Chapter 1: Trying to Keep Smiling
Winter. Konoha Village.
At 3 years old, Uzumaki Naruto walked on the snow very hard.
Every step was as difficult as a hurdle. Even so, Uzumaki Naruto always kept a cheerful smile on his face.
With his short stature, he came to a grocery store near the house and knocked on the wooden board in front of the counter. "Boss! Give me a hot water bottle. The one in my house is broken."
"Go away! Don't buy here!" After that, the clerk closed the window at the counter. He didn't even want to look at Uzumaki Naruto.
In Uzumaki Naruto's mind, a voice sounded, "Give up. No one will sell it to you."
It was Li Yaoxiang, who had traveled to the world of Naruto for three years. He has the same surname as Rock Lee(Li), but actually has no relationship with him.
Li Yaoxiang was initially an ordinary senior student from Earth.
He randomly made a wish to soar across All Heavens Myriad Realms at his birthday party but didn't really mean to when he said that. Despite that, God really gave him such a chance.
After he came here, he discovered that he couldn't extract Chakra at all. He could only be an ordinary person. This was obviously different from the transmigration he had imagined.
Fortunately, God did not completely fail to give him a chance to make a comeback.
After Li Yaoxiang transmigrated, he awakened a system.
A Blackening System.
As the name implies, if Li Yaoxiang wants to change the current situation of being cut by the sword or continuing to soar across All Heavens Myriad Realms, he must complete his mission in this world, which is to blacken Uzumaki Naruto completely.
The main initial function of the system is to allow Li Yaoxiang to invade Uzumaki Naruto's consciousness space to communicate or to control Uzumaki Naruto's body while Uzumaki Naruto is asleep, unconscious, or emotionally broken.
This is why Li Yaoxiang's voice can appear in Uzumaki Naruto's mind anytime and anywhere.
Until now, Uzumaki Naruto still didn't know who the owner of this voice was and what was going on.
No one taught him. No one corrected him. He thought it was normal to have such a conversation with a person from time to time in his mind. The only thing he knew was that the owner of this voice has been taking care of him and accompanying him.
Naruto's house is always in chaos. But whenever he wakes up, he would find his home suddenly becomes clean. He knew that this was the owner of this voice.
Because no one would care about him.
Whenever his diaper is wet and dirty, the same thing happened. He would find the original dirty diapers replaced by new comfortable and dry diapers. He knew that this was also the owner of the voice.
Because no one would care about him.
He didn't understand how the voice owner did it, but he never felt afraid knowing the voice owner controlled his body. After all, they had been together for so long. Naruto trusted the owner of the voice very much, and Naruto knew he would not harm him.
He had long regarded the owner of the voice as his closest person.
The only flaw was that the owner of this voice always likes to beat Naruto.
Whatever Naruto said, no matter how hard Naruto tried, he would always say it's impossible to make friends or impossible to get recognition.
Uzumaki Naruto certainly does not want to believe this!
Because the greatest grandfather Hokage in the village said this before: "As long as you persist and work hard, you can make friends!"
Despite being mentally prepared, the shopkeeper's fierce reaction still surprised Uzumaki Naruto.
Naruto quickly recovered his smile. He was very optimistic in his mind and gave a response, "No. Not every house is like this. Someone will sell it to me."
After vetoing Li Yaoxiang's statement, Uzumaki Naruto smiled again and walked hard on the white snow to the next store.
....
2nd store: "Go away! I don't sell!"
Naruto was not discouraged, and the smile on his face remained.
3rd store: "Monster! Get out!"
Naruto still kept smiling.
He didn't give up and came to the fourth store. The owner of the fourth store didn't even say a word. With a clatter, an empty can smashed into Naruto's head.
The empty can bounced off, and Naruto was stunned on the spot.
"Hey..." Li Yaoxiang sighed, "How long are you going to try? Didn't I tell you? You really think that as long as you keep smiling, others will think you won't hurt them? Will they want to be friends with you? Stop dreaming. Give up."
Naruto did not refute this time. But he kept smiling. It's just that he didn't go to the next store this time. He turned and set foot on his way home.
...
As he walked, he came to an empty snowfield.
There were four children on the snowfield. It was a group of children of similar age to Naruto, who was playing around.
The cotton coats worn by this group of children looked very warm and comfortable. It was completely different from the sloppy and slightly thin cotton coats worn by Naruto.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Naruto's smile that was barely maintained became laughter from the bottom of his heart. Optimistic, he soon left behind the unhappy things.
You can tell from his eyes that he was very envious of this group of children. Envied them that they can play happily together.
He also wanted to join in and have fun with everyone.
It's just that, just as he took a step, Li Yaoxiang's voice sounded again: "Let's go. Stop watching. They won't play with you. Have you forgotten those previous experiences?" Percussion sounded again.
Naruto hesitated this time… Because he understood. Li Yaoxiang was right. It's just that he didn't want to admit it.
The reason why he kept trying to put a smile in front of others was to try to change their minds.
At the same time, it was to prove that what Li Yaoxiang said is wrong.
He always believed that the problem was with himself, not with others. As long as you work hard enough, you can change all this.
Although Naruto didn't want to admit it, he stopped approaching the children. After all, no matter how he didn't want to admit it, his previous experiences were indeed like that, which made him face reality.
At first, he didn't want to believe what the 'Master of Voice' said.
He didn't give up. He didn't compromise.
After trying countless times, the results can be obtained. But instead, it was always a hot face pasted on a cold-ass*.
[*TL note: Beijing slang used to refer to an unrequited relationship]
Luckier times, he would be ridiculed. Unluckier times, they would even throw stones.
Recalling the past scenes, his face turned pale. He was scared. He was afraid that if he stepped forward, he would face a bad result again.
There were enough blows today.
He was afraid if he were beaten again, he would never be able to bear it.
After thinking about it, Naruto only felt a little regret. But in the end, he finally chose to keep smiling and continue on the way home.
Naruto was willing to go away, but what about those children?
His eye-catching yellow hair and his conspicuous sloppy cotton coat were just like a lighthouse. It soon attracted the attention of the group of children…