Chapter 508: Teacher Manji. Several years later.
Konoha Ninja Academy.
Morning sunlight fell across the stone lions at the school gate. New students walked in twos and threes, their chatter rising and falling.
Naruto Uzumaki wore a somewhat worn backpack. His hair was a mess, and a sliver of the bandage around his stomach showed beneath his clothes.
He stood at the gate in a daze for two seconds, then clenched his fists. His eyes shone like little suns.
"Hmph! I'm officially becoming a ninja today! I'm not some fox freak!"
He had just taken a step when a calm, gentle voice came from behind him.
"Your backpack strap is loose, kid."
Naruto froze and turned around.
A white-haired man with pale eyes stood behind him.
The man wore simple Hyuga Crest Garb beneath a dark robe. He looked to be in his early fifties, but he did not carry himself like an ordinary Hyuga elder. He seemed too immaculate, too still, like a piece of jade untouched by warmth.
Yet he bent down and gently retied Naruto's loose backpack strap, as naturally as if he had done it countless times.
"There. It won't fall off now."
The man gave him a slight nod and started to leave.
Naruto stood rooted to the spot.
He stared at the newly tied strap, the tips of his ears turning red before his eyes.
He... he tied it for me?
A stranger did that?
People in the village had always looked at him with disgust, avoided him, or shouted, "Get away from me, fox freak!"
No one had ever noticed his loose backpack strap, much less bent down to fix it for him.
An unfamiliar warmth suddenly welled up in his chest.
Naruto blinked hard, holding back the tears that threatened to spill