"Damn it!!"
"Inazu! You guys again!!"
"What gives you the right to say that about us?!"
After leaving the orphanage's wooden house, Yu saw the grassy area a short distance away.
Urushi was glaring angrily at a group of kids around his age, with several other children from the Konoha Orphanage beside him.
Mayuna and Momoka, the two girls standing nearby, couldn't calm down the impulsive Urushi no matter how hard they tried.
"Hmph!!"
"Was I wrong, then??"
"You guys were all picked up somewhere outside the village. Who knows if you're spies sent by another village??"
The group of kids facing Urushi and the others had a boy at the front who looked about five or six years old, but his face held a nastiness and spitefulness no child his age should have had.
They were all children from Konoha, and bullying and ostracizing the kids from the Konoha Orphanage, like Urushi and the others, was nothing new for them.
This was what the shinobi world was really like.
After all, the sunny scenes from the original story, where the protagonist Naruto Uzumaki mindlessly shouted, 'I'm going to be Hokage!' all day long...
Were just a small part of the picture shown to the audience, because the original story had limited space to develop things.
Where there was light, there was darkness.
Especially in this turbulent era, with the Third Shinobi World War breaking out. Little scuffles like the one before him were perfectly normal.
"You're the spy sent by another village!!"
Just as expected, the impulsive Urushi promptly punched the kid named Inazu in the face.
"Damn it, you actually hit me!"
Caught off guard, Inazu took a punch from Urushi and got a nosebleed. He immediately punched back. "Get them! Beat up these outsiders the village picked up!!"
The next thing they knew, a whole group of kids were shoving and grappling with one another, and soon they were all fighting.
Mayuna and Momoka watched from the side, frantic with worry.
"Oh..."
"Urushi and those boring kids again."
Seeing the kids fighting in the distance, Yu yawned, looking bored.
This wasn't the first time Yu had seen a scene like this today. Even if he helped Urushi and the others drive those kids off, the same thing would happen again a few days later.
Besides, even though he wasn't a shinobi yet, he'd already successfully learned to refine chakra.
If he joined in a scuffle between little kids, it might look like an adult was bullying children.
And besides, it seemed unlikely that the kids' little fight would turn into anything serious.
Yu, who was focused on training and developing the String-String Fruit's abilities, simply walked past them.
"Hey! Yu! You're such a lousy friend!"
"Get over here and help us!"
Seeing Yu stroll past without a care, Urushi called out to him. As he spoke, he gave the kid in front of him another hard punch.
"Not interested. This is just kids messing around."
Hearing Urushi's voice, Yu shrugged without looking back.
He had the soul of a grown man, so he had no interest in these little scuffles between children.
More than anything, Yu wanted to focus on training and improving his strength.
That was the only way he might be able to protect himself and the people he cared about through the Third Shinobi World War and all the upheavals that would follow.
Then, everything changed.
A brown-haired kid suddenly dashed out of the small woods nearby.
He looked about seven or eight years old and rushed into the fight between Urushi and the others.
In just a few punches and kicks, he sent Urushi and the other kids from the Konoha Orphanage flying!
"Waaah! That hurts!!"
"He's so strong!!"
Urushi had been punched straight to the ground, and he felt as though his whole body was about to fall apart.
"That kid...?"
Yu turned at the commotion. His calm expression shifted slightly. "Chakra?!"
Yu had keenly sensed a faint blue glow flickering around the brown-haired kid as he swung his fists.
He was clearly using chakra.
"Is that kid a shinobi?"
Yu looked at the brown-haired boy who had suddenly appeared.
Noticing how his skills and speed clearly set him apart from the other children, Yu narrowed his amber eyes.
"Hahaha! Had enough yet?!"
"My big brother, Itachi, is one of the top students at the Ninja Academy!!"
Seeing all the orphanage kids sprawled on the ground after the boy's sudden appearance, Inazu stood with his hands on his hips, looking smug. "You brats the village picked up from outside! Now you know how strong we are!!"
Thud!!
A dull impact rang out.
Before Inazu could finish speaking,
a fist sent him flying, blood spraying from his nose.
"Inazu!!"
Seeing someone punch his younger brother away,
the brown-haired boy, Itachi, was startled and stopped what he was doing.
"Brats the village picked up from outside, huh?"
"I can't just pretend I didn't hear that..."
A childish yet calm voice rang out.
A handsome, white-haired boy wearing a haori from the Konoha Orphanage had appeared before them.
The one who had punched Inazu away was none other than Yu, who had just been 'standing by.'
"Yu!!"
Seeing Yu make his move,
Mayuna and Momoka's eyes lit up, and they covered their mouths in surprise.
"Yu?!"
Urushi saw Yu, who had just left without helping, punch Inazu away.
Lying on the ground, Urushi stared with his mouth hanging open, unable to say a word.
"Students at the Ninja Academy are at least half shinobi, aren't they?"
After suddenly appearing before everyone and punching Inazu away,
Yu looked at the furious Itachi and gave a small, disdainful sneer. "You've already learned to refine chakra, and you're still picking fights with a bunch of little kids."
Even without using ninjutsu, there was still an enormous difference between someone who had successfully learned to refine chakra and an ordinary person in a fight.
It was like a martial artist picking on ordinary people. Yu couldn't stand Itachi's behavior, using his greater strength to bully younger kids.
"Brat! You hit my brother?!"
Seeing the white-haired kid who had suddenly appeared,
Itachi gritted his teeth and flashed a vicious look, after Yu punched his younger brother Inazu and then lectured him, too.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several faint whistles cut through the air.
In his anger, Itachi flung three shuriken at Yu!
"Yu! Watch out!!"
Seeing the furious Itachi use ninja tools in a childish scuffle,
Urushi, still sprawled on the ground nearby, was shocked.
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