Friends

The three stopped and paused in front of the park, watching Naruto and Danzo from a distance.

"Uncle Dan, let's go," Naruto said, tugging at Danzo's clothes in a low voice, but his tone was clearly somewhat disappointed.

Danzo didn't speak, silently leading Naruto away from the park.

After the two left, Shikamaru and the others slowly walked into the park.

On the way to Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto kept his head down.

Although he had said somewhat mature words about wanting to be recognized by others, he still yearned for someone to interact with and accompany him.

"Let's go back."

Danzo, who had been silently walking forward, suddenly stopped and stood in front of Naruto.

Naruto, who had been keeping his head down, accidentally bumped into his thigh.

"What?"

Naruto looked up at Danzo in confusion, he hadn't heard clearly.

Danzo looked at him seriously and repeated, "Let's go back. You actually want to interact with them, don't you?"

Naruto was stunned, a smile involuntarily appearing on his face, but it was full of bitterness: "It's better not to disturb them, they won't want to play with me."

It wasn't that he hadn't tried to shamelessly approach others, but whether it was adults or children, every time it ended unhappily because of him.

Now that Naruto knew his identity and had a sense of responsibility and goals, he didn't want to disturb others anymore.

"It's different." Danzo shook his head and said, "Most of the people you've interacted with before were civilians, or people who didn't know the truth."

"Everyone follows the crowd, so they don't want to interact with you."

Seeing the obvious glimmer of hope in Naruto's eyes, Danzo explained, "Your father and mother both had extraordinary identities. Although they concealed your identity to protect you, now that I know your identity, there will naturally be people like me who understand your identity."

"The three children just now are from the Yamanaka Clan, the Akimichi Clan, and the Nara Clan. They all had good relationships with your father."

"Although their elders haven't told them your identity in order to conceal it, they won't stop them from interacting with you."

Danzo wasn't wrong about this. According to the timeline, Naruto would come into contact with the children of these major clans after entering the Ninja School, and finally have friends of his own.

He was just helping Naruto get in touch with them in advance.

Naruto thought for a long time before saying in a low voice, "So, they are actually willing to play with me?"

Danzo shook his head: "These clan children generally won't care about your identity, but if you want to play with them, it depends on your own ability."

"Ability?" Naruto was a little puzzled.

"The ability to make others want to interact with you and be your friend." Danzo never thought that he would one day teach someone how to make friends.

Actually, I was a preschool teacher in my previous life, right...

Danzo began to doubt his major in his previous life.

Danzo sighed and asked, "Did you hear what that little girl said just now?"

Naruto nodded: "She said they were very bored?"

"Yes, they are very bored right now. In this situation where everyone is unfamiliar with each other, cater to their interests. Think of an interesting game to tell them, and everyone can play together. As you play, you'll become familiar with each other." Danzo thought for a moment and replied.

Friendship between children should be this simple, right?

Danzo himself was a little unsure.

Naruto lowered his head, frowned, and thought for a while, then looked at Danzo and asked, "Since they are all children of large families, they should have already mastered extracting chakra, right?"

Danzo nodded, "There are traces of chakra flowing within the bodies of those three little guys."

"Let's go back!" After receiving the answer, Naruto looked at Danzo and said, he had a premonition that today he would meet his first, or even second and third, friends of the same age.

Ino sat on the stone statue in the park, swinging her short legs, "Shikamaru! It's really boring, let's find something to do."

Because of the war, the flower shop was temporarily closed, and she really couldn't think of anything to do.

"Isn't it nice to lie down and sleep? It's rare that Dad isn't home, why should I come out here with you guys?" Shikamaru said with some dissatisfaction, lying on the stone bench.

"Crunch, crunch."

Choji sat next to Shikamaru without interrupting, constantly stuffing potato chips into his mouth.

"Eh."

Ino made a soft sound and looked outside the park, saying, "That kid is actually back."

Shikamaru opened half an eye and looked towards the entrance of the park. The blond kid who was ostracized by the villagers was walking towards them nervously.

And beside him...

"That uncle looks a bit familiar," Shikamaru thought to himself.

He had been feeling that the uncle standing next to the blond kid looked a bit familiar, so he had asked Ino and Choji to stop and wait for them to leave before re-entering the park.

After thinking for a while, Shikamaru said to Ino on the stone statue, "Ino, go ask what's going on."

Still very young, and spoiled by all three families, Ino was completely like a tomboy.

With a sway, she jumped down from the stone statue and swaggered towards Naruto, "Hey kid, what's up?"

Shikamaru also sat up from his lying position and quietly watched the somewhat nervous Naruto.

"Can I play with you guys?"

After hesitating for a while, Naruto finally spoke.

"No way!" Ino refused outright.

The hopeful Naruto's eyes dimmed a little, but he still forced a smile and planned to say goodbye.

"But if you can think of something interesting, I might consider it." Looking at Naruto's appearance, Ino said playfully, as if she had succeeded.

She was bored anyway, and she wouldn't mind if there was one more or one less person.

"What do you think, Shikamaru, Choji?" Ino turned her head and asked Shikamaru and Choji behind her.

"I have no objection."

Shikamaru glanced at Danzo behind Naruto and lay back down on the stone bench.

He mainly paid attention to Danzo behind Naruto, while Naruto, to him, was just a pitiful blond kid; he didn't care about him.

"I have no objections either." Seeing that Shikamaru had no objections, Choji also had no objections.

Feeling a surge of joy, Naruto's smile became somewhat radiant, causing Ino to involuntarily stare blankly.

Naruto's smile actually gave her a warm, very warm feeling.

"Let's climb trees!"

"Lord Danzo, the Hokage requests your presence."

A familiar, emotionless tone rang out again.

An Anbu Ninja stood abruptly beside Danzo.

Looking at Naruto, who had fallen and was covered in dirt but still maintained his smile, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio beside him who were also diligently climbing trees, Danzo smiled with satisfaction.

But then he was stunned.

What's with this sense of déjà vu as an old father?

"Go to the Hokage Building."

Danzo instructed the Root Ninja in the shadows with reassurance.

The familiar sedan chair appeared silently in the park. When Danzo left, no one noticed except for Shikamaru, including Naruto.

And the confusion on Shikamaru's face disappeared at this moment; so it was him.