Childhood: Birthday

After choosing the growable Conqueror's Haki, I felt a huge, hidden energy surging within my body.

Conqueror's Haki... Thinking back to Luffy's unconscious releases early on, it always erupted when his emotions underwent intense turmoil.

Then...

I tried hard to recall all the things from my previous life that had made me uncomfortable—bullying from classmates and unfair accusations from teachers at school, my parents refusing to hear my explanation when I got home, idiotic HR people while job hunting, chattering coworkers, clients with a ridiculous amount of nonsense, bosses who were complete morons, and owners who acted like absolute assholes...

"Fuck you and your whole damn family!"

Unable to hold it in any longer, I cursed out loud. Even though my emotions were already extremely stirred up, there was still no sign of Conqueror's Haki appearing.

Looks like I couldn't awaken it through such a simple method. I could only wait for the right moment, remember the sensation once it erupted, and turn it into a weapon.

After trying several more times without success, I chose to go back to sleep.

After all, today was my birthday. Dad and Mom had both rarely found the time to take a break, and Rin, Obito, Kakashi, and the others would be coming over...

[Lord Qingyue, it is time to get up. Morning training should begin.]

Early in the morning, Hill's voice woke me again.

[Teacher Hill, today is my fifth birthday. Can't I take a day off?]

I still had to undergo inhuman training on my birthday? Why did it feel like I was still stuck working a 996 schedule after coming to this world?

[Please get up, Lord Qingyue. Otherwise, I will sexually harass you.]

The moment I heard that, it was like thunder striking my ears. My body sprang out of bed with a whoosh, like a fully wound-up green frog.

Who was she kidding? Every time she said something like that, nothing good ever came of it. It was way too adult...

After quickly washing up, I pulled a pair of light brown shorts from the wardrobe, then casually grabbed a white undershirt and a light khaki short-sleeved button-up shirt.

Although it was summer, this was still an unindustrialized ninja world. The hours before dawn could still feel chilly, so I chose to wear an extra layer.

I arrived at a training ground and walked to the riverbank to look at my reflection.

Mm, medium-length golden hair parted three-seven, a pair of beautiful emerald-green eyes, and although my features had not fully matured yet, they were already quite delicate.

All right!

After my usual stretches, I began physical training. After several sets of running and jumping exercises meant to improve explosive strength, I was already drenched in sweat, and my undershirt looked as though it had been soaked in water.

[Teacher Hill, can today's training be a little easier? It's my birthday, after all. Rin and the others should be coming over this afternoon, and I don't want to greet them with my whole body feeling weak.]

If I trained at the usual intensity, I would only have half my life left by the end. How would I have any energy left to celebrate my birthday?

[Don't worry, Lord Qingyue. Although you will still train until exhaustion as usual, today I will provide you with a special recovery potion. Once you drink it, your energy will immediately be restored, so you needn't worry about lacking strength during your birthday party.]

[If you had something this good, why didn't you take it out earlier?! Give me one after every training session, and I wouldn't have suffered so much!]

[You cannot, Lord Qingyue. First of all, this potion is extremely precious. I would prefer to save it for when you truly need it.]

Actually, I truly needed it every day... Had she ever seen Konoha at four in the morning?

[Secondly, if you relied on the potion to cancel out fatigue every time, the effects of your training would definitely suffer. Lord Qingyue, you don't want to train for nothing, do you?]

[I...]

Forget it. Hill was doing this for my own good.

Thinking about it carefully, training was indeed grueling, but in return, I could clearly feel my strength increasing every day.

It might have been slight, but it was still better than making no progress at all.

After physical training came sword practice, then punching wooden posts, then transforming into Fenrir's werewolf form to slash rocks, and finally sparring with multiple Shadow Clones to wrap things up.

Training like that continued until noon. Exhausted beyond measure, I lay in the shade like a little dog by the roadside in summer, panting with my tongue out. I was soaked from head to toe; anyone who didn't know better would think I had gone swimming.

[You worked hard, Lord Qingyue. This is a universal recovery potion. Just drink it directly.]

A tube that looked like one used for blood tests suddenly appeared in my hand, filled with translucent blue potion.

Without hesitation, I downed it in one gulp and waited eagerly for the effects to kick in.

Very quickly, an unprecedented sensation of extreme comfort washed over me, making me moan aloud. It felt as refreshing as chewing mint while taking a gulp of soda packed with ice, as satisfying as finally relieving a week's worth of constipation, like rain after a long drought, a bonfire in the snow, sixteen-degree air conditioning in summer, or a rural fire stove in winter...

There was no feeling more comfortable in this world. Even that instant of creating milk while studying late into the night could not compare to this moment.

"Ahh~ That feels amazing~"

After recovering completely, I skipped home in high spirits, took a shower, ate a simple lunch, and quietly waited for my companions to arrive in the afternoon.

At around one o'clock, the first person to arrive was naturally Rin, the girl I thought about day and night despite us actually being together every day.

She was not wearing her usual outfit today, but a white little dress that did not quite fit a ninja's image.

Sunlight spilled over her, and for an instant I thought an angel had descended. Just kidding—she was even cuter than an angel.

"Rin, you look so beautiful today."

Rin turned her head away upon hearing that. Oh? Oh? Was she shy? As expected of the great King Qingyue. I had effortlessly accomplished what Obito could never achieve even if he spent his entire life trying.

"Qingyue, you also... look very handsome."

"Thank you. I know."

Seeing that I had no reaction at all, Rin became a little upset and threw two soft, limp punches at me. They had no strength behind them, but they made me unable to stop myself from smiling. She was simply adorable.

"Okay, no more messing around. Come in first, it's blazing outside. Rin is the first one here, you know. My parents have gone out to buy supplies for the birthday party, so I was getting bored alone."

"You didn't go with them?"

Rin carefully walked into my house, her curious eyes looking all around.

After all, she had passed by my doorstep several times without coming in. The places where we usually played were not far from my house, and Rin's home happened to be along the same route, so we passed by every time.

"If I had gone with them, wouldn't you have stood foolishly at the door waiting for me? It's rare to see you wearing such a pretty outfit. Of course I wanted to see you at your most perfect as soon as possible."

It seemed she had already blushed enough at the door, so nothing much showed on Rin's face. But when she went to sit on the sofa, she suddenly lost her balance and nearly fell on her butt, completely exposing herself.

"Hahahaha..."

I really couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. Rin gave me a thorough lesson with her soft little fists, and then I coaxed her into forgiving me in three minutes.

This was the mysterious power of an outsider who had watched countless films in his previous life and spent years searching for flirting techniques on Douyin!

Though really, I was just drawing conclusions from Hill's usual teasing of me. As expected of my teacher. Could it be that she had been training this side of me every day for the sake of my happiness?

Rin and I sat very close together on the sofa. We had already held hands before, so this little distance hardly mattered.

"Oh, right. The birthday party hasn't officially started yet, but I'll give you your gift first."

With that, Rin took out the white gift bag she had brought. At first, I thought it was her little backpack. So it was a gift for me.

This was the first time I had received such a beautifully wrapped birthday gift from a girl. Thank you for bringing me to this new world.

I opened the gift bag. Inside the box was... a sword guard?

It looked like two dark-blue crescent moons crossing each other, engraved with the characters "Qingyue" and patterns symbolizing the moon and water.

It felt heavy. It looked like Rin had bought it with the allowance she had saved up herself, but the patterns on it did not look like the work of a professional craftsman. Perhaps...

"Do... do you like it? Hehe, I practiced carving for a long time. I can't afford to give you a good ninja sword yet, so I gave you a sword guard first."

Looking at Rin's innocent and adorable smile, I suddenly felt like such a piece of trash for choosing Conqueror's Haki instead of picking a staff for her!

Still, the sword guard was genuinely beautiful. It was not too flashy, so it would not affect my swings. Most importantly, Rin had carved my name into it herself.

"Thank you, Rin. I'll use this sword guard forever. I'll put it on a ninja sword that protects Konoha! Only the strongest ninja sword is worthy of this sword guard!"

"Where are you going to find the strongest ninja sword?"

"Hehehe... I'm the man who will end the war and protect Konoha. The ninja sword in my hand will naturally be the strongest ninja sword!"

"Is that so? Then this sword guard has been blessed."

...After chatting for a while longer, there came another knock at the door. Konoha's white-haired, masked, secretly brooding handsome guy had arrived.

"Yo. Happy birthday."

After coldly delivering that blessing that sounded like he did not want to offer one at all, Kakashi sat down at the dining table without a shred of courtesy and began reading a scroll.

This guy really had no manners...

At this time, Kakashi received far too much praise. His father was the famous White Fang, Sakumo, so he could be said to be surrounded by adoration.

Ever since he had suffered a setback at my hands last time, he had always looked at me with hostility. But he had not challenged me to a duel either.

Unlike that foolish Obito, who knew he was outmatched but still insisted on rushing in to get beaten up, Kakashi seemed to be holding back something big and planned to use it all at once.

But if he waited any longer... I would practically have mastered Silent Sword. And once I learned Haki too, one slash might turn him into a real scarecrow.

Not long after, several other little friends who usually played with us also arrived. Most of them were children from civilian families, and only one or two might attend the ninja academy.

After all, this was a special period. Once they entered the ninja academy, they could be sent to the battlefield at any time, and not every family could afford the academy's tuition.

Finally, close to dinnertime, Obito caught up with us, panting heavily and covered in rags and dirt.

Looking at him like that, it seemed he had been hit by the ultimate genjutsu, Izanamilk.

"Sorry, sorry! Today was seriously awful. Right after I went out following lunch, I met an old lady and helped her rescue a cat. Then I had to move goods, clean her yard, and fight a wild dog that was trying to steal the old lady's grandson's toys. And then, and then..."

At first, I had always thought Obito's stories were exaggerated. Until I witnessed it with my own eyes now.

Mm, at the very least, this guy would not lack romantic prospects in the future. Taking Rin from him would not affect his happiness in life.

Besides, I would stop Madara from kidnapping him anyway. Strictly speaking, he should be thanking me!

After that little interlude, dinner began. It was the most luxurious meal I had had in five years. There was not only a huge cake, but every ingredient was top-notch.