Shikaku, I'm the Hokage!

"I understand!"

Naruto spoke slowly, looking somewhat dejected. After a long silence, he spoke again, as if asking Shikaku Nara, but also asking himself.

"What I want to do is all perfectly normal, reasonable, and not excessive at all.

Right?"

Shikaku Nara gave a wry smile. "Yes, they're perfectly normal and reasonable.

But the order of the Shinobi World has always been like this! It has always been so, and it has always remained so!"

Naruto shook his head, slowly stating and affirming his own thoughts.

"I'll persist in doing what I believe is right... I promised Mom that

I would stand by my principles, hold dreams in my heart, and work hard to make them come true!

If I'm right, then the world is wrong!

And if the world is wrong, then I'm not the one who needs to change.

The world is."

A powerful sense of foreboding compelled Shikaku Nara to try his utmost to persuade him. "You're already the Hokage. You yourself stand at the very pinnacle of the Shinobi World! Even if you don't care, what about your future children? Won't you consider them?

If you persist, you may lose the position of Hokage someday!"

"Haha, Mr. Shikaku,

I didn't do things in order to become Hokage. I chose to become Hokage so I could do certain things!

I'm not Hiruzen Sarutobi. I don't care about the position of Hokage. What I care about more is whether the dream I pursue can be realized!"

Having completely thought it through, Naruto Uzumaki no longer cared about Shikaku Nara's persuasion. He directly gave an order in his capacity as Hokage.

"Help me revise those proposals. Please don't refuse.

Shikaku, I'm the Hokage!"

After thinking for a moment, Naruto added, "If anything happens, the responsibility is mine and has nothing to do with you. The honor belongs to me, and so does the blame!"

"Naruto, I hope you won't regret this."

Knowing that he had already made up his mind, Shikaku Nara stopped trying to persuade him. He put away the sheet of paper, bowed, and left the Hokage's Office.

At that moment, only Naruto, Daren Yi, and Izumi Uchiha, who had been sitting to the side watching the show, remained in the office.

Naruto turned his head and happened to see Daren Yi's encouraging gaze. There was undisguised admiration in his eyes.

His heart warmed, and he grinned. "Uncle Shikaku should see this. There are still people who support me!"

Daren Yi could not help nodding in agreement. That's right, I just love watching the show! The bigger the trouble, the better!

Izumi Uchiha, who understood him perfectly, lowered her head and covered her smile. Perhaps only she knew just how wickedly mischievous the man beside her was.

"Oh, right, Ancestor of Shamate. Kurama was clamoring to see you last night. Do you want to see him?"

Naruto tossed down the pen in his hand, stood up and stretched his body, then rubbed his face to rouse his spirits. At last, he no longer looked quite so weak.

"The Nine-Tails actually wants to see me on his own initiative?"

Daren Yi was somewhat surprised. He set down his teacup, rose to his feet, and walked before Naruto. His Mangekyō Sharingan bloomed.

"I think I understand why. He noticed so quickly?"

The next moment, their spiritual bodies appeared within the Nine-Tails' Sealing Space. Sure enough, the instant Daren Yi appeared, the Nine-Tails lunged at him in a frenzy, slamming the iron bars imprisoning him with a tremendous bang.

His two claws gripped the bars fiercely, straining with all their might. He bared his fangs and let out a low growl, his orange-red beast eyes nearly turning blood-red from rage.

"You bastard! You promised not to bully me! Look what you've done to me!"

Daren Yi looked the giant fox up and down, pretending to be puzzled. "What did I do?"

"How would I know what you did..."

The Nine-Tails was momentarily at a loss for words, then became even more furious. Lowering his head, he roared at Daren Yi in aggrieved rage.

"I've gotten thinner! Thinner, thinner...

What exactly did you do to my body? Why did I suddenly get thinner?"

"Hey, what's wrong with being thinner? Foxes need to be slim to be pretty, don't they? Nine-Tails, wouldn't it be good for you to lose some weight?

Why make such a fuss? Just eat more normally, work hard at putting on weight, and get fat again."

Daren Yi deliberately changed the subject, refusing to answer directly.

The Nine-Tails was practically furious to death. Tailed beasts were not humans; changes in their size reflected the state of their Chakra.

For him to suddenly waste away for no reason could only mean that he had lost a huge portion of his Chakra without knowing it.

Yet he knew nothing of the process and had not sensed a thing. Other than the "monster" before him, who else could have done this?

"Are you going to violate the deal you made with me?"

Having learned his lesson last time, the Nine-Tails closed his eyes this time, though even he was not sure whether it would actually help.

"All right! I don't mean any harm. I merely borrowed a little of your Chakra. Let's make another deal. You lend me some Chakra, and I'll agree on Naruto's behalf to free you five years early. How about it?"

Daren Yi put forward his proposal. His previous deal with the Nine-Tails had been to free him when Naruto turned thirty, precisely to leave room for future negotiations. As expected, it came in handy this time.

Ah, this... Should I trust him? Or rather, do I have any other choice? What if he takes it by force if I refuse?

The temptation of freedom was difficult for the Nine-Tails to resist, and he was also forced to yield because he was weaker. He opened his eyes, lowered his head to glance at his body, which had nearly shrunk by a full circle, and agreed to Daren Yi with tears practically in his eyes.

"I'll trust you one last time! Absolutely, absolutely no next time!"

"No problem!"

Daren Yi nodded in satisfaction. After their last "friendly exchange," the Nine-Tails was indeed much more tactful now!

The Nine-Tails stretched out a claw, rubbed his belly, and gestured at his waistline.

After brooding for a long while, he could not suppress his curiosity and asked, "How did you do it?"

"It has to do with my Mangekyō Sharingan Dojutsu."

The Mangekyō Sharingan pattern slowly rotated. Daren Yi extended his hand, and a cluster of Colorless Transparent Flames slowly appeared in his palm.

The flames twisted and changed shape, turning into a small flame tree with complete roots and luxuriant branches and leaves. It drifted through the air toward the Nine-Tails.

"Stop right there! Calm down!

I've already agreed to your deal!"

The Nine-Tails reacted like a startled bird. All nine tails behind him stiffened, and his massive body shot away like lightning, doing everything he could to avoid the clearly unnatural little flame tree.

Then, the little flame tree, already colorless and transparent and seemingly formed from condensed flowing water, vanished directly from sight.

When it reappeared, the flame tree had already landed atop the Nine-Tails' head.

Roots grew from the base of the tree, winding and coiling like tentacles before directly taking root in the Nine-Tails' body.

Behind the Nine-Tails, another flame tree that had long since taken root revealed itself. Its branches were laden with heavy fruit.

At a rough glance, there were nearly a hundred fruits resembling tiny cherries.

"..."

The Nine-Tails turned to look at the flame tree on his back, with only curses in his heart. What was this supposed to be, planting a tree on me?

I'm a tailed beast, not a medicinal field!

In the original setting, Naruto should not have become Hokage. Instead, he should have become a world's most dangerous criminal, like Dragon of the Revolutionary Army in the One Piece World next door.

Among his companions, aside from Sasuke, whose clan had been exterminated, only Hinata had openly abandoned the clan that had raised her to stand beside him...

With the whole world as his enemy, fighting the world alone—that was Naruto Uzumaki's future.

Not long after, when facing the Shinobi Alliance, Hinata sacrificed herself to save Naruto...

Years later, with Orochimaru's help, Naruto used Hinata's cells and his own to create a baby named Boruto Hyuga.

Boruto was secretly entrusted by his father to be raised by his grandfather, Hyuga Hiashi. Hoping that the exceptionally gifted Boruto would become Hokage, Hiashi spared no effort in giving his grandson some profound education through the Gentle Fist of Love.

Yet Boruto, who spent every day laughing, playing, and joking around, would never give up his dream: I want to become the freest person in the world and hold the grandest banquet in the world with my companions!

In the end, Boruto secretly slipped away from home alone behind his grandfather Hiashi's back, only to encounter Sarada Uchiha, a female three-sword-style swordswoman with no sense of direction, on the road...

Daren Yi, standing in the current timeline, sighed faintly. "This Naruto is far too happy. I find that deeply regrettable!"