The Little Girl with the Byakugan

"Look, it's that guy!"

"That guy is still in the village?"

"Damn it, wasn't he already dead?"

"No wonder I slipped in the bathroom yesterday. It was all because of him."

"That damned demon..."

"Shut up. Have you forgotten the Third Hokage's orders?"

"Damn it, why is the Third Hokage protecting that guy?"

"..."

The facts proved that even though Naruto had vanished from the village for nearly a year, the villagers' malice toward him had not diminished in the slightest. Under Sarutobi Hiruzen's unnecessary orders, it had instead grown even stronger.

Ignoring the disgusted, hateful stares and malice around him, Naruto simply walked calmly home. Only the narrow-minded would get angry over insults. As for him, Naruto would directly raise Konoha's average strength to Kage-level, then lead everyone to become Sages of Six Paths.

He was practically the perfect example of repaying resentment with kindness.

"Hey, you! Do you know you bumped into us?"

"Hm?" Naruto suddenly heard a commotion. He looked toward the sound and spotted a familiar figure, his expression turning slightly surprised.

Several relatively tall boys had surrounded a little girl wearing a light pink yukata.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to." The little girl hurriedly apologized, fear written across her face. Her porcelain-white skin, chubby pink cheeks, ear-length short hair, delicate features, and those unusual white eyes all declared her identity.

Hinata Hyuga.

However, the little brats surrounding her apparently did not know the name of the Hyuga Clan. One of the boys stepped forward and shoved the girl. Perhaps not expecting such crude behavior, Hinata was pushed straight to the ground. Mud splattered everywhere, and her light pink yukata was stained by the dirt.

That shove made Hinata raise her head, revealing those unusual white eyes. The few children surrounding her froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Hahaha! Look at her eyes!"

"They're actually white! She must be another monster."

"She's a monster just like that thing."

"She's a monster too. Let's stone her to death."

The four little brats actually picked up rocks from the ground, preparing to throw them at Hinata.

Children's malice was the purest kind of malice. It had nothing to do with positions or interests. Merely being a little different from others was enough for them to treat you with the deepest hostility.

Naruto suddenly found it rather funny. The Hyuga Clan was one of Konoha's great clans, second only to the Uchiha. Yet even their eldest daughter could be bullied like this by ordinary civilians?

"I didn't expect that after more than a year, you'd still be the same."

Naruto's voice suddenly sounded behind them, startling all four of them. Hinata, who had been curled up on the ground with her head covered, also peeked out with both eyes and immediately showed a delighted expression.

Naruto and Hinata had known each other for a long time. About a year and a half ago, when Naruto had just transmigrated and was wandering the streets, he had met her. The scene back then had been almost identical to this one.

At the time, Naruto had only just mastered Chakra and could not control his strength well. He had sent those little brats straight to the hospital. He had cried bitterly and regretted it for a long time before finally fooling Sarutobi Hiruzen and getting past that man's malice.

"Y-you're that monster!"

"Didn't the Third Hokage have you executed?"

"You... you really are a monster?"

"M-monster! The monster is going to eat people!"

The four of them watched Naruto slowly approach and could not help shouting. Naruto was no longer as thin and frail as before. The immense Chakra in his body, along with a year and a half of fine food, had caused his physical condition to improve by leaps and bounds. His lean, powerful muscles and the oppressive presence of someone a head taller than children his age made all four of them feel their limbs turn cold, leaving them frozen in place.

"N-Naruto-kun!"

Hinata stood up with delight written all over her face. Ever since Naruto had helped her a year ago, she had wanted to find a chance to thank him in person, but she had never run into him again.

Naruto ignored the four "innately wicked Konoha brats" and walked over to Hinata, looking at her with utter disappointment.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Hinata looked somewhat aggrieved. For some reason, she suddenly saw a trace of her father in Naruto.

"The monster is going to eat the monster! Run!"

"Run!"

Seeing that the Demon Fox was not paying attention to them, the four immediately scattered and fled.

"It wouldn't be hard to deal with them, would it?"

Naruto's voice was stern. He sounded even more like Father.

"Father said that strength... strength... shouldn't be used to hurt people casually. I-if I hurt them, that wouldn't be good." Hinata lowered her head and stammered, her voice softer than a mosquito's buzz.

"You have strength, yet refuse to use it? You would rather let yourself be hurt than hurt others?" Naruto quietly watched Hinata, who kept her head lowered and did not dare speak. The disappointment in his eyes became even more obvious.

"I thought we could become good friends."

Naruto's tone was full of regret. Upon hearing it, Hinata instinctively raised her little head and looked up at Naruto, her snow-white eyes filled with anxiety.

She did not understand why. Last time, Naruto-kun had saved her. Not only had he driven away everyone bullying her, but he had even held her hand and taken her home. Naruto-kun was obviously such a gentle person, so why did he not want to be friends with her?

"W-why? Why, Naruto-kun..."

Hinata was so anxious that she could barely speak clearly.

Her pure eyes had already grown misty, two tears gathering within them like springs amid a snowy landscape, making her look unbearably pitiful.

Naruto's expression did not change. He hoped Hinata could change. If she remained like in the original story, nothing more than a decorative vase, then she would only become a burden to him.

After all, in Konoha, Hinata was one of the few people who held no malice toward him. Even from Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had always seemed so kind to him, Naruto could sometimes sense hostility. That was why he wanted to guide Hinata a little, so she would not be brainwashed by the Will of Fire.

After staying in darkness for too long, one would also begin to long for a little light.

In this reunion, all he had felt from Hinata was joy and excitement. The girl's feelings were so pure and clean, utterly untainted. But if she remained this weak, getting too close would only hurt them both.

"Did you see the way those people looked at you?" Naruto suddenly turned toward the crowd that had inexplicably begun gathering around them. Every one of them carried deeply revolting malice. Among the scattered crowd were several particularly intense presences.

Heh, another one of the Konoha Higher-ups' little tricks?

"W-why?" Hinata also noticed the villagers gathering around them. Every one of them looked at Naruto-kun as if asking why he was not dead yet, which made Hinata feel even worse.

"Because of your weakness, they cannot even see that you exist."

Naruto did not look at Hinata. Instead, he stared intently at the crowd surrounding him.

He saw the group of little brats from earlier. They stood beside their respective parents, whispering to each other and lowering their heads with malicious grins, as though they stood on moral high ground, yet also as though they were the victims.

Hinata saw them too. Why? Naruto-kun had clearly helped her, so why was he being treated as the bad guy?

Noisy voices rose from the crowd.

"Is that guy going to hurt someone again?"

"I knew something would happen the moment that guy suddenly showed up in the village."

"Just as I thought. This monster should be driven out!"

"Hey! The Third Hokage's orders..."

"Who cares about orders now? That Demon Fox is going to hurt someone again."

"Is that little girl the Demon Fox's target this time?"

"Is this monster going to eat that girl?"

"Hurry and notify the Third Hokage! Drive this monster out!"

The villagers' malice grew more and more intense, but Naruto remained calm. His state of mind did not ripple in the slightest.

"That's not true!"

A delicate cry suddenly rang out. It was soft and timid, yet it instantly overwhelmed the noisy crowd. The voices filled with malice abruptly fell silent.

Naruto looked at Hinata in surprise. Her face had turned bright red, and both hands tightly clutched the hem of her yukata. Though her whole body trembled with fear, she still shouted with all her strength.

"Naruto-kun isn't a bad person! Naruto-kun saved me! Naruto-kun is a good person!"

For the first time, Hinata bravely spoke with her own voice. She did not want to see the disappointment in Naruto-kun's eyes. For the first time, she stood against the village.

But ignorant and foolish villagers could not see the truth.

"That little girl must have been threatened by the Demon Fox."

"Damn it, that wicked Demon Fox."

"He actually dared threaten a villager. Why hasn't the Konoha Military Police Force shown up yet?"

"Drive him out!"

"Drive him out!"

In an instant, the crowd became enraged. Hinata suddenly realized that her explanation seemed to have had the opposite effect. Panic welled up in her heart, and just as she wanted to shout again, she felt a small hand rest on her head.

"Alright, that's enough."

Hinata suddenly met a pair of gentle azure eyes, as tender as water and as blue as the sky.

"Hinata, leave this place first. It may get dangerous next."

He had already seen quite a few villagers picking up stones.

"No, I..."

Tears hung in Hinata's eyes. She wanted to stand by Naruto's side.

"Young Lady." At that moment, a Hyuga ninja appeared in front of Hinata. His arrival immediately took some of the wind out of the enraged villagers.

They were merely civilians. They could not afford to provoke a ninja.

The Hyuga ninja stood directly between Naruto and Hinata, watching Uzumaki Naruto warily. With disgust all over his face, he said to Naruto, "Stay away from the Young Lady, demon..."

His voice seemed to be strangled by something. Looking into those eyes glowing with needlepoint-red light, he was so frightened that he could not say another word.

"That's not true! It's not like that!" Hinata cried out, trying to explain, but the Hyuga ninja grabbed her and ran away at full speed. He dared swear that even when facing Hidden Cloud Village's Shuriken, he had never run this fast.

That really was a monster!

The Hyuga ninja had been the first to discover this. He had thought it was merely a rumor...

The Hyuga ninja's departure reignited the villagers' previously extinguished anger, making it burn even hotter.

"Get out of our village!"

Whoosh—

The sound of something tearing through the air suddenly rang out. A stone smashed directly into his head, and blood instantly streamed down, dyeing half his face red.

Seeing this, Hinata felt as though her vision had turned crimson. It was as if, in that blood-red world, the small and incredibly gentle Naruto was being devoured by a group of monsters.

It was all because of me...

Still too weak.

Naruto wiped the blood from his face and calmly watched the countless eggs, vegetable leaves, and stones being hurled at him.

If he had the kind of power Superman had, enough to destroy all of Konoha with a single strike, why would he need to endure this humiliation?

"Ding!"