A Day in the Hidden Leaf Village

Kneel properly!

Lin Chongshu threw three punches!

The three of them immediately cleared their eyes and knelt in unison beneath the streetlamp, backs ramrod straight, hands on their knees, their posture as standard as if they had undergone military training.

Leaning against the streetlamp, Lin Chongshu looked down at the three Hidden Leaf boys kneeling so neatly before him and felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

One look at that kneeling posture told him they had done this plenty of times. The angle of their knees touching the ground, the placement of their hands, the extent to which they lowered their heads—every detail was practiced. He had definitely come to the right place!

"Do you know who I am now?"

"Yes. You're our big brother."

Lin Chongshu continued, "How do you usually bully other people?"

The children turned their heads and looked him up and down. The buzz-cut kid in the lead spoke with a puzzled expression.

"Bullying? We don't do bullying."

Lin Chongshu's pupils contracted. As a holder of the Will of Sand facing Hidden Leaf bullies, a glimmer of respect appeared in his eyes. "Then how do you usually spend your day?"

The buzz-cut kid started counting on his fingers, speaking rapidly.

"First thing after getting up in the morning, we go downstairs to the Demon Fox brat's house and throw a few stones to see whether he's still there. If he is, we say a few things to him first and make him watch us play."

"After breakfast, we pass by the Hyuga Clan to see whether that ugly white-eyed woman has gone out. If she has, we follow her around. We can pull her hair and shove her a few times, interact with her a little."

"As for the girls, we also go see a pink-haired broad-forehead girl and check in on her. But she's just an appetizer, something to pass the time."

"From nine to noon and from two to five in the afternoon, the Uchiha Clan patrols the village. We can always go say a few things to them with the adults. The timing is flexible, so we can squeeze that in whenever."

"Oh, and there's that fat pig from the Akimichi Clan. You have to insult him while he's eating, though. If you go when he isn't eating, he'll chase you down. Of course, if you run fast enough, that works too. It's good for when you haven't exercised enough."

While the buzz-cut kid paused between sentences, the skinny child beside him chimed in as well.

"And, and! There's also a watermelon-headed kid at our school with no talent for being a ninja. He runs around the field every day and still wants to become a ninja. He's worth saying a few things to when we run into him."

"Slow down, slow down..." Leaning against the streetlamp, Lin Chongshu's expression gradually changed from respect to shock. He took out a small notebook and began recording.

"Your daily schedule is pretty packed."

Compared to these Hidden Leaf children, his Will of Sand was practically that of a rookie. The people of Sunagakure only bullied others when they were unhappy, while the Hidden Leaf had reached the point where they were unhappy if they did not bully someone.

Fatty got excited too and added, "And Lord Hokage is an old fossil. There's also that masked jonin. His dad killed himself after people said a few things about him, so we can bring that up to entertain ourselves too."

Kakashi's father, Sakumo, had been bullied to death, so Kakashi had become a target of bullying as well. Listening to this, Lin Chongshu felt as though his cerebral cortex had unfolded.

Sunagakure might bully people too, but nobody went around nagging Rasa or Baki. Yet in the Hidden Leaf Village, from the Nine-Tails jinchuriki to the Third Hokage's grandson, from the last Uchiha to the Fourth Hokage's orphan, from the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Main House to the Hatake Clan's genius, everyone was bullied equally.

As expected of the Hidden Leaf Village. Bullying in Sunagakure was ultimately just the lesser path of bullying. Only in the Hidden Leaf Village could one find the advanced greater path of bullying.

Whoever you were, whatever your status, whoever your father was, as long as you lived in this village, you had to take your share.

If you did not bully others, seeing the Hidden Leaf was like a frog in a well gazing at the moon. If you did bully others, seeing the Hidden Leaf was like a mayfly beholding the blue sky.

Come to think of it, perhaps the Third Hokage had never deliberately treated Naruto harshly. Bullying was simply part of Hidden Leaf culture. Even he and his grandson Konohamaru were bullied all the same.

This was the Hidden Leaf Village. All beings were equal; everyone got a share when it came to bullying.

"Take me with you tomorrow!"

"Okay, big brother."

Lin Chongshu turned to leave, only to find that the three of them were still kneeling on the ground without moving. "Why aren't you getting up?"

"Big brother, you haven't told us to get up yet."

Lin Chongshu unconsciously gave them a thumbs-up. "...Professional."

Lin Chongshu found an inn and settled in for the night.

Even as he lay down, his mind was still replaying the bullying itinerary those children had described. A devout follower of bullying, he closed his eyes with a sense of contentment.

Then, at five in the morning, the sound of someone knocking on his window woke him up.

When he opened his eyes, stars still hung outside the inn window. The three children were already fully dressed and crouched on his windowsill. The buzz-cut kid in front held a rice ball in his hand and was still chewing.

"Are you sick? You came to bother me this early because you want a beating?"

The buzz-cut kid looked innocent. "No, big brother. Didn't you say you wanted to watch the Uchiha Clan patrol today?"

"Don't they start patrolling at nine in the morning?"

"Yeah, but we have to get there early and grab a good spot. Otherwise, how will we be able to see anything?"

Lin Chongshu was stunned again. He quickly got up and followed the three children through the Hidden Leaf streets, still shrouded in morning mist.

Groups of two and three also converged from different directions. Some carried teacups, some held rice balls, and some carried children who had not yet woken up.

By the time the gray-blue sky had turned pale gold, both sides of the patrol route outside the Uchiha Clan compound were already packed with people, layer upon layer.

Children squatted in the front row, adults stood in the middle, and elderly men and women in the back had brought small stools from home. Even the second-floor windows of the tavern across the street had been pushed open, revealing a row of heads.

Some people held sunflower seeds, some carried needlework, and an old woman pushed a little cart selling roasted sweet potatoes through the crowd. Business was not very good yet, though.

Standing near the back of the crowd, Lin Chongshu stared blankly at the completely blocked street before turning to the buzz-cut kid.

"Are you holding a temple fair today?"

"No." The buzz-cut kid turned around and answered as if it were only natural. "It's just an ordinary, normal day."

Looking at the crowd before him, Lin Chongshu suddenly understood something. He was merely an ordinary person who had awakened the Bullying System, while the people of the Hidden Leaf Village must have been bullies who awakened an Ordinary System. That was why they were like this.

Five members of the Uchiha Clan appeared at the end of the street.

They wore their signature dark, high-collared short robes, with the red-and-white fan crest emblazoned on their backs, and walked toward them along the patrol route.

Almost at the same moment, the crowd that had been yawning just moments ago seemed to have had a switch flipped. The people in front stopped cracking sunflower seeds, stuffed the seeds into their pockets, opened their mouths, and started.

Those in the middle stopped drinking their tea, shoved their cups into the hands of people beside them, cupped their hands around their mouths, and shouted at the top of their lungs.

The elderly women in the back stood up from their small stools, their voices strong and full.

Wrapped up in the crowd, with curses ringing out from every direction, Lin Chongshu had only one thought in his head: Tomorrow, I need to get up at four.