章節 28: Chapter 28: Naruto's Invitation

A few days had passed since the midterm exams at the Ninja Academy. Natsuro was relieved to see his popularity return to its usual level. His distant demeanor had pushed away the overwhelming attention he had received, and although he was still the subject of some curiosity, it was far more manageable compared to the crowd of people surrounding him before.

At this moment, he observed Naruto fidgeting beside him and sighed.

"If you have something to say, just spit it out. No need to be so shy."

"Wow, Natsuro, you can even notice that?!" Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"So, what's up?" he asked, feeling a bit exasperated.

"Well." Naruto said, suddenly getting to the point, "Tomorrow is a day off so I want to invite you to my house as a guest!" Naruto said directly, then looked at Natsuro with anticipation. If Natsuro agreed, he would have his first guest besides the Third Hokage at his home!

"Hmm?" he was taken aback. He hadn't expected Naruto to invite him over.

"Is it a problem?" Naruto asked, noticing Natsuro's hesitation and thinking that he might be uncomfortable with the idea.

"It's not that it's a problem. I just didn't expect you to invite me out of the blue," Natsuro replied, regaining his composure.

"Oh, really?" Naruto's eyes lit up with hope.

"Yeah, I accept. Just give me your address, and I'll come by myself. You know how it is—being seen with you might cause some trouble," Natsuro said, honestly. He wasn't keen on attracting unnecessary attention from villagers.

"Sure, sure!" Naruto was fine with that. He had kept his distance from Natsuro before for similar reasons.

He pondered the visit. Although he didn't know where Naruto lived, he was fairly certain that Naruto's house was in a more isolated area, away from other residents. Therefore, avoiding the notice of the villagers should suffice.

As for the ANBU and Root members who might be keeping an eye on Naruto, Natsuro wasn't too worried. He knew that the Third Hokage was aware of him and would likely be supportive of strengthening Naruto's ties with the village. Even if the Third Hokage was aging, he wouldn't let Danzo's influence disrupt the future of the village.

With everything considered, he decided to accept the invitation.

Soon, Naruto gave Natsuro his address, which, as expected, was in a rather remote location. This meant Naruto might need to pick him up, as the place was quite hard to find.

He quickly arranged a time with Naruto, ensuring that his training would not be disrupted by the visit.

Naruto's excitement about the invitation seemed boundless, and he couldn't help but notice how deeply Naruto cared about this small gesture.

"Oh? Natsuro is going to Naruto's house?" Ino, who had overheard their conversation, asked curiously.

"Yeah, is there a problem?" Natsuro replied, glancing at Ino.

"Hmm…" Ino frowned as she looked at Naruto. Her father had advised her to stay away from Naruto, but she couldn't quite understand why. After some thought, and having gotten to know Naruto a little better recently, she felt that he seemed okay.

"I guess it should be fine." Ino concluded based on her own impressions.

"People might have their opinions about Naruto, but I trust my own judgment. I think Naruto is a pretty good friend," Natsuro said, almost slipping and referring to him as a "kid," but then corrected himself, choosing "friend" instead.

"I see," Ino nodded, appearing to have grasped some profound insight.

Naruto, on the other hand, was touched to the point of almost crying.

Shikamaru, who had been resting his head on his desk, twitched his ears and couldn't help but smile. Although Naruto was a bit of a hassle, he was unexpectedly a good person.

Ino, still puzzled, decided to ask her mother for advice. She looked at Naruto's tearful expression and found it somewhat unappealing. She felt that Natsuro was more pleasant to look at and had better grades. Despite the invitation from Naruto, she hesitated about whether she should also invite Natsuro to her place. She wondered if it was appropriate for a girl to make the first move and ended up not making any decision before the class started.

Natsuro didn't notice Ino's indecision. Not everyone wore their emotions on their sleeves like Naruto, and since Ino had only recently started interacting with him, it was understandable that he hadn't noticed her internal struggle.

After school, Ino continued to mull over the situation. She inadvertently spotted someone who looked somewhat familiar and realized it was her classmate, Sakura Haruno, who seemed a bit down.

Given Sakura's high grades, it was puzzling to see her looking unhappy. Ino decided to approach her.

Natsuro saw the scene as he was heading to the training grounds. He recalled that Ino and Sakura had become friends due to some shared experience. He wondered why they seemed so distant now and realized that it was probably just a matter of time before their friendship evolved.

He also remembered that Sakura lacked confidence due to her broad forehead, even though she scored nearly full marks in theory. Once her confidence improved, her academic performance would likely be even better.

With this in mind, Natsuro knew he couldn't slack off. To maintain his reputation as a prodigy and ensure that the Third Hokage continued to take notice, he needed to excel in all aspects and achieve top scores.

Then, he thought of Naruto. That guy often stole glances at Sakura, likely having developed a crush on her, just like in the original story. At this age, Naruto hadn't had many opportunities to interact with others, so he was probably attracted to her looks. Sakura was indeed cute... Never mind, he thought his opinion didn't really count. To him, all these kids seemed pretty cute. How was he supposed to deal with that?

But Natsuro was viewing them from an adult's perspective, while Naruto was looking at them from the viewpoint of a peer, so their impressions were quite different.

Even while lost in thought, he kept on going, he still had to complete today's training, he could not slack off.

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章節 29: Chapter 29: Naruto’s Home

The next day, after completing his plans for the day, Natsuro made his way to the agreed-upon location.

"Natsuro, over here!"

When he arrived at the meeting point, he saw Naruto waving excitedly and running toward him. Glancing at Naruto, he noted that despite his habit of arriving early due to his past experiences, Naruto had managed to get there even earlier. Clearly, Naruto was very eager about this visit.

"You're here so early. We still have plenty of time before the agreed hour." Natsuro remarked.

"Heh-heh, I'm just excited." Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed.

Naruto then led the way, guiding him to his home. To be honest, without Naruto's guidance, finding his place would have been quite challenging.

As they approached the house, Natsuro observed that it was fairly large. For Naruto living alone, it was quite spacious. This was likely the residence provided to him by the Third Hokage.

It was obvious that Naruto could not live in the Fourth Hokage's former residence, as it would only draw more attention to the connection between him and the Fourth Hokage. In fact, the village was keeping the relationship between the Fourth Hokage and Naruto a secret.

So, this house was certainly not the Fourth Hokage's old residence.

Soon, Naruto led Natsuro inside. Before entering, he noticed some marks on the door that seemed to have been cleaned off. It was not surprising; although Naruto's house was in a secluded area, it wasn't uncommon for people to find it and do unreasonable things, like carving graffiti or vandalizing it.

Inside the house, he was surprised to see that although Naruto's room wasn't spotless, it was quite tidy. For a boy his age, this level of cleanliness was quite commendable.

"By the way, do you have any plans for what to do next?" Natsuro suddenly asked Naruto.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked, not quite understanding why there would need to be a plan.

He sighed. It was unrealistic to have high expectations from Naruto and asked, "So what do you usually do?"

"Usually?" Naruto thought for a moment. "I guess I don't do much. Sometimes I wander around by myself or go play in the village."

Natsuro glanced at Naruto, deciding not to pursue the topic further. "Play in the village" probably meant doing some odd things to attract attention.

"So, do you have anything to play with at home?" Natsuro asked.

Naruto thought for a while and then shook his head, replying, "Do you know of anything fun to do?"

At that moment, hefell silent. What was there to do for fun? He couldn't remember much from his childhood and with no smartphones in this world, he struggled to think of something entertaining. He shook his head.

"So we're the same, huh?" Naruto said with a grin.

"We're different. I don't play because I choose not to, while you don't play because there's nothing to play with." he said, rolling his eyes.

Naruto squinted, not quite seeing the difference. To him, not having anything to do was the same as choosing not to do anything.

"Do you have any problems with your lessons? I could help you with them." Natsuro suggested, since there didn't seem to be anything else to do. Besides, he had forgotten to bring any books, and if he had known Naruto had no plans, he would have brought his own study materials.

"Huh? You want to study even on a day off?" Naruto seemed reluctant.

"Stop complaining. Your theoretical knowledge isn't very good." he said, giving Naruto a pointed look.

"Okay, okay." Naruto reluctantly agreed and pulled out his textbook, starting to read with a frustrated expression.

Natsuro had nothing else to do, so he took the opportunity to carefully examine Naruto's room. It was quite well-equipped with appliances like a refrigerator, washing machine, and air conditioner. He found the technology in this world to be quite confusing, and it was clear that Naruto couldn't afford these items on his own.

Most likely, these were provided by the Third Hokage. If the Fourth Hokage's inheritance had been given to Naruto, it would make him a wealthy child. It seemed what the Third Hokage was giving was not as much as the Fourth's inheritance, but it was enough, well enough to solve the issue of his expenses. The problem was that Naruto couldn't spend the money wisely.

There was a lot of instant noodles and milk in the refrigerator, which was probably also from the Third Hokage. Given Naruto's tendency to waste money, the Hokage likely decided that sending easy-to-store food was better than giving him cash. As for the rest, even if it was fresh meat, Naruto would have to know how to cook. However, even with ample milk, the nutritional value of instant noodles was insufficient. This could explain why Naruto was shorter in his early years, with rapid growth spurt happening later under Jiraiya's care.

Yet despite his poor diet, his chakra reserves was enviable.

Noting the abundance of milk, he checked the expiration dates. The milk was still fresh on the outside, but looking inside he found some that had already expired.

"Does the Third Hokage really send expired food to Naruto?" he wondered. It seemed unlikely. If Naruto had consumed expired milk, he would be spending all his time in the bathroom. The reality was that Naruto had not yet drunk any of the expired milk.

The issue likely lay with Naruto himself. Natsuro called out, "Naruto."

"Huh? What's up?" Naruto looked up from his textbook, noticing Natsuro standing by the fridge with milk in hand. His eyes brightened as he said, "If you want to drink some, feel free. I've got plenty."

"I'm not here to drink it. I just wanted to let you know that you should use the milk from the inside." he said.

"Why? Isn't it more of a hassle?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"Don't you always take from the outermost part?" Natsuro asked.

"Well, of course!" Naruto replied.

"But if you keep drinking from the outside, the inner milk will expire." Natsuro explained.

"Ah?!" Naruto came over, looked at the milk in Natsuro's hand, and checked the dates. He scratched his head and said, "I didn't notice that. What should I do if the outer milk expires?"

"Just keep drinking from the inside. When the inside is finished, the outer milk will become the new inside. If you drink frequently, you might never get to the innermost milk, so it will expire." Natsuro said with a sigh. How could Naruto not understand this?

"Oh, I get it now!" Naruto exclaimed with a clap of his hands, finally understanding. "Natsuro, you're so smart!"

He couldn't help but sigh. Even though Naruto praised him, he didn't feel particularly pleased. It wasn't about being smart; it was just that Naruto was unusually slow in grasping such simple concepts. It was hard to believe that neither the Fourth Hokage nor his wife showed such traits.

"Just remember to follow this advice. By the way, you've looked at your book. Do you have any questions?" Natsuro asked.

"Um…" Naruto scratched his head.

"You don't understand anything, do you?" Natsuro gave Naruto a resigned look.

"Heh-heh~" Naruto gave a silly grin.

He had never felt so frustrated before. He had expected Naruto's theoretical knowledge to be lacking, but this level of ignorance was beyond his expectations.

Now, Natsuro felt like a frustrated tutor dealing with a child's homework, constantly on the brink of losing patience.

Why did he even agree to help Naruto with his studies? If only he could rewind time and avoid this trouble altogether!

創作者的想法
SaintXI

A/N: Honestly this chapter is quite sad, seeing a child not geting the right nutrition mainly because of the lack of guidance or parental figures in his life really makes you reflect.

I dont get how the Third Hokage could deal with that guilt. You'd think it would be crippling for most people...

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