Journey to the West: Life Simulation of Sun Wukong

"Whimpering—"

The skinny girl, wiping her tears, walked toward her home.

She was an ordinary girl from an ordinary family, where both parents were ninjas. After marrying her father, however, her mother quit her ninja job to become a housewife (as is common among female ninjas, regardless of their strength; once married, most quit their ninja jobs and stop taking missions, a practice related to Japan's housewife culture). Her father alone continued to take the less dangerous C-class and B-class missions from the village to earn the family's living expenses.

Her name was Haruno Sakura.

She was already a student in her first year at Ninja School, but her forehead was a bit wider than that of other children her age.

At this age, kids are outspoken and often teased Haruno Sakura about her wide forehead, even nicknaming her "Broad Forehead".

Perhaps it was because of her wider forehead that Sakura was smarter than others, understood more, but her maturity hadn't caught up, making her sensitive to others' opinions, which contributed to her significant lack of self-esteem.

School was now out.

Haruno Sakura had just run out crying because other girls had bullied her.

However, she wasn't without friends.

Yamanaka Ino, a girl from the Yamanaka family, had stood up for her when she was being bullied, but this time, she was not around.

"Haruno Sakura, you have to be strong and not feel inferior. Tomorrow will definitely be better."

Nearly home, Sakura didn't want her mother to see her disheveled appearance, so she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, sniffed her red nose, and tried to put on a smile.

"I'm back!"

Haruno Sakura shouted. When her mother saw the tear stains on Sakura's cheeks and her red nose, she knew what had happened, but she felt powerless to help and only offered a gentle smile, saying, "Sakura's back, huh? Go take a bath, and when Dad comes home, we'll eat together."

"Yes."

Unaware that her mother had detected her upset, Sakura went and took a hot bath—

This scene was openly displayed on the simulator's screen.

[An adult Haruno Sakura with the kanji for "well" on her forehead, cursed, "Damn it! Can't they censor it?! My whole self has been exposed!"]

After the bath, Haruno Sakura's father, Haruno Cho, had returned.

He was a cheerful ninja who enjoyed making dry jokes, only a Chunin with modest mission earnings, but it was enough to ensure meat for every meal for a family of three.

Perhaps it was a bit extravagant.…

"Sakura, try to make more friends at school." Haruno Cho managed a tired smile. He knew his daughter was ostracized by other girls because of her forehead, but enduring this phase was all it took.

Children of ordinary families, unlike those from major families, are immature and tend to bully their peers.

In fact, even children from major families, like Hyuga Hinata, were called names like "Byakugan monster" by their peers.

It wasn't a big deal.

Major families wouldn't intervene when their heirs or young ladies and lords were bullied by peers; in fact, intervening would be the greatest humiliation to the family's honor.

If children's relationships were as clear-cut as adults' regarding status and respect, that would truly be odd.

Still, Haruno Cho sighed inwardly.

In a few years, when the children were older and able to understand the weight of the Hyuga clan, even if Hyuga Hinata couldn't change her personality, she wouldn't dare to bully her anymore.

But it was different for Haruno Sakura.

If she continued to be self-conscious, others would keep bullying her until graduation.

Thus, Haruno Sakura needed to become confident and brave.

But in this respect, Haruno Cho was not a good father. He didn't have much time to spend with Sakura, as he needed to work on missions to earn money, and her mother, being a housewife, relied on the same teaching methods that her mother had used on her.

How to make Haruno Sakura confident?

All they could hope for was that Sakura would learn how to be confident on her own.

Their advice was: make more friends.

"Yes." Haruno Sakura ate her meal, her head bowed low, her heart filled with insecurity, "Can I really make friends? Is Yamanaka Ino truly my friend?"

After the meal, Sakura dutifully brought a stool over and helped her mother wash dishes. Then she dried and returned the stool to its original place and went back to her room.

Sitting on her bed, Sakura began to refine her chakra.

The first-grade curriculum was nearly over. Iruka sensei had taught the students about ninja-related knowledge and then taught them how to refine chakra.

Of course, Iruka never expected that children from families other than major clans could refine chakra within one school year. Despite the many students in the ninja school, only less than ten percent would end up being able to refine chakra.

After three school years, if they still couldn't refine chakra, they would have to drop out of the ninja school and live as ordinary citizens.

"It failed again," Sakura sighed as she opened her eyes and looked at the night sky, sparse with stars, and sighed, "To make friends, one at least needs to be a genius, but it seems I'm not one."

Chakra, this magical energy, is the foundation for ninjas to strengthen their bodies and perform ninjutsu. According to Iruka, all beings in the ninja world possess chakra, though in extremely feeble amounts.

Only those who can actively refine and use chakra can lay the foundation to become ninjas.

"Ah~"

Yawning, Haruno Sakura changed into her pajamas and covered herself with a blanket, thinking, "I should sleep first."

Soon, Haruno Sakura fell into a deep sleep.

However, this dream seemed somewhat strange—

"Haruno Sakura, open your eyes."

"Who are you?"

Haruno Sakura felt as though she was floating in a void, looking up to see a sky full of stars, and in front of her was a monkey-like creature with golden fur that looked very soft.

Especially the tree behind it, which seemed to support the entire sky; each leaf appeared to be crafted from gold and jade, extremely splendid.

"My name is Sun Wukong," Sun Wukong replied.

"Sun Wukong? Never heard of it," Haruno Sakura shook her little head, "And where is this? Am I dreaming?"

"This is inside your body, a space I, Sun, temporarily reside in," Sun Wukong answered.

"Inside my stomach?" Haruno Sakura was astonished and muttered, "So, am I your mother? But I don't remember kissing anyone."

Kissing results in pregnancy—

Well, it seems parenting in the ninja world isn't too different from the modern world.

Sun Wukong mused to himself; unlike Nvwa, who reincarnated through birth, he chose a path not of overpowering, but of enlightenment.

Whether he entered the fray personally wasn't too important.

In comparison, nurturing a spokesperson suited his preferences more.

Haruno Sakura was a good choice.

After all, this little girl was born a commoner and was much smarter than the others.

"Not exactly," Sun Wukong shook his head, "I'm an outsider who has simply created a space within your body or, you might say, your spirit, akin to a distinctive dimension."

"Oh?" Haruno Sakura seemed to half understand.

"How do you know my name?" Haruno Sakura asked.

"I know everything," Sun Wukong smiled faintly, "Do you want to know what you can do here?"

"I can fly," Haruno Sakura unhesitatingly replied, circling around Sun Wukong, performing various complex maneuvers.

"Exactly, here, you can fly as you wish, just like in a dream," Sun Wukong watched the adorable Haruno Sakura, "And since I'm living here, I can even pay you rent."

"Rent? No, no, no!" Haruno Sakura quickly waved her hands, rejecting Sun Wukong's offer, "I don't need it, but... can you be my friend instead?"

"You crave friendship?"

"Yes," Sakura landed on the water's surface below, causing ripples, "Because my forehead is pretty wide, other people don't really like me... Do you think my forehead is wide too?" Find thе sоurсе оf this сhаptеr аt М|V|L-ЕМРYR.

"I think it's quite beautiful," Sun Wukong said.

"Really?" Sakura asked excitedly, "Very beautiful?"

"Of course, haven't you heard of a phrase, 'extremely intelligent?' You must be a very clever girl," Sun Wukong said cheerfully.

"That's right, I'm very smart. I can easily grasp what teacher Iruka teaches us, and even in cultural studies, I learn the quickest, even Yamanaka Ino can't keep up with me," Sakura proudly said, the one area she could take pride in.

Soon, however, Sakura began to worry again.

Because she knew that her family wasn't as prestigious as the Yamanaka clan, and after third grade, when the live combat training starts, her advantage could quickly disappear.

Maybe she could only excel in cultural studies.

She thought that excellent grades in culture might just make her a competent ninja.

Sakura thought so.

Seeing Sakura so naïve, Sun Wukong almost didn't have the heart to tell her the real meaning of "extremely intelligent," just smiling and saying, "Then, from today on, you are my friend, Sun."

"Thank you," Haruno Sakura was deeply moved.

"No need to thank me, friends don't thank each other," Sun Wukong smiled.

"Hehe."

Haruno Sakura smiled through her tears, very happy, and asked, "By the way, why do you like calling yourself 'Sun'? You don't look old at all?"

Sun Wukong, holding his chin in one hand and twirling a twenty-centimeter-long Ruyi Jingu Bang evolved from a touch of positive Spirit in the other, replied, "Well, don't you think 'Sun' sounds very cool?"

"Is that so?" Sakura, unclear, asked Sun Wukong about refining Chakra, "Can you teach me how to refine Chakra?"

"Chakra is a combination of physical and spiritual energy extracted from the body's cells, but extracting too much of this energy is not good for the body. Your school teachers have also mentioned that Chakra is like a tool," Sun Wukong said seriously.

"..."