The soul mate

I only came to the orphanage building to eat and sleep. I didn't interact much with the children; to them I was a weirdo doing something in the distance. I didn't pay much attention to the people around me either, I was more concerned with developing myself.

What could be better than to see the results of my work and efforts in a quantifiable way and to know that they will not be lost in time? If I am diligent enough, over time it will allow me to do things that are unbelievable from a normal person's point of view. Understanding that magic was available to me was very stimulating, and eventually I just stopped paying attention to the disadvantages of my current situation... although the constant hunger did make itself felt. The constant training made me so hungry that I began to eat anything I could put in my mouth, and there was a huge forest of berries, fruits and nuts to satisfy my hunger.

In my worries I did not immediately notice the addition to the orphanage in the form of a noisy red-haired girl with three fox moustaches on each cheek, her name was Mito Uzumaki. The caretakers' attitude towards her was noticeably colder than that of the other children, but not unkind. Children, however, were a different matter, these creatures were quite cruel to those who stood out from the crowd, and certainly with her appearance and the different attitude of the guards towards her, Mito fit the definition of 'standing out'.

Mito and I met for the first time on the tenth of October, when I was three years old. Yesterday, I was able to build up my chakra reserve to one hundred and thirty units, giving me enough chakra not only to activate the dojutsu, but also to keep it working for a while. After breakfast, I went to one of my favourite places to meditate - on the roof of a small tool shed. The shed was near the edge of a forest and a small vegetable garden where all sorts of edible herbs grew.

I made myself comfortable, took a small mirror and looked at myself. At birth I had blonde hair and blue eyes, but apparently due to genome changes my appearance changed slightly, my hair became bleached and light blue, and my eyes also became lighter and changed their colour from blue to blue. Here, looking at the iris of my eye in the shard of the mirror, I activated my dojutsu.

My eyes immediately became hot, and in the mirror I saw my eye glowing blue, a blue ring forming in the centre of my iris with a blue shadow, and the pupil glowing turquoise and taking the shape of a five-pointed star.

It's pretty fancy. Since 'star' is the local word for 'hoshi', I'll call my dojutsu 'hoshingan'.

So, with the Hoshingan active, my eyesight had improved considerably, and the range and angle of vision had also increased slightly. I look at my hand and see that it's in a light blue-blue haze, which is probably how I see my chakra, apparently it's the colour of my hair and eyes.

Focusing on the hand, I saw a skinless hand... such a sight, both fascinating and ugly... I think my eyes will be a great help in medicine, so I should somehow ask for training at the hospital, knowledge of Irenin is never a waste.

Looking at Hoshingan's description in the system, I notice that activating him has increased some of my traits. Here's his description:

≪ Hoshingan I" 10 Chakra per minute (First level dojutsu created from incomplete data on Byakugan, Sharingan, Mangekyo Sharingan, Rinnegan and Tenseigan as well as Uzumaki and Senju genes. Activating the Hoshingan increases the clarity of vision to a range of 15 metres and increases the angle of vision to 210 degrees. Dojutsu allows one to see in the dark, through subtle obstacles and human-derived chakra, as well as increasing reaction speed by ten percent. It also increases affinity with the water and earth element chakra, making it easier to merge them with the tree element chakra. Also passively increases control and chakra count slightly). ≫

And here is the result of a year and a half of training and activating the Hoshingan:

≪Status

Health 10/10/2.5 per hour

Mana 36/36/5.2 per hour

Psi 47 432/2.4 per hour

Reatsu 67/67/11.3 per hour

Chakra 35/140/18.8 per hour

Skill points 135

Characteristics:

Strength 16

Dexterity 19

Stamina 20

Intelligence 40

Wisdom 45

Magic 18

****

So I was sitting there, meditating, recovering the chakra I had used to activate the Hoshingan and using it briefly. I was in the middle of my mind, and then I was in the middle of a dream. When I opened my eyes, I saw Mito running towards the forest and two boys, aged five and four, chasing after her. Then, as she passes my barn, she stumbles and falls to the ground. The older of the boys runs up to Mito and pulls her up, grabbing her hair and clothes, and the other boy starts beating her... not too hard, because children without chakra are quite weak, but for a child, let alone a girl, any beating is quite painful, so we have to stop it.

I jumped down from the shed and approached the first boy who was holding the girl with his back to me. First, I gave him a light blow to the base of the neck with the edge of my palm, and when he let go of Mito, I gave him a good kick that sent him tumbling forward on the ground, nose forward. The second boy noticed me at first, but didn't have time to warn his friend in time. I kicked him in the stomach with my open palm, and when he bent over in pain, I kicked him too, so that he fell straight on top of the first boy.

- It's not good to hit girls, especially little girls, and especially two of them, didn't your mother teach you that? Oh, that's right, you don't have a mother. - I said with a wicked sneer... it's not nice to say that to orphaned children, but I'm a child now and an orphan too, so it's allowed.

- She hit me first! - said one of the people on the ground, and I kicked her in the leg.

- So there must have been a reason. Now get out of here before I kick you. Because you're not girls and you can and should be kicked. - I kicked the man who had just punched Mito in the face once more.

The boys got up and walked briskly towards the building, saying quietly that they would remember this.

I turned to the girl sitting on the ground:

- So, little beauty, how did you end up fighting with boys? - I asked the girl as she rubbed her bruised cheek and stroked her skinned knee,

- It was your own fault, dattebayo! You shouldn't have insulted me, Dantebayo. And then one of them didn't like the colour of my hair, so he grabbed it and started pulling it, Dantebayo. So I hit him, Dantebayo. And then the two of them came at me, Dantebayo. So I ran, I wanted to get away and hide in the woods, Dartebayo. But I couldn't, and I fell, Dantebayo. Thank you for your help, but I could have done it myself. Anyway, I'm not a little girl. Here, Dantebayo. - the red-haired girl replied confused.

- Well, I heard no objection to the pretty girl. - I replied, and Mito was quite pretty, "Let me help you. - I sat down on the floor next to Mito, put my hands on her knee and cheek and applied Minor Healing twice, which instantly healed all the wounds and abrasions on the girl.

Mito was very surprised as all her scratches and bruises literally healed in seconds, right in front of her eyes. Questions started pouring in from her:

- How did you do it, Dantebayo? How did you learn, Dattebayo? Can you teach me, Dattebayo? - asked the red-haired girl quickly, looking at me with wide, surprised eyes.

- Well, I want to be a shinobi in the future, and shinobi don't reveal their secrets to outsiders. Especially beautiful little strangers who don't give their names. - I stood up and helped the girl to her feet.

- Um, you mean me, dattebayo? I am not a stranger, I am Mito Uzumaki, dattebayo. - She pointed at herself.

- So you have no more complaints about the pretty and petite one. By the way, my name is Naruto. Now that we've met, I can answer your questions. Anyway, healing is my secret skill. I learned it myself and I can't teach it to you, but if you need to be healed, you can come to me and I'll help you.

- You've called me beautiful several times, do you really think so? Many people don't like me. It's the colour of my hair, which is not normal, or the stupid stripes on my cheeks. What's wrong with the colour? The best colour in the world is orange, Dantebayo. And it goes really well with my orange eyes. - said an orange-haired, orange-eyed girl wearing orange shorts and an orange T-shirt... yes, she definitely likes orange, which makes her look like a fox.

- Of course I think you're beautiful. And everyone who insults you is just jealous of you because they all have plain black hair and eyes. But you, Mito, are bright and stand out, and the stripes on your cheeks make you even cuter. By the way, it's my birthday today, shall I give you some sweets to celebrate? - I offered.

- It's my birthday too, it's my third birthday, how old are you Dattebayo? - Mito asked.

- I'm three too. - I replied to my twin sister, who was unaware of our relationship.

- You are three too, Dattebayo! But you are so tall, I thought you were at least five. - The girl compared our heights, "I look taller than my peers and my physical strength is comparable to a nine-year-old.

At this point Mito looked at me with a strange expectation and I asked:

- What?

- Well, sweets, Dantebayo. You promised. Where are they? How many are there? Where did you get them? And are there any left? - Again, a rapid succession of questions came from Mito.

- Whoa, whoa, easy. I just pick fruit in the forest, various pears, apples and apricots, and dry them in the sun, which makes a very sweet dried fruit. Sometimes there are beehives with honey, which I add to the nuts. And then there's just fresh fruit, I found some peaches recently. - I like sweets, they're good when you're exercising to replenish your energy - I keep all the sweets under the roof of the barn. So, are you in? - I decided to clarify. It's a good thing it's almost always warm in the Fire Country and there's plenty to grow, otherwise I would have starved to death a year ago.

- Of course I will, Dantebajo. Who would turn down free sweets? - Mito replied and took a quick lick.

- Just be careful, you know. And if a strange man approaches you, calls you somewhere, offers you something, like sweets or cool shinobi techniques, then you shout loudly, "Pervert! Help!" and run away from him. Okay? Got it?

- Got it. Okay, Dattebayo. - Mito nodded.

- Oh, and be especially careful of the strangely dressed tall man with long grey hair and red stripes near his eyes - he is the biggest and most famous pervert in the world. Well, now that you've got it all in your head, come on, I'll help you up to the roof, the sweets are there and we'll eat there too. - I pointed to the barn.

- I can do it myself, dattebayo! - Mito said proudly.

For three minutes I watched this free show, which consisted of a little girl trying to jump onto the roof of a two-metre high barn. She failed, of course, but she tried because the reward was sweet. I couldn't make it to the roof from there either, I usually climbed to the roof from the other side, where there was an empty dog kennel by the barn, I climbed on it first and then pulled myself up to the roof.

It took Mito a few minutes to realise the futility of her attempts to climb the shed, and only then did she stop trying and stare at me with a pitiful, almost tearful look. I was relieved and led her to the back of the shed where I calmly helped her up onto the roof.

After eating all the candied nuts, fruit and dried fruit, I offered to play with Mito and she seemed very happy with the offer and immediately agreed. We played all day, remembering all the children's games I knew and played as a child: we ran, jumped, played tic-tac-toe, rock-paper-scissors, crocodile, traffic lights, I found a rope in the barn and used it as a skipping rope in the game "Nine". Sometimes Mito would fall and hurt herself, but I would quickly heal her and we would continue to play until bedtime, when the children at the shelter were put to bed.

****

Mito was happy because at least someone had treated her normally, without coldness or mockery. Her new friend first protected her, then fed her sweets, then played with her until nightfall. The birthday party had not begun well, but it ended happily. Mito decided that she would ask Naruto to be her friend and then they could play together all day long.

As she fell asleep, Mito remembered that Naruto had called her beautiful and cute and a smile appeared on her lips. That was how she fell asleep.

****

The next day, Mito offered to be friends and, after getting my consent, dragged me outside to play with her. It was fun enough, like in my past life when I played with my little sister, she must be in her twenties now, if time was the same in both worlds... ahem, a touch of nostalgia, remembering my past life, a bit sad that I had left my family... but I only missed my mother and sister, but they were fine, I hope. Girls in my former world were... difficult.

In eleventh grade I started dating a girl from tenth grade, she was a cute blonde, well when I finished school and went to university in a nearby town I continued to date my girlfriend... however at university I met a cute redheaded curly haired sweetheart... and started dating her again. As these girls lived in different cities, I managed to fool around with both of them for almost a year... but as it turned out, my scam was discovered and both girls dumped me... yeah... I still feel like a jerk about this situation, and more importantly, I liked both girls and didn't want to leave one of them for the other... but I ended up hurting both of them.

What can I say, I am young and stupid, I wanted my life to be like in a harem anime, but unfortunately I failed... although some people succeeded, so I thought I would succeed too... naive me.

I'm not really sorry that I've entered the new magical world, because in the past I didn't have very bright prospects - a job in a factory, a family, maybe even my wife wouldn't nag me, and I would have worked until I retired and then dragged out a miserable existence on meager pension payments until I died... or until my grandchildren sent me to the other world, so I'd quickly vacate the apartment... Of course, things could have turned out differently, but as it is, I have a new life now.

As a jinchuriki, Mito was watched by various masked ninja who hid in trees, on rooftops and in bushes, and when I began to make friends with the red-haired girl with the living weapon, they began to watch me as well, but on the other hand, they were primarily interested in Mito, and as soon as I left her, these spies lost interest in me.

Thanks to my eyes, I could tell when I was being watched, a really skilled and strong ninja could of course stay hidden, but such shinobi have better things to do, they keep an eye on various rulers and officials, and even a child can be watched by a common ninja. Mito may be a Jinchuriki, but the only thing she is exposed to in an orphanage is being beaten up by other children, and the orphanage administrators make sure that the children do not fight each other. I am not a Jinchuriki, and the fact that my father was the Fourth Hokage is known only to a few, so the spies are only interested in me as a friend of Mito's who communicates with her. I have noticed a few times that I have been personally followed during my walks in the forest and while picking fruit, but when they saw what I was doing here, the ninja lost interest in me.

One day, a small pile of second-hand clothes was brought to the shelter, and Mito found an orange jacket and shorts for herself. Oh, she was so happy to have found them, and walked around for a few days with a satisfied smile on her face... she had an uncanny fondness for orange, even though it really suited her. This red-haired, cute little fox just can't refuse a request to play with her. I even started petting Mito occasionally, she was reluctant at first but then she got used to it and seemed to like it.

I was wearing black trousers and a comfortable blue dressing gown, not quite my size, which made the sleeves too long, but that was a good thing because the long sleeves were good for hiding weapons. I had worn a dressing gown like this before, but mine was old and I had had it stitched and mended many times, and this was new... well, relatively new, these things had been worn, probably donated by the townsfolk to orphans.

Wearing rags and eating food gathered in the forest is exactly what Mito and I wanted our father and mother to do when they sacrificed their lives for the village... wow.