Naruto's Slow Change

Ever since agreeing to Trumpet Nine's request last time, Naruto had been carefully observing the people around him.

At school, he saw a student accidentally knock over a classmate's pencil case, scattering stationery all over the floor.

The student's teacher immediately came over. Instead of scolding him, she crouched down to help pick everything up while seriously telling him:

"It's okay to make a mistake by accident, but first, you need to apologize to your classmate. Then you need to take responsibility and clean everything up, understand? Be careful to watch where you're going next time."

Blushing, the student did as he was told. He apologized, cleaned up, and the matter was quickly resolved.

Then, on the street, Naruto saw a child running too fast and knocking over an old woman's basket of vegetables.

The child's mother hurried over, repeatedly apologizing to the old woman first. Then she pulled her child over and said sternly:

"Hurry and apologize to Grandma! You were running so fast that you bumped into someone. Do you know how dangerous that is? You could hurt yourself, and you could cause trouble for others! Come on, let's help Grandma pick up her vegetables."

The child apologized with a pout, then picked up the vegetables and put them back in the basket with his mother.

The old woman didn't make much of a fuss either. Instead, she patted the child's head.

Naruto stood where he was, watching scene after scene unfold, unconsciously clutching the corner of his clothes.

He thought of himself. He had painted Hokage Rock into a complete mess. The Third Hokage came, sighed, and said, "Don't do this next time." Then... there was nothing after that.

No one taught him that public facilities weren't meant to be destroyed, or how much trouble doing so would cause the men and women responsible for cleaning it up.

He was simply told, "You can't."

When he played pranks and painted oil on the doors of other people's shops, the Third Hokage came again. He still sighed, still said, "Don't do this next time," and then... there was still nothing after that.

No one told him how angry it would make the shop owners, how difficult it was to clean up, or what the right way to express himself was.

Not once.

The people he pranked looked at him with nothing but disgust and fear in their eyes, calling him the "Demon Fox."

No one had ever crouched down like that teacher or that mother and told him exactly what he had done wrong, or what he should do in the future.

A strange, icy chill slowly crept up Naruto's spine.

It felt colder than taking a bath in cold water during winter.

He returned to the bottom of his apartment building in a daze and happened to run into Aunt Mikoto, who was coming back from taking out the trash.

Seeing that something was wrong with his complexion, Mikoto asked gently:

"Naruto, what's wrong? You look awful."

Naruto looked up at Aunt Mikoto's concerned eyes and remembered how patiently she had taught him to tidy his room. Suddenly, his nose stung.

He lowered his head and spoke in a tiny voice, as though asking Mikoto and himself at the same time:

"Aunt Mikoto... when someone really cares about another person, and that person does something wrong..."

"They won't just tell them, 'You can't do that,' but... but teach them what they should do instead?"

Mikoto froze slightly, then understood something. Looking at the lonely child before her, her heart filled with pity.

She took Naruto into the room, blocking the ANBU's view from outside, before softly answering:

"Yes, Naruto. Because you care, you hope they'll become better. That's why you're willing to spend time and patience teaching them."

At that moment, the bubble Naruto had always carefully protected in his heart—that "Grandpa Third Hokage cares about me"—made a crisp cracking sound as Aunt Mikoto gave her affirmative answer.

So... that kind of "care" that only stopped him but never guided him had been so weightless.

"Aunt Mikoto, I want to go back and rest for a while."

"Sasuke went off with that person again today. He said he'd be back later."

Mikoto nodded. She gave Naruto a worried look as she watched him leave the room and head upstairs.

After closing the door, Naruto slid down against the cold door panel and sat on the floor.

His golden head was buried in his knees, and he didn't move for a long time.

A mixture of sadness, disappointment, and immense confusion completely swallowed up his small figure.

For the first time, he truly began to think about what position he held in Konoha.

Why was it like this?

Why didn't Grandpa Third Hokage truly care about me?

Just then, Trumpet Nine's voice suddenly rang out:

Long time no see, little Naruto. Have you found the answer?

Shien naturally couldn't monitor Naruto's life at all times. Even observing the surroundings required additional Chakra.

The Heart Seed could only be considered a telephone interface, so Naruto still had to tell him what had happened.

Normally bursting with energy, Naruto immediately wilted. Trumpet Nine, I found the answer...

Then Naruto told him about everything he had observed recently.

...Grandpa Third Hokage doesn't truly care about me.

Hearing Naruto's dejection, Trumpet Nine gave a soft laugh.

Why be upset? Don't feel sad for someone who has ulterior motives toward you.

There are still people in this world who genuinely care about and love you.

Naruto perked up. That's right. Aunt Mikoto truly cares about me and looks after me.

Exactly. Make more friends, and there will always be people who truly care about you.

Naruto's mood quickly improved, but then confusion set in.

Trumpet Nine, I've properly fulfilled our agreement. You should tell me the answer now, right?

What answer do you want? You can only ask one question now. You'll have to fulfill a new agreement for the next one.

Naruto was currently full of questions—far too many questions.

He also wanted to know why the Third Hokage didn't truly care about him.

But compared to that, there was something he wanted to know even more.

I want to know why I was bullied when I was little.

Trumpet Nine paused in thought before answering:

Hmm... the answer to that question is rather long.

First, you need to know that Tailed Beasts are extremely dangerous and terrifying. The Nine-Tails, especially, is the strongest of all the Tailed Beasts.

And when you were born, someone used the Nine-Tails to cause the Nine-Tails Incident...

Next, Shien explained in detail how much damage and how many casualties the Nine-Tails Incident had brought to Konoha.

Part of the reason you were bullied was that those civilians were ignorant and couldn't distinguish what a Jinchuriki was.

Some people even thought you were the Demon Fox in disguise, and took their anger out on you because of it.

Recently, Naruto had been following Sasuke around every day to avoid those crazy Uchiha children their age.

He could clearly understand what the phrase "taking their anger out on someone" meant.

So... so they took their anger out on me.

As Naruto thought, he silently wiped away his tears.

The grievance in his heart had been torn open by Trumpet Nine, allowing some of it to spill out.

Of course, that's only part of the reason. The other part is related to why the Third Hokage treats you this way.

That will require another agreement.

Naruto wiped away his tears and hurriedly said:

Trumpet Nine, what do you want me to do? I want to know more.

But Trumpet Nine's voice suddenly became intermittent:

I need to... sleep again... this time, it'll be a little longer...

You need to study... properly... if... your final exam ranking can be... top five... in the class... then I'll...

Tell you...

Then the voice disappeared.

After calling out several times, Naruto knew that Trumpet Nine had gone dormant again.

He bit his lip and secretly made up his mind to take things more seriously at the Ninja Academy.

"Naruto, Sasuke's back! Hurry down and eat too!"

Mikoto's voice suddenly called up from downstairs. Naruto perked up, wiped away his tears, opened the door, and ran downstairs.