(Thus I tell it; take it with a grain of salt.
The author may have overlooked some details, and there will also be original additions to the plot and setting.)
(The story begins when Naruto is seven or eight; earlier events will be covered later. Also, at readers' request, Hanabi has been aged up by two years. Originally, she was five years younger than Hinata; in this book, she is three years younger.)
(Novels are just light entertainment. Please leave your belongings in storage for now; they will be returned automatically when you leave.)
(Brain storage area)
Konoha was strangely quiet beneath the heavy snow. Its usually bustling streets now held nothing but the soft rustle of falling flakes.
Snowflakes as large as goose feathers wove a dense white curtain, shrouding the entire village in a hazy silence.
Having just finished his afternoon training of twenty laps around Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki was taking a stroll through the village, trudging unevenly through the snow along a secluded path downstream of the Naka River.
Few people used this road, and even the snow lay deeper here than on the main street.
His ill-fitting winter clothes had long since darkened with melted snow, their fabric worn pale at the elbows and knees.
The cold wind slipped into his sleeves and trouser legs like fine needles, raising tiny goosebumps on his exposed forearms and calves.
He instinctively buried his face deeper in his scarf. His blue eyes glimmered through the gaps in the knitted checks, like two fish swimming beneath a frozen lake.
Occasionally, pedestrians stopped beneath the eaves along the main street to breathe out clouds of white vapor. Whenever he spotted them from afar, he immediately turned down a side road.
The memory of having dirty fish water thrown over him outside that fish shop three months earlier was still vivid. The woman's twisted mouth as she called him "bad luck" had chilled him more than the shards of ice that landed on his neck.
He clenched the edge of his scarf, his knuckles red with cold.
Since he was met with disgust wherever he went, he might as well choose deserted paths himself.
In the years since he had transmigrated here, Naruto had long grown used to it.
Fresh snow soon covered his crooked footprints, much like this boy who always took the long way around, walking his own solitary course outside Konoha's web of streets.
As Naruto walked alone through the snow, a shrill commotion from a nearby alley entrance broke the silence.
Several children in thick padded coats stood in a semicircle, trapping a small figure between them.
The tall boy leading them jabbed a finger almost into the trapped child's forehead, shouting, "You're a daughter of the Hyuga Clan, so show us your Byakugan!"
The child surrounded in the middle was Hinata Hyuga.
Her cream-colored scarf made her little face look even paler.
Confronted with the finger pointing at her and the malice surrounding her, she looked like a frightened fawn, her lips pressed tightly together and her slender shoulders trembling.
When she failed to respond, the other children joined in the jeering.
"If you won't, then stop looking at us!"
A chubby boy folded his arms, his face full of scorn.
"Those eyes look so creepy!"
"Creepy?"
The tall boy sneered and delivered his malicious verdict.
"They're monster eyes!"
Finally, all the children shouted the same insulting name in unison: "You're a white-eyed monster!"
Their chorus of abuse was the last straw.
The fear and hurt Hinata had been holding back instantly welled into tears in her wide eyes.
She lowered her head, her small body trembling even harder. The tears gathering at the corners of her eyes finally grew too heavy and rolled down, leaving wet trails on her pale cheeks that quickly turned icy in the cold air.
She bit her lower lip hard to keep from making a sound, but her silent tears were more heartbreaking than any loud sobbing.
Before the words "white-eyed monster" had even finished echoing, a hard, icy snowball shot like a cannonball straight into the lanky boy's face.
With a sharp smack, it burst against the bridge of his nose, scattering shards of ice. It cut him off and sent him stumbling backward with a startled cry before he landed on the ground.
Everyone's gaze snapped toward it.
Naruto Uzumaki had appeared a short distance away. He still held his throwing pose, snow clinging to his right hand, and his blue eyes burned with a fury utterly at odds with the freezing weather.
His chest heaved, his white breaths coming fast and forcefully, like an enraged little beast.
"Hey, you lot!"
His voice rang out, filled with unmistakable anger.
"You're a bunch of stupid bastards!"
Before the stunned children could react, he bent swiftly, scooped up a handful of icy snow, and squeezed it between his hands. Almost instantly, he had formed a second snowball and gripped it firmly.
The children finally recovered from their shock. The lanky boy who had been hit wiped the melted snow from his face and pointed at Naruto in terrified fury, giving a shrill voice to everyone's fear:
"It's the demon fox!"
Those words bit deeper than the cold wind, instantly freezing the already tense atmosphere.
A trace of disdain flashed through Naruto's eyes as he watched the lanky boy clutch his face and retreat in panic.
Bastards who only picked on the weak and feared the strong. If they were this rotten as kids, they'd grow up to be thugs.
Ever since his soul had transmigrated into this body and he had become Naruto Uzumaki, he had not wasted his days in ignorance as the original owner had.
No system or other cheat had fallen into his lap, but he possessed something more valuable.
A clear knowledge of the story's future.
After confirming that his body could withstand molding chakra, he had worked far harder than his counterpart in the original course of events.
"Number two!"
With a sharp shout, Naruto sent the snowball flying in a viciously straight line, striking the dazed chubby boy beside the first square in the face.
The chubby boy let out a yelp, the blow leaving him reeling.
Before the remaining child could react, Naruto rapidly brought his hands together in front of his chest.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
With a small puff of white smoke, two shadow clones identical to Naruto appeared, their gazes sharp and their movements perfectly synchronized.
This was not the Clone Technique taught at the Ninja Academy, but the Shadow Clone Technique he had won from Kiba Inuzuka in a bet.
There were only two clones, but they were more than enough to deal with these three bullying children.
"Run!"
The only boy who had not been hit by a snowball shouted in a tearful voice. At the sight of three furious Narutos charging toward them together, the three formerly swaggering boys were scared out of their wits, the last scraps of their courage collapsing in an instant.
They bolted like startled rabbits, not even stopping to pick up a fallen padded hat. Stumbling and scrambling, they vanished around the corner of the alley, leaving only a trail of panicked footprints.
Watching their pathetic retreat, Naruto had no intention of chasing them.
He had only wanted to scare them off, and achieving that was enough.
If I actually beat them up, the old Third would come knocking tomorrow.
He made another simple set of hand seals. With a few soft pops, the two shadow clones dissolved into white smoke in the freezing air.
Silence returned to the snowy ground, leaving only Naruto and Hinata.
Naruto brushed the snow from his hands before turning around, his gaze settling on the petite figure who still stood with her head lowered.
He tried to soften his voice as he asked, "Hey, you're not hurt, are you?"
Hinata's shoulders gave a slight tremble at his words. She hurriedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, her little hands nervously clutching the hem of her coat. Her voice was barely audible, still carrying a lingering catch: "N-no... I'm not..."
After a brief silence, she seemed to summon an enormous burst of courage. She suddenly took a small step forward, then bowed deeply to Naruto.
Her voice trembled slightly with emotion, yet rang out remarkably clearly:
"Th-thank you so much!"
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. You're Hinata from my class, right?"
Naruto had wanted to greet Hinata in class before, but she had seemed terribly shy. After one or two attempts, he had given up.
She had surely forgotten what had happened before. If not for the Nine-Tails, he probably would not have remembered either.
"Yes, I'm Hinata Hyuga."