How to Make Friends with Naruto

"Naruto! You're bleeding!"

Minato Namikaze, shocked by Naruto, quickly reminded his son that he was injured.

Naruto, who had fallen onto the stone platform, took a deep breath. He reached back and grabbed the handle of a kunai that was sticking out of his shoulder, and large beads of sweat immediately rolled down his forehead.

The searing pain, transmitted through his nerves, felt like it pierced his very soul.

Although the pain was immense, the depth at which the kunai was embedded in his body told Naruto that he couldn't pull it out with too much force or too quickly.

Understanding this, Naruto's azure eyes gradually became bloodshot. He clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles cracking. His fingernails dug into his palms as he gritted his teeth and slowly pulled out the three kunai from his body with his other hand, tossing them onto the stone platform.

"Quick! Naruto, your Ninja Tool Pouch has bandages and medicine for stopping bleeding!"

Minato Namikaze, watching from within the Sealed Space, saw his son go from sweating profusely from the pain to stoically pulling all the kunai out of himself.

Naruto's astonishing willpower and endurance didn't make him proud; instead, it filled him with a sense of dread.

"I don't think I need them. My wound seems to be healing on its own?"

Hearing his father's worried voice, Naruto, who had been about to reach for his Ninja Tool Pouch, felt a tingling sensation on his shoulder. The wound was clearly healing rapidly.

"What?"

Minato Namikaze wasn't sure if he had heard correctly.

Soon, Naruto felt the injured spot on his shoulder completely heal. He reached out and touched it; the wound had vanished without a trace, not even a hint of a scar remained.

Naruto's eyes flickered. He remembered a similar scene from the original story.

It was during the first mission outside the village for Team Kakashi, the Land of Waves mission. Naruto, wanting to prove his bravery, had forcefully driven a kunai into the back of his hand.

As a result, Kakashi, his Jonin instructor, had treated his wound and discovered that moments after the kunai was pulled out, aside from a little blood, Naruto's wound had healed to its pristine state within a single breath.

In Kakashi's eyes, this recovery ability was the power of the Nine-Tails within Naruto's body.

But Naruto's personal experience felt unrelated to Kurama within his body; the wounds had healed entirely on their own.

"Father, has Mother ever experienced this kind of self-healing wound?"

Naruto asked Minato Namikaze within the Sealed Space.

"No," Minato Namikaze replied affirmatively at first, then a look of embarrassment flashed across his face. "Perhaps there wasn't an opportunity. Ever since your mother arrived in Konoha, she's been constantly fighting. I... I also haven't seen her get seriously injured."

"Naruto, your situation reminds me of someone!"

Kurama's voice suddenly came from the side.

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

Kurama gazed at Naruto, his eyes burning as he uttered a name.

"Hashirama Senju!"

Hokage's Office.

"When do you plan to approach Naruto?"

The Third Hokage, having just returned from the Konoha Hospital, took a puff from his pipe, glanced at Shikaku Nara beside him, and then looked at a small child in front of him.

"Ah~ Hokage-sama, this matter is quite troublesome~~"

A small child with the Nara family's ancestral pineapple-shaped hairstyle yawned and replied lazily.

"Cough! Cough! Shikamaru, mind your manners when speaking to the Hokage!"

"Heh heh, Shikaku, it's alright," the Third Hokage smiled gently and continued, "Shikamaru, several months have passed. Have you thought of a way to become friends with Naruto?"

Upon hearing this, Shikamaru's expression turned serious, revealing a maturity far beyond his years. "Hokage-sama, it's not that I'm stalling, it's just genuinely difficult."

"I've been studying Naruto's profile for months, and I haven't had any chance to approach him."

"Every day, he goes straight to a small grove in the Uchiha Clan Compound. Even though I'm a child, from the Nara Clan's perspective, it's not appropriate for me to go there."

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

"If I approach him directly, it will be full of obvious flaws."

The Third Hokage also felt frustrated hearing this.

Why had he taught Naruto the Transformation Jutsu first in the first place?

"Yes, what you're saying makes sense. Then let's see what Naruto is up to now."

After exhaling two smoke rings, the Third Hokage took out a crystal ball from his drawer. He beckoned the Shikaku father and son, and Naruto's image began to appear on the crystal ball.

Naruto had just emerged from the small grove, but he had used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself as a boy just over twelve years old.

Earlier, while Kurama was telling him in the Sealed Space how similar his situation was to Hashirama Senju's, a sliver of his consciousness perceived that the Third Hokage was on his way back to the office.

So, he quickly gathered all the ninja tools he had brought and was about to head home when he sensed Uchiha Sasuke and another unfamiliar chakra approaching the grove.

He didn't want to get too involved with Uchiha Sasuke, who was still a brat at heart, and the other unknown chakra also felt quite unusual to Naruto.

Soon, he saw Uchiha Sasuke appear first, followed by someone wearing a black and gray high-necked short-sleeved shirt, adorned with triangular protectors, matching pants, and leg wrappings.

As the figure grew closer, Naruto's pupils constricted!

Following behind Sasuke was none other than Shisui Uchiha!

"Huh? Who are you? What are you doing in our Uchiha compound!"

Sasuke, still his usual tsundere self, immediately began questioning Naruto upon seeing him.

Hearing this, Naruto finally understood. He only realized today that this was the Uchiha compound. No wonder no one had been tailing him recently.

"I'm just a passerby who accidentally wandered this way,"

Naruto replied with a slight smile.

"A passerby?" Sasuke looked at Naruto with suspicion, scrutinizing him repeatedly. After a moment, he asked again, "Did you see a blond-haired guy in the woods!"

So he really is looking for me. Naruto thought, his heart stirring slightly. He then calmly answered, "I didn't see anyone."

"Sasuke, is that little kid your brother mentioned, the one stronger than you?"

Shisui Uchiha also walked over, scrutinizing Naruto with a strange look.

Seeing the scrutinizing glint in Shisui Uchiha's eyes, Naruto's sense of alarm immediately surged.

Did he see through my Transformation Jutsu?

But he's clearly not using his Sharingan!

"He's not that annoying guy!" Sasuke declared, his small face stiffening. He then continued, "But why do you feel so familiar to me?"

We only met once, how did I become annoying to you?

Naruto grumbled inwardly at Sasuke's words. With a natural nod to Shisui Uchiha, he walked away.

Shisui Uchiha's brow furrowed as he watched Naruto gradually move away.

He didn't know who this person was.

Although the person who had just left had concealed himself well, he could still smell a faint, lingering scent of blood.

Over in the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage and Shikaku Nara, along with his son, had watched the entire encounter between Naruto and the others by the woods. After watching for a long time, until they saw Naruto return home, the Third Hokage finally dismissed the image from the crystal ball.

"Lord Hokage, you saw it, didn't you? Naruto is still using Transformation Jutsu even when leaving the woods to go home,"

Shikamaru said with a helpless expression.

However, at this moment, the Third Hokage's mind flashed back to Naruto's reaction in the crystal ball, and he suddenly chuckled, "Heh heh, Shikamaru, have you ever thought of doing the opposite?"

Shikamaru's expression froze. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"You don't need to worry about how to approach Naruto when he's using Transformation Jutsu."

"Your only task is to become friends with Naruto."

"Why should you care what face your friend is wearing?"

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

Looking at the Third Hokage's peculiar expression as he uttered these words, a complex 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 glance.

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

"Heh heh, Shikamaru, I believe you can. Besides you, I've only ever said that to your father."