"Hey. Why does that human boy not fight back. Pathetic."
Kurama had been watching too, and even it could not stand it.
"Yeah. I do not get why he refuses to hit back either." Naruto ran the anime's story through his mind. Rock Lee's childhood really had been like this. The strength to come later would be thanks to Guy's care.
Minato weighed his words. "Maybe he simply cannot win. So many against one. If he swings and loses…"
"I disagree, Father."
"Winning or losing is a matter of ability. Rising to resist is a matter of attitude. And a person's attitude decides his fate."
"Watch. His silent endurance only brands him as weak."
"Silence is the fate of the bullied. Speaking up is the first step to changing fate."
In Konoha, a boy like Rock Lee could win Might Guy's favor. In the world Naruto knew, such a boy would be eaten clean to the bone.
With his potential, Lee could have become a king even Madara would acknowledge. In the end he became a member of the Twelve who too often existed only to fill a scene.
Naruto took one last look at the bleeding boy bracing himself against the training post, then turned away.
In the seal, Minato fell silent. That bullied child made him think of Kushina. She had been picked on at school too. So she stood in class and shouted she would be the first woman Hokage. She did not endure. She beat her peers to the ground one by one.
A sigh slipped from Minato.
He worried about Naruto's state of mind. Thinking of what the boy had endured in the village, his brow tightened further.
"Fourth Hokage, what is that face for. The brat is right," Kurama said, almost pleased.
Out on the road, Naruto stopped before a noodle shop. The sign made his steps pause.
Ichiraku Ramen.
"Father, are you afraid I will do something to Konoha"
In the mindscape he asked softly and kept walking.
He did not like noodles.
Minato forced a poor smile. "Naruto, you would not do anything to Konoha in the future. Right"
After two familiar turns on the way home, Naruto slowed. "It seems you still do not understand me, Father."
"I…"
Minato wanted to admit it. He did not truly know what his son was thinking.
"Relax. As long as they do not seek death, I will not move against Konoha. Besides, I am not even a genin. What is there to fear."
"I am not stupid. Why would I act like a loud agitator. That would only make them feel threatened and make it harder to conceal my aims."
His words chilled Minato's heart. The premise inside those words mattered.
A cold wind rose. Thick snow began to fall.
No watchers today. Time to head home and train.
When Kurama had restored Minato's chakra earlier, Minato had offered at once to start teaching. But Naruto cherished the hours he was permitted outside and would not waste them. The simple joy of walking still intoxicated him. Sometimes he had to hold himself back from breaking into a run.
Under the puzzled looks of Kurama and Minato, he left.
Before he went, he tested something with Kurama in the Mirror World.
If Naruto stood within the seal and his body remained still while his projection fought puppets in the Mirror World, Kurama could still send him thoughts freely through the chakra link. Minato could not.
Naruto tried again and even bound Minato as a guest. The Fourth still could not push any message through to him.
Kurama was smug. Minato was dejected.
To be less connected to his son than a fox. That was hard to swallow.
After lunch, Naruto sat in a chair with a book open. In the seal, Minato began the lesson.
"Naruto, stop using that chakra refinement method you learned."
His face was already dark.
"Something wrong with it"
Naruto's eyes sharpened.
"The method itself is fine," Minato said quickly. "But it is the version Konoha reserves for ordinary civilians. The efficiency is poor."
"How meticulous our Hokage is."
Naruto could not help a cold laugh.
Kurama said nothing, but the look it gave the Fourth was pure scorn. Humans and their tricks.
Embarrassed yet determined, Minato began teaching Naruto a new refinement method, and anger festered beneath his calm. He had realized what the Third had set in motion the day the boy was allowed to train. What could he do. He was dead.
At least he was grateful they had met so early.
Set aside Naruto's own hidden cards. On the Third's path, with no one to guide him, Naruto was destined to be dead last.
Compared to what the Third had offered, Minato's method was simpler. It came from the Uzumaki line, a secret technique tailored to Naruto's body.
Naruto calmed his breath and began refining chakra the new way. Energy sprang through his body, livelier than anything he had felt yesterday.
With a thought, he stepped into the Mirror World.
He swiped the window open. His projection's available challenge time had leapt to half an hour.
Since he was here, he would not waste it.
Something inside urged him onward. Seek strength.
He walked to Izumo Kamizuki and issued a challenge.
This was not self torture. The mind would tire, yes. But he was not the kind to choose comfort when he could struggle forward.
At dawn the next day, Naruto woke with a thread of fatigue. Kurama delivered something stranger.
After he fell asleep, a watcher arrived for the usual shift. Then, by that man's order, every ANBU assigned to Naruto withdrew.
That truly puzzled him.
He asked the Hokage who had been his father. Minato, once Hokage himself, was just as lost. He could not guess the Third's intent.
What was Hiruzen doing
First he recalled the shadows that tailed Naruto outdoors. Then he removed the twenty four hour guards as well.
Naruto set the questions aside. He washed, dressed, and ate while sorting last night's spoils.
He was digesting Izumo Kamizuki's training experience from his days as a genin.
Only after he transformed and stepped out did he realize the night had not been quiet.
He was reaching for a newspaper when whispers reached him.
"Did you hear. The head of the Kumo party died last night."
"What. Impossible. They were here to sign an alliance."
"It is true. I heard it too. Killed by someone from the Hyuga."
"Right. It blew up last night. People from the Land of Lightning brought the body to the Hyuga compound and demanded they hand over the killer or they would go to war with Konoha."
"War. The village does not look like it is about to fight."
"Thanks to the Hokage. He protected our peace. I saw him lead a group of shinobi to make the Hyuga hand over the culprit. Otherwise who knows what would have happened. The alliance is off, though. The Lightning people left overnight. What a pity."
"Hmph. The Hyuga killed someone. Why should the village take the blame. They ruined our alliance too. Unforgivable."
"So unfortunate."
Naruto understood at once. He paid for the paper, tucked the latest issue under his arm, and left without a ripple.
This was the case of Hinata's attempted abduction. Kumo had not come to sign anything. They had come to provoke.
They wanted the power of the Byakugan.
In the end, Hyuga Hizashi, father of Neji of the branch family, died in place of the clan head, Hyuga Hiashi.
The Hyuga system split the clan into main and branch. The branch were born to guard the main. A caged bird seal was carved into the foreheads of the branch, limiting the Byakugan and giving the main house the power to activate the seal at will, destroying the branch member's brain.
Slavery in all but name.
Hizashi had wanted to resist that fate all his life.
He chose death gladly because it was the one time he could choose his own destiny.
Naruto reviewed the story in his mind and wondered what role the Third had played this time.
Konoha had fought three great wars.
Had it ever truly lost
Would Konoha fear war
What a joke.
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