Time crawled like a snail, measured by baby bottles, diapers, the scent of Ichiraku mush, and the silent Chakra perception tug-of-war in the cradle.
Konoha's reconstruction seemed to be making some progress; instead of pure curses, occasional sounds of construction and children's muffled laughter drifted in from outside the window—though these sounds would forever be irrelevant to me.
"Crow" and "Kite" remained cold shadows.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's visits were formal and probing.
Fragments of information from Ichiraku Ramen were greedily collected and pieced together.
On this day, a rare spring afternoon, the sunlight somewhat dispelled the chill in the air.
"Kite" carried me, walking along a gravel path that was slightly longer than usual, bordering a small training ground, likely an adjustment to their routine patrol route.
The air was filled with the smell of freshly turned earth and green grass, and in the distance, the faint "thud-thud" of kunai hitting a wooden target could be heard.
As we passed a bare patch of small trees that had just sprouted sparse tender buds, my gaze caught a figure sitting on a decaying tree stump.
It was a boy, appearing to be just over ten years old, wearing a faded, old Ninja Academy uniform, with messy, dark blue hair hanging loosely.
He wasn't running and playing like the other children passing by; he just sat with his head down, shoulders slightly slumped, enveloped in an impenetrable gloom.
The sunlight fell on him but seemed unable to pierce that cold barrier.
He unconsciously twisted a withered leaf in his hand, his eyes staring blankly at the ground, devoid of the vitality of a youth, only a heavy, stagnant sadness and… suppressed anger.
Iruka!
The name struck my consciousness like lightning!
My future homeroom teacher!
The one who protected me with his life and gave me the warmth of "being acknowledged"!
But at this moment, he was just a boy whose parents had just been taken by the Nine-Tailed incident, instantly crushed by immense grief.
My heart skipped a beat.
An opportunity!
A perfect opportunity!
More important than collecting a hundred pieces of information at the ramen shop!
I must make contact!
I must plant a seed in his heart!
"Eee… yah…" I immediately squirmed in "Kite's" stiff arms, not with my usual fussiness, but with clear direction, my small head stubbornly turning towards Iruka, my sapphire-like eyes staring unblinkingly, purely curious, directly at the boy immersed in sadness.
My movements alerted "Kite."
She tightened her arm and quickened her pace, trying to leave the area quickly.
Clearly, she also recognized who the boy was and the source of his hatred.
An encounter between a parentless child and a "Nine-Tailed vessel" was, in her opinion, absolutely a fuse for trouble.
Don't go!
I immediately deployed the baby's most powerful weapon—stubbornness!
My little mouth puckered, a disgruntled grunt escaped my throat, and my body tilted even more forcefully towards Iruka, my small hands reaching out, unconsciously clawing at the air, as if trying to grasp that heavy gloom.
"Be still!" "Kite" warned in a low voice, her grip tightening, almost squeezing me into her cold uniform.
Just then, the boy on the tree stump seemed disturbed by the commotion and slowly raised his head.
Our eyes met.
Those brown eyes, belonging to a future teacher but now filled with pain and confusion, unexpectedly met my deliberately maintained, baby-like, moist, and pure blue eyes.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment.
Iruka's gaze instantly became extremely complex.
The initial blankness was quickly replaced by a sharp sting—he recognized that iconic golden hair, recognized this baby protected by the Third Hokage, yet also the source of the Village's hatred!
Deep-seated hatred, like a cold venomous snake, instantly coiled around his heart, causing his hand, resting on his knee, to clench the withered leaf tightly, his knuckles turning white from the effort.
In his eyes, there was undisguised pain, the piercing grief of losing his parents forcibly brought up, and also… an almost instinctive killing intent?
My heart pounded in my chest, but my face maintained the purest innocence.
In fact, upon catching the hatred surging in his eyes, I tried to manipulate my facial muscles, breaking into a clumsy, drooling, innocent smile!
Saliva flowed like a small stream, happily trickling down the corners of my mouth, dripping onto "Kite's" uniform sleeve.
"Ah… giggle…" I even managed a couple of indistinct, slightly silly giggles.
This smile, this drool, this most primitive, naive "friendliness" of a baby, was like a small stone thrown into stagnant water, stirring an extremely faint ripple in Iruka's hate-filled eyes, a ripple even he didn't notice.
That sharp, murderous hatred seemed to be gently poked by this unguarded "silly smile," resulting in a brief pause and… wavering?
He looked at me, and a crack appeared in the ice in his eyes.
The pain was still profound, the anger hadn't vanished, but it seemed… something else had been added.
A bit of confusion?
A bit of… looking at a life equally weak, equally unable to control its own destiny… an extremely faint, forcibly suppressed pity?
His clenched fist almost imperceptibly loosened a little.
The crumpled withered leaf fell from between his fingers.
"Kite" keenly sensed the change in atmosphere and Iruka's emotional fluctuation.
She no longer forced us to leave, but her arm holding me was tensed to the extreme, like a leopard ready to respond to an attack at any moment.
A brief, suffocating silence.
Iruka's gaze lingered on my drooling, giggle ing face for a few seconds, then slowly shifted, returning to the ground, but that heavy gloom seemed to have been torn open by that unexpected eye contact.
He was silent, seemingly engaged in a fierce internal struggle.
Then, he made a move that almost pushed "Kite" to her breaking point.
He slowly, somewhat stiffly, fumbled in his uniform pocket and pulled out a small, hard-looking fruit candy wrapped in simple oil paper.
This was probably given to him by some teacher or companion trying to comfort him; he himself clearly had no interest.
He stared at the candy for a few seconds, as if making a difficult decision.
Finally, he looked up, avoiding my "innocent" gaze, his eyes falling on "Kite's" cold face, his voice dry and low, carrying a weariness unsuited to his age: "…Give it to him."
He held out his hand, palm supporting the small candy, offering it towards "Kite."
His movements were stiff, even a bit reluctant, but the gesture of offering itself was a silent, huge concession.
"Kite" was visibly stunned.
She vigilantly stared at Iruka, then looked down at my "innocent," drooling face, seemingly assessing whether it was some kind of trap.
Finally, she very cautiously, with two fingers, quickly picked up the candy, as if it were a dangerous item, and then placed it in my wildly flailing small hand.
"Ah! Candy!" I immediately let out a surprised cry (though indistinct), clumsily cupping the candy, which was a bit large for me, with both small hands, my drool flowing even more happily, my blue eyes sparkling with the pure, joyful light of getting a new toy.
I rubbed my small face against the candy's rough wrapper, emitting satisfied grunts.
Iruka watched me like this, the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.
It wasn't a smile, but more like a brief flicker of complex emotion.
His gaze at me was still sorrowful, still distant, but the pure killing intent that had almost overflowed before was indeed replaced by something heavier, more confused.
He no longer looked at us, lowering his head again, resuming his previous posture of isolating himself in grief.
But it felt like… something was different.
"Kite" no longer lingered, carrying me, who was holding the candy and still giggling foolishly, quickly left the small grove.
Even after we had gone far, I still clutched the candy tightly, a contented "silly smile" on my small face.
Inside, however, my mind was working at high speed like a precision instrument:
Iruka! Confirmed!
Reaction analysis: Initial strong hatred → wavered by baby's appearance → actively offered candy (pity / confusion / self-struggle?)
Key trait: Kind!
Has a soft spot inside!
Has an instinctive compassion for "innocent" beings!
Hatred not completely solidified!
Danger assessment: No direct threat currently, strong future potential!
Conclusion: Key target for capture!
Huge potential!
The hard candy pressed against my palm, carrying the faint residual body heat and sweat from the boy's palm.
Future homeroom teacher… Affinity… Start grinding early!
Plan complete!
Sunlight filtered through the sparse branches, casting dappled light and shadow on the gravel path.
I lowered my head, and at the simple candy in my palm, I again broke into a drooling, silly smile, whose deeper meaning only I knew.
The seed of a bond, in this soil steeped in sorrow, quietly fell in the most unexpected way.