Chapter 210: Menma’s Ambition, A New Era Of Ninjas!
Menma brought Kushina into Naruto’s apartment living room.
A scent mixed with expired food and long loneliness hit her face, making Kushina instantly hold her breath.
The living room was small and messy.
An old wooden table was piled high with empty milk cartons and instant noodle cups, some instant noodle cups still containing dried sauce and noodle crumbs.
Attracting several flies buzzing around.
The corner of the wall had several changed clothes scattered.
The kitchen was even more unbearable, with unwashed dishes piled in the sink, the stove top covered in grease and food residue, and the trash can overflowing.
Kushina’s heart felt gripped tightly by an icy hand.
She staggered to the table, tremblingly picked up an empty milk carton, flipped to the side, and the expiration date had long passed.
She picked up an instant noodle cup again, the pungent smell of the cheap seasoning packet mixed with the rancid smell of overnight soup water, making even her reanimated body churn in her stomach.
“Naruto… just eats this…” Kushina’s voice was dry and hoarse, thick with a sobbing tone.
She couldn’t imagine how Naruto lived day after day in this cold, dirty, messy house.
Her gaze fell on the sofa armrest, where an old red scarf was draped.
The scarf’s yarn was worn and pilled, the color faded to white, and the edges even frayed.
Kushina walked over, picking up the scarf carefully as if holding a rare treasure.
The cold, rough texture came, and it seemed to still hold a trace of Naruto’s aura.
She hugged the scarf tightly to her chest, pressing her cold cheek against the rough yarn. The reanimated body couldn’t shed tears, but the heart-piercing pain made her whole body tremble.
Menma stood silently to the side, his deep blue eyes scanning the dirty, messy apartment without any comment, but a flash of anger passed deep in his eyes.
At the same time, Konoha Park.
The winter afternoon sunlight carried a false warmth, sparsely sprinkling on the snow-covered slide and swing set.
There weren’t many children in the park, most bundled tightly by parents, gathered in the wind-sheltered pavilion to play.
“Brother Menma! Higher! Higher!” Naruto’s excited shout broke the park’s silence.
He wore a washed-out white orange jacket, his little face frozen red, yet beaming with pure joy, sitting on a swing, kicking his short legs hard.
Behind him, one of Menma’s shadow clones was pushing him steadily.
“Be careful, I won’t care if you fall.” Shadow Clone Menma’s tone was indifferent, but his hands pushed the swing with just the right force, making Naruto swing higher.
“I won’t fall! I’m the man who’s going to become Hokage!” Naruto shouted proudly, his blond hair bouncing in the sunlight.
“When I become Hokage, I’ll make everyone acknowledge me! Brother Menma, then I’ll treat you to the best Ichiraku Ramen! A hundred bowls!”
Shadow Clone Menma’s mouth seemed to twitch, not picking up on the “hundred bowls” bit.
After playing for a while, Menma gradually stopped pushing the swing, pulled a bag of potato chips from his pocket, and handed it over: “Here.”
“Wow! Thanks, Brother Menma!” Naruto cheered, eagerly tearing open the package, crunching away, his cheeks stuffed full like a happy little squirrel.
Only in front of Menma could he temporarily forget those ubiquitous cold stares and malicious words.
Just as Naruto was eating happily, a “woman” wearing a dark green cotton jacket and carrying a simple fruit basket walked over somewhat awkwardly.
Her face was pale with a sickly look, but her eyes were unusually gentle, stopping in front of the two boys.
“Two… two little brothers,” Kushina’s voice was a bit nervous, trying to make her tone sound natural.
“Would you like… to buy some fruit? Very fresh…” She pushed the fruit basket forward, inside bright red apples and yellow oranges gleaming temptingly, with several plump, juicy big peaches especially eye-catching.
Naruto shrank his neck reflexively at the approach of a stranger, stopping his chewing, a flash of vigilance and unease in his blue eyes, his little hand instinctively gripping the swing rope.
He was used to being chased away and hated, instinctively afraid of strangers approaching proactively.
Shadow Clone Menma glanced at the woman, his gaze on her fruit basket, then naturally spoke: “How much for the peaches?”
“Ah? Oh… very… very cheap…” Kushina hadn’t expected the shadow clone to ask the price proactively, pointing flustered at the largest peach.
“This one… just fifty taels each…” The price was ridiculously low.
“Give me two.” Shadow Clone Menma pulled out a hundred taels and handed it over.
Kushina quickly took the money, carefully selecting the two largest, reddest peaches from the fruit basket, wiping them carefully with a clean cloth before handing them to Shadow Clone Menma.
Shadow Clone Menma took the peaches, keeping one for himself and stuffing the other directly into the hand of Naruto, who was still a bit dazed beside him.
“Here, for you.”
Naruto stared blankly at the big, red peach in his hand, emanating a sweet fragrance, then looked up at the unfamiliar “Aunt” in front of him.
She didn’t look at him with disgust like others, but her eyes seemed to hold something he didn’t understand, but warm?
And Brother Menma gave him the biggest peach to eat!
The joy of being favored overwhelmed Naruto’s vigilance and unease instantly.
A brilliant, even a bit silly smile bloomed on his little face, his blue eyes sparkling like small lakes full of sunlight.
“Thanks, Aunt! Thanks, Brother Menma!” he said loudly, his voice full of pure happiness.
That “Thanks, Aunt” pierced Kushina’s heart like an arrow with barbs.
Her ashen hand clenched tightly under the fruit basket, forcing a smile, her voice trembling: “No need to thank… eat it quick… very sweet…”
Naruto nodded vigorously, eagerly hugging the big peach and taking a big bite, sweet juice filling his mouth instantly, and he happily squinted his eyes.
Shadow Clone Menma checked the time of day and said to Naruto: “It’s getting late, time to go back.”
Naruto was a bit reluctant but nodded obediently: “Yeah! Bye, Aunt!”
He hugged the half-eaten peach, bouncing and jumping away with Menma toward the apartment, his golden hair leaping in the sunset like a small flame.
Watching Naruto and Menma’s backs disappear in the park, Kushina’s tense body suddenly relaxed, the ashen undertone and paper tear stains at her eye corners reappearing.
She greedily gazed in the direction Naruto and Menma left, as if to engrave that small back forever into her soul.
The main body Menma walked silently out from behind the park trees, coming to Kushina’s side.
“Thanks…” Kushina’s voice was extremely hoarse, she turned her head, her gray-white eyes looking deeply at her eldest son beside her, filled with inexpressible gratitude and complex pain.
“Thanks… for always taking care of Naruto… giving him… at least a little warmth.”
Menma’s gaze fell on the distant street corner where Naruto disappeared:
“That’s my brother, after all.”
Night fell, Konohagakure lit up with lights, yet unable to dispel the coldness and disappointment settled deep in Kushina’s heart.
Menma brought her again to the open area overlooking Hokage Rock.
The massive stone carvings stood silently in the night, Minato’s face somewhat blurred in the shadows.
Kushina wrapped her cotton jacket tighter, looking up at her husband’s statue. The reanimated body felt no cold, but her heart was cooler than this winter night.
The Konoha she saw with her own eyes was filled with suspicion, indifference, and rumors like poisonous fog, cruelly neglecting the hero’s orphan.
All this was far from the village in her memory, full of vitality, with contradictions but generally united.
Was this the place Minato guarded with his life?
Deep disappointment entwined her soul, followed by doubt about the choice back then.
Was sacrificing herself and her child for the village really worth it?
If… if there had been another choice back then, would Naruto and Menma not have to endure this?
“Mom, time to go back.” A hand pressed on Kushina’s shoulder, Menma’s voice sounding beside her.
Kushina took one last deep look at Minato’s statue, as if engraving all her questions and unwillingness into the stone.
Then the two disappeared into Konoha’s winter night.
Star Capital, Menma’s mansion courtyard.
On the veranda, Kushina dispelled the dark green cotton jacket and illusion disguise, revealing again the reanimated ashen body and face covered in cracks.
She stood silently on the veranda edge, gazing at the night scene completely different from Konoha.
The administrative zone and military zone were at higher elevation, allowing Kushina to see directly from the courtyard the distant lights of myriad homes like a starry river fallen to the mortal world, dazzling, full of vitality.
Lamp posts like glowing ribbons connected towering modern buildings.
Even in the winter night, the streets were bustling with traffic, faint lively sounds from the distant commercial zone audible.
Warmth, prosperity, an aura full of hope hit her face, forming a stark contrast with the cold, oppressive Konoha she had just left.
“Menma…” Kushina’s voice rang in the quiet courtyard, heavy: “Your ambition… must be great, right?”
She turned, her reanimated gray eyes staring straight into the calm deep blue eyes of the boy beside her: “Building such a country… gathering such power… what you want to do is far more than just holing up in one corner.”
Menma met his mother’s gaze without evasion.
He walked to the veranda edge, standing shoulder to shoulder with Kushina, also overlooking this brilliantly lit city that belonged to him.
The night wind blew his black messy hair, the boy’s handsome profile appearing especially profound in the light and shadow.
“Ambition?” Menma’s voice was low and clear.
“I just… want to end this chaotic era.”
He raised his hand, pointing to the distant brilliant starry river city, as if pointing to the entire vast, war-torn Ninja Continent: “Ninja families abound, the Five Great Nations strive against each other, small countries live precariously… hatred like a plague, passed down through slaughter and betrayal, endless. Every brief peace is just the gestation period for the next larger war.”
His tone carried insight far beyond the era: “I want to break all this. Make the Ninja World have only one country, one unified will. Make all ninjas belong to one ninja village, act under one system. Reduce those meaningless hatreds and wars born from region, family, country to the minimum.”
He paused, his gaze becoming more profound, as if piercing through the prosperous night scene: “Then… concentrate all human power and wisdom, no longer consumed in mutual slaughter, but develop together. Make chakra no longer just a tool of slaughter, make ninjutsu… serve all humanity’s survival and prosperity.”
Kushina listened quietly, her reanimated face full of shock.
Unify the Ninja World?
What a shocking, outrageous grand ambition!
This was grander and more radical than the First Hokage Hashirama Senju establishing Konoha and dividing the Tails!
She looked at her son’s calm side profile brimming with immense determination, feeling for the first time so clearly that the little baby who never cried back then had grown into a titan capable of shaking the entire Ninja World.
“This… this is too…” Kushina couldn’t find words for her inner shock.
“Think it’s unbelievable?” Menma turned his head, a faint arc at his mouth, with a bit of youthful slyness: “Want to see with your own eyes… another way ninja power is used in the new era?”
Kushina was still immersed in the monumental wave of “unifying the Ninja World,” nodding subconsciously, her eyes full of intense curiosity.
Ninja’s new era usage?
Konoha Ninja Academy education and over twenty years of life experience left her puzzled.
Besides battle and missions, what else could ninjas do?
Menma reached out, gently grasping Kushina’s cold wrist.
The next moment, the two disappeared from the veranda!
The slight dizziness from spatial transfer faded, biting mountain wind mixed with snowflakes hitting her face.
Kushina found herself on a steep mid-mountain platform.
Below her feet was a bottomless dark canyon, deafening roar like ten thousand horses galloping in her ears!
It was the sound of a raging river roaring through a narrow channel.
She instinctively wrapped her cape tighter, looking forward. The scene made her instantly hold her breath, her gray eyes widening to the limit in shock!
The Ghost River canyon widened dramatically here.
The steep rock walls on both banks, as if cleaved by a giant axe, were now lit bright as day by countless brilliant lights!
The mountainside near their side of the canyon had been massively leveled and transformed, an unimaginably huge project underway in full swing!
At the canyon entrance stood a huge metal sign flashing with lights: 【Star Country First Construction Corporation—Ghost River Dam Project Command Post】.
As far as the eye could see, ant-like dense yet orderly flows of people and machinery!
On the gentle slope near the riverbank, over a dozen ninjas wearing standard Star Ninja vests formed a huge ring.
They pressed hands to the ground, chakra surging through their bodies, chanting in unison: “Earth Style: Earth Moving Core!”
Rumble!
With a muffled roar, large swaths of rock ahead rose, sank, and shaped rhythmically as if manipulated by invisible giant hands!
Hard rock became soft as mud under their combined power, shaped into sturdy bases and diversion channel forms needed for the massive dam body!
Another team of Water Style ninjas stood on a temporary platform, hand sealing toward the surging main stream of the Ghost River below: “Water Style: Water Array Wall Technique!”
No longer offensive Water Style, but massive water walls precisely guided and diverted!
The violent river water was forcibly contained and tamed, surging into two wide artificial channels newly dug and reinforced by the Earth Style ninjas beside, yielding precious dry land for the main dam construction area!
Huge crane arms emitted heavy hums, precisely hoisting house-sized precast reinforced concrete components to designated positions.
Workers in orange reflective vests and safety helmets shuttled like worker ants amid steel frames and concrete jungles, welding sparks flickering like stars in the night.
Deafening pile-driving, machinery roars, command whistles, and megaphone orders wove together into a shocking “construction symphony”!
What amazed Kushina even more was that ninjas and ordinary people here were not divided, but closely collaborating!
An experienced engineer holding blueprints was explaining the next stage bedrock reinforcement mechanics to a young ninja who had just finished Earth Release ninjutsu, sweat on his forehead.
The ninja listened intently, nodding occasionally, suggesting chakra output adjustments.
Several workers pushing a cart full of building materials were easily transported to high places under the tailwind created by a Wind Release ninja’s “Wind Release: Airflow Manipulation.”
Even medical ninjas could be seen shuttling the site, quickly treating workers who accidentally got minor injuries.
Ninjas’ extraordinary power here was no longer a weapon reaping lives, but a great tool for moving mountains, filling seas, transforming nature!
The core engine driving the project forward at high speed!
“This is the canyon area upstream of the Ghost River. Winter is the dry season, with minimal water flow, most suitable for base construction of such large hydraulic engineering.” Menma’s voice sounded in Kushina’s ear, overriding the canyon roar.
He pointed to the brightly lit, steel-beast-like massive dam outline rapidly “growing” in the canyon below, his tone calm yet carrying a sense of controlling the future.
“With direct participation of Earth Style and Water Style ninjas, it changes the long blasting and digging process of traditional engineering. Their power boosts construction speed by over 300%, even more.” Menma’s gaze swept over the ninjas altering terrain amid chakra glows.
“Once completed, this dam’s generators can stably supply electricity needs equivalent to a massive city of one million people. Making electricity no longer a privilege of big cities and few ninja villages, but light benefiting every ordinary family.”
He paused, pointing to the vast plains faintly visible downstream in the canyon, slumbering in the night:
“More importantly, the dam’s huge reservoir capacity, paired with precise hydraulic irrigation systems, will provide stable, abundant agricultural water for thousands of square kilometers of downstream plains. Drought and flood proof, fundamentally securing grain output. With sufficient grain, hearts stabilize, more industries can develop.”
Kushina stood dazed in the biting mountain wind, gazing at the brilliantly lit, fervently working grand site below her feet.
The deafening machinery roars and chakra fluctuations from ninjutsu, like the most powerful drumbeats, struck her heart lake frozen by Konoha’s coldness and cruelty.
She had never thought ninjas could be used this way?
She witnessed with her own eyes another possibility of ninja power beyond the battlefield, a creation, a construction, a power to change the world, benefiting the people!
This was worlds apart from her past perception of ninja life, and Konoha’s deep-seated ills she saw!
Menma’s words echoed in her mind, “end wars,” “unified will,” “concentrate power,” “develop together.”
These originally grand, elusive concepts became utterly clear and real before the majestic scene below of moving mountains, taming rivers!
She slowly turned her head, her reanimated gray eyes gazing deeply at her son beside her, whose face was calm but gaze seemed to pierce the future.
That young face lacked Minato’s sunny warm smile, but held a deeper, firmer confidence capable of bearing the entire Ninja World’s future.
The canyon’s cold wind whipped her red hair and cape, flapping loudly.
In the distance, the dam’s outline under countless lights resembled a giant dragon about to awaken, lying across the Ghost River and between the canyons.
She faintly began to anticipate the ninja new era Menma described, without wars between countries and ninja villages, where all lived in harmony.
