On a bleak, snow-covered day in Konohagakure, the village lay shrouded in a heavy, oppressive silence. Ashen clouds loomed low in the sky, smothering the winter sun and casting a suffocating gloom across the landscape. The park, usually a place of laughter and light, was now a desolate expanse of white. Bare trees stood like forgotten sentinels, their skeletal limbs rattling faintly in the biting wind. The snow muffled every sound, swallowing footsteps and whispers—except near a large, twisted oak tree, where something awful was unfolding.
Beneath the gnarled branches, three boys—each around thirteen—stood in a tight, mocking circle. Their faces twisted with cruel amusement as they cornered a much smaller figure: a girl, no older than six, with soft dark-blue hair framing a delicate, porcelain face. Her eyes—pale lavender and pupil-less—glimmered with unshed tears, wide and confused.
She was trembling, pressed against the tree as if hoping to disappear into the bark itself.
"Freak," one boy sneered, jabbing a finger at her eyes like they were an offense to his very existence.
"What's wrong with you? You some kind of monster?" the second boy added, his voice soaked in scorn and laughter.
"She probably can't even see straight," the third said with a snort. "Bet she's blind or cursed."
The girl whimpered softly, hugging herself tighter as their jeers grew louder. Her name was Hinata. She didn't understand what she had done wrong. She only came here to play—to feel something other than the coldness of her clan's compound.
But playtime turned to torment. It always did.
The insults quickly escalated. Small stones began to fly—first tossed with childish cruelty, then thrown with intent. One grazed her cheek, leaving a shallow cut that stung against the chill. She flinched, curling in tighter, shielding her face as tears slipped down her cheeks and into the snow.
Then something inside her stirred. A spark—small, fleeting, but real.
A flicker of defiance.
Without thinking, she lashed out, kicking one of the boys hard in the shin. He howled in pain, stumbling back.
Hinata didn't wait. She bolted.
But she didn't make it far.
They were older. Bigger. Faster.
She barely got five steps before they tackled her from behind, slamming her into the snow. The leader straddled her, rage burning in his eyes as he pulled a kunai from his pocket and held it dangerously close to her eye.
"Let's see if these creepy eyes bleed like normal ones," he growled.
"No! Please—stop!" Hinata sobbed, struggling beneath him, snowflakes clinging to her tear-soaked face.
The world around them was still. Empty. Cold.
Or so they thought.
A sudden gust of wind sliced through the silence like a blade. Then—CRACK—a blur of silver cut across the snow.
The boy holding the kunai was lifted off his feet, sent flying backward like a ragdoll. He landed meters away with a heavy thud and didn't get up.
The remaining two boys froze, eyes wide with fear.
Standing between them and Hinata was another child—around her age. His presence alone made the air feel charged. Wild chrome-silver hair framed his face, catching what little light filtered through the gray sky. But it was his eyes that stole the breath from their lungs.
His left eye glowed a searing electric violet, pulsing with raw, unstable energy, like a thunderstorm barely caged. His right eye, in contrast, was a piercing steel-blue—calm, unreadable, and cold like rain sliding down glass.
His expression was pure thunder.
"Get. Away. From her," he said, voice low and edged with quiet fury.
He spared Hinata only a brief glance. In that moment, something in his eyes softened—just for a heartbeat. A flicker of warmth in the storm.
"Kado-kun!" Hinata cried out, her voice trembling with joy, relief, and disbelief.
He didn't take his eyes off the boys. "Sorry I'm late," he muttered, body tense as a coiled spring. "That old bat at the orphanage wouldn't let me leave. Had to sneak out."
And then he moved.
A blur of motion. A knee slammed into the face of the nearest boy, who dropped instantly. Kado twisted midair, spinning with precise control, and launched into the second, landing a clean roundhouse to his chest that sent him sprawling. Before the boy could even hit the ground, Kado was already there—driving a brutal axe kick down onto his head.
Both attackers collapsed in the snow. Unmoving. Silent.
It had taken less than ten seconds.
Kado exhaled, dusting his hands as if the fight had been nothing more than an annoying chore. Then he walked to Hinata and crouched in front of her. With a small, teasing smile, he flicked her forehead.
"Dummy."
"Ow!" Hinata pouted, rubbing her forehead as her cheeks puffed in indignation. "That hurt, Kado-kun!"
He smirked. Even now, after everything, she still managed to be the cutest thing he'd ever seen.
But her expression shifted. Her eyes went wide.
"KADO!!"
He turned—too late.
Shlk.
A sickening sound tore through the air. His body jerked as pain bloomed in his chest.
He looked down.
A kunai jutted from his torso, buried deep near his heart. Blood spread across his shirt like ink on paper.
Behind him stood the leader—his face pale, twisted with guilt and fear. The boy dropped the weapon and ran.
Kado fell to his knees. The snow beneath him turned crimson.
Hinata caught him before he collapsed completely, tears streaming down her face as she cradled him.
Even in pain, even with the world going dark, he smiled at her.
"I…idiot," he muttered with a weak chuckle, and flicked her forehead again with what little strength he had. His eyes fluttered closed.
The world seemed to hold its breath.
Then—gasp.
Kado's body jerked. His eyes snapped open. His hand moved to the kunai and ripped it free with a wince.
He sat up—confused.
Everything felt wrong.
His body was smaller. Lighter. His voice wasn't the same.
He stood—barely. His legs wobbled beneath him.
"Kado-kun!!" Hinata screamed again and ran into him, hugging him so tightly it nearly knocked him over.
"K-Kado?" he echoed, blinking as the name sounded strangely familiar.
And then—memories flooded in.
Not his memories.
A tidal wave of foreign emotions, names, places, and experiences crashed into his mind. A life he hadn't lived—until now.
Kado Attano. Orphan. Konohagakure. Best friend—Hinata Hyuga. Heiress of the Hyuga clan. Wait…Naruto?
His eyes widened.
He had been reincarnated into the Naruto universe.
Hell yes.
He gently ruffled Hinata's hair, a crooked smile on his lips. "This is gonna be fun…"
Thankfully, he had Kado's memories. No awkward identity crisis, no faking it. Just a new life, and a very real friend to protect.
Shifting Hinata into a bridal carry—earning a fierce blush from her—he began walking through the snow toward the Hyuga compound. She didn't protest. She only clung tighter to him, face hidden in his shirt.
He made it to the entrance, where two Hyuga guards stepped forward.
"Halt. Do you have permission to—" the one on the left began, then blinked in recognition. "Apologies, Kado-sama. Is Hinata-sama injured?"
"I need to see Hiashi-sama. It's important," Kado said, voice clipped but calm.
The guards hesitated—until a new voice cut through the air like silk over steel.
"And what could be so important that you need to see me personally?"
Hiashi Hyuga approached, walking with the regal bearing of a clan head. Beside him walked his wife, Hitomi Hyuga.
She was the image of refined beauty, with long, midnight-blue hair streaked with soft silvery strands that cascaded past her waist. Her pale lavender Byakugan eyes, identical to her daughter's, held a serene and noble grace. Her presence radiated warmth, yet she carried herself with the quiet authority of someone not to be trifled with.
Her figure—gracefully curvaceous, elegant, and undeniably striking—was complemented by a form-fitting lavender kimono embroidered with silver blossoms. Every movement she made was deliberate, poised, dignified.
Kado found himself distracted for half a second. Damn, Hyuga genes are wild… He shook the thought away, focusing on the matter at hand.
"I just want to know," he said, his tone sharpening, "where the hell were Hinata's bodyguards?"
Hiashi's eyes narrowed. "Watch your tone, boy, before—"
"If I hadn't gone to meet Hinata at the park, you wouldn't have an heiress," Kado snapped, cutting him off.
He hurled the bloodied kunai at the ground—so close to Hiashi's foot it sank into the snow with a sharp thunk.
"That's the weapon those little bastards tried to carve her eyes out with. She would've died if I hadn't shown up."
Hitomi's face drained of color. Her eyes went to Hinata, horrified.
Hiashi, by contrast, looked unmoved. "She is weak," he said coldly. "The Hyuga clan has no need for a weak heir. Take the trash with you."
He turned and walked away.
Hitomi opened her mouth to speak—but faltered. Fear held her tongue.
Time slowed.
The world around Kado froze. People halted mid-step, snowflakes hung suspended in the air, yet he moved freely, heart pounding.
His fists clenched. His jaw tightened.
So it's like that, huh…?
'If I saved Hinata instead of Naruto, then this timeline's already diverged,' Kado thought, the pieces clicking together. 'This isn't the world I remember…'
He sighed inwardly and turned, still carrying Hinata.
He wouldn't return to the orphanage. Not after this. Not with her.
Not when her own family had turned its back on her.
And as he walked away into the frozen village, his mind replayed everything from the moment he woke up until now in crystal clarity—even the smallest details. Every heartbeat. Every breath.
And then there was that moment…
When time slowed.
When his thoughts felt faster. Sharper. Like the world itself bent around his will.
'Why does that feel… familiar?'
His grip on Hinata tightened, and a slow smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.
Whatever this world had become—it was his now.
And no one would hurt her again.
Not while he was still breathing.