Friend, Don't Mess With Me!

[Setting Change: "family" changed to "comrade"]

"Captain, go see what's going on."

The captain began slowly walking toward the rear, counting everyone one by one.

Naruto grew anxious. Thinking quickly, he imitated the host's tone from earlier that day and called out, "Comrade, I'm a newcomer who just joined."

The captain was broad and powerfully built, with an imposing coiling dragon tattooed across his chest.

His eyes held a scrutinizing look. After clearing his throat, he said, "You're a newcomer? Why didn't you say anything just now?"

Naruto sized up the captain as well. His manner of speaking didn't sound like that of a native of the Land of Waves. He seemed more like one of Gato's trusted men.

Naruto rolled his eyes and said, "Comrade, I was so moved by the team's spirit that I followed along without realizing it. Didn't Chief Kakaka say that we should unite everyone who could be united?"

The captain said nothing. He silently stepped forward and began searching Naruto's pockets.

He patted Naruto down from head to toe. After confirming that he carried no dangerous items, he asked, "What is Mr. Gato's ideology?"

Naruto was completely stumped. These past few days, he had done nothing but train and scout around. How was he supposed to know what Gato's ideology was?

Developing more followers? Bringing spring to the Land of Waves?

If he made something up, he would most likely blow his cover.

No, he had to seize control of the conversation.

Naruto deliberately let a trace of disappointment show in his eyes. "Comrade, is this how you test cadres?"

The captain's brow furrowed.

Naruto slowly raised his voice. "I only joined my comrades in experiencing the morning meeting today. Everyone said comrades were closer than family, that we could safely entrust our backs to one another. Yet now you're actually questioning a comrade's loyalty?"

Everyone around them looked over, and quite a few began whispering among themselves.

The captain was clearly embarrassed. "Keep your voice down. Don't say anything detrimental to unity."

"You're the one being detrimental to unity!" Naruto turned toward the crowd. "Comrades, this comrade suspects I'm an enemy. Heaven knows I've eaten the Chief's food for several days now—how could I possibly be an enemy?!"

An old man beside Naruto said, "That's right, comrade. Once we join this family, we have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear. There's no need to be so suspicious, is there?"

"That's right, that's right."

The captain was left speechless. "Ah, it's like this, comrades. These past few days, a group of spies infiltrated the Land of Waves..."

"Spies? I'm a spy now?!" Naruto shouted, his expression exceptionally furious as his features twisted slightly.

Although he really was a "spy."

"Shh, keep your voice down." The captain hurriedly grabbed Naruto. "Cough, cough. Go inside and register."

Another woman in the crowd also comforted him. "Young man, don't get worked up. Go inside and register."

"Hmph!" Naruto snorted coldly, finally giving the captain an opportunity to save face.

Lucky you knew when to stop... Wait, aren't I actually a spy?

The group filed into the gathering place. The captain first counted the people, then had the comrades collect their nameplates.

Naruto received one as well. A number was marked on the small nameplate: 3021.

Does that mean three thousand people have fallen? Naruto thought.

After everyone had finished collecting their nameplates, the captain led the comrades to their lodgings. The gathering place was run under military-style management and had already built a large number of communal dormitories. Each dormitory housed dozens of people—enough to make even college students shake their heads.

The dormitory reeked of every possible smell. The moment Naruto entered, he nearly choked to death.

He coughed once, walked to an empty corner, and created a Shadow Clone to return to the dormitory while his real body hid in the shadows and waited.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps rang out in the corridor, followed by someone shouting, "Report! A fire has broken out in the western part of the gathering place!"

"Get several teams of comrades to take wet towels and water and hurry over to put it out!"

"Damn it! How could a fire break out in such a humid place as the Land of Waves?"

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

The footsteps and shouts continued without end.

After a while, Naruto's real body noticed that there were far fewer people patrolling nearby. He boldly came out and began rushing around.

The fire had naturally been started by Sakura and Sasuke, with the purpose of buying Naruto time.

Naruto summoned several more Shadow Clones, and they began acting separately.

"Granary, granary..." Naruto's real body murmured softly.

By this point, the trio's plan was obvious.

They wanted to dismantle the gathering place, but they couldn't use force. Most of the people there were natives of the Land of Waves. Hurting them would be no different from acting like terrorists—even Satan would have to ask you for a smoke.

Counter-brainwashing? That wasn't realistic. The trio believed Gato's brainwashing techniques surpassed theirs by far.

In the end, Naruto had proposed robbing the granary.

He believed food was the reason the comrades had been able to gather so quickly. Although the brainwashing technique had a tremendous effect, it still required time to subtly change the people's beliefs.

Unless they were madmen willing to abandon everything for some so-called ideal, but Naruto believed there should currently be very few people like that.

Soon, one of the clones found the granary to the south. He dispelled the Shadow Clone, and the remaining Narutos began hurrying toward the granary.

He soon saw the granary, with two tall guards patrolling around it.

Judging by their clothing, they were probably Gato's direct subordinates.

Naruto didn't attack rashly. Instead, he directly infiltrated his mental space.

"Oi, oi, oi, Nine-Tails, time to pay rent." Naruto in the mental space extended a hand toward the enormous eye.

"You're becoming more and more impatient. Have I been too good to you lately, making you forget how terrifying I am?" The Nine-Tails' tone carried a trace of anger.

"Barking madly," Naruto shook his head. "As long as you're still blocked by the Eight Trigrams Seal, you're just a little fox. Hurry up. I still have business to handle."

"Hmph!" The Nine-Tails rolled over, unwilling to pay Naruto any attention.

"Oh? The little guy's throwing a tantrum?" Naruto said with interest. "How about this? If you pay rent two more times, I'll grant you one reasonable request."

The Nine-Tails fell silent, but its aura clearly changed.

"With your abilities, you can't fulfill my request!"

"Maybe not now, but what about the future?" Naruto said calmly.

"You've seen my potential and methods. Not only that, I can also use your power. Tell me, once I grow stronger, what request could I possibly be unable to fulfill?"

"Or could it be that you look down on your own power?"

The Nine-Tails gave no reply, but Naruto knew it had taken the bait.

It wasn't a machine. Naturally, it had desires of its own, and Naruto was one of the few people with a chance of fulfilling them.

What Naruto deliberately left unsaid was that any request the Nine-Tails made had to be "reasonable."

And Naruto alone would decide what counted as reasonable.

"All right. I'll believe you this once." The Nine-Tails' aura settled, and it began sending Chakra toward Naruto.

As Naruto felt the increasingly pure Chakra, his consciousness returned to reality.

He discovered that he could now perform simple actions in reality while communicating with the Nine-Tails.

It was like temporarily going offline.

Naruto took two steps in one and prepared to knock the guards unconscious.

Just as he was about to succeed, he suddenly spotted two dark figures lurking behind the guards.

Naruto focused his eyes and saw that they were none other than the old man and woman he had noticed at the entrance!

He froze.

Comrade, don't mess with me!