"You scared that girl off."
Gojo Satoru shifted all the blame onto him without the slightest twinge of guilt.
Uchiha Itachi couldn't be bothered to respond to his nonsense and kept walking at a steady pace.
"How are you going to find a girlfriend with that sour face?"
"Not like me. I'm handsome and thoughtful. Even the lady who runs the shop next door came over to ask my name."
Gojo Satoru was still bantering with Uchiha Itachi when he suddenly stopped, as though something had caught his attention.
"Fox demon! Nine-Tailed Fox demon!"
"Get lost! We won't serve you."
Amid a clamor of shouting inside the shop, a scrawny little figure was driven out.
The bystanders began talking over one another, then scattered as though fleeing the plague.
Someone flung a mask straight at the blond child standing dumbly in the middle of the street.
"Tch, talk about good timing."
Gojo Satoru ducked, deftly caught the mask, spun it twice in his hand, and muttered under his breath.
Those who hadn't left yet saw the blindfolded boy willingly approach the fox demon and couldn't resist gossiping again.
"Don't go near him. He'll bring you terrible luck."
"Look at that weird blindfold. No wonder he's talking to a monster."
"Look at his clothes. He's from the Uchiha Clan."
"An Uchiha!"
At that, everyone hurried away. Who didn't know how difficult the Konoha Military Police Force could be?
Gojo Satoru let it all go in one ear and out the other, taking none of their remarks to heart.
Judging people with nothing but their own shallow perceptions. What a bunch of rotten oranges!
[Ding! Roleplaying points +100!]
As he played Satoru Gojo, the character's emotions were influencing him too.
"Big brother..."
The blond child gazed at the boy before him, who was a few years older, and called out softly.
He had never expected anyone to step forward and help him, and his eyes shone.
"What's your name?"
Gojo Satoru asked despite already knowing.
"Naruto Uzumaki!"
Naruto answered at the top of his voice.
Naruto felt an inexplicable closeness to this blindfolded boy, the first person to reach out to him.
"Good name. Naruto-you'll make a splash. One day, everyone in the world will know your name."
Gojo Satoru spoke indistinctly around a lollipop he had produced from somewhere.
His technique, Blue, hadn't been fully unlocked yet. Using it sometimes left him tired, so he needed something sweet to replenish his energy.
"Hahaha, really? Of course! I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!"
Naruto's face broke into a huge grin.
"Lord Hokage, want to go eat at Ichiraku Ramen?"
"He's paying."
Gojo Satoru pointed at the stone-faced Uchiha Itachi beside him, looking perfectly serious.
"All right!"
Delighted, Naruto eagerly agreed.
Young as he was, his intuition about other people's emotions was remarkably sharp.
These two clearly meant him no harm.
"Ichiraku Ramen is so good!"
Naruto gulped down the last mouthful of broth in his bowl and shouted.
"Is that so?"
Hearing him, the shop owner turned around with a warm smile.
"Of course! I've never had ramen this good!"
He gestured vigorously as he spoke, utterly earnest.
"We're holding a ramen competition here in a few days. Don't forget to come."
The ramen shop owner invited him with a cheerful smile.
"Don't worry! I'll definitely be here!"
Naruto nodded hard, then turned to Gojo Satoru.
"Big brother, are you entering too?"
His steel-blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight.
"Sounds fun. Itachi and I will both come."
"Then it's settled."
Gojo Satoru clapped his hands together, deciding the matter.
"Don't make decisions for other people."
Uchiha Itachi looked at Gojo Satoru helplessly.
Even a request from his student didn't justify this.
"Ah, you heard him. He said yes."
Gojo Satoru smoothly supplied that explanation for Naruto.
"Uh..."
Was that supposed to mean yes, big brother?
He didn't seem to agree.
Naruto had yet to grasp what it meant to put words in someone else's mouth.
"All right, that's settled. See you next time."
With that parting remark, Gojo Satoru sauntered off with Uchiha Itachi.
"What rotten luck today. I didn't get to see Itachi in women's clothes, Itachi scared off that pretty girl, and then we ran into a bunch of people spouting nonsense."
"At least that delicious bowl of ramen made up for it in the end."
"Satoru, stop fooling around."
Uchiha Itachi's still-boyish face was full of helplessness.
"Hey, that's an unfair accusation."
"But what did you think about what happened back there?"
Gojo Satoru dropped his flippant smile and casually posed the question.
Back there?
Uchiha Itachi's gaze darkened for a moment as he understood what had gone unsaid.
"Everyone lives by what little they know, trapped within it."
"That's what we call reality."
"But knowledge and understanding are vague things to begin with. Reality might be nothing more than an illusion."
"People all live within their own fixations."
"Don't you think so?"
"Ah, so that's how you see it."
Gojo Satoru crunched through the lollipop in his mouth and muttered indistinctly.
Before you continue