"Your candy..."
However, the young mother reacted as if burned, abruptly pulling her child behind her and shouting almost in a scream, "Don't touch my son! Stay away from us! You're dirty!"
Her hand almost hit Naruto's outstretched arm. Naruto seemed startled and quickly pulled his hand back, causing the candy to fall to the ground with a "thud".
His smile vanished instantly, his lips trembled, and his large blue eyes quickly welled up with tears, but he blinked desperately, forcing the moisture back.
He stopped looking at the mother and child, turned around, lowered his head, and quickly walked behind Shira and Rock Lee, hiding himself.
Throughout the entire process, Shira clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides, his nails digging into his palms. He could feel Rock Lee's body tense up instantly beside him, and his breathing became heavy.
Rock Lee suddenly turned his head and looked at the back of the mother who was pulling her crying child away with a look of disgust on her face. Then he looked at Naruto, Naruto was looking down and whose shoulders were trembling slightly. The confusion on his face was finally replaced by a strong anger and heartache.
"How... how could they do this?!" Rock Lee's voice trembled with emotion. He looked at Shira, then at Naruto, his thick, dark eyebrows almost knitted together.
" Naruto was clearly trying to help! He just wanted to return the candy! He didn't do anything wrong! Why is everyone... treating him like this? Just because he's some kind of 'Demon Fox'? But what is a Demon Fox? Naruto is clearly Naruto!"
He walked a few steps to Naruto and looked into Naruto's downcast eyes. Naruto was startled by his sudden action and instinctively took a small step back, his eyes darting away, unable to look at him.
" Naruto," Rock Lee's voice was serious, even a little urgent, as he pointed in the direction the mother and child had just left.
"Don't pay attention to them! They're wrong! You did a great job! You wanted to give the candy back to him; you're a good kid! I can tell!"
Naruto slowly raised his head, his blue eyes still shimmering with tears and disbelief.
He looked at Rock Lee, who was squatting in front of him, with a serious expression and clear yet angry eyes, and then at Shira, who was standing silently beside him with a gentle gaze. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
After several seconds, he said in a very small, slightly choked voice, "But they all say I'm a fox spirit, a monster... Nobody wants to play with me..."
"That's because they're blind!" Rock Lee said firmly. He reached out, seemingly wanting to pat Naruto on the shoulder, then hesitated, pausing in mid-air before finally clenching his fist tightly.
"I'll play with you! Shira will play with you too! Weren't we just talking? You even watched our training! Right, Shira?"
Shira looked at the scene before him, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He nodded, his voice a little hoarse. "Yes. You're not a monster, Naruto. You're Naruto Uzumaki."
It was a very simple sentence, but the four words " Naruto Uzumaki " carried a sense of solemnity when he uttered them.
It was neither "the fox spirit" nor "that child," but his name.
Naruto stared blankly at Shira, then at Rock Lee. His beautiful blue eyes were even more watery, but this time, it seemed there was more than just grievance; there was something else, something sparkling.
He sniffed hard, wiped his face haphazardly with his dirty sleeve, and then gave Rock Lee and Shira a big smile that, though still tinged with tears, was brighter and more genuine than any he had ever shown before.
"Yes!" He nodded vigorously, his voice louder.
Rock Lee smiled, revealing his White Fang. Although his face was still damp with sweat and dust, his smile was clean and warm. He stood up and said to Naruto, "Let's go, we'll take you part of the way. Which side do you live on?"
The three continued walking, with Naruto now in the middle, his hand unconsciously clutching the hem of his dirty clothes. The stares from the roadside remained unfriendly, and the whispers continued unabated.
This time, however, Naruto didn't lower his head. Although he still subconsciously avoided those overly piercing gazes, he straightened his back a bit and occasionally answered Rock Lee's questions in a low voice.
Shira Earth Flow silently beside him, watching Naruto's dazzling blond hair in the sunlight, watching Rock Lee's serious yet somewhat reckless profile, and listening to the lingering, malicious whispers behind her.
An invisible, cold wall still stood between this blond boy and the vast majority of Konoha people.
But at this moment, on this street filled with rejection, two figures stood firmly on this side of the wall, trying to warm the shadows in the corner with their insignificant body heat.
He didn't know what this would change. Perhaps it wouldn't change anything at all.
But he knew that for Naruto at that moment, those two figures and those two simple words were perhaps like a faint star glimpsed in the long, dark night.
As for himself, this "observer" who knew the future, besides feeling sentimental, a heavy thought quietly arose in his heart, one that he himself was not even clearly aware of: if possible, at least let this shadow fade a little...