Anyone Who Is Human

"This had to do with your identity, and with who your parents were."

At this, Naruto's eyes flickered with curiosity.

"Uzumaki, wasn't I an orphan? Who were my father and mother?"

Kushina was furious. That bastard Third Hokage had insisted on telling Naruto he was an orphan.

If the Third Hokage had even a shred of decency, he could have entrusted Naruto to someone reliable for adoption.

"This is a secret. Do you think I'd just tell you so casually?"

"Huh?"

Naruto scratched his head. That did seem to be the case, but he really wanted to know who his parents were.

"Then... then... what do I have to do for you to tell me this secret?"

Kushina had already taken a thorough look around Naruto's home.

The place was dirty, messy, and stank.

"I'm not going to tell such an important secret to a child whose home is this messy."

Naruto hurriedly jumped off the bed, ready to clean his room.

Kushina said helplessly, "Eat first. Clean up after you've eaten."

"Okay, okay."

Naruto answered blankly, then took the bento the Third Hokage had brought and went to heat it in the microwave.

During those few minutes, Naruto began picking up the trash on the floor.

Following Senyo's advice, Kushina intended to correct some of Naruto's bad habits first.

After all, even if Naruto learned now that his parents were the Fourth Hokage and his wife, it would be of no use. Instead, it would put him in danger.

While Naruto was still young, he needed to break free from the Third Hokage's influence and straighten out his personality as soon as possible.

Kushina had always been fiercely spirited. When she was bullied back then, she didn't just whimper and cry.

She fought back, throwing hands and beating her enemies into pig faces. She usually took revenge on the spot.

Kushina did not want Naruto to grow into a useless idiot who only knew how to forgive.

Her time was limited. She could not stay with Naruto forever.

"I'm going to rest. By tomorrow morning, I want to see a clean room."

As Naruto clumsily began tidying up, Kushina left those words in his mind and then fell completely silent.

"Uzumaki...?"

"Uzumaki...?"

Naruto called out twice in his mind, but received no response.

Ding...

The microwave beeped, drawing Naruto's attention.

Though his injuries were not serious, he had exerted himself greatly and was now starving.

Naruto opened the bento and began eating.

As he ate, he wondered who this Uzumaki really was and why she could speak inside his head.

Was she telling the truth? Was Grandpa Third really a bad person?

Although Naruto still had no idea what this "Uzumaki" looked like, he instinctively felt close to the person who called herself "Uzumaki."

Lost in thought, Naruto quickly finished the bento.

There was still a carton of milk and some cookies, but Naruto planned to save them for breakfast tomorrow.

After all, the Third Hokage had only brought him this much food.

Once he finished it, he would have to buy more himself.

Naruto picked up the milk and cookies, only then remembering that there was a refrigerator at home.

After stuffing them into the fridge, Naruto slowly began cleaning the room.

Naruto had never paid much attention to hygiene before, and he left things scattered everywhere.

He was still too young, so he cleaned rather slowly, filling the house with clattering noises.

The Anbu outside quietly checked in. Seeing that Naruto was cleaning his room, they paid it no mind.

The Anbu whom Naruto, while under Kushina's control, had glared at earlier did not report Naruto's murderous gaze.

After all, Naruto showed no signs of Nine-Tails Chakra leaking out. Reporting it would only bring trouble upon himself.

However, the Third Hokage had the Anbu deliver a strict order to the people on the street.

From then on, anyone who bullied Naruto would be thrown into prison.

The villagers and children alike had been frightened.

They decided they would never pay attention to that monster again.

People who had never cleaned a room had no sense of planning and often ended up doing the same things repeatedly.

Naruto was exactly like that. He swept the floor first, then went to pick up the trash, only to dirty the floor again.

After going back and forth several times, Naruto at least gained some experience.

Afraid Uzumaki would be dissatisfied, he fetched water after tidying the room and wiped it down inside and out.

He worked alone until well past midnight.

Only then did he collapse onto the bed and fall fast asleep.

Senyo rose from Naruto's shadow.

Kushina needed to conserve Chakra and had already gone back to sleep.

Still, Senyo inspected the neat and clean room and nodded slightly.

It seemed Kushina had earned Naruto's trust. At last, it was a good start.

While Naruto was busy cleaning his room, a dark mass of people arrived from outside Konoha.

Every one of them wore Konoha forehead protectors, but the Hyuga patrol squad stationed on the perimeter did not recognize any of them.

Not a single one—they were all unfamiliar faces.

If the Third Hokage and Jiraiya had not been there to say they were allies, the Hyuga Clan would have sounded the alarm long ago.

Hyuga Mitsunobu, who had received word, also arrived at the scene.

Seeing this dense formation of Konoha ninja, all strictly obeying orders, Hyuga Mitsunobu was stunned.

"Hokage-sama, who are these people?"

As the person responsible for overseeing all of Konoha, Hyuga Mitsunobu naturally had to get to the bottom of it.

That way, unnecessary misunderstandings could be avoided.

The Third Hokage wore his Hokage Hat. His pipe was lit, but he did not smoke it.

"These are people I recalled from the border."

"Understood, Hokage-sama. Where should they be stationed?"

Mitsunobu had fought on the battlefield before. Though the ninja below were not particularly strong, they obeyed orders without question and were extremely well-organized.

More importantly, there were many of them. Mitsunobu estimated there were at least a thousand.

That number was not much for a vast village like Konoha.

But if these ninja belonged to the Third Hokage's private forces...

The Third Hokage had clearly already considered it. "Settle them in the ruins left behind after the old district was demolished."

"Konoha may undergo drastic changes in the next few days. You'll have to work hard."

Hyuga Mitsunobu stiffened. "Rest assured, Hokage-sama. We will handle Konoha's surveillance properly."

After the Third Hokage and Jiraiya brought everyone into Konoha, they also dispatched four Anbu squads to coordinate with Hyuga Mitsunobu.

Hyuga Mitsunobu had Sota Hyuga settle the newcomers and subtly gave him a meaningful look, while he himself coordinated the supplies.

By the time Mitsunobu finished dealing with everything, it was already midnight.

After reporting to Clan Head Hiashi, he returned to his residence to wait.

About an hour later, a voice came from outside the door. "Lord Mitsunobu, I'm back."

"Come in." Only after Mitsunobu gave the order did Sota open the door and enter.

"My lord, there are roughly a thousand of these ninja. Half of them are Chunin, and the rest do not seem like ordinary Genin either."

"They are highly disciplined and have received large-scale team training."

"Their leader is called Ryunosuke, and every one of them uses only a given name, never a surname."

By team training, Sota did not mean the usual three-man squads, but training in large groups of more than ten.

Using only given names and no surnames suggested two possibilities: either they were very familiar with one another, or they belonged to the same clan.