They say rainbows come after the rain.
Although no rainbow appeared, our resilient little comrade Shimura Xian Yu still managed to get back on his feet.
He patted his badly injured... "knee"?
"Ah, I'd better go look for treasure chests. I hope the Bronze Treasure Chest won't screw me over! If all else fails... I should at least be able to afford a Black Iron Treasure Chest, right? Maybe?"
Comrade Xian Yu didn't dare get his hopes up... With half a mind to believe and half a mind to doubt, he stepped out of the house.
The first target was, of course, that Bronze Treasure Chest!
"You've got to dream big! You never know—it might come true!"
Xian Yu was familiar with most of Konoha. After all, in the world of Naruto, children around a year and a half old could already talk, walk, and run.
As a little kid with the soul of an adult, he'd thoroughly explored the area around his home before he was even three.
The few places he'd never visited were the Hokage Building, the Anbu base, the Uchiha compound, the Hyuga Clan compound, and a handful of other places...
Uh, okay. A whole lot of other places.
"Isn't that little Xian Yu? What are you up to, little one?" As soon as he reached the main road, a kind-looking middle-aged woman greeted him.
Xian Yu raised his childish face, his eyes curving into crescents as he sweetly called out, "Good afternoon, Aunt Haruka! Dad's gone on another mission, so Xiao Yu came out for a walk."
The middle-aged woman named Haruka was originally from the Senju Clan and lived in one of the old Senju family homes nearby.
Although some Senju still lived in their ancestral homes at this time, none of them called themselves the Senju Clan anymore.
They kept marrying into other clans, changing their surnames, and moving away from their ancestral homes. Gradually, they became completely integrated into the village. As time passed, the number of pure-blooded Senju dwindled more and more. The Senju ancestral grounds shrank a little each year, until one day the Senju Clan would no longer exist.
Haruka smiled warmly. What a sweet, well-behaved child! "Be careful on the road, little Xian Yu. Don't play too late, and be sure to get home before dark."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh! Got it."
Thinking back to the early episodes of the Naruto anime in his previous life, Xian Yu remembered how many fans had wondered where the Senju Clan had gone after Hashirama died. Some had even suspected that the Third Hokage and Danzo had secretly wiped them all out.
It was kind of funny to think about.
But Xian Yu really did admire the First, whom he'd never met. In order to ease the suspicions and mistrust of the great clans when Konoha was first founded...
He'd made such a sacrifice. He disbanded the Senju Clan. What a man who cared about the world... yeah, right!
Time had proven that the First really was hopelessly naive...
"If I were an ancestor of the Senju Clan and had a descendant like Hashirama, I'd be so furious I'd leap right out of my coffin..." Xian Yu muttered inwardly.
For the sake of his own dream, Hashirama had thrown away the bloodline that made the whole clan so powerful. Just thinking about it made Xian Yu ache for the Senju Clan.
Before he knew it, following the circular radar map's directions, little comrade Xian Yu had arrived beneath the Hokage Building...
"Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!"
"I knew it... I knew it..." Little Xian Yu slumped helplessly onto the ground once again.
The Bronze Treasure Chest was actually inside the Hokage Building!!!
"Hey! Isn't that Brother Yu?"
"Brother Yu! Brother Yu!"
"Young Master Xian Yu? Did you fall? Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?"
Heh. Don't worry. Even if I fell, I wouldn't ask an older girl to kiss me before I could get back up. Xian Yu gave a disdainful, cold snort.
Just then, a young man of around sixteen or seventeen rushed over and helped Xian Yu up, anxiously checking him from head to toe for injuries.
With a helpless sigh, Xian Yu said dejectedly, "Cousin Fahai, I'm fine. Oh, it's Huihai and Minghai. You two go on, don't mind me."
The young man was Fahai, a cousin from a branch family of the Shimura Clan.
The two little three-year-old brats behind him were named Shimura Huihai and Shimura Minghai.
Xian Yu didn't even feel like making fun of anything right now.
He'd already made all the jokes there were to make on the first day he met these three.
All he could say was that the uncle who'd passed on to the next life had done a pretty good job naming the three brothers...
If they ever gave up being ninja, the three could open a temple together—Silver Mountain Temple, Golden Mountain Temple, or something. They'd make a fortune.
They might even surpass the Fire Temple in popularity.
"Young Master Xian Yu, are you really all right? Should I take you home?" Fahai asked with concern, still a little worried.
"Brother Yu, Brother Yu! There's a new Ichiraku Ramen shop over there, and it's delicious! Let's go eat together!"
"Yeah, yeah! Brother Yu, you haven't played with us in ages. Come with us!"
Huihai and Minghai gazed at him with shining eyes, their faces full of anticipation.
Ever since Xian Yu had been taken away by the Dark Side of the Shinobi World, their Brother Yu had rarely had time to play with them.
"Ah, fine. Let's go, let's go." Thinking of the bond they'd once shared as big brother and little underlings, Xian Yu finally sighed and nodded.
Ichiraku Ramen? Had it already opened this early?
Hmm... Since it was Ichiraku Ramen, it shouldn't be too expensive, right?
He touched the few thousand ryo in banknotes left in his pocket. Xian Yu couldn't remember when he'd started being a little afraid of these adorable little bills.
Money just didn't go far! (＞﹏＜)
"Haha, that's true. It's been two years since Young Master Xian Yu was assigned by the clan head to start pre-academy training. He hardly ever leaves the house anymore," Fahai said with a hearty laugh.
"Fahai, can you stop calling me 'Young Master' every other sentence? Our family has branch and main families, sure, but we're not as strict about it as the Hyuga Clan. Just call me by my name." Xian Yu felt a little helpless. Being called "Young Master" by a cousin from his own clan made him really uncomfortable.
Especially when Fahai called him "Young Master." The pressure was inexplicably huge...(Kids, remember this part! It's going to be on the test!)
Fahai froze and widened his eyes. "Young Master Xian Yu, how could I do that? It would violate the hierarchy, and the others would laugh at the Shimura Clan for having no manners!"
Xian Yu held his forehead and rolled his eyes. "You're a Chunin, and you keep calling a kid who hasn't even enrolled in the Ninja Academy 'Young Master.' That puts a lot of pressure on me too."
Seeing Fahai's ox-like face turn red as he prepared to argue, little Xian Yu helplessly spread his hands and sighed again. "Fine, fine. Call me whatever you like. Do as you please."
Only then did Fahai start laughing heartily again.
Sigh... Xian Yu wondered whether he'd already used up all the sighs he was supposed to let out in his entire life today.
Soon, the four of them arrived at the newly opened Ichiraku Ramen shop.
"Welcome! What would you like to order? Here's the menu."
Xian Yu stared carefully at the young man and woman in front of him, both only seventeen or eighteen, then made sure they didn't look anything like Teuchi or Ayame, whom he knew.
Xian Yu let out another breath.
It seemed the fans' talk in his previous life about an Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku had been pure nonsense after all!
"Three bowls of tonkotsu ramen! Add Naruto Rolls! What do you want, Brother Yu?" Huihai and Minghai asked almost in unison.
"I'll have the same."
"Boss, four bowls of tonkotsu ramen! Add Naruto Rolls to all of them!" The two little ones continued in unison.
"Ehehe... Brother Yu's still the same as before. He hasn't changed," Minghai said.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh! That's our Brother Yu, all right!" Huihai said.
"Hehe... hehe," Fahai chuckled heartily from the side.
Just then, Xian Yu, who should have been looking helpless, suddenly lowered his head, his pupils contracting!
A treasure chest!
A Black Iron Treasure Chest!
Right by his feet...
He never would have expected it...
What were the odds...
I swear I didn't peek at the radar. Xian Yu held his five fingers up toward the sky, looking completely solemn.
As little Xian Yu bent down with a beaming smile, pretending to tie his shoelace, the system's wonderful voice rang out in his mind.
"Congratulations, host. You obtained a Black Iron Treasure Chest x1."
Before you continue