Internal Injuries, Serious Ones, Pay Up

Naruto stepped over the threshold and glanced at the ANBU still standing at the entrance, staring at him without letting up. A trace of mockery curled at the corner of his mouth.

"What do you do, following me around all the time? Let me tell you, I'm a man who's going to become Hokage."

He shouted it outright.

The ANBU's face darkened as if he had swallowed a fly.

Naruto cheerfully shook the banknotes in his hand and waved them in front of the man's face.

"You wouldn't be trying to rob a kid of his money, would you? These notes were given to me by the head of Konoha's Hyuga Clan. If you dare reach for them, I guarantee you'll be lying here the next second."

The Hyuga Clan guards at the gate and the ANBU behind him all had veins bulging on their foreheads.

Naruto looked like he was deliberately picking a fight.

Neither side made a move, and Naruto muttered.

"How boring."

With that, he headed toward the commercial district.

Only after Naruto had gone some distance did the ANBU let out a breath. He shot Naruto's retreating back a vicious glare, then flickered into a corner.

Naruto curled his lip and spat out two words.

"Coward."

After weaving through streets and alleys, Naruto walked along Konoha's main road.

The villagers around him avoided him as though he were the plague.

"That demon fox is wandering around again."

"He won't transform, will he?"

"Why does the village insist on keeping that thing around to harm people?"

A few adults even let go of their children's hands, allowing them to pick up stones and throw them at Naruto.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, caught the stones in midair, and threw them straight back.

How could those little brats dodge? Their faces were struck by the stones, and they burst into loud tears.

The villagers immediately exploded. Rolling up their sleeves, they rushed forward to teach Naruto a lesson.

The Third always forbade people from mentioning the demon fox, but the gossip had never stopped.

And he had always been all talk. He had never truly punished those who bullied Naruto.

So during the first few years Naruto lived on his own, people often drove him out. Only after he gained a bit of strength did he stop going out much.

He had come out today because the date for the Hidden Cloud Village delegation had been set.

This episode had been a major turning point in Naruto.

Starting with the Hyuga Clan offering up a scapegoat, Konoha went from being a major village with a hard fist to a weakling anyone could step on.

The major clans also gradually withdrew from the village's core, and the era of the Third monopolizing power began just like that.

Konoha's backbone had been broken by the Third's move.

Iwagakure had clearly lost the war, yet the peace treaty they signed gave Konoha not a single advantage.

That alone would have been bad enough.

For the sake of that little bit of peace, they even had to hand the head of the Hyuga Clan, one of Konoha's great clans, over to the other side.

This was beyond incomprehensible.

Konoha had won the war!

The opposing delegation had come to wave the white flag!

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi kept saying that the various clans could not withstand another war, while between the lines he was telling the old men of the Hyuga Clan that if they did not take responsibility for this mess, they could go fight Hidden Cloud Village themselves.

It was like putting a knife to the Hyuga Clan's throat.

From then on, the Hyuga Clan became complete vassals of the Hokage's faction.

The Third also used this wave to pull out every thorn in the village, becoming an unquestioned ruler.

Using the excuse that the Nine-Tails had been controlled by the Sharingan, he drove the Uchiha Clan into the village's outskirts.

He used himself as bait to lure Danzo into trying to kill him, conveniently wiping out the upper ranks of Danzo's faction as well.

Then, through the matter of the Hyuga Clan, he killed the chicken to scare the monkeys, showing the other clans not to act up—or their clan heads would be sent to their deaths too.

This was exactly the critical moment. How could Naruto possibly not put a few stones in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart?

Watching those adults charge toward him, Naruto sneered.

Want to watch the show?

If you keep hiding and refuse to come out, I'll release the Nine-Tails. Haven't you always spread rumors that I'll go crazy? I'll go crazy for you to see.

"Everyone, stop!"

A sharp shout crashed down on them.

Naruto looked up with a mocking smile and saw Hiruzen Sarutobi striding over, followed by the ANBU who had slipped away to report earlier.

"Lord Hokage."

Several villagers hurriedly backed away, looking awkwardly at the Third.

Danzo had leaked Naruto's background, but it had also been the Third who ordered that no one was allowed to discuss the demon fox.

"What are you trying to do?! You want to lay hands on a child?!"

After roaring sternly, the Third Hokage crouched down.

"Little Naruto, are you hurt?"

Naruto twisted his mouth, then fell backward with a bang and sprawled across the ground, howling at the top of his lungs.

"I'm hurt! He hit me! I suffered serious internal injuries! This won't be settled without a hundred thousand or eighty thousand in banknotes!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi: "???"

The villagers' eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

What the hell? My child's face was bruised blue from your stones, and before we even asked for compensation, you threw yourself down first?

"Stop spouting nonsense, you demon fox!"

Someone shouted in exasperation.

Naruto immediately brightened and cried even harder.

"Did you hear that, you old Third? He called me a demon fox! You issued a strict order forbidding anyone from bringing that up! This time, if I don't get eight hundred thousand or a million, I'm taking root right here on the ground! Otherwise, I'll tell the whole world that the Third Hokage's words are no different from farts!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."