Now It's Up to You, Kid

The Third Hokage couldn't help snorting at Uchiha Itachi's words.

Uchiha Itachi had said everything a Hokage should have said, so what was the Third Hokage supposed to say?

"You want to become Hokage?" Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes and quietly watched Itachi.

"I want to become Hokage..." Itachi said slowly.

"Hey, kid, don't be afraid. They aren't fighting for the moment."

Looking at Naruto's small face, the Nine-Tails wore an awkward expression. It wanted to soothe the child, then awaken the Uzumaki Clan power within him.

But human children were even harder to coax than it had imagined. Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato's child was far more troublesome than either of them had been.

He feared it, yet he also feared what was happening outside.

"Your Third Hokage is confronting a bad guy. For the time being, we're still safe."

"But that bad guy has the Rinnegan. Y-you should know what the Rinnegan is, right..."

When I returned to Konoha that time, I didn't go looking for Sasuke first because I was worried that what I was about to do would affect my younger brother. But now, it seemed that the damage had already been done.

"After Ninja Academy classes ended, Sasuke and I were taken separately to two different places. I was taken beneath Hokage Rock..."

"And Sasuke..."

"But the current Third Hokage is far inferior to those who came before him. If he truly fights that person, there won't be a good outcome."

His resistance had been fierce just moments ago, but now he lay silently on the ground. Uchiha Itachi knew this wasn't his doing; the Nine-Tails had retreated back into the child's body.

Naruto raised his head and stared at the Nine-Tails' enormous head. How could he possibly know what the Rinnegan was? He had