36 Schizophrenia

"Brother, do you want to eat that ice cream?" I curiously asked as a shop approached us. After playing to our heart's content, we were heading back home, and the people around us treated us with respect, even though we were children. Smiling amiably sometimes paves the way.

This way, Haku and Kimimaro will pass through their eyes, making them members of my clan.

"Really, in this cold, you want to eat ice cream?" Tilting his head, he gazed at me. I was still on his back, and seeing my smile, he sighed.

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"Fine, let's go." He walked towards the shop.

Looking at Haku and Kimimaro, I asked, "What flavor do you want?"

"Anything is fine," Haku told me, and the other one nodded, indicating he had no problem.

After buying the ice creams, we walked while chatting about random things.

"Did you see the look on their faces, hehe, they were so scared," I giddily laughed, remembering the four kids.

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"Tch, you stopped me; otherwise, I would have taught them a good lesson they would never forget," Neji spoke, dreaming about how he would give them a good beating.

"Are you still stuck on them? But worry not brother, you will get the chance in the future," I chuckled at how cutely Neji was behaving in my eyes.

"Hmph," he huffed and walked with his head held high.

We quickly arrived in the clan compounds; members of the clan were scattered all around doing their things. "I am going home," Neji put me down from his back.

After pulling his legs for some more time, I let him go.

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"Follow me," I gestured to them and walked towards the training ground; it was time to officially begin their training.

Arriving at the training ground, "You are the first one; let me see how your kekkei genkai works," I spoke, and Kimimaro walked in front of me.

I could see the excitement in his eyes.

With a chuckle, I activated my Byakugan, raising my two fingers and coating them with dense chakra. I poked at his left forearm; my dense chakra passed through his skin, then flesh, and finally hit his strong bone.

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*Crack*

The bone shattered at the point of collision. I looked at that point with full focus. "ARRGGHH…" a painful scream escaped from Kimimaro.

He looked at me with moist eyes and a pained expression, realizing that I had just broken his bone.

"Do you really think that the training will be child's play? From now on, you will face death every day, and next time, don't scream," my stern voice left no room for complaints.

"I might be cruel, but it's for your own good. Now, try to heal that bone," I said, focusing on the process of his bones being mended.

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In the future, he will get a deadly disease that would cause him to die, and I, of course, didn't want him to die.

Soon after receiving my instructions, he started to repair that bone. With a curious look, I observed how his chakra started to deplete, and the injury began to heal.

'I will do proper research on you after the current issues are sorted out.'

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"That's good," the shattered bone was completely fine in just a few seconds.

"Now, try to attack me and protect your bones as much as you can," I maliciously chuckled at him. From his expression, I could see he knew things wouldn't go happily for him.

With full speed, he attacked me, aiming for my head. Sidestepping slightly, I grabbed the back of his hand and twisted my body, slamming him into the ground from above my head.

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I waited for him to stand up; a sharp bone appeared in his hand. He slashed it diagonally, and with precise timing, I deflected the bone. With a smirk, I poked my two fingers at his chest.

*Crack*

With my extremely controlled and powerful chakra scalpel, I sliced his rib bones without inflicting any internal injuries.

"Now heal," I whispered, appearing behind his back. I knew he must be feeling unimaginable pain, but it's better to feel pain now rather than to die on the battlefield with regrets.

My hands moved like a blur; every poke resulted in a cracking sound. In just a matter of a few seconds, half of his bones were cracked in various places.

"HEAL."

His chakra started to deplete at a visible pace, and the pain was immeasurable. With time, he would gain a pain tolerance to the point that nobody could match him.

"HEAL." I again destroyed the bone plate that was holding his arm.

"HEAL."

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"HEAL."

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"HEAL."

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"HEAL."

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"HEAL."

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Every time I broke his bone, I encouraged him and taught him basic taijutsu moves based on raw strength, brute force, and some common stances of the Hyuga fighting style.

*Thud*

His unconscious body hit the ground.

"Your training ends here. I hope you do well tomorrow." I nodded in satisfaction and fixed my gaze on Haku-chan.

"It's your turn, Haku-chan."

With a serious and determined expression, he nodded.

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*Tap* *tap*.

Tapping my finger on the table, I looked at the moon from the library window. It was 3 am in the morning, and I had finished all the Byakugan training for today.

"It's time to pay a visit to my little fox." I walked towards the library exit; everyone in the clan was sleeping, with some guards diligently patrolling.

"Lady Hinata, are you really going to meet him at this late hour? He must be sleeping," Ren followed behind me.

"His sleep will be gone after seeing me," I cheekily said and disappeared from there.

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Appearing on the terrace roof, I observed to see if any ANBU were guarding Naruto's apartment. To my disappointment, there was no one.

"You wait here," I said, disappearing from there.

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Sitting on the window with one hand resting on my thigh and the other supporting my cheek, I continuously watched my little fox sleeping peacefully with drool dripping out from his mouth in the illuminations of the bright moon.

After watching him for the next 20 minutes with great pleasure, and when I felt it was enough, I spoke sweetly, "Shall we have a little chat, Naruto-kun?"

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His body jerked, eyes snapped open. The first thing that came to his view was a blurry figure whose face was shadowed by the moon behind it; its two visible white eyes glared at him with a certain glint that he didn't recognize.

Soon, his blurry vision gained clarity, and the confusion on his face turned into a radiating and bright smile—a smile even brighter than the sun itself. Quickly wiping his mouth, he got out of bed. His sleep was gone as if it never existed in the first place, and he spoke, "Hinata-chan."

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"Did you miss me, little fox?" I jumped out of the window, appearing in front of him, and directly glared into his eyes.

Unfazed by anything, he looked back at me, his bright blue eyes overflowing with happiness. He nodded in quick succession, "Of course, I missed you. But look, I did what you asked."

He quickly grabbed a coin from his pocket and raised it in front of my eyes, neatly cutting it into pieces with his mastery over wind manipulation, of which he himself was unaware of how powerful he had become.

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His eyes clearly asked to be praised, and how could I not give him what he asked for? Patting his shoulder, I spoke in an impressed tone, which I truly was, "You did well, Naruto-kun."

He smiled widely after knowing that I was truly impressed by him. "Tell me, Naruto, how were your days when I was not around?" I asked, sitting on the bed, resting my back against the wall.

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"They were fun. I remembered everything you taught me about fighting and practiced in the room, imagining fighting with you as you asked me to do. And, and I tried to cut the coin every day," he went on, and I listened to him without interrupting, sometimes asking about things that piqued my interest.

From his chattering, I knew he had completely forgotten about the villagers' whispers, and when they said something, he just remembered me, and all of them faded away in the background.

For the next half an hour, he continued. He was not the skinny kid anymore; the food I gave him properly nourished him.

"And sometimes, I just talk to you, imagining you beside me, and you also reply to me," he happily said.

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My back subconsciously straightened up as I glared at him. 'Did he develop schizophrenia?' I couldn't help but think about it seriously.

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It's a disease where the person has symptoms including hearing, seeing, smelling, or tasting things that are not real—'hallucinations', and false ideas—'delusions'.

'Did I have that much of an impact on him?'

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"Why are you looking at me like this? Is there something wrong, Hinata-chan?" he innocently asked.

"Nothing is wrong. Continue doing what I have told you," I replied with a smile.

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He nodded to me.

"What about the Hokage?" I asked.

"He visited me once after giving me the apartment," he said in a displeased tone, but that was pleasing to me.

"Don't you think there is something fishy about it—kicking you out from the orphanage at a young age, but there are still children older than you? Then giving you an apartment which the Hokage didn't give to any other orphans," I whispered.

He looked at me confused, "I don't know about it. Do you know about it, Hinata-chan?"

I just looked at him as if I were thinking something. The more I didn't speak, the more his anxiety rose.

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"Say something," he nervously asked.

'It's time you know the truth, Naruto-kun.'

"Well, actually, I have found out why everyone hates you in the village," I said seriously.

"And this is the reason why I am here at this late."

"What is it? Tell me," he asked anxiously. He had asked the Hokage many times, but every time he had lied to him. This time, the truth was about to be revealed.

"After asking my father and searching for information here and there, I finally found the reason,"

"Tell me, Naruto, when is your birthday?" I asked.

"10th August," he replied, the caretaker of the orphanage had told him.

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"And the festival held on the same day as your birthday. People say that the Fourth Hokage killed the Nine-Tailed Fox, but from the books in my clan, I know the Tailed Beasts cannot be killed," I stopped midway.

I looked at him; he started to piece things together. The previous smile on his face crumbled like a petal falling from a flower.

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"The people are right. I am the demon fox," he looked at me in fright, thinking that now I might leave him alone after knowing the truth, just like everyone else.

"Now, you will also leave me like everyone else, right?" he asked, his eyes becoming watery. He didn't want to lose his one and only friend.

"You are not a monster, Naruto-kun. You are a pure and kind soul," I added, 'which I want to corrupt more and more.'

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"You silly, I will never leave you. If I wanted to leave you, I wouldn't have come here in the first place," I reassured him, holding his hands with a warm smile.

"Really?" he asked.

"I promise," I said and raised my little finger. He did the same and intertwined his finger with mine.

"It's a pinky promise," I promised him that I would never leave him.

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"Now, let me complete my words. The fox couldn't die, so the Fourth Hokage sealed it inside you," I revealed the truth to him.

"B-but why did he do this to me?" His eyes were still watery, and he asked in a shaky voice.

"I did know that. Now you understand, Naruto-kun, why the Hokage visits you? He wants you to be a tool for the village. He wants to control you and use you to protect the village. That's why he wants to gain your trust so that you can do as he says on your own. He knew from the beginning," I softly whispered in his ears.

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His eyes didn't contain tears any longer. He tightly grabbed my hand. Now the truth was uncovered; he finally knew why he was hated by everyone.

"He knew from the beginning and didn't tell me. He just wants to use me," he muttered, his eyes dimmed.

'You look so broken when you cry,'

'But now it's time to fix you.'

With my other hand, I wiped his tears and tenderly spoke, "Don't cry, Naruto. You are a man, and Men are brave."

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He looked at me and was about to say something, but I placed my finger on his lips, stopping him from speaking. "Listen to me, Naruto."

He nodded to me.

"Now, give me your hand," I asked.

He raised his hand; a chakra scalpel appeared on my fingers. I sliced it, making a shallow wound on his forearm.

"Why did you do that?" he asked when he felt the pain.

I didn't say anything to him. The next moment, the wound started to heal itself, and in just a few seconds, it was completely gone. Naruto was completely shocked; he hadn't noticed it until now.

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"See, Naruto, you can heal faster than anyone in this world. Having the fox inside you doesn't mean a bad thing. On the contrary, it's very beneficial to you. It has many abilities that are unknown, and all of them are for you to use, Naruto," I told him how lucky he is to have the fox.

"And the fox is the strongest amongst the tailed beasts. Now you understand; you could become the most powerful person in the world," I said.

"Really?" he asked, all of his worries gone as I sweetly enlightened him.

"Of course, Naruto. I never lie to you, but remember, don't ever rely too much on external power sources. Even without the fox, you can become the strongest."

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"Okay…" he happily replied. All of his worries were gone due to me, and now he knew the truth. Hiruzen was out of the window, as for telling him that the Fourth Hokage was his father, I had special plans for that event.

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"Hinata-chan, now that I can cut the coin, what should I do next? Can you teach me the flame jutsu you showed me?" he excitedly asked.

I looked at him. I was not the teacher who knew thousands of jutsu and didn't teach his students anything.

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"So, you want to learn the flame jutsu, Naruto-kun?" I asked.

"Yes, can you teach me?"

"Of course, I can," from what I remembered, he didn't know any ninjutsu other than Rasengan, and just with that one, he was nearly unbeatable. What if I teach him large-scale ninjutsu? I knew with his chakra and the fox's combined, it would be utterly destructive. And he is very good at ninjutsu if he is taught.

'Now which one do I teach him, hmm… that might be the best,' I inwardly chuckled.

"First, try to feel it," I said, placing my hand beneath his palm. My chakra passed through his palm, and a flame ignited.

He closed his eyes, and I continued for 10 minutes, allowing him to completely immerse himself in that feeling. Soon, the flame got shorter and became like a sphere.

"I know it might take a year to learn, but try to compress the flame and add more and more chakra to it, okay? Try to melt that coin in this little sphere," I gave him the instructions.

"And remember this hand sign; it's called 'majestic destroyer flame.' The more chakra you pour, the more powerful it becomes." I demonstrated the single-hand sign, though it was hard to perform.

He nodded to me. I taught him some more basics about ninjutsu and fire style. He listened with full concentration, absorbing my teachings like a sponge.

'Naruto is a good boy.'

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One more pass, the sun was about to rise. Standing at the window, I gazed at Naruto. "See you soon, Naruto. Train hard."

"I will do my best, Hinata-chan," he responded with a smile.

"Bye-bye, Naruto-kun." Saying that, I disappeared from there.

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End of the chapter. how do you like it? tell me in the comments. 

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