"All right."
Faced with Shinichi's airtight logic, Kakashi had no comeback.
"If you really have nothing to do, go train with Guy."
Seeing how dispirited Kakashi looked, Shinichi frowned slightly and suggested, "Don't bottle everything up. Letting it out will make you feel a lot better. You're the only little brother I have. You know what I'm saying, right?"
Although his talent as a ninja had proved thoroughly mediocre over the years-he could even be called half a good-for-nothing-Kakashi, a genius himself, had never looked down on his older brother. The two brothers were quite close.
Especially after their adoptive father Sakumo died, Shinichi had handled almost all of Kakashi's day-to-day needs. An elder brother was like a father, as the saying went, and in Kakashi's heart, Shinichi was practically half a father to him.
He didn't want to see Kakashi spend his whole life trapped in the shadows of the past.
"I know, big brother."
Kakashi nodded, but Shinichi could tell that his words hadn't sunk in.
One devastating blow after another could break a person's will. A few words from him could never undo that.
After eating, Kakashi retreated to his room alone again.
Ever since the Nine-Tails' Rampage, Kakashi had spent nearly all his time at home like this whenever he wasn't out on a mission.
Shinichi shook his head inwardly. It seemed that pulling his little brother out of the darkness for good would be a long, drawn-out struggle.
[The system has detected Kakashi Hatake's biological information. Would the host like to extract it?]
"Extract it now!"
[Ding! Congratulations to the host on successfully extracting biological information and obtaining the talent trait: "Sharingan Stealer (red)."] [Sharingan Stealer: You have successfully stolen the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan power. This powerful kekkei genkai will grant you boundless talent. Work hard to develop your eyes; they may bring you an enormous surprise.] [Ocular power +300%! Ninjutsu power +300%! Bonus: Sharingan kekkei genkai.]
Although the red talent trait wasn't as powerful as a purple one, it still came as a tremendous surprise to Shinichi. After all, this was the kekkei genkai countless Naruto fans dreamed of-the Sharingan!
"Now here's the question: how do I awaken these eyes?"
Shinichi thought to himself.
Awakening and evolving the Sharingan required its wielder to experience an immense emotional upheaval. As a result, the Sharingan's evolution was often accompanied by death and suffering. That was also why it was known as a cursed power.
Shinichi was determined to awaken his Sharingan.
But he hadn't figured out how to do it yet. If he followed the original author's logic, he might only get the chance if Kakashi died. After all, Kakashi was the only family member he truly cared about in this world.
"I'll find a way when the time comes! To hell with it!"
Since he couldn't figure it out, Shinichi simply put it aside for now.
With such a powerful system cheat at his disposal, did he really need to worry about finding a way to awaken his eyes?
He already had cheats. What the hell was there to worry about?
His priority now was to keep acquiring new talent traits, and doing that was actually quite simple. He just needed to find other people and secretly take something containing their biological information, just as he'd stolen Kakashi's hair earlier.
If his guess was right, hair, blood, and saliva should all work.
Hair was definitely the easiest.
As for blood, in a world with kekkei genkai, ninja wouldn't readily let their blood fall into other people's hands. And saliva... just thinking about it was a little disgusting. Better forget that!
"So, who should my next target be?"
Shinichi rubbed his chin as he thought.
Ideally, this person wouldn't be very wary of him and would be a little simple-minded. The greater their potential, the better, since that would give him a chance to extract an exceptionally high-quality talent trait.
The answer was obvious.
Naturally, it was the protagonist of the Naruto world himself-Naruto Uzumaki!
Naruto was only around three years old now and lived all alone. Thanks to the Third Hokage and Danzo's various disgusting schemes, his life was a living hell.
Financially, Naruto received only a pitiful little relief payment each month, surviving on instant noodles and expired milk.
Emotionally, he had it even worse.
Apart from the hypocritical Third occasionally coming to visit, almost no other children played with him. And the adults, who knew nothing of the truth, constantly hurled abuse at him.
"Damn the Third! Damn Danzo!"
Just thinking about it made Shinichi grit his teeth in hatred.
Anyone who let a hero's child suffer such treatment had no right to be whitewashed, no matter what world they were in!
In short, whether for his own purposes or for his conscience, he needed to find Naruto first.
"Demon fox! Stay away from me!"
"You're a monster! We don't want to play with you!"
"Everyone, hit him! Beat that little monster good!"
Several children crowded together in the snow, their small fists and feet lashing out hard, raining blows on a blond boy with a few little whisker marks on his face.
"I-I'm not a monster!"
Even as the beating brought tears of pain to his eyes, the blond boy bravely cried out, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I just wanted to be friends with you! Why are you hitting me?"
"Shut up, little monster!"
"You demon fox monster! You don't deserve to be our friend!"
"If you're a monster, you should stay home! Why come out and scare people?"
The nasty children snickered, doing everything they could to hurt Naruto with their cruel words.
Physical pain had never made Naruto give in.
But wounds to the heart were not something anyone could easily ignore.
Even Naruto, with his sunny disposition, couldn't help feeling a shadow fall over his heart in the face of such misery.
He knew he wasn't welcome, so he rarely went out except to buy food. Today, he'd only come out to find something to eat because he couldn't stand the hunger at home any longer.
But the adults refused to sell him food. They even flung back the money he offered and told him to get lost.
Little Naruto truly didn't understand what he'd done wrong to deserve this treatment. And why did everyone else have a mom and dad, while he had neither? It seemed he was the only one who was always alone.
"This is... fucking bullshit!"
At some point, a thin figure had appeared in the snow.
It was Hatake Shinichi.
Even though he'd already braced himself, seeing the scene with his own eyes still stirred a violent surge of emotion within him!
Heartache, anger, and an inexplicable agitation tangled together, turning his expression thunderously dark.
He'd known all along that Naruto would be bullied.
But there were clearly plenty of adults watching nearby, and not a single one stepped forward to stop the children's brutality. It was as though they'd already decided in their hearts that Naruto deserved to be bullied!
Naruto was only a child. Even if he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, what had he done wrong?
Had he really destroyed the village and killed so many villagers on the Night of the Nine-Tails?
Of course not!
Naruto wasn't some ill-omened demon fox. He was the hero who kept that demon fox sealed away!
So why should Naruto, a hero, have to endure this treatment?
Under the leadership of certain bastards, Konoha really had rotted to a sickening degree!
Before you continue