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"Idiot! You can't even learn the Clone Technique, you total moron!"
"Loser! Always at the bottom of the class!"
"An orphan with no parents!"
"Seriously, why would the school even accept trash like you?"
"If I were you, I'd drop out already. Why keep embarrassing yourself here?"
Those voices kept ringing in Hayata Hayato's ears. He hung his head low, fists clenched so tight his nails dug into his palms. Rage boiled in his chest. Real, burning fury.
He used to be an ordinary guy living in modern-day China… until one day, for some unknown reason, he got transported into the terrifying world of Naruto. Worse yet, he didn't come here as a badass—he ended up in the body of a four-year-old kid named Hayata Hayato.
When he first arrived, Hayato thought, Cool! This is an isekai! I'll probably get some cheat code powers or a broken system and rise up as a genius ninja. That's how it usually goes in stories, right?
Yeah… no.
Reality hit hard: no system, no special bloodline, no crazy talent. Nothing.
Just a weak, fragile body. Almost zero chakra. Couldn't learn a single jutsu. At ninja school, he was always dead last.
To make it worse, this body's parents had died in the First Great Ninja War. Now he was just an orphan—an orphan mocked constantly by the other kids.
"Damn it… damn it… DAMN IT!" Hayato's fists shook as he gritted his teeth, whole body trembling with rage. "Why?! Why the hell did I end up in this world?! Why give me nothing?! Why work so hard only to get nowhere?! Why even kids like these can laugh at me?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!"
Ever since he'd arrived, Hayato had trained like crazy. He wanted to get stronger, to at least protect himself in this dangerous world. He pushed himself to extract chakra every day. But no matter how hard he tried, his chakra barely increased. Still just that tiny pitiful amount.
He punched wooden dummies until his fists bled. Pushed his body to its absolute limit. But nothing changed—except that his already weak body became even weaker.
No talent. None. Not even a speck.
He was close to despair.
And yet those bratty kids kept mocking him. Every. Single. Day. Because of them, even the adults in the village had started giving him dirty looks—like he was just a waste of space. At first they gossiped behind his back. But eventually, they didn't even bother to hide it. They openly ridiculed him.
Two years. He'd been putting up with this crap for two whole years. And he was done. Completely done.
"Hey, loser! Cat got your tongue? You deaf or something? I'm talking to you!"
A kid the same age as him—Koizumi Ichiro, though built way bigger—shoved Hayato hard.
"Bastard!" Hayato snapped, lifting his head. His eyes were blazing with fury, like he was about to explode.
"You're glaring at me?" Ichiro laughed. "You dare glare at me?! Wanna lose those eyeballs?"
He raised his fist and threw a punch straight at Hayato's face.
The last time Hayato had looked at him like that, Ichiro had actually backed off. He'd felt embarrassed about it ever since. So today, he'd come specifically to put Hayato back in his place.
Hayato gritted his teeth and prepared to fight back. He knew he couldn't win—Ichiro was way stronger—but after all this time being pushed around, Hayato had turned into a cornered animal. Weak and wounded, sure, but dangerous. Even if it killed him, he wasn't going to let them beat him without a fight. He was determined to at least leave a scar.
BAM!
Ichiro's fist slammed into Hayato's face. The hit sent him stumbling backward, almost falling to the ground.
They were both just six or seven years old, but their strength was leagues apart. Ichiro was so built he could've passed for nine. Meanwhile, Hayato was so scrawny he looked more like a four-year-old.
Hayato barely stood a chance. Ichiro knocked him down, sat on top of him, and started pounding away. Hayato fought back with everything he had—but it barely made a dent.
"I HATE that look in your eyes the most," Ichiro growled, grabbing at Hayato's face. "Think you can glare at me? Fine, I'll rip your damn eyeballs out right now!"
"STOP!"
Suddenly, a pair of hands shoved Ichiro off.
"You?! Tomato girl—" Ichiro turned with a furious glare at the girl who'd interrupted him.
"I told you not to call me Tomato!!"
She had a round face, bright red hair, and though she looked super cute, right now she was fuming.
"Tch! A tomato and a loser. You two make a great pair." Ichiro snorted. "Whatever. I'll let you off this time."
Truth was, he hadn't really planned on gouging Hayato's eyes out—he was just trying to scare him. But now that Uzumaki Kushina had stepped in, he saw an easy out and took it. As he walked away, though, he glanced back and saw Hayato getting up from the ground, face bloody and eyes still burning with rage.
It made him frown. He almost turned back to beat Hayato down again.
But he didn't.
Kushina watched Ichiro leave, then turned to Hayato, who was shakily trying to stand up.
"You okay?" she asked, sighing.
Hayato didn't say anything. He just shook his head.
Still, he was thankful. Deep down, he really appreciated Kushina. In all of Konoha, she was probably the only one who treated him differently.
Maybe it was because she hadn't been in the village long. With her bright red hair, people shunned her, too.
And just like Hayato, she'd been bullied and excluded. So when she saw him getting picked on, she couldn't just stand by. She even got into fights with other kids over it more than once.
"....."