It was a day off. The two most beautiful words in any language, in this world or the last. No academy. No schedule. No obligation to interact with a hyperactive orange ball of energy. Today was all Yuji's, and he intended to savor it with the most solemn laziness.
The morning began with the gentle aroma of miso soup and grilled fish. Yuji ambled down to the kitchen to find both his parents already at the dining table, enjoying their tea. The warmth of their small kitchen felt like a hug.
"Morning, champ," his father, Kenji, greeted, folding the Konoha newspaper. "Sleep well?"
"Like a rock," Yuji replied, taking a seat. "I dreamed I was doing nothing, and it was glorious."
His mother, Kaori, placed a bowl of warm rice in front of him and smiled. "You seem brighter these past few weeks, Yuji. Is the academy fun?"
Yuji considered the question while chewing on a piece of tamagoyaki. Fun? That wasn't the word he would use. Tiring, boring, and occasionally absurd, perhaps. But he couldn't deny that something had changed. Naruto's constant presence had, somehow, chipped away at some of his cynical shell.
"The academy is... educational," Yuji finally replied, a neutral, non-committal answer. "They're teaching us how to write our names correctly, which I suppose is useful."
Kenji chuckled. "How's that new friend of yours, Naruto-kun? He didn't stop by this morning. The house feels so... quiet."
"He's probably plotting some large-scale prank involving a lot of glue and chicken feathers," Yuji said flatly. "Or he's just sleeping. His energy has to recharge at some point, in theory."
"He's a good boy," Kaori said gently. "Full of spirit. It's nice you have a friend like him."
Yuji just mumbled in response, continuing to eat. He would never admit it out loud, but the quiet in the house this morning did feel a little... empty. He had grown far too accustomed to Naruto's sudden, unannounced arrivals.
"Do you have any plans for today?" Kenji asked. "Want to help your old man in the shop? I'm trying out a new mask design, a Nekomata mask with two tails."
"A tempting offer," Yuji said. "But I have a very busy schedule of doing nothing. Maybe next time."
His parents just smiled, used to his strange answers by now. Breakfast continued with light chatter about neighborhood gossip and the price of vegetables at the market. It was a perfect domestic scene, and Yuji found himself enjoying it without a shred of irony.
After breakfast, Yuji took up a strategic position in front of the small crystal television in the living room. It was one of the few modern luxuries in this otherwise feudal-feeling world. He found a channel that was showing an action samurai drama titled "Sword of the Wanderer."
The show was utterly ridiculous, and Yuji loved it.
"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed at the blank television screen as the samurai hero delivered a long speech about honor while his enemies patiently waited to attack. "Just stab him while he's talking! Efficiency, people! Efficiency!"
The plot was thin, the dialogue was over-the-top, and the acting was stiff. But there was something charming about it all. In his old world, David Gerald would have watched something like this while eating chips and mocking every cliché. Yuji was doing the same now, laughing out loud when the main villain, after being stabbed, still had enough time for a five-minute monologue about his tragic childhood before finally dying.
"Sure, sure," Yuji chuckled. "Tell us all your problems. We've got time."
Then, a fight scene began. The hero was surrounded by five bandits. The situation looked impossible. But then, in a puff of smoke, the hero vanished and reappeared on a tree branch behind the bandits, a log falling in his place. The bandits looked utterly shocked.
Yuji stopped laughing. He leaned closer to the screen.
'That's... a pretty good practical effect,' he thought at first. 'Clever use of smoke bombs and wires. Maybe a trap door.'
But then he replayed it in his mind. The speed. The fluidity of the movement. The perfect puff of smoke. It wasn't a special effect. It was the Body Replacement Technique. Kawarimi no Jutsu . One of the most basic jutsu every ninja learned.
A funny, strange realization washed over him. They didn't hire a special effects crew for this show. They probably just hired some retired Chunin who needed extra cash to be stunt doubles. The main actor probably just stood there, and the hired ninja did all the real work.
"Well, I'll be," he whispered to himself, a bemused smile on his lips. "The movie effects in this world aren't effects. They're just... part-time jobs for ninjas."
The thought made him see the entire show in a new light. Every impossible leap, every accurate sword throw, every swift disappearance—it was all real. The world of entertainment and the world of the shinobi overlapped in a way he had never imagined. It was ridiculous, but it also made perfect sense.
After getting bored with the samurai drama, Yuji went up to his room. The room felt cool and quiet. He sat at his desk, pulling out a stack of blank paper and an ink pen. For the past few weeks, he had started a secret project, an exercise to maintain his sanity and his memories of his old world.
He was writing a novel from memory.
The title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone .
It wasn't a perfect novel, he knew that. David Gerald had read it years ago, and some of the details were fuzzy. But the essence, the magic, and the characters were etched in his mind. It was one of the stories that had kept him company when he was lonely in his cramped apartment, an escape to a world of magic that felt so real. Writing it again, word for word, felt like reassembling a lost part of his soul.
He opened to the last page he had written. Harry had just found out he was a wizard. Now, the tricky part: translating the concept of Western magic into a context that might be understood in this world. Should he call it 'jutsu'? No, that was too specific. 'Magic' was a good enough word. Perhaps it was just a different form of energy manipulation, one that didn't use chakra.
His hand moved across the paper, the ink pen making a soft, scratching sound. He wrote about Harry's journey to Diagon Alley, about his wonder at seeing a world hidden in plain sight. As he wrote, he felt an echo of his own experience. He too, like Harry, had been thrust into a hidden world full of impossible things. The difference was, his world didn't have cozy wand shops, but training grounds full of sharp weapons.
Writing the story felt like meditation. It forced him to focus, to remember, to create. It was a small piece of his old world that he could hold onto, that he could control. Amidst the uncertainty of being a ninja, amidst the chaos of his friendship with Naruto, this project was his anchor.
He wrote a few pages, detailing Harry's meeting with the Weasley family on platform nine and three-quarters. He paused, rereading his work. It wasn't bad. Sure, it wasn't the original, but it was his in its own way. An echo, a translation.
He stretched his stiff back and walked to the window, looking outside.
The sun was still shining brightly in the afternoon. A flock of sparrows chased each other in the air, flying free and unburdened. On the streets below, village life went on as usual. Everything felt so normal, so peaceful.
A small, genuine smile touched Yuji's lips. Today, no one had tried to drag him into a crazy adventure. No one had stolen a secret scroll. There were no arguments about soda pop chakra.
...
Yuji put down his pen with a satisfied sigh. For a moment, he felt like a real writer, a creator of worlds. Then, a far more pressing sensation took over: thirst. His throat was dry from concentration and the silence of his room. Water wouldn't cut it. He wanted something more. Something cold, carbonated, and full of unhealthy sugar.
"I need a soda," he muttered to himself.
The decision felt so simple and normal it was almost exhilarating. He wasn't planning a survival strategy or analyzing future threats. He was just a boy who wanted a soda on his day off.
He grabbed a few coins from his desk drawer and headed downstairs. "I'm going out for a bit!" he called towards the kitchen, where he could hear his mother humming.
"Don't go far!" his mother called back.
The air outside was warm and pleasant. The streets of Konoha were quieter than usual, with the relaxed rhythm of a holiday. Yuji walked towards a small corner store, a general shop that sold everything from laundry soap to candy and cold drinks. A small bell chimed as he pushed open the slightly worn wooden door.
The inside of the store was dim and cool, a welcome relief from the sun's heat. Wooden shelves lined the walls, crammed with goods. And in front of the potato chip aisle, stood two very familiar figures.
'Of course,' Yuji thought with resignation. 'Of all the shops in Konoha, they have to be in this one.'
Choji Akimichi was in the middle of a very serious decision-making process, comparing two bags of chips with the concentration of a gemologist. Next to him, Shikamaru Nara was leaning against a shelf, hands in his pockets, looking as if the whole process was physically exhausting him.
Choji was the first to notice him. "Oh, hey, Yuji!" he greeted with a friendly smile, his mouth already slightly full from a previous snack.
Shikamaru just gave him a brief nod, his eyes half-closed. "Yo."
"Hey," Yuji replied, trying to sound neutral. He walked past them towards the refrigerators at the back of the store, pretending to be intensely focused on his mission. He could feel Shikamaru's curious gaze on his back. He grabbed a bottle of orange-flavored soda, feeling the cool condensation on his hand.
As he walked to the counter, where an old woman was knitting, he knew he wasn't going to get away that easily.
"You're alone?"
It was Shikamaru's voice, lazy as ever, but with an undercurrent of curiosity that couldn't be hidden.
Yuji placed his soda on the counter. "As you can see," he answered without turning around.
"Weird," Shikamaru mumbled, just loud enough to be heard. "Usually you and Naruto are like... glue. It's hard to see one without the other."
Yuji paid for his soda, took the bottle, and finally turned to face them. "He has his own business. I have my own business. That's how people work, Shikamaru. They're not attached at the hip."
"I know, I know. It'd be a drag if they were," Shikamaru said, yawning. "It's just... unusual. That's all."
"We saw him earlier," Choji added, having finally chosen a bag of barbecue-flavored chips. "He was playing tag with some other kids."
Yuji opened his soda bottle and took a long swig. The sharp, cold sweetness was instantly refreshing. He processed the information without showing any reaction. Naruto was playing with other kids. Kids who weren't him.
"Good for him," Yuji said simply with a shrug. "He needs more friends. One friend isn't enough to absorb all his energy. It's socially inefficient."
Shikamaru gave him a strange look. "You don't... care?"
"Care about what?" Yuji asked, genuinely confused. "That he's having fun? Why should I care? It's a day off. Everyone has the right to have fun in their own way. My way just happens to involve silence and sugary drinks."
He didn't feel any silence or emptiness from Naruto's absence. To be honest, he hadn't even thought about it much until Shikamaru brought it up. To him, friendship wasn't an obligation or an exclusivity contract. Naruto was free to do what he wanted, and most importantly, Yuji was free to do what he wanted. It was the ideal arrangement.
"Huh," Shikamaru said, looking slightly taken aback by Yuji's answer. "You're a really weird guy, you know that?"
"I've been told," Yuji said, taking another sip of his soda.
Choji paid for his chips and immediately opened them with a satisfying crunch. "So, what were you doing all morning?" he asked Yuji. "If you weren't with Naruto."
"Important business," Yuji answered vaguely. "A long-term project that requires my full concentration."
"Reading comic books?" Choji guessed.
"Something like that," Yuji said. He was never going to tell them he was rewriting a novel from another dimension. They already thought he was weird. No need to add 'delusional' to the list.
"I wish I could do important business," Shikamaru sighed. "My mom tried to make me pull weeds in the yard. I had to hide in Choji's room for two hours. Such a drag."
"Pulling weeds is good for building patience," Yuji said, quoting something he'd once read in a health magazine in his past life. "And it's good for your posture."
Shikamaru just gave him a blank look. "I'll risk the bad posture. Thanks."
The three of them stood there in the middle of the small store, an odd trio. Yuji calmly drinking his soda, Choji happily eating his chips, and Shikamaru just leaning, looking bored with his own existence. Strangely, the silence between them wasn't awkward.
"These chips," Choji said suddenly, holding up a single chip as if offering it to the gods. "Have the perfect balance of sweet and smoky. They've really upped their game with this barbecue seasoning."
"You think too much about your chips, Choji," Shikamaru said.
"And you don't think about them enough," Choji retorted earnestly. "Snacks are a serious business, Shikamaru. It's an art."
"He has a point," Yuji said suddenly, surprising both of them. "There's a psychology to it. The flavor, the texture, even the 'crunch' sound when you bite into it. It's all designed to trigger the pleasure centers in your brain. It's brilliant sensory manipulation."
Choji looked at Yuji with admiration. "Exactly! You get it, Yuji!"
Shikamaru just shook his head. "You're both insane."
"So, what's your plan for the rest of the day?" Choji asked Yuji. "After you're done with your soda."
"My plan is to go back home, maybe read a book, and continue my schedule of doing nothing," Yuji replied.
"Boring," Shikamaru commented.
"That's the point," Yuji said. "Boredom is a form of luxury. It means no one is trying to kill you, no one is screaming in your ear. I have a deep appreciation for boredom."
"I'll agree that having no one scream in your ear is nice," Shikamaru said, glancing towards the door as if expecting Naruto to appear at any moment. "But even I need a little stimulation. Like cloud-watching. It's not boring. It's... meditative."
"I do my own version of cloud-watching," Yuji said. "Except my clouds are inside my head."
Shikamaru looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Sounds like a drag. Well, let's get out of here. The air in this store is starting to feel weird." He pushed himself off the shelf and headed for the door.
Yuji finished the rest of his soda in one last gulp and followed, with Choji still munching behind them. The bell on the door chimed as they stepped back out into the warm sunlight. The three of them squinted for a moment, adjusting to the light.
And that's when they heard it. The sound of cheerful laughter and shouting from a distance, coming from the direction of the public park across the street.
"Catch me if you can!"
"You'll never catch me, dattebayo!"
The trio automatically turned towards the source of the sound. There, in the middle of a green lawn, an orange blur was zipping between a group of other kids. It was Naruto, of course. He was in the middle of a chaotic game of tag, running at full speed, weaving between trees and park benches with a wide grin on his face. About four or five other kids—faces Yuji didn't recognize, just regular village kids—were chasing him, laughing and shouting with equal enthusiasm.
Naruto looked like the core of a comet, leaving a trail of laughter and energy in his wake. He leaped onto a bench, struck a momentary victory pose, then zipped away again before his pursuers could get close.
Yuji just stood there, on the street in front of the store, observing the scene, watching a natural phenomenon. It was like watching a flock of seagulls fighting over a piece of bread, or puppies tumbling in the grass. It was a scene full of chaotic, unrestrained life.
"He's got a lot of energy," Choji commented, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth. "I'm tired just looking at him."
"What a drag," Shikamaru sighed, leaning his head against a nearby post. "How can anyone want to run that much when it's this hot?"
Yuji said nothing. He just kept watching. He noticed how Naruto, even while being the center of attention, would slow down for a moment to make sure a smaller kid wasn't left too far behind. He noticed how Naruto's laugh was the loudest, the most infectious, drawing the other kids into his orbit.
The kid was a force of nature. A force that, for the past few weeks, had been entirely focused on him. Seeing that energy now dispersed among others felt... strange. Not bad, just different. Like feeling the sun from behind a cloud after being used to direct exposure.
The three of them stood there for a few moments, a quiet, static trio on the sidewalk, a stark contrast to the explosion of energy happening across from them. Yuji's soda was finished. Choji's chips were almost gone. And Shikamaru's patience, as usual, had long since run out. Yet, none of them moved. They just stood there, at the shop, watching the show.
...
They didn't decide to move. It just happened. As if pulled by an invisible gravitational field, their feet began to walk, crossing the quiet street and stepping onto the edge of the park. They said nothing. Shikamaru had put his hands back in his pockets, Choji was still occasionally popping a chip into his mouth, and Yuji just walked, his empty soda bottle cool in his hand. They had unconsciously followed Naruto's trail, becoming silent spectators to his endless energy show.
They stopped under the shade of a large tree, far enough away to be inconspicuous, but close enough to see everything clearly. The scene, up close, was even more chaotic. Naruto was the center of it all, his cheerful laughter the soundtrack to their game. He looked so happy, so alive, so accepted. For a moment, Yuji felt something strange—a quiet satisfaction at seeing Naruto surrounded by other kids, not alone.
However, the cheerful atmosphere began to crack at the edges.
One by one, parents started to arrive. A mother with a strained smile called for her daughter. A father with a stern look beckoned to his son. They didn't shout. They didn't make a scene. Their movements were calm, controlled, but there was an unmistakable stiffness in their posture.
Yuji watched from a distance. He couldn't hear what they were whispering to their children. The words were lost on the gentle breeze. But he didn't need to hear them. He could read it from the reactions that followed.
The girl who had been laughing, suddenly looked at Naruto with wide, fearful eyes, as if she had just been told her playmate was a monster. The boy who had been chasing Naruto was now hiding behind his father's leg, peeking out with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief.
One by one, they were pulled away. "Come on, sweetie, it's time to go home." "We'll be late for dinner." Flimsy excuses that masked an uglier truth.
Naruto, oblivious to the sudden change in atmosphere, stopped running and turned around, panting with a wide smile. "Come on! Who else wants to—"
He stopped mid-sentence. His smile faltered. The park was now almost empty. His new playmates were being dragged away by their parents, some of them looking back with pity or fear.
Naruto's face fell. It wasn't a dramatic change. It was a slow, quiet collapse. The joy that had been shining in his eyes dimmed, replaced by a painful confusion. He looked around, as if trying to understand what had just happened. Why did the game stop? What did he do wrong?
He was left alone in the middle of a vast expanse of grass. The sudden silence was more deafening than all the previous shouts and laughter.
Yuji watched it all, his stomach twisting into a knot. He had seen Naruto sad before, on that swing set. But this was different. This was crueler. They had given him a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of acceptance, only to snatch it away without explanation.
He saw Naruto's small shoulders slump. He saw his blond head hang low. And he saw the wet glint in those blue eyes as Naruto quickly wiped them with the back of his hand, hoping no one would see. The tears hadn't fallen yet, but their presence felt like a heavy weight in the air.
Something inside Yuji snapped.
It wasn't sympathy. It wasn't pity. It was anger. A cold, burning anger at the silent injustice, at the cowardice of the adults, at the undeserved pain of a little boy.
And in that anger, he did something ridiculous. Something completely illogical. Something completely out of character.
He took a deep breath, and he yelled.
"NARUTO!"
His voice cut through the park's silence like a thunderclap. Loud, clear, and full of a manufactured energy.
Naruto jolted, his head snapping up in surprise. The few parents who hadn't left yet turned, staring at Yuji in shock.
Yuji stepped out from under the shade of the tree, walking into the park with a purposeful stride, Shikamaru and Choji staring at him in disbelief.
"NARUTO! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!" Yuji yelled again as he approached, his voice echoing. "I JUST HEARD THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS IN THE WORLD!"
Naruto just stared at him, his tear-filled eyes full of confusion. "What... news?" he whispered, his voice hoarse.
"THE SQUIRREL CONSPIRACY!" Yuji announced with the conviction of a madman. He stopped in front of Naruto, ignoring the stares from the people around them. "I've just uncovered their secret plan! They're communicating using complicated eye-blinks! They're planning to steal all the nuts in Konoha and replace them with pebbles! They want to create a nut-based economic crisis!"
Naruto just blinked, the threatening tears now frozen by sheer confusion. "Squirrels...?"
"Yes! And that's not even the worst part!" Yuji continued, his voice becoming more urgent. "I have a reliable source who says their leader is a squirrel with a scar over his left eye and he hates Tuesdays! We're in grave danger!"
An awkward silence fell over them. Naruto looked like his brain was trying to process the most nonsensical information he had ever heard.
Then, a lazy voice came from behind Yuji.
"What a drag... but I have to admit, the squirrels have been looking a little too organized lately."
Yuji turned. Shikamaru was sauntering over, hands still in his pockets, with the same bored expression. He stopped next to Yuji. "I saw one of them yesterday, making some kind of diagram in the dirt with acorns. I thought it was just modern art. Turns out it was a battle plan."
Naruto was now staring at Shikamaru, his mouth slightly agape.
"THE SQUIRRELS ARE NOT GETTING MY CHIPS!"
Choji suddenly ran past both of them and stood protectively in front of Naruto, clutching his nearly empty bag of chips as if it were the last treasure on earth. "I'll fight them all! No squirrel shall touch my barbecue snacks!"
Naruto was now looking at the three of them—Yuji, frantically talking about a squirrel conspiracy, Shikamaru, lazily confirming the insane theory, and Choji, ready to declare war for the sake of snack food. It was the strangest, most unexpected, and most ridiculous sight he had ever seen.
His sad face crumpled. His lip trembled.
And then, he laughed.
It wasn't a small chuckle. It was an explosion of laughter that came from the bottom of his heart. A gasping, sobbing laugh that made him have to hold his stomach. He laughed so hard that the tears he had been holding back now streamed freely down his cheeks, but they were no longer tears of sadness. They were tears of pure relief.
"You guys..." he gasped between laughs. "You're... all... insane!"
"Insane?!" Yuji retorted, getting into the spirit of it. "This is national security, Naruto! While you were playing around, me and my resistance force were protecting our way of life from the rodent menace!"
"Their leader... has a scar!" Naruto laughed, barely able to stand.
"And he hates Tuesdays!" Shikamaru added with a deadpan face, which somehow made it all funnier.
"I'LL BITE THEM!" Choji declared earnestly.
Naruto laughed even harder, and then, he joined in. "NOT IF I BECOME THE SQUIRREL HOKAGE FIRST!" he yelled, jumping onto a bench. "I'LL MAKE THEM ALL WEAR TINY ORANGE JACKETS AND THEY'LL BE MY PERSONAL NINJA SQUAD!"
"THAT'S TREASON!" Yuji yelled. "YOU'RE ALLYING WITH THE ENEMY!"
"I'LL MAKE YOU MY SQUIRREL DEPUTY HOKAGE!" Naruto offered.
"ONLY IF I GET A COMFORTABLE CHAIR AND A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF NUTS!"
"DEAL!"
The remaining adults could only stare in bewilderment at the four boys who were now shouting in the middle of the park about squirrel politics. They quickly gathered their last children and left, shaking their heads at the madness.
But the four of them didn't care. They had created their own bubble, a small, absurd world where there were no judging stares or painful loneliness. There were only evil squirrels, strange alliances, and laughter so loud it seemed like it could heal anything.
As the sun set, painting the sky the same shade of orange as Naruto's jacket, they finally collapsed, lying on the grass, panting and still giggling.
Yuji stared up at the sky, his chest feeling light. He had done something stupid, impulsive, and completely out of character. And it felt right. He glanced to the side. Naruto was lying next to him, a tired but happy smile etched on his face. On the other side, Shikamaru already looked asleep, and Choji was finishing the last crumbs from his chip bag.
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