The Bad One in the Crowd

Are you kidding me?! Launching a coup had always been something I'd wanted to do! But how did you find out, Third Hokage?!

Answer me!

After he calmed down...

He suspected that he'd inadvertently let his thoughts slip during his usual conversations with his clan members.

Damn! There was a traitor in our midst!

So Fugaku hurried back to the clan compound and immediately sought out his trusted subordinate, Uchiha Yashiro, to discuss the matter.

Then he issued an order.

"Yashiro, investigate in secret. Be careful not to alert anyone else. You must find the spy."

"Yes, Clan Leader."

Ten minutes later, Yashiro returned with Tekka in tow.

So Tekka was the spy. Yashiro sure worked fast...

Fugaku glared furiously at Tekka and slammed the table. "What do you have to say for yourself? The clan treated you well. Why did you betray us?"

Tekka protested indignantly, "Clan Leader, I'm innocent! I didn't betray the clan. Everything I did was for the clan's sake..."

For the clan's sake...

You freaking ratted us out to the Hokage for the clan's sake? What kind of logic is that?

How could anyone be so stupid?!!

If there really was someone like that...

Fugaku swore he'd strangle him.

"Besides, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki came to us. We didn't go to him... If we controlled the Nine-Tails, our chances of successfully overthrowing Konoha would be higher. We couldn't let an opportunity that landed right in our laps go to waste, so I thought I'd get to know the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki first and see if there was a good chance to make a move."

What was all that supposed to mean? Fugaku was a little confused, so he looked to Yashiro.

"What's going on?"

"It happened like this..."

So that was it. Yashiro, why didn't you say so earlier? You nearly made me embarrass myself.

Fugaku shot Yashiro an annoyed look, then cleared his throat twice. "Let's put an end to this. We've already alerted them..."

One in the afternoon.

Ichiraku Ramen.

"May good people live long and bad people rest in peace... Beautiful, kind Ayame, may Lord Naruto bless you with a happy, harmonious life and good health."

Ayame set down a steaming bowl of ramen. Naruto's stomach rumbled, and he drooled at the sight.

At last! He could finally have lunch.

He drew a circle on his chest, then pressed his palms together and offered Ayame his heartfelt blessing.

Only then did he dig into the ramen, wolfing it down like he hadn't eaten in ages.

Ayame smiled faintly. Rather than leave, she sat across from Naruto and asked curiously, "Who's Lord Naruto? Why does he have the same name as you?"

Naruto looked up. "Because I'm Lord Naruto, Ayame! I promise you a life full of happiness and free of worries."

As the prophesied savior and the Second God of Shinobi, protecting an ordinary person was a piece of cake.

Ayame blinked, not taking him seriously. Jokingly, she said, "Then you'd better grow up fast, Naruto. I'll be waiting for you."

A bowl of ramen usually cost sixty ryo, but Ayame had given Naruto a special price: forty ryo, a massive discount.

That meant Naruto would starve on the street after eating ramen just ten or so times with his five hundred ryo living allowance.

Naruto couldn't accept that. He had to find a way to support himself.

After finishing his ramen, he said goodbye to Ayame and went home to change into an outfit he rarely wore.

A coat that reached down to his thighs, a black hood, and a scarf that covered most of his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.

Naruto examined his outfit in front of the mirror and nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, they shouldn't recognize me dressed like this..."

It was a little hot to wear, though. It was only October, after all, and the weather wasn't that cold.

To be safe, Naruto grabbed a bucket and headed straight for the shopping district farthest from home, a place he hardly ever visited.

He bought a fishing rod and a fox mask.

After hesitating for a moment, he bought a cheap little knife too, nearly wiping out his living allowance.

Clutching his nearly empty wallet, Naruto fumed. "That damn old Third Hokage! I'm definitely telling Kushina you abused me. Just wait till you get down there—you'll get what's coming to you!"

At the forest's riverside, Naruto set up his fishing rod, then sat nearby, using his little knife to carve a fish spear and a javelin.

The fish spear was for catching fish, and the javelin was for hunting. He'd make sure to have a backup plan, since he didn't know if he'd catch anything with the fishing rod.

Two hours later.

Naruto had finished making a simple fish spear and javelin, but hadn't caught a single fish. He could only use the spear to catch them.

Maybe it was because he'd done eye exercises since he was little, or maybe all the practice from hitting people on the head had trained him. Either way, Naruto had good aim. In less than half an hour, he'd speared two fish.

Dinner was taken care of.

Watching the sky grow dim as the sunset painted half of it red, Naruto muttered, "Forget it. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let them off. I'll settle the score tomorrow."

Revenge shouldn't be put off until the next day. But if it was...

Then they'd pay double.

The next morning, after breakfast, Naruto carried a little stool over to the entrance of Nishimura Grocery Store and sat down.

The shopkeeper, Nishimura, had been the nastiest of them all yesterday. As soon as he saw Naruto, he'd chased him off and shut the shop, preferring to lose business rather than sell him anything.

Oh? If that was how he wanted to play it, then he could keep the shop closed.

Naruto was ready for a long battle.

He stuffed cotton into both ears to block out the noise, then picked up a piece of wood in his left hand and a little knife in his right. Time to get to work. He threw himself into carving.

When he came to, the sun was directly overhead. Naruto looked down at the Fu Hua in his hands, which had come out completely wrong.

He sighed inwardly. He still had a lot to learn.

He had some experience carving, but not much.

In his previous life, he'd done it purely as a hobby. In this life, he'd only just started. The wife he'd carved... was honestly too embarrassing to show anyone.

No chest, no butt...

Wait, no. Shenzhou Tablet didn't have a chest or a butt to begin with, so never mind.

He took the cotton out of his ears and turned around to see the grocer glaring at him resentfully. Naruto smiled faintly.

Good. That was exactly the look he wanted.

But this was only the beginning. The grocer had a lot more coming.

It was obvious that with Naruto's current reputation—so bad even dogs would spit at the sight of him...

The villagers would see him and hurry away in disgust, which in turn had a huge impact on the grocery store's business.

With his fox mask on to conceal his identity, Naruto bought some bread for lunch, then spent an hour... hunting rabbits in the forest and catching fish in the river.

Unfortunately, his three-year-old legs were too short and slow to catch a rabbit. He only managed to spear two fish for dinner.

At two in the afternoon, Naruto returned to the grocery store and resumed his post.

The furious shopkeeper yelled at him, "You little menace! Get away from here!"

Naruto kept his head down, carving his wife. Whenever he heard an insult like "Demon Fox," he threw a pebble at the speaker. He ignored everything else completely.

He left at dusk.

The next day, the third day, the fourth day...

Aside from eating, sleeping, using the bathroom, and fishing or hunting, Naruto spent all his time sitting outside the grocery store. His patience was unthinkable for a three-year-old, thwarting Nishimura's plans.

He'd assumed that children were naturally restless and wouldn't be able to stick it out for more than a few days. He hadn't expected to run into a little freak like Naruto.