Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke

Naruto brought Inuzuka Kiba to Uncle Teuchi's Ichiraku Ramen with practiced ease.

"Uncle Teuchi, I brought my friend! Hurry up and make two bowls of your signature ramen—ah, no, three!" Naruto swaggered into Ichiraku Ramen and called out to Uncle Teuchi.

"So it's Naruto. You made another new friend? That's wonderful! Uncle will make it right away!" Uncle Teuchi was also delighted to see Naruto bringing along a new friend.

"Hello, Uncle. I'm Naruto's new friend, Inuzuka Kiba. This is Akamaru!" Kiba said, pointing at Akamaru in Naruto's arms.

Hearing Kiba's name, Uncle Teuchi immediately understood. The Inuzuka Clan was considered a major clan in Konoha, famous for raising Ninja Hounds.

Humans turned into dogs, dogs turned into humans, humans and dogs turned into humans together, humans and dogs turned into dogs together.

Their ramen was served quickly, along with a portion for Akamaru.

Although Akamaru was still young, the Inuzuka Clan's special methods of training meant he could already eat human food normally.

The two humans and one dog ate with great gusto, and as usual, the bill was put on old bastard Sarutobi's tab.

Uncle Teuchi silently shed tears for Hiruzen Sarutobi. Since he had agreed to it, he naturally had to see it through properly.

After finishing the ramen, Kiba took Akamaru back from Naruto's arms and said, "Naruto, we're heading home. Let's play together again sometime. I'll introduce you to my friends then!"

Akamaru also reluctantly said goodbye to Naruto, his little tail wagging nonstop.

"Okay, Kiba, Akamaru, see you next time!"

Naruto said goodbye to them as well and headed down the little path home.

He had made another friend today. That was pretty nice.

Perhaps because their memories had merged, Naruto had also been influenced by part of the original Naruto's personality. Or perhaps Asura's reincarnated Chakra was invisibly pushing him to be optimistic and positive.

He was quite willing to make friends. The more friends he had, the more paths opened before him. If he became Hokage in the future, these friends would be his best helpers.

On his way home, Naruto passed a dessert shop. The utterly ordinary shop suddenly caught his attention.

An older brother was buying sweets with someone who seemed to be his younger brother.

The older brother had short black hair and black eyes, long lashes at the inner and outer corners of his eyes, exquisitely delicate features, and tear troughs that seemed inherited from his parents.

His gaze was gentle as water, and he looked like an exceptionally kind older brother.

The younger brother had fair skin. His hair and bangs lengthened toward the back before gradually becoming wispy at the ends. He wore a simple black long-sleeved shirt with a stand-up collar and black shorts, with the Uchiha Clan's fan emblem on his back.

He looked like a slightly mischievous child.

Naruto suddenly realized—weren't these two the closest pair of brothers in Naruto, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke?

As though he had noticed Naruto's gaze, Uchiha Itachi turned toward its source. The instant he saw Naruto, a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes before they softened again.

When Uchiha Sasuke saw his brother turn to look at something, he turned as well, wanting to know what his brother was doing.

The moment Sasuke looked at Naruto, he suddenly felt as if something inside him was slowly awakening. For some reason, as he looked at the blond-haired child, he felt a faint sense of familiarity—and even the slightest urge to get closer to him.

"Ding. System Quest issued: Have Uchiha Itachi treat the Host to Tricolor Dumplings."

Sure enough, the more famous a character was in the original story, the easier it was to trigger quests!

"Brother, do we know him? I feel like he seems a little familiar," Uchiha Sasuke asked softly as he turned back to his brother.

Uchiha Itachi was startled by Sasuke's words. He knew Uzumaki Naruto because he had learned certain secrets about the village from their father and mother.

He knew that Uzumaki Naruto was Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, so it was, in a sense, not entirely wrong for some villagers to call him the Nine-Tails Demon Fox.

But Sasuke should never have met Naruto. Why would he find Naruto familiar?

"Probably not, Sasuke. Maybe you remembered wrong. But meeting is fate, so let's invite him over!"

Kakashi, who was monitoring them in secret, suddenly felt that things were going badly. The Uchiha Clan's reputation in the village was not very good right now, and the nearby Anbu were stirring faintly, as though they were about to make a move.

"Don't act rashly. I'll monitor them. If anything happens, I'll intervene. I'll report to Hokage-sama. Don't be impulsive!"

Kakashi hurriedly spoke up to steady the hidden Anbu nearby.

Yet in that instant, Uchiha Itachi discovered the Anbu hidden around them. His gaze turned sharp, but when he saw that they made no move, it returned to its gentle state.

"Little one, would you like to have some dumplings with us?"

Uchiha Itachi warmly greeted Naruto.

Hearing Itachi call to him, Naruto grinned from ear to ear. On the surface, he was happy about the dumplings, but in truth, he was happy because he would not need to do anything for this quest—Uchiha Itachi would help him complete it!

"Sure! Thank you, big brother. I wanted to buy dumplings before, but those shopkeepers wouldn't sell any to me. They only gave me dumplings mixed with sand."

Naruto put on an immensely grateful look, then seemed to remember something and instantly became dejected.

Hearing that the villagers had treated Naruto this way, Uchiha Itachi's expression darkened. He then patted Naruto's head and said, "It's okay, it's okay. Big brother will treat you to dumplings today. Tricolor Dumplings are sweets, and they're delicious. Take a few extra skewers home with you!"

Uchiha Itachi packed several portions and handed them to Naruto.

"Brother, you're playing favorites! I want some too!" Feeling ignored, Sasuke immediately jumped up and shouted at Itachi.

"I bought your share too, Sasuke. We'll eat it after we get home." Itachi handed another portion of dumplings to Sasuke.

The moment Sasuke took the dumplings, he became happy again and said with a smile, "Thank you, Brother."

"Thank you, big brother!" Naruto took the dumplings Itachi offered him and copied Sasuke.

"We should be going now. Little one, you should head home early too." Itachi glanced toward where the Anbu were hiding, took Sasuke's hand, and prepared to leave.

"Okay, big brother, and little brother, be careful on the way! Thank you for the dumplings!" Naruto put on a well-behaved act as he spoke to the two of them.

"He's my brother, not your brother! And I'm not a little brother either!" Sasuke held Itachi's hand and made a face at Naruto.

"Okay, okay, I got it! Bye!" Carrying the Tricolor Dumplings, Naruto bid the two brothers farewell.

Seeing that Naruto had not interacted too much with Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke, Kakashi finally relaxed.

He said to the nearby Anbu, "I'm going to report the situation to Hokage-sama now. Keep an eye on Naruto. I'll be back soon!"

Before the Anbu could respond, Kakashi had already vanished in a flash.

Naruto could sense Kakashi leaving as well. He was probably going to find Hiruzen Sarutobi now.

After all, Naruto's identity was special. He was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

During the previous Nine-Tails' Rampage, the ninja who had controlled the Nine-Tails had also been from the Uchiha Clan. There was no mistaking that Sharingan.

For all these years, the Uchiha Clan had remained mired in controversy.

If Naruto lost control again while interacting with the Uchiha Clan, then the Uchiha Clan truly would never be able to clear their name!

(PS: Please urge for more chapters, and please watch the free ads. You can watch them three times a day. Thank you all for your support!)

(The recent data has been getting worse and worse. Everyone, please watch the ads and help save the numbers, or it really feels like there's no hope left!)

(Starting today, in the Author's note, I'll write down the readers who tip me each day and thank them individually. Thank you for your support every day, Arigato!)

(If you don't see your name, it means I hadn't seen your tip when I was writing the chapter. I'll add it the next day!)