Chapter 41: My Foolish Odo-odo!
Under the setting sun, on a park bench, Menma and Naruto each sat at one end.
The two orphans just quietly watched the children in the park being picked up by their parents.
“Um… Menma, why are you willing to play with me?” Naruto mustered his courage and asked the little boy sitting at the other end of the bench with a hint of expectation and bewilderment.
Although the two had only sat in the park for a while after dinner, quietly watching the sun set in the west.
But for Naruto, when all the other children in the park avoided him, having someone willing to sit with him on a bench to watch the sunset was already a rare friendship.
“Hm?” Menma slightly turned his head, the sunset’s afterglow plating a soft outline on his face.
Looking at the blond-haired, blue-eyed Naruto Uzumaki beside him, with six whiskers on his face.
The protagonist of this Hokage world, the future ‘Child of Prophecy’ who would save the world.
“I had a friend before who helped me when I was quite bewildered. Maybe I see a shadow of my former self in you,” Menma made up.
He knew that the Third Hokage’s crystal ball was monitoring Naruto at all times.
There were Anbu constantly surveilling around Naruto, so his approaching Naruto was bound to be known by the Third Hokage.
Moreover, Menma actually wasn’t clear on what mentality drove him to approach Naruto.
Because Naruto was the protagonist? Or because he had transmigrated into Naruto’s brother, with a thick blood bond at play?
Menma couldn’t distinguish this feeling.
He didn’t want to disrupt Naruto’s growth, at least not before Naruto graduated and the main storyline began.
But he was indignant about Naruto’s current situation.
Where did Minato Namikaze and Kushina’s assets go? So much money! And the house!
Kushina was the last clan member of the Uzumaki Clan. Grandma Mito treated Kushina as her own, so even if the Uzumaki Clan’s heritage wasn’t given to Kushina, Grandma Mito would have prepared some family-founding assets for her, right?
And Minato Namikaze, not to mention his salary as the Fourth Hokage, had carried out 39 S-rank missions in his ninja career and earned a lot of money.
One S-rank mission was at least one million ryō, and that was after the village took its cut for the ninja team that accepted the mission. The leading jonin usually took half, which was 500,000 ryō.
39 S-rank missions were at least 5 million ryō!
This didn’t even count 323 A-rank missions, 216 B-rank missions, 147 C-rank missions, and 122 D-rank missions.
For these missions, A-rank missions were 150,000 to one million ryō, B-rank missions 80,000 to 200,000 ryō, C-rank missions 30,000 to 100,000 ryō, D-rank missions 5,000 to 50,000 ryō.
Minato’s total income from his ninja career, taking the median value, exceeded 230 million ryō, and even the minimum value exceeded 54 million ryō.
So much money! It couldn’t all have gone to Minato buying special Flying Thunder God Kunai, nor could it have been spent on a house after marrying Kushina.
Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi only gave Naruto enough money for basic sustenance; the whereabouts of the Fourth Hokage and his wife’s heritage were indeed inexplicable.
Naruto loved eating bucket instant noodles the most, never cooked, ate two meals of instant noodles almost every day for three meals, had some milk and fried eggs for breakfast—how much could that cost?
Yet he managed to have no pocket money left each month; going to Ichiraku Ramen occasionally was considered a luxurious feast!
“Friends?” Little Naruto’s eyes suddenly lit up, full of expectation as he said: “So, are we friends now?”
“Sort of.” Menma rubbed his belly.
This month’s friend fee had been received.
“Alright, it’s getting late, I should head home too.” Menma saw the sun completely set, dusk growing thick, stood up from the chair, and patted the fallen leaves off his pants legs.
“Then! See you next time!” Naruto grinned. Today he made his first friend—no, there was also the uncle at the ramen shop and Ayame.
His naturally optimistic and cheerful personality let Naruto cast aside the worries of these past few days and the villagers’ malice.
After waving goodbye to Menma, Naruto bounced and skipped toward home.
Once Naruto disappeared at the end of the park, the little Nine-Tails poked its head out from Menma’s scarf around his neck.
“Menma, that guy is your brother in this world? The chakra in his body… is very special.” The little Nine-Tails had sensed a very familiar yet strange Tailed Beast Chakra earlier, so it had hidden in Menma’s mental space.
Only after Naruto left and that restless chakra vanished from perception did the little Nine-Tails poke its head out.
“Yeah, that’s him, Naruto Uzumaki, my foolish brother.” Menma looked in the direction Naruto disappeared, eyes narrowing slightly, a playful smile tugging at his lips.
With the Third’s crystal ball peeping and Anbu ninjas’ 24-hour surveillance, plus the influence of Asura’s chakra reincarnation, it would be hard for Menma to impart any ideological education to Naruto.
He really wanted to see, during the ‘New Konoha Collapse Plan,’ when he told Naruto, ‘I’m your brother! We’re both sons of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze!’
And ‘my foolish brother.’
What kind of shocked expression Naruto would have.
But for the ‘New Konoha Collapse Plan,’ first, Menma still needed to figure out a way to take away a batch of ninja clans.
Then, when Orochimaru’s Reanimation Jutsu brought back the First Hokage Hashirama Senju and the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, and they saw the rebelling Uchiha Clan, Hyuga Clan, Uzumaki Clan around them, joining forces against the Third Hokage, destroying Konoha together…
What expressions would these two ‘predecessors’ show on their faces?
“Just thinking about it is delightful.” Menma hummed softly, feeling his brain already starting to tremble with excitement.
Even if Naruto was the protagonist, he couldn’t stop him!
——————
In the Hokage’s Office.
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi watched little Naruto trot all the way home from the park through the Telescopic Technique. The face under the Hokage hat, dotted with age spots, was as calm as a still pond.
He took a background investigation report from the intelligence department out of the drawer.
“Menma?” Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the information gathered by the intelligence department’s ninja from the orphanage, finally landing on ‘Chakra main attribute is Fire Release, has ninja aptitude.’
The background check showed this was just an ordinary war orphan.
“If the other child were still around, Naruto might not be so lonely.” Hiruzen Sarutobi set down the investigation report and took a puff from his pipe.
The slowly exhaled smoke drifted in the office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn’t help but recall when Kushina was pregnant and the checkup revealed twins, the joy on Minato’s face.
To ensure Kushina gave birth smoothly, Hiruzen Sarutobi had even specially sent his wife Biwako to the delivery room to help.
In the end—
During the Nine-Tails Attack, when Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived at the battlefield where Minato was sealing the Nine-Tails with Konoha ninjas, he only saw Minato and Kushina’s bodies pierced by the Nine-Tails’ claws inside the barrier, and Naruto crying in swaddling clothes.
As for the other child, whereabouts unknown.
If not taken by a mysterious person, it was probably dead in the Nine-Tails Attack.
“Naruto is almost three years old now, starting to encounter various people and ideas. It’s time for him to understand the Will of Fire.” Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed the edge of his Hokage conical hat.
Looking at Naruto in the crystal ball, who returned home and lay on the bed still smiling, Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered what image to appear in front of Naruto.
To make Naruto develop the greatest dependence and familial affection toward him.
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