Chapter 25 Naruto, do you want to have a brother? (End)
Half an hour later.
The moment Naruto plucked up the courage and stepped into the grocery store, he saw the proprietress who was chatting and laughing with the customers at the shelves a second ago. Suddenly she suddenly turned her head to look at him as if she smelled something strange..
Immediately afterwards, those small eyes squeezed out by fat suddenly became sharper than the most powerful ninja he had ever seen, walking towards him like a rhinoceros whose territory had been violated.
Naruto immediately forgot everything Giyu told him.
He hurriedly exited the store, but his left heel tripped on the threshold, and he suddenly fell backwards, but his shoulders were firmly held by Giyu who was now behind him.
【I will support you. 】
What Giyu said before was suddenly confirmed in a literal sense.
Even in the cold winter, Naruto suddenly felt warm in his heart.
But before he could thank him, the proprietress had already walked out with a long-handled brush on her hips, completely blocking the store door behind her. She was more intimidating than the two chunin guarding the entrance at Konoha's west gate.
"I told you before, you're absolutely not allowed to enter the store."
As if she was afraid of attracting the attention of the customers, the proprietress pointed the handle of the brush at Naruto and whispered through gritted teeth: "If people inside see you, how can I do business in the future?!"
This is an area where civilians and low-level ninjas gather. Many of them lost their loved ones in the events of that year, and they generally have hatred towards Naruto, who is rumored to be the "reincarnation of the demon fox". The strange thing is that Naruto lives not far away.
Then, the landlady saw Giyu behind Naruto.
Because Naruto was alone all the time, she never thought about other possibilities, and immediately added: "Look, you are blocking other customers! Get out of my way!"
Then, she turned her head to look at Giyu and laughed like a rice ball, "Little brother, what are you here to buy? Don't be afraid, he will leave soon."
This instant change in expression left Naruto, who was suddenly pushed aside, at a loss as to what to do.
"We are in this together."
Giyu grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him to his side. His tone was cold and unchallenged, "He is my friend, he not going anywhere."
Suddenly, the thin layer of snow in front of the porch of the grocery store was slowly pushed away by an invisible wave of wind.
Naruto and Giyu stood side by side in the center of a small open space, as if they were alone in the world.
【friend……】
Naruto was stunned for a moment, his eyes lingering on Giyu's resolute side.
[This is the first time Giyu has said this personally...]
That day a year ago, when Grandpa Hokage asked Naruto "Is this your new friend" as soon as he entered the door, he was still a little nervous, thinking that it would make Giyu unhappy.
But now I heard Giyu admit it on the spot, in front of the villagers who had been targeting him...
Just the next second, the joy that just surged out was immediately replaced by deep worry.
[If because of me, they treat Giyu the same way they treat me...]
He could no longer imagine it.
Before setting off, he only thought about what might happen to him, but never considered the consequences it might have on Giyu!
Sure enough, when Giyu said this, the landlady's slightly happy face immediately entered horror movie mode.
"Little brother, do you know who this kid is?"
She looked around the street and found that several passers-by and some neighbors were looking at her with gloomy expressions. She quickly said loudly like a performer: "This is a child who is born evil and has no one to discipline him. He spends all day on the street. Nothing to do. You'd better stay away from him. If your mother were here, she would do the same..."
"I'm not here to hear this, and my mother won't say such nonsense."
Giyu interrupted her and took out the detergent from the large plastic bag containing expired milk, "We are here to return it."
When she heard the word "return", the landlady's brows suddenly rose.
This is the most annoying word for small shop owners besides rent and inspection.
"ha?"
She sighed in disbelief, and then remembered that this thing was what she sold to Naruto that morning, and her narrow eyes immediately stared at it.
"Why, kid, could it be that no one at home taught you how to use it, so you just returned it?
"It is absolutely impossible to return something like detergent once it has been opened. Besides, do I dare to take back the things you have touched and put them on the shelf? Otherwise, you will be plagued by bad luck. There is no need to keep the store open."
"I tell you the truth, if it weren't for the village's order, I wouldn't even sell you a hair on the brush!"
She didn't care how much these heart-piercing words hurt Naruto, she kept saying them.
In fact, this was not only what she wanted to say, but also what she wanted to say for the onlookers to hear, otherwise she would probably be excluded as an alien.
Treating Naruto badly was not just a personal wish, it was a consensus that went without saying. As long as they do this, they will still be victims of the disaster.
"Go away quickly and disappear from here, or I will call the Uchiha Guards!"
When she bared her teeth, her bright red gums were exposed, and her white teeth were sharper than knives under the reflection of the snow light.
"Those people can't talk sense at all. If you arrest an undisciplined kid like you, you will never get out again!"
More and more people were passing by. Under the pressure of the gaze, the boss lady just wanted to get rid of these two literal "lost stars" as quickly as possible, but she inadvertently demonstrated a textbook level - how to insult two people in front of you at the same time.
【Uchiha...】
Naruto opened his eyes wide and looked at Giyu, who had a hint of gloom on his forehead.
[Isn’t that Giyu’s last name? 】
The boss's wife's last words diluted the impact of the words "no one to discipline" on Naruto.
"There is no Uchiha Guard, only Konoha Guard."
Giyu corrected the other person word by word. This was what he had heard his father warn his clan several times.
"Besides, there's a good reason for us to return it, Naruto."
He called out and Naruto responded immediately.
[When you truly face what you are afraid of and can no longer escape, you will have to defeat it. 】
At this moment, Giyu's words suddenly replaced the voice of Grandpa Hokage echoing in his head.
Naruto mustered up his courage, and under the gaze of more and more people around him, he took his bandaged hand out of his sleeve. The neat one on the right was tied by Giyu for him; the one on the left that looked a bit bloated was tied by Naruto himself. Because it was a little rough, it would inevitably put pressure on the wound, so during the wrapping process, blood flowed out and dyed the bandage red. What a big piece.
Suddenly there was an exclamation from the approaching crowd.
It was a woman with a child. She couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hands, with a trace of unbearability in her eyes.
It wasn't until others looked at her with suspicion that she recovered. She wanted to leave but didn't dare, because if she showed sympathy for Naruto, she would probably be gossiped about by those whose family members died in the disaster five years ago. .
These people didn't understand the complex vocabulary of tailed beasts and jinchūriki at all, so they could only use folk superstitions, guided by rumors from interested people, to regard Naruto as the reincarnation of the so-called demon fox and an outlet for hatred and anger.
And those who had nothing to lose in the Nine-Tails Rebellion joined it just to appear "social". At first it was just a pretense, but later it seemed as if they also had some deep hatred for the child.
In the end, there were very few ordinary people who were willing to treat Naruto with a normal heart. Currently, there was only the owner of the ramen shop and the owner of the adult bookstore in the corner who always welcomed everyone.
"What does it mean?!"
The grocery store proprietress spread her legs and pinched her waist, "I didn't put things away properly and smashed them with my hands. Are you going to sell them at my place?"
Giyu carefully observed the other person's expression.
As a member of the Demon Slayer team, you will inevitably have to deal with stubborn people whose family members have turned into demons.
When a person is lying or hiding something, Giyu can have some intuition even if he can't tell it from his expression.
But his intuition told him that the boss lady seemed really angry, and the reason she speculated that Naruto's hands were bandaged was not liquid corrosion, but something falling from a height and hitting his hand?
[Isn’t she aware? 】
"I……"
Naruto felt the pressure from all around. When he spoke for the first time, his voice became hoarse and sharp due to excessive tension.
Until Giyu touched his shoulder.
Naruto blinked, coughed and cleared his throat, and then explained: "After I got home, I washed the mop with a bottle of water, and then my hand started to hurt. As soon as I rinsed it with water, the skin on it started to fall off...."
"This is impossible!"
The fat woman interrupted Naruto angrily.
Because now it's not just a problem with this kid blocking the door and returning goods, but also a problem with the quality of her products. If people around her take her seriously, her reputation will be really bad.
"I have been selling this thing for more than ten years, and the situation you mentioned has never happened!"
Her eyes trembled back and forth like ping pong balls on a playing field, her eyes switching back and forth between the cold and ruthless and aggrieved and angry little faces.
She wasn't just talking, she really felt that her products would never have such problems.
So the problem must be with Naruto.
"You must be lying and want to come here to frame us!"
She raised her head, looked at the concerned neighbors around her and said loudly: "As you all know, this kid is born to be an evil freak. He must have seen a customer using flies to blackmail the boss while eating in a restaurant. He just learned it one by one."
"Yes, that's definitely the case. This kid has no one to discipline him. He wanders on the street every day. It's too easy to learn bad things."
In the crowd, the fat woman's neighbors were the first to respond.
Immediately afterwards, there was an overwhelming exchange of words.
"What's wrong with learning? He was born bad."
"It's so disgusting to look like that!"
"Besides, isn't it normal for him to be injured? Maybe it's God's retribution!"
"Why the village wanted to raise him, I really can't figure it out!"
"As a result, They actually raised a white-eyed wolf!"
The horrible nightmare that Naruto had rehearsed countless times in his mind still appeared.
When those words penetrated his heart one after another, they were a bit sharper than a knife.
And the knife not only penetrated his body, but also twisted and twisted, twisting Naruto's internal organs to pieces.
His face was as pale as death, and his bandaged fingers were shaking continuously like a telegraph. The injustices he had endured for more than three years were superimposed on the current scene, like a dark cloud condensing above his head, and suddenly changed. It turned into thick layers of heavy black silk, almost suffocating him to death on the spot.
Until a different voice suddenly came from the crowd.
"I think the kid next to him is gloomy, and he's not a good guy either!"
"If you hang out with this kind of monster, you're probably an orphan without a father or a mother."
(Giyu doesn’t have the clan emblem on his clothes today.)
"You look at that look and don't move. You must be an idiot to play with him..."
What Naruto was most worried about - that Giyu would be implicated by him - finally happened.
Suddenly, he felt as if a ball of fire rose from his abdomen, rushing toward his stiff limbs like a galloping army, dispelling countless clouds caused by past experiences on the spot.
His eye sockets and beard were suddenly dyed with a faint orange-red color, and his steaming mouth opened to shout without passing through the brain tissue.
"You are not allowed to—"
[Slander Giyu! ! ! 】
The reason why he didn't finish speaking was because a pair of warm hands blocked his ears.
The plain voice covered all other curses and curses, passing through his occiput and directly into his manic heart.
The owner of those hands is Giyu.
He was repeating what Master Urokodaki had done to him.
That was the hint Master Urokodaki gave him when he fell into great anger after Sabito died in the Final test.
"Don't be angry, Naruto, imagine the water..."
"Imagine calm water with no ripples..."
"No matter what someone says, it will be like a stone dropped into the water, sinking into it in a moment without a trace..."
"No one can hurt you with words, and no one can hurt me..."
On the roof not far away, Kakashi, who was about to perform the teleportation technique, interrupted his action.
He took off his mask and wiped the cold sweat from his head.
In the vision of the Three Tomoe Sharingan, the subtle red light on Naruto gradually disappeared.
[He didn’t face Naruto directly, and it couldn’t be the Sharingan...]
He thought, [What did Uchiha Giyu say that could actually make Naruto, a jinchuriki, stabilize his emotions instantly? 】
the most important is……
"Sandaime-sama, what should I do next?"
This was the first time in his history that he hoped that the Third Hokage could open up the crystal ball and take a look here.
…
Down below, because the crowd surrounded the two people for a long time and even cursed them more and more fiercely, they finally attracted the attention of the security team.
The person who came to find out what happened here was Uchiha Flame, who had failed the Jonin test again not long ago, and then committed the crime of underage drinking, and was assigned to patrol.
"Konoha Guards!"
He shouted outside the crowd, "Everyone, get out of my way!"
Ask the civilians of Konoha what they hate.
Answer: Naruto.
Ask the civilians of Konoha what they fear and hate.
Answer: Uchiha (Konoha) Guards.
Because these people are indifferent to food and drink, and do not eat hard or soft food, everyone feels inferior to them. Therefore, once the villagers are caught, no matter how big or small they are, they will all be taken away for investigation, and then interrogated with blood-red eyes, and they will be tortured. It left a strong psychological shadow on people.
Sure enough, when they heard the word "guard team", the people who had just been noisy and chaotic immediately fell silent and dispersed to both sides little by little, revealing the righteous and brave Naruto inside.
[Well, it’s this guy...]
Seeing Giyu, Uchiha Flame's eyes shrank, and he felt the pain from the wound that Uchiha Itachi intercepted halfway and hit with a shuriken last time.
But because his memory has been covered by Shisui's pupil power, he only remembers that Giyu can easily be placed as a genin, but the fact that Giyu can open the Sharingan has been forgotten, and the releaser of Water Dragon Bullet has also changed from Giyu to Shisui.
Although he doesn't like this boy (brother) very much, the Uchiha clan is famous for its unity.
Seeing his descendants surrounded by a bunch of adults on the street, Uchiha Giyu's face suddenly darkened.
As for Naruto, he had only met him before. He had not yet become a Jonin and was not qualified to know Naruto's life experience. He just regarded it as a strange person making strange friends, so he didn't find it strange at all.
"what happened?"
He crossed his arms and walked to the middle with a haughty expression.
Influenced by strength and family supremacy, Uchiha looks down on the weak, which is a traditional skill of young clanmen.
"You came just in time."
The fat woman forced a stiff smile and said, "These two kids falsely accused my store of selling them defective products..."
"ha?"
Uchiha Flame's mouth opened in a mocking arc.
Who in the entire Uchiha doesn't know that the patriarch has a son who can't lie at all.
Every time a clan member asked him "Is the clan leader at home?" he would answer truthfully.
"Uchiha Giyu, is that true?"
He turned his head and nodded to Giyu as a greeting.
"Do you know each other? He is also Uchiha..."
The landlady exclaimed, but saw Uchiha's enraged expression and immediately stopped talking.
"I didn't ask you, so don't talk."
The landlady dared not speak out in anger, so she could only retreat to the side angrily.
Seeing Uchiha Flame choking this terrifying woman without uttering a word, Naruto's eyes showed a hint of admiration.
[Although he is a bit domineering, he is so cool...]
"There's something really wrong with that thing."
Giyu answered Uchiha Flame's question, "Naruto is the person involved, you can ask him directly."
Uchiha Flame's eyes moved to Naruto's face.
Seeing that an adult was finally willing to listen to him seriously, Naruto broke free from the previous discomfort and told everyone what he had experienced in the morning.
"He lied!"
The proprietress couldn't help it anymore and shouted loudly, "Our store has been open for more than ten years, and nothing like this has ever happened! Besides, the detergent will not expire or deteriorate, how could it burn his hands!" "
Then, she looked around for support, "You are all my neighbors. You should know that it is impossible for me to do something like this to destroy my own brand."
"That is to say, who knows if that kid's hands were burned."
"Maybe he is not hurt at all, he is just pretending to be pitiful..."
There was another buzz in the crowd.
Uchiha Flame only felt noisy and a little dizzy.
"Naruto's wounds were bandaged by me."
Giyu said solemnly, "The entire epidermal layer has fallen off."
Uchiha Fire took a breath of air.
The injury wasn't serious, but I couldn't bear the feeling of the image rushing over my face, followed immediately by the imaginary severe pain.
"You came with him, who knows whether what you said is true or false?"
There were doubts in the crowd.
"We also have ninjas here. You can tell at a glance whether he is injured or not."
"Tell him to take off the bandage!"
"Yes, it will be clear after just one look!"
"These two brats are definitely lying."
Seeing the crowd becoming angry again, Uchiha Flame also hesitated.
Uchiha valued his reputation most, and it would be unpleasant to spread the word about such a big incident if it didn't convince the public.
He looked at Giyu: "How about it? Are you willing?"
He has full confidence in Giyu, who has always had a "good reputation". After the bandage is removed, these people should be able to shut their mouths.
"Naruto?"
When Giyu turned to Naruto, he found that Naruto's expression was very strange. It was green and white. Even with his poor ability to distinguish emotions, he could tell that the latter was very unstable now.
Not the sudden heart-stopping anger like just now, but fear.
The kind of fear one feels after seeing a demo .
"What’s wrong with you?"
Although they had only been together for a few hours, Giyu could tell from Naruto's behavior of hiding his injuries even if he had to wear gloves, that he was very strong-willed and would not be afraid of being like this just because he had to remove the bandage.
"my hand……"
Naruto folded his bandaged hands as if to hide something, "It's itchy."
Naruto, who has had the experience of being injured, knows exactly what this means!
Usually it would be like a scratch on his leg or something, and it would only take a few minutes at most to heal, and he would also be itchy at that time.
But the wound that had not healed when the medicine was applied just now started to heal. He simply couldn't imagine what everyone would say after he took off the bandage and saw his palm that may have been intact. Come……
By then, it was confirmed that he was not just "lying".
Giyu can also...
Thinking of this, Naruto felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave and his face was ashen. He didn't understand why it was at this time, when he could get something for himself, when Giyu wanted to help him regardless of other people's eyes. But his body is going against him!
"Yes, I'm sorry..."
He didn't dare look into Giyu's eyes because he felt like a traitor.
Giyu said nothing, his eyes became deeper than usual, and he easily caught the red chakra flowing out wantonly. It was that thing, that thing that seemed to be trapped in Naruto's body, that suddenly decided to help Naruto recover from his injuries.
Completely opposite to the trickle before.
"Hey, what are you waiting for?"
The people around him urged angrily, "You're not saying you're burned, just let us take a look."
"Are you feeling guilty?"
"Let's just say this kid must be lying!"
This time, Naruto didn't shed any tears.
He said to Giyu like a corpse, "I'm sorry, Giyu, let's go..."
At least, it won't be any more ugly than after being "revealed".
He had already made up his mind. When he returned home, he would ask Grandpa Hokage to send him to a place where Giyu could not find him. He had no shame anymore——
But the next second, Giyu loudly said to the people around him: "I can't let Naruto take off the gauze."
With force of his thumb, he suddenly pried open the cap of the bottle of detergent, "But I can also prove that there is something wrong with this thing."
After speaking, he poured the brown liquid inside onto his left hand without waiting for anyone to react.
"laugh--"
A harsh sound spread along with the stench, and the faces of the onlookers changed drastically. They all took a step back, covering their mouths and noses in unison, while the timid ones turned back.
Only Giyu looked normal.
"What's wrong with your mind?!"
It was Uchiha Flame who made an angry noise. He pinched Giyu's hand in panic and examined it carefully.
As for Naruto, he was petrified on the spot and looked like he couldn't even breathe.
You know, the skin on his hands was just diluted with water in the mop bucket.
But Giyu fell in his hands...
"Can you prove it now?"
Giyu looked at the fat woman coldly, who was so scared that she clung to the door of her shop.
"Tell me, what's going on?!"
Uchiha Flame asked angrily, "This smell and color are obviously the blood of the giant millipede in the Death Forest. It is extremely corrosive to humans. The Earth Kingdom specializes in using this kind of thing to torture female prisoners and destroy their appearance. Why do you add this kind of thing to the detergent?!"
Some genin and chunin in the crowd of onlookers also nodded, obviously recognizing Uchiha Flame's judgment.
This is the basic knowledge learned in ninja school.
"I-I didn't do such a thing!"
The fat woman was completely confused, "I didn't. When I took this thing -"
Her voice stopped suddenly, as if she had remembered something important, and she dramatically pressed her lips as thick as a sausage. The originally panicked look gradually became calmer.
[She is hiding it. 】
Giyu's brows moved.
【Conceal it for others. 】
"Take it?"
Uchiha Flame raised his eyebrows, "Took what? You mean, this bottle has passed through other people's hands?"
The fat woman stared at him closely, then pointed at Giyu and Naruto as if grasping a life-saving straw and said: "It must be them. They added this thing in order to blackmail me, and then came to frame me!"
"Blackmailing you? Will he blackmail you?"
Uchiha Flame laughed angrily.
Will our Uchiha clan leader’s family be short of money?
This guy can easily buy a whole salmon. Will he be short of money?
His eyes suddenly turned red, and the three tomoe stones rotated strangely and slowly, "If you don't tell the truth, do you want me to help you?"
This time, the proprietress who didn't understand the principle of Sharingan was really frightened, and all kinds of legends about the police force flooded into her mind.
But she seemed to have a fire in her heart and shouted back: "Your surname is Uchiha, and his surname is Uchiha. Of course you are speaking for him! Look, everyone, this is Konoha Guard. The team actually helped these two kids throw dirty water on me!"
However, this time, no one helped her.
Uchiha Flame was about to cast an illusion directly on her, but he heard an old voice saying: "Uchiha Flame, wait a moment."
An old man in a white robe and two masked ninjas walked in from outside the crowd.
"Third Hokages."
"It's the Third Hokage!"
"Hokage-sama."
The Sandaime didn't smile, just nodded in response to their greetings, and then walked over to Giyu and Naruto.
But the two children ignored him. Uchiha Flame just gave a formal salute, focusing entirely on the two Anbu.
One of them, you can tell just by looking at his hair, is Kakashi of the Sharingan.
The Third Hokage looked at the fat woman.
When she saw the Third Hokage, the landlady not only did not show a saved look in her eyes, but her face became even paler.
"I remember...you are Masayoshi's daughter, right?"
He sounded nostalgic.
"……yes."
"I heard that you have a son named Hikomasa?"
"Yes." The fat woman buried her face and automatically added, "He, he went to ninja school."
"Did Naruto go there after shopping this morning?"
"yes……"
There is no need to hide it, if you are Hokage-sama, you can find out everything.
"Every morning, Hikomasa and his friends gather at your house before going to school, right?"
"yes……"
"Did they see Naruto this morning?"
The fat lady was silent for a long time, and finally replied exhaustedly: "Yes."
"I heard that their two-day course is to learn to identify dangerous creatures around Konoha."
Sarutobi Hiruzen stroked his beard, "But in the laboratory of the Ninja School, a giant millipede just disappeared yesterday. If I guessed correctly, you asked Hikomasa to bring you the bottle of detergent this morning, and then It's up to you to hand it to Naruto, right?"
The fat woman seemed to have been punched hard by Tsunade, and slammed the store door behind her, and then cried and said: "Sandaime-sama, there must be a misunderstanding here, Hikomasa has always been very timid. , it must be those friends of his..."
"No need to say it."
Sandai waved his hand and interrupted, "The village will find out what happens next. Regardless of whether Hikomasa is the mastermind or not, he and his friends are suspected of harming their fellow villagers. I cannot agree with such a child that he can Become a ninja!"
Kakashi, who came with the Third Hokage, was not surprised. He even had a rough guess.
Such a reckless thing is not something an adult can do.
In secret, Kakashi divided the people of Konoha's understanding of Naruto's identity into four levels.
The first level is the jounin who participated in the jounin conference that year after the Nine-Tails Rebellion.
Most of them had fought alongside the Fourth Hokage and knew Naruto's identity.
Besides that, they know what a tailed beast is and what a jinchūriki is. We also know under what circumstances a jinchūriki may go berserk and other abnormal situations.
So whenever these people found Naruto in the village, they would take the initiative to avoid him.
In addition to necessary safety considerations, it is more to avoid suspicion.
The second level is responsible for monitoring and protecting Naruto's ANBU ninjas.
They knew the significance and danger of tailed beasts and jinchuriki, but except for a few insiders such as Kakashi, most of them didn't know Naruto's identity.
The third level is the end of the Nine-Tails Rebellion. The chunin, genin and civilians have nowhere to avenge their grievances and have nowhere to vent their anger.
They didn't know the meaning of confidential words like tailed beasts and jinchūriki. They only knew that such a huge disaster had occurred, but no enemy was responsible for it. There was no outlet for the huge sadness and anger.
But after the Third Hokage allowed Danzo to spread rumors, they immediately sensitively connected the description in the rumors with Naruto's unique appearance.
At that time, Naruto had just started living alone.
With insufficient knowledge, they gathered together under the instigation of thoughtful people and grasped at straws, believing that Naruto was the reincarnation of the demon fox that destroyed the village and their kin-killing enemy. Therefore, they hated Naruto the most and regarded him as an outlet for their anger.
Although this statement has never been confirmed by village officials, it has never been refuted. The only requirement of the village for these people is that they are absolutely not allowed to say the two forbidden words "Kyuubi" and "Demon Fox" in front of Naruto, but not everyone can do it.
As for this group of people and the last level, they didn't know what would happen if they completely angered Naruto.
The fourth and final level is filled with children from the village.
The Jonin children were told not to get too close to Naruto and had little chance of getting along with him.
Children from chunin, genin and ordinary families were told that Naruto was an inherently evil monster who deliberately wanted to do bad things, and was an uneducated orphan. He survived because of the tolerance of the village's senior officials.
Instilled in this discriminatory spirit, these children will naturally isolate Naruto and regard him as a public enemy and an object of contempt.
The ones who put additives in Naruto's detergent were the last batch of ignorant and cruel (stupid and bad?) children who thought they were doing good things for the village.
anyway.
The Third Hokage's words were like a hammer striking a bell, hitting the heart of the fat woman, but it also surprised Uchiha Flame. He thought that the Third Hokage was here to make peace, or to simply stand by the civilians who were "bullied" by Uchiha.
"Sandaime-sama...please forgive that child..."
The fat woman knelt down and prayed sincerely: "Hikomasa, he has always wanted to become a ninja, just like his grandfather..."
"It's not me who should forgive him, it's the two children who were hurt because of his actions."
Sandaime tilted his head towards Giyu and Naruto.
"I don't need it." Giyu's cold voice came.
"..."
Everyone automatically ignored this sentence.
The Third Hokage turned around, smiled at the two children, and then glanced at the crowd of spectators.
"Everyone, I have said many times that all residents of Konoha Village are trustworthy relatives and partners, and there is no reason to hate or treat each other differently."
"I hope everyone can take a lesson from what happened today and restrain their families. It's time to eat now, so I won't waste everyone's time..."
"Stop."
Giyu spoke up and stopped the crowd who were about to leave.
He lifted the plastic bag of milk with his unburned hand and looked around.
"Who is it that sells these expired milk to Naruto at full price?"
He wanted to settle this matter while this perfunctory Hokage was here.
What the Third Hokages just said seemed to say something, but it sounded like they didn't say anything at all.
He absolutely couldn't let these people go like this. He had to make sure that Naruto could buy normal food in the future, so that his worries could be resolved.
"Yeah, sorry, it's me."
A middle-aged man walked out quickly, "Sorry, I must have read the wrong date this morning. I'll change it right away..."
"Will you get it wrong again in the future?"
Giyu tilted his head, causing the boss's expression to freeze. He glanced at the Third Hokage with the old god next to him, "No, it won't happen anymore."
"Hokage-sama."
Giyu raised his head, "If Naruto buys expired or almost spoiled food in the future, can I take him to you directly?"
"Of course." The Third Hokage nodded with a smile.
He promised in a loud voice, obviously not just for Giyu to hear.
"But we'll talk about these things later. Let me take you and Naruto to Konoha Hospital first, so that no scars will be left."
"The medical expenses?"
"Yes, I'm sorry, of course it's me."
The fat woman wiped her face and stood up, "Also, there is additional compensation. I will pay it all one by one. Please, please forgive that ignorant child..."
"Okay, the village will send someone to handle the next thing, including the compensation figure, we will also calculate it."
Sarutobi Hiruzen then looked at Uchiha Flame, "Tell Fugaku and I will ensure that Giyu gets the best treatment. Also, be less impulsive and you will have no problem becoming a Jonin."
"……yes."
Uchiha Flame lowered his head, this time the farewell ceremony was quite standard.
…
Naruto didn't speak a word all the way to Konoha Hospital, and Third Hokage didn't say anything to him. He just asked Giyu if he was in pain and how he was getting along with his family recently.
After bringing the two of them into the ward, he smiled and said: "Grandpa will find the best doctor here for you. You can stay here honestly for now, okay?"
He had already heard that Naruto was almost affected by the Nine-Tails chakra, so he had to find a doctor he could trust and arrange for him to check Naruto's body, which would take some time.
After he left, Naruto turned his head around like a puppet on wind up and said dryly again: "Giyu, I'm sorry."
If it weren't for his weird body...
"It's fine."
When Giyu poured the thing down, he gathered chakra in his hand. Coupled with the precise control of the transparent world, the liquid did not damage the blood vessels on the back of his hand, but it looked more serious.
"You, why did you do this for me?"
Naruto pressed his knees uneasily. Although he was still wrapped in gauze, his hands were completely fine.
He had wanted to ask this question for a long time, but last time he was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Grandpa Hokage.
"Obviously we just met..."
"Naruto."
Giyu looked at those blue eyes very seriously and replied: "Your health is really important to me."
This is true in both senses.
"Woo..."
Unable to hold back his tears any longer, Naruto suddenly threw himself into Giyu's arms and howled as if he was born anew, causing everyone on the entire floor to subconsciously stop their movements.
[Giyu, I, I won’t be afraid of those people anymore...]
[I will find psychological support as you said. 】
[I will never be swayed by the malice of these people again! 】
Maybe he can't do it yet, but the idea has taken root.
"Naruto……"
Giyu looked at his yellow hair and asked thoughtfully: "Do you want to have a brother?"
[Rengoku, I remember, likes to take care of people more than Shisui, right? 】
Naruto's crying suddenly became intermittent, he raised his head suddenly and nodded heavily.
"I think."
Giyu nodded: "I understand."
At this point, in order to realize Naruto's wish to have another older brother, Giyu's motivation to resurrect Rengoku Kyojuro has been further strengthened.
But what he didn't know was that the brother Naruto mentioned and the brother he thought were not the same person from the beginning.
Chapter 25 Naruto, do you want to have a brother? (End)
Half an hour later.
The moment Naruto plucked up the courage and stepped into the grocery store, he saw the proprietress who was chatting and laughing with the customers at the shelves a second ago. Suddenly she suddenly turned her head to look at him as if she smelled something strange..
Immediately afterwards, those small eyes squeezed out by fat suddenly became sharper than the most powerful ninja he had ever seen, walking towards him like a rhinoceros whose territory had been violated.
Naruto immediately forgot everything Giyu told him.
He hurriedly exited the store, but his left heel tripped on the threshold, and he suddenly fell backwards, but his shoulders were firmly held by Giyu who was now behind him.
【I will support you. 】
What Giyu said before was suddenly confirmed in a literal sense.
Even in the cold winter, Naruto suddenly felt warm in his heart.
But before he could thank him, the proprietress had already walked out with a long-handled brush on her hips, completely blocking the store door behind her. She was more intimidating than the two chunin guarding the entrance at Konoha's west gate.
"I told you before, you're absolutely not allowed to enter the store."
As if she was afraid of attracting the attention of the customers, the proprietress pointed the handle of the brush at Naruto and whispered through gritted teeth: "If people inside see you, how can I do business in the future?!"
This is an area where civilians and low-level ninjas gather. Many of them lost their loved ones in the events of that year, and they generally have hatred towards Naruto, who is rumored to be the "reincarnation of the demon fox". The strange thing is that Naruto lives not far away.
Then, the landlady saw Giyu behind Naruto.
Because Naruto was alone all the time, she never thought about other possibilities, and immediately added: "Look, you are blocking other customers! Get out of my way!"
Then, she turned her head to look at Giyu and laughed like a rice ball, "Little brother, what are you here to buy? Don't be afraid, he will leave soon."
This instant change in expression left Naruto, who was suddenly pushed aside, at a loss as to what to do.
"We are in this together."
Giyu grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him to his side. His tone was cold and unchallenged, "He is my friend, he not going anywhere."
Suddenly, the thin layer of snow in front of the porch of the grocery store was slowly pushed away by an invisible wave of wind.
Naruto and Giyu stood side by side in the center of a small open space, as if they were alone in the world.
【friend……】
Naruto was stunned for a moment, his eyes lingering on Giyu's resolute side.
[This is the first time Giyu has said this personally...]
That day a year ago, when Grandpa Hokage asked Naruto "Is this your new friend" as soon as he entered the door, he was still a little nervous, thinking that it would make Giyu unhappy.
But now I heard Giyu admit it on the spot, in front of the villagers who had been targeting him...
Just the next second, the joy that just surged out was immediately replaced by deep worry.
[If because of me, they treat Giyu the same way they treat me...]
He could no longer imagine it.
Before setting off, he only thought about what might happen to him, but never considered the consequences it might have on Giyu!
Sure enough, when Giyu said this, the landlady's slightly happy face immediately entered horror movie mode.
"Little brother, do you know who this kid is?"
She looked around the street and found that several passers-by and some neighbors were looking at her with gloomy expressions. She quickly said loudly like a performer: "This is a child who is born evil and has no one to discipline him. He spends all day on the street. Nothing to do. You'd better stay away from him. If your mother were here, she would do the same..."
"I'm not here to hear this, and my mother won't say such nonsense."
Giyu interrupted her and took out the detergent from the large plastic bag containing expired milk, "We are here to return it."
When she heard the word "return", the landlady's brows suddenly rose.
This is the most annoying word for small shop owners besides rent and inspection.
"ha?"
She sighed in disbelief, and then remembered that this thing was what she sold to Naruto that morning, and her narrow eyes immediately stared at it.
"Why, kid, could it be that no one at home taught you how to use it, so you just returned it?
"It is absolutely impossible to return something like detergent once it has been opened. Besides, do I dare to take back the things you have touched and put them on the shelf? Otherwise, you will be plagued by bad luck. There is no need to keep the store open."
"I tell you the truth, if it weren't for the village's order, I wouldn't even sell you a hair on the brush!"
She didn't care how much these heart-piercing words hurt Naruto, she kept saying them.
In fact, this was not only what she wanted to say, but also what she wanted to say for the onlookers to hear, otherwise she would probably be excluded as an alien.
Treating Naruto badly was not just a personal wish, it was a consensus that went without saying. As long as they do this, they will still be victims of the disaster.
"Go away quickly and disappear from here, or I will call the Uchiha Guards!"
When she bared her teeth, her bright red gums were exposed, and her white teeth were sharper than knives under the reflection of the snow light.
"Those people can't talk sense at all. If you arrest an undisciplined kid like you, you will never get out again!"
More and more people were passing by. Under the pressure of the gaze, the boss lady just wanted to get rid of these two literal "lost stars" as quickly as possible, but she inadvertently demonstrated a textbook level - how to insult two people in front of you at the same time.
【Uchiha...】
Naruto opened his eyes wide and looked at Giyu, who had a hint of gloom on his forehead.
[Isn’t that Giyu’s last name? 】
The boss's wife's last words diluted the impact of the words "no one to discipline" on Naruto.
"There is no Uchiha Guard, only Konoha Guard."
Giyu corrected the other person word by word. This was what he had heard his father warn his clan several times.
"Besides, there's a good reason for us to return it, Naruto."
He called out and Naruto responded immediately.
[When you truly face what you are afraid of and can no longer escape, you will have to defeat it. 】
At this moment, Giyu's words suddenly replaced the voice of Grandpa Hokage echoing in his head.
Naruto mustered up his courage, and under the gaze of more and more people around him, he took his bandaged hand out of his sleeve. The neat one on the right was tied by Giyu for him; the one on the left that looked a bit bloated was tied by Naruto himself. Because it was a little rough, it would inevitably put pressure on the wound, so during the wrapping process, blood flowed out and dyed the bandage red. What a big piece.
Suddenly there was an exclamation from the approaching crowd.
It was a woman with a child. She couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hands, with a trace of unbearability in her eyes.
It wasn't until others looked at her with suspicion that she recovered. She wanted to leave but didn't dare, because if she showed sympathy for Naruto, she would probably be gossiped about by those whose family members died in the disaster five years ago. .
These people didn't understand the complex vocabulary of tailed beasts and jinchūriki at all, so they could only use folk superstitions, guided by rumors from interested people, to regard Naruto as the reincarnation of the so-called demon fox and an outlet for hatred and anger.
And those who had nothing to lose in the Nine-Tails Rebellion joined it just to appear "social". At first it was just a pretense, but later it seemed as if they also had some deep hatred for the child.
In the end, there were very few ordinary people who were willing to treat Naruto with a normal heart. Currently, there was only the owner of the ramen shop and the owner of the adult bookstore in the corner who always welcomed everyone.
"What does it mean?!"
The grocery store proprietress spread her legs and pinched her waist, "I didn't put things away properly and smashed them with my hands. Are you going to sell them at my place?"
Giyu carefully observed the other person's expression.
As a member of the Demon Slayer team, you will inevitably have to deal with stubborn people whose family members have turned into demons.
When a person is lying or hiding something, Giyu can have some intuition even if he can't tell it from his expression.
But his intuition told him that the boss lady seemed really angry, and the reason she speculated that Naruto's hands were bandaged was not liquid corrosion, but something falling from a height and hitting his hand?
[Isn’t she aware? 】
"I……"
Naruto felt the pressure from all around. When he spoke for the first time, his voice became hoarse and sharp due to excessive tension.
Until Giyu touched his shoulder.
Naruto blinked, coughed and cleared his throat, and then explained: "After I got home, I washed the mop with a bottle of water, and then my hand started to hurt. As soon as I rinsed it with water, the skin on it started to fall off...."
"This is impossible!"
The fat woman interrupted Naruto angrily.
Because now it's not just a problem with this kid blocking the door and returning goods, but also a problem with the quality of her products. If people around her take her seriously, her reputation will be really bad.
"I have been selling this thing for more than ten years, and the situation you mentioned has never happened!"
Her eyes trembled back and forth like ping pong balls on a playing field, her eyes switching back and forth between the cold and ruthless and aggrieved and angry little faces.
She wasn't just talking, she really felt that her products would never have such problems.
So the problem must be with Naruto.
"You must be lying and want to come here to frame us!"
She raised her head, looked at the concerned neighbors around her and said loudly: "As you all know, this kid is born to be an evil freak. He must have seen a customer using flies to blackmail the boss while eating in a restaurant. He just learned it one by one."
"Yes, that's definitely the case. This kid has no one to discipline him. He wanders on the street every day. It's too easy to learn bad things."
In the crowd, the fat woman's neighbors were the first to respond.
Immediately afterwards, there was an overwhelming exchange of words.
"What's wrong with learning? He was born bad."
"It's so disgusting to look like that!"
"Besides, isn't it normal for him to be injured? Maybe it's God's retribution!"
"Why the village wanted to raise him, I really can't figure it out!"
"As a result, They actually raised a white-eyed wolf!"
The horrible nightmare that Naruto had rehearsed countless times in his mind still appeared.
When those words penetrated his heart one after another, they were a bit sharper than a knife.
And the knife not only penetrated his body, but also twisted and twisted, twisting Naruto's internal organs to pieces.
His face was as pale as death, and his bandaged fingers were shaking continuously like a telegraph. The injustices he had endured for more than three years were superimposed on the current scene, like a dark cloud condensing above his head, and suddenly changed. It turned into thick layers of heavy black silk, almost suffocating him to death on the spot.
Until a different voice suddenly came from the crowd.
"I think the kid next to him is gloomy, and he's not a good guy either!"
"If you hang out with this kind of monster, you're probably an orphan without a father or a mother."
(Giyu doesn’t have the clan emblem on his clothes today.)
"You look at that look and don't move. You must be an idiot to play with him..."
What Naruto was most worried about - that Giyu would be implicated by him - finally happened.
Suddenly, he felt as if a ball of fire rose from his abdomen, rushing toward his stiff limbs like a galloping army, dispelling countless clouds caused by past experiences on the spot.
His eye sockets and beard were suddenly dyed with a faint orange-red color, and his steaming mouth opened to shout without passing through the brain tissue.
"You are not allowed to—"
[Slander Giyu! ! ! 】
The reason why he didn't finish speaking was because a pair of warm hands blocked his ears.
The plain voice covered all other curses and curses, passing through his occiput and directly into his manic heart.
The owner of those hands is Giyu.
He was repeating what Master Urokodaki had done to him.
That was the hint Master Urokodaki gave him when he fell into great anger after Sabito died in the Final test.
"Don't be angry, Naruto, imagine the water..."
"Imagine calm water with no ripples..."
"No matter what someone says, it will be like a stone dropped into the water, sinking into it in a moment without a trace..."
"No one can hurt you with words, and no one can hurt me..."
On the roof not far away, Kakashi, who was about to perform the teleportation technique, interrupted his action.
He took off his mask and wiped the cold sweat from his head.
In the vision of the Three Tomoe Sharingan, the subtle red light on Naruto gradually disappeared.
[He didn’t face Naruto directly, and it couldn’t be the Sharingan...]
He thought, [What did Uchiha Giyu say that could actually make Naruto, a jinchuriki, stabilize his emotions instantly? 】
the most important is……
"Sandaime-sama, what should I do next?"
This was the first time in his history that he hoped that the Third Hokage could open up the crystal ball and take a look here.
…
Down below, because the crowd surrounded the two people for a long time and even cursed them more and more fiercely, they finally attracted the attention of the security team.
The person who came to find out what happened here was Uchiha Flame, who had failed the Jonin test again not long ago, and then committed the crime of underage drinking, and was assigned to patrol.
"Konoha Guards!"
He shouted outside the crowd, "Everyone, get out of my way!"
Ask the civilians of Konoha what they hate.
Answer: Naruto.
Ask the civilians of Konoha what they fear and hate.
Answer: Uchiha (Konoha) Guards.
Because these people are indifferent to food and drink, and do not eat hard or soft food, everyone feels inferior to them. Therefore, once the villagers are caught, no matter how big or small they are, they will all be taken away for investigation, and then interrogated with blood-red eyes, and they will be tortured. It left a strong psychological shadow on people.
Sure enough, when they heard the word "guard team", the people who had just been noisy and chaotic immediately fell silent and dispersed to both sides little by little, revealing the righteous and brave Naruto inside.
[Well, it’s this guy...]
Seeing Giyu, Uchiha Flame's eyes shrank, and he felt the pain from the wound that Uchiha Itachi intercepted halfway and hit with a shuriken last time.
But because his memory has been covered by Shisui's pupil power, he only remembers that Giyu can easily be placed as a genin, but the fact that Giyu can open the Sharingan has been forgotten, and the releaser of Water Dragon Bullet has also changed from Giyu to Shisui.
Although he doesn't like this boy (brother) very much, the Uchiha clan is famous for its unity.
Seeing his descendants surrounded by a bunch of adults on the street, Uchiha Giyu's face suddenly darkened.
As for Naruto, he had only met him before. He had not yet become a Jonin and was not qualified to know Naruto's life experience. He just regarded it as a strange person making strange friends, so he didn't find it strange at all.
"what happened?"
He crossed his arms and walked to the middle with a haughty expression.
Influenced by strength and family supremacy, Uchiha looks down on the weak, which is a traditional skill of young clanmen.
"You came just in time."
The fat woman forced a stiff smile and said, "These two kids falsely accused my store of selling them defective products..."
"ha?"
Uchiha Flame's mouth opened in a mocking arc.
Who in the entire Uchiha doesn't know that the patriarch has a son who can't lie at all.
Every time a clan member asked him "Is the clan leader at home?" he would answer truthfully.
"Uchiha Giyu, is that true?"
He turned his head and nodded to Giyu as a greeting.
"Do you know each other? He is also Uchiha..."
The landlady exclaimed, but saw Uchiha's enraged expression and immediately stopped talking.
"I didn't ask you, so don't talk."
The landlady dared not speak out in anger, so she could only retreat to the side angrily.
Seeing Uchiha Flame choking this terrifying woman without uttering a word, Naruto's eyes showed a hint of admiration.
[Although he is a bit domineering, he is so cool...]
"There's something really wrong with that thing."
Giyu answered Uchiha Flame's question, "Naruto is the person involved, you can ask him directly."
Uchiha Flame's eyes moved to Naruto's face.
Seeing that an adult was finally willing to listen to him seriously, Naruto broke free from the previous discomfort and told everyone what he had experienced in the morning.
"He lied!"
The proprietress couldn't help it anymore and shouted loudly, "Our store has been open for more than ten years, and nothing like this has ever happened! Besides, the detergent will not expire or deteriorate, how could it burn his hands!" "
Then, she looked around for support, "You are all my neighbors. You should know that it is impossible for me to do something like this to destroy my own brand."
"That is to say, who knows if that kid's hands were burned."
"Maybe he is not hurt at all, he is just pretending to be pitiful..."
There was another buzz in the crowd.
Uchiha Flame only felt noisy and a little dizzy.
"Naruto's wounds were bandaged by me."
Giyu said solemnly, "The entire epidermal layer has fallen off."
Uchiha Fire took a breath of air.
The injury wasn't serious, but I couldn't bear the feeling of the image rushing over my face, followed immediately by the imaginary severe pain.
"You came with him, who knows whether what you said is true or false?"
There were doubts in the crowd.
"We also have ninjas here. You can tell at a glance whether he is injured or not."
"Tell him to take off the bandage!"
"Yes, it will be clear after just one look!"
"These two brats are definitely lying."
Seeing the crowd becoming angry again, Uchiha Flame also hesitated.
Uchiha valued his reputation most, and it would be unpleasant to spread the word about such a big incident if it didn't convince the public.
He looked at Giyu: "How about it? Are you willing?"
He has full confidence in Giyu, who has always had a "good reputation". After the bandage is removed, these people should be able to shut their mouths.
"Naruto?"
When Giyu turned to Naruto, he found that Naruto's expression was very strange. It was green and white. Even with his poor ability to distinguish emotions, he could tell that the latter was very unstable now.
Not the sudden heart-stopping anger like just now, but fear.
The kind of fear one feels after seeing a demo .
"What’s wrong with you?"
Although they had only been together for a few hours, Giyu could tell from Naruto's behavior of hiding his injuries even if he had to wear gloves, that he was very strong-willed and would not be afraid of being like this just because he had to remove the bandage.
"my hand……"
Naruto folded his bandaged hands as if to hide something, "It's itchy."
Naruto, who has had the experience of being injured, knows exactly what this means!
Usually it would be like a scratch on his leg or something, and it would only take a few minutes at most to heal, and he would also be itchy at that time.
But the wound that had not healed when the medicine was applied just now started to heal. He simply couldn't imagine what everyone would say after he took off the bandage and saw his palm that may have been intact. Come……
By then, it was confirmed that he was not just "lying".
Giyu can also...
Thinking of this, Naruto felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave and his face was ashen. He didn't understand why it was at this time, when he could get something for himself, when Giyu wanted to help him regardless of other people's eyes. But his body is going against him!
"Yes, I'm sorry..."
He didn't dare look into Giyu's eyes because he felt like a traitor.
Giyu said nothing, his eyes became deeper than usual, and he easily caught the red chakra flowing out wantonly. It was that thing, that thing that seemed to be trapped in Naruto's body, that suddenly decided to help Naruto recover from his injuries.
Completely opposite to the trickle before.
"Hey, what are you waiting for?"
The people around him urged angrily, "You're not saying you're burned, just let us take a look."
"Are you feeling guilty?"
"Let's just say this kid must be lying!"
This time, Naruto didn't shed any tears.
He said to Giyu like a corpse, "I'm sorry, Giyu, let's go..."
At least, it won't be any more ugly than after being "revealed".
He had already made up his mind. When he returned home, he would ask Grandpa Hokage to send him to a place where Giyu could not find him. He had no shame anymore——
But the next second, Giyu loudly said to the people around him: "I can't let Naruto take off the gauze."
With force of his thumb, he suddenly pried open the cap of the bottle of detergent, "But I can also prove that there is something wrong with this thing."
After speaking, he poured the brown liquid inside onto his left hand without waiting for anyone to react.
"laugh--"
A harsh sound spread along with the stench, and the faces of the onlookers changed drastically. They all took a step back, covering their mouths and noses in unison, while the timid ones turned back.
Only Giyu looked normal.
"What's wrong with your mind?!"
It was Uchiha Flame who made an angry noise. He pinched Giyu's hand in panic and examined it carefully.
As for Naruto, he was petrified on the spot and looked like he couldn't even breathe.
You know, the skin on his hands was just diluted with water in the mop bucket.
But Giyu fell in his hands...
"Can you prove it now?"
Giyu looked at the fat woman coldly, who was so scared that she clung to the door of her shop.
"Tell me, what's going on?!"
Uchiha Flame asked angrily, "This smell and color are obviously the blood of the giant millipede in the Death Forest. It is extremely corrosive to humans. The Earth Kingdom specializes in using this kind of thing to torture female prisoners and destroy their appearance. Why do you add this kind of thing to the detergent?!"
Some genin and chunin in the crowd of onlookers also nodded, obviously recognizing Uchiha Flame's judgment.
This is the basic knowledge learned in ninja school.
"I-I didn't do such a thing!"
The fat woman was completely confused, "I didn't. When I took this thing -"
Her voice stopped suddenly, as if she had remembered something important, and she dramatically pressed her lips as thick as a sausage. The originally panicked look gradually became calmer.
[She is hiding it. 】
Giyu's brows moved.
【Conceal it for others. 】
"Take it?"
Uchiha Flame raised his eyebrows, "Took what? You mean, this bottle has passed through other people's hands?"
The fat woman stared at him closely, then pointed at Giyu and Naruto as if grasping a life-saving straw and said: "It must be them. They added this thing in order to blackmail me, and then came to frame me!"
"Blackmailing you? Will he blackmail you?"
Uchiha Flame laughed angrily.
Will our Uchiha clan leader’s family be short of money?
This guy can easily buy a whole salmon. Will he be short of money?
His eyes suddenly turned red, and the three tomoe stones rotated strangely and slowly, "If you don't tell the truth, do you want me to help you?"
This time, the proprietress who didn't understand the principle of Sharingan was really frightened, and all kinds of legends about the police force flooded into her mind.
But she seemed to have a fire in her heart and shouted back: "Your surname is Uchiha, and his surname is Uchiha. Of course you are speaking for him! Look, everyone, this is Konoha Guard. The team actually helped these two kids throw dirty water on me!"
However, this time, no one helped her.
Uchiha Flame was about to cast an illusion directly on her, but he heard an old voice saying: "Uchiha Flame, wait a moment."
An old man in a white robe and two masked ninjas walked in from outside the crowd.
"Third Hokages."
"It's the Third Hokage!"
"Hokage-sama."
The Sandaime didn't smile, just nodded in response to their greetings, and then walked over to Giyu and Naruto.
But the two children ignored him. Uchiha Flame just gave a formal salute, focusing entirely on the two Anbu.
One of them, you can tell just by looking at his hair, is Kakashi of the Sharingan.
The Third Hokage looked at the fat woman.
When she saw the Third Hokage, the landlady not only did not show a saved look in her eyes, but her face became even paler.
"I remember...you are Masayoshi's daughter, right?"
He sounded nostalgic.
"……yes."
"I heard that you have a son named Hikomasa?"
"Yes." The fat woman buried her face and automatically added, "He, he went to ninja school."
"Did Naruto go there after shopping this morning?"
"yes……"
There is no need to hide it, if you are Hokage-sama, you can find out everything.
"Every morning, Hikomasa and his friends gather at your house before going to school, right?"
"yes……"
"Did they see Naruto this morning?"
The fat lady was silent for a long time, and finally replied exhaustedly: "Yes."
"I heard that their two-day course is to learn to identify dangerous creatures around Konoha."
Sarutobi Hiruzen stroked his beard, "But in the laboratory of the Ninja School, a giant millipede just disappeared yesterday. If I guessed correctly, you asked Hikomasa to bring you the bottle of detergent this morning, and then It's up to you to hand it to Naruto, right?"
The fat woman seemed to have been punched hard by Tsunade, and slammed the store door behind her, and then cried and said: "Sandaime-sama, there must be a misunderstanding here, Hikomasa has always been very timid. , it must be those friends of his..."
"No need to say it."
Sandai waved his hand and interrupted, "The village will find out what happens next. Regardless of whether Hikomasa is the mastermind or not, he and his friends are suspected of harming their fellow villagers. I cannot agree with such a child that he can Become a ninja!"
Kakashi, who came with the Third Hokage, was not surprised. He even had a rough guess.
Such a reckless thing is not something an adult can do.
In secret, Kakashi divided the people of Konoha's understanding of Naruto's identity into four levels.
The first level is the jounin who participated in the jounin conference that year after the Nine-Tails Rebellion.
Most of them had fought alongside the Fourth Hokage and knew Naruto's identity.
Besides that, they know what a tailed beast is and what a jinchūriki is. We also know under what circumstances a jinchūriki may go berserk and other abnormal situations.
So whenever these people found Naruto in the village, they would take the initiative to avoid him.
In addition to necessary safety considerations, it is more to avoid suspicion.
The second level is responsible for monitoring and protecting Naruto's ANBU ninjas.
They knew the significance and danger of tailed beasts and jinchuriki, but except for a few insiders such as Kakashi, most of them didn't know Naruto's identity.
The third level is the end of the Nine-Tails Rebellion. The chunin, genin and civilians have nowhere to avenge their grievances and have nowhere to vent their anger.
They didn't know the meaning of confidential words like tailed beasts and jinchūriki. They only knew that such a huge disaster had occurred, but no enemy was responsible for it. There was no outlet for the huge sadness and anger.
But after the Third Hokage allowed Danzo to spread rumors, they immediately sensitively connected the description in the rumors with Naruto's unique appearance.
At that time, Naruto had just started living alone.
With insufficient knowledge, they gathered together under the instigation of thoughtful people and grasped at straws, believing that Naruto was the reincarnation of the demon fox that destroyed the village and their kin-killing enemy. Therefore, they hated Naruto the most and regarded him as an outlet for their anger.
Although this statement has never been confirmed by village officials, it has never been refuted. The only requirement of the village for these people is that they are absolutely not allowed to say the two forbidden words "Kyuubi" and "Demon Fox" in front of Naruto, but not everyone can do it.
As for this group of people and the last level, they didn't know what would happen if they completely angered Naruto.
The fourth and final level is filled with children from the village.
The Jonin children were told not to get too close to Naruto and had little chance of getting along with him.
Children from chunin, genin and ordinary families were told that Naruto was an inherently evil monster who deliberately wanted to do bad things, and was an uneducated orphan. He survived because of the tolerance of the village's senior officials.
Instilled in this discriminatory spirit, these children will naturally isolate Naruto and regard him as a public enemy and an object of contempt.
The ones who put additives in Naruto's detergent were the last batch of ignorant and cruel (stupid and bad?) children who thought they were doing good things for the village.
anyway.
The Third Hokage's words were like a hammer striking a bell, hitting the heart of the fat woman, but it also surprised Uchiha Flame. He thought that the Third Hokage was here to make peace, or to simply stand by the civilians who were "bullied" by Uchiha.
"Sandaime-sama...please forgive that child..."
The fat woman knelt down and prayed sincerely: "Hikomasa, he has always wanted to become a ninja, just like his grandfather..."
"It's not me who should forgive him, it's the two children who were hurt because of his actions."
Sandaime tilted his head towards Giyu and Naruto.
"I don't need it." Giyu's cold voice came.
"..."
Everyone automatically ignored this sentence.
The Third Hokage turned around, smiled at the two children, and then glanced at the crowd of spectators.
"Everyone, I have said many times that all residents of Konoha Village are trustworthy relatives and partners, and there is no reason to hate or treat each other differently."
"I hope everyone can take a lesson from what happened today and restrain their families. It's time to eat now, so I won't waste everyone's time..."
"Stop."
Giyu spoke up and stopped the crowd who were about to leave.
He lifted the plastic bag of milk with his unburned hand and looked around.
"Who is it that sells these expired milk to Naruto at full price?"
He wanted to settle this matter while this perfunctory Hokage was here.
What the Third Hokages just said seemed to say something, but it sounded like they didn't say anything at all.
He absolutely couldn't let these people go like this. He had to make sure that Naruto could buy normal food in the future, so that his worries could be resolved.
"Yeah, sorry, it's me."
A middle-aged man walked out quickly, "Sorry, I must have read the wrong date this morning. I'll change it right away..."
"Will you get it wrong again in the future?"
Giyu tilted his head, causing the boss's expression to freeze. He glanced at the Third Hokage with the old god next to him, "No, it won't happen anymore."
"Hokage-sama."
Giyu raised his head, "If Naruto buys expired or almost spoiled food in the future, can I take him to you directly?"
"Of course." The Third Hokage nodded with a smile.
He promised in a loud voice, obviously not just for Giyu to hear.
"But we'll talk about these things later. Let me take you and Naruto to Konoha Hospital first, so that no scars will be left."
"The medical expenses?"
"Yes, I'm sorry, of course it's me."
The fat woman wiped her face and stood up, "Also, there is additional compensation. I will pay it all one by one. Please, please forgive that ignorant child..."
"Okay, the village will send someone to handle the next thing, including the compensation figure, we will also calculate it."
Sarutobi Hiruzen then looked at Uchiha Flame, "Tell Fugaku and I will ensure that Giyu gets the best treatment. Also, be less impulsive and you will have no problem becoming a Jonin."
"……yes."
Uchiha Flame lowered his head, this time the farewell ceremony was quite standard.
…
Naruto didn't speak a word all the way to Konoha Hospital, and Third Hokage didn't say anything to him. He just asked Giyu if he was in pain and how he was getting along with his family recently.
After bringing the two of them into the ward, he smiled and said: "Grandpa will find the best doctor here for you. You can stay here honestly for now, okay?"
He had already heard that Naruto was almost affected by the Nine-Tails chakra, so he had to find a doctor he could trust and arrange for him to check Naruto's body, which would take some time.
After he left, Naruto turned his head around like a puppet on wind up and said dryly again: "Giyu, I'm sorry."
If it weren't for his weird body...
"It's fine."
When Giyu poured the thing down, he gathered chakra in his hand. Coupled with the precise control of the transparent world, the liquid did not damage the blood vessels on the back of his hand, but it looked more serious.
"You, why did you do this for me?"
Naruto pressed his knees uneasily. Although he was still wrapped in gauze, his hands were completely fine.
He had wanted to ask this question for a long time, but last time he was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Grandpa Hokage.
"Obviously we just met..."
"Naruto."
Giyu looked at those blue eyes very seriously and replied: "Your health is really important to me."
This is true in both senses.
"Woo..."
Unable to hold back his tears any longer, Naruto suddenly threw himself into Giyu's arms and howled as if he was born anew, causing everyone on the entire floor to subconsciously stop their movements.
[Giyu, I, I won’t be afraid of those people anymore...]
[I will find psychological support as you said. 】
[I will never be swayed by the malice of these people again! 】
Maybe he can't do it yet, but the idea has taken root.
"Naruto……"
Giyu looked at his yellow hair and asked thoughtfully: "Do you want to have a brother?"
[Rengoku, I remember, likes to take care of people more than Shisui, right? 】
Naruto's crying suddenly became intermittent, he raised his head suddenly and nodded heavily.
"I think."
Giyu nodded: "I understand."
At this point, in order to realize Naruto's wish to have another older brother, Giyu's motivation to resurrect Rengoku Kyojuro has been further strengthened.
But what he didn't know was that the brother Naruto mentioned and the brother he thought were not the same person from the beginning.
