Pretending Not to Care

"Eating so much today, Naruto."

"Yeah, Uncle Ichiraku. Your ramen is the best; I've missed it so much."

Ichiraku Ramen.

Having polished off five bowls of ramen in one go, Naruto slumped back in his chair, feeling satisfied. Behind the counter, Ichiraku chuckled.

"No need to exaggerate like that. Didn't you just eat here the day before yesterday?"

"Hehe, that's because it's just that good."

Naruto grinned, lifted his head, and handed the money to Ichiraku. He pressed his palms together, said "Thanks for the meal," and sauntered out of the shop.

Ichiraku took the money and tucked it into the drawer without counting it. Watching Naruto's retreating figure, a thoughtful expression crossed his face.

"What's wrong, Father? Why are you spacing out?"

Ayame, Ichiraku's daughter, walked over to clear the bowls Naruto had left behind. Ichiraku scratched his cheek. "Oh, it's nothing. I just suddenly felt like Naruto-kun has become a bit more polite."

"What are you talking about?" Ayame laughed. "Naruto-kun has always been a good kid."

"I know that, of course. That's not what I meant. I just have a feeling... sigh, you'll understand when you become a parent yourself."

"Father? What are you implying? I've told you already! I don't want to get married this early!"

"No, that's not what I—sigh, sorry, I was wrong." Ichiraku looked miserable, giving up on trying to explain things to a woman; that was a lesson he'd learned after getting married.

Don't ask why he didn't learn it while dating; if you ask, it's because he was set up.

Unlike the rest of Konoha, this father-daughter duo didn't follow the herd in ostracizing Naruto. Because they lacked such prejudice, they could naturally sense in their interactions that Naruto possessed a kind heart.

Having returned from the cinema, Naruto naturally realized how rare and precious this seemingly simple behavior was. In truth, during his time at the cinema, whenever he recalled Konoha, this little shop was one of the few warm memories he held.

Naruto walked down the long-missed streets of Konoha with his hands behind his head, his thoughts inevitably drifting back to the past.

It's so nostalgic. That convenience store—buy five cups of instant ramen, get one free. Such a great deal.

And this Yakiniku Q; it smells heavenly every time I pass by. Once I have money, I'm definitely coming here to eat.

Oh, and these cold glares and whispers from passersby. Truly a classic.

As if Moses were parting the Red Sea, the crowd would automatically part wherever Naruto walked. Their eyes looked as if they were seeing some kind of pest, and they spoke in "whispers" loud enough for him to hear, saying things like, "That kid... the demon fox," or "Why does the Third Hokage let him stay in Konoha..."

For the current Naruto, he couldn't be bothered to pay attention to such noise. However, to maintain his persona, he still made an exaggerated face at the passersby before scurrying off toward home.

That's right, maintaining his persona.

Everything—the tone of his voice, the way he walked with his hands behind his head, the faces he made at strangers, and even the goggles on his head that he thought looked ugly but never took off—was a disguise Naruto used to continue his old act.

As the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, he was a strategic deterrent on the level of a nuclear weapon to Konoha. It was an obvious deduction that there would be Anbu nearby, protecting and monitoring him.

Therefore, even though he was no longer the old Naruto, he absolutely could not reveal it suddenly. After all, the events at the cinema were an experience he didn't want to—and couldn't—explain clearly.

If he were to act foolishly and show off his transformation the moment he returned, such an abrupt change—as if he were a completely different person—would be treating the Anbu and the Konoha higher-ups like idiots. It would be dancing on their sensitive nerves; it is a consensus among all ninja villages that a Jinchuriki must never be uncontrollable.

In that case, their first reaction would likely be that he had been brainwashed by some kind of ninjutsu, followed by even stricter surveillance or even imprisonment.

The current Naruto would no longer naively view the Third Hokage as a "kind old grandfather" who would unconditionally trust and tolerate him. No matter how amiable the Third Hokage appeared, he was a political creature who had spanned two generations and controlled Konoha for decades. How could the mind of such a person be simple?

What's more, there was an ultimate troublemaker like Danzo in the Konoha decision-making circle...

Therefore.

His "change" needed a reasonable and logical "catalyst" to pave the way.

Naruto's gaze was deep; he already had a preliminary idea.

But before that, for the sake of caution, he needed to perform one more verification.

"Creak."

He pushed open the iron gate to his home, and the room before him felt both familiar and strange.

The remnants of the sunset slanted into the windowsill. In the empty room, only the soft humming of the refrigerator echoed.

The sink was piled high with empty ramen cups, and the unmade bedding in the corner was crumpled and curled up. A torn-off calendar page lay beneath it, with a certain date marked with a large circle and an X.

Naruto sniffed. Beyond the familiar lingering scent of instant ramen, there was a faint, pervasive chill in the air. After many years, his memory of the details of this room had become somewhat blurred.

He walked straight to the bedding and picked up the calendar page, only to realize that the date covered by the circle and the X was October 10th.

It was a date that had been deliberately marked, yet was destined to be ignored by everyone.

"..."

His original plan was disrupted, and the calm he had maintained for years suddenly rippled in that instant.

Naruto stood alone in the room, clutching the calendar page, motionless. At that moment, the sunset withdrew its glow, and the night covered him like a curtain. He had thought he had changed, that he was no longer his former self, and that he now possessed enough strength and enough awareness. But when the sadness and loneliness chased him down like a dog, he realized that some things had always been there, unchanged. Those wounds had never healed, and he was still the same person he had always been.

Even after growing up, that dead-last was still crying inside.

It turned out he hadn't gotten used to the loneliness; he had just been pretending it didn't matter.

"Is he crying?"

"No, his shoulders aren't moving. He's just standing there, spacing out."

"No, he is crying."

In the shadows of a high platform in the distance, two masked Anbu were whispering to each other.

"Let's record it first. The Jinchuriki's emotions are unstable; we need to report this to the Hokage..."

A hand blocked the Anbu who was speaking, and the other Anbu said calmly:

"He is not crying, he is not emotionally unstable, he is just spacing out."

"Uzuki, you..."

"Use codenames while on duty." Uzuki Yugao's tone remained steady. "The lights aren't on, and neither of us is a Hyuga; we can't be one hundred percent sure of the Jinchuriki's current state, can we? To ensure the records are accurate, let's not just write down subjective guesses."

"..."

"He is a Jinchuriki, but he is also a child."

"...Fine."

Naruto did not stand there for long. After calming his mood, he went to the bathroom to take a shower, then lay down on his bed and closed his eyes.

Everything was back on track; this momentary sorrow only made him more certain of what he had to do.

Naruto focused his mind, concentrating his attention on his lower abdomen. Soon, as if popping an invisible bubble, Naruto's consciousness discovered a space there, one he could reach with just a thought.

Unexpectedly smooth... Naruto thought to himself.

He had his guesses as to why it went so smoothly.

Ever since returning to the Ninja World and feeling chakra again, he had vaguely sensed that his spiritual power seemed to have increased significantly.

Chakra is the combination of physical energy and spiritual energy. In the past, when refining chakra, Naruto would often reach his mental limit before his body grew tired. But now, it seemed his spiritual power had finally caught up to his physical energy.

If Naruto's guess was correct, this was actually an incredibly exaggerated matter.

After all, not only did the blood of the Uzumaki Clan flow through him, but in a sense, as the reincarnation of Asura, Naruto was also the only person in the current Ninja World with a Sage Body.

And for spiritual power to catch up to physical energy meant that his total chakra volume had increased by a great deal once again...

So, how many times greater would his chakra volume be compared to Kakashi's now?