Chương 9

That thought somehow made things worse again. Meanwhile Daichi was internally experiencing what could only be described as advanced spiritual suffering while following the ANBU operative through Konoha's rooftops. Calm down. Everything is fine. This is probably unrelated. Counterpoint: It absolutely did not feel unrelated. Daichi had been a shinobi long enough to know that random nighttime summons from the Hokage rarely meant peaceful conversations over tea.

And considering the absurd reality-breaking kekkei genkai currently hidden inside his own home… his imagination was becoming increasingly unhelpful. At one point he almost considered pretending to faint halfway there. Unfortunately ANBU probably received training specifically designed to deal with cowardly chunin. Eventually the Hokage Tower came into view. Lights still burned inside despite the late hour. The ANBU operative silently led him inside before stopping near the office door.

"You may enter." Daichi inhaled deeply and then stepped inside. Hiruzen Sarutobi was already sitting behind his desk, calmly smoking his pipe while several papers remained scattered around him. The old Hokage looked tired. More tired than Daichi remembered seeing him before the Nine-Tails attack. Still, the moment Hiruzen noticed Daichi's nervous expression, his eyes softened slightly with amusement.

"…Relax, Daichi," Hiruzen said calmly.

"If this were some kind of summon for some failure in missions, it would be during the reporting time, and not now, so late at night. At the end of the day I too would like to go to my bed instead of calling just after dinner time." Daichi blinked.

"…I don't understand, Lord Hokage." A small chuckle escaped the old man.

"Sit." Daichi obeyed immediately though his posture remained stiff enough to qualify as military architecture. Hiruzen observed him quietly for a few moments afterward before finally speaking again.

"I summoned you because I wished to thank you."

"…Thank me?" Now Daichi was genuinely confused. Hiruzen nodded slowly.

"Your son." And immediately Daichi's soul almost left his body.

"…M-My son?" Hiruzen's eyebrow twitched slightly at the reaction.

"…Yes. Rei." HE KNOWS. Daichi's brain immediately entered full panic mode. Meanwhile Hiruzen continued speaking calmly, completely unaware that the chunin in front of him was internally preparing his last will and testament.

"Children often mirror the behavior of their parents," Hiruzen said quietly.

"Especially at Rei's age." Eh! What was going on? Slowly… confusion started replacing panic.

"…I don't understand." Hiruzen exhaled smoke calmly before continuing.

"I've received several reports regarding Naruto." Ah! Naruto Uzumaki. The tension inside Daichi immediately dropped by about eighty percent.

"…Most children avoid him," Hiruzen continued quietly.

"Not because they understand why. But because adults around them unconsciously teach them to." Daichi stayed silent.

"Yet your son speaks to him normally." The old Hokage's gaze softened slightly after saying that. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"He plays with him. Talks with him. Treats him like any other child." Daichi finally understood where this conversation was going. And honestly… he wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or guilty for immediately assuming the Hokage had somehow discovered Rei's contract ability instead. Hiruzen leaned back slightly afterward.

"That behavior doesn't come from nowhere," he said quietly.

"It means somewhere, in his home, Rei was not taught hatred." Silence settled inside the office afterward. And for the first time since arriving here, Daichi finally relaxed properly. Then after a few seconds, he scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"…Honestly Lord Hokage… I don't think Rei even notices social pressure most of the time." That actually made Hiruzen laugh softly.

"…Perhaps that is exactly what makes it meaningful." Daichi opened his mouth slightly. Then closed it again. The reality was much more awkward than that. It wasn't that they had specifically taught Rei kindness toward Naruto Uzumaki. If anything… they had once tried to do the opposite. And suddenly, while sitting inside the Hokage's office, Daichi found himself remembering that particular conversation from a few months ago.

It had happened not long after Rei started occasionally going to the playground. Not frequently. Because according to Rei, "most playground activities lacked intellectual stimulation." Which still gave Daichi headaches sometimes. This kid wanted to hide things from the world but didn't want to act when it was required? Still, every now and then Rei would go there, mostly because Hana forcibly shoved him outside whenever he spent too much time training.

And every single time, somehow, he ended up casually talking to Naruto. He just… treated him normally. And after enough people started noticing, Daichi eventually became worried. Not because he hated Naruto. But because Konoha's atmosphere around the boy was complicated. Heavy, the kind of thing most adults understood instinctively without speaking about openly. So one evening, Daichi awkwardly brought it up.

"…Rei."

"Hm?" Rei looked up from the scroll he had been reading while sitting at the dining table. Daichi scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"…Maybe… don't spend too much time around Naruto." Rei blinked once.

"…Why?" And immediately Daichi regretted opening his mouth. Because there it was. The question nobody ever answered directly. Not to children. Not even to themselves sometimes.

"…Well…" Daichi started weakly.

"…People around the village can be a little…"

"…Weird?" Rei supplied helpfully.

"…Yes."

"…Why?" Daichi's soul briefly left his body. Because how exactly was he supposed to answer that? Sorry son, that lonely child is actually carrying the giant demon fox that destroyed part of the village and killed thousands including the Fourth Hokage. Yes. Excellent parenting conversation. Meanwhile Rei simply continued staring at him patiently.

"…Is it because of the whiskers?" Rei finally asked.

"…What?"

"The whiskers." Rei pointed toward his own cheeks.

"Naruto has those marks. Is that why people avoid him?" Daichi froze. Rei sounded genuinely confused.

"…I…" Daichi opened his mouth. Then closed it again.

"…It's complicated." That apparently did not satisfy Rei at all. Without another word, the five-year-old suddenly got up from his chair and walked toward Hana's room. Daichi blinked.

"…Rei?" A few moments later, Rei returned carrying Hana's small makeup kit.

"…Why do you have that?" Daichi asked cautiously.

"I am conducting an experiment." Rei replied seriously. Which somehow made the situation feel even more dangerous. Before Daichi could stop him, Rei opened the small container and began carefully drawing thin whisker-like marks onto his own cheeks while using a nearby reflective pan as a mirror. The room fell silent. Even Hana, who had just walked in midway through the situation, froze completely upon seeing her son casually giving himself Naruto's whisker marks.

"…Rei?" she asked slowly. Rei ignored the growing horror of his parents and instead looked directly toward Daichi afterward.

"…There." Daichi blinked.

"…There what?"

"If I dye my hair yellow too," Rei continued calmly while pointing toward his face, "… will people hate me the same way?" Silence. Because suddenly the entire thing sounded absurd when presented that simply. Naruto was loud, mischievous and way too hyperactive. But at the end of the day… he really was just a child with blond hair and whisker marks sitting alone on playground swings.

And Rei, with his usual blunt logic, had accidentally stripped away all the complicated social justifications adults used around Naruto. Daichi still remembered how his chest tightened hearing that question. Because the worst part was— Rei genuinely didn't understand. Or at least he thought Rei didn't understand. And they couldn't even explain it to him. Not without revealing secrets far beyond what a five-year-old should know.

"…No," Hana finally answered quietly after a long pause. Rei tilted his head slightly.

"…Then why him?" Neither of them had an answer. Or perhaps more accurately, neither of them had an answer they were willing to say out loud. Rei studied their silence for a few moments afterward before quietly nodding to himself. Like he had reached some conclusion internally.

"…That's stupid then," he declared simply. Daichi almost choked.

"…Rei..."

"No seriously." Rei crossed his small arms while still having badly drawn whiskers on his cheeks.

"Everyone avoids him but nobody explains why. If nobody explains anything then how is he supposed to understand what he even did wrong?"

"…Rei…" Hana started softly.

"And if he didn't do anything wrong," Rei continued calmly, "… then everyone else is just bullying him." Another silence followed that statement. Because coming from an adult, those words might have sounded argumentative. Coming from a child? It sounded brutally honest. Daichi still remembered looking toward Hana afterward and realizing she looked just as conflicted as he felt. Because the truth was… neither of them actually wanted Rei to become part of the village's treatment toward Naruto.

They had only been afraid. Afraid that Rei would become isolated too. Afraid that their son, who already stood out far too much, would attract even more attention. But somehow… watching Rei stand there with fake whiskers drawn onto his cheeks while genuinely trying to understand why another child was hated… Made stopping him feel wrong. And perhaps that was when both Daichi and Hana realized something important about their son. Rei didn't ignore social cues because he was naïve.

He ignored them because he judged things through his own logic first. And once Rei decided something didn't make sense morally… convincing him otherwise became nearly impossible.

"…You looked ridiculous by the way," Daichi suddenly remembered himself saying afterward just to break the tension. Rei immediately frowned.

"…The whiskers were asymmetrical."

"That was not the issue."

"I was working with limited equipment." Hana had laughed so suddenly at that point that even Rei looked startled.