The words had barely left the boy's lips when one of the children in the group picked up a small stone from the ground and hurled it at Naruto.
"Monster! Monster!"
The other children immediately followed suit, pointing, shouting, and grabbing whatever was at hand to throw at Naruto.
In an instant, the scene descended into chaos.
"Monsters aren't allowed to play with us!"
"He's a monster! You can't be friends with a monster!"
"My daddy said to stay away from monsters! Monsters bring bad luck!"
"..."
The words struck like sharp blades, piercing deep into Naruto's young heart.
The hand Yuka held kept trembling. He tried to pull it back several times without success, as Yuka held on with a firm grip.
Children were like that: once someone took the lead, the others easily followed along. They never cared what kind of injury their missiles might inflict; since they were within reach, they simply flung whatever they had. The grass rings thrown by the girls didn't hurt, but if one of those stones accidentally hit someone in the head, it would draw blood.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Yuka's expression changed instantly. Her gentle, friendly smile vanished; her face tightened, her lips pressed into a thin line, and she glared as she opened her arms to block the path in front of Naruto. "How can you hit people?"
"Yuka!" Naruto's anxious voice came from behind her. He tried to pull Yuka behind him, but she stood her ground, completely immovable. Trapped securely behind her protective stance, he could only urge her with frantic concern, "Let's get out of here." He didn't want his new friend to find out he was a monster... There really was a monster living inside him, and he had no way to refute what those kids were saying.
Thud!
The first small stone struck Yuka's arm before bouncing off onto the grass, leaving a bruised, purple mark on her fair, delicate skin. The sharp edge of the pebble gouged her forearm, where red scratches quickly bloomed and blood began to seep through.
"Yuka!"
Seeing Yuka injured, Naruto panicked. A surge of powerful energy erupted within him, driving him to shove his way to the front and shield Yuka behind him. All the remaining stones and grass rings were blocked by Naruto as he thrust himself forward, clattering relentlessly against his frail back.
Even the smallest stone hurts when it strikes flesh.
And if the physical blows didn't hurt, the words certainly did.
"Hiss." Pampered and sheltered all her life, when had Yuka ever experienced such pain? She knitted her brows, her lips quivering, her nose stinging as tears threatened to spill.
Yet she was a tough little girl, long past the age of crying easily. Fighting back her tears, she gritted her teeth, squatted down to pick up the stone from the grass, and hurled it back at the boy who had started it all.
"I'll teach you to hit people for no reason! What a rude jerk! Didn't your older brother teach you that you can't just hit people? Well, if he didn't, I will!"
Smack!
The small stone struck the boy squarely on the forehead. Before he could even utter a sound, a stream of blood gushed down his brow, and he tipped backward onto the ground.
"Aaaaaah!"
When had the surrounding children ever witnessed such a spectacle? They were always the ones unilaterally bullying Naruto—when had Naruto ever fought back? The previously adorable Yuka now looked like a fierce demon in their eyes, standing with her hands on her hips with an unbeatable, overwhelming presence.
"The monster's friend is a monster too! Aaaaaah! Run away!"
Startled out of their wits, they scattered in all directions like startled birds, screaming at the top of their lungs, "Murder! Someone's committing murder!"
Naruto's eyes went wide. He swallowed hard twice, completely forgetting the burning pain in his back, and stared down at the boy on the ground in utter shock. "Yu... Yuka... Is—is he still alive?"
"He won't die." Viciously wiping away the unshed tears at the corner of her eye, Yuka glared malevolently at the unconscious boy on the ground. Still unsatisfied, she lifted the hem of her dress and gave his leg another kick, only then feeling the pent-up anger subside.
"Naruto, is this the kind of life you've been living all along?"
Naruto didn't know how to answer. "..."
Yuka asked again, "Why do they call you a monster?"
Naruto didn't want to lie to her. "Because I am a monster."
Not understanding what she meant, Yuka turned her head to look at Naruto, giving him a thorough up-and-down inspection. There was nothing about his appearance that resembled a monster, but given Naruto's certain answer, Yuka could only fix her gaze on the six whisker-like marks on his cheeks.
"Oh." Yuka's eyes lit up with sudden understanding. "So you're a cat spirit from the storybooks? I read that it takes demons many years to transform into human form. Are you really a thousand years old?"
Naruto's brain short-circuited. "Huh?"
Fortunately, Momoko's voice interrupted their conversation, rescuing Naruto from his frozen state.
"Young Miss!"
Momoko had been standing too far away to hear the children's conversation; she had simply followed Yuka's instructions to keep watch from a distance without intruding on the Young Miss making new friends. Everything had seemed normal at first, but then she saw Yuka suddenly spread her arms wide and assumed she was preparing for a friendly hug... She had been wondering when the Young Miss had taken a liking to hugs, only to realize it wasn't a hug at all—they were fighting!
Terrified out of her wits, Momoko had rushed over at top speed, but she still didn't make it in time before someone got knocked out cold.
Whether the boy was unconscious didn't matter; her biggest fear was that the Young Miss might be hurt.
"Are you alright, Young Miss? Did you get hurt anywhere?"
...
Inside the Uchiha residence.
Uchiha Fugaku's stern voice echoed through the room: "Yuka, why did you hit someone?"
"He started it," Yuka protested stubbornly, standing before the cushion.
Uchiha Mikoto stood beside Uchiha Fugaku, looking back and forth between the angry Fugaku and the stubborn, unyielding Yuka. She felt ready to pull her hair out.
In truth, the matter amounted to nothing more than a childish squabble. However, the child Yuka had hit happened to be the son of one of Fugaku's colleagues. Both men worked in the Military Police Force and saw each other every day. As the captain of the Military Police Force, Fugaku needed to set a proper example. Since his own child had injured someone outside, he had to take responsibility no matter what. At the very least, a public reprimand was unavoidable.
Being his most doting youngest daughter, Fugaku didn't want to scold Yuka too harshly, so he merely ordered her to kneel on the cushion in the ancestral shrine for two hours to reflect, even specially providing her with a soft cushion. But Yuka was dead-set in her stubbornness; she believed she had done nothing wrong and refused to kneel or apologize, insisting instead that the boy lying in the hospital was the one who owed both her and Naruto an apology.
Only then did Fugaku learn that his youngest daughter had somehow gotten involved with the village's heavily monitored Jinchuriki. What should have been a simple matter had suddenly become far more complicated. Initially maintaining a mild and gentle attitude, upon hearing about the Jinchuriki, Fugaku grew concerned on two fronts: on one hand, he worried his youngest daughter might draw the premature attention of Konohagakure's higher-ups; on the other, he was well aware of the dangers posed by a Jinchuriki. Even though his wife was close friends with the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the current Jinchuriki was far too young, immature, and uncontrollable—it was best to stay away.
Consequently, his reprimand to Yuka included an order to stay away from Naruto. This only intensified Yuka's frustration and agitation; lifting her small chin, she stood resolutely before the cushion, refusing to kneel and refusing to admit fault.
Which led to the current headache-inducing situation for Mikoto.
Upon hearing the news, Itachi and Sasuke rushed over, catching sight of Yuka's small back standing before the cushion from afar.
While running to the training grounds to notify Itachi and Sasuke, Momoko had quickly filled them in on the whole story. Itachi remained silent throughout, but Sasuke peppered Momoko with questions.
He asked why Yuka had protected that person, why that person was called a monster, and finally, upon hearing that Yuka had been injured, he stopped asking everything else and sprinted frantically toward the room.
"Little sister!" Sasuke completely forgot to greet his father and mother, his eyes fixed entirely on Yuka. "Are you okay?"
He pulled Yuka around, checking her from top to bottom, until he finally spotted the gauze-wrapped injury on her arm. Yuka's skin was so fair, and the gauze so white, that at first glance they almost seemed to blend together; it was only when Sasuke noticed blood seeping through the layers of bandage that he realized.
"Your wound is still bleeding!" he cried out, his black eyes—so strikingly similar to Yuka's—filled with distress.
"It doesn't hurt," Yuka insisted stubbornly, pulling her arm back and standing up straight. "I didn't do anything wrong, so it doesn't hurt."
Uchiha Fugaku: "..."
Was there any logical connection between being in the right and whether something hurt?
Mikoto couldn't just stand by anymore. The arm of her carefully nurtured youngest daughter was injured to the point of bleeding, and they were still demanding an apology? Wasn't Yuka hurt too? Just as Yuka claimed, the other party should be the one apologizing to her. At the very worst, the other party should apologize first, and then Yuka could apologize—it was by no means fair to make Yuka apologize first.
"Dear," she gently tugged at Fugaku's sleeve and shook her head. "Don't rush into this. At the very least, let's wait until Yuka tells us the whole story from start to finish before we pass judgment."
Fugaku was caught in a dilemma. Yuka was being stubborn and refused to explain anything. Momoko had stood far away and didn't know how the incident actually started, having only caught snippets of the Jinchuriki's intermittent crying, which she had faithfully reported to them on the way back. Moreover, the Jinchuriki had already been sent home. As the captain of Konohagakure's Military Police Force, it wouldn't do for him to go fetch the Jinchuriki; let alone him, anyone bearing the Uchiha clan crest would draw unwanted attention if they approached the Jinchuriki.
The main reason Yuka's interactions with the Jinchuriki hadn't been discovered was her young age—the higher-ups hadn't paid attention to her yet, never imagining that a two-year-old girl could openly befriend a Jinchuriki.
"How could that not hurt?!" Sasuke retorted. "My legs hurt when I'm too tired from training, let alone getting injured! How did you get hit? Who hit you?"
Itachi dropped his gaze and glanced at Yuka without a trace.
How was Yuka supposed to recognize those kids? With a whole group of children flinging things left and right, the only one she clearly remembered was the boy who led the charge in throwing stones at Naruto. She vaguely recalled he had black hair, wore black clothes, and looked quite ugly, though she didn't really retain a strong impression of him.
"I don't remember. He was really ugly anyway."
Sasuke: "......"
Itachi understood instantly. "Black hair and black clothes?"
Puffing out her cheeks, Yuka nodded heavily, looking like an angry little puffer fish. "Mm-hmm."
Sasuke glanced down at his own outfit: a black high-collared long-sleeved shirt and black shorts. Then, he cast a sideways glance at his hair—it was black.
"!!!!!!!!!"
Deeply shocked, Sasuke made a silent resolution in his heart: he absolutely had to change into clothes of a different color! Otherwise, he would turn into one of the ugly people in his little sister's eyes!
Itachi squatted down so that he was at eye level with Yuka. His expression was calm, almost aloof, but his tone was exceptionally gentle as he asked, "Why did you fight?"
Yuka's mouth puckered. Perhaps because she was accustomed to being close to this older brother, Itachi didn't use the stern tone Fugaku did, nor did his words carry any accusatory undertone, making it much easier for her to open up.
"Because they all said Naruto is a monster. But Naruto is obviously a cat spirit! How can a cat spirit be a monster? At most, he's just a little demon. Besides, Naruto looks really nice—he's a pretty little toy. How can a little toy get hurt? My toys can't be hit by others, and they definitely can't be injured!"
The little girl spoke with passionate indignation, causing the adults present to twitch their eyebrows.
What kind of nonsense was this... How did a cat spirit get mixed into this? What on earth has Yuka been reading lately?!
And toys... Who treats people like toys?! What kind of special hobby was this?!
"There are many ways to protect a toy," Itachi asked calmly, unperturbed. "Which one did you use?"
"He hit me first! Once he attacked, I hit him back! I might not go out of my way to bully others, but when someone bullies me and my toy, how can I not fight back?"
From Yuka's brief sentences, Itachi pieced together the whole story. He patted her head and praised her, "You did well, Yuka."
Having been scolded by her father ever since she got home, Yuka never expected her brother to directly praise her actions without a single hint of blame. She raised her gaze to look at Itachi, her nose twitching, her lips pressing together in alternating shades of white and red as she seemingly fought back emotion.
Itachi reached out a finger and gently poked her forehead, offering a faint yet tender smile. "Crybaby."
"Waa, I'm not a crybaby." By the time she said this, Yuka's voice was already thick with tears.
"That's right! Yuka is no crybaby!" Snapping out of the shock of needing to change his wardrobe, Sasuke hurried over to defend Yuka.
Yet no sooner had the words left his mouth than Yuka burst into tears. The tears she had been desperately holding back for so long came pouring down like broken beads, and she threw her arms around Itachi's neck, wiping all her snot and tears directly onto his clothes. "Waaaaah! Waaaaaah!"
When a little girl cried, she threw all her dignity to the wind. It was a full-throated, deeply emotional, howling cry.
And as if that weren't enough, while one arm hugged Itachi's neck, her other hand didn't forget to clutch Sasuke's sleeve—acting the part of a master water-balancer who would show favoritism to no one.
Itachi was already well-acquainted with such grand spectacles. Calmly patting Yuka's back, he tried to soothe her emotions.
Sasuke stood flustered at the side, awkwardly copying his brother's gesture by patting Yuka's head while chanting endlessly, "Don't cry, don't cry." Failing to calm her down, he finally dug a piece of candy from his pocket, intending to shove it into Yuka's mouth.
Before he could even unwrap the wrapper, he felt a chilly gaze cast upon him from his older brother.
Sasuke: "..." So cold!
Silently rewrapping the candy, he tucked it away, then slipped it into Yuka's pocket where Itachi couldn't see.
Close call, close call. Little sister, you'd better just eat this yourself!