The Leaf Village Was a Mess

The Nine-Tails' fur suddenly bristled.

A wound this tiny should have healed in an instant.

But the motionless, torn flesh told it that was nothing but wishful thinking.

It had no choice but to channel Chakra into the wound to mend it.

The moment the Nine-Tails did so, it realized clearly that the annoying brat before it, Uzumaki Naruto, actually had the power to hurt it.

And what Naruto said was an undeniable fact.

It really couldn't get out.

It didn't want to waste any more effort arguing. It shifted back, closed its eyes, and lay down with its head resting on its folded arms.

The fox who had killed his parents was right before him, yet Naruto's anger wasn't exactly burning hot. He simply had no memories to fuel it, only a few words he'd heard from other people.

He sat cross-legged. "Why did you kill my parents?"

The Nine-Tails ignored him.

"You know you made my life miserable, right?" Naruto said. It sounded like a question, but he spoke as though stating a fact to himself.

The Nine-Tails couldn't help cracking one eye open.

Naruto continued, "If you can't give me a reasonable explanation, I'll kill you once I've mastered martial arts."

The Nine-Tails was the embodiment of countless negative emotions, and it had an innate ability to sense malice.

A killing intent that wasn't particularly intense, but was utterly pure and direct, reached its twitching nose.

"Tailed Beasts can't be killed."

"They can."

"They can't!"

"They can!"

"How?"

"With a sword!" Naruto's eyes gleamed as a phantom blade formed in his hand.

The Nine-Tails' gaze wavered. For just an instant, it doubted the very nature of its immortality.

The doubt was quickly buried beneath the weight of reason, but it left behind a tiny idea that took root in its mind and couldn't be erased.

"Answer me," Naruto asked again. "Why did you kill my parents?"

The Nine-Tails grew angry. It had summoned Naruto here to tempt him into undoing the seal. How had it ended up being interrogated again and again?

But the truth would only fuel Naruto's hatred, so it didn't bother hiding it.

It pointed at the sealing tag. "Can I get out on my own?"

Naruto said, "Don't ask me. Just say what you have to say. I'll decide for myself."

The Nine-Tails lifted its red eyes and spoke in a mocking tone. "A member of the Uchiha clan in Konoha extracted me from your mother and controlled me with the Sharingan, then killed your parents."

"After that, all of Konoha treated you like a dog and abused you throughout your childhood!"

"That's the truth of what happened!"

Its eyes brimmed with hope as it waited to see Naruto's face twist with pain and rage.

But second after second passed, and all it saw was a pair of calm, sky-blue eyes. Their stillness made its fur stand on end.

Naruto stepped across the reflection on the water and turned toward the pipe. "Konoha's a mess."

The night sky outside the window remained unchanged.

In Naruto's memories, Konoha was painted in shades of gray.

The few lights came from the few people who cared about him.

He'd tried hard to warm himself with their light, hoping to brighten the world, but he'd never managed it.

There were simply too few people who didn't hate him. And since most people followed the crowd, little by little, they all came to hate him too.

But he was simple by nature. As for life, he figured you should face it positively and find a way to enjoy it.

That was exactly what his adoptive father admired about him.

As for the Fourth Hokage? He was just his biological father, a man he'd never met.

His mother, at least, had carried him for ten months.

He remembered their kindness—the one who saved him and the one who raised him. He kept their memorial tablets beside his adoptive father's, and never missed burning three incense sticks for them during the holidays. If he found their enemy, he'd kill them.

And with that, he offered incense.

Genin missions were all dull chores, like clearing trash from waterways or helping the wife of the Land of Fire's daimyo find her cat.

When it came down to it, there was only one point: earning money.

A Ninja village was like a company platform. It took on missions, assessed their difficulty, assigned them to its ninja, and paid them according to their commission rate.

Ever since Naruto became a Genin, his orphan's allowance had stopped. He'd become one of the countless child laborers in Konoha.

There was nothing shameful about earning money.

But the way the pay was divided was a huge problem. A very huge one.

Though Kakashi was officially their instructor, in practice he was their boss.

Once they took a mission as a team, he got half the payment at the Jonin commission rate, even if he did absolutely nothing.

An ordinary D-rank mission paid five thousand ryo. Kakashi took half, and Naruto, Little Sakura, and Sasuke split the remaining two thousand five hundred.

That left Naruto with barely over eight hundred ryo. A bowl of plain ramen cost sixty, while miso chashu ramen went for as much as ninety.

He wouldn't starve, but financial freedom was out of the question.

At dusk, Naruto was shopping for vegetables at the market.

His most important goal at the moment was to grow. He spent every last coin in his wallet on food each day, but he still couldn't afford expensive ingredients like beef and mutton.

His efforts hadn't been in vain. In just two weeks, he'd grown a full five centimeters, reaching the enormous height of one meter fifty-five.

After all, when he was younger, he hadn't known how to cook or look after himself. For a long time, he'd lived on instant noodles and bread, eating just enough to fill his stomach.

Now that he was getting proper nutrition, doing just the right amount of exercise, and letting Chakra nourish his bones, he was growing taller almost every day.

The downside was that his shoes had gotten too small, and he needed new clothes and pants.

All of it cost money.

At that moment, Naruto was standing outside a butcher shop, staring at the clock's hands.

After six, the owner would put up a discount sign, and Naruto would be able to buy another half a kilogram of pork.

Naruto glanced at the bright-red beef in the cooler, shook his head, then settled on the lean pork he'd been eyeing for a while. "Close enough. It all tastes the same once it's in your stomach."

"Not even close," the owner said bluntly.

Naruto pretended not to hear.

Suddenly, he turned to look toward the corner at the end of the market street.

His instincts told him that an elusive gaze was drifting over him. It was different from the ever-present, icy feeling of being watched.

When he suddenly turned around, he met the single Byakugan peering out from the side of a wall.

"Hinata?"

Her face turned scarlet in an instant. Hinata stepped out from around the corner and slowly raised a hand. "N-Naruto."

Naruto hadn't expected it to be her, and felt a little guilty.

He figured she must have run into someone she knew and felt too shy to pass by, so she'd waited for him to finish shopping and leave. But he'd been hanging around to wait for the discount.

He broke into a big smile. "I'm shopping for food."

Hinata slowly lowered her hand. "Mm... I just finished a mission, and I'm heading home."

Naruto waved casually. "Then hurry home. It's getting dark."

Hinata nodded and walked over behind Naruto, but stopped as she passed him. With her head lowered, she walked up to the butcher shop and pointed at the beef in the cooler. "How much is this, sir?"

The owner saw Hinata's Byakugan and immediately knew she was from the Hyuga clan. A smile spread across his face, and he spoke respectfully. "How many pounds would you like?"

Hinata stole a glance at Naruto, whose sleeves and pant legs had become much too short. "I'll take it all."

The owner nodded repeatedly, put on his gloves, and started weighing the meat.

With Naruto's intelligence, how could he not see what Hinata was up to? She'd noticed he was short on money and wanted to help him out!

A grown man like him wasn't going to accept that. He immediately shouted, "Sir! Stop! It's going on sale in ten minutes!"

The contempt in the owner's eyes was impossible to hide, but he kept working. Why would a young lady from the Hyuga clan care about saving a few coins on a discount?

With her head lowered, Hinata spoke timidly. "Sir, w-wait ten minutes."

The owner stopped in surprise, looking first at Hinata, then at Naruto.