How to Become Friends with Naruto

"Naruto! You're bleeding!"

Minato Namikaze, still shocked by Naruto, hurriedly reminded his son that he had been injured.

After landing on the stone platform, Naruto took a deep breath. Reaching back, he grabbed the handle of a kunai embedded in his shoulder, and beads of sweat the size of beans immediately rolled down his forehead.

The searing pain traveled along his nerves, seeming to stab straight into his soul.

Though the pain was excruciating, the depth to which the kunai had penetrated told Naruto that he could neither pull too hard nor yank it out too quickly.

Understanding this, blood vessels gradually appeared in Naruto's azure eyes. He clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking loudly as his nails dug into his palms. Gritting his teeth, he slowly pulled the three kunai from his body one by one with his other hand and tossed them onto the stone platform.

"Quick! Naruto, there are hemostatic bandages and medicine in your Ninja Tool Pouch!"

Inside the Sealed Space, Minato Namikaze watched his son go from sweating profusely in pain to calmly pulling every kunai from his body without changing expression.

Naruto's astonishing willpower and endurance did not make him proud. Instead, they filled him with alarm.

"Looks like I won't need them. The wounds seem to be healing on their own?"

Hearing his father's worried voice, Naruto had been about to reach for his Ninja Tool Pouch, but he felt a tingling numbness in his shoulder. The wound was clearly healing at a rapid pace.

"What?"

Minato Namikaze was not entirely sure whether he had heard correctly.

Very soon, Naruto felt the injured spots had completely healed. When he reached up to touch them, not only had the wounds vanished, there was not even the sensation of a scar.

Naruto's eyes flickered as he recalled a similar scene from the Original Work.

It had been Team Kakashi's first mission outside the village—the Land of Waves mission. To prove his courage, Naruto had viciously stabbed the back of his own hand with a kunai.

When Kakashi, acting as their instructor, treated the wound, he discovered that as soon as the kunai was pulled out, aside from drawing a little blood, Naruto's injury had returned to smooth, unblemished skin within a few breaths.

In Kakashi's eyes, that healing ability came from the power of the Nine-Tails inside Naruto.

But Naruto could clearly feel that it had nothing to do with Kurama currently inside him. The wounds had healed entirely on their own.

"Father, did Mother ever have wounds that healed by themselves like this?"

Naruto asked Minato Namikaze inside the Sealed Space.

"No." After answering firmly, Minato Namikaze's face briefly showed embarrassment. "Perhaps she never had the chance. From the day your mother arrived in Konoha, she was always chasing people down to beat them up. I... I never saw her truly get hurt."

"Naruto, your condition reminds me of someone!"

Kurama's voice suddenly came from nearby.

Hearing that, Naruto's heart stirred. "Who?"

Kurama stared at Naruto with blazing eyes and spoke a name.

"Hashirama Senju!"

Hokage's Office.

"When do you plan to approach Naruto?"

The Third Hokage had just returned from Konoha Hospital. After taking a puff from his pipe, he glanced at Shikaku Nara beside him before fixing his gaze on the child in front of him.

"Ahh, Lord Hokage, this is really troublesome~~"

A child with the Nara Clan's hereditary pineapple hairstyle yawned, answering in a languid manner.

"Cough, cough! Shikamaru, watch how you speak to Lord Hokage!"

"Hehe, Shikaku, it's fine." The Third Hokage smiled gently and continued, "Shikamaru, several months have already passed. Have you figured out how to become friends with Naruto?"

Shikamaru's expression turned serious, revealing a maturity wholly unsuited to a child. "Lord Hokage, it's not that I'm stalling. It's genuinely difficult."

"I've studied Naruto's information for several months, but I simply have no opportunity to approach him."

"Every day when he leaves home, he heads straight for a small forest near the Uchiha Clan Compound. Even if I'm just a child, it would not be appropriate for me to go there from the Nara Clan's standpoint."

"Also, I once planned to run into him at Ninja Tool Full Point Hall, where he often shops. But the biggest problem is that Naruto always uses the Transformation Jutsu whenever he goes out."

"If I approach him directly, it'll be obvious that I'm full of loopholes."

The Third Hokage felt deeply frustrated as well.

Why had he taught Naruto the Transformation Jutsu right from the start?

"Mm, you make sense. Then let's see what Naruto is doing now."

After blowing out two rings of smoke, the Third Hokage took the Crystal Ball from a drawer. Calling Shikaku and his son over, he made Naruto's image appear within it.

Naruto had just emerged from the small forest, but he had used the Transformation Jutsu to turn himself into a boy who looked a little over twelve.

Earlier, inside the Sealed Space, while Kurama was explaining how Hashirama Senju's situation was extremely similar to his own, a trace of Naruto's awareness sensed the Third Hokage returning to the Hokage's Office.

He immediately retrieved all the ninja tools he had brought along. Just as he was preparing to go home, he sensed Sasuke Uchiha and another unfamiliar Chakra signature approaching the small forest.

He did not want to get too involved with Sasuke Uchiha, who still had the mentality of a brat, and the unfamiliar Chakra also made Naruto feel that its owner was far from ordinary.

Soon, he saw Sasuke Uchiha walking in front. Behind him was someone wearing a black-and-gray short-sleeved high-collar shirt, triangular guards strapped to his body, matching pants, and leg wraps.

As that person drew closer, Naruto's pupils contracted!

Following behind Sasuke was actually Shisui Uchiha!

"Huh? Who are you? Why are you in our Uchiha Clan Compound?"

Sasuke still had that arrogant look. The moment he saw Naruto, he immediately began questioning him.

Hearing that, Naruto suddenly understood. Today was the first time he learned this was the Uchiha Clan Compound. No wonder no one had followed him lately.

"I'm just a passerby who accidentally wandered over here."

Naruto answered with a faint smile.

"A passerby?" Sasuke repeatedly examined Naruto with a suspicious expression. After a while, he asked again, "Did you see a yellow-haired guy in the forest?"

So they really came looking for me. Naruto's heart stirred, but he calmly answered, "No, I didn't see anyone."

"Sasuke, is this the child your brother said was stronger than you?"

Shisui Uchiha also walked over, studying Naruto with a strange look in his eyes.

Seeing the scrutiny in Shisui Uchiha's gaze, warning bells immediately began ringing louder in Naruto's mind.

Had he seen through his Transformation Jutsu?

But he clearly had not activated his Sharingan!

"Not that annoying guy!" Sasuke's little face stiffened as he continued, "But why do you give me such a familiar feeling?"

We only met once. How did I become annoying to you already?

Naruto inwardly grumbled at Sasuke's words. After naturally nodding to Shisui Uchiha, he turned and walked away.

Shisui Uchiha immediately frowned as he watched Naruto gradually depart.

He did not know who that person was.

Although the person who had just left had concealed it well, Shisui Uchiha had still caught a faint scent of blood.

Back in the Hokage's Office, the Third Hokage and the Shikaku father-and-son pair watched the entire encounter between Naruto and the others by the forest. They continued watching until Naruto returned home, at which point the Third Hokage finally dismissed the image in the Crystal Ball.

"Lord Hokage, you saw it too. Naruto even uses the Transformation Jutsu when leaving the forest to go home."

Shikamaru spoke with a helpless expression.

However, after recalling Naruto's reaction in the Crystal Ball, the Third Hokage suddenly smiled. "Hehe, Shikamaru, have you considered doing the opposite?"

Shikamaru froze. "Hm? What do you mean?"

"You do not need to agonize over how to approach Naruto while he is using the Transformation Jutsu."

"You only need to accomplish the task of becoming friends with Naruto."

"Why concern yourself with what face the friend you approach is wearing?"

"What you need to do is make him trust you completely. Do you understand?"

After the Third Hokage spoke those words with an unusual expression, a complicated look appeared on Shikamaru's face. Just as he was about to refuse, he saw his father standing beside the Hokage give him a meaningful look.

"Yes, Lord Hokage, I understand. It's just that I can't guarantee I'll be able to become friends with Naruto."

"Hehe, Shikamaru, I believe you can. Other than you, I have only ever said those words to your father."