Chapter 14: Birthday and Low Spirits
"Those cyan blades just now… were they made by Naruto? How is that possible…"
Sakura, still sitting on the ground, muttered in disbelief...
Sasuke's eyes turned scarlet as he directly activated his single-tomoe Sharingan, staring fixedly in that direction. The image of the Clear Skies Wind Tree's wind blades replayed endlessly in his mind.
He had lost his entire clan, awakened his Sharingan because of it, and even learned a Fire Release technique. He thought he was far ahead of his peers.
But compared to that single slash, he felt utterly inferior.
And the one who had unleashed that slash was Naruto. The gap made Sasuke grit his teeth so hard they nearly shattered.
Shikamaru scratched the back of his head. "What an exaggerated guy. He could've solved it with one slash, but he had to make it look so cool. What a hassle."
Despite his words, Shikamaru was deeply shocked by that sword strike.
With the crisis resolved, the students finally relaxed.
A skinny boy turned to Iruka and asked, "Iruka-sensei, was that Wind Release ninjutsu Naruto just used? What rank was it? It was so awesome!"
"Yeah! It was super cool! Iruka-sensei, can we learn it too?"
More students chimed in with questions.
Iruka was momentarily stumped. Not only had the students never seen anything like it — even as their teacher, he had never seen or even heard of such a technique.
It seemed to require no hand seals, yet the speed and power of that instant strike sent chills down his spine.
[If I had been facing that slash, I probably would've been cut into pieces in a single moment…]
Iruka thought helplessly, feeling more and more uncertain about how to teach Naruto.
Naruto looked down at the scattered pieces of the wild boar and felt a sense of déjà vu.
The feeling of the cut was almost identical to the one from last time.
Recalling the madness in the boar's eyes earlier, he suddenly understood.
A family of four had finally been reunited.
How touching.
…
October 10th. The sky was overcast, as if it could rain at any moment.
The atmosphere in Konoha was just as gloomy and oppressive as the weather.
Because today was Naruto's eighth birthday.
It was also the anniversary of the deaths of everyone who had lost their lives under the Nine-Tails' claws.
Streams of Konoha residents, holding flowers with somber faces, headed toward the cemetery.
Naruto didn't go out today. He stayed home quietly watching television.
He had no plans to celebrate his birthday anyway. In his previous life, he had rarely celebrated birthdays either.
At most, he would go to McDonald's, order a non-vegetarian meal, stick french fries covered in ketchup into a burger, and make a simple wish.
The movie playing on TV starred Windflower Yukie. The plot was extremely melodramatic.
But compared to going outside and enduring those stabbing, hateful glares, watching a trashy movie was much better.
After watching for a while, there was suddenly a knock at the door.
Naruto didn't get up immediately. He first activated Transparent World and looked outside.
When he saw that the visitors were Hinata, Shikamaru, and the others, he finally stood up and opened the door.
The first one to burst into the room was Ino, beaming with a bright smile.
She had clipped her hair with a blue hairpin today and had clearly dressed up before coming.
"Hehe, Naruto! How can you spend your birthday alone at home watching movies? Let's throw a party!"
Right after Ino entered came Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Sasuke, Kiba, and even Sakura, who had tagged along shamelessly.
Almost everyone was carrying plastic bags filled with snacks and drinks.
Hinata was holding a large cake.
The originally quiet and empty room instantly became lively and crowded.
Naruto moved the table to the corner. His friends dumped all the snacks in the center, forming a small mountain of junk food.
"Ta-da!" Ino cheered as she opened the cake box.
It was a strawberry cream cake.
Seeing the tempting cake, Choji instinctively reached out with his finger to steal a taste of the cream. Ino immediately slapped his hand away. "Choji, you glutton! Naruto hasn't even made a wish yet!"
Choji didn't get angry. Instead, he looked a little embarrassed and scratched his head with a silly smile. "Oh right. Naruto, you go first."
Sasuke clicked his tongue and muttered, "Tch. Kid stuff."
Candles were placed and lit. Naruto symbolically made a wish.
He had always preferred to fight for what he wanted rather than rely on wishes.
At that moment, the sharp sound of breaking glass shattered the cheerful atmosphere!
An egg-sized stone flew through the window, landing on the floor along with shards of glass.
"Everyone, stand against the wall," Naruto said calmly to his friends, quickly pulling Hinata and Ino beside him.
His movements were so practiced it was heartbreaking.
Before anyone could react, stones, rotten tomatoes, and rotten eggs came flying in one after another, smashing onto the floor.
The cake that hadn't even been cut yet was completely ruined.
Along with the stones and garbage, all kinds of vicious curses poured in from outside.
"You damn demon fox! You should die!"
"A monster like you doesn't deserve to live!"
"Why do you get to live happily while my precious son was killed by stones?!"
Inside the room, everyone stood pressed against the wall, faces pale with fear as they felt the overwhelming malice crashing over them.
Except for Sakura, most of them were children from major clans, pampered since birth. None of them had ever experienced anything like this.
Only Naruto, the person being targeted, remained completely calm, as if none of it had anything to do with him.
A few minutes later, the throwing finally stopped.
"Naruto… do you have to go through this every day…?" Ino looked at him, still not fully recovered from the shock.
Naruto shrugged. "It's usually not this bad — only a few people show malice. Today is special. Actually, you guys shouldn't have come."
Having just personally experienced Naruto's daily reality, everyone felt lingering fear.
That made Naruto's calm demeanor even more shocking to them.
Hinata bit her lip, staring at the birthday cake that symbolized happiness, now smashed to pieces.
Naruto hadn't even gotten a chance to taste it.
Just imagining that Naruto had faced scenes like this since he was a child made her feel terrified.
Yet Naruto remained so strong…
While she admired him, her heart ached painfully for him.
Then, to Naruto's surprise, two crystal-clear tears rolled down Hinata's cheeks.
[Is she scared?] Naruto thought at first.
But he quickly dismissed that idea. Although Hinata looked delicate on the outside, she was actually very strong inside.
[Is she… feeling sorry for me?]
When that thought crossed his mind, Naruto's gaze toward Hinata became noticeably gentler.
But the next second, he turned his head toward the window, and his eyes instantly turned ice-cold.
He had endured this for eight years.
Now, his strength had reached a level where he could protect himself.
The White Fang was framed and died, the Sannin left the village in disappointment, Minato sacrificed himself, the Uchiha clan was wiped out…
Konoha's F4 had completely ruined a perfect hand of cards.
With Konoha's current foundation, as long as they saw that Naruto could unleash the Nine-Tails' power and control it at will,
Hiruzen Sarutobi — that cowardly (endlessly tolerant) old man —
probably wouldn't have the courage to fight him, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, to the death.
In fact, he would likely try to protect him.
In that case…
It was time to slightly change the way he handled things!
Transparent World — Activate!
His vision instantly shifted. Through the walls, Naruto saw the ugly, twisted faces of the people on the street below.
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