Destined death

"Yecheng, you've been sick so often since you were little. Even though I've regularly treated you to build up your health, you still haven't gotten any better."

"There's a very real chance you won't live past fifteen!"

"Even knowing that, do you still want to apply to the Ninja Academy and become a ninja?"

Looking at the white-haired boy before her, Yakushi Nonō couldn't bear it.

To her, the children in the orphanage were her children, no different from her own flesh and blood.

If she could help it, she truly didn't want her children to become tools of war like ninjas. Besides, Yecheng had always been so sensible, helping her with so many things around the orphanage.

With his strange, unusual constitution as well, she hoped all the more that Yecheng could spend the last few years of his life in peace.

Rather than become a ninja and die in some patch of roadside grass while carrying out a mission, with no one knowing where.

His face sickly pale, Yecheng chuckled. "Miss Nonō, even though flowers are destined to wither, they still bloom in all their beauty without hesitation.

If people refused to bloom at their most beautiful just because their lives were destined to end, wouldn't that be a terrible shame?"

Looking at the smile on his face, Yakushi Nonō finally understood his resolve.

She sighed helplessly, took a key from inside her clothes, and placed it in Yecheng's hand.

"This is for my house in the village. The orphanage is out of the way, and it's a long trip back and forth. You can live there from now on. I hardly ever go there anyway."

Yecheng froze for a moment. Seeing the heartache in her eyes, how could he fail to understand her intentions? He immediately responded with a smile.

"In that case, thank you, Miss Nonō.

Don't worry. Ninjas are all very powerful. Maybe once I become a ninja and grow stronger, I'll be able to get Princess Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, to treat me!"

Amused by his innocent words, Yakushi Nonō didn't scold him for not knowing his limits. Instead, she gave him a warm smile.

"Yes, if it's you, Yecheng, you can definitely do it. If you can get Lady Princess Tsunade to treat you, you'll definitely survive!"

After giving him a few more reminders, Yakushi Nonō watched Yecheng leave the orphanage with a small bundle on his back and sighed inwardly.

Lady Princess Tsunade, one of the Sannin, was renowned throughout the Shinobi World, respected, admired, and favored by countless people. How could someone like that possibly lend a hand to a small, unknown orphan?

But she wouldn't shatter the beautiful dream in his heart. That would be far too cruel to a six-year-old child, a child destined to die at fifteen.

"I never imagined a house that was so far out of reach in my previous life would come so easily in this one."

Having finished tidying up the house Yakushi Nonō had given him, Yecheng smiled wryly.

Ye Cheng had originally been a warmhearted young college student. When he came across a woman crying for help in the water, his body moved before he had time to think. He jumped in to save her, only to drown by accident.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself an infant in swaddling clothes.

He had thought he was lucky enough to get another life, but he hadn't expected to transmigrate into the world of Naruto. He really couldn't say whether his luck was good or bad.

His background in this life was rather tragic. Orphaned amid war from birth, he had later been brought back by Konoha Ninja and raised in an orphanage. Now six years old, he was the same age as this world's main cast and old enough to enter the Ninja Academy.

This body of his had some kind of congenital illness. Although his wounds healed very quickly, and even a knife cut would stop bleeding and scab over in a short time...

He was sickly year-round, and the pallor of his face bore that out.

It really was contradictory.

After comparing the various characters and abilities that had appeared in the original work, Yecheng had a guess: it was very likely a bloodline disease caused by some kind of Kekkei Genkai, but he couldn't be completely certain yet.

And just as he had told Director Yakushi Nonō earlier, perhaps only Princess Tsunade could save him from this illness.

Otherwise, he really could only meet his destined death at fifteen.

Yecheng couldn't accept that. Having finally gotten another life, he didn't want to die as naturally and as unceremoniously as he had in his previous one.

Precisely because he had died once, he wanted even more to truly live this time!

To live for himself!

In his previous life, he had been quite fond of Naruto and knew its plot and setting in great detail. With his foreknowledge, it wasn't as though he had no chance of resolving his condition.

"There are still a few years until I turn fifteen. The most important thing right now is to enter the Ninja Academy and build good relationships with the main cast. After that, I can look for an opening to approach Tsunade..."

While he was thinking, a sudden commotion came from outside the window.

"Haha, look at this one's eyes. They're actually white! How weird!"

"I heard she's from that Hyuga Clan!"

"Oi! Aren't people from the Hyuga Clan supposed to have that Byakugan thing? Show it to us!"

"Yeah, exactly..."

"..."

Yecheng looked up and saw several slightly older children surrounding a girl.

Was that... Hinata Hyuga?

Yecheng quickly recalled that a similar scene had appeared in the original story.

As expected of Konoha's rotten villagers, steeped in the will of bullying. They even dared to brazenly bully the young lady of one of the village's most prestigious ninja clans...

Remembering the "grand theory of bullying" from his previous life, Yecheng wore a strange expression.

Still, wrongdoing that needed stopping had to be stopped.

Outside, three half-grown children were freely venting the evil side of their nature.

The tallest of them reached out with a vicious grin, about to yank at her long black hair...

Smack!

But Yecheng intercepted his outstretched hand.

"Hey, don't you think it's going a little too far for the three of you to gang up on one girl?"

Standing in front of Hinata Hyuga, Yecheng looked at him and spoke flatly.

"Tch, you little..."

The boy tried to pull his wrist free of Yecheng's grip, only to discover that his hand seemed locked in steel. He couldn't break free at all, and a burning pain spread through his wrist.

Yecheng slowly turned his wrist, forcing the boy to bend over to keep his arm from being twisted off.

"Aagh, that hurts!"

Seeing this, the other two immediately rushed forward, swinging their fists to help their companion.

Yecheng snorted coldly and defeated them with a few easy punches and kicks.

Though this body often fell ill, it had considerable talent for Taijutsu. Combined with Yecheng's purposeful training since he was little, beating a few brats was still a breeze.

"Three against one, and you still got beaten. Do you even know how to fight? You're this lousy, and you still try to bully people?"

Yecheng chuckled.

"Damn it... You white-haired, white-faced bastard, just you remember this!"

After that exchange, the three knew they were no match for him. They threw out a threat and fled in a panic.

Yecheng turned and held out his hand to Hinata Hyuga with a gentle smile.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm fine..."

Seeing Yecheng's smile, Hinata Hyuga's soft little face immediately flushed with embarrassment, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

Seeing her like that, Yecheng could only scratch his head helplessly.

"I'll take you home. It's late, and it's not safe for you to be alone. We don't want something like that happening again."

"Okay..."

But before Yecheng had escorted her very far, ninjas from the Hyuga Clan came looking and took charge of their young lady.

"Your name is..."

As they parted, Hinata Hyuga seemed to suddenly remember something. Her voice abruptly rose, then quickly grew quiet again.

"Yecheng."

"I'm... Hinata Hyuga. Yecheng-kun, thank you for today..."

"Sure, it's nothing. Hurry home."

Watching Hinata Hyuga leave under the escort of two powerful ninjas who seemingly hadn't noticed anything unusual, Yecheng breathed a sigh of relief.

He returned home.

He looked with some surprise and uncertainty at the few lines of small text before his eyes, visible only to him.

[Successfully became acquainted with Hinata Hyuga, young lady of the Hyuga Clan. Affection increased. Fate Points +12]

[Current Fate Points: 12]

[Current lifespan: 15]

*Note: Yecheng (Yashiro, yashiro).

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