Naruto, Living Expenses, and Sasuke's Pocket Money; Kushina Finally Explodes

!!!3,000 ryo?!!

He could only spend 100 ryo a day!!!

"Damn you, Hiruzen Sarutobi!"

In Soul Space, when Kushina saw the living expenses Hiruzen Sarutobi had given Naruto, she flew into a rage. Her chakra burst forth, and her red hair billowed without a breeze.

Minato's expression darkened too, and he gritted his teeth. "How could the Third Hokage do this to Naruto!"

Even without counting their property, they had had hundreds of millions of ryo in savings alone when they were alive. The interest from a single day would have been more than 3,000 ryo!

They knew their assets had been confiscated, but they had never imagined the Third Hokage would show no regard for their contributions or their past friendship—not even enough to give their son 3,000 ryo a month for living expenses!

And he was supposed to make it last?

A child couldn't cook for himself!

That was why, even knowing the Anbu couldn't take good care of Naruto, they still hadn't wanted him to live alone.

At least then Naruto would have hot food at every meal. The Anbu's food wasn't bad at all—in fact, it was quite sumptuous.

A bowl of Ichiraku Ramen's cheapest ramen cost 60 ryo, and even a bowl of plain rice cost 15!

And 3,000 ryo!

He'd probably only be able to afford instant noodles.

But even instant noodles weren't cheap!

A pack cost anywhere from 10 to 30 ryo. At an average of 20 ryo a pack, that came to 1,800 ryo a month!

At that age, he needed to drink milk, right?

Good-quality milk aside, even if he drank one bottle of ordinary milk a day, that would probably cost 1,000 ryo!

He'd also need household supplies and clothes... Not to mention toys, and if he went to the Ninja Academy in the future, he'd need to buy ninja tools. A single Kunai cost hundreds of ryo. How could 3,000 ryo possibly be enough!

"Wow~! 3,000 ryo a month is quite a lot. Hiruzen Sarutobi sure is generous. You know, ordinary orphans don't even get 1,000 ryo..."

And thus, the snark began!

Kushina whipped around. "You're unbelievable, Sasuke! How can you still be making sarcastic remarks at a time like this?!"

Sasuke showed up several times almost every week. After more than two years, they'd become quite familiar with each other.

After all, no matter how good your relationship was, spending every day together meant you'd eventually run out of things to talk about. Now, as long as nothing unusual happened with Naruto, they spent their time training in ninjutsu, and Sasuke's visits provided a welcome change of pace.

As long as he didn't make snide remarks and acted like a normal person, they got along just fine. They even didn't mind giving him pointers on how to use their abilities properly.

But how could Naruto, the son of Kushina and Minato, be compared to an ordinary orphan who got just 1,000 ryo?

They'd once been wealthy, with hundreds of millions of ryo to their name!

They could accept Hiruzen Sarutobi confiscating their assets, but they couldn't accept him being unwilling to give Naruto more for living expenses!

"Want me to help you curse him out?" Sasuke blinked.

"..." All talk and no action. Go on, then, curse him!... Kushina was so mad her teeth ached.

Then she thought of something and asked, "Sasuke, how much pocket money do Fugaku and Mikoto give you each month?"

"Well..." Sasuke glanced at the image of Naruto and smiled bashfully. "That's hard to say."

After all, his pocket money wasn't like other people's.

His father knew that Elder Nobuhiko was inside him and had guessed they had other plans. Worried he might need money, but too embarrassed to bring it up, he'd made a point of giving him extra.

He even asked every time whether it was enough and whether he needed more. Whenever Sasuke said he hadn't spent much, his father always seemed a little disappointed...

Stare!

Sasuke hadn't wanted to upset them, but when he saw Kushina stubbornly staring at him, he could only sigh and hold up his hand.

"5,000 ryo?" Kushina was stunned.

She thought that wasn't so different... Less than twice as much... The hell it wasn't!

A difference of less than twofold might not seem like much.

But Sasuke didn't have to worry about three meals a day or buy any necessities. His 5,000 ryo was pure pocket money!

Just imagine: one person's entire household budget for the month was less than someone else's pocket money. That told you everything you needed to know about the gap!

And that wasn't all!

"Add a zero." Sasuke said it simply and plainly.

Add a zero to 5,000 ryo?... Kushina's heart jolted. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively covered her mouth. "50,000 ryo?"

What kind of family was this?

Oh~ The Uchiha Clan Head's family? Well, that made sense... The hell it did!

He wasn't even three years old!

Did he need that much pocket money?

Unaware of what Kushina was thinking, Sasuke nodded with a smile. He was an honest child, after all. He couldn't lie, could he?

!!! Once she got confirmation, Kushina did the math on her fingers.

A 16.6-fold difference!

And it was pure pocket money!

One month's worth was more than a year of Naruto's!

The enormous disparity made her grit her teeth. "Damn you, Hiruzen Sarutobi!"

If looks could kill, she'd have killed Hiruzen Sarutobi countless times over by now!

She wasn't even asking for 50,000 ryo. If Naruto got the minimum pay for a D-rank mission—5,000 ryo—she wouldn't be reacting like this!

Thinking of Naruto eating instant noodles at every meal in the future, and how he might end up malnourished, her heart ached as if it were being cut by a knife. She looked at Sasuke with sorrow in her eyes. "Sasuke, could you help Naruto...?"

Seeing her like that, Sasuke couldn't help sighing inwardly. "Aunt Kushina, you know what things are like for the Uchiha. Naruto's identity is special. I can't approach him for no reason."

Kushina's expression froze.

That's right... Given the Uchiha Clan's situation, how could Sasuke risk approaching Naruto and arousing the suspicions of the higher-ups?

He couldn't even secretly slip Naruto some money to improve his life, could he?

Naruto trusted the Third Hokage a great deal, and the Anbu were keeping an eye on him.

If he suddenly had money from an unknown source, the Anbu wouldn't even need to report it. Naruto would probably tell the Third Hokage himself!

Then the Anbu would turn all of Konoha upside down looking for the source!

Once she understood, Kushina's face filled with sorrow. Then she thought of something else and asked softly, "Sasuke, why hasn't the Uchiha Clan staged a coup yet? Why haven't you killed Hiruzen Sarutobi? You should be able to do it now, shouldn't you?"

??? A coup? Kill Hiruzen Sarutobi?... Sasuke was stunned.

!!! Minato was shocked. "Kushina!"

Kushina turned sharply. Her eyes were bloodshot now, tears welling up in them. "Minato! Can't you see what's going on?!"

"Hiruzen Sarutobi promised me he'd take good care of Naruto! He promised! And now? He's a demon fox? He has to live alone at two and a half?"

"Can he cook? Can he wash his clothes? Can he clean?"

"His living expenses are only 3,000 ryo!"

"Our child's future is nothing but instant noodles!"

"Even with that junk food, he can only have one pack per meal. Will he get full? Can he grow up healthy?"

"If he eats more, he won't even be able to afford milk!"

"Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer cares about our contributions or our past friendship. Do you still naively feel any attachment to these ugly politicians who feast on the blood of the people and toy with our child as they please?"

"Do you still feel grateful to Hiruzen Sarutobi, who put you on the Fourth Hokage's seat but treated you as nothing more than a puppet, so he could keep ruling from behind the scenes?"

"Even so, we already gave our lives for Konoha!"

"We've repaid any so-called debt of gratitude in full!"

"Why are they treating our child like this?!"

"Why?!"

By the end, Kushina couldn't hold back any longer. She buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly...