Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 4 Freshmen

The Second Hokage was actually quite easy to get along with, a conclusion Naruto reached during the Fourth Shinobi World War. However, back then, he was an outstanding junior of Konoha, the hope of the Allied Shinobi Forces, and the previous Hokage naturally held him in high regard, treating him with kindness. This time, however, he was the caster of the Impure World Reincarnation, appearing with the descendant of a Second Hokage student who had lost an eye. Gaining the Hokage's trust was a major challenge. But Naruto wasn't in a hurry, because he genuinely wanted to find a new way for this world.

"What year is it in Konoha now?"

"Konoha Year 56".

"...Don't your parents have any other elders?" the second generation continued to ask, unwilling to give up. He couldn't believe that such a large family as Whirlpool hadn't had a single person left behind.

Naruto met the Second Hokage's scrutinizing gaze directly, a pang of pity rising in his heart. "My father was a war orphan, and my mother came from the Land of Whirlpools, but..."

"The Land of Whirlpools has been destroyed, and I don't know if there are any surviving members of the Whirlpool Clan."

"..." The Second Hokage closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths despite being a dead man, until his breathing calmed down before opening his eyes again and asking, "You know about the Second Shinobi World War, right? Konoha... lost?"

"What does it mean to win?" Naruto asked with a sorrowful expression. "Is it repelling the enemy's attack and holding onto a corner of the land? Konoha has won, twice, because the Third Shinobi World War had only ended six years ago."

The bloodshot in the Second Hokage's eyes seemed to spread to the area around them, and the cold numbers forced him to face reality: "Two wars in less than twenty years? Are Konoha's losses serious?"

"During the most difficult period of the Third Shinobi World War, the average graduation age from the Ninja Academy was around ten years old, with a few outstanding individuals becoming Chunin at the age of six."

These words weren't particularly outrageous for the Second Hokage, who had experienced the Warring States period, but Konoha was originally established to protect young children. Sending ten-year-olds to the battlefield meant a significant loss of adult combat power. After a few questions, the Second Hokage's expression grew increasingly grim. Even though the topic had been veered off course, he hadn't forgotten that he wasn't truly alive, but had been summoned.

“This isn’t wartime. The precision of this resurrected body far surpasses what I’ve researched. You just clearly stated that summoning me was your own idea.” The Second Hokage’s expression was complex. His rationality made him wary, but his emotions made him trust him. “Naruto, you know the conditions for casting this jutsu, right?”

Naruto nodded, raising his hands and saying, "Let me make this clear first, I don't have a hobby of digging up graves. I just took some materials from the Root lab. As for the offering, you really didn't sense it at all, did you?"

Following Naruto's finger, the Second Hokage looked towards the corner of the wall. There, a lifeless corpse lay bound, its pale skin a testament to its inhuman nature. The Second Hokage's eyes widened slightly, seemingly oblivious to the presence of a fourth humanoid object. He cautiously refrained from approaching directly, observing from a distance and quickly arriving at an even more unbelievable conclusion.

"What is this? His body is almost entirely made up of his older brother's cells. How did he do that?" He knew all too well the extreme exclusivity of his older brother's cells.

"He claims to be White Zetsu and is gathering intelligence for an organization called Akatsuki. I'm not good at interrogation, so this is all I could get out of him," Naruto said, choosing to lie through his teeth. Over this long period, he had certainly tried many times to reveal things about the future. Telling Kurama in his mind was fine, but if he uttered it aloud, it would inevitably cause a devastating backlash. After being tortured by pain for half a year, he gradually figured out what he could and couldn't say. He couldn't utter a word about the Otsutsuki clan, but he was relatively lenient when it came to intelligence. He could reveal whatever he wanted about the abilities of anyone he had met. The reason for selective disclosure was that the crisis of trust hadn't been resolved.

"'dawn'?"

"I don't know about that."

Seeing that the questions were piling up, Naruto tried to steer the conversation back on track, "Aren't you going to ask what 'Root' is?"

The Second Hokage shifted his gaze back, his eyes sharp enough to pierce through Naruto. At this moment, he should be absolutely certain that Naruto was no ordinary child. "I thought you were going to keep beating around the bush."

“Although I would like to have a good talk with you, time is limited and I must go back before dawn.” Naruto said almost coldly, “The Root was founded by Danzo Shimura, who said it was to protect Konoha in the dark. I saw a lot of things in their laboratory, such as the First Hokage’s cells. You can’t imagine how strange the things soaking in those culture media were.”

The second-generation guy raised an eyebrow. He wasn't unfamiliar with experiments, so he could imagine it to some extent.

"They conducted many integration experiments, even using children to try them..."

"Wait a minute." The second-generation leader's aura turned dangerous. "They haven't even resolved the rejection issue, yet they're conducting live experiments? Where did they get the audacity?!"

"...They thought they could try their luck with some of the test subjects."

The already quiet shrine became even quieter. The Second Hokage stared wide-eyed, trying to find a flaw in the child's demeanor, but it was clearly in vain. Naruto was also looking at him, his expression pale and numb.

"When a group is unable to create new value, internal struggles are almost inevitable. In order to gain more power, they have no choice but to..."

"Stop talking!"

The Second Hokage's sudden outburst did not stop Naruto's words. The child merely shifted his body to shield Shisui from the impact, and continued, "Eroding away existing power. Isn't that right, Senju clan leader?"

“I remember you are a sensory ninja. This place is not far from Konoha, so you should be able to sense many things.”

Tobirama's imposing aura subsided, and he lowered his head, having maintained a half-crouching position. Naruto could feel the overwhelming sadness, mixed with many complex emotions. His heightened senses since his rebirth were so unreasonable; he could empathize with the other person whenever he wanted.

A powerful family with a thousand-year history is about to wither away in less than twenty years, which is a sad sight for everyone. Similarly, no one can say that there are no dark schemes hidden in this.

Naruto patted the soft fur collar. As a fellow Hokage, he truly understood the difficulty of balancing clan and village. He himself didn't have a clan, but his wife was from the Hyuga clan. Hiashi Hyuga was considered a very capable clan leader in disciplining his members, but there were still some Hyuga clan members who didn't know their own limitations and caused trouble. However, he didn't quite approve of the Second Hokage's targeting of the Uchiha. Konoha was clearly built on an alliance between the two clans, yet from the moment he entered, he kept exploiting his ally, which undoubtedly set a bad example for later clans. It could be said that the Uchiha's massacre began to take place from that point on, but no one expected that it would be the Senju who succumbed first.

After a long silence, Tobirama said softly, "Do you want me to seek revenge because of my disappointment?"

"I said, I hope you take a good look at this world, and then tell me what kind of world you want."

"...That's all?"

Naruto smiled and said, "Of course...it's more than that. But I still hope you'll think it through yourself before you say anything."

Tobirama stared at the precocious child and sighed, ruffling the child's brilliant blond hair. "You cunning brat, you're so tiny and you think you can comfort this old man?"

"How could I dare, Second Generation Lord?"

Seeing that Tobirama had calmed down, Naruto turned around and knelt beside Shisui's head, placing his hands on Shisui's sunken eyelids. This was the most crucial step, to help Shisui regain his composure and to make the Second Hokage realize his own worth.

Yang Dun bestows physical form, Yin Dun bestows soul. The combination of Yin and Yang gives birth to the myriad phenomena of the universe.

Although he didn't have the help of the Six Paths Grandfather this time, he still pushed himself to the limit to defeat the Otsutsuki. Activating Yang Release was a minor matter; the only troublesome things were his weak body and the enormous chakra consumption. Moreover, the Uchiha's eyes were ultimately extraordinary, consuming more chakra than expected, but his preparations were still superior.

Naruto was almost exhausted when he moved his hands away, and it took him a while to recover. Then he met the Second Hokage's still shocked gaze. A technique that could reshape the eyes of an Uchiha—if the Uchiha knew about it, they'd worship it! Moreover, from any perspective, this had already gone beyond the realm of medical ninjutsu!

Naruto grinned. "Whether his eyes can return to their peak condition remains to be seen. Second Hokage, please take care of him. He's already 'dead' in Konoha."

Therefore, he can no longer return to Konoha openly unless the threat that wants to kill him disappears immediately.

On one side are the grown-up students, and on the other side are the students' descendants. In addition, all the information currently available is only Naruto's side of the story, so Tobirama naturally decided to wait and see for the time being.

“I will. I will protect him until he recovers.” Tobirama scooped the young man on the ground onto his back and said without room for doubt, “I will leave a Flying Thunder God mark on you. If you encounter any trouble, just channel your chakra into it.”

Naruto pulled out three small pendants and waved them in front of Tobirama, with a hint of showing off. "Can your mark be this small? To be honest, I was thinking the same thing."

The sun rose as usual the next day.

It was an ordinary morning, just like any other. The streets of Konoha were still peaceful and serene. Ordinary people had no idea that a hero who protected peace had almost died in a dark corner the night before.

Naruto, who had been busy all night, was still groggy when the old woman who brought him lunch forcibly pulled him out of bed, stuffed chopsticks into his mouth, and insisted that he finish eating first. Naruto ate with his eyes closed, and his drowsiness almost disappeared, but he was still very tired. He didn't return until 3 a.m., and collapsed in pain as soon as he entered the room. It was his clone who had stayed behind who carried him to bed. The Yang Release technique was indeed too much of a strain on his body; he felt like he had just escaped death the day before.

"Who do you think you're still alive and kicking because of?!" Nine-Tailed Fox roared, expressing his dissatisfaction. "You almost died yesterday! Can't you take a better look at yourself, you idiot!"

"Sorry, sorry, this is my first time doing this at this age, I'm not very good at it." Naruto tried to brush it off, he didn't expect the backlash to be so severe.

"Who told you to apologize?!" Nine-Lama was so angry that he ignored him.

To appease this troublesome child, Naruto stayed home for a week. Even while lying down, he kept a close eye on the movements of several familiar chakra users, basically confirming that the Second Hokage had kept his promise and taken Shisui away from Konoha. Finally granted Kurama's pardon, Naruto rushed to a dense forest without hesitation, fully prepared with fishing gear.

Of course, he meant that he brought a bundle of plastic line he picked up at random, a fishhook he made himself, and some leftover rice balls.

He did go fishing, but the fish he was fishing for was not the same kind of fish.

Naruto broke off a branch that looked pleasing to the eye, tied the plastic line to it, and carefully hung the hook and bait. Then he sat on the bank and started fishing. Naruto showed considerable patience with this particular fish, watching the small fish nibble at the bait on the hook. He rebaited the bait five or six times but still didn't catch a single fish. It wasn't until dusk, when the red glow of the sunset tinged the clouds, that he heard a whooshing sound behind him.

"careful!"

The familiar yet childlike voice made Naruto's hand holding the "fishing rod" tremble slightly, but he still skillfully deflected the incoming shuriken, which was already at its last gasp.

That familiar voice belongs to only one person.

Naruto inexplicably recalled that brief moment under the setting sun, a first encounter that could have been unforgettable. Yet, he lacked the courage to approach, instead childishly and self-righteously turning his face away. He missed Sasuke, and spent his entire life missing him. Long ago, he thought the battle at the Valley of the End had ended everything, that Sasuke had truly returned to his side. But no, not at all. That lingering anxiety remained, only slightly alleviated by Sasuke's occasional returns. Only when death approached did he finally realize that the Sasuke he brought back was no longer whole. Sasuke's heart had been shattered, then crudely glued back together; the indelible cracks mirrored the life Sasuke was constantly losing.

"Are you alright? Sorry, I didn't notice anyone here." The little dumpling was running out from behind the tree.

Everything happened in an instant. Naruto, as if nothing had happened, raised the corners of his mouth and said, "It's nothing, I was just knocked away, wasn't I?"

The branch that had been used as a fishing rod broke off as expected. Sasuke pouted in frustration, extremely annoyed at the loss he had caused, and said firmly, "I will make it up to you."

Naruto burst out laughing. "It's just a twig!" So cute! Little Sasuke is so adorable! The kid is quite polite at this age, not arrogant at all.

To convince Sasuke, Naruto broke off the remaining piece and even made Sasuke try it too. The child mumbled to himself; Sasuke, who had always held himself to high standards, clearly couldn't understand Naruto's relaxed demeanor.

"Are you a ninja? Are you practicing shuriken?" Naruto picked up the dusty shuriken, not marking it because he wasn't sure if it belonged to Sasuke.

He actually wanted to imprint Sasuke's image on him.

Sasuke, seemingly having grasped something, declared with particular arrogance, "I will become the best ninja."

...A ninja is someone who can endure.

Sasuke, you have indeed become the best ninja.

PS.1. "Some test subjects can be selected by chance" because they are of the Senju family bloodline.

2. Prematurely triggering the Yang Escape technique is extremely dangerous... and will shorten one's lifespan.