A Talk with Naruto

When Naruto opened his eyes, the events leading up to his loss of consciousness flooded back into his mind, and he bolted upright.

"Kei! Kei!"

The surroundings were pitch black, though he could vaguely make out that he was in a house, with starlight twinkling through the window.

"Awake?"

Beside him, Uchiha Kei stretched, struggling to sit up from the bed.

"Holy crap! What are you doing, kid!"

Naruto lunged forward and hugged him tightly, using all his strength.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it would be like this; it wasn't like this the last few times."

Naruto sobbed.

From the moment he lost control, Naruto had been in a panic.

As the one who experienced it firsthand, he knew how powerful and brutal that force was.

If...

If he had hurt Uchiha Kei because of it, he knew he would never be able to forgive himself, no matter what.

"Relax, I'm very strong, you know."

Uchiha Kei's hand, which had been pushing Naruto away, paused. He gave a helpless smile and reached out to pat Naruto's head instead.

After a long while, Naruto's emotions finally began to settle.

"Naruto, do you want to train?"

Naruto wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. "Haven't I been training all along?"

"It's different."

Uchiha Kei shook his head and picked up a book that smelled of fresh ink from the desk nearby.

"This is some common knowledge for ninjas. You can read it when you're bored."

Naruto took the book with delight and immediately began flipping through it.

A minute later.

"Kei, what is this? It's so boring."

Naruto rested the book on his lap, his eyes glazed over, looking as if his soul had been drained.

"Are there any with pictures? This is just full of words..."

Uchiha Kei pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

How could he have forgotten about that?

He had originally intended to teach Naruto the Yin-Yang Release.

But after thinking about it, he realized there was no need.

Naruto possessed the bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan, giving him an astonishing amount of chakra, and with the Nine-Tails acting as a "chakra generator," running out of energy was never going to be his problem.

What he lacked now were ninjutsu and combat experience.

Thinking of ninjutsu, Uchiha Kei immediately thought of Naruto's signature "human sea" tactic from the anime.

"Naruto, what is your dream?"

As soon as this was mentioned, Naruto perked up.

"I'm going to become strong and become the Hokage of Konoha!"

As expected.

Looking at the excited Naruto, Uchiha Kei didn't really want to crush his spirits.

According to the plot, Naruto did indeed fulfill his wish and become the Seventh Hokage after enduring many hardships.

But that was in a timeline where he didn't exist.

Itachi becoming the Fifth Hokage was a crucial part of his plan.

This link was vital.

Unfortunately, the plan did not include Naruto becoming Hokage.

It wasn't that he didn't care about Naruto, but in his view, Naruto's personality was simply not suited for the position of Hokage.

A ruler must not only be decisive and ruthless!

They must also be despicable, shameless, and thick-skinned!

His personality was too similar to Hashirama's—too naive and innocent.

If not for his absurdly powerful combat strength, he would have been played to death long ago.

When it came to being decisive and ruthless, or despicable and shameless, Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen each embodied one side.

Danzo lacked the necessary thick skin; while he appeared cunning and treacherous, he was, in reality, nothing more than a clown.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had a thick enough skin, but he was indecisive.

If the two had been of one mind, Uchiha Kei might have already escaped the village long ago.

He couldn't win against them.

The problem was that the two were at odds, each fighting their own battle, which had led to the clan forces gradually growing in power within Konoha.

"Being Hokage isn't actually all that great."

Uchiha Kei thought for a moment.

"Busy every day handling official business—wouldn't it be better to flirt with girls, eat good food, and travel the mountains and rivers?"

Naruto's eyes widened, and he stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?"

"What do you mean 'are you okay'? Have you been possessed by God Mi?"

"It's the Hokage, Kei! That's the Hokage! The most respected and prestigious existence in the entire village!"

Uchiha Kei tilted his head in disdain.

"So what? Isn't flirting with girls better? If I'm busy with paperwork all day, wouldn't all the girls in the world be left to spend their nights in empty rooms?"

As for flirting with girls, it held zero appeal for Naruto at this stage.

As expected.

"What's the point of flirting? It only slows down the speed of my shuriken throws!"

As he spoke, a shuriken abruptly appeared in Naruto's hand.

"Huh?"

Before Uchiha Kei could be surprised, Naruto was the one who shocked himself.

Uchiha Kei's expression remained very calm; all of this was within his expectations.

Naruto's talent was still quite formidable. After all, he was the reincarnation of Asura; no matter how bad things got, how much worse could they really be?

The reason Naruto was so useless during this period in the manga was entirely because that guy Kurama was causing trouble.

Now that Kurama had been persuaded by Uchiha Kei and stopped interfering, Naruto's talent naturally began to manifest.

Whether it was ninjutsu or taijutsu.

"Whoosh!"

A sound of breaking air rang out as a pitch-black shuriken spun through the air and embedded itself sharply into the edge of the windowsill.

"I hit it! I hit it! That's exactly where I was aiming! I hit it!!"

Naruto hugged Uchiha Kei in high spirits, shaking him incessantly.

Uchiha Kei's mouth twitched.

This is my new house, after all...

"I'll be picking up a mission tomorrow, and I'll find a way to have you tag along."

"A mission! Does that mean leaving the village?"

Naruto let go of Uchiha Kei, his eyes shining with anticipation.

Ever since he could remember, he had always been in the village and had never once stepped outside.

Leaving the village was, to him, even more tempting than Ichiraku Ramen!

"Yeah, leaving the village."

A malicious glint flashed in Uchiha Kei's eyes.

It was indeed leaving the village, but whether the journey would be pleasant or not was another matter entirely.

Uchiha Kei had actually thought about this back when he first awakened his Three Tomoe, but a series of events had affected his plans.

"Great! I'm going to go prepare right now!"

Naruto stood up, invigorated, and marched toward the door with his head held high.

"Prepare my foot!"

Uchiha Kei grabbed him by the collar.

"What are you going back to prepare? Expired instant noodles or expired canned food?"

Upon hearing this, Naruto's head immediately drooped.

Kei was absolutely right.

Aside from expired instant noodles and expired canned food, all his other belongings were already on his person...

"Remember, from today on, you are a genius! A genius even more impressive than Erzhuzi!"

Naruto was stunned. "Who is Erzhuzi?"

"That stuck-up Uchiha Sasuke!"

"I'm naturally more of a genius than he is!"

Uchiha Kei pressed a hand to his forehead.

Self-awareness was a virtue, yet in that regard, Naruto didn't seem to possess a shred of it.

After settling Naruto down to sleep, Uchiha Kei pushed the door open with light, cautious steps and stepped outside.

A crescent moon hung high in the sky, and Konoha was no longer the bustling place it had been during the day.

The entire village was deathly quiet, save for the occasional chirping of cicadas.

Uchiha Kei walked alone down the street, his eyes filled with deep contemplation.

He was actually quite hesitant about tonight's operation.

He was torn over whether he should even go.

If the negotiations were successful, then everything would be fine, and he would have far fewer concerns about his future actions.

But if the negotiations failed...

He would be exposed to the prying eyes of many!