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Naruto knew he wasn't liked by others; he never knew why.
Parents would hide their kids when he ran into the playground, kids would call him evil why else would the adults be scared of him.
Just like that a cycle of loneliness enveloped him.
He had always chalked this fear, this cycle to them being jerks, what else could be the reason for this fear?
He was a kid; he didn't do anything bad so why did they ignore his existence?
Yet now, their refusal to acknowledge him suddenly turned into something darker.
Sabatoge.
Naruto felt his head light as reread the Quest again and again and again.
He wanted to ignore it, tell him that no people weren't deliberately after him and that he was just some loser, yet reality didn't change, the system window stood there adding more to the chains of mysteries around him.
I am awesome. Naruto managed to say out yet there was happiness in the boy's face just confusion and sadness.
Knowing that a sabatoge was happening was like a double-edged sword.
Naruto was glad to know that he wasn't the talentless deadlast and that he could be better it was the fault of his teachers but why?
Naruto gazed upon the giant list of teachers one of whom he had to confront.
[ Choose from the following:
1) Touji Mizuki
2) Fujino Ōmori
3) Kishimoto Masashi
4) Osamu Kobayashi
5) Masaaki Kumagai
6) Toshinori Watanabe
7) ...
As Naruto scanned the list, his heart raced. Teachers who had taught him years before, those who had interacted with him just hours ago—all were named as part of the conspiracy against him.
It was frankly easier to name the few who weren't implicated than those who were.
His eyes darted through the names, dreading to find one in particular: Iruka. The very thought made his stomach churn, the possibility that someone like Iruka could be caused his chest to tighten, and his breath came in short, sharp gasps— threatening to overwhelm him.
However, as he reached the end of the list, a wave of relief washed over him; Iruka's name was not there.
His breathing slowed, and his body relaxed slightly, though a residual tightness remained in his chest. Grateful and exhausted, Naruto laid down on the floor, feeling the hardness of the tiles beneath him and the coolness against his palms and fingers. He stared up at the system window, his mind still racing, but comforted by the absence of Iruka's name.
What am I relieved about, really? That Iruka is not on the list, but what about the rest of them? What reason do they have to destroy my future? Is it because of some prank? His thoughts raced; his heart ached.
All these people, some of whom had taught him everything, now seemed like strangers wrapped in blank masks.
The conspiracy felt thick around him, like an impenetrable wall.
He couldn't even come up with an excuse for them.
The sting of betrayal was so sharp, so profound, that he wanted to scream at the world, to release the turmoil that churned inside him.
With his eyes closed, another tear escaped, tracing a wet path down his face.
Is Konoha really my home?
He stared again at the list; his eyes blurry with tears.
Out of all these teachers—no, they didn't deserve to be called teachers. These bastards, who among them would I confront?
Naruto's eyes lingered on one name on the list — Fujino Omori. He wished, desperately, that she could have been like Iruka, uninvolved in this dark conspiracy.
Fujino had been his teacher since he was five, one of his favorites, whose influence permeated his everyday life. It was heartbreaking to see her name among those who might be sabotaging him. She had introduced him to the joys of reading and writing, to the vast world of literature, but now it all seemed tainted.
All those smiles and congrats... How many of those were lies?
What was really in those cookies she gave me?
The thoughts churned painfully in his mind.
The hurt was deep, raw.
Just a few hours ago, his world had seemed solid, trustworthy. Now, it was shattered, filled with questions no one seemed able to answer.
Who can I even trust?
In the midst of his turmoil, a stuttering voice eventually pierced his self-imposed isolation.
"N-N-Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked up to see Hinata standing there, her face etched with concern and a hint of guilt.
"Are you okay?"
Taking a deep breath, Naruto shifted slightly, trying to compose himself.
"Hinata, let's say hypothetically you knew your teachers were sabotaging you, how would you confront them without looking like you know their scheme?"
Hinata scratched her head, the intensity of Naruto's gaze making her nervous, yet she wanted to help. "I-I-I," she gulped, "I would give... a comparison between me and some other students, asking in between the lines about the sabotage."
"That's a great idea," Naruto said. Hinata smiled, relieved but still puzzled. "Why was that a good idea?" she whispered.
"I gotta go."
Without another word, he jumped off the roof, leaving behind a confused and concerned Hinata.
Abashi Tenma, a civilian-born orphan, was tidying up his locker when something struck him with startling speed.
The impact knocked him off his feet and onto the ground, leaving him disoriented and scrambling to understand what had just happened. As he lay there, a mix of confusion and the sharp sting of pain clouded his senses. Looking up to see the cause of his sudden fall, he heard an apologetic voice cut through the fog.
"Sorry."
The word registered slowly as he spotted Naruto darting away in the distance.
"What's with him?"
He turned back to his locker, his thoughts still spinning from the encounter. Noticing his test papers were missing, he surmised they must have fallen during the commotion.
"Must have fallen down when that dead-last hit me. Can't even see straight and says he wants to be Hokage," he grumbled under his breath.
...
As Naruto hurried away from Tenma, his mind was a whirlwind of frustration and disbelief as he glanced at his own test paper, clutched tightly in his hand. His grades were average—neither high enough to draw attention nor low enough to cause concern.
Yet, something was off.
As he scrutinized the marks, he realized that some of his wrong answers were marked correct and some correct answers were marked wrong. Naruto took a deep breath, trying to quell the rising tide of rage within him. He could feel his pulse pounding in his temples, a woozy sensation clouding his thoughts.
His heart raced, and his breaths came in heavy, uneven gasps.
It was the kind of anger that demanded action, that could not be easily soothed or ignored.
After this is over, I don't care what excuses you have, I am going to prank you to the point you'll wish you hadn't even thought of this sabotage.
An hour later, Naruto approached the Kokugo classroom, mentally prepping himself.
You got this, just like we rehashed. Think of this like the preplan for a big prank. Like how you scouted the time schedule of the guards at the Hokage monument.
He slid open the faded green door to reveal his teacher, Fujino, who looked like she was about to head home. For the first time, Naruto noticed a brief flash of genuine fear behind her red-rimmed glasses as she saw him.
An easy smile quickly masked her initial reaction.
"Naruto! What can I do for you? I'm surprised you haven't headed home. It's quite late."
"U-Um." Naruto worked to calm the nervousness brewing from his anger, fearing he might blurt out his accusations prematurely.
"Can I talk to you, Sensei?"
As he spoke, Fujino busied herself around the room, placing her bag on the table and pulling out a chair opposite her desk for him. She reached into her purse and pulled out a piece of chocolate, offering it to him.
"Here."
Naruto paused at the sight of the chocolate. He had always liked these chocolates, mostly because they came from someone he trusted.
Yet, as he bit into it, all he could taste was bitterness.
But it gave him a moment to observe her carefully, using his observer feat to glean as much as he could from her demeanor and reactions.
Thank you, system, and my dumb '?' luck for this feat.
Fujino clasped her hands together and leaned forward, "So, what's bothering you?"
Naruto slid both his and Tenma's papers across the desk towards Fujino. "I—I don't want to upset you, but you marked my paper wrong!"
"Wrong?" Fujino looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"I checked my paper against Tenma's! It was 45%... which means," Naruto paused, his heart pounding in his chest, "I didn't pass."
"No…" Fujino spoke softly, her voice low and gentle. "No, Naruto. You didn't fail, you did good—"
"I know why you did it though!" Naruto interjected with a forced giggle that made his cheeks hurt, though his eyes continued to watch her intently. He had realized that the confrontation was meant to give enough time for the observer feat to work its magic, allowing him to complete the quest and get his answers.
She swallowed hard. "N-Naruto, I—"
"It's because you like me, isn't it?" Naruto's accusation was hesitant, laced with a betrayal he felt deeply since he had truly thought he could trust her.
"W-What?"
"Don't you like me? Actually, I think I'm your favorite student too. You wouldn't bring my grade up without me being your favorite," he continued, trying to keep the glare out of his eyes.
Her face fell, her eyes wide with shock.
"It's okay, sensei. I understand. Sometimes, we do wrong things because we don't want to hurt the people we care about," Naruto said, checking his system to see if the description had changed.
"N-Naruto…" Fujino's face was still pale, shock evident in every expression.
"But it's not fair to give me better marks because you like me," Naruto continued. "You've got to treat me the same as everyone else, otherwise, you could get in trouble. I don't want you to lose your job."
Naruto stood up abruptly, his desire to leave overwhelming him. He could feel anger boiling inside, pushing him towards actions he knew he would regret. With a shake of his head, he hurried out of the room, driven by a need to understand why he had been sabotaged.
"Come on, observer feat, don't fail me now," Naruto silently urged, his focus intensifying on the system that was now his lifeline. It was the only thing preventing him from lashing out, the only control he had over the storm of emotions swirling inside him.
He needed answers, any answers, about why this was happening to him.
[ Name: Fujino Omori ]
[ Status: Depressed, PTSD ]
[ Title: Academy Teacher ]
[ Level: 9 ]
[ Class: Civilian Shinobi ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ HP: 1770 / 1770 ]
[ AC: 23 ]
[ CP: 1180 / 1180 ]
[ Lineage Traits: None ]
[ Class Features: ]
- [ Natural Affinity: Katon (Fire Style) ]
[ Feats: None ]
[ Stats: ]
- [ STR: 20 ]
- [ DEX: 26 ]
- [ CON: 21 ]
- [ INT: 25 ]
- [ WIS: 21 ]
- [ CHA: 13 ]
[ Allies: Konoha ]
[ Equipment: ]
- [ Weapons: REDACTED ]
- [ Armor: REDACTED ]
- [ Gear: REDACTED ]
- [ Magic Items: REDACTED ]
[ Description: Fujino Omori survived the devastating Nine-Tails attack on October 10, which left her a widow. Unable to cope with the stress of active duty as a shinobi, she became a teacher. However, her fears resurfaced when she found herself teaching Naruto Uzumaki, REDACTED, triggering her grief-stricken mind with fears of the Kuyubi attack. ]
Naruto was utterly bewildered.
The idea that his teacher might blame him for her husband's death just because he was born on October 10th seemed absurd.
'What the hell is wrong with that woman?' he thought, his initial anger shifting to pity.
Initially, Naruto had considered playing a prank on her as a way of getting back, but now that just seemed cruel. With a heavy heart, he decided it was best to leave her alone.
Sitting down in the hallway, he turned his attention to the system, and there, to his surprise, was a reward he never expected to see in reality.
[ Item: Underground Rat Tunnels Dungeon Key ]
[ Type: Dungeon Access Key ]
[ Description: A rustic, aged key crafted from iron, bound with faint rune engravings that hum softly in the presence of underground passages. It unlocks the treacherous and winding paths of the Underground Rat Tunnel. ]
[ Special Requirement: This key must be used in any basement area to activate its power and gain access to the dungeon. ]
Fujino was utterly terrified the moment the boy walked out; her mind went blank. He knew.
Rationality seemed to throw itself out of the window.
Fujino stared at the test papers, feeling the walls close in around her while Naruto's words echoed hauntingly, "You could get in trouble... I don't want you to lose your..."
She perceived his words as a threat—a clear threat against her life. The boy knew everything, she thought. He was just pretending, savouring the moment until...
As panic engulfed her, her imagination ran wild. She envisioned a world consumed by fire.
Every inch of the sky and earth blazed with burning orange tendrils that lashed out at her. Blackened, towering buildings around her smoldered into ruins, and the pungent scent of charred flesh violated her senses.
She retched and fell to her knees, her palms searing as they met the scorched earth. When she rose, a path cleared through the sea of flames. She walked it, each step spawning a wave of nausea, but she was driven by a desperate need to escape the oppressive heat.
She passed buildings, some leveled to the ground, others barely standing. These were familiar buildings, places she knew well. She swallowed thickly and pushed forward. Her ribs felt like they were curling inwards, her stomach clenched tight. The air turned abruptly cold, but when she looked back, the fires stretched as far as the horizon, ominously silent.
A sudden cry broke the silence. In the clearing ahead, through the shattered remnants of the village, she gazed upon the nightmare of Konoha—the Kyūbi no Yōko.
Her lips parted in horror, and a strange, strangling gasp escaped her.
Her heart pounded against her chest, her palms slick with sweat. Panic clawed at her, tightening its grip with each frantic step. Outside of her room she finally stopped, her eyes locked with Naruto's, who had just risen from the floor.
His eyes, observing the world with a depth that felt almost invasive, seemed to see right through her like she was an open book. He knew everything, she thought, yet he turned away with absolute apathy.
"You took everything from me!" Fujino screamed.
Naruto didn't even pause to look at her as he walked away, his response floating back to her with a sarcastic ease. "Sure; I did."
The hallway spun around her, and she felt utterly alone, the echo of Naruto's indifferent words replaying in her mind.
I need to run, I need to hide, I need... Maybe the old hawk will protect me from the fox... no, no, no, nothing can protect me from that demon.
The world around her seemed to blur into streaks of color as she ran hysterically towards her house. Every shadow in every corner appeared as a lurking threat, every sound a potential warning. Her mind raced with panic, her thoughts tangled and irrational, driven by the fear that the Kyubi's influence might reach further than she could ever escape.
Her feet pounded against the pavement, her breathing ragged as she darted through the familiar streets of Konoha. The village felt like a maze designed to trap her. As she neared her home, her pace did not slow; it only became more frantic, as if she could outrun the looming dread that clung to her.
Unbeknownst to Fujino, this day was a catalyst that would set forth a chain of events that will burn the Roots Of Konoha.