Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 11 Passing the Flame

The Third Hokage accepted Sasuke's strong request to be discharged from the hospital and thoughtfully considered his mental state, making good use of the empty apartment building where Naruto lived. The rumors about the demon fox had been circulating for so long that the already small apartment building had long been empty. Naruto was both happy and distressed about this; the trouble was that 24-hour surveillance was back, but the joy was being closer to Sasuke. If Sasuke suddenly felt down, Naruto could immediately know and find a reasonable excuse to visit him.

For today, Naruto tidied up his messy room. Although he'd broken the habit of littering, his old habit of leaving files scattered everywhere remained, causing him to frequently miss book return deadlines. So he simply started buying books directly. As for not having enough money? No problem, the Seventh Hokage had plenty of ways to bump into the Third Hokage. He didn't care about spending the Hokage's money; what, did his parents leave him nothing? He just didn't want to fall out with those old fogies who had swallowed his family's wealth. So, this cleaning mainly involved clearing out the books and manuscripts scattered throughout the room—if you could even call the scribbles on them writing.

"...I thought you didn't like reading." Sasuke, who hadn't mentioned going to check out the new house the whole time, naturally went into Naruto's house. He was immediately taken aback by the entire cabinet of books and scrolls in the living room. He thought his friend, who always slept in class, was a muscle-bound, simple-minded brute, and he had even worried a little about whether Naruto would pass his midterms. Turns out, Naruto was actually someone who secretly studied at home?

"Huh?" Naruto walked out carrying a plate of cherry tomatoes, glancing at his masterpiece that he had spent two years creating. "Theoretical knowledge is really boring. I prefer to see the local specialties from different places." After all, these were things he hadn't had the chance to experience since becoming Hokage.

"Sasuke, look at this book. It's about the Land of Rice Fields. It says that everyone in the Land of Rice Fields worships a god. He's special; he's a figure recorded in history. At that time, the Land of Rice Fields was barren, plagued by years of war, and a severe drought caused a serious reduction in grain production. This god was born that year, grew up with great difficulty, and from a young age, he was determined to eliminate hunger in the world..." Naruto casually pulled out a small, seemingly cheap booklet, and could talk fluently about its contents without even opening the pages. Sasuke was surprised when he took the book; he was even drawn in by Naruto's narration and couldn't help but open the booklet. It was a very traditional book, entirely written in black and white; it was hard to imagine that Naruto could actually read it.

"'He found a seed blessed by the gods, brought it back to his homeland, and planted rice stalks that provided shade for people.' That's a bit of an exaggeration, but the Land of Rice does have so much grain that it can be exported, yet the arable land is relatively small, indicating that their yield per acre is indeed very high... Ah!" The slurping sounds from the kitchen finally caught Naruto's attention, and he immediately turned and rushed into the kitchen, "My soup!"

Why does Naruto seem to be focusing on something strange? Would most people associate mythology with food production?

Sasuke watched Naruto leave, completely bewildered, then turned his attention back to the book. It was indeed a very ordinary mythological story, but he was too old for such things and found it utterly uninteresting. He was more concerned about the kitchen and was about to go help when he discovered Naruto had brought out the pot and stove together.

“A specialty of the central Land of Fire! Hot pot!” Naruto smiled energetically. “Since I couldn’t find any hot pot base to sell, I simply made a soup on the spot. You can cook whatever you want in the pot.”

The unfamiliar dishes piqued Sasuke's interest, and the two even fought over the last piece of frozen tofu with their chopsticks, breaking them both in the process before resorting to rock-paper-scissors. As a result, they both ended up with bulging bellies. Feeling bad about constantly troubling his friend, Sasuke promptly took on the task of washing the dishes, while Naruto went next door to check on Sasuke's new house, making sure the Anbu had tidied it up before returning home.

After washing the dishes, Sasuke saw scrolls and books spread out on the sofa, and Naruto intently reading them. A radio was running on the coffee table, broadcasting the "Fire News," a boring program Sasuke would never listen to. This was a Naruto he'd never seen before, as unfamiliar as a complete stranger. He'd always known Naruto lived alone, but what was it like?

Perhaps he will understand tonight.

"Aunt Mikoto, Sasuke moved next door to me today." Naruto chose to land next to Aunt Mikoto this time, but he still ended up running into a large group of people.

The noisy crowd suddenly stopped. A red-armored god with a sword still stuck in his chest slashed through the crowd, grabbed him, and hoisted him onto his shoulder, saying with a bright smile, "Naruto! Come and see our preliminary plan!"

A rabbit-eyed figure engulfed in purplish-black flames was being held tightly by a blue-armored warrior. However, with Naruto present, he couldn't bring himself to strike with his sword. He could only clench his fists and angrily shout, "Even if you're rich, you can't just scatter money all over the place! Why didn't you send Konoha away?!"

Tobirama, positioned above Izuna's head, physically restricted Izuna's movements, but his face was full of deep agreement, who knows how much torment he had suffered at the hands of his older brother in the past.

"How is Sasuke doing?" Mikoto smiled and ignored the chaos. She and Shisui had been trying to comfort the children these past few days, going to great lengths to prevent them from facing the truth too early. She had finally managed to participate in a discussion, only to be caught by Naruto.

Naruto grabbed Hashirama's hair to avoid being thrown off, and managed to answer in the midst of the chaos, "It was alright when we brought him back; we even had hot pot together!"

Mikoto felt a little relieved. "Sasuke is so lucky to have a friend like you."

"I disagree as well." Fugaku, who had been relegated to the background for several days, was probably inspired by his heroic ancestor who dared to stab the First Hokage in the back, and spoke up. "Only a portion of people know how to be grateful. We can't pin our hopes on the quality of others. Besides, most people are uncivilized. Even in Konoha now, the illiteracy rate among the common people is 31%!"

"Why don't you go out and fight it out before coming back? I can listen to Tobirama's explanation." Naruto had forgotten to get rid of his quirks from all the trouble he'd been put through, and was already planning to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape.

Finally, it was Shisui who saved Naruto, catching him as he nearly flew away in a flash, thus ending the battle. In short, Hashirama's proposal was rejected. The others unanimously agreed that they should first secretly control a small country, like the Land of Rivers, with a moderate land area, no ninja villages of its own, and an economy primarily based on middlemen trading. Then, they could gradually replace the officials with their own people and implement a policy of mixed ninja and civilian populations.

Naruto immediately rejected the idea, arguing that top-down reforms were not thorough enough and that what they needed to do was not repeat historical mistakes, but a true revolution.

"Let me tell you a story," Naruto said, seeing that the others weren't convinced. "You are all ninjas, so you should know the requirements of the ninja village. A ninja must always put the mission first and cannot abandon the mission for any reason."

Upon hearing this, Hashirama was the first to frown, but the others didn't react much, clearly indicating that this habit had been passed down for a long time.

"A ninja failed his mission while trying to save his comrades. When he returned to the ninja village, he was not only not forgiven, but also faced a barrage of accusations. Even the comrades he had saved blamed him. Unable to bear the humiliation, he committed suicide."

The three Uchiha from this era were taken aback, clearly knowing who Naruto was referring to.

"However, his spirit has not been forgotten. Some children from the same ninja village see him as a stain, while others see him as a hero. They inherit this will and pass it on to more people. Only when everyone recognizes this will can it become the mainstream value of the ninja village and truly save more lives."