Chapter 234: Naruto’s Childhood Wasn’t Lonely
Konohagakure, the afternoon sunlight carried a touch of laziness, yet it couldn’t pierce the haze in certain corners.
Naruto Uzumaki held a large cardboard box almost half his height in his arms, walking somewhat laboriously on the way home.
The box was filled with instant noodle cups of various flavors, among which the most eye-catching were several beautifully packaged “limited edition flavor cups.”
This was the “strategic reserve food” he had just purchased from the “Kado Department Store” in the village center.
The Kado Department Store was a large shopping center newly opened in Konohagakure in recent years, with a dazzling array of goods at fair prices, quickly becoming the villagers’ top choice for shopping.
And for Naruto, this place held a special significance.
It was one of the few stores that wouldn’t look at him with strange eyes, wouldn’t chase him away, and wouldn’t deliberately sell him expired or inferior food.
He could even occasionally get little snacks secretly slipped to him by the staff or discounted items near expiration.
All because the behind-the-scenes boss of this mall was the mysterious Mr. Kado, and it was rumored in the village that Mr. Kado greatly admired a boy named Menma, whom he had taken as his adopted son, and Menma was Naruto’s best friend.
Although Naruto himself wasn’t entirely clear on the complex story behind this relationship, he could clearly feel the mall’s kindness toward him.
However, the mall’s kindness couldn’t isolate him from the village’s indifference.
Walking down the street with the box in his arms, those familiar whispers like maggots on the bone and cold stares once again quietly surged from all directions.
“Look… it’s that kid again…”
“Tch, buying so many instant noodles…”
“Stay away from him, he’s bad luck…”
“I don’t know what the Third Hokage is thinking…”
Those voices were very low, yet like needles, they precisely pierced into Naruto’s ears.
He tried to straighten his small back, pretending not to hear, quickened his steps, just wanting to quickly return to that “home” which, though empty, at least blocked these gazes.
Finally, he arrived at the familiar apartment building.
Naruto took a deep breath, used his shoulder to push open the stairwell door, and thud thud thud ran upstairs.
Standing in front of his home door, he silently took out the key and opened the door.
“Squeak—”
The door was pushed open, and a stuffy air mixed with instant noodle seasoning packets and a bit of mustiness hit him in the face.
Naruto habitually took a deep breath, then shouted with the loudest, most vibrant voice possible: “I’m home!”
The voice echoed in the empty hallway, and besides that, there was no other response.
The expectant light in his blue eyes quickly dimmed.
The room inside had no lights on, making it somewhat dim.
Naruto fumbled to press the switch on the wall.
Click.
Dim yellow light lit up, illuminating the scene inside—a mess.
Dirty clothes were casually thrown on the sofa, chairs, even the floor, balled up.
In the kitchen sink, a mountain of dirty bowls and chopsticks seemed to have been there for a long time, faintly emitting an unpleasant smell.
On the small table in the living room, there were even more eaten instant noodle cups not thrown away, some still with soup base not poured out.
Rather than calling this a “home,” it was more like a temporary stopping point, a neglected, lifeless dormitory.
Naruto seemed long accustomed to all this.
He laboriously moved the box of new instant noodles to the kitchen corner, where quite a few similar boxes were already piled.
He looked at the sink, his small face scrunched up, and finally decided… to wash them tomorrow.
Naruto walked to the sofa, pushed the few dirty clothes on it to the ground to make a small space for himself, then collapsed backward onto the sofa like his bones had been removed.
His body sank into the somewhat worn sofa cushion.
He lay on his back, staring blankly at the dusty lamp on the ceiling, his eyes empty.
Silence.
Dead silence.
Only the occasional sounds of laughter from other homes or the clatter of pots and pans outside the window faintly came through, further accentuating the cold emptiness inside the room.
“…So quiet…” Naruto muttered to himself, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible.
He buried his head in his knees, and after a while, suddenly lifted his head, as if to dispel this suffocating loneliness, leaping up from the sofa!
He ran to the center of the room, cleared his throat, puffed out his chest, put on a serious face, and said in what he thought was a mature rough voice: “Ahem! Naruto! Did you obediently listen to Iruka-sensei at school today? No being naughty! Work hard to become an excellent ninja!”
He was playing the role of the “dad” in his imagination.
Then, he quickly ran to the other side, hands on hips, deliberately raising his voice, imitating the gentle tone of mothers he had occasionally heard in his memory: “Little Naruto~ Are you hungry? Mom made something delicious~ Did you make any new friends today?”
He was playing the role of the “mom” in his imagination.
In this empty room, he put on a one-man show by himself, sometimes a stern father, sometimes a gentle mother, sometimes back to himself, answering the “parents'” questions.
“I was great today!”
“Ramen! I want to eat Ichiraku Ramen!”
“Menma, Choji, Kiba, they’re all my friends!”
But his performance gradually slowed, his voice getting lower and lower, until finally, he stopped, standing blankly in the center of the room.
Because he suddenly realized that he didn’t even know his parents’ names or what they looked like.
Grandpa Third never told him, and the villagers were tight-lipped about it.
“Dad… Mom…” Naruto lowered his head, looking at his dirty shoes, his voice carrying a barely detectable choke.
“If you were still alive… that would be great…”
Lunch was still a cup of instant noodles with hot water.
After eating, Naruto felt even more bored.
He longed for school to start, because at school there was at least Iruka-sensei, Menma, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba and other friends; they could attend class together, prank together, though often scolded, and do ninja training together.
Liveliness could dilute loneliness.
But now it was vacation.
Vacation meant everyone had their own families and things to do.
Shikamaru had to play shogi with his father or be forced to practice the family secret technique, Choji had to go to dinner parties with family or do Akimichi Clan physical training, Kiba had to do tracking practice…
Even his best friend Menma only seemed to come out to play with him regularly on weekends.
Most of the time, Naruto Uzumaki was alone.
The afternoon sunlight became a bit milder.
Naruto couldn’t stand the stuffiness in the room anymore and decided to go out for a walk.
He wandered aimlessly, and before he knew it, he arrived at the Naka River bank on the edge of the village.
This was a place he often came to.
The sound of the rippling river water could give him a moment of peace.
He found a flat stone to sit on, picked up small pebbles beside him, and threw them one by one into the river, watching the ripples spread in circles and then disappear.
He dazed like this, watching the sunset gradually dye the sky and river surface orange-red.
Just then, footsteps came from the path above the river embankment.
Naruto instinctively turned his head to look.
He saw Sasuke Uchiha with hands in his pockets, his cool little face tense, walking straight ahead from the embankment without looking sideways.
It looked like he had just finished training and was heading home.
Their gazes met unexpectedly in the air.
Instantly, it was as if invisible sparks crackled.
Naruto immediately turned his head away, letting out a clear “Hmph!” from his nose.
Sasuke also coldly snorted, lifting his chin even higher.
Just as the atmosphere between them was awkwardly and childishly confrontational, another voice with a somewhat lazy tone came from the river bank.
“Hey, you two, what are you doing here? Posing?”
Naruto turned his head in surprise and saw Menma with hands pillowed behind his head, sauntering over from downstream along the river bank, a habitual slightly teasing smile on his face.
“Menma!” Naruto shouted happily.
Sasuke saw Menma, and his already displeased mood flared up even more.
Standing on the embankment, looking down, he pointed at Menma and loudly said: “Menma! Just you wait! In next semester’s combat training class, I’ll definitely defeat you and take back the top spot in the grade!”
Last time in combat training, he was easily defeated by Menma, which he saw as a great humiliation, and he’d been crazily extra training with his brother Itachi Uchiha lately.
Menma dug in his ear, with a “here we go again” perfunctory expression, lazily dragging out his tone: “Ah—got it, got it, next semester’s matters can wait till next semester… Sasuke, you’re so nagging.”
With that, he ignored Sasuke, who was about to puff up like a balloon on the embankment, turned to Naruto with a smile: “Let’s go, Naruto, I’m hungry, let’s go eat Ichiraku Ramen. My treat.”
“Really? Awesome!” Naruto instantly threw his earlier gloom to the clouds, cheered, leaped up from the stone, and excitedly ran to Menma’s side.
The two hooked arms, chatting and laughing as they headed toward the village center, leaving Sasuke alone on the embankment, watching their departing backs, stomping his foot in anger, and finally could only puff his cheeks and run sulkily toward the Uchiha Compound.
…
Meanwhile, in the dense forest on the opposite bank of the Naka River, three figures quietly stood on a thick branch of a big tree, peering through the layered leaves from afar at everything happening on the other side of the river.
It was Menma’s true body, and his parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.
Watching the cheerful backs of Naruto and Menma’s shadow clone bickering and gradually moving away, Minato’s face showed a complex yet gratified smile. He gently sighed, reached out to pat Menma’s shoulder beside him, his voice mild and full of gratitude: “You’ve worked hard, Menma. Always… quietly taking care of Naruto like this.”
He could imagine that without Menma’s constant companionship and guidance, Naruto’s childhood would have been how dark and isolated.
Menma’s gaze also followed that bouncing blond figure, shook his head, tone flat but with a trace of imperceptible warmth: “It’s nothing, after all… he’s my little brother too.”
“And besides me, Naruto has lots of friends too. That cool guy just now, even though he bickers with Naruto, cares about him a lot. There’s also Iruka-sensei at school, Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba and other classmates… Naruto’s childhood isn’t lonely.”
Kushina standing beside them now slightly furrowed her brows, as if trying hard to recall something.
She pointed toward the direction where Sasuke had long disappeared on the embankment, somewhat uncertainly saying: “Right, that black-haired, smug little brat just now… he’s from the Uchiha family, right? I feel like he looks kinda familiar…”
Menma nodded, explaining: “Yeah, his name is Sasuke Uchiha, the youngest son of the current Uchiha Clan Head Fugaku.”
“Fugaku and Mikoto’s youngest son?” Kushina suddenly realized, a nostalgic look on her face: “No wonder he looks familiar! Mikoto is my best girlfriend! Back when I was pregnant with you and Naruto, we often went shopping together! She was carrying little Sasuke who was just born not long then… Time flies, in the blink of an eye, that kid’s grown this big, and become classmates with Naruto and them…”
Her tone carried a bit of marvel at the wonders of fate, and a bit of longing for her friend.
But now, she was a reanimated body, while her friend was still in Konoha, living what seemed a peaceful but actually turbulent life; the two were already in completely different worlds.
Minato reached out and gently held Kushina’s hand, silently offering comfort.
In the distance, the faint cheerful voices of Naruto and “Menma” arguing over what toppings to add faintly came, adding a touch of warm vitality to this serene dusk.
The three gradually blended into the twilight of the Konoha forest.
“Hurry up, Menma! I’m starving!” Naruto ran while looking back to urge his companion following unhurriedly behind.
The spring air still held a trace of late winter chill, the sunset warm and lazy, sprinkling on the streets of Konohagakure. Naruto was like an unleashed puppy, full of energy, his head of golden spiky hair especially conspicuous in the sunlight.
Menma had a barely noticeable lazy smile on his face, hands in pockets, steps leisurely: “Got it, got it, were you reincarnated as a starving ghost or what.”
The two arrived at Ichiraku Ramen Shop, where an enticing aroma wafted.
Lifting the warm curtain, the familiar rich broth scent hit them.
At this time, there weren’t many customers in the shop. Teuchi was busy preparing the stock behind the counter, while his daughter Ayame nimbly wiped the tables that had just been vacated.
“Yo! Naruto, Menma!” Ayame looked up, saw the two familiar small figures, and her face immediately bloomed with an enthusiastic smile, especially toward Naruto.
She had extra care for this always energetic yet inexplicably heartbreaking child.
“Ayame sis!” Naruto greeted loudly, familiarly squeezing onto a high stool at the counter, staring eagerly at the boiling broth in the pot and the various toppings beside it.
Ayame finished wiping the last table, walked over with a smile, habitually ruffled Naruto’s messy blond hair first, then turned her gaze to Menma beside him, a sly teasing glint in her eyes: “Eh? Menma, how come you’re here alone today? Didn’t bring that pretty big miss from your Hyuga family? You two didn’t fight, did you?”
Menma helplessly pursed his lips; he was long used to this topic.
Ever since Big Sister Hinata’s “food protection declaration” during opening self-introductions, his relationship with Hinata had become a frequent teasing topic among many, especially those who knew them.
“Ayame sis, don’t tease me.” Menma sighed, also pulling out a stool to sit.
“Hinata has family practice today, can’t come.”
“Oh~ So the young lady with strict family tutoring has to train.” Ayame deliberately dragged her tone, continuing to tease him: “Then doesn’t someone feel like something’s missing, even ramen doesn’t taste good?”
Menma rolled his eyes, deciding not to engage, directly turning to shout at Teuchi: “Uncle, the usual, two signature tonkotsu ramen!”
Teuchi’s booming voice came from the kitchen area: “Got it! Naruto’s with double narutomaki, Menma’s with bamboo shoots, right? Wait, coming right up!”
He knew these two kids’ tastes by heart.
“That’s right! Thanks, Teuchi!” Naruto happily waved his chopsticks, eagerly setting his posture, just waiting for the ramen to arrive.
Just then, the warm curtain was lifted again.
In walked a seemingly ordinary man and woman.
The man was tall, wearing common dark blue casual clothes, with brilliant blond hair, though the tips slightly dull, a mild but somewhat distant smile on his face; the woman had vibrant red hair tied in a neat ponytail, her face full of curiosity and excitement, constantly looking around this place that was so familiar in her memory yet felt somewhat strange.
They were naturally Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki using Transformation Jutsu.
In the ninja world, blond and red hair weren’t special colors; many ninja clans had such hair colors too.
But this combination still gave Teuchi a familiar feeling.
Minato’s gaze quickly swept the small shop, then naturally fell on Naruto and Menma sitting side by side, a hard-to-describe complex emotion flashing in his gray eyes—guilt, relief, and deep love.
He tried to keep his expression calm.
Kushina could hardly control her emotions, especially upon seeing Naruto’s small back; her eyes slightly heated up.
She quickly took a deep breath, forced herself to look away, pretending great interest in the menu on the wall.
“Welcome!” Ayame immediately came forward to greet: “You two, please sit here.”
Minato politely nodded, his voice deliberately altered to sound slightly low: “Thanks. One tonkotsu ramen for me, extra bamboo shoots and narutomaki.”
The flavors he ordered unintentionally matched Menma and Naruto’s exactly.
Kushina leaned over, looking at the menu, saying in as normal a tone as possible: “Then I’ll have one… um… family set ramen! All toppings!”
Ayame smiled and agreed, guiding: “Alright, please wait a moment. You two can sit over there…”
Before she finished, Minato and Kushina very “naturally” walked toward the counter, and extremely “coincidentally” chose the two empty high stools next to Naruto and Menma.
Minato sat on Naruto’s other side, and Kushina on Menma’s other side, perfectly sandwiching the two kids in the middle.
Naruto was intently watching Teuchi pull the noodles, felt someone sit beside him, and subconsciously turned to look.
Seeing the blond man beside him, he blinked his blue eyes, tilted his head, a pure puzzled expression on his face.
“Hm?” Naruto muttered softly.
“Feels… kinda weird somehow…”
But his thick nerves were quickly drawn to something more important; Teuchi was placing two steaming bowls piled with toppings in front of him and Menma.
