Yellow Hair on the Playground

The playground after school was one of Shuo Ye's favorite places—not because he liked sports, but because there were the fewest people around at this time.

Most of the students had already gone home. The Uchiha children had extra training arranged within the clan, while children from other families had places of their own to go. Only a scattered few people remained on the playground, along with—

That blond idiot.

Naruto was practicing shuriken again.

It was still that crooked tree-trunk target, still that mess of kunai and shuriken thrown all over the place. When Shuo Ye came out through the side door of the school building, he happened to see a shuriken fly toward the target at an unbelievable angle—then barely graze its edge before hitting the ground with a clang.

"Ahhh!! It missed again!!"

Naruto grabbed his hair and crouched on the ground, letting out a frustrated wail.

Shuo Ye had originally planned to take a detour. The playground was huge; he could have gone around from the other side without meeting him. He had even taken his first step—

"Hey! You Uchiha!"

—but he was still called out.

Shuo Ye stopped and slowly turned his head.

Naruto stood ten meters away, holding up a kunai with a challenging expression on his face. But if one looked closely, there was a trace of uncertainty deep in those blue eyes—as though he was gambling on whether the other person would respond.

"You were watching me practice shuriken, weren't you?"

"No." Shuo Ye's expression remained blank. "Just passing by."

"Liar! You stood there for ages!" Naruto pointed at him. "Want to try too?"

"No."

"Tch—scaredy-cat!"

Shuo Ye's brow twitched.

Scaredy-cat.

Uchiha Sakuya, scaredy-cat. If anyone else in the clan heard those two words put together, it would probably cause a minor uproar. But he was not angry. He knew Naruto had not meant any harm by it—this boy simply did not know how to strike up a conversation with others.

Shuo Ye glanced at the kunai in Naruto's hand, then at the utterly miserable target.

"How much chakra did you use when you threw it?"

Naruto blinked. "Huh? Chakra? You don't need chakra to throw shuriken, do you?"

Shuo Ye was silent for two seconds.

Then he walked over.

Not because he wanted to help—well, maybe a little. But mainly because watching someone repeat the same thing the wrong way was agony for any soul with a teacher's instincts.

"Stand properly." He stopped beside Naruto. "Throw one for me."

Naruto excitedly straightened up and assumed a throwing stance—his wrist was far too tense, his arm raised too high, and his center of gravity was completely off. Then he threw with all his might—

The kunai cut an arc through the air, veering off by about thirty degrees.

"I saw it," Shuo Ye said.

"Saw what? Did I miss?"

"You're using your whole body." Shuo Ye put his hands in his pockets. "Throwing shuriken relies on the strength of your wrist and fingertips, not brute force. You have too much chakra, so every time you throw, you unconsciously pour chakra into the kunai. That makes it fly unsteadily."

Naruto froze.

His mouth opened, closed, then opened again.

"How—how did you know?"

"I could see it." Shuo Ye shrugged. "Your kunai flashes when you throw it. That's the light of leaking chakra. Control your chakra, use only your wrist, and don't force it."

Naruto lowered his head to look at his hand, trying to clench and unclench his fist.

"Too much chakra... so I can't control it properly?"

"Right." Shuo Ye turned around. "Don't force it and—forget it. Practice on your own."

He started walking toward the school gate.

"Wait!" Naruto shouted behind him. "You—you, what's your name?"

Shuo Ye did not turn around.

"Uchiha Sakuya."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Next time—next time, I'll hit the target and show you!"

Shuo Ye walked out through the school gate.

The corner of his mouth moved—he was not sure whether that counted as a smile.

Naruto was an interesting person. In this village, almost everyone avoided him. Adults looked at him with disgust, and children, influenced by the adults' attitudes, rejected him as well. Yet Naruto still practiced every day, shouted every day, and declared before everyone every day that he would become Hokage.

That kind of vitality—

Shuo Ye thought of Naruto's eventual ending in the original story. The Seventh Hokage, the hero who saved the entire ninja world, hailed as the "Child of Prophecy."

And now, he was only a lonely boy who could not throw a shuriken straight.

"Too much chakra, so I can't control it properly..." Naruto's muttering drifted faintly from behind him. "So that's how it is... don't force it... wrist..."

Shuo Ye quickened his pace.

That advice he had given Naruto today—before he had transmigrated, this knowledge had already been ingrained in him. Naruto's biggest problem had always been chakra control. He possessed an amount of chakra far beyond ordinary people's, because of the Nine-Tails, but in the early stages, his ability to control it precisely had been practically nonexistent.

That would not stop him from becoming the strongest ninja later on. But at this stage—a simple piece of guidance might save him months of wasted effort.

But that was all.

Shuo Ye would not become Naruto's teacher, guide, or guardian angel. He had merely been passing by and could not help saying a word.

Just as he could not help looking at that morning light for three seconds.

—Knowing something is one thing. Being able to do it is another.

On the way back to the Uchiha Clan District, Shuo Ye encountered several elders from his clan at the entrance. They nodded at him. One woman's gaze lingered on him for a moment—then quickly shifted away.

The adults' expressions had been growing more and more solemn.

Over the past few months, the atmosphere within the clan district had quietly changed. The once-lively streets had become a little quieter, there were several more members of the Police Force at the street corners, and clan members lowered their voices when they gathered to talk.

Shuo Ye walked past them with his head lowered, quickening his pace.

He returned home, set his schoolbag on his desk, and sat by the window.

The sun was setting.

Something in the direction of Naka Shrine glimmered faintly in the distance—it was residual chakra from the barrier.

This world was exactly the same as he remembered.

The countdown was still continuing.