible annoyance appeared on Uchiha Giyu's face.

He had seen too many people without power who couldn't resist.

But those who had power yet didn't resist, and even dragged others down...

He stared deeply at Hinata, ignoring her gratitude, picked up the plastic bag, and left.

After all, she was just a five-year-old child; she probably wouldn't understand those principles even if he said them. Ordinary people wouldn't have the determination like Tanjiro, after all, they hadn't lost something they loved, nor did they have someone they urgently wanted to protect.

"W-Who was that just now?"

Hearing the footsteps fade away, Naruto asked nervously, "Wasn't he here to cause trouble?"

"No."

Hinata shook her head palely, opening the lid of the ointment, "He's a good person. He gave you a box of medicine. I'll, I'll help you apply it..."

Only now did her face blush slightly.

Naruto was stunned for a moment before saying, "Can you help me up, please."

"But you..."

"I want to ask him something..."

Naruto's voice trembled a bit, pleading, "Please."

On the other side.

Uchiha Giyu walked to the almost broken tree, looking around as if searching for something.

"Found it."

He bent down, picked up a small stone not much bigger than a fingernail from the ground, felt the terrifying heat on it with his hand, and then casually threw it away.

If you observed carefully, you would find a small indentation in the center of the stone that Naruto had thrown, which matched the size of the stone Giyu had just picked up.

In fact, Giyu threw a stone from a distance, hitting the stone Naruto had thrown and then hitting the tree, causing this frightening scene. The temperature on the stone was caused by the violent collision between the stones.

"To think that using the Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust in a throwing manner could cause this much damage... Even though it's just a child's body."

Uchiha Giyu stared at the tree trunk for a while before deciding to continue forward. He still had things to do.

But Naruto called out to him.

"Wait a minute!"

Uchiha Giyu turned around.

Different from Hinata, who had strength but couldn't protect herself, this malnourished boy, even in a state of serious injury, still remembered to protect the "weak", which was in line with his values.

So he was willing to waste a little more time.

"What's the matter?"

Uchiha Giyu asked coldly, his usual way of speaking.

"Why did you help me?"

Naruto's state was a bit off.

The emotions hidden in his voice were more of suspicion than gratitude, and there was a strong sense of unease that even Giyu could detect.

[Why does he look suspicious when someone helped him? What kind of logic is that? Is this how ninja children behave? Was Uzui Tengen like that from a young age too?]

Many thoughts flashed through Giyu's mind, but he didn't voice them.

Seeing that Uchiha Giyu didn't seem to intend to answer, Naruto gritted his teeth and said loudly, "I am the fox demon monster that everyone talks about. Aren't you afraid of me?"

Fox demon?

Giyu shook his head, suddenly remembering the giant red fox he had seen in his brother Uchiha Itachi's arms not long after he was born.

His father called it the Nine-Tails and seemed very wary of it. It was only after that day that the clan moved to a more remote area than even the Hyuga clan.

But what does that have to do with this kid?

He stared at Naruto's face for a while, his gaze turning to the six whisker marks on his cheeks, as if he understood something.

Naruto also felt the position of his gaze, feeling somewhat relieved but also heavy as he lowered his head.

[He must be willing to help me because he doesn't know who I am.]

[If he finds out later that the person he helped is a monster, he will definitely be angry and feel deceived.]

[Rather than letting him regret later, it's better to admit it now...]

Not being able to see the other's reaction made Naruto's mood even more depressed. Rather than letting others like him and then dislike him, it's better to just dislike him directly. At least the latter, he was already used to.

Soon, a pair of shoes appeared in his field of vision.

Naruto raised his head in surprise, only to find that the black-haired boy had already come to him. But his vision was very blurry, and he could only see the vague outline of the other person.

"Since you think you're a fox or something..."

The boy said as he bent down and started rummaging through the plastic bag of radishes.

A few seconds later, he took out a wooden fox mask with a humorous expression and handed it to Naruto.

"Then, this is for you."

Uchiha Giyu had made five fox masks and gave the one he had prepared for himself to Naruto.

////Truely Urokodaki's style lol////

After all, in a sense, he was not the real family of his parents and brothers, just a foreign soul occupying someone else's body. He, Uchiha Giyu, was different from Sasuke after all.

The owner of this body, who should have grown up carefree, had long been deprived of the opportunity to survive by him.

Giving the mask to the child who identified with foxes because of his appearance might be just right.

Naruto took the mask inexplicably, feeling more complex than he should have at his age.

This was the only gift he had received from someone other than the old man and the owner and daughter of Ichiraku Ramen.

And it was from a completely unfamiliar peer.

Even though he had already told him his identity, the other party still wanted to give him a gift. For Naruto, this was a completely new experience, to the point that he didn't know how to respond.

By the time Naruto came to his senses, the black-haired boy had already walked away.

Naruto wanted to thank him loudly, but tears flowed into his mouth, blocking his voice with a salty taste. It was then that he suddenly remembered that he didn't even know the person's name.

He turned to Hyuga Hinata, who seemed to have heard the word "Uchiha" before, and quickly asked:

"Do you know his name—"

"Hinata-sama!"

The panicked voice interrupted Naruto's words.

A white-eyed boy wearing a Konoha forehead protector appeared in front of the two, carrying bags of snacks.

"Tokuma." Hinata's face flushed with guilt.

If she hadn't sent Tokuma away to buy things, Naruto wouldn't have been injured.

And when Hyuga Tokuma found out that his young lady was mixing with this blond brat again, his brow furrowed sharply.

Although he couldn't see clearly, Naruto could still feel the familiar malice in the boy's eyes, involuntarily lowering his head.

"Milady, let's go back now. We shouldn't worry the clan head any longer."

Hyuga Tokuma ignored Naruto and pulled Hyuga Hinata away without saying a word, as if Naruto were some kind of disaster.

Whether he was or not, the clan head had emphasized the need to stay away from such dangerous individuals.

Ignoring him was the best way.

"I apologize for my rudeness."

"Ah... wait a moment..."

The situation happened suddenly, and Hinata was almost forcibly taken away, not even able to leave the medicine she was holding for Naruto.

Looking at the two retreating figures, a hint of loneliness swelled under Naruto's swollen eyelids. But when he looked down and saw the mask in his hand, a smile appeared at the corner of his bruised mouth.

"I'll return the favor later."

Naruto rallied himself, made a "Yeah" gesture to the cracked large tree with a wide grin, and limped away, starting to think about which flavor of cup noodles he would have tonight.

One minute later.

A shinobi wearing an animal mask appeared in front of the large tree.

He just lightly touched the stone embedded in the trunk, and the tree tilted forward with a cracking sound, falling down with a thunderous roar.

The Anbu shinobi paused in mid-air, shaking dramatically.

"I must report to Sandaime-sama(Lord Third). The villagers must be restrained. We cannot risk stimulating the Jinchuriki; his power could go out of control at any time..."

After saying that, he disappeared with a flicker.

Since that day, Naruto has never been intentionally beaten by the villagers again. However, that's a story for another time.