Konoha Orphan
As the evening descended, the sky over Konohagakure was painted with strange, swirling clouds, casting an air of mystery over the setting sun. Some clouds took the shape of a frog prince, its golden crown gleaming in the fading light, while others resembled rabbits, sprinting across the heavens—only to be "steamed" by the amber glow, turning golden as the sun dipped behind the horizon.
Beneath this celestial canvas lay a village, small in size but thriving with life. The streets of Konoha bustled with energy—merchants shouted their prices, children laughed as they ran between wooden stalls, and passersby engaged in casual chatter. The scent of grilled dango and fresh ramen wafted through the air, mixing with the crisp scent of the evening breeze. It was a village full of beauty, peace, and vitality.
Then, the atmosphere shifted.
From around a corner, a lone child emerged, stepping onto the busy street. In an instant, the lively chatter quieted, and the warm, welcoming air grew cold.
"Hey, look!" someone whispered.
"It's him again. Every time I see him, I get a bad feeling."
"Unlucky? Isn't that the demon fox?"
A few villagers who weren't familiar with the boy turned to their neighbors for an explanation, instinctively taking a step back.
The man beside them sneered, his eyes locked onto the child with barely concealed disgust.
"Not the demon fox itself, but close enough," he muttered. "Do you remember that elite shinobi couple who defected a few years ago?"
"Huh? You mean—wait, then this kid is...?"
"Yeah. He's their orphan."
A hushed murmur rippled through the crowd.
"So it's him… No wonder misfortune follows wherever he goes. Even his clothes are mourning garments. I'd rather keep my distance."
The boy, Ye Dou, heard everything. He had long since grown used to the whispers, the sideways glances, and the scorn. He turned his gaze toward the man who had first asked the question, watching as he recoiled upon receiving his answer—just like everyone else. As if Ye Dou carried some kind of curse.
Without a word, he turned his head back and continued walking, his face expressionless.
"Kill them, Ye Dou. Kill them all. These pathetic villagers are too noisy," a voice hissed from nearby.
Perched on a fence not far away, a white mongoose bared its fangs at the villagers, its red eyes gleaming with malice.
No one else could see it.
Unlike the villagers, who gossiped about a supposed "demon fox," Ye Dou actually had something supernatural haunting him—an entity that defied all logic. It floated weightlessly, speaking in an eerie, human-like voice. It was as if the creature wasn't bound to the physical world at all.
Ye Dou ignored it and kept walking.
Even if he wanted to silence the villagers, attacking them would only bring the wrath of the Uchiha clan upon him. Konoha's police force, with their ever-watchful Sharingan, would subdue him in an instant.
And even if he could get away with it—if he had the power to do so—what would be the point?
He had lived with this scorn for as long as he could remember. Hatred, fear, disgust—these things no longer affected him. They were as much a part of his daily life as breathing.
This was a world ruled by ninjas, and Konoha was the strongest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Ye Dou had been born in Konoha's 48th year—the year the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village for the second time. Unlike the first attack, when Madara Uchiha had used his Sharingan to control the beast against Hashirama Senju, this time, the fox had been unleashed on Konoha through unknown means.
It was the same year his parents, whom he had never met, had been executed as traitors.
He didn't know why they had defected, nor did he care.
Rumors said they had been assigned a suicide mission—one with almost no chance of survival. Fearing they wouldn't return, they had abandoned the village, leaving behind their newborn son.
But in the end, their defection had failed, and they had paid the price.
In the world of shinobi, the word defector carried no honor. It was a mark of shame. And the fact that they had chosen to abandon Konoha on the same night the Nine-Tails attacked? That only made their crime worse.
Because of this, Ye Dou had been spared—but just barely.
He had survived, but his life was no better than death. If he had been a normal child, the weight of this treatment would have crushed him, driving him to despair like Neji Hyūga, Haku, Kimimaro, or Gaara.
But Ye Dou was not like them.
The admiration he once had for this world—the world of Naruto—had long since disappeared.
"Ye Dou, say something! If you keep ignoring me, I'll suffocate!"
The white mongoose suddenly leapt onto his shoulder, chattering in his ear.
"Shut up," Ye Dou muttered, covering his mouth and nose as if to physically block out the creature's presence.
"Finally, you're talking! You're no fun when you're silent. Where are we going now? The bathhouse? You haven't bathed in a while, you know. And your clothes—ugh, they look terrible. Why don't we buy some new ones first? Then we can go to the bathhouse—"
The mongoose had an insufferable tendency to ramble, and worse, it had a perverse streak that rivaled Jiraiya's. If it weren't for the fact that no one else could see it, this creature would have committed more peeping crimes than the legendary Sannin himself.
"Leave me alone. I'm not buying new clothes, and I'm not going to the bathhouse. I'm going to train."
With that, Ye Dou resumed his path, his expression returning to its usual blank state.
In this world, power was everything.
If he wanted to survive, he needed strength—true strength.
His talent for ninjutsu was average at best. Even the simplest D-rank jutsu left behind by his parents had taken him an embarrassing amount of time to master.
In the past, he might have accepted this fate, forcing himself to rely on what little ninjutsu he could manage.
But now, he had another path.
The mongoose that had appeared beside him had brought something else with it—a space known as "Equivalent Exchange."
Within that space, Ye Dou could trade things from this world for abilities and items from other worlds. Anything and everything could be obtained—for a price.
On the day he first accessed this power, he had exchanged something insignificant for a Devil Fruit, along with techniques from another world—the Six Powers and the Haki training method.
This was his path.
Ninjutsu might not be his strength, but he could still grow stronger—through raw physical ability, relentless training, and the power of Equivalent Exchange.
And one day, no one in this village would dare look down on him again.