The Reason

Ye Wuji slowly opened his eyes. The pain in his body had disappeared. He looked down at his clothes. He'd never seen anything like them before. They looked like a kimono, but on closer inspection—and touch—they seemed a little different.

Ye Wuji looked around and realized he was in a room. The walls were made of wood, and the room was sparsely furnished: a wooden bed, a table, and two somewhat battered chairs off to one side.

He felt the wall, but couldn't tell what kind of wood it was made from. Still, if it could be used to build a house, it was probably sturdy. He'd only ever seen wooden houses like this on TV, apparently as part of the customs of some ethnic minorities. He'd never seen one in real life.

He spotted a mirror along one side of the room, tilted his head as he considered it, then walked over. He'd been mentally prepared, but seeing the young face in the mirror, topped with a shock of conspicuous white hair, still startled him.

Had I been transported to another world? Ye Wuji wondered. But was that person I saw yesterday really him? Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. Being transported to another world is one thing, but where exactly have I ended up?

With a creak, Ye Wuji turned around. The wooden door had been pushed open by a handsome boy with bright blond hair and close-fitting clothes. He was holding a bowl, and the steam rising from it suggested there was something to eat inside.

Looking at the wooden bowl, Ye Wuji realized he was starving.

His lips moved involuntarily.

"Haha, you're awake! I was just thinking that you'd probably be hungry when you woke up. There isn't much good food around here for now, but I made some porridge with mushrooms and things I picked in the forest. Have this first. We can talk about everything else after you've eaten." The boy smiled brightly as he spoke.

Looking at the adorable, smiling boy before him, Ye Wuji didn't think to consider that he was now even younger than the boy himself.

Maybe because he really was hungry, Ye Wuji quickly polished off the bowl of porridge. Whether it was just in his head or the porridge's doing, a pleasant warmth spread through his body, making him feel wonderfully comfortable.

Only later did he learn that, although it was just a bowl of porridge, it contained many medicinal herbs that were beneficial to the body, along with other highly nutritious ingredients. It would have been beyond the means of ordinary people in his old world, and even in this one, it wasn't something everyone could afford. It was a nutrient supplement prepared by Konoha for shinobi in training. It was very beneficial even to shinobi, let alone an ordinary person like Ye Wuji.

Watching Ye Wuji wolf down the porridge, the blond boy grinned with delight. Once Ye Wuji had finished, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the corner of his mouth.

"Thank you." Ye Wuji didn't resist the boy's help. He had eaten in such a hurry that he was bound to have gotten food on his face, and the boy's smile made it hard to refuse him. Ye Wuji had never seen such a pure, joyful smile.

After wiping his mouth, the blond boy picked up the wooden bowl.

Then he set it on the table and, eyes narrowed with a cheerful grin, said, "Hello, I'm Minato Namikaze. Hey, what's your name?"

Ye Wuji had been about to ask, "Who are you?" But the moment he heard the name Minato Namikaze, his mind roared and he grew dizzy. He stared blankly at the brightly smiling boy, unable to speak for a moment.

Who was Minato Namikaze? Ye Wuji remembered him very clearly. When he used to watch Naruto, a few of the characters had left a strong impression on him, especially Orochimaru. Ye Wuji had been bitten by a snake as a child, and ever since then, he'd been terrified of slimy creatures. He'd grown up and become less bothered by them, but his first impression of Orochimaru was still "disgusting"—extremely disgusting. The way he'd crawl out of other people's mouths, all slimy, gave Ye Wuji goosebumps. That was his impression of Orochimaru, and why he'd fainted yesterday after seeing someone who looked like him. He'd been scared out of his wits. And that really had been Orochimaru.

Ye Wuji knew a little about the others, too, but when he first saw Minato Namikaze, he'd had just one thought: "Handsome"—"so handsome." It wasn't just his looks; his moves were cool, too. The Flying Thunder God Technique was ridiculously powerful. When Ye Wuji first learned about it, he'd wondered, with a technique like that, why bother taking a car or a plane? You could get anywhere in an instant. And when he fought, he finished battles in just a few moves, unlike others who fought for ages and ended up exhausted.

Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash—those were all names for the same person. Most impressive of all, there was supposedly an order that you could abandon your mission if you encountered Minato Namikaze. What kind of power did that imply? Some might not think it was a big deal, but all they had to do was think of what happened to the White Fang when he abandoned a mission to save his comrades. In the shinobi world, missions ranked above everything else. The fact that you could abandon one upon encountering Minato Namikaze spoke volumes about his strength.

Ye Wuji thought about the Fourth Hokage's life, then looked at the brightly smiling boy before him. When he remembered how Minato had sacrificed himself for Konoha and Naruto, sealing the Nine-Tails, it was hard to believe that the legendary figure was standing right in front of him.

Then Ye Wuji realized that if the person in front of him was Minato Namikaze, the man he'd seen yesterday must have been the utterly disgusting Orochimaru. He hurriedly looked around, afraid Orochimaru might be nearby. That wicked man loved experimenting on children. Ye Wuji hoped he hadn't taken an interest in him.

The blond boy—Minato Namikaze—saw Ye Wuji looking around and assumed he was remembering what had happened the day before. He quickly reassured him, "Don't worry. It's perfectly safe here. You're safe now."

Hearing Minato's words, and seeing no one else around, put Ye Wuji at ease.

"My name is Ye Wuji. I'm..." Ye Wuji hadn't figured out what to say, so he left it at that.

"Your parents are buried over there. Would you like to go see them?" Seeing Ye Wuji fall silent, Minato spoke up.

"I see. Thank you." Ye Wuji had heard the news. They must have been the parents of the body he now inhabited.

"You don't have to thank me. It was really thanks to my teacher, Lady Tsunade, and Lord Orochimaru. Anyway, you seem to be feeling a little better. I'll take you to see them. We can't stay here too long." Minato spoke to Ye Wuji.

"Mm." Ye Wuji nodded.

In a hollow backed by a mountain, Ye Wuji saw two graves, one large and one small. The larger one stood on the far side, and the smaller one was nearby. It was a lovely spot, with unknown flowers blooming all around and thick trees nearby. It was also rather remote, so ordinary people probably didn't come here.

Looking at the graves before him and the words on the headstone—"The grave of parents who protected their child"—Ye Wuji's tears began to fall again. He knelt in front of the headstone and wept silently.

Minato watched from nearby without a word, but his gaze grew a little more resolute.

Kneeling before the headstone, Ye Wuji thought about everything from his previous life. He'd been born on Earth with white hair, and people had hated him ever since he was little. Perhaps even his parents had hated him. He'd heard that they had abandoned him by the roadside when he was still a baby.

Fortunately, there were still good people in the world. An old man passing by had found him. The man was the elderly director of an orphanage, and he'd taken Ye Wuji in. Since he'd found him around midnight, the old man gave him the surname Ye. The director had been reading The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber at the time, so he'd casually named him Wuji. That was how Ye Wuji got his name.

The orphanage had already been in a terrible state. Including Ye Wuji, there were fewer than ten children, and only the old director to care for them, so life had been very hard. Ye Wuji had white hair from birth, and people treated him like an omen of bad luck, as if he were a jinx. Even the other children at the orphanage ignored him. From childhood to adulthood, only the old director had cared for him.

As a result, he'd grown up extremely withdrawn and rarely spoke. As he got older, Ye Wuji gradually started helping the old director with chores.

Because of his hair, ordinary employers wouldn't hire him. He could have dyed it, but it cost a lot, and he'd been struggling for money his whole life. He couldn't afford to waste it on hair dye. For many people, it would have been a trivial expense, no more than the cost of a meal or a ride.

So Ye Wuji could only take whatever jobs he could find, especially the ones other people didn't want: construction work, courier jobs, painting, and other odd tasks, like taking inventory and moving things in factories. These jobs often involved dangerous materials—chemical agents, various coatings, paint—and required protective equipment. But some employers tried to save money by skimping on safety measures, so they hired people who were desperate for work.

Because he was often exposed to dangerous materials without protective gear, by the time Ye Wuji was around twenty, his hands had become severely cracked and were covered in all kinds of white spots.

The orphanage was so run-down that no one sent orphans there anymore. Most of the children living there had been found and brought in by the old director, just like Ye Wuji.

By the time Ye Wuji was twenty, there was hardly anyone left at the orphanage—only the old director remained. Looking at the dilapidated building, Ye Wuji used the savings he'd accumulated over the years to build the old director a new home. Since he didn't have much money, he hired a few rural construction workers to help. Everything had been going well, but suddenly, for some reason, the building began swaying as if in an earthquake. The nearly completed house collapsed while Ye Wuji was inside, working on the floor. When he woke up, he found himself in his current surroundings.

As for how he'd started watching Naruto, Ye Wuji had never had any friends growing up, so he'd found ways to pass the time by reading lots of books. He'd also collected scrap and somehow managed to assemble a computer, along with a router. Using what he'd learned, he'd piggybacked on other people's wireless internet. The computer was so old it could only play movies and browse the web. He'd started watching Naruto out of boredom, and only later grown to like it. Perhaps it was because the series had so many outsiders, people who were a little like him.

After a long while, Ye Wuji finally stood up. I'm sorry. You did everything you could to protect your child, but in the end, your child still died.

But perhaps you were both happy in the end. After all, you protected your child. I was born into this body, so I suppose I'm your child now, too. Don't worry. I'll live on in this body—for myself, for the final wish you left behind, and for the old director who isn't in this world. I'll stay alive and live well. Maybe white hair won't make me an outsider in this world.

Then Ye Wuji bowed deeply and turned toward the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, who was standing nearby. As he walked, tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, and he thought, Goodbye, parents I never got to meet. I wish you well. Maybe, so that no more parents like you will ever appear, I should do something in this world.