Chapter: Ichiraku

"Danzo! I am the Hokage!"

This sentence exploded in the office like a thunderclap.

Danzo's body visibly stiffened, and he stared fixedly at Hiruzen Sarutobi. The air inside the office seemed to freeze, filled with the smell of gunpowder.

After a few seconds of suffocating standoff, the muscles on Danzo's face twitched.

He knew that no matter what, it was impossible to take Lin Ze away today.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already displayed the absolute authority of the Hokage!

"Very well... Hiruzen."

"You just keep clinging to that naive way of thinking of yours."

Danzo turned around and walked step by step toward the door.

At the door, he paused and left behind an icy, prophetic-sounding remark:

"You will regret this, Hiruzen!"

With that, he left the Hokage's office without looking back, his figure disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the direction where Danzo had disappeared, slowly sat back down in his chair, furrowed his brow, and took a deep drag on his pipe.

Danzo... I hope you don't force me to make a harder choice.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed in his heart, his gaze growing profound.

At this moment he was in his prime; even if Danzo really wanted to push the issue, he had absolute certainty to steadily keep the situation under control.

On the commercial district street of Konoha.

Lin Ze and Kurenai Yuhi were choosing a shop to eat dinner.

This was the treat prepared by Kurenai Yuhi as a reward for Lin Ze taking first place in the assessment-inviting him out to eat.

Originally Kurenai Yuhi was prepared to take Lin Ze to her house to eat, but her mother was home today, and whenever Lin Ze went to her house before, her mother often teased the two of them, always making Kurenai Yuhi blush.

Therefore Lin Ze decided to freeload off Kurenai Yuhi this little rich girl's wallet outside.

Lin Ze had been in Konoha for almost two years, and this was his first time eating outside the Orphanage. After all, the Orphanage's funds were limited, and his living expenses every month were only enough for food.

Moreover, after the bonus of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, coupled with practicing the Eight Gates Released Formation from time to time, Lin Ze's appetite was also growing larger and larger, with a single meal reaching ten times the amount of others.

Causing Lin Ze to only be able to occasionally go into some woods in Konoha to hunt game for extra meals, just like Naruto when he was little.

"Hey~ Lin Ze, what are we eating?"

Kurenai Yuhi gripped her small wallet and stood on tiptoe, looking at one shop after another along the street, her tone full of expectation.

The two strolled for quite a while, and Lin Ze was always afraid that he would eat too much and put her in a difficult position, so he never settled on anything.

Suddenly, a few drops of rain pelted down on their heads.

Lin Ze looked up, and saw that it was already starting to drizzle in Konoha at this point, and there was even a tendency for it to rain harder.

Lin Ze hurriedly pulled Kurenai to hide under the nearest eaves, warm yellow light filtering out from inside the shop, accompanied by the fragrance of bone broth.

Ichiraku Ramen?

It turned out that the two of them had just hidden right at the entrance of Ichiraku Ramen.

"The rain doesn't seem like it's going to stop, why don't we eat this?" Lin Ze pointed at the shop sign. Having been in Konoha for so long, he only now realized that he actually hadn't eaten Ichiraku Ramen yet.

Kurenai's eyes lit up: "Alright! I heard Ichiraku's ramen is super delicious!"

As the two just walked to the entrance, Teuchi's enthusiastic greeting came from inside:

"Welcome! Come right in, you two guests, it's chilly outside in the rain!"

Teuchi at present looked to be just over twenty years old, quite young, bustling about inside the shop all by himself.

As for his daughter Ayame, Lin Ze remembered she was about five years older than Naruto. Now it was October of Konoha Year 38, so she would presumably be born three years from now.

Entering the shop and sitting down, Kurenai directly shouted: "Boss, two bowls of tonkotsu ramen! Lin Ze, do you want to add extra noodles? My pocket money is quite a lot, you know!"

Lin Ze did not stand on ceremony: "Please add extra noodles, thank you, Boss."

Soon, two steaming bowls of ramen were served up.

Lin Ze's bowl of noodles was piled high like a small mountain. The side effects of opening the Eight Gates Released Formation when fighting Hikaru Hyūga had long since recovered by now, but the price was that he had almost starved to death.

Lin Ze hurriedly slurped down the noodles, and even drank the soup completely clean.

"Another bowl, Boss!"

Kurenai ate less than half a bowl before she was full, resting her chin in her hands as she watched Lin Ze eat, smiling until her eyes curved into crescents.

Outside, the rain was still pattering down, while inside the shop it was cozy and warm, the fragrance of bone broth enveloping the sound of the rain, exceptionally comfortable.

While waiting for Teuchi to finish serving the noodles, Lin Ze looked toward the corner of the doorway outside the noodle shop, suddenly thinking of Naruto when he was little.

It was also a rainy day when Naruto stood all alone at the entrance of Ichiraku Ramen, his body soaked by the rain, yet without money to come in and eat a bowl of noodles, until finally Teuchi took pity on Naruto and let him come in to eat a free bowl of ramen.

The Hokage?

Lin Ze took the ramen handed over by Teuchi, but his mind thought of Hiruzen Sarutobi whom he had just met, and then thought of the phrase 'becoming the Hokage' that Naruto always had on his lips afterwards.

Shaking his head, Lin Ze cast that impossible thought out of his mind.

He was different from Naruto. Although Naruto was looked down upon just like Lin Ze when he was little, his identity was that of a native of Konoha village, and he possessed the qualifications to become the Hokage.

Whereas Lin Ze was different. He was an orphan from another village, and for him to be the Hokage was an absolute impossibility!

Just like at the Ninja School where Lin Ze always had some children full of malice toward him, which ultimately boiled down to the fact that Lin Ze was an orphan from another village.

During this period, many Konoha ninja died at the hands of other ninja from foreign villages. These children did not care whether Lin Ze came from the village that killed their family and friends, naturally aiming their hatred at foreign orphans like Lin Ze.

And this was also one of the reasons why Miyamoto Ichirō of the Orphanage was unwilling to continue staying at the Ninja School.

Fortunately, Lin Ze possessed the soul of an adult, and did not care about the cold words of those children.

However, as for the position of the 'Hokage', Lin Ze's future children would actually possess the qualifications for it.

Thinking of this, Lin Ze turned his head to look at Kurenai who was quietly watching him from the side.

Seeing Lin Ze suddenly turn his head and stare at her unblinkingly, Kurenai blushed and said, "Lin Ze, why are you looking at me~"

"Oh oh, nothing, I just think you're very pretty, Kurenai."

Hearing Lin Ze's words, Kurenai's small face "swoosh"-ed and turned even redder, like a ripe apple, almost catching up to Hinata when she saw Naruto later.

She hurriedly lowered her head, unmindfully stirring the remaining noodles in her bowl with her chopsticks, her heart beating frantically.

Lin Ze... He said I'm pretty...

Kurenai's heart felt like it harbored a little rabbit, thump-thumping wildly. Although her mother usually often teased her and Lin Ze, this was the first time she had been told so directly by Lin Ze.

She felt her face burning fiercely, yet her heart felt somewhat sweet.

Lin Ze was also startled after speaking, and looking at Kurenai's shy appearance, he realized that he had just blurted out what was on his mind subconsciously.

Just now his thoughts had simply wandered far off, and seeing the quiet and beautiful girl beside him, he had felt a surge of emotion.

Lin Ze felt a bit awkward, hurriedly coughed, and changed the subject: "Um... I mean, this ramen is really delicious! Thanks for treating me, Kurenai."

"Mm... Mm! It's good that it's delicious!" Kurenai also went down the step provided, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzzing, but she still couldn't help but secretly raise her eyes to glance at Lin Ze.

Although Lin Ze felt awkward, he was after all an adult's soul at his core; how could awkwardness compare to being hungry? He turned his mind entirely back to the ramen, and in the end ate a full ten bowls before he finally considered his stomach completely filled.

I really wonder what kind of construction Hinata's stomach is?

Remembering the big eater contest of Ichiraku Ramen later on, and Hinata's record of over forty bowls, Lin Ze couldn't help muttering in his heart.

After finishing the ramen, the rain outside also gradually lessened somewhat, turning into a pattering drizzle.

"Boss, the bill." Kurenai took out her cute little wallet and very generously paid the money.

Teuchi looked at this pair of cute little guests and smilingly saw them out.

Stepping out of the ramen shop, the air carried the freshness after the rain, the sky had also already darkened, and streetlights on both sides of the street were lit up one after another.

"I'll walk you back, Kurenai," Lin Ze said very naturally.

Although the village of Konoha was relatively safe, he still couldn't feel at ease letting a little girl under seven years old walk home alone at night.

"Okay." Kurenai nodded, her heart feeling a little happy.

Along the way, Kurenai chattered animatedly about today's assessment, while Lin Ze mostly listened quietly, occasionally nodding or responding simply a few times.

Looking at the lively girl beside him, Lin Ze involuntarily thought of Asuma again...