Attitude Determines Everything

"Hey! Why isn't that human kid fighting back? What a coward!"

Kurama had been watching too, but he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Yeah, I also find it hard to understand why he won't counterattack," Naruto said, running through the anime plot in his head. He realized that Rock Lee's childhood had really been like this, and his later strength came entirely from Might Guy's care.

Minato Namikaze weighed his words before chiming in: "Maybe it's because he can't win. So many people are bullying him alone; if he fought back, he might not make it."

"I disagree with you, Dad."

"Whether you can win or not is a matter of ability; whether you rise up and fight is a matter of attitude. And a person's attitude determines their fate."

"Look, his silent endurance only makes others think he's weak."

"Silence is the fate of the bullied; speaking up is the beginning of changing destiny."

In Konoha, a personality like Rock Lee's could win Might Guy's favor, but in the world Naruto knew, he'd be devoured down to the bone.

Originally, with Rock Lee's potential, he could have become a king like Might Guy, someone even Madara Uchiha acknowledged. But in the end, he was just one of the awkward Konoha 12, padding the plot.

Naruto took one last look at Rock Lee, still silently enduring, then turned and walked away.

In the Sealed Space, Minato Namikaze was speechless. That child being bullied reminded him of Kushina back in the day.

Kushina had also been frequently bullied at school. During her school years, to avoid being looked down on by her peers, she'd even shouted out bold claims in class about becoming the first female Hokage.

Both were bullied, but Kushina's approach was completely different from this boy's.

His fiery-tempered wife had fought with all her might and beaten every one of those peers into the ground.

"Sigh."

Minato Namikaze couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

He was a bit worried about Naruto's state of mind, and when he thought about everything his son had suffered in the village over the years, his brow furrowed even deeper.

"Fourth Hokage, what's with that expression? Naruto's kid is right!" Kurama said from within the seal, a look of excitement on his face.

On the road, Naruto had just stopped in front of a noodle shop. Seeing the sign, he paused in his steps.

It was the legendary Ichiraku Ramen.

"Dad, are you worried I'll do something to Konoha?"

In the spiritual world, Naruto asked this softly, then continued walking forward.

He didn't like eating noodles.

Minato Namikaze forced an awkward smile onto his face: "Naruto, you won't do anything to Konoha in the future, right~"

After turning two corners on the route home, Naruto paused slightly and said, "Looks like you still don't understand me, Dad."

"Uh—I."

Minato Namikaze really wanted to say that he indeed didn't quite understand what his son was thinking.

"Don't worry. As long as they don't court death, I won't do anything to Konoha. Besides, I'm not even a genin yet. What are you worried about?"

"I'm not stupid. Why would I act like an activist? That would make them feel threatened and make it harder to hide my goals."

Naruto's words sent a chill down Minato Namikaze's spine, because the premise in Naruto's words was crucial.

A cold wind blew, and heavy snow began to fall from the sky again.

Since no one was tailing or watching him today, he'd go back and start training.

Earlier, after Kurama had replenished Minato Namikaze's Chakra, Minato had immediately offered to guide Naruto in training. But Naruto remembered that he currently had a certain amount of free time each day to go out and stretch his legs, and he didn't want to waste it.

He thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of walking. Sometimes he could barely restrain himself from running freely on the roads.

Under Kurama and Minato Namikaze's puzzled gazes, he went out.

But before leaving, he'd made a special trip to the Mirrored World to run an experiment with Kurama.

When he stood inside the seal, even if his body didn't move and his consciousness was fighting with the puppet, Kurama could still pass him messages at any time without hindrance through the Chakra mental link.

But his father, Minato Namikaze, couldn't do that.

Naruto had tested it repeatedly. He'd also bound him with a guest identity, but inside the seal, Minato couldn't transmit any information to Naruto.

Kurama was quite smug about this, while Minato Namikaze was very disappointed.

He couldn't accept that his connection with his son was weaker than that of a fox.

After lunch, Naruto sat on a chair at home, pretending to read a book. In the spiritual world's seal, Minato Namikaze had already started teaching him.

"Naruto, stop using your old Chakra extraction method."

Minato's expression was a bit grim from the start.

"Hm? Is there a problem with this Chakra extraction method?"

Naruto's gaze suddenly sharpened.

Minato Namikaze quickly waved his hand: "There's no problem with the method! It's just that this method is specifically designed by Konoha for civilian training. It's not very efficient at extracting Chakra."

"Heh—Our Lord Hokage really leaves no cracks in his work!"

Naruto sneered at his father's explanation.

Kurama didn't say anything, but he shot the Fourth Hokage a look of pure disdain. He thought humans really had no sense of decency when it came to doing things.

Minato Namikaze, with an awkward expression, began teaching Naruto a new way to refine Chakra, while inwardly fuming with annoyance.

The Third Hokage had noticed this issue when he first set Naruto on the path of training, but what could he do? He was already dead.

He was now extremely grateful that Naruto had met him so early.

Setting aside Naruto's own hidden trump cards, if no one was willing to guide him as a son, then Naruto was Destined to be a dead last under the Third's arrangements.

Compared to what the Third Hokage had given him, the training method his own father taught was not complicated—in fact, it was much simpler. It was said to be a secret technique exclusive to his mother's Uzumaki Clan, perfectly suited to his physique.

After mastering the new Chakra refinement method, Naruto focused his mind and began refining Chakra. He quickly noticed that the energy surging through his body was incredibly active, completely different from what he had felt during yesterday's training.

With a thought, he directly entered the Mirrored World.

He opened the pop-up window and saw that his Chakra in the projection state had suddenly increased to a challenge time of half an hour.

Since he was here, he couldn't waste time.

A voice seemed to urge him in his heart to keep chasing greater strength.

He walked up to Kotetsu Hagane and issued a challenge.

It wasn't harsh, though it might take a toll mentally. But he wasn't the type to choose comfort when he could strive.

~~~~~~

The next morning, when Naruto woke up with a hint of exhaustion, Kurama immediately told him that something even stranger had happened the night before.

After he had fallen asleep, someone who usually came to relieve the shift and monitor him had called all the Anbu watching him to withdraw completely.

This left Naruto genuinely puzzled.

He asked his father, who had been Hokage, but even Minato Namikaze, who had held that title, was just as confused and couldn't figure out what the Third was up to.

What was the Third Hokage doing?

First, he pulled back the people tailing him outside, and then he withdrew the 24-hour surveillance team as well.

Naruto didn't waste too much energy on these matters. After washing up and changing clothes, he ate breakfast while digesting the rewards he had gotten from lying around last night.

He was organizing the training experience from Kotetsu Hagane's genin days.

It wasn't until he transformed and went out that he realized the night before hadn't been peaceful at all.

Naruto wandered around and had just reached a newspaper stand to pick up a copy when he overheard a few people whispering.

"Did you hear? I heard the Cloud Village leader who came yesterday was killed."

"Huh? No way! Didn't Cloud Village come to Konoha yesterday to sign an alliance treaty?"

"It's true. I heard it too. He was killed by someone from the Hyuga Clan!"

"Yeah, it blew up last night. Those people from the Land of Lightning carried the corpse and stood outside the Hyuga Clan's gate, demanding they hand over the killer, or else they'd start a war with Konoha!"

"What? War! No way, the village doesn't look like it's about to fight."

"That's all thanks to Lord Hokage. He kept the village's peace! I saw him last night leading a bunch of ninja to make the Hyuga Clan hand over the killer. Otherwise, there really might have been a war. But the alliance deal fell through too. Those people from the Land of Lightning left Konoha overnight. What a shame."

"Hmph! The Hyuga Clan killed someone, and they shouldn't have made the village take the blame for them. They ruined our alliance with Cloud Village too. How infuriating."

"Exactly! Such a pity."

Hearing this, Naruto knew what had happened. Without showing any reaction, he handed the newspaper stand owner two bills, picked up the latest issue, and turned to leave.

This must have been the bloody incident triggered by Hinata being kidnapped by Cloud Village. Those people from the Land of Lightning hadn't come to form an alliance at all—they were just looking for trouble.

Their obvious goal was to steal the power of the Byakugan.

In the end, Hizashi Hyuga, the father of Neji from the branch family, took the place of the main family's head, Hyuga Hiashi, and committed suicide to give Cloud Village an answer.

The Hyuga Clan's system of main and branch families meant that branch members were destined from birth to serve as guards for the main family.

The branch family had the Caged Bird Seal carved into their foreheads. This seal limited the Byakugan's abilities of the branch family, and the main family could control it at will, even triggering it to destroy the brain tissue of branch members at any time.

This was clearly a form of slavery, where they had no control over their own lives.

Hizashi Hyuga had desperately wanted to resist this fate.

The reason he willingly died was that this was the one time in his life he could make a choice for himself.

After running through the plot in his mind, Naruto couldn't help but wonder what role the Third Hokage had played this time.

Had Konoha ever lost in the Third Great Ninja War?

Would Konoha be afraid of war?

That was a joke!