"Ranmo, are you okay? Where did you run off to? It's so late, and there was an attack outside. You shouldn't be wandering around like that! Don't tell me you saw the Nine-Tails—it was terrifying!"
Hana Inuzuka scolded him, concern clear in her voice. Inside the shelter, most of the people were non-combatants or newly enrolled genin. Everyone was tense and on edge.
Still, children tended to get distracted easily. They didn't fully understand how to process things like casualties or destruction.
"Why are you all crowding around him? Can't you see he's blind? What's he supposed to be looking at anyway? Tch. Every day, he's just dragging us down. Can't even awaken the Byakugan, not even worth branding with the Caged Bird Seal—total deadweight. How did a blind failure like him even manage to sneak out?"
Hinata Hikaru, a boy from the Hyuga clan, sneered as he glared at the group of girls gathered around Hyuga Ranmo.
"You didn't know?" a calm voice interrupted. "Ranmo can see at night."
Everyone turned toward the source—Itachi Uchiha, holding a bundled-up infant Sasuke, spoke quietly but firmly.
That statement shocked the children present. Even Yugao Uzuki, who had always looked after Ranmo, hadn't known.
"Ranmo, is that true? You can really see at night?" Yugao asked, blinking in surprise.
It wasn't so strange—Ranmo rarely interacted with them at night. He usually played during the day and returned home before evening. Few had ever seen him after dark.
"Yes, Yugao-nee," Ranmo said sweetly, a smile curving his lips. "I can see at night. I can see you clearly right now… and you're beautiful."
He looked up at her innocently, his words carrying a kind of childish sincerity.
Yugao blushed, a pink tint spreading across her ears. She had long purple hair, fair skin, and soft features. Her large, sleepy eyes stared intently at him. Then she waved a hand in front of his face, testing his vision.
"You're such a little charmer, Ranmo," she giggled, flustered.
And then—without warning—she leaned down and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek.
That single kiss nearly set the entire shelter ablaze—figuratively, at least.
All the boys around them instantly erupted.
To them, Yugao Uzuki was like a goddess: beautiful, gentle, strong. Many admired her in silence, moved by her spirit and kindness.
And now—she had just kissed the blind kid?!
"Hey! Hyuga Ranmo, what the hell was that?! Who gave you permission to kiss Yugao-nee?!"
The first to explode was Hinata Hikaru.
Right behind him were Saisu Kamano, Hayate Gekkō, and Muta Aburame—all boys their age, and all equally furious.
Among them, Hayate Gekkō was especially livid. Without warning, he lunged forward and unreasonably threw a punch straight at Ranmo's chest.
He might have looked sickly and frail for a ten-year-old, but Hayate was a trained genin from the Ninja Academy. Ranmo, meanwhile, was only five years old—and supposedly a blind, abandoned failure.
What they didn't know was that this "blind child" had secretly been training in taijutsu for years. And now, thanks to the Mirror Manual function of his newly awakened system, he had already internalized combat stances and movements—including Hayate's own fighting form.
There was no way he was going to just stand there and take a hit.
As Hayate's fist came flying at him, Ranmo calmly shifted his weight, dodging with a subtle sidestep. Then—bam—he swept his leg up in a clean arc, kicking Hayate squarely in the underarm.
"AGH—!"
Hayate stumbled backward, clutching his arm in pain. It felt like it had nearly dislocated. His eyes brimmed with tears as the shock of the blow set in.
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