Little Naruto Chose to Keep His Distance

"Look, what a beautiful flower."

Ino pointed at a spray of flowers with white petals and yellow stamens on a snowbank and smiled happily.

"Yeah, I didn't think flowers really bloomed in winter."

Sakura looked at the plant in surprise.

"It's called a Wenxing Orchid. In the language of flowers, it means good fortune and wishes fulfilled."

Ino, who had learned a great deal about flowers from her mother, explained with pride in her eyes.

"Hehe, that's great. I hope I don't run into that Nine-Tailed Fox in the days ahead."

Sakura made her wish.

"The Nine-Tailed Fox?"

Ino was puzzled by Sakura's mention of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Her parents hadn't told her about Naruto, and she didn't usually pay much attention to rumors.

After all, she was still a three-year-old child. Running around and playing all day was her favorite pastime.

"Don't you know? That blond boy we met earlier is actually the Nine-Tails that destroyed Konoha three years ago, transformed into a human."

Sakura lowered her voice and spoke gravely, as though it were an established fact.

"They say he even hid his whiskers to win Lord Hokage's trust."

Ino was very surprised, her eyes fixed on Sakura.

She hadn't expected even Lord Hokage to tolerate this so-called Nine-Tailed Fox.

As far as she knew, the Nine-Tailed Fox had long since been sealed by the Fourth Hokage with a Sealing Technique. There was no way he could appear again, especially as someone their age.

"Really? Why hasn't my dad ever told me?"

Ino's father, Inoichi Yamanaka, was the head of the Yamanaka Clan and one of the members of the trio known as Ino-Shika-Cho in the last Shinobi World War. How could he possibly not know about this?

"My mom said all the high-ranking ninja were put under a gag order. They aren't allowed to tell anyone about it."

"And the villagers aren't allowed to discuss it, either."

Sakura told Ino what she knew.

"I see. Then I'll ask my dad when I get home tonight."

Ino thought Sakura's explanation made some sense, but it would still be better to ask her father that evening.

"Okay, but be careful around that Nine-Tailed Fox."

"I heard his name now is something like..."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto's name echoed through the frost- and snow-covered forest, carrying far, all the way to the ears of Naruto, who was hiding behind a tree.

Little Naruto fell silent and lowered his head. His earlier wish to get to know them vanished.

Quietly leaving the spot where they continued searching for flowers, little Naruto went to a stream he often visited.

The stream had frozen over and no longer flowed, as cold as little Naruto's heart.

"Hey... little Naruto, are you okay?"

Kurama's voice came after a long delay. As a Tailed Beast, he couldn't really understand how humans thought, but he could feel the cold inside little Naruto's heart now.

"Kurama, am I never going to find any friends?"

Little Naruto kicked a pebble at his feet toward the ice. The powerful force shattered its surface outright, sending out crunching cracks.

He felt very lost now and was thrown off balance for a moment.

"What are you thinking? Didn't you just save your friend last night?"

Kurama softened his voice as much as he could, trying to comfort him with the story of how little Naruto had charmed a girl under the moonlight the night before.

"But... am I only ever going to have that one friend?"

Little Naruto didn't know whether there were any other children his age who weren't afraid of him, like little Hinata.

He always felt they were different from him.

"Yahahaha, little Naruto, don't worry. When you're six, you can go to the Ninja Academy. You should be able to make plenty of good friends then."

"Six? Even after winter ends, that's still two years away."

"It'll be okay. Believe in yourself."

Hashirama comforted him. Perhaps it was the unique resonance between reincarnations of Asura, but light gradually returned to little Naruto's dim eyes.

"Okay! I'm the man who's going to become Hokage!"

Little Naruto's spirits rose. That was right. He already had one friend, and he would definitely be able to make more.

Once more people acknowledged him, he could become Hokage!

"Hehahahaha."

Little Naruto put his hands on his hips and laughed happily.

Meanwhile, blades of grass sprouted beneath Naruto's feet, swaying with him in the cold winter wind.

Wait.

Grass?

In a rare gesture, Kurama raised a front paw and rubbed his eyes.

What the hell? Is this Naruto really not a Senju?

"Hashirama, look. Isn't that Wood Release?"

Kurama's voice was twenty percent trembling, thirty percent shock, twenty-five percent disbelief, and twenty-five percent numbness.

"Yahahaha... huh?"

Hashirama, who had been laughing along with Naruto, was interrupted by Kurama's words. Then he saw the grass beneath Naruto's feet swaying along with him.

Grass?

"Uh, it looks like, maybe, probably, most likely, yes!"

Hashirama froze for a moment, then became ecstatic.

I knew it! Little Naruto is so much like me. He was bound to awaken Wood Release!

Just what I'd expect from the Child of Prophecy! Just what I'd expect from my student!

"Hey, hey, hey, have you thought about why little Naruto has Wood Release?"

Kurama interrupted the ecstatic Hashirama, trying to bring him to his senses.

"Huh? Isn't it because I'm such a good teacher?"

Hashirama tried to play dumb. After all, he didn't know why this was happening either, but a student taking after his teacher was perfectly normal.

"Normal, my ass! Isn't Wood Release a kekkei genkai? Doesn't it belong to the Senju Clan? This kid's surname is Uzumaki!"

If Kurama hadn't watched Naruto being born that day, he would now have been wondering whether this child's surname was Senju.

"First of all, Wood Release isn't a kekkei genkai unique to the Senju Clan. It's a kekkei genkai I developed."

Hashirama cleared his throat and explained to Kurama, who was beginning to question the home he lived in.

"When I awakened Wood Release back then, it was pretty much like little Naruto. Basically, I did this first, then that, and finally this, and I successfully awakened it."

Do you even hear what you're saying?!

Kurama indicated that he couldn't understand a damn thing.

Are you kidding? Even your grandson can't use this kekkei genkai, but little Naruto can?

Could it be that because Hashirama came into the Sealing Space, his power gradually rubbed off on Naruto?

Kurama reined in his increasingly unhinged thoughts and began seriously considering why little Naruto could use Wood Release.

Hmm, that would make sense.

After all, there hadn't been a single precedent for using a Sealing Technique to seal a human inside another human in the past thousand years.

And on top of that, this guy Hashirama might have even more chakra than me...

Good grief. Why don't you change your name and join our big Tailed Beast family?

"I think it might be because you've been using Wood Release all over Naruto's Sealing Space, causing its power to leak out and gradually making Naruto's chakra develop in the same direction as yours."

Kurama told Hashirama his theory and was rewarded with the same expression he himself had worn just moments earlier.

But all joking aside, what Kurama said did make sense.

Looking at it that way, this was still thanks to me.

Ah, just what you'd expect from the genius teacher Hashirama.

Tobirama really wasted my talents by not letting me teach at the Ninja Academy back then.