Staring at the white ceiling in front of me I remained absolutely silent in disbelief as I tried feeling my right hand, or the lack thereof.
The moment of the explosion played back in front of my eyes, not even because of a genjutsu but because it was burnt into my mind.
As soon as the explosive seals activated, the Uchiha guard by my side quickly tore the jacket away from me and threw it away.
Unfortunately for me, my right hand got caught in it and I ended up thrown along with it. Leaving me to suffer third degree burns all over the right side of my body once the explosive seals all went off.
'Come to think of it…'
'If I could survive an explosive seal blast from so up close…'
'What exactly did Nawaki do to die from an explosive tag blast?'
'He..'
'Hehehehehe.'
I could feel the stupid grin on my face but also the dampness on my cheek as water dripped from the ceiling onto it and rolled off the sides.
'Stupid freaking world…'
'Who the hell allows people to buy grenades and plant them in regular clothes!??'
The only positive thing out of it all was the fact that the Uchiha took an interest in keeping me live, whether for extracting more information out of me or even out of the kindness of their hearts, it was a good thing nonetheless that someone had taken the time to heal me into a non dead state because I was rather sure that the second I had lost consciousness from the horrible pain, I'd would've been gone for good.
I'd seen the absolutely disgusting looks they were giving me when they saw my hand explode. Only right before I lost consciousness did I hear someone shout to help me. I didn't know who it was, but at least someone among the stoic uchiha had a mind, because if they let me die in their premises I didn't doubt for a second that someone like Danzo would pin the blame on them.
The voice I remembered hearing was rather young and felt high pitched like someone who had just entered their teens.
'Shishui perhaps?'
I didn't really know how he sounded so I could only guess.
'Have they already read my mind with the help of the Yamanaka? Do they know about my transmigration then? Wait a second, would the Yamanaka who read my memories even share this part with everyone? Wouldn't he keep it to himself and make some other shit up?'
'But is it even possible to read other people' memories so easily?'
'I mean if it were, wouldn't Konoha know every jutsu out there possible? They'd simply have to capture a few shinobi during wars and boom, all their enemy's jutsu is now theirs.'
'And if the Yamanaka could truly do such a thing…they'd probably be hunted down by everyone since their jutsu aren't even a Kekkei Genkai.'
'But there was mind reading in the anime… was that just hyperbole or does it perhaps need some very specific circumstances to 'activate the ability'?'
Not very sure of the method or if such a thing was done to me, I stared at the ceiling in silence for what felt like hours before I heard a soft sound of someone opening the door to my room.
I lay there completely still and listless on the bed, like a half broken doll that was tossed aside by someone after playing with it to their heart's content.
I had no energy currently to pretend to be someone energetic or jovial like the ball of sunshine the main protagonist of the show was. Instead I could feel even the pain of breathing through my burnt lungs. Everything seemed like a chore and giving up seemed like the best choice of action no matter the situation going ahead.
The smell of smoke entered the room soon after causing me to cough harshly, making the strain on my lungs even worse as I felt a stinging pain pierce my chest.
The person who entered coughed too, but rather awkwardly as if they'd been caught doing someone unbecoming of their position. The smell of smoke slowly dissipated before the curtain to my bed was pulled open to reveal the person on the other side.
"Hokage-sama…" I said coolly, as if I wasn't just meeting the head of the most powerful nation on this planet.
Seeing me lying so relaxedly on the bed as if I was only meeting a particularly close childhood friend, the Hokage's expression became dumbfounded.
But I lay still, I didn't have the energy to push myself up even though I could see a strong thigh I could hug to keep myself safe from now on.
I felt like I'd had enough.
And so I began speaking first, not as part of a conversation but a rant.
"You know how shitty this village is Hokage-sama?"
Taken aback by my sudden unsophisticated question, the Hokage was stunned just long enough for me to continue again.
"I lost my parents day before yesterday, lost my house and everything I owned yesterday, got assigned a home in what looks like an abandoned public toilet, stayed hungry for most of the day, before being done in by a teacher, someone I was supposed to trust mind you, by being sent on a suicide mission for no reason all together."
With the Hokage still stunned, I continued, "Do you see how shitty it is? I nearly want to leave the village and go elsewhere, maybe to Kumo, or even Iwagakure where people might not be as vengeful but I know they're probably even worse given they've lost all three of the previous wars."
"I just got a job as a delivery person for Ichiraku ramen and now I'm back to being jobbless once again since obviously I can't efficiently deliver stuff given my stupid one handed condition."
"This place isn't the dream of the First Hokage or the Second, and I don't think it is even yours, this feels like hell, hell on earth where fire burns and its shadows only grow deeper and darker with each passing day. You know what! Just kill m-"
Before I could finish saying the rest of it, a hot pipe landed on my lips causing me to yelp again since they were quite exposed after part of my lips had been partially burnt away.
"The hell are you doing, you retarted old man!? Can't you see I'm burnt!! Roasted!!! What do you want to do, check if I'm fully cooked and ready to be consumed!?"
Hiruzen then finally lifted his pipe and started smoking in silence as if my continued coughing had nothing to do with it.
We stayed silent, just like that, for the next few minutes as the room was smoked up.
It was only after Hiruzen finished the tobacco in his pipe that he started speaking again.
"It's a pretty shitty world…yes." He nodded, "But it's the best shit we have got. Tell me what would you do differently if you were the Hokage?"
Almost reflexively I kicked the old man in his nuts while he too dodged reflexively, but the serious expression on his face that was waiting to hear my answer didn't change.
"...don't ask such confusing questions to a six year old you old man, that's yours. But if I were the Hokage, I would at least invest in finding ways to utilize chakra for non destructive purposes. For example, could food be turned tastier with the help of chakra? Could the water in my tap be hot if it used chakra? Could there be a jutsu to light the dark!? Could books be better if their illustrations were made using charka!? Maybe someone could add a transformation jutsu to books somehow so that you could see everything you were reading happen in real time!? Could chakra better the lives of civilians and cripples like me who are at an inherent disadvantage when compared to everyone else!?"
Having said so much in one breath was stressful and made me cough a few more times but my gaze still held firm.
This world was mad and terribly so.
The only thing taught to children from such a young age was to kill others and take as many lives as they could. Forget about peaceful activities like gardening or even drawing. Everything in this world for those blessed with a strong capacity for chakra was aimed at killing someone else, as if the very word for entertainment didn't exist in their vocabulary.
"I remember reading in the school textbook that the First, Second Hokage and even Madara Uchiha wanted to create a world where the kids didn't have to go to war. Is this how they would've done things? Teaching kids to kill from as soon as they can spell the word kunai? What are we even fighting each other for? Resources? Money? Gold? What will we do with all of that? Eat it? Why can't we just use chakra to fix those problems first? I mean why couldn't the First Hokage just have given everyone super food grains that would be resistant to all types of famine and grow in all types of environment. Wouldn't that have at least given the whole world free food forever?!? Why can't there be a jutsu to remember things so that people won't forget what those who fought beside them looked and felt like!?"
Hiruzen's eyes had widened slightly.
But I didn't know if it was because what I was saying was completely new to him or if it was because a six year old could say all this delusional stuff, but he spoke soon after.
"...Those are some nice ideas young man…" He pulled his hat a little closer to hide his face as he continued speaking, "I wish you the best in your recovery."
And then he then turned around and promptly left the room, leaving my curtain pulled open mind you.
'Tsk.'
I fell asleep soon after and woke up only to the sound of two nurses whispering to each other.
"....I heard that Genichi sensei was sent for an immediate execution."
"Immediate? What did he do? My son's in his class…he didn't teach something wrong to the kids did he?"
"No I heard it was because he was the mastermind behind that attack on the Uchiha Police Headquarters yesterday."
"Seriously!?"
"Yeah, it was this kid that he used for the attack. Luckily the uchiha saved him so they could get to the truth of the matter."
"Ho…poor kid…"
"True…anyway, did you go to that new dress store at the end of the shopping district?"
"Ehh… the dresses there are so risque though…"
I simply kept my eyes closed and remained sleeping, unfortunately my nose itched at the same time. I tried to keep it in control by thinking of Baby shark dodododododo but it didn't work and only intensified the itch causing me to have to quickly get up and scratch my nose.
It startled the nurses but they only gave each other a short glance before leaving the room quietly after placing a hot food tray by my side before they left.
I lifted myself up and uncovered the food only to be met by a piping hot bowl of ramen.
'Ah…that damn old man sure knows how to make me cry…'
I wolfed down the ramen as best as I could with a single hand and drank all the broth before placing the noodles back in the bowl and praying for giving me the opportunity to have such good food once again.
Was I religious? Not really, no. But did this deserve a thanks? In a world as cruel as I had experienced it to be? Hell yes.
With nothing to do after the perfect meal, I quietly sat up in my bed and closed my eyes to feel my chakra and in turn the state of my body.
The chakra in my body was non-existent for some reason, probably because it leaked out when I lost my hand, so I had to slowly extract more physical energy and spiritual energy and knead more chakra to fill my pathways.
It took a while but soon after I found myself sitting alone in the room with a pleasant feeling swimming around my body.
'Is it just me, or did my chakra get warmer?'
Not having a source to compare with I could only guess but it sure did feel like my chakra had gotten gentler than before, almost spring-like in its nature.
I could still feel the imbalance in my body due to the lack of a literal limb, but focusing on the warmth of my chakra made it a little more bearable. Almost like a drug.
With nothing else to do, I started practicing genjutsu on myself for no real reason. Only since I didn't have a perfect memory, all I could do was look at certain epic moments in all of anime as a compilation.
But right when the One Piece Going Sunny came into view something suddenly clicked as an idea sparked in my mind.
'If I can't remember stuff directly about anime, I can surely remember songs right!?'
And so with an excited grin on my face I played the first song that came to mind-
'Jiiiito dekinai toooomarenai'
'Yoake ga osokute jireattttaaaaaaaaiiiiii'
'Ichi ni sunshine yon, weeee goooo!!!!'
"HOLY SHEEETTTTT!!!!!!"
"I remember!!!"
"I remember songs damn it!"
And so finally, sitting in the boring white room was not boring any longer as I continuously applied a genjutsu onto myself not just of songs but of myself playing them on any instrument I wished.
One moment I was hitting the drums, the next I was sweeping on the keyboard or strumming along on a guitar.
I didn't know jack all about those instruments, but as long as I remembered the song, no matter what I played would transform into the best piece of music that ever existed while I vibed along with it!
My single handedness didn't matter too!
I could just genjutsu myself an arm that moved exactly like normal!
'Ah…freedom at last…'
I was already off the bed, jumping around, skidding around on the floor as I played every possible riff in the world while listening to the perfect One piece opening.
Only my eyes suddenly snapped open when I felt a sharp sting in my chest.
'Ahhh!!! F*#%!'
My left hand hung limply by my side before I crawled back to the bed and collapsed in it.
'What am I? Mechamaru?'
'Wait…are there any shinobi in this world that are disabled but fight strictly through clones?'
'Wouldn't they make the perfect scouts?'
I tried staying awake for a bit after that but I soon fell asleep once again.
The routine continued for a few more days. I woke up somewhere late in the morning, ate hot ramen, listened to songs, played around with random instruments before falling asleep for the rest of the day.
It almost felt like I was back on Earth, bingeing anime while eating junk food every day.
I didn't know if my genjutsu skills improved but I was definitely slowly able to put myself in genjutsu for longer with lesser and lesser chakra to the point that I was able to stay in a self induced genjutsu for about three hours by this point.
And by the end of the month when I was decently healed, enough to move around with excess pain, I was allowed to leave the hospital with a small gift package.
I was half surprised that the gift hadn't just gotten stolen since I wouldn't have been able to complain anyway given my status as a cripple homeless orphan that was slightly wonderful in this world, quadra kill disability combo, but I nodded and accepted it from my discharge handler before walking back to the house in the Ex-Uchiha compound.
Only, as soon as I stepped into the Uchiha compound I found it busy and above all, clean.
The place was spick and span, almost as if the Uchiha had moved in.
'Wait a second…why are there so many Uchiha in the area?'
'Did they really move back in!?'
'Why!? How!?'
I felt the gazes of everyone fall on me as I shrunk slightly while walking towards the 'home' I was rented, only, the second I reached the location, I found it occupied once again.
Someone was already living in it.
How did I know that when I didn't see a single person in it? Because the window I broke to enter the house was fixed and the front door had potted plants surrounding it.
'Am I supposed to share the house with them or something?'
'....'
I sighed audibly knowing that such a thing wasn't realistic before just walking back to the only place I knew I could find a place for myself at, Ichiraku ramen.
I dragged myself and my discharge gift to the store by sunset, and crawled in through the rush to find myself face to face with Ayame who was already holding my hand and dragging me upstairs.
"Dad said you'd come over here!"
"Oh?"
Was Teuchi really the Sage of Six Bowls? How did he predict the future?
"Yeah, he said you'd come here because the Uchiha moved back into their compound. We have a guest room, so you can use that as long as you'd like to!"
My mouth fell a little loose.
This family, it really was Sagely…
"Don't look at me like that! With you back I won't have to go around out during the mornings anymore! I'm becoming a bit too thin for my taste carrying all those ramen bowls to deliver everywhere!!"
"I still have my job?" I blurted out the question.
"Of course silly! We're raking in so much more money thanks to this delivery service! Yakiniku wanted to copy us, but they're too expensive for people to afford delivery unlike us so we've got a lot of orders on hand!"
"....thanks…" I whispered slightly guilty, knowing that no amount of profit had ever stopped a business owner from firing an employee that had been absent for over a month.
Ayame just smiled and quickly pushed me into the bathroom, "Take a shower and change yourself out of those hospital gowns, you look weird in those. Oh and yeah, take a rest today, you can join us below from tomorrow."
I nodded quietly and entered the washroom where a fresh towel with clothes was all arranged for me to wear after my quick bath.
As I soaked myself in the tub I looked at the scars left behind on my body and then at the stump of a right arm that remained.
'Can I even become a decent ninja anymore?'
'Is it even possible to become a normal ninja?'
'I might be able to train myself to write again, but fight with my non-dominant hand? That seems rather farfetched…'
'Unless the enemy literally stands still I doubt I'll be able to land a blow…'
I traced over the scars with my left hand as I thought of possible solutions, 'Perhaps a puppet arm?'
'Maybe I can make one and then control it if I have half decent chakra control?'
'Even if it isn't good enough for combat, a normal life should be possible right?'
I stood up from the bath, and wiped myself before wearing my new clothes and walking over to the guest bed room which was lit up by a few candles before dropping onto the bed with a deep sigh.
After staring at the dark brown slanted ceiling for a while I lit the candle near the bed and pulled out the gift that had been left for me at the hospital.
And to my surprise, what slipped out of the cover was not just one gift but two.
A letter and a scroll.
"Dear katsumino,
I don't know what I can say to make things up to you, but as your teacher I have failed you.
I am going to be executed tomorrow, but I had a few words to say to you today now that I am facing death and reflecting on my actions.
The first thing on my mind during that explosion was to find out if you were alright. I know it sounds silly now, knowing that what happened to you was a direct result of my actions. But I want you to know that I confessed my crimes after hearing the explosion go off.
I couldn't stand the feeling of guilt inside me that came from using such a little piece of life for a cause you did not consent to regardless of if the matter involved both of us.
I made sure to explain to my captors that I did what I did out of my own compulsions and that you were completely uninvolved in it. I hope you have it in your heart to forgive me even a little bit for thinking you would've wanted such a revenge against the Uchiha clan for what they did to your parents.
It's just that when you told me of the wish of wanting to remember your parents, I couldn't think of anything other than revenge. I didn't want you to grow up like I did, an orphan, and I didn't want you to forget your beautiful mother and your strong father.
The two of them were actually my teammates back in the day, and when I learnt that they died while being escorted by an Uchiha it just brought back terrible memories.
I was so sure then that the Uchiha were involved in killing your parents so that the heir apparent would unlock the sharingan. It was a twisted thought, but one that took root enough in my mind to make me sure that sending you to your parents was the right thing to do. After all, it was impossible for me, a mere chunin teacher at the academy, to negotiate with the Yamanaka clan for a memory enhancement jutsu.
Either way, I hope that in that vastly mature heart of yours there is some compassion in there to forgive me.
Respectfully,
Your Ashamed Teacher Genichi."
My hand was frozen even after I finished reading the short letter.
My eyes ping ponged back and forth between the various reasons written into the letter as they all made zero sense. Especially since they felt more and more like the ramblings of a mad man…
I closed my eyes and sighed deeply at this point.
A mad man who didn't know any better, someone who was morphed by the system he lived in. A twisted man that was a product of a twisted world.
But a few other things caught my attention too.
'So my parents died because of Obito?'
'Damn you you delusional freak!'
I looked back at the letter in my hand as my face morphed into a distasteful frown before I simply clasped it and held it closer to my chest.
I couldn't necessarily forgive the man since he was down right crazy, at least not yet since I still held hope for this world to do better. After all, nearly every major fight in the show was solved using talk no jutsu, but I could at least pray to hope the mad guy had a better chance at living in his next life.
I placed the letter to the side before picking up the scroll.
'What's this?' I pondered before unfurling the scroll slowly.
Only as each inch of the scroll was unfurled, my heart beat sped up until it skyrocketed all at once when I saw the complete title inked in it.
"Yin Release : Memory Recall Jutsu."
'Holy shit!'
'Did the Hokage get this for me!?'
'Holy shit! Holy Shit! Holy Shit!'
I couldn't bring myself to stop regardless of the exhaustion I was feeling, and so I brought the candle closer before beginning to examine the hand seals needed only to realise that I had a single hand left to me and probably couldn't form the right hand seals any way.
I unfurled the scroll fully and sure enough, the jutsu required both my hands to perform the seals.
'Damn…why am I starting with single handed seals right off the bat!?'
'Where's the difficulty setting! I want a Baby mode! Not Nightmare mode!'
'But the Hokage gave it to me even after he saw my condition…'
'So perhaps I can do it with good enough chakra control?'
'Just how good… is the question though…'
And to answer that question I began to dive deeper into the workings of the jutsu by reading the scroll.
"Yin Release : Memory Recall Jutsu."
"As the name suggests this jutsu is to help recall specific memories based on seed memories that are related to what has been forgotten. As long as the seed memories are strong enough, things around it can be remembered with very little effort."
"There are two kinds of practitioners for this jutsu, those that have the appropriate amount of yin nature chakra or spiritual energy which can substitute for a weaker seed memory, or those that have prepared themselves from a young age with the Yin Release : Mindscape Prism jutsu which gives them a firm mindscape that they can manipulate to generate appropriately strong seed memories."
"In case you are of neither group, it is recommended you start with the Yin Release : Mindscape Prism Jutsu which is included at the end of the scroll."
Being obviously of the second category, at least I assumed so since no one told me anything about me having a vast amount of spiritual energy all throughout my first year at the academy I began to read the jutsu at the end of the scroll.
And so, while I was a little disheartened that I couldn't get to the 'good stuff' quickly, I was also glad that the Hokage had the courtesy to include the beginner steps in the scroll so that I wouldn't have to break my head over something meaninglessly difficult.
"Yin Release : Mindscape Prism Jutsu"
"This jutsu is a precursor to the Yin Release : Memory Recall Jutsu for many, and so learning it with a proper foundation helps in learning the more advanced jutsu rather effortlessly."
"The mind is a magnificent tool that can do multiple things at once if used correctly. However given its complexity, few delve deeper into its intricacies to explore its full potential."
"From repeated explorations of the mind, we know that the Mind has several parts to it. Some that function automagically, for example, instinctually dodging in fights, while others need some intention to spit out an output, for example doing math problems on a test. But one thing common in both is that they need basic memory to work with."
"The Mindscape prism jutsu works on the automagically acting part of the mind to create an inner landscape that uses the principle of a prism to split the automagic parts into different types of memories like evolutionary, genetic, sensory etc. While the potential of this jutsu is immense, for the sake of brevity because it is being practiced for the Memory Recall Jutsu, we shall focus purely on the segment of memories that deal with daily life both of past and present."
"By the end of mastering the jutsu, one should have a decent grasp on being able to separate life based memory clearly even if they are unable to access it or do much of anything with it until they learn the Memory Recall Jutsu."
I gulped at the detailed descriptions in the scroll.
'How much is this scroll worth?'
'What did the Hokage even pay for this to be made available to me?'
'Do I have ANBU guards around me now? Keeping a watch to see if someone might steal this scroll from me?'
'....I better make sure I never speak a word of this to anyone else…'
And with that vow I continued reading.
"There are no large sequence of seals necessary for this jutsu, one must only meditate in the lotus posture with their thumb pointed upwards while the rest of their hand is relaxed in their lap."
"This sends chakra upwards and causes it to coagulate near the brain, such a setting where the brain is filled with spiritual energy and chakra is perfectly suitable for beginning this journey. The spiritual energy in contact with chakra will slowly but surely separate the spiritual energy from the chakra and cause an excess amount of yin energy to fill the brain."
"Once a sufficient amount of spiritual energy is gathered, one can immediately access the mindscape."
"Reaching the mindscape is the first step of the jutsu."
I paused after reading until that moment before pondering, "Could I speed up the technique by controlling chakra to go there directly?"
"I wonder why that isn't mentioned here…"
And so I quickly scanned the scroll for any warnings about the method but found none, so I quietly settled in place to try out the method I had thought about while combining it with the hand seal mentioned in the scroll.
The effect was immediate.
As soon as I performed the seal with one hand, chakra began to move towards my head on the left side of my body while the right side remained stagnant.
But then, when I tried moving the chakra in the right side of my body towards my head I found out I was in trouble.
It was difficult, ridiculously so.
Controlling large amounts of chakra felt like controlling a cloud, blowing on it was the only way to make it move, but blow on it hard enough and it'll just dissipate into nothingness.
And in this case, trying to control the already circulating chakra caused it to break free from its circulation which then disrupted the movement caused by the hand seal as they then simply clashed with each other. With the hand seal fighting for control against me over my own chakra, making it a rather ridiculous process of self inflicted war.
'So unless my control is better than the hand seal, I should simply use the handseal. And once it is good enough, I can switch…'
'I see…makes sense.'
And so I continued my training using the handseal this time, but true to the jutsu's difficulty, nothing happened even after an hour of me sitting like a statue doing nothing but focusing the chakra in my body to my head using the single hand seal.
'...is it that much of a disadvantage to not have a single hand?'
I sighed tiredly since my head hurt from focusing so much as I collapsed into the bed, my head hitting the fluffy pillow as I shrunk my legs into the warm blanket and tried to stay away from sleep.
The bed felt more and more comfortable as I focused on the warmth of the chakra flowing within me until I stuffed the scroll into my pocket before falling into a deep comfortable sleep.
Waking up the next morning was a pain, not just because of how comfortable it was to lie in the comfortable warmth of the cozy blanket during winter, but also because I had missed the time to have my pain killers by over an hour.
I quietly got out of bed and grabbed some pills out of the packet I was handed before leaving the room as I swallowed them. It took a while but I remembered that I was currently in Ichiraku Ramen and so I made my way groggily towards the bathroom.
I knocked first before entering, it was unlocked and open and so I decided to take a quick dump, a shower and brush before wearing the same clothes again and going back down to the restaurant.
Turns out, it wasn't morning anymore after all.
I'd slept through the hustle and bustle of the morning and woken up straight at noon.
"Good afternoon Teuchi-san." I greeted the old man while taking a spot at the front of the now empty restaurant.
Teuchi simply turned around holding three bowls of piping hot ramen and served me one before taking one for himself and leaving one for I assumed Ayame.
"Where's Ayame onee-san? Out for deliveries?"
Teuchi nodded quietly, preferring to focus more on the food than the conversation.
I too clapped my hands twice and thanked the world for the good food as usual before slurping my noodles.
Ayamae arrived sometime in between but both I and Teuchi were so engrossed in eating the noodles that we failed to notice.
It was only when I instinctively felt someone sit beside me in a bad mood that I looked over to find her.
"What happened onee-san?"
"It's a foolish guy who thought he could get the food for free by telling me that I didn't deliver his food during the early morning trip."
"Oh?"
I guess people are the same everywhere…even in a world as skewed as this one.
"Yeah, and only because the neighbour saw him pick up his food at the same time did he shut up and go back into his house."
"Get a signature next time you drop off their food."
"Yeah, I thought so too, but that'll slow down the speed of the deliveries if people don't wake up in time. And long times means cold food for the rest."
"Hmm…then just hire more people? Or increase the price of the deliveries."
"Hire more people huh…" Ayame looked at Teuchi and he simply nodded lightly, to indicate his agreement.
Ayame then turned to me and squished my cheeks again, "From where do you get those little ideas in that tiny head of yours!?"
"WuWuWuWuWuWu!" Unable to speak up I could only make noises to distract her and pull myself free but it seemed to have backfired since Ayame found the noises cute and began stretching my cheeks more.
"Cute little fellow!!"
I finally broke free and quickly spoke up, "Only you'd call someone with these horrendous scars cute!"
"How can that be! Ichiraku ramen still tastes the best to me, so as long as I say you're cute, you just are because my taste is perfect!"
I couldn't keep myself from smiling but I just shook my head and turned to Teuchi, "Thank you for the food when I was in the hospital…"
Teuchi simply looked my way and smiled politely before speaking gently, "You're my employee so don't worry about it!"
I nodded but couldn't help sporting a rather giddy smile on my face at the moment. So to save myself some embarrassment I changed the topic and asked Teuchi another question, "Any deliveries in the afternoon? I'd like to do some at least, don't want to freeload off of you."
"Hmm…" Teuchi frowned for a second but then quickly took the main scroll from Ayame and copied a few names while crossing it out in her scroll at the same time before he handed it over to me.
"These few should be fine for you to do. They're nearby so you don't need to carry a lot and it should help you get in some recovery exercise so that you can give your body a proper workout."
"Oh, nice! Thanks."
And with that, after washing my bowl, I was off into the village once again, wandering about carrying a dozen boxes to deliver to various addresses both big and small, while listening to random tunes along the way.
"I wonder if I can hallucinate Spotify, without ads."
'There has got to be some way I can delegate the task of playing songs to a background process in my mind right? Otherwise it just feels like I'm constantly in a karaoke, singing in my mind while the original song plays along…'
'If I could achieve background process function, I could even make games right? Leave the background to produce and react to my main mental inputs so that it looks and feels like I'm playing a game?'
'Hmm…'
'But I haven't even completed the first step of the mindscape prism jutsu yet…'
'Is it because of how little chakra I have? Or is it because not enough chakra is reaching my head?'
'Do I really need two hands to do this?'
'...perhaps I can mimic the flow of chakra on the left side of my body and copy it onto the right and then act as if I have a right hand forming the same seal?'
'...Hmm…I'll try it out after I return.'
And with that I continued delivering food in external silence while enjoying music internally, only I had to stop for a few minutes since 'someone' had painted the Hokage rock once again.
Unfortunately for me, the excited ball of giddiness who had done it was rushing my way.
"Stop!!!" I shouted with the loudest voice I could before the boy could hit me but that didn't seem to slow him down so I continued, "This thing has ramen from Ichiraku!!" I shouted again and the effect was immediate.
Naruto skidded to a stop, so fast that I was a little worried that the soles of his sandals might've gotten rubbed out.
'What were they thinking in the show when they called Naruto an ugly kid?'
'If this guy's ugly then I'm the monster that parents use to scare their kids into behaving right at night.'
His eyes were crystal blue, his hair a blond yellow, and his face cut almost exactly out of the face on the Hokage rock.
To be honest it seemed rather confusing how noone could figure out that Naruto was the son of the fourth Hokage…
'Perhaps they think that Naruto's the Fox himself and since foxes are good at illusions in legends, they think that the fox is trying to mimic the Fourth Hokage to mock them or earn pity…'
'Truly a moment where Occam's razor shines bright.'
Naruto didn't say anything in the few moments he had paused to jog in front of me, ready to bolt if any of his captors came around, but I could see the excitement in his eyes that spoke a long essay that could be shortened down to, "Can I have some?"
I would've loved to give him the rest of the few bowls to help lighten the weight on my shoulders but I didn't want to disappoint Teuchi so I simply said, "Come over to Ichiraku ramen, we're starting a new service to deliver food to your home. So as long as you sign the scroll we'll deliver it to your home everyday. This stuff is for other people who signed the scroll."
Naruto's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of deliveries right to your home but before he could react in any way, someone interrupted our conversation by shouting from far away, "Don't let that demon fox brat get away!!!"
"..." I stood stunned in silence at the vast incongruity in front of me.
Sure, Naruto had few lines on his skin that could vaguely count as whiskers, but demon fox brat? If a demon fox was this cute I'd probably end up smothering it by squishing its cheeks.
Naruto flinched when he met my gaze again, probably expecting me to react like the rest of them, but I simply nodded, "Thank you for not running into me and good luck with whatever your adventure is…"
A beautiful smile blossomed on Naruto's face as he nodded and quickly rushed away kicking up dust and dirt, leaving me to my rather strange thoughts.
'Could you sign a summoning contract with Teuchi and then summon ramen noodles by reverse summoning the money?'
'Hmm…that's a nice idea, I should bring it up with him later.'
'Maybe that'll get him to reveal his Sage of Six Bowls status…'
'Look at me, a model employee, just discharged from the hospital but already thinking of ways to increase the inflow of money into the business.'
'Hmpf.'