First Meeting with Yellow Hair Protagonist, This Entry Is Truly Overbearing

Splash.

Moonlight fell like water onto the stream below.

In the reed marshes downstream of the Naka River, rustling sounds came from beyond the bushes.

Splash.

GOOGLE SEARCH TWKAN

"Oh yeah, awesome! Finally got a bite!"

In an arc of splashing water, a little kid with yellow hair was beaming.

In front of him.

A freshly caught saury was twisting restlessly.

Water splashed everywhere.

A fair bit of it landed on the yellow-haired kid's head, soaking his hair.

The four-year-old was drenched, his grimy little face set with blue eyes.

But instead of getting angry at all, he grinned even wider: "Heheh, this must be half a pound, right? I can finally eat my fill today!"

His smile was simple and innocent, with no trace of the pain of hunger in his eyes.

Only longing and anticipation for the food.

Crackle.

As the campfire was lit, the reddish flames slowly roasted the cleaned fish until it turned golden and crisp.

The aroma gradually drifted out.

Crackle.

But just then, footsteps suddenly sounded from outside.

Not loud, but they stood out against the quiet riverside with only the roasting fish.

"Who's there!"

The yellow-haired kid shot to his feet, arms raised in front of him in a defensive stance.

Usually at this hour, the only ones who'd come near him were those nasty kids from the village.

When they saw him, they'd either throw stones or hurl insults.

But he hadn't done anything wrong.

Rustle rustle.

This time, though, he waited a long while, and the person opposite didn't throw any stones.

They just slowly walked over from behind the tree.

A whole head taller than him.

Black hair tied back, facial features handsome and gentle, without the usual disgust he saw.

The clothes they wore looked somewhat familiar.

Seemed like the outfit of some big clan in the village.

"B-Big brother... who are you..."

After a moment's hesitation, Naruto's wariness still kept his eyes fixed on the boy.

"So it really is you... Naruto."

The newcomer was none other than Uchiha Jin.

After nightfall, once he'd gotten word from Itachi, he left a clone in the clan.

His main body had slipped out to loot the corpses.

The Cloud Shinobi's corpses.

Characters who were destined to die in the original story—what did it matter who killed them, as long as they died?

After looting, sensing someone chasing him, he'd been about to leave directly.

But then he suddenly sensed someone by the river.

A kid alone by the river at this hour—across all of Leaf Village in the world of Naruto, only one person fit the description—

The Protagonist, Naruto.

"You know me? Big brother."

Little Naruto seemed a bit excited when he heard someone call his name.

His small face flushed red.

Then his big orange eyes rolled around, as if he'd made up his mind about something, and he scratched his head:

"Big brother, have some fish! Heheh!"

At that moment, the excited and happy boy had no idea how to handle others knowing.

Instinctively, he blurted out what mattered most to him.

Gur—

But as soon as he said it, a rumble came from his stomach.

Clearly, four-year-old Naruto was already starving.

"Just having someone know your name makes you this satisfied?"

Seeing Naruto like this, Jin shook his head.

If that man, who had been thinking of his son even in death, knew how his child ended up living...

Would he have left so peacefully?

It was a pity that their Uchiha Clan had been under the village's watch from early on.

Jin had tried more than once to run into Naruto and talk.

But every time he moved toward Naruto's place, he immediately felt a prickling sensation on his back.

Obviously, that was the Anbu on watch, tightening their surveillance.

Ever since the Nine-Tails Incident, he had been under the watch of the Anbu—or rather, Root.

It was also clear that all the village's higher-ups didn't want the Uchiha getting involved with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

With no other choice, Jin had to temporarily give up on contacting Naruto.

He didn't want to be truly targeted by the village this early.

"Is it... really not that good? I don't have many seasonings yet."

Seeing Jin shake his head, little Naruto thought his fish had been rejected.

He drooped his small head in disappointment.

Like a quail, shrinking his neck.

"Heh, no, it's not that. I just haven't... how about we eat together?"

"Huh?! Okay!"

In an instant, light flickered in the lonely child's eyes.

Little Naruto seemed to have endless things to say.

With every bite of fish, he could talk for ages.

Jin didn't say much else, just ate along with him, occasionally replying.

If Sasuke saw this, his jaw would drop.

When did the chatterbox second brother get so quiet?

And as time passed, Jin finally saw some of Naruto's traits.

[Conversation Target: Uzumaki Naruto.]

[Ten minutes of conversation. Copyable Traits: Talk-no-Jutsu (Black), Child of Destiny (Rainbow), Nine-Tails Jinchuriki (Gold), Chakra Ton (Gold), Agile (White).]

Simple, sparse traits.

Aside from what he was born with, in four years, he'd only gained one more: Agile.

So he'd had a different kind of childhood after all?

Jin murmured, but grew even more excited.

Fewer traits meant fewer categories he could copy from.

Out of five traits, four were bug-level!

An 80% chance of copying a good trait!

Wasn't that a good thing?

Jin smiled, then looked expectantly at the system prompt.

[Copy successful. Congratulations, host, you have obtained the common trait: Agile (White).]

Jin: ...

Was that 80% probability fake?

A flicker of regret passed through his eyes.

But he quickly calmed down.

Running into Naruto was already an unexpected blessing. What was there to sigh about over copying one trait?

Without a second thought, he said directly, "System, fuse it into the Swift Shadow trait."

[Fusion successful. Swift Shadow (Blue) has received a minor enhancement.]

A familiar warmth surged through him.

Jin could clearly feel that there was... no real change in his limbs or inside his body.

The improvement wasn't much.

Or rather, the proportion wasn't significant.

The elite trait Swift Shadow (Blue) had been fed over the years with the Light as a Swallow trait, upgraded from constant nourishment. It brought a decent boost—at least when he consciously controlled it, he could walk without making a sound.

Paired with his colored trait Weak Presence, it was almost a perfect match.

Of course, over these years, Jin hadn't just fed that one trait.

His mind stirred. While chatting, he subconsciously looked toward the small figure before him and checked the attributes.

Code
[Name: Uchiha Jin]
[Chakra: 1000025]
[Traits: Seven-Year Itch (Black), Golden Body of Light (Color), Weak Presence (Color), Flying Thunder God Technique (Gold) Lv4, Prominent Background (Purple), Sharingan (Purple), Byakugan (Purple), Adamantine Sealing Chains (Purple), Cloud Style Body Technique (Purple), Lightning Release Mastery (Blue), Fire Style Affinity (Blue), Swift Shadow (Blue), Dynamic Vision (Green), Eight Trigrams Palm (Green)...]

Quite a few traits.

But limited by his age, his body couldn't be over-enhanced yet.

He knew that early bloomers withered easily.

Besides, in his past life, he'd seen so many child stars who loved martial arts—most of them ended up not growing very tall.

That all reflected one thing: don't overconsume the body.

Muscles could also restrict bone development.

After a moment of reflection, he shifted his focus to the Flying Thunder God Technique.

That, too, was a trait he had been continuously feeding for four years!