"Your Konoha Orphanage owes me an explanation today!"
Here it came.
Only a day had passed since he had pressured those three little brats, and a parent had already come knocking.
That was faster than some of the supposedly capable customer service systems from his previous life.
The visitor was a middle-aged man wearing a dark gray jacket washed pale with age.
He wore no forehead protector and showed no sign of being a ninja.
A low-level cog in Konoha's machine, moonlighting as a top-tier local troublemaker.
One look was all it took. Assessment complete.
After all, only a championship-grade Konoha troublemaker would beat up retirement homes and kick down orphanages.
When it came to manners, Konoha's troublemakers certainly had a reputation.
"What is wrong with your orphanage? Does being an orphan mean you can insult my child whenever you please?"
"Do you look down on Konoha's villagers? Are you trying to stir up infighting?"
Amamiya Maki sighed inwardly at those words.
The older generation's same old playbook. Their skill at slapping labels on people was remarkably polished.
He had even brought out "infighting."
Would accusing him of collaborating with the enemy and betraying the village come next?
Amamiya Maki did not rush to speak.
In a situation like this, whoever lost their cool first lost.
Taro Matsumoto's voice had already hit maximum volume.
Director Yuki hurried out of her office, looking as though she was forcing a smile.
She had actually been in a fairly good mood that day. Root was scheduled to come select promising recruits.
There was little for her to do, since she could not defy Root anyway, so she had hoped to enjoy a quiet break.
Instead of getting her break, trouble had come straight to her door.
She knew the visitor: Taro Matsumoto, the owner of the grocery shop on the next street.
"Mr. Matsumoto, please calm down first. What exactly happened?"
"How can you let the children in your orphanage insult people?"
"What have you been teaching them as their director? Do you look down on me? Do you look down on my child?"
Like a recording set on repeat, he spewed accusations nonstop, completely ignoring Yuki's explanations.
Slapping on labels, dredging up old grievances, blowing everything endlessly out of proportion.
The old-school approach, every move aimed at a weak spot.
Yuki pressed her lips into a thin line.
Some things she could answer. Others she could not.
But he had mixed all of them together, leaving her unable to respond or stay silent.
"Do you know that my Jiro cried all night after coming home yesterday? He's never suffered anything like this in his life!"
Taro Matsumoto thumped his chest with loud bangs.
"I've worked myself to the bone supplying Konoha through my grocery shop all these years, and now I can't even protect my own child!"
"Does your orphanage think I'm easy to bully because I have no money or influence?"
Yuki was just about to explain when Taro Matsumoto cut her off again.
"Don't tell me it was some misunderstanding! My son told me himself. An orphan here named Amamiya Maki insulted him!"
"He called him a stray dog! Just listen to that. Is that something a decent person would say? Is this what your orphanage teaches?"
"Lord Hokage's funding raises children with manners like these? I'm telling you, this isn't over!"
"If you don't give me a satisfactory answer, I'll protest outside the Hokage Building!"
Deciding things had gone far enough, Amamiya Maki stood up.
He had caused this in the first place, and he had no intention of hiding behind anyone.
Besides, as an ordinary Konoha villager, he ought to apply some well-meaning pressure to troublemakers who came looking for a fight.
After all, Konoha's villagers were such cultured, easygoing people.
"Fire Release: Fireball Technique!"
A fist-sized fireball flew past the tip of Taro Matsumoto's nose, singeing a few strands of hair.
Taro Matsumoto's mouth snapped shut.
A moment ago, he had been ranting endlessly about how an orphan had verbally insulted his child.
Now that orphan had used a fireball to tell him:
I can use ninjutsu, too.
"Sorry, sorry, I was the one who insulted him! I was walking the path of the Will of Fire at the time."
"I got a little carried away and said it. Your child was blocking the way like a stray dog..."
"You!"
The finger Taro Matsumoto pointed at Amamiya Maki trembled twice.
In the end, he could not squeeze out another word.
He had the guts to torment an orphan, and plenty of them.
But an orphan who could use ninjutsu was a different matter.
It would be disastrous if he ended up with seven kunai in his back one night and was ruled to have committed treason.
And he recognized that technique.
His father, who had been a ninja, had taught it to him back in the day.
Unfortunately, three years of practice had not produced so much as a spark.
This brat was only six!
Damn orphan. Time to hit him hard!
"You're quite the silver-tongued orphan, aren't you? How does an orphan like you get to walk the path of the Will of Fire?"
Smiling, Amamiya Maki raised a hand and pointed at the ground beneath his feet.
"By walking along the orphanage's streets, of course. Lord Hokage personally ordered this place built."
"Its purpose is to provide shelter for orphans like us. Isn't that enough to embody the Will of Fire?"
He tilted his head, his tone suddenly sharpening.
"Or are you saying-you think Lord Hokage was wrong to build this orphanage?"
"Don't tell me you're harboring malicious intentions and plotting against Konoha?"
Taro Matsumoto's expression changed drastically.
"Everyone knows my family has run our grocery shop for three generations! I'm a born-and-bred Konoha villager!"
A sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Not from the heat, but from nerves.
Once the charge of "disrespecting the Hokage" stuck to someone...
At best, their shop's accounts would be investigated. At worst, the whole family would be invited to tea by Root.
He had personally seen the grilled-fish seller on the next street say nothing more than, "Lord Hokage eats fish too, huh?"
The Anbu had taken him away and questioned him about his household registration and origins for three full days.
As for his so-called three generations of roots...
That was even more of a joke.
Konoha had no shortage of families with three generations of roots.
At some point, a ring of spectators had gathered.
There was the woman who owned the neighboring tofu shop.
An old man munching sunflower seeds outside the bathhouse.
A housewife just back from the market, still carrying her basket.
Amamiya Maki noticed several orphanage children at the back of the crowd, peeking out from behind bedding hung up to dry.
They did not dare approach, but they had not left either.
"Three generations of roots, my ass. Didn't your dad flee here from the east?"
"A filthy beggar came to Konoha for handouts, and suddenly you're born and bred here?"
"Lord Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered this orphanage built. Shouting and yelling here like this-do you have any respect for Lord Hokage at all?"
[Detected mental pressure inflicted by the host on "Taro Matsumoto"] [Pressure points +50] [Detected indirect pressure on "Taro Matsumoto"] [Pressure points +20]
Amamiya Maki nearly failed to keep a straight face.
Fifty for direct pressure, and another twenty when the spectators piled on.
Even getting others to do his dirty work counted toward his total. This system really encouraged him to stir up trouble.
Am I some kind of terrible villager?
He quickly glanced at the changing numbers on the system panel.
Seventy pressure points was more than he had earned from insulting all three brats yesterday combined.
Apparently, adults' mental defenses were far more fragile than children's.
Especially self-righteous adults who spent every day slapping labels on others to keep them down.
Taro Matsumoto's face turned a dark, purplish red.
However furious he was, he had to swallow it.
A grocery shop owner publicly questioning an orphanage built by Lord Hokage.
If word got out, his wife would practically twist his ears off.
"Fine... just fine. I'll remember you, you damn orphan..."
Taro Matsumoto ground his teeth in fury.
He had never imagined he would lose at his own blame game, let alone to an orphan!
An orphan who was six years old, had neither father nor mother, and could not even afford decent clothes.
He clenched his fists until his knuckles went white.
I can't hit him.
This brat knows ninjutsu. If I hit him, it's assaulting a prospective Ninja Academy student. That changes everything.
"Enough! Who gave you permission to come here and bellow at the Konoha Orphanage?"
A masked ninja wearing the standard Anbu uniform walked out of the orphanage.
He had come to the orphanage on Lord Danzo's orders to find children with ninja potential.
But after going inside, he had found nothing but hopeless specimens and children with intellectual disabilities.
Now someone was shouting outside as well, leaving him thoroughly irritated.
"Hmph! A Konoha ninja is bullying a civilian! Come and see, everyone!"
Taro Matsumoto launched into his old routine again.
What he had not expected was that this was no ordinary Anbu member, but one of Danzo's Root operatives.
The moment the Root operative heard that, he knew exactly what to do.
Without another word, he delivered a personality-correction punch.
Seven punches in one second knocked Taro Matsumoto back and scattered his troublemaker spirit.
Seeing things take a bad turn, the surrounding spectators immediately gathered everyone close to themselves for protection.
In short, they ran.
"Get lost! Let me tell you, outside the village, we'd only kill your immediate family. In Konoha, we can wipe out ten degrees of your relations!"
The Root operative shook out his wrist.
Taro Matsumoto had already vanished around the street corner, scrambling and stumbling without daring to look back.
The Root operative turned to leave.
As he passed Amamiya Maki, his steps paused briefly.
The gaze behind his mask settled on the orphan for two seconds.
That Fire Release just now.
The casting speed, the precision of his hand seals, and the way he concentrated his chakra were nothing like a beginner's.
But his chakra reserves really were pitifully small.
Interesting.
"Looks like this wasn't a complete waste after all..."
His figure disappeared beyond the orphanage gates.
"Amamiya Maki."
Director Yuki's voice came from behind him.
She lowered her voice as much as she could, trying to sound gentler.
"Those things you said to Mr. Matsumoto just now..."
"They weren't things a good child should say."
"Which thing?" Amamiya Maki asked sincerely.
"I said quite a few things just now."
Yuki took a deep breath. "...Just don't do that again."
"Don't do what?"
"Don't aim Fire Release at someone's face."
"Got it. I'll aim a little farther left next time."
[Detected: host caused mental stress to Yuki] [Stress points +5]
Amamiya Maki sat down against a pillar and opened the system panel.
[Name: Amamiya Maki] [Current fragments: Mangekyō Sharingan (Kamui): 1/2000] [Current stress points: 105]
Not bad.
Three sentences had squeezed seventy stress points out of Taro Matsumoto. That was a good deal.
But there had clearly been something off about the way that Root operative had looked at him.
That wasn't how someone sized up an ordinary orphan.
It was more like appraising a piece of merchandise that hadn't been labeled yet.
He was being watched.
Too bad, though. In Konoha, no one knew when an accident might strike.
Before you continue