A month had passed since the night of the conversation with his father. A month where the invisible weight on Yuji's shoulders felt a little lighter. He no longer woke up with a constant sense of dread. The fear was still there, of course, hiding in the dark corners of his mind, but now there were other things filling his days. There was laughter, there were silly arguments, there was comfortable silence. Yuji's heart was calmer now.
That afternoon was clear proof of that change.
On the cool, spacious veranda of the Nara Clan's main house, a game of Shogi was underway. The beautifully lacquered wooden board was placed between two players: Shikamaru, who sat cross-legged with a rare expression of concentration, and his father, Shikaku, who was lying casually on his side, propping his head up with one hand as if the entire game was the most troublesome activity in the world.
Around them, the spectators formed a strange constellation. Choji sat quietly beside Shikamaru, a large bag of rice balls in his lap, occasionally offering one to a tame deer chewing grass nearby. Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't sit still. He was lying on his stomach next to Shikaku, his legs kicking impatiently in the air. And Yuji, he sat leaning against one of the veranda's wooden pillars, arms folded, just observing.
He was now playing with his friends. And Shikamaru's father. This had become a sort of unspoken weekend ritual.
"Are you done yet?" Naruto whined for the umpteenth time, breaking the concentrated silence. "You guys have been staring at that board for ten minutes! Nothing's moving! This is more boring than Iruka-sensei's lesson on the history of Land of Fire taxes!"
"Shhh," Shikamaru hissed without looking away from the board. "I'm thinking."
"Thinking is a drag," Shikaku mumbled, his eyes half-closed. Then, with an incredibly slow movement, he reached out and slid one of his pawn pieces one step forward. Click. The sound of wood against wood was sharp in the quiet air. "Your move, son."
Shikamaru's frown deepened. A simple move, almost meaningless. But he knew his father never made a meaningless move.
"A good move, Shikaku-san," Yuji said quietly from where he sat.
Shikaku opened one eye and glanced at Yuji, a faint, amused smile playing on his lips. "You see it, huh?"
"It's not just a move," Yuji continued, more to himself than to anyone else. "It's a question. A hidden threat. That little pawn is now threatening his General's path. It forces Shikamaru to react. He can't ignore it."
Naruto leaned forward, squinting at the board as if trying to see what Yuji saw. "Huh? That little pawn? He's the weakest one! Why not just use that big one?" He pointed to Shikamaru's Rook piece. "Use that and BAM! Crush all his pieces!"
"Because if you do that, Naruto," Shikaku said patiently, never losing his calm, "your Rook will be out of position, leaving your King open for a counterattack. Sometimes, the loudest move isn't the smartest move. A good shinobi knows when to use the little pawn."
As Shikamaru continued to contemplate his move, Yuji's mind drifted. Little pawns. Small steps. That's what he felt his training was like.
The training with Iruka-sensei was going smoothly. Smoothly in the sense that he was still getting his ass thoroughly kicked every afternoon. Iruka never held back. Every session was a lesson in humility and pain. But Yuji could feel it. The small changes.
A month ago, he couldn't even touch Iruka. Now, he could parry a few attacks. He was learning to read body movement, to see the shift in weight that signaled an incoming blow. He could dodge, not with superhuman speed, but with proper timing. Yesterday, he had even managed to land a counter-punch on Iruka's arm. The blow left no mark, of course, and Iruka had immediately answered with a leg sweep that sent him tasting dust. But still. It was progress. A little pawn's step.
And his physique... his physique in this world was insane. In his previous life, after a training session like that, David Gerald would have needed a week to recover. Here, Yuji would wake up the next morning with sore muscles, yes, but ready to do it all over again. His body adapted at an unnatural rate. Every bruise healed faster. Every torn muscle grew back stronger. It was a gift of this world, and it was something to be grateful for. He might not have the natural talent of Sasuke or the limitless energy of Naruto, but he had resilience.
"Use the Knight!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the Shogi board again and pulling Yuji back to the present. "He can jump over other pieces! That's cheating! Use that!"
"It's not cheating, it's the rules," Shikamaru sighed. "And if I use the Knight now, Dad will trap it with his Lancer and Silver General in two moves. Be quiet, Naruto. You're not helping."
"I'm just trying to be encouraging!"
"Your encouragement is troublesome."
Shikaku chuckled softly. "Naruto has a point, Shikamaru. Sometimes, an unexpected move, a move that looks like 'cheating' to your opponent, can be the key to victory. But you have to know when to use it. You can't just rely on one strong piece."
He looked at Yuji again. "You agree, Yuji?"
Yuji thought for a moment. "Every piece has its role," he said. "Even the weakest pawn can become a Gold General if it reaches the opponent's back line. It's not about how strong your pieces are now, but about the potential they hold."
Shikaku nodded slowly, his eyes shining with approval. "Exactly. Potential. You see this board not as it is, but as a collection of possibilities. You'd make a good Shogi player someday."
"Too much of a drag," Yuji and Shikamaru said in unison.
That made Choji, who had just swallowed a rice ball, let out a small laugh. Naruto just looked confused.
"You two are weird," Naruto said. "It's just a game! Why are you so serious?"
"Because everything is training, Naruto," Shikaku said, his tone becoming a little more serious. "This game teaches you to think several steps ahead. To anticipate your opponent's moves. To sacrifice something valuable for a greater gain later. These are all lessons you will need as a shinobi."
He looked at his son, who was still frozen over the board. "And the most important lesson for today is... never underestimate a little pawn."
With that, Shikamaru finally moved. He didn't do what Naruto suggested. He didn't try a dramatic counterattack. Instead, he slid his Silver General one space to the side. A quiet, calculated defensive move.
"Hmm," Shikaku hummed, his smile widening. "Not bad."
The game continued. Yuji leaned back against the pillar, enjoying the scene. The warm afternoon sun, the soft sound of the wooden pieces, Shikamaru's lazy sighs, Choji's steady chewing, and Naruto's occasional frustrated shouts.
A month ago, he would never have imagined himself here, feeling so... comfortable. So much a part of something. His conversation with his father had opened something up inside him, given him permission to lower his mask a little. He didn't have to carry everything alone. He could be here, with his friends, and it was okay. It didn't make him weaker. Strangely, it made him feel stronger.
He was still training hard. He was still studying Fūinjutsu at night. The fear hadn't gone away. But now, there was a balance. There were moments like this. Moments that reminded him of what he was fighting for.
"I KNOW!" Naruto yelled suddenly, jumping to his feet. "Shikamaru! Sacrifice your Gold General to take his Rook! It's a good trade!"
Shikaku just smiled. "Go ahead, son," he said to Shikamaru. "See what happens."
Shikamaru just shook his head and ignored them both, already lost again in his own world of troublesome strategies and possibilities.
Yuji closed his eyes, listening to the strange symphony of his friends.
...
The Shogi game finally ended with Shikaku's inevitable victory, which he accepted with a mumble about how troublesome it was to have to think so much. The sun began to set, turning the sky into a soft palette of orange and purple. It was time to go home.
Yuji walked home with Naruto, leaving the tranquility of the Nara compound behind them. The comfortable silence of the Shogi game was quickly replaced by Naruto's endless chatter, a transition that had become a normal part of Yuji's day.
"I was this close to telling Shikamaru how to beat his dad!" Naruto said, punching the air. "He just needs to be more aggressive! Use all his strong pieces at once! All-out attack!"
"And he would have lost his King in three moves," Yuji retorted, his hands in his pockets. "You can't win a game with just power, Naruto. You have to use your head."
"My head is full of great ideas!" Naruto said proudly. "Like this one!"
With a wide grin, Naruto suddenly leaped to the side, ran a few steps up the wall of a shop, and then landed back on the street smoothly. "See that! I can do it now! Wall walking! And water walking too! I practiced every day after you taught me!"
"I didn't teach you," Yuji corrected. "I just told you that you were being too loud. You figured it out on your own."
"But you gave me the idea!" Naruto said. "Now we're even! We can both do cool tricks!" He puffed out his chest proudly, looking extremely pleased with his achievement.
Yuji just smiled faintly. Of course, he already knew. For the past few weeks, from his bedroom window, he had often seen a flash of orange near the river in the early morning. He had watched Naruto fall into the water dozens of times, get back up with a frustrated grunt, and try again, and again, and again. The kid had a terrifying amount of determination. But Yuji let him have his moment. He let the kid feel proud.
"Yeah, yeah, you're great," Yuji said flatly. "Now can you stop jumping around? You're making me dizzy."
They joked around as they walked through the streets, which were starting to get busy with people heading home from work. Naruto's loud laughter echoed amidst the evening noise. Everything felt normal. Everything felt light.
Then, they turned onto the street leading to Yuji's house, and that normal atmosphere vanished.
Ahead of them, about fifty meters away, a small crowd had gathered in front of one of the terraced houses. They weren't clustered casually. They stood stiffly, some pointing, others whispering behind their hands. The atmosphere there was tense. Even from a distance, Yuji could feel that something was wrong.
"What's that?" Naruto asked, his laughter dying instantly.
"I don't know," Yuji answered quietly, his eyes narrowing. "Let's check it out."
Curiosity, amplified by a bad premonition, drew them closer. As they got nearer, they could see that a few Chunin from the Konoha Military Police Force had put up a simple yellow tape around the porch of a small house, keeping the crowd at a distance.
Yuji and Naruto slipped into the crowd, moving between the legs of adults to get a better view. The whispers were clearer now, overlapping in a dreadful murmur.
"I can't believe this," a woman whispered to her friend. "Right on his own doorstep..."
"Who did it?" a man asked.
"No one knows for sure," another replied, his voice low. "But I heard it has something to do with his business. He refused to sell his shop to that big trading company."
"So this was... a murder?" another voice trembled. "By a hired ninja?"
"Shhh! Keep your voice down! It could be anyone. Business rivalries in this world can get very ugly."
Yuji finally managed to reach the front of the crowd, Naruto right behind him. And he saw it.
The house belonged to a potter, Yuji vaguely recalled. His usually neat wooden porch was now stained. A body lay there, already covered with a coarse white sheet by the officers. But the sheet couldn't hide everything. Underneath it, a dark, thick pool of blood was seeping out, soaking the wood and slowly dripping onto the ground below.
Yuji's world seemed to stop. The sounds around him became a distant hum. He could only stare at the blood. It was so real. Much more real than the blood in movies or even in the anime from his previous life. It was the color of a life that had been spilled, a tangible proof of a brutal end.
He kept listening to the conversations around him, every word stabbing like a shard of glass.
"His poor wife," an old woman said, dabbing at her eyes. "She's the one who found him when she came home from the market."
"I always told him not to cross those people," a merchant grumbled. "In this world, if you're not a shinobi, you have to know your place."
"This is Konoha! We're supposed to be safe here!" another voice protested.
"Safe?" an older man laughed bitterly. "No place is truly safe, kid. Especially not when money is involved. A hired ninja from another village will do anything for a few bags of ryo."
Yuji stood there, frozen, absorbing it all. This was the reason. This was the real reason he became a ninja.
In his past life, the world of Naruto was a story. A great story, full of legendary heroes and villains, epic battles that decided the fate of the world. But it was still a story. The problems were always big, always centered around the main characters. The Great Shinobi Wars. The Akatsuki. Orochimaru.
But this world... this world was real. And in the real world, problems weren't always epic. Sometimes, the problems were small, dirty, and meaningless to anyone but the people involved. The small problems that were never shown in the story were bound to be experienced by these people.
A potter who refused to sell his shop. A merchant who competed with the wrong person. A dispute settled not with words, but with a kunai in the dead of night.
Who knew when they were on a business trip out of the village, they would suddenly be attacked by a group of bandits who only wanted their merchandise? Who knew that a psychopathic ninja cast out from his own village would appear out of nowhere, looking for a random victim to vent his anger on?
This world wasn't just dangerous when there was a great war. This world was dangerous every single day. The danger was in greed, in jealousy, in desperation. And if you couldn't protect yourself... you'd end up like the man under the white sheet. A whisper in a crowd, a bloodstain on your own porch.
He felt Naruto tremble slightly behind him. He turned and saw his friend's face was pale, his wide blue eyes fixed on the scene, unable to comprehend a violence so close and so mundane.
And that's when something inside Yuji shifted.
The cold, constant fear that had always lurked inside him, the fear of helplessness, the fear of the future he knew was coming—for a moment, that fear vanished.
It was replaced by something else. Something hard, hot, and sharp.
Resolve.
He clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his palms. The sharp pain was grounding, real.
He would not end up like that. His parents would not end up like that. His friends... they would not end up like that. Not if he could do something about it.
He couldn't stop the Akatsuki on his own. He couldn't change the grand destiny he knew was coming. But this... this small, ugly violence... this was something he could fight. This was the kind of wolf he could face.
He wouldn't be a hero. He wouldn't be the Hokage. He would be something else. He would be someone strong enough to say 'no' to this cruel world. Someone who could stand between the people he cared about and the darkness that lurked on these seemingly peaceful streets.
For now, the fear was gone. All that remained was a burning resolve to prove that, when the wolves came—both the big and the small—he would face them all.
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Thank you for reading! Chapters 17-23 are now out on Patreon.com/Daario_W !