Life Is Tough

Chapter 2: Life is not easy

Rei Sarutobi rented a house and hired a wet nurse to take care of the two infants she brought along, otherwise she would have had no way to feed them.

The two brothers, Meihui and Naruto, were thus cared for by a teenage Rei Sarutobi (Dewha Sarutobi).

Looking at Naruto who kept crying, Rei Sarutobi was completely baffled. Good grief, I have never had a child before. What am I supposed to do here?

The wet nurse also looked at Rei Sarutobi with a cheerful smile and gently took the crying Naruto.

Holding Naruto, she softly hummed an unknown lullaby.

Yet Naruto still cried and fussed incessantly, and only then did the wet nurse understand what was happening-the little baby was hungry.

Pulling down her clothes, she began to feed Naruto. It was then that Naruto finally quieted down, stopping his crying and fussing at last.

Meanwhile, Meihui, who was watching from the side, could no longer sit idly by.

I am hungry too. If I do not cry or make a fuss, I do not get fed? That will not do. And so Meihui also started to cry and make a fuss.

Whether it was because he had turned into a child and could no longer control his tear ducts, he cried so mournfully that it was heartbreaking to watch and tear-jerking to hear. Anyone who did not know better would have thought something terrible had happened, when in reality he was just hungry.

Having no choice, and seeing that Meihui was crying so hard he was almost gasping for breath, the wet nurse had to put Naruto down first and feed Meihui.

There was no help for it; without a few special skills, life was truly not easy. The crying child got the milk.

Having finally eaten their fill, the two infants stopped crying and fell into a deep sleep.

Looking at the two sleeping babies, Rei Sarutobi only felt that this mission was far too arduous.

Yet Rei Sarutobi was merely an ordinary member of the Sarutobi Clan and could only obey the orders of the patriarch.

Danzo, hiding within Root, had already begun plotting against the two Jinchūriki.

He came before Hiruzen and stated his purpose.

"Hiruzen, look at these two Jinchūriki. You might as well hand them over to me to control."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Hiruzen.

"These are Minato's children, and I advise you not to plot against them. Furthermore, do not forget that I am the Hokage."

"Hiruzen, you will regret this."

Looking into Hiruzen's eyes, the meaning was crystal clear: you have overstepped your bounds.

Seeing that his demand had yielded nothing, Danzo stubbornly lingered without leaving, forcing Hiruzen to agree to his previous request to collect fresh blood from other clans in order to expand Root.

Hiruzen waved his hand, telling him to scram at once and stop being an eyesore here.

With another puff of smoke from his pipe, a sharp glint flashed in Hiruzen's eyes. No one knew what he was thinking.

The two brothers, Meihui and Naruto, still had no idea that they had been targeted by an old schemer the moment they were born.

Just like that, spring faded and winter came, and time flew by. Three years passed.

Two blonde boys ran hand in hand under the setting sun.

These two were none other than Meihui and Naruto.

The Rei Sarutobi who had originally been dispatched had also transitioned from taking care of them to monitoring them.

Watching the young boys who had now grown up before her eyes, Rei Sarutobi felt a great sense of accomplishment.

From babbling infants, they had turned into little children capable of running everywhere.

Rei Sarutobi smiled in the shadows, unaware that danger was slowly creeping closer.

At first, Hiruzen Sarutobi had not agreed to the ostracization policy proposed by Danzo.

Danzo deliberately spread rumors claiming that Meihui and Naruto were the Demon Fox.

Later on, however, Hiruzen Sarutobi tacitly condoned Danzo's actions.

Of course, at this time Meihui and Naruto had no idea-they could never have imagined-that whenever the two of them simply went out to play on the streets, people would hurl unprovoked abuses at them, and some would even throw stones at Naruto and him.

Looking at the people around them, the contempt and disgust in their eyes...

Meihui suddenly realized that it was because the old Third Hokage had tacitly permitted Danzo's behavior that things had turned out this way.

"Big brother, let's go home. The people outside don't seem to welcome us."

With tears welling up in his eyes, Naruto tugged at Meihui's arm.

Ruffling Naruto's hair, Meihui brought Naruto back home.

Along the way, people kept shouting about the Nine-Tails Demon Fox.

Once they reached home, Naruto asked Meihui.

"Big brother, why do they treat us like this? What is this Demon Fox they keep talking about, and why do they say we are the Demon Fox?"

"Little brother, we are certainly not any Demon Fox. As for why they treat us like this, I don't know either. But we must grow up quickly and strive to become strong so we can protect our loved ones and protect ourselves."

Hearing Meihui's words, Naruto pulled himself together.

"Okay, I want to grow up fast, become strong, and protect my older brother."

Looking at Naruto like this, Meihui could not help feeling a pang of heartache.

He had not expected this matter to happen after all. As expected, human hearts were truly unpredictable.