There's always been a rule in this world: the strong prey on the weak. No matter where you go, this unwritten law always exists.
There are two forms of the strong.
One is to be strong on one's own, the other is to combine forces and form a faction.
With strength, one can roam freely anywhere.
Yukino understood this logic very well. Though she couldn't recall where she learned it.
When she heard the word 'monster', Yukino's feet stopped. She looked down at the blond-haired child who had just been pushed over.
He had hair the color of sunshine, bright and warm. On each side of his face were three lines like a kitten's whiskers.
Yukino noticed that there were several children of the same age surrounding him. They were chasing and mocking the child who was no different from them.
"Go away, monster!"
"That's right, you're a monster."
"Monsters destroyed the village, we'll kill you!"
"..."
Yukino looked down at the ground, searching for something.
Kakashi, standing nearby, sensed something was wrong and was about to go down to stop the children below when he saw Yukino's unusual actions.
He walked over to observe and incidentally prevent the little girl from charging into a fight.
Thud!*
The entire space fell silent.
A stone fell and rolled on the green grass.
Yukino threw each stone with incredible precision. Her actions were so fast that even Kakashi couldn't react in time.
One hit was a coincidence, but why did five or six consecutive stones all hit the children below?
Kakashi secretly observed. The distance from here to the embankment below was not close at all.
For a small child like Yukino, this level of accuracy was rare.
Yukino's throws made the children below cry out in pain. One of them was hit in the face with a stone, leaving a scratch and a bit of blood.
Even though she tried, the strength of someone who fainted every other day couldn't be that great. Throwing that far had already consumed a lot of her energy. But seeing them yell made Yukino feel happy. And satisfied.
"Who's throwing stones?"
Yukino didn't answer, she just wandered around looking for more stones. She saw a broken branch by the road and picked it up.
Kakashi watched the little girl pick up the sharp "weapon" and go down.
It could be said that Yukino was very imposing, like a warrior wielding a sword into battle. Her snow-white hair, cut to her shoulders, fluttered in the wind and her back was straight, carrying the air of a swordsman.
It's just that people shouldn't look at the part where Yukino sat down and slid down the embankment on her bottom. That image didn't look very pretty.
"Are you the one throwing stones?"
A child asked Yukino.
She pursed her lips, held the branch in her hand, and raised it.
"I'm holding a branch, not a stone, what are you talking about?"
Her face was still very serious, as if everything she had just said was true.
Kakashi, standing above, nearly tripped after hearing her words. He saw Yukino standing below, facing five children taller than her, without any fear.
Tuyệt vời! Đây là bản dịch tiếng Anh của đoạn văn bạn cung cấp, tôi đã cố gắng giữ nguyên ngữ cảnh và phong cách của bản gốc:
The girl was snapping off a piece of a branch, seeking the perfect level of sharpness she desired. Yet, her expression remained as calm as ever.
Kakashi mused that this girl was anything but ordinary.
She was treating these kids before her as enemies.
And she was eager for a real fight. Could it be that during her confinement in the secret chamber, she had been forced to fight like this all the time? Her youthful face showed no trepidation as she confronted those before her.
She even tapped the broken branch to test its sharpness.
No good!
Kakashi thought to himself.
The kids below swarmed around Yukino. The boy whose head had been injured and was bleeding pointed at her angrily, shouting, "You're the only one who came down here and you're still denying it? If it wasn't you, then who?"
Yukino simply pointed upwards, causing the children to look up as well. She said nonchalantly, "It was the sky. It saw how much you hated him, so it threw it."
Kakashi, who was running down, was momentarily stunned after hearing her words. If he hadn't personally witnessed Yukino throwing the stones, he probably wouldn't have believed that the innocent-looking face under the sun was so blatantly twisting the truth.
It had to be admitted that Yukino was very good at controlling her expressions. Proof of this was that even though she was lying, her face didn't flush at all. Even her breathing was steady as usual.
Yukino held the branch, her expression and gaze colder than before. She smiled, but there was no joy in her eyes.
It was as cold as ice and as deep as an abyss.
She pointed at the blond boy who was lying there dazed and asked the others in front of her, "Why do you call him a monster?"
Her voice was soft but carried a hint of the coldness of the wind. At the same time, a gust of wind blew, carrying a few withered yellow leaves past her feet.
One of the children also sensed that something was off about the girl in front of her, but he couldn't show any weakness or fear in front of his friends, so he raised his head and said, "He is a monster, everyone in the village knows that. Are you defending the monster?"
Yukino didn't reply. She pointed at each of them and continued, "So, has he attacked anyone? Have you seen it with your own eyes?"
Kakashi stood not far from her, and for fear that Yukino might hurt the children, he had also come down to the embankment. When he heard Yukino ask that, Kakashi couldn't help but admire her.
This child was more sensible than some adults.
She clearly distinguished between rumors and concrete evidence.
Therefore, he didn't interfere; he simply stood and observed, thinking that if nêcsary he ươuld speak up to threaten thóe kids. Kakashi didn't want to intervene right away because he wanted to see where this little monster discussion would lead. The kids must have been fed a lot of information by their parents, as they were able to answer Yukino fluently.
"Our parents said he destroyed the village. That's right, he killed many people. Even the talented ninjas were killed by him."
"If you defend him, you'll be a monster too..."
"You'll also kill people, kill everyone..."
Yukino listened, then walked forward. She started running slowly, then accelerated. Sensing something was wrong, Kakashi rushed up but saw the blond-haired child behind her running to stop Yukino.
The boy cried out anxiously, "Stop it!"
Ignoring him, Yukino continued to run. She forcefully broke off the sharp end of the branch and swung it down hard on the blue-eyed blond boy.
The boy let out a blood-curdling scream and fell to the grass below. It was clear that Yukino had hit him hard.
Without stopping, she moved even faster, the branch in her hand flailing like a dancing sword.
Using her small, nimble body, Yukino attacked with incredible precision and without mercy. She struck the children several times, then nimbly dodged their attempts to catch her.
After a few hits, they all lay face down on the grass, just like the blond boy had earlier.
Yukino stopped. Sweat dripped down her forehead. Kakashi thought this must be her limit. A small child had been fighting and dodging while she had been fainting repeatedly. And just a few minutes ago, she had been so hungry that she wanted to go out to eat.
Kakashi could only say that this child was truly astonishing.
Yukino tossed the branch away.
She walked over and lifted the blond boy's shirt, her brown eyes shining like honey.
The boy saw her and covered his face with his hands in fear.
"Don't hit me, don't hit me, I won't do it again..."
Yukino tightened her grip slightly and gave him a familiar smile, the one she usually used to face others. Only, there was a clear threat in her tone.
"Next time you see a fight, don't jump in like that. Or I'll hit you first!"
The boy nodded frantically, tears streaming down his face. He promised sincerely, "I promise, I promise. I won't jump in when you're fighting anymore."
Kakashi thought to himself, something seemed wrong here. Wasn't she usually so gentle? Was she going to continue fighting like this?
Couldn't she have handled this more peacefully?
Yukino, hearing the boy's promise, felt satisfied. She released the boy's collar and quickly smoothed out the part of the fabric that she had crumpled.
She looked at him and asked with concern, "What's your name?"
The boy looked at her intently, then seemed startled by the question. Kakashi could see the hesitation and uncertainty in his beautiful blue eyes.
The boy stammered, "I, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
Yukino listened without showing any surprise or disgust, unlike the reactions Naruto usually got from people. She pulled his shirt a little and looked at the other children who were getting up and leaving not far away. She said, "Naruto, right? If you get bullied again, just punch them in the face."
Kakashi was surprised to see Yukino befriend this child. He was about to go over and take Yukino to continue eating when he heard her instructing her new friend.
He thought, "Aren't you usually very obedient, Yukino? Since when did you think that if someone bullies you, you can just punch them in the face?" That's essentially no different from those kids just now. Aren't you naturally kind and want to protect others? Why do you want to use violence to solve problems, Yukino?"
Sure enough, Naruto didn't agree with Yukino's way of thinking. He shook his head cautiously and said, "Fighting is bad. Hitting people will hurt them..."
Yukino didn't respond. She looked silently at the children who had left and thought about a few things.
Kakashi stepped forward to interrupt this nonsensical conversation but suddenly heard Yukino say. It was a statement that would have made him stumble if he hadn't been standing firmly.
"Then scare them. Keep scaring them over and over again until they stay away from you. Describe it as scary as possible. Go to their houses at night, howl, and then release bugs. Remember those big bugs? And say that if anyone does something bad again, a female ghost will come and eat them, and they'll be good right away."
I'm shocked that you could come up with this countermeasure in a flash, Yukino.
Kakashi signed. If she became his enemy in the future, he wondered what methods she would use to deal with him. She's so young and already knows how to scare people. When she grows up, she'll probably put laxatives in her enemies' food. Suddenly, Kakashi felt a chill down his spine as he remembered that he had to take care of her from now on. He was afraid he would become an unintended victim of this mischievous, weird kid.
Yukino didn't notice the person standing behind her. She was simply meticulously teaching the child, who was called a monster, how to deal with bullies.
Naruto listened and asked in confusion, "But how can there really be a female ghost?"
Yukino stroked her chin and accidentally touched her white hair. She smiled, took a step back, and pointed at herself. With utmost confidence, she said, "There's no one more suitable to pretend to be a female ghost than me."
Naruto thought of her attack earlier and silently disagreed. You're more suited to be a monster than a female ghost, Yukino!