This World's Children

At dinner that evening, Danzo looked at Bing San's black eye and frowned slightly. "Get into a fight?"

Bing San quickly shook his head. "No, no. It was during taijutsu class."

Danzo narrowed his eyes, then nodded. "Whose kid was your opponent?"

Bing San's stiff mouth twitched. "Asuma, that fat monkey!"

Asuma wasn't actually fat; he just had a bit of a baby face!

Danzo's expression darkened slightly. "You lost?"

Seeing Danzo's expression, Bing San suddenly remembered that, all this time, the Third Hokage had always had the upper hand over Danzo.

Bing San hurriedly replied, "I won. I knocked Asuma's front teeth right out."

Then Bing San launched into a vivid account of his "heroic" victory.

After all this time, Bing San had more or less figured out Danzo's temperament.

As long as you kept him happy, you could do whatever you wanted. But the moment you went against his wishes, you were as good as dead!

He bragged up a storm, pulling out every trick in the book—even the stuff comedians used.

In reality, though, Bing San was still a total novice. Being mature didn't mean he knew how to fight.

Bing San had only been practicing haphazardly for a little while. What did he know about fighting?

So the two of them had just traded wild, clumsy punches. Since Bing San was small, he got punched in the face. Asuma was the unlucky one: Bing San had hit him on the chin, triggering the Rozan Sho Ryu Ha. Asuma went flying and lost a tooth.

Danzo's mood improved as he listened to Bing San's colorful tale. Suddenly, as if he'd thought of something, he burst out laughing!

He even had an extra bowl of rice at breakfast.

After the meal, Shimura Yujin came to teach Bing San taijutsu. Seeing his black eye, he frowned. "Who hit you? How do you not know to protect your face when you fight?"

Bing San gave him another vivid account of his "glorious victory."

Shimura Yujin's face twitched. He chuckled a few times, then said, "Next time, remember to protect your face. Don't mess up that pretty little face of yours."

After a brief silence, he added, "Next time you run into Asuma, jab him in the eyes and kick him in the crotch. I guarantee you'll win!"

Bing San's mouth twitched. Are you trying to make Asuma hate me or what?

Time flew by, and before long, three days had passed.

That morning, the whole village felt a little strange. Who knew what the adults were up to? Today, Obito wasn't late, but Kakashi unexpectedly hadn't come to school.

Bing San narrowed his eyes. Had Danzo gotten Hatake Sakumo killed?

After school, Bing San, Asuma, Namiashi Raidō, and Morino Ibiki walked home together. They all lived nearby.

At the school gate, they saw Uchiha Feng and his younger sister, Uchiha Yue, along with Hyuga Kuji and Hyuga Go, surrounded by seven or eight raggedly dressed children!

A boy of about ten pointed at the four of them arrogantly and said:

"I don't care what happened. You hateful kids from the big clans dared to hit my little brother, so I'm not letting you get away with it."

With that, he raised his club, ready to attack.

Hyuga Kuji glared at the others beside him and said irritably, "Go, you've gotten me into trouble again. Just wait until we get home."

Then the two sides started trading blows. But the other kids were clearly much older, and the four of them were outnumbered. It looked like they were going to lose.

Asuma grabbed his schoolbag and started forward to help, but Namiashi Raidō held him back and said coolly, "They're always looking down on us. Why should we help them?"

Asuma stared at him, stunned. "But we're classmates."

Morino Ibiki also grabbed Asuma's schoolbag. "They don't think of us as classmates.

"Have you ever seen them look at us with anything but contempt?

"'Commoners, commoners,' they're always saying. Tch."

The kids in the Naruto world really did grow up fast.

Just then, Hyuga Kuji shouted, "Eight Trigrams Palm, twelve strikes!"

Hyuga Go shouted too. "Eight Trigrams Palm, eight strikes!"

Uchiha Feng landed a powerful spinning kick, taking down two of them.

Even Uchiha Yue, the frail-looking girl, managed to knock one down!

Uchiha Yue's hair was a little messy, and Hyuga Go had a scrape on his face. The other two had only gotten their clothes dirty, though they looked a little disheveled.

Hyuga Kuji still wore a friendly expression as he spoke to the fallen children. "Trash should know its place. Next time we run into you, we won't let you off so easily!

"Got it? Now get lost."

The boy leading them climbed shakily to his feet and yelled, "Just you wait! My big brother's a Genin. When he gets back, he'll avenge me!"

Then he turned and ran, leaving even his underlings groaning on the ground.

"Oh? My dear classmates, were you just about to sneak up on us?"

Hyuga Kuji turned his face toward Bing San and the others, speaking with exaggerated sarcasm.

"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let you off. Hurry home and suckle at your mothers' breasts." Hyuga Kuji wore a thoroughly fake smile, his voice dripping with malice.

Asuma flew into a rage. "What did you say? We were just about to help you!"

Uchiha Feng chimed in:

"Ahaha, this loser thought he could help us? That's hilarious."

"Go home and suckle at your mother's breast. A loser should know his place," Hyuga Go said, dusting the dirt off himself.

"Let's go. Mom'll get mad if we don't get home soon." Hyuga Kuji smiled as he glanced at Bing San and the others, then led Hyuga Go away.

"I'm so pissed! Namiashi Raidō, quit holding me back. I'm going to show them what I can do!" Asuma struggled several times but couldn't break free. The four had already walked away.

Bing San wasn't angry. Instead, he fell into deep thought. This world wasn't the way he remembered it. These Ninja weren't anything like the ones in Naruto.

After they got home, Bing San finally worked up the courage to tell Danzo about what had happened that day over dinner.

After listening, Danzo simply said, "If you want people to respect you, you need the strength of the strong—or control over supreme power.

"Does a boot care whether an ant lives or dies?"

With that, Danzo shook his head slightly and continued eating.

Bing San nervously brought up the fact that Kakashi hadn't been at school that day.

Danzo frowned, looking even gloomier than before!

After finishing his taijutsu practice that evening, Bing San sat in his room and trained his Chakra. Near midnight, just as he was about to go to bed, he heard a noise outside. Curious, he stepped out to take a look.

A Root Ninja was quietly reporting something. Behind him, more than a dozen Root Ninja stood perfectly straight, like human weapons.

Before long, they all vanished with a series of whooshes. Bing San cautiously crept forward, only for Shimura Yujin to grab him by the scruff of the neck and drag him back.

Shimura Yujin only shook his head. He said nothing before leaving.

After waiting a while, Bing San couldn't contain his curiosity and sneaked back to Danzo's door.

He could faintly hear Danzo tearing something up inside, muttering about "Monkey" and the like.

Bing San cautiously poked his head around the corner, only to be spotted by Danzo.

"Come in."

Bing San said nervously, "Y-yes. I'm terribly sorry, sir. I just heard a noise."

Danzo looked at Bing San's face. In the end, he only told him not to sneak around and listen to his conversations again, then sent him away.

Danzo was a very contradictory man.

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