Hiruzen Sarutobi

"Don't be afraid. I'm just an old man passing by."

Is he a cat? I didn't hear a thing.

Naruto lay on the ground in fright, his wide eyes fixed on the old man as he tried to figure out where he had come from.

He did not recognize the newcomer. The man had a head of silver hair and a face full of wrinkles, and he looked quite old. He was also thin and gaunt, not someone who seemed to possess much strength.

The stranger turned to look at the grilled fish, then—

Grrr~

His stomach rumbled with impressive vigor.

So he's just hungry. As long as he's not here to pick a fight, it's fine.

Only then did Naruto relax a little. He climbed to his feet, picked up the grilled fish that had fallen to the ground, took another fresh one, and handed it over.

"Grandpa, you can have this grilled fish," Naruto said with particular friendliness.

Whether he was an enemy or not, there was no harm in treating him politely.

Besides, Naruto was kind by nature.

"It looks delicious. Thank you."

The old man took a bite and praised it lavishly. "This really is extremely delicious."

The praise gave Naruto the strange feeling of hearing the President of Brazil complimenting Brazil's national soccer team.

Didn't he know whether this grilled fish tasted good or not?

Looking again at the white-haired old man, Naruto actually felt a sympathetic sort of pity.

This was probably a lonely old man with no family. Maybe he had dementia, or perhaps he was simply terrible with directions. Otherwise, he would not have been wandering through the forest in the middle of the night, unable to find his way home, until he ran into Naruto hungry.

Naruto started a conversation. "Grandpa, wouldn't it be great if the village had a community cafeteria where orphans like us and lonely elderly people could eat for free?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was eating grilled fish, looked at Naruto with thirty percent surprise and seventy percent confusion.

Me? A lonely old man with no family?

"That way, we could eat regularly and wouldn't have to go hungry every now and then..." Naruto continued explaining.

Then he abruptly changed the subject. "Grandpa, you're so old, so you must know a lot. Do you know what ninja are?"

"Ninja..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a moment, memories flickering in his eyes. "Ninja are the protectors of the village and their comrades. They are also inheritors of the Will of Fire."

He looked deeply at Naruto. "Young people are the hope of the future. Wherever the leaves of Konoha dance, the fire burns without end. Its light will continue to illuminate the village and allow new leaves to sprout..."

Those words made Naruto feel that this man might be a retired employee from some official propaganda department.

Still, the conversation had opened up, so Naruto followed along and took the chance to ask what he truly wanted to know. "Then, Grandpa, how strong are ninja? Can becoming a ninja grant immortality?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had intended to give him a lesson, paused at that.

He had thought Naruto would be curious about the Will of Fire. He had not expected Naruto to care only about strength and whether he could live forever.

Then again, he was a child. It was understandable.

"Powerful ninja can move mountains and fill seas."

He recalled the battle between the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara as though it had happened yesterday. Even now, the terrifying power capable of overturning mountains and seas still made his heart tremble.

"As for immortality, even the ancestor of ninja did not possess such an ability." For some reason, when Hiruzen Sarutobi said that, he suddenly thought of his disciple, Orochimaru.

So he added earnestly, "The meaning of life does not lie in its length, but in its quality. To protect the village and one's comrades..."

Naruto nodded as he listened, indicating that he remembered.

Before this, he had assumed ninja were much like martial artists from his previous life, focused more on self-cultivation. At most, one person could fight ten. He had even planned to start a business and use his advanced commercial knowledge to become the richest man in this world.

But now, becoming a ninja seemed far more promising.

After the old man finished speaking, Naruto finally asked his real question. "Then what is Chakra?"

"Chakra is a kind of energy within the body." Hiruzen Sarutobi gave a simple explanation to a child who was only three years old.

A kind of energy? Like Mana or Spiritual Energy?

Grrr~

Just as Naruto was about to ask more, the old man's stomach rumbled again.

"Here, Grandpa, hurry and eat."

Naruto picked up another grilled fish and handed it to him.

This old man was a good person. He had greatly helped Naruto understand this world, so Naruto treated him warmly.

He ate four of the five grilled fish and drank a large bowl of mushroom soup.

During that time, after giving it some thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi taught Naruto the Chakra Refining Technique.

There was not much to consider. Besides, if the Fourth Hokage were still around, he probably would have taught Naruto long ago.

Since that was the case, this old man would teach Naruto in the Fourth Hokage's place.

Naruto was extremely happy to receive the Chakra Refining Technique, even a little excited.

He had managed to set foot on the path to immortality so easily. It was almost too smooth. His emotions today had gone up and down like a roller coaster.

Suddenly, Naruto seemed to understand something.

He glanced at the old man, hesitating to speak. But his curiosity about his parents outweighed the possible consequences, and he finally asked tentatively, "Grandpa, did you know my parents?"

"Your parents were both heroes." Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone was exceptionally certain.

Really? I don't believe it.

Naruto looked at the old man beneath the flickering firelight and said nothing.

A three-year-old Naruto might have believed him and perhaps even been comforted into delight. But with the soul of someone in his twenties, he could not accept that so easily.

The people from daytime were still vivid in his mind. If his parents had truly been heroes, then even if those people did not treat him with gratitude and reverence, they should at least have shown him some respect.

But what about now?

Some gossiped behind his back and watched him coldly. Others wished they could beat him to death.

It made no sense. It was even more baffling.

Maybe this old man really did have dementia.

Naruto wanted to ask why so many people hated him, but he did not dare voice the question.

The old man looked as though he had dementia. Naruto was afraid that if he asked, the old man might really remember something and come to hate him like everyone else.

Then he would not even have anyone to talk to.

For now, this old man was Naruto's only source of information about this world.

At that moment, Naruto suddenly felt as though the village had gaslit him.

Hated and despised by the entire village, abandoned by the whole world, and then when one person treated him slightly better, he felt like a drowning man clutching at his only straw.

If that wasn't gaslighting, what was?

Seeming to notice that Naruto was in a poor mood, Hiruzen Sarutobi pointed to the stars in the night sky. "Look. Every one of those stars is just like the sun in our world. What do you think? Aren't there an astonishing number of them?"

"Mm-hm." Naruto nodded along.

"This world is truly vast. Compared to all that, humanity's existence is truly, truly tiny."

As he spoke, he even made some ridiculous gestures that made Naruto laugh.

What an interesting old man. He's like an old child who knows how to cheer people up.

"The joys and sorrows of insignificant beings like us are truly not worth mentioning."

Naruto understood the reasoning, but as he looked at the starry sky now, he unexpectedly felt much lighter.