Nicole Robin circled around to the back of the warehouse and rose onto her tiptoes. But at her current height, she couldn't reach the window at all. Still, Robin was a Devil Fruit user—something this small wasn't going to stop her.
She crossed her small hands over her chest. In the next instant, a pair of delicate hands sprouted from the wall, linking one after another until they formed a tiny ladder.
Robin's lips curled into a smug smile. She had only come up with this trick recently, and it was perfect for reaching high places.
Using her improvised arm-ladder, she climbed toward the window, peeked inside, and scanned the room. The warehouse was quiet. Crates and bags were stacked neatly across the floor. Old Jack was nowhere to be seen.
Her gaze drifted—and stopped.
In a dim corner, on a crude bed made from several planks, lay a small figure. A boy. Her friend.
Yashiro.
He was sprawled on his back, a damp towel on his forehead, breathing heavily and unevenly.
"Yashiro? …Yashiro?" Robin called softly.
No response. Not even a twitch. He lay completely still, as if dead.
Robin's expression tightened. After a moment's thought, she climbed down from the window and walked to the door of the warehouse.
Grandpa Jack isn't here… I don't know where he went. Yashiro has no one to take care of him.I know I'm sneaking in… but I'm not here to steal anything. I just want to check on Yashiro. Grandpa Jack won't blame me… right?
Repeating this to herself, she hurried to the simple bed.
Even in his half-conscious state, Yashiro sensed someone approaching. He forced his eyes open, but his fever-blurred vision twisted reality.
He saw Robin… as his system hamster.
For a moment, he wasn't even angry. He was just desperate.
Didn't that hamster swear he would recover soon? So why did he feel like he'd been beaten to death?
"System… system… what's going on with me…?" Yashiro whispered. His weak voice barely carried, and Robin had to lean close to hear him.
"System? What system?" she muttered. "Does he mean the immune system…?"
"Of course you're sick," she said aloud, playing along without thinking.
"Then… why do I have such a high fever…?" he rasped.
"Because your immune system thinks thirty-seven degrees isn't enough to kill the virus. It has to raise your temperature above forty," she replied matter-of-factly, poking his cheek with a mischievous little finger.
Yashiro's eyes flew wide.
"Above forty—?! That'll kill me too!"
He was still convinced she was the system hamster… and he fully believed her nonsense.
Robin continued mercilessly, "I thought about that too. That's why I set your temperature to forty degrees. If I didn't worry your body would melt, I'd have raised it to a hundred already. Either way, you or the virus has to go today."
She covered her mouth, barely holding in a snicker, watching him panic.
But finally, something clicked in Yashiro's muddled mind.
Wait… doesn't the system hamster need to be summoned?Then this… giant rat…
His fevered body jolted. He scrambled backward in pure terror.
"W–WHAT THE—?! WHERE DID THIS BIG TALKING RAT COME FROM?!"
Mice were omnivorous. A giant one like this—what if it bit him?!
The dizziness that had glued him to the bed was instantly replaced by adrenaline. Sweat poured down his face as he flailed like a cornered animal.
Robin stood frozen, baffled.
Big mouse? Does he… think I'm a mouse?
Robin: (°ー°〃)
Her little face reddened in outrage.
"I came here with good intentions, and you think I'm a mouse?! Open your eyes and actually look at me!"
She planted her hands on her chest in her signature pose, thoroughly offended.
Yashiro squinted hard, rubbed his swollen eyes—And finally saw her clearly.
"…Robin?"
He let out a sigh of relief so deep it nearly deflated him, then collapsed back onto the bed.
"Sorry, little Robin… I've got such a bad fever I can't even see straight," he muttered, half embarrassed, half delirious.
Robin lifted the towel from his forehead and placed her hand on his skin. The heat made her flinch.
"What is this?! Why is your temperature so high?"
"I don't know… it's my first time getting sick, and it hit so hard…"
"…And where's Grandpa Jack? Why isn't he here?"
"Old Jack went home for the New Year. Now it's just me… waiting to die…" Yashiro whimpered, pulling the quilt over his mouth like a pitiful caterpillar.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Robin snapped. "No one dies from a cold!"
She puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
"Hold on—I'll get a bucket and cool your towel. If we leave it like this, you really will burn out your brain."
She found a small wooden basin, fetched water, and returned.
But by the time she reached him, Yashiro had fallen asleep—mouth open, snoring faintly.
Robin wrung out the towel, replaced it on his forehead, waited a while, then repeated the process again and again.
It was mind-numbingly boring. Most children would've given up quickly.
But Robin didn't.
Yashiro was her first friend.
Even if they bickered almost every time they met… he was still the most important person in her tiny world.
Hours passed.
By evening, she noticed his fever finally beginning to drop. Relief washed over her and she plopped onto the floor with a sigh.
Watching him sleep like a little piglet made her own eyelids grow heavy.
I live alone anyway… I might as well stay and take care of him.
Yawning, Robin curled up beside the bed and drifted off.
Meanwhile, though Yashiro's fever had receded, his mind was far from peaceful.
His closed eyes darted rapidly beneath their lids. His teeth ground together. His breath came ragged.
He was dreaming.
Nightmaring.
The Third Great Ninja War.
Yashiro had been born in the same era as the Fourth Hokage. Their age difference wasn't large. It was natural that he would have lived through that brutal era.
Back then, he had been a low-ranking shinobi assigned to gather intelligence near Iwagakure due to a shortage of personnel.
A nameless jōnin led the mission. With him were Hyūga Hanaka and two chūnin. They hid on the outskirts of Iwagakure, tracking movements and information.
They gathered plenty—but their final target required getting dangerously close.
They were discovered.
What followed was blood. Pursuit. Death.
By sheer misfortune and twisted luck, Yashiro and Hanaka survived the initial assault—likely because the enemy prioritized the jōnin and senior chūnin.
But soon a chūnin-led Iwa pursuit squad was sent specifically for them.
To protect the intel—and Hanaka—Yashiro lured the pursuers away alone.
He was cut down. Dying.
If Hanaka, that stubbornly loyal girl, hadn't come back for him… he would have died there.
"What are you doing?!" he screamed hoarsely in the dream as she lifted him onto her back. "Put me down and run! We'll die together at this rate!"
Hanaka said nothing, sprinting through the forest with desperate speed.
"Are you deaf?! Put me down! Put me—"
He thrashed violently, finally toppling off her back and slamming onto the ground.
Hanaka skidded to a halt, whirled around, and slapped him across the face so hard he saw stars.
Yashiro stared up at her in shock.
Her cheeks were streaked with tears.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" she cried. "We're teammates! As long as there's even a tiny chance, I won't abandon you!"
"No! I'm the one who wants to die!" Yashiro shouted back, trembling. "Leave me! I'm done with this life—this world! The killing, the fear, the darkness—I've had enough!"
As a transmigrator without cheats, he had lived like a stray dog in the ninja world—always hunted, never safe.
Maybe dying would send him back to his old world. Maybe it would all end.
Hanaka looked at him with pained eyes—eyes empty of hope, mirroring his own.
Yashiro let out a bitter laugh as tears ran down his cheeks. The world seemed to laugh with him.
Suddenly Hanaka lunged forward and grabbed him in a fierce embrace.
"It'll be okay," she whispered into his ear. "You, me… the village… everything will be okay."
Yashiro froze.
Slowly, his hands lifted and returned the embrace. His breathing steadied. His expression softened.
"…Will we really be okay?" he murmured.
Hanaka's face warmed as she felt his arms around her.
She bit her lip, hoisted him onto her back again, and ran.
This time, Yashiro didn't resist.
He had found a reason—however faint—to continue living.
(Author's Note from Original Text — Preserved as Requested)
If anyone thinks it's strange that the protagonist treats Robin and Hill (a later partner) so well, go read chapters 336 and 337 to understand.And once again: the protagonist will NOT start a harem.I'm single myself—why would he get one? Stop dreaming.