Chương 5

And then he threw it. The ball flew in a small arc before lightly smacking Naruto on the side of his head. Bonk. Naruto yelped dramatically.

"Owww! Hey!" His head snapped around immediately, blue eyes locking onto Rei who stood there with his hands inside his pockets like he had absolutely no regrets about his actions.

"…Your situational awareness is terrible," Rei commented casually. Naruto blinked once and then immediately puffed up in offense.

"Hah?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means if that were a sharp object, for example a kunai, instead of a ball, you would be dead." Naruto stared at him for a few seconds before pointing accusingly.

"You sound like an old man, ya know that?!"

"…I've been told that before." That actually made Naruto pause. Then unexpectedly, he burst into laughter. Loud, unrestrained laughter that immediately made a few nearby adults glance over with irritation. Naruto either didn't notice or simply didn't care. Or maybe he wanted them to notice him. Who knows?

"You're weird!" Naruto declared while grabbing the ball from the ground.

"Takes one to know one." Naruto gasped dramatically.

"Oi! I'm not weird!" Rei slowly looked around at the completely empty space surrounding Naruto despite the crowded playground. Naruto followed his gaze. The grin on his face faltered for just a second. But Rei noticed it anyway.

"…Right," Rei said before the silence could linger too long, "then I guess everyone else here is weird." Naruto blinked. And somehow a bit of the awkwardness disappeared. Or maybe this guy was just happy to see someone interact with him and not make those damned grownups take their kids away from him. But still he was a bit skeptical because at the end those hateful ones come and take them away. But he was happy for the moment.

"Hah! Exactly!" Naruto pointed at him triumphantly like Rei had just proven an important philosophical point.

"See? You get it!"

"…Sure."

"…You're making fun of me." Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"…Only a little."

"Hmph." Naruto crossed his arms before suddenly tossing the ball back toward Rei without warning.

"Then catch this!" Rei caught it effortlessly. He might not be able to control his chakra flow or failing with the kunai throwing, but that didn't mean there wasn't any progress. His reaction time had lessened considerably and he felt way stronger than he ever felt in this life.

"…Woah." Naruto's eyes widened slightly. Rei realized his mistake almost immediately.

"…Lucky catch," he lied shamelessly.

"You wanna play?" Naruto stared at him for another moment before grinning widely.

"…I have been forcibly brought here against my will," Rei admitted honestly, "so I suppose I might as well."

"You really are weird!" Naruto burst out laughing again. And just like that, the two started casually throwing the ball back and forth. Nothing dramatic or life-changing. Just two children standing near the edge of a playground tossing a ball around while one of them talked almost nonstop.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto announced proudly after a few throws.

"I'm gonna become Hokage someday, believe it!" If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. That made Rei almost stumble and miss the flying projectile that was coming at him. He couldn't believe that this guy, who didn't even start that Academy, was already dreaming about becoming Hokage. He knew that Hiruzen would often come around, but he didn't expect that the influence was so high that even at 5 years old he had that single goal in mind.

But it didn't matter to Rei. Be one. Don't be one. Sasuke also wanted to become one by the end, but did that diminish his powers? Nope. So it didn't matter to Rei. All he cared was survival and ride the coattails of others' hard work.

"…That sounds exhausting," Rei replied while tossing the ball back.

"Hah?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means paperwork sounds terrible."

"…Wait… Hokage has paperwork?..... Wait..... what is paperwork?" Naruto looked genuinely confused for a second.

"Sigh... Nothing..." Rei almost laughed. From the distance, Hana watched the scene unfold with slowly widening eyes. At first, the moment she realized who Rei had approached, her body had instinctively tensed. Her feet had even started moving before her brain properly caught up. Because everyone in the village knew. Nobody said it openly. Nobody explained it to children. But the atmosphere around that blond boy had always been… strange and depressing.

The kind of social avoidance people performed so naturally that they stopped questioning it. They knew the reasons but refused to say it out loud as there was a gag order by the Hokage. And for one brief moment, Hana almost walked forward to pull Rei away. But then she stopped. Her gaze lingered on her son instead. The way Rei was speaking normally without hesitation and fear, without even that subtle discomfort most adults unconsciously carried around Naruto. There was none around Rei. And honestly…

Hana wasn't even sure Rei noticed the social cues around the boy. Or perhaps more accurately, maybe he noticed them and simply didn't care. That sounded more like her son. After all, Rei had always been strange in his own way. Too observant and thoughtful. Too aware of things children his age never even noticed. Sometimes when he spoke, Hana genuinely forgot she was talking to a five-year-old until he randomly failed to throw a kunai straight into a tree.

That failed kunai throw for the last couple of days had also made her feel normal. Her child was way ahead of his age for sure but at least in the body he had a long way to go. Watching him now casually talking with Naruto while the other children continued avoiding the blond boy from afar made Hana slowly exhale.

"… You really are different…" she murmured softly. And strangely enough… For the first time since this entire contract ability had appeared in their lives, Hana didn't feel worried watching Rei. Rei didn't play much with Naruto. Not because someone had shown up but because it got boring very fast. Throwing balls were for children and his mind couldn't find any kind of amusement there. He would rather work on his chakra control and jutsu training, rather than do this.

Naruto wasn't going anywhere and he was sure that they would attend the same class. So it didn't matter. Leaving an impression on Naruto was enough. And thus, after enduring another ten minutes of Naruto enthusiastically explaining how he would become Hokage and apparently eat ramen every single day once he became rich, Rei finally escaped the playground with the excuse that his mother was calling him back home. The moment they returned home, Rei went straight back to training. As expected.

Hana had honestly hoped that maybe interacting with children his age would calm him down a little. Instead her son had somehow returned more motivated than before. And so the next month passed in a strange routine. Wake up. Eat. Train. Fail. Train again. Fail slightly less. Repeat. Sometimes Rei would spend hours just trying to balance chakra on his fingertips, only for the flow to collapse midway and give him another headache.

Other times he practiced transformation jutsu until his face flickered between himself and somebody that didn't remotely resemble Hana like some cursed identity crisis. And every single time he overdid it, Hana would step in before things got worse.

"Enough."

"…Five more minutes."

"No."

"…Three?"

"Rei."

"… You drive a difficult bargain, Mom." At one point she even caught him trying to perform the Mystical Palm Jutsu on a dying plant because he wanted to "test healing compatibility." The plant died faster. Hana banned him from touching her herbs for a week after that. Still… progress was there. Slow, frustrating progress, but progress nonetheless. Rei's chakra control became steadier over time. His clone jutsu no longer exploded instantly.

His transformation held for almost a full minute now before destabilizing, though with the face of someone that even gave Rei, who had watched horror movies, the creeps. Even his kunai throwing improved enough that the tree was no longer in immediate danger from collateral damage. Though only barely. And then, after nearly two months away, Daichi finally returned home. The moment he stepped through the door, tired and dusty from border patrol duty, Hana genuinely felt emotional seeing him again.

Daichi barely had time to put down his bag before she hugged him tightly.

"…Whoa," Daichi blinked in surprise, "I was gone for two months, not two years."

"…Shut up."

"… Where's Rei? Did my genius son finally become Hokage while I was gone?" Daichi laughed before looking around the house. Hana froze for just a second. Daichi was a huge fan of 4th Hokage as apparently, he had saved Daichi once in the war and it was because of him that Daichi felt that he was alive till now. Thus the death of him had devastated him a bit and always hoped that his son would be someone like him. Though he only joked that his son would become Hokage one day, he didn't push this ideology on his son.

But since his son was a genius, he had some hopes about it.