Chapter 62: A Meal on a Whim
To Hiashi's long-winded speech, the man who looked like Hizashi replied with a cold voice, "Hiashi, I am not like you. If the Hokage were to bind me, I would destroy the Hokage. If someone were to try and kill my brother, I would kill them first."
Hiashi was stunned for a moment, then a smile appeared in his eyes. "Neji, I was once like you. But a man is only brave when he has nothing. When you truly have everything, you will become just like me."
Everyone has selfish desires. But to sacrifice even one's own kin... what was the difference between that and a beast?
It is difficult to change a person's mind.
The man had a mind to kill.
"I'm tired of your excuses."
Shlick.
In a flash of light, Hiashi's head fell to the floor.
After the deed was done, the man took Hiashi's Byakugan, transformed into his likeness, and casually walked out of the izakaya, disappearing into the crowded street.
In a toy store in the center of Konoha, a small, blond-haired boy stood under the eaves, staring at a dark green frog wallet on a shelf. His hand was in his pocket, counting the few coins he had. The wallet's two large eyes reminded him of the goggles he wore on his head, and its perpetually open mouth seemed to be laughing at him.
He, who had known nothing but the cold stares of others, was instantly taken with it. He decided to splurge and buy it for himself as a gift.
"I'll sell to anyone but you!"
"Get out!"
The shopkeeper brandished a broom, shooing him away as if he were a fly.
The other customers in the store either looked at him with disgust or left in a huff. Most of them were civilians who had no idea of his true identity. They didn't know he was a Jinchūriki, let alone the son of the Fourth Hokage. They just assumed he was the reincarnation of the demon fox that had destroyed their village.
The Jōnin who did recognize him didn't intervene. They just pulled their own children away.
Seeing half his customers leave, the shopkeeper's face darkened. He glared at Naruto, who stood frozen in place, and roared, "Didn't you hear me? I said get out!"
Naruto looked at the raised broom, then at the disgust in the man's eyes. His heart felt as if it had been pierced by a sword. He hadn't been to this store in a long time. He had thought the owner might have forgotten him.
Reality was cruel.
Amid the laughter, hatred, and indifference of the crowd, he felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing his throat, choking him.
He swallowed hard and, as he always did, he forced a smile.
"Please sell me the frog wallet. I'll give you all my money." He held out the handful of coins he had saved.
"You want the frog wallet?" The shopkeeper sneered, grabbed it from the shelf, and threw it into the street. "Go and get it."
The wallet wasn't worth much. But if the demon fox stayed any longer, his whole day's business would be ruined.
Naruto's spirit seemed to fall with the wallet onto the crowded street. He saw someone deliberately step on it, then kick it far away.
He thought of all the years of mistreatment he had endured. That kicked-around frog wallet... it was just like him.
He ran after it.
The next moment, a foot shot out and tripped him. He fell face-first onto the ground, his coins scattering across the street.
"Hahaha!"
"Look at the demon fox! He's so stupid!"
"Too bad he didn't break his neck."
The cruel words were like daggers in his heart.
But he didn't have time to be sad.
My money!
He scrambled out of the toy store, crawling on the ground, picking up his coins from under the feet of the passersby, his eyes constantly darting to the now-flattened frog wallet.
He was quick. Soon, only one coin remained, lying in the middle of the street.
He bent down, carefully making his way toward it.
Just as he was about to reach for it, an older boy, about eleven or twelve, picked it up and looked at him.
"Th... thank you..."
Naruto began to say, but then the boy threw the coin as far as he could.
"..."
Naruto stood in the middle of the street, his two dirty hands clutching the few coins he had managed to retrieve.
Why do they treat me like this?
He stood there for a long time, then he slowly walked over to the dirty, flattened frog wallet. It was still smiling, but he wanted to cry. But he knew that crying would not win him any sympathy. It would only bring him more ridicule and disgust.
He stuffed his coins into the frog's belly and zipped it shut. He looked at the shoe prints on it and gently brushed them off.
"You and it... you're both in pain, aren't you?" a low voice suddenly said.
Who's there?
Naruto looked up and met a pair of pure white, jade-like eyes. To his surprise, he felt no malice from them.
"Honestly, who just throws things around like that?" Yugito said, one hand on her head, the other tossing the coin she had caught. "This is yours, isn't it, kid?"
"Th... that's..." Naruto stammered. These two were ninja, but their forehead protectors were different from the ones he was used to seeing.
"I just saw it. It's his," Neji said. After killing Hiashi, he had gone to the rendezvous point, where Yugito was waiting with his Shadow Clone. They had switched places, and she had dragged him along to go shopping. Running into Naruto here was a complete coincidence. But it was a good opportunity to make contact.
"Th... thank you," Naruto said, his voice a mixture of surprise and shyness. To be treated with respect by a stranger... it was a new experience.
Just then, his stomach rumbled.
"I'm starving, too," Neji said with a laugh, patting his own stomach. "But I'm luckier than you. I have money."
"..."
Naruto's eye twitched.
Neji looked at the Ichiraku Ramen stand in the distance and waved to him. "It's nice to meet you. Let me treat you to some ramen."
Naruto stood frozen. He was so used to being treated with hatred and indifference. The only people who had ever been kind to him were the Third Hokage and Teuchi and Ayame from Ichiraku. He didn't understand why these two weren't repulsed by him, why they were even offering to buy him food. But whatever the reason, this was what he had always wanted.
"Three bowls of char siu ramen, please, old man!"
"Coming right up, customer! Ayame..."
Naruto looked at Neji and Yugito, his heart filled with excitement. Have I actually met two people who don't hate me, all in one day?
"Hi! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What are your names?" he said, a brilliant, infectious smile on his face. It was the kind of smile that could make all your troubles melt away.
So this is Naruto, Neji thought with a silent sigh. In his past life, if it hadn't been for him, he would never have come to like the world of shinobi. But in the end, Naruto had just given up.
"My name is Hyūga Neji. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Yugito just stared at Naruto, until Neji kicked her under the table.
Her eyes curved into a crescent moon. "I'm Yugito. Nice to meet you."
"Big brother, big sister, you're ninja, right? Why are your forehead protectors different from the others?"
Big brother... Naruto, I'm only a year older than you.
"Let's not talk about that," Neji said, scratching the back of his head. "So, do you come here often?"
"Yeah! Whenever I have money, because the ramen here is really, really good..."
Naruto began to ramble, as if he had finally found someone who would listen to him and he had to get everything out.
"Yeah, I think it's pretty good, too."
"Right? It has a special flavor."
Yugito listened, a frown on her face. According to the intelligence, this boy was indeed the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. And he was about five years old. At his age, she had already graduated from the academy. But Naruto showed no signs of having even begun to train with chakra. He was just like an ordinary child.
No, not ordinary. He was thin and sallow, and his blond hair was dry and brittle. He was malnourished.
A Jinchūriki, malnourished? The thought was absurd. Weren't they supposed to be treated like treasures? The Jinchūriki of the strongest Tailed Beast... this was his treatment? Or was there some other reason?
"Here you go, customer," Teuchi said, placing a bowl of ramen in front of Neji.
Naruto's mouth began to water. The allowance he received was barely enough to live on. For the past two days, he had been surviving on expired milk.
Neji sighed and pushed the bowl toward him. "You eat first, Naruto."
"B-big brother, I..."
"Don't be polite. Go ahead."
Looking at the steaming bowl of ramen, Naruto's nose began to sting. As he ate, tears streamed down his face, mixing with the broth.
Why won't they play with me? Why won't they sell me things? Why does everyone hate me? What did I do wrong? Is my very existence a mistake? Who are my mom and dad? Where are they?
Seeing him cry, Neji's heart ached. Naruto's life had been miserable. And it was all Hiruzen and Obito's fault. Hiruzen was old and had made a series of terrible decisions. Naruto was the son of the Fourth Hokage and the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. Both of those identities should have been either completely hidden or completely revealed. But Hiruzen had chosen to hide his parentage and let the "demon fox" rumors run wild.
Konoha's treatment of its Jinchūriki, while not as good as the Cloud's, was not usually so cruel. The villagers' ostracism of Naruto was partly due to Hiruzen's incompetence, and partly due to the deep-seated resentment from the Nine-Tails' attack.
With no one to take responsibility, and no one to seek the truth, the villagers had directed all their anger at the Uchiha and Naruto.
Neji looked at him, took a deep breath, and then, under his goggles, his Byakugan quietly switched to the Tenseigan.
The next moment, he was in Naruto's mindscape.
He walked across the shallow water, sensing the violent, massive chakra of the Nine-Tails. Soon, he was standing in front of its cage.
"Hello, Nine-Tails..."
"Captain, he's missing."
Uchiha Inabi ran to Fugaku, his face pale.
"Missing?"
"He went on patrol last night and never came back. I've checked all the places he usually goes, but I can't find him."
Normally, to be missing for a day and a night was not a big deal. But with all the ninja from the other villages gathered in Konoha, the atmosphere was tense.
"Inabi," Fugaku asked suddenly, "didn't Tekka awaken his three-tomoe last month?"
"He did."
Fugaku's face darkened. An Uchiha with the three-tomoe was an elite among Jōnin. For such a man to disappear without a trace in a heavily guarded village like Konoha...
Who could be behind it?
It's so hard to guess.