An Uchiha born with boundless love

Uchiha Minamoto inexplicably found himself struggling to keep a straight face.

Konoha really did have such "wholesome" folkways.

Naruto Uzumaki was bullied because of the Nine-Tails.

Shikamaru Nara was bullied because he was lazy.

Choji Akimichi was bullied because he was fat.

Sakura Haruno was bullied because she had a big forehead.

Hinata Hyuga was bullied because of her Byakugan.

There were also Kushina Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Umino Iruka, Uchiha Itachi, Rock Lee... and on and on.

They were bullied for all sorts of absurd reasons.

The hardest part to keep a straight face about was that, once these bullied ninja grew up, they banded together-and became staunch supporters of the Will of Fire.

What was that called?

That was called Konoha bullying every inheritor of the Will of Fire equally!

Chapter 3: The Uchiha and the Nine-Tails are in league!

Naruto Uzumaki fell onto his backside and looked around helplessly.

Like a little yellow dog kicked for no reason, he tried to seek warmth and kindness from other humans.

But what those blue eyes of Naruto Uzumaki saw were not helping hands offered by kind villagers, but faces filled with indifference, disgust, and even hatred.

"Why?"

"What did I do wrong?"

"Why does everyone look at me like that?"

Naruto Uzumaki turned his gaze back toward the mask shop owner.

The man was taking a fox mask off the shelf-the very mask Naruto Uzumaki had just approached to look at.

"This mask!"

With disgust all over his face, the mask shop owner hurled the fox mask in his hand as though throwing out a piece of trash.

"Consider it a handout to a beggar! Now get lost!"

The fox mask flew swiftly toward the blond brat, straight at his forehead.

Naruto Uzumaki instinctively closed his eyes and turned his head aside, bracing for pain.

But the next second.

Smack-

A crisp sound reached Naruto Uzumaki's ears.

The expected pain never came.

Naruto Uzumaki opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar figure standing with his back to him.

Short black hair, a black uniform, a black scabbard, and a somewhat familiar red-and-white racket emblem stamped on his back.

As for the fox mask that should have struck him, it was held in a clean, fair right hand with well-defined knuckles.

"Sir."

It was a voice he had never heard before, yet it was as enchanting as heavenly music.

"Bullying a child?"

Naruto Uzumaki saw the mask shop owner's expression change in an instant.

How should he describe it?

Naruto Uzumaki racked his brains, putting his clever little head to work.

It was like Akamaru running into Choji, tucking his tail and trembling all over, terrified that Choji would open his enormous maw and swallow him whole!

"Uchiha..."

The mask shop owner did not recognize Uchiha Minamoto, but he recognized the Konoha Military Police Force uniform.

As the saying went, the official in charge mattered more than the official above.

If you did business in Konoha, you could get away with not recognizing the Hokage, but you absolutely had to recognize the Konoha Military Police Force!

"Officer!"

The mask shop owner's previously straight back bent at once, and his expression became mercenary and fawning.

"I was just joking with a customer!"

"Joking?"

Uchiha Minamoto chuckled, turned to look at Naruto Uzumaki behind him, and tipped his chin.

"Kid, do you think he was joking with you?"

After getting a clear look at his "savior," the first thought that surfaced in Naruto Uzumaki's mind was-

Big Brother Racket is so handsome!

So much so that he failed to catch Uchiha Minamoto's question at all. Only after coming to his senses did he ask rather foolishly.

"What?"

Uchiha Minamoto repeated the question.

"Joking?"

Naruto Uzumaki paid no attention whatsoever to the mask shop owner frantically signaling with his eyes off to the side. He shook his head wildly and shouted angrily.

"I'd never joke around with someone like him!"

"Sir?"

Uchiha Minamoto shrugged.

"What do you have to say?"

"Officer! Don't listen to that born-evil blond brat's nonsense!"

The mask shop owner glared viciously at Naruto Uzumaki. As he approached, he reached into his pocket, ready to buy his way out of trouble.

"I was clearly being kind and giving him a mask, but now he's turning around and biting me! No good deed goes unpunished-"

"Sir."

Smiling, Uchiha Minamoto raised his left hand and caught the wrist of the right hand the mask shop owner was trying to extend, with not a moment to spare.

"Trying to bribe a member of the Konoha Military Police Force, too?"

"...Huh?"

"I was only going to give you a talking-to, but now it looks like you'll have to come with me."

"Huh??"

"Oh, right. How much is this fox mask?"

"Huh???"

The successive twists left the mask shop owner completely bewildered, and he quoted the price almost instinctively.

"100 ryo."

"Here's your money."

Uchiha Minamoto paid without hesitation.

"Now close your shop, then come with me."

Holding the 100 ryo in cash, the mask shop owner stood motionless in a daze, as though his soul had left his body.

Uchiha Minamoto ignored him.

"Kid, it's yours. Consider it an apology gift from the shop owner."

Uchiha Minamoto casually placed the fox mask on Naruto Uzumaki's head, then patted his head.

"By the way, this mask really suits you."

Savoring the fleeting warmth of that touch, Naruto Uzumaki suddenly reached up and held the fox mask atop his head.

He lowered his head and pulled the mask down a little, covering the upper half of his face. Two faint trails of water trickled out from beneath the mask, flowing over those six foxlike whisker markings.

"Thank you... big brother..."

A faint, sobbing voice came from beneath the fox mask.

Uchiha Minamoto smiled.

Your big brother here loves doing good deeds most of all!

Watching this exceptionally harmonious scene, the mask shop owner took several steps back, and much of the servility on his face inexplicably faded.

"You're in league..."

"What?"

Uchiha Minamoto looked at the mask shop owner, vaguely sensing something unnatural about the change in the man's emotions.

"The demon fox's child! And an Uchiha! You're all in league, aren't you!"

The mask shop owner shouted at the top of his lungs, with a certain beauty of "surviving today counts as a victory."

"Seven years ago, it was the Uchiha Clan that made the Nine-Tails attack the village, wasn't it?!"

The Nine-Tails' Attack was one of the few horrific catastrophes in Konoha's history.

Although quite a few people privately suspected that the Uchiha Clan was inextricably linked to the Nine-Tails' Attack.

At least for now, however, Konoha's official designation for the Nine-Tails' Attack was a "natural disaster."

A natural disaster!

Not a man-made calamity!

Yet today.

In the heart of Konoha.

In broad daylight, under a clear sky.

An ordinary Konoha villager had pinned the blame for the Nine-Tails' Attack directly on the Uchiha Clan!

The onlookers instantly erupted into an uproar.

"Sir."

Uchiha Minamoto's previously calm, gentle tone turned cold.

"In addition to provoking trouble and attempting to bribe a member of the Konoha Military Police Force, you now have another charge-'spreading rumors to incite trouble'!"

"The Uchiha Clan are our enemies!"

The mask shop owner backed away several more steps, pointing at Uchiha Minamoto and screaming wildly.

"You have to kneel right here! Say, 'I'm sorry I was born an Uchiha'!"

Utter nonsense!

Uchiha Minamoto could not be bothered to waste words. The man did not deserve to hear them.

Driving Thunder Breathing at full power, he crossed several meters in an instant, his figure seeming to flicker, and appeared behind the mask shop owner. Without mercy, he chopped the back of the man's neck with the edge of his hand.

Thud!

The mask shop owner collapsed at the impact, unable to rise again.

[Helped Naruto Uzumaki retaliate against bullying by a Konoha villager!]