My Foolish Little Brother!

At sunset, Menma and Naruto sat at opposite ends of a bench in the park.

The two orphans quietly watched as the children in the park were picked up by their parents.

"Um... Menma, why are you willing to play with me?" Naruto gathered his courage and asked the little boy sitting at the other end of the bench, his voice carrying a hint of hopeful confusion.

Although they had only sat in the park for a while after eating, quietly watching the sun set.

To Naruto, when all the other children in the park avoided him like the plague, having someone willing to sit on the same bench and watch the sunset with him was already a rare friendship.

"Hm?" Menma turned his head slightly, the afterglow of the setting sun outlining his face with a gentle radiance.

He looked at Uzumaki Naruto beside him, with his blond hair, blue eyes, and six whisker marks on his face.

The protagonist of this world of Hokage, the future Child of Prophecy who would save the world.

"I once had a friend who helped me when I was confused. Maybe I saw a reflection of my former self in you," Menma made up casually.

He knew that the Third Hokage's crystal ball was monitoring Naruto at all times.

Anbu had also been keeping Naruto under long-term surveillance. The Third Hokage was bound to learn that he had approached Naruto.

Besides, Menma himself did not really understand why he had approached Naruto.

Was it because Naruto was the protagonist? Or because he had transmigrated into Naruto's brother, and the blood-thicker-than-water bond of family was affecting him?

Menma could not distinguish that feeling.

He did not want to disrupt Naruto's growth, at least not before Naruto graduated and the main storyline began.

But he was also indignant about Naruto's current predicament.

Where had Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina's assets gone? That was so much money! And their house!

Kushina was the last surviving member of the Uzumaki Clan. Grandma Mito had regarded Kushina as her own daughter. Even if the Uzumaki Clan's inheritance had not been left to Kushina, Grandma Mito would have prepared some assets for Kushina to establish a home, right?

And there was Namikaze Minato. Setting aside his salary as the Fourth Hokage, he had completed thirty-nine S-rank missions during his ninja career, earning a great deal of money.

An S-rank mission paid at least one million ryo, and that was after the village had taken its cut. The ninja team that accepted the mission received the remainder, with the team leader jonin taking half—five hundred thousand ryo.

Thirty-nine S-rank missions meant at least nineteen and a half million ryo!

And that did not include 323 A-rank missions, 216 B-rank missions, 147 C-rank missions, and 122 D-rank missions.

Even calculated at the lowest rates, an A-rank mission paid one hundred and fifty thousand ryo, a B-rank mission eighty thousand, a C-rank mission thirty thousand, and a D-rank mission five thousand.

At the median estimate, Minato's total earnings throughout his ninja career exceeded two hundred and thirty million ryo. Even at the lowest estimate, they exceeded fifty-four million ryo.

That was so much money! It could not all have gone toward buying Minato's specially made Flying Thunder God kunai, nor could it have all vanished after he married Kushina and bought a house.

So where had the money gone?!!

Even if only a leftover four million ryo remained, it could have supported Naruto until he graduated from the Ninja Academy and became a Genin capable of earning money independently. Over twelve years, that would have provided more than twenty-seven thousand ryo per month!

If it had all been spent on Ichiraku Ramen for Naruto, he could have eaten over five hundred bowls a month! Until he threw up!

So how much had that old man Hiruzen Sarutobi given him?

Naruto loved cup noodles most. He never cooked, and he ate instant noodles for two out of his three daily meals almost every day. For breakfast, he had some milk and fried eggs. How much could that possibly cost?

Yet he had somehow ended up with barely any pocket money every month, and even occasionally eating at Ichiraku Ramen counted as a lavish feast!

"Friends?" Little Naruto's eyes suddenly lit up. Full of anticipation, he asked, "Then... are we friends now?"

"I suppose so." Menma rubbed his stomach.

This month's friendship fee had arrived.

"Alright, it's getting late. I should head home too." Seeing that the sun had completely set and dusk was deepening, Menma stood up from the bench and brushed the fallen leaves from his pant legs.

"Then! See you next time!" Naruto grinned. Today, he had made his first friend—no, there were also the ramen shop uncle and Ayame.

Naruto's naturally optimistic and cheerful personality allowed him to throw aside the troubles of the past few days, along with the villagers' malice.

After waving goodbye to Menma, Naruto skipped toward home.

Once Naruto vanished at the far end of the park, Mini-Kurama poked its head out from the scarf around Menma's neck.

"Menma, is that guy your brother in this world? The chakra inside him... is very strange." Earlier, after sensing a Tailed Beast chakra that was both familiar and unfamiliar, Mini-Kurama had retreated into Menma's mental space.

Only after Naruto had left and that restless chakra disappeared from its senses did Mini-Kurama emerge again.

"Yeah, that's him. Uzumaki Naruto, my foolish little brother." Menma looked in the direction Naruto had disappeared, narrowing his eyes as a playful smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

With the Third Hokage's crystal ball spying on him, the Anbu's round-the-clock surveillance, and the influence of Asura's reincarnated chakra, it would probably be difficult for Menma to instill any ideas into Naruto.

Still, he really wanted to see Naruto's shocked expression when, during the New Konoha Destruction Plan, he told him, "I'm your brother! We're both sons of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato!"

And then said, "My foolish little brother."

However, before the New Konoha Destruction Plan, Menma still had to find a way to take away a group of ninja clans.

When the First Hokage Senju Hashirama and the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, reincarnated by Orochimaru through the Impure World Reincarnation, saw the rebellious Uchiha Clan, Hyuga Clan, and Uzumaki Clan around them joining forces against the Third Hokage and destroying Konoha...

What expressions would appear on those two "predecessors'" faces?

"Just thinking about it is delightful." Menma hummed softly, feeling as though his brain had already begun to tremble.

Even if Naruto was the protagonist, he could not stop him!

Inside the Hokage's office.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, used the Telescope Technique to watch little Naruto jog home from the park. Beneath his Hokage hat, his age-spotted face remained as calm and undisturbed as an ancient well.

He took a background investigation report from the intelligence division out of a drawer.

"Menma?" Hiruzen Sarutobi looked over the information the intelligence division's ninja had gathered from the Orphanage, his gaze finally stopping on the words, "Primary chakra nature: Fire Release. Possesses ninja aptitude."

The background investigation showed that he was merely an ordinary war orphan.

"If the other child were still alive, Naruto would not be so lonely." Hiruzen Sarutobi set down the report, picked up his pipe, and took a puff.

The smoke he slowly exhaled drifted through the office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help recalling the joy on Minato's face when Kushina had been pregnant and they learned she was carrying twins.

To ensure Kushina's safe delivery, Hiruzen Sarutobi had even specifically arranged for his wife, Biwako, to assist in the delivery room.

But then—

The Nine-Tails Incident. When Hiruzen Sarutobi led Konoha's ninja to the battlefield where Minato sealed the Nine-Tails, he saw only the bodies of Minato and Kushina inside the barrier, pierced through by the Nine-Tails' claws, along with Naruto crying in swaddling clothes.

As for the other child, there was no trace of him.

If he had not been taken away by the mysterious man, then he had most likely died during the Nine-Tails Incident.

"Naruto is nearly three years old. He has begun coming into contact with all kinds of people and ideas. It is time for him to understand the Will of Fire." Hiruzen Sarutobi stroked the brim of his Hokage conical hat.

Watching Naruto in the crystal ball, lying on his bed at home with a smile still on his face, Hiruzen Sarutobi considered what sort of image he should present before Naruto.

Only then could he make Naruto develop the greatest possible dependence on him and familial affection.