Konoha. The streets. Evening.
A blond child, about six or seven years old, walked along carrying two bags full of fish.
This was his food supply for the coming week.
Because of his "special" identity, most shopkeepers refused to sell him anything. The fish had been caught by himself in a small forest stream.
Passersby on the street treated him like a plague god, avoiding him at all costs.
The looks they cast at the blond child were filled with undisguised disgust and resentment.
Some children, urged on by their parents, even made faces and spat at him from afar.
Naruto took in all of these reactions.
His face remained calm as he walked silently, his gaze deep—completely unlike that of a normal child his age.
A small figure in the afterglow of the sunset, he looked lonely.
But in truth, his heart was not as calm as it seemed.
It had been six years since he crossed over into the world of Naruto and became Uzumaki Naruto.
Yet even now, those nakedly hostile stares and muttered curses were hard to ignore.
Truly experiencing this injustice firsthand, Naruto could barely imagine how, in the original timeline, the real child had endured all this hatred.
And to think his dream was to become Hokage, to protect the very same villagers who despised him?
Utterly absurd!
***
By the time he returned home, the sunset had faded and night had fully fallen.
He switched on the light.
His so-called home was a shabby single-room apartment, cold and cheerless.
For a Konoha orphan, this was already considered decent accommodation.
But Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and the Uzumaki Princess Kushina.
For him to be placed here was outrageous.
After all, Namikaze Minato had completed no less than 39 S-rank missions, and countless missions below that.
Each S-rank mission paid at least one million ryō.
As for his mother, Uzumaki Kushina—she was a princess of the Uzumaki clan, with an entire street's worth of property in Konoha.
So where had all that money gone?
Naruto didn't need to think hard. It had all flowed into the pockets of those two old men, to fund their clans and their beloved Anbu and Root.
All Naruto ever received, as the sole heir, was a pitiful weekly allowance of 700 ryō.
And in Konoha, even a simple bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost 60 ryō.
With that little money, he couldn't even eat two bowls of ramen a day. No wonder the Naruto of the original story was malnourished.
Opening the fridge, he shoved all the fish inside.
Instead of cooking immediately, he started doing push-ups right in the middle of the living room.
Despite his small body, his push-ups were perfectly executed, smooth and precise.
100 push-ups, 100 squats, 100 sit-ups…
When he finished, Naruto rose smoothly, face calm, breathing steady.
For the Uzumaki bloodline and as the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, this was nothing more than a warm-up.
The moment he stood, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
"Daily self-discipline check-in complete. Thirty consecutive days achieved. Reward granted: [Perfected Uzumaki Sage Body]."
At once, warmth surged through his body, subtly strengthening his Uzumaki bloodline.
When it faded, Naruto slowly opened his eyes.
His already blue pupils now shone even brighter.
Clenching his fists, he could clearly feel his physique and healing ability had greatly improved.
"Just how much chakra can I refine with this body now, I wonder?"
The perfected Uzumaki bloodline meant he could now begin training in top-tier Uzumaki techniques like Adamantine Sealing Chains and Kagura Mind's Eye.
A strong body was the foundation of true power. Naruto was very satisfied with this reward.
That voice in his mind came from the system he had awakened a month ago.
Its function was simple: by completing self-discipline tasks, he would earn rewards.
But Naruto hadn't expected that just thirty days of check-ins would grant something this valuable.
He walked to the mirror. A young, childish face looked back.
Running a hand through his blond hair, Naruto was surprised.
He had thought the perfected Uzumaki bloodline would turn his hair into the clan's trademark red.
Instead, it remained blond.
Only now it looked even more natural and pure, beyond what any dye could produce.
"Looks like Namikaze Minato's bloodline might not be as ordinary as it seems."
The Naruto in the mirror was far different from the original depiction.
In the story, his dowdy look had come from malnutrition, his goofy behavior, and that garish orange jumpsuit he always wore.
But as the son of Minato and Kushina, his looks were naturally excellent.
Now, with balanced nutrition and the perfected Uzumaki Sage Body, he looked every bit the son of Konoha's most attractive couple.
His hair was styled like a typical anime school protagonist.
Fair skin, clear blue eyes.
Even without mentioning strength, his looks alone would put him second only to the reader.
At that moment, the system voice returned.
"New task: Train with Maito Guy at his intensity for thirty days."
Maito Guy?
Naruto immediately pictured a man with a bowl-cut, thick eyebrows, a green jumpsuit, and a massive grin, giving him a thumbs up.
***
The next morning, after breakfast, Naruto set out to find Guy.
Konoha wasn't large, but it wasn't tiny either—roughly the size of a small county town.
Naruto's first destination was the training grounds, since Guy spent nearly all his time training there.
But on the way, as he passed a park, a noisy commotion caught his attention.
"Well, if it isn't the white-eyed freak! Creeping around this early in the morning, like a ghost—scared me to death!"
"No way, no way, don't tell me you're about to cry just from that?"
"Hey, if she does cry, you think her tears will be white too? Maybe we should…"
In the park's center, three boys were mocking a girl a head shorter than them.
She was a little chubby, but very cute—especially with her distinctive pure white eyes.
Surrounded and taunted, she lowered her head, staring at her toes in fear, silently begging them to leave.
Naruto frowned.
He had thought that his presence in this world might have altered events enough to prevent this scene.
Yet here it was again: Hinata being bullied.
'Could it be… Hinata being harassed, and me showing up at just the right time—was this arranged on purpose?'
The more Naruto thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Otherwise, how would three civilian boys dare bully the Hyūga princess?