Question: How miserable would life be, living like a background character?
Answer: Parents died in the Nine-Tails attack, judged at age 6 to have no talent for being a ninja, had to work to support oneself at 13, and is now being choked by a one-eyed, drunken genin.
This NPC like figure is Nojuro Ryun.
His face is flushed red, eyes bulging.
His fists, with veins turning white, pounded on the head of the person before him, but this only made the one-eyed Konoha genin increase the strength in his fingers.
"I bet he's a spy from Kumogakure, you can tell by his face."
The one-eyed genin let out a drunken belch, blowing foul breath onto Ryun's face, then laughed heartily with satisfaction.
During a previous mission, he had been blinded in one eye by a Kumo-nin.
Since then, his temperament had become perverse, always feeling that everyone was laughing at him behind his back.
He had just seen Ryun dare to close one eye, imitating him yawning. This brat had already earned a death sentence.
"Don't kill him."
The one-eyed genin's teammate, chewing on barbecue, advised unclearly.
"Although those unreasonable, arrogant Uchiha are gone now, if you kill someone, you'll still have to go to the Konoha Military Police Force and sit in jail."
"Hmph, who would dare to go and report in the dead of night?" The one-eyed genin didn't care.
He even arrogantly shouted towards the restaurant kitchen, "Boss lady, something interesting is happening here. How about joining us for a drink?"
A woman's voice, tearful, came from the kitchen, "N, no thank you! I need to prepare dishes for you two ninja sirs, and I'll be busy for a long time. I won't disturb your meal."
The one-eyed genin turned his cruel gaze back to Ryun, like a wild cat toying with a mouse.
He wanted to see fear and despair in Ryun's eyes.
But Ryun disappointed him.
Even as his consciousness gradually faded, Ryun's fists stubbornly kept hitting him.
This made the rage in the one-eyed genin's heart explode again, and his fingers slowly curled.
Just as Ryun's neck was about to be twisted, a girl's complaining voice came from outside the door.
"Ah, I'm exhausted, we're finally back."
"Hey, there's a barbecue shop still open here. How about you treat us to barbecue, Teacher Guy?"
After the girl's voice, came a vigorous male voice, "Tenten, eating barbecue in the middle of the night, aren't you afraid of gaining weight?"
Those familiar with them could tell just by the voices that this was Konoha jōnin Might Guy and his Team 3 members.
"Teacher Guy, we've been eating only soldier pills for the past few days. Eating barbecue just once won't make us fat. Hurry, hurry, come in!"
"Alright then, let's consider it a celebration feast."
Guy pretended to be helpless, but his voice clearly carried a smile.
This time their team had completed a rather difficult C-rank mission. His three students had not flinched when facing rogue ninjas.
This made Guy very happy. He had originally planned to reward his three students well, just not this soon.
"Yeah!"
Tenten's voice was full of joy. The next second, she pushed the door open and rushed in.
Her eyes were curved like crescent moons, muttering about barbecue, but then she saw Ryun being choked, almost passing out.
Tenten immediately drew a kunai, entering a combat stance, and sternly questioned, "Who are you people? Why are you hurting him!"
The one-eyed genin frowned.
Tenten's appearance clearly marked her as a freshly graduated genin. Although he was also a genin, he was a senior. What right did a brat have to yell at a senior like him like that?
He was just about to scold Tenten and tell her to get out, when Neji, Lee, and Guy filed in one after another.
The moment he saw Guy, the one-eyed genin immediately threw Ryun to the ground and stood up straight nervously.
"G, Guy sir!"
"I never expected to encounter you so late. It's truly an honor!"
"Might I have the pleasure of buying you a drink?"
As he spoke, the one-eyed genin also tried to block Guy's line of sight, but such a small trick couldn't fool Guy.
Guy looked at Ryun lying on the ground, breathing faintly, and spoke with a grim expression, "Tenten, go see if this child is alright."
Tenten flashed to Ryun's side in an instant, reaching out to check Ryun's breath, then examined Ryun's neck.
After confirming Ryun was not in mortal danger, she let out a sigh of relief and said, "Teacher Guy, he's fine, but he'll need to rest for a while."
Only then did Guy look at the one-eyed genin, who was now covered in sweat, having lost all his earlier arrogance.
"You're Miyoshi Ikku, right? I remember you. We graduated the same year."
A fawning smile appeared on Miyoshi Ikku's face, thinking he had gotten off the hook. He was just about to try and get closer to Guy, but Guy straightforwardly said, "I'll give you two choices."
"One, give this child ten thousand ryō, and from now on, never come to this shop again."
"Two, I'll take you to the Konoha Military Police Force to explain everything. My student will take this child to Konoha Hospital."
"You have ten seconds to think."
Seeing he had no choice, Miyoshi Ikku lowered his head and started searching his person. Finally, he and his companion scraped together eight thousand ryō in loose change and handed it to Tenten. Guy, and Lee and Neji flanking the door, then stepped aside to let them pass.
After the two Konoha genin slinked away, Tenten complained, "Really, why are there scum like that among Konoha ninjas!"
"He should be around our age, right? To be abused like that, his neck vertebrae and trachea were almost broken."
Tenten carefully helped Ryun up, letting him lie in her arms while gently supporting his head to prevent his neck from bearing any more pressure.
Guy walked over, crouched down, and personally examined Ryun's injuries. After confirming Ryun was okay, he said, "Alright, Tenten, you take him to Konoha Hospital for treatment. I and these two will stay to handle the follow-up."
Tenten nodded and immediately followed the instruction.
After Tenten left carrying Ryun, Guy said to his remaining two students, "You two go and track those two guys, confirm their addresses."
"I'll ask the shop owner what exactly happened here. Then I'll go to Konoha Hospital to get this child's injury assessment report. Finally, the three of us will meet at the Konoha Military Police Force."
Lee and Neji's spirits lifted. They had originally thought Guy was going to let his former classmate go, but it turned out that was just Guy's delaying tactic.
Then Team 3 began to disperse and act. At this moment, Ryun opened his eyes in Tenten's arms.
What met his eyes was a line of strange prompt characters, causing Ryun's body to tense up subconsciously.
[Maintaining continuous contact with a high-quality female ninja. 50 minutes remaining until system binding. Please maintain contact state...]
Had his golden finger finally arrived?
Although he still didn't know what the system was useful for, Ryun, as if clutching the last life-saving straw, tightly hugged Tenten's neck.