Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 162 Naruto: You are the Hokage, right?

"what?"

Higo Hyuga narrowed his eyes sharply, a sense of foreboding gripping him instantly. He asked in a cold voice, "What else did that guy say?"

"He said……"

Hinata Aoi seemed to be stating something unrelated to herself: "If any branch family member present today dies because of the cursed seal, or dies 'accidentally'..."

"This blood debt will all be settled on your head."

"He will come to take your life himself."

"Similarly, if he dies, someone else will take your life in his place."

"One life for another."

She paused, her gaze falling on her father's frozen face, and continued, "He also said that, besides the Caged Bird Curse Mark, the main family..."

"Having nothing."

"Extremely fragile."

The last four words, spoken softly by Hinata Aoi, were like the sharpest ice pick, piercing Hinata Higo's already crumbling psychological defenses with unparalleled precision!
A deathly silence fell over the living room.

The pale moonlight illuminated Higo Hyuga's face, which had instantly lost all color.

His facial muscles twitched and contorted violently as he stared intently at his daughter, his lips trembling, but he couldn't utter a single word.

What did he hear?
That damned Hinata Kumokawa!
That traitor from the branch family, whom he regarded as an ant!
How dare they threaten him so blatantly?
Using the lives of all those who have gone through the division, using such barbaric methods of mutual destruction and sacrificing one's integrity to bind one's own life?!
And then there's that phrase, "having nothing, utterly vulnerable"...

These eight words pierced through his glamorous facade as a clan elder, revealing his weak essence, riddled with holes from arrogance, and long since devoid of true power.

In an instant, a torrent of anger, shame at being exposed as a coward, chill, fear, and helplessness intertwined.

It made Hyuga Higo feel as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand.

Then, squeeze hard.

"puff!!"

Without warning, Hyuga Higo suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Crimson blood mist bloomed under the pale moonlight, splattering onto the front of his dark kimono and onto the floor, forming a glaring scarlet!
Higo Hyuga's body swayed violently, one hand clutching his chest in excruciating pain, the other hand bracing against the coffee table to keep from falling!

He was hunched over, breathing heavily.

"Hyuga Kumokawa!"

A shrill roar filled with hatred and resentment erupted from the depths of his throat, its hoarse sound echoing in the empty living room.

"I will kill you!"

"I will kill you!!"

However, this murderous roar sounded so hollow and powerless in the empty living room, like the howl of a defeated dog, full of rage and shame.

Hinata Aoi stood quietly in the shadows of the entryway, watching her father's wretched state as he vomited blood and roared in agony, a complex emotion flashing in his white eyes.

She neither stepped forward to help him up nor offered any words of comfort.

He took one last deep look at the back of that figure, which appeared exceptionally old, weak, and frantic in the moonlight, then silently turned and quietly left the living room.

In the living room, only Higashika Higo's increasingly heavy breathing and the dark red bloodstains that were gradually congealing under the moonlight remained.

If Hyuga Aoi were still here, she would see Hyuga Higo's eyes gradually turn cold and sinister.

Those guys have no idea what being a caged bird means, nor do they understand what the main family really means.

The main family is actually a few branches that have been preserved from a long time ago and possess pure bloodlines.

As long as the main branches of the Hyuga clan continue to grow and produce offspring, and the person with the purest bloodline is selected from among the descendants to continue the lineage, it can be guaranteed that the Hyuga clan will never lose the Byakugan due to bloodline dilution.

However, if they continue to be gradually eroded by the division of the family, sooner or later the entire Hyuga clan will be reduced to the state of the Little Hyuga.

Despite possessing the bloodline of the Hyuga clan, it was so diluted that he couldn't even activate the Byakugan, and he completely disappeared from the history of the ninja world.

and so……

"No matter what, I will never allow Hyuga Kumokawa and those damned guys to continue to undermine the orthodox status of the main family!" Hyuga Higo thought coldly.

Even if they band together, what good will it do? No one can remain absolutely calm and rational in the face of death.

If a hunter kills enough prey in the same place, the lingering scent of blood will deter other prey from venturing in.

"All of this is for the Hyuga clan," Hyuga Higo murmured to himself.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The next day, at dusk in Konoha.

The setting sun, like a giant bronze plate, slowly sank toward the western horizon.

The golden-red afterglow spilled onto the shimmering river surface, dyeing the flowing water into a flowing ribbon, and the trees on both sides of the river were also gilded with a layer of orange-red.

Far from the hustle and bustle of Konoha's center, a small figure is busy on the riverbank.

His fingers rummaged through the damp moss and fallen leaves, and soon he carefully picked several plump mushrooms and placed them in a small basket simply woven from vines at his waist.

However, anyone who could hear what he was muttering to himself would surely be puzzled.

"This mushroom looks beautiful!"

He looked at a mushroom with a pale green glow on its cap, but the surprise on his face was quickly replaced by disappointment. He muttered, "Hmm, can't I eat it either?"

"what about this?"

"Oh, is it poisonous too? It tastes so good..."

"Teacher, you know so much, you're much better than the big fox."

Without a doubt, the person picking mushrooms was Naruto Uzumaki.

Meanwhile, inside his sealed space, the Nine-Tailed Fox, lying on the ground with its head on its arm, was snoring as if it were sleeping with its eyes closed.

But upon hearing Naruto's words, its huge, furry ears twitched, and veins bulged on its forehead in a "well" shape.

As Naruto continued muttering to himself, it finally couldn't help but open its eyes and lift its eyelids to look at the top of its head.

"Hey," Nine-Tails said impatiently, "Can you shut up that nagging brat? Can't you let this old man get some sleep...?"

thump.

Before the Nine-Tailed Fox could finish speaking, its massive head was hammered into the sand, and its pointed fox mouth swallowed a mouthful of dirt.

"I said that."

The man sitting cross-legged on its head withdrew his hand from the nine-tailed fox, closed his eyes, and said calmly, "Don't refer to yourself as 'this old man' in front of me."

"puff."

Nine-Tails raised its head and spat out a mouthful of sand, looking aggrieved but not daring to utter a word in rebuttal.

There's no way around it; whether it's in terms of seniority or age, it really has no right to call itself "old man" in front of this guy.

Although this guy looks like a human in his twenties, who knows what kind of ancient thing he is that has lived for thousands of years.

Of course, seniority and age are secondary; the main reason is that this old guy would whip it with those strange thorns whenever he was dissatisfied.

At first, it was still being stubborn and argumentative, but after being slapped and howling, it became quiet.

Want face.

"Hey, old man," Nine-Tails said in a muffled voice, resting his head on his arm, "you've turned this place upside down, are you really planning to stay here forever?"

The "old guy" it refers to is naturally Hyuga Kumokawa, who is disguised as "Otsutsuki Kumoshiki".

However, he did not tell Kurama his name, only his surname.

With his knowledge of the Sage of Six Paths and ancient history in the story, he was able to fool this fox who had spent thousands of years eating and sleeping.

Moreover, the abilities he displayed were something even the Nine-Tails had never heard of before.

“Fox.” Ōtsutsuki Unshiki opened his eyes and said softly, “How long I stay here depends on that child. Modifying this place is just something I do as a side effect.”

Just doing it as it comes...

Nine-Tailed Fox's eye twitched involuntarily as it looked at the sealed space.

The sealed space has completely changed. It is no longer the dark and damp place it used to be, but has become a seemingly endless ocean beach.

The clear, transparent seawater lapped against the beach, making a soothing "splashing" sound. A sea breeze, carrying a slightly salty scent, gently swept by, and the sky and the sea merged into one.

The bright sunshine hung in the sky, and there was even a wooden house standing by the sea.

God knows how that old guy managed to turn the sealed space into what it is now.

"Are all members of the Otsutsuki clan as good at enjoying life as you?" Kurama asked tentatively, feigning disdain.

In fact, the old man told many stories to the nine tailed beasts during his lifetime, including those to the Otsutsuki clan, whom he called "people from beyond the heavens."

Nine-Tails still vividly remembers the old man's solemnity and apprehension at that time.

It's hard to imagine what kind of power this being, which even the old man fears, possesses.

But it never expected that it would actually encounter it.

This made it curious about what exactly the Otsutsuki clan was.

"Didn't Yu Yi tell you that curiosity killed the fox?"

Otsutsuki Kumoshiki glanced at it and said, "If I had a good relationship with those idiots in my clan, you would still be inside the Ten-Tails, and it wouldn't be Hagoromo's turn to become the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki."

"Oh, no, if I had hardened my heart back then, you would be in my stomach now, along with all the life in the ninja world."

As he talked more and more, Nine-Tails lowered its head further and further, its body honestly shutting its mouth.

It heard it.

"This old guy must be from the same era as the Goddess of the Rabbit that the old man mentioned," Nine-Tails thought with a lingering fear.

It had heard some stories about the Divine Tree, the Ten-Tailed Fox, and the Goddess of the Rabbit from the Sage of Six Paths.

Although Kurama doesn't know why this old guy has become like this, he can sense that Kurama can now truly turn Kurama into chakra and swallow him whole.

The Yin Release aura within that soul was far too pure, even more exaggerated than the feeling it had given it back then, and this seemed to be just a tiny fragment of the other party's soul.

Transformation into nothingness.

The only person I've seen in all these years to allow the soul to exist independently without fading away over time is the old man.

Although we don't know the extent of his Yang Escape technique, this level of Yin Escape technique has already reached the level of Yin-Yang Escape.

This is also the main reason why Kurama (the Nine-Tails) backed down.

If this old guy wanted, he could completely extract its soul and turn it into a pure chakra.

So even with such a being sitting on its head, the naturally proud Nine-Tails didn't feel ashamed.

The only thing that puzzled Nine-Tails was why someone like him would pay attention to this human brat.

"This old guy doesn't seem to be coming for me," Kurama thought to himself. "Even I don't catch his eye, so is there something special about Minato Namikaze's son?"

Thinking of this, Kurama raised its head and looked up at the sky. There, a round mirror reflected Naruto's vision.

This allows Kurama and Kumoshiki to see everything Naruto sees in the outside world, even though they are in the sealed space.

"Teacher, can we eat this mushroom?"

Naruto's voice entered the sealed space, and Otsutsuki Kumoshiki, with his eyes closed, said calmly, "With your physique, you can eat."

He did not ask Naruto to call him "teacher".

After witnessing his power in beating the Nine-Tails, she keenly sensed that he didn't seem to have any ill intentions towards her, so she boldly and shamelessly asked to learn ninjutsu.

In Naruto's simple mindset, it seems that as long as he becomes stronger, as strong as the Hokage, he can gain the same recognition as the Hokage.

Yunshi agreed, and Naruto, seizing the opportunity, immediately changed his mind.

Naruto Uzumaki wasn't actually a stupid fool; he just got into the habit of using slang to hide his alienation from others, pretending that he wasn't aware of everyone's rejection.

Although his thinking is extremely biased, unlike those who are truly foolish, he deliberately makes himself look foolish.

"Hehe, this is edible!"

At that moment, by the river outside, Naruto's face once again broke into a satisfied smile.

He carefully picked a few unassuming but plump, brown mushrooms, carrying the fragrance of the earth, and placed them in the small basket he had woven himself at his waist.

As night fell, the harvest in the small basket gradually increased.

"call!"

Finally, Naruto straightened up, looked at the setting sun on the horizon that was about to disappear, yet poured its last and most intense warmth onto the earth, and let out a long sigh of relief.

The setting sun cast its last rays on his beaming face, making his golden hair appear like burning flames, a sight that mirrored the shimmering golden surface of the river.

"Finally, I can have mushroom soup! This time, I don't have to worry about a stomachache."

Naruto muttered to himself cheerfully as he lit the firewood he had gathered.

The fire crackled and sparked, and the earthenware pot filled with mushrooms on the fire gradually boiled.

Gudong.

Looking at the bubbling mushroom soup in the earthenware pot, the rich aroma made him swallow hard.

"I'm starting!"

He clasped his hands together, his face beaming with anticipation, picked up his homemade wooden spoon, and was about to scoop up a spoonful to taste it.

"Hehehe..."

A deep, gentle laugh suddenly rang out. Looking up, a wrinkled old face appeared before me.

"Wow!"

Naruto was so startled that his hand trembled, and he almost dropped the spoon into the fire. He instinctively pulled back.

"Don't be afraid, child." The old man smiled kindly and comforted you gently, "I'm just an ordinary old man passing by."

goo goo...

Before he could finish speaking, a clear and loud rumbling sound came from his stomach.

Seeing the embarrassed smile on the old man's face, Naruto was reminded of his own awkwardness in front of that Yun Chuan brother not long ago.

I couldn't help but chuckle, and my tense nerves relaxed a lot.

"hey-hey."

The old man smiled awkwardly, as if he really was just an ordinary old man who was greedy and reckless.

He turned his gaze to the pot of fragrant mushroom soup, his eyes revealing just the right amount of longing, and tentatively pointed to the earthenware pot: "Child, could this...?"

Seeing the old man's expectant eyes, Naruto's initial wariness almost vanished, and he smiled, saying, "Sure! Grandpa, you..."

He was about to nod in agreement when, at that moment, within the sealed space, Otsutsuki Kumoshiki opened his eyes, a profound meaning flashing in them.

Can't bear it anymore?
"Hiruzen Sarutobi?" he asked. "Is this the Third Hokage of Konoha?"

Yun's calm voice rang out, clearly reaching Naruto's ears, causing the smile on his face to freeze.

The Third Hokage?

He looked at the wrinkled, kind-smiling face before him, and it gradually began to overlap with the face on the Hokage Rock in his memory.

Although the old man in front of me was all smiles and not as serious as the one on Yingyan, the features of his eyebrows and eyes were those of the same person.

Once this is realized, doubts naturally arise.

why?
Why is the Third Hokage here?
Why did you lie to me and say he was just an "ordinary old man"?
What do I have that would make a great figure like the Hokage lower himself to disguise himself as an ordinary old man and make a special trip to this remote riverside to get close to me?
My only special feature...

"Is it the teacher, or the big fox?" Naruto felt a sudden pang in his heart.

Before meeting Hinata Kumokawa, he really had nothing.

And now, he finally has a teacher who doesn't dislike him and is even willing to teach him. Even the big fox that seemed scary at first has become friendly...

"The Third Hokage."

Naruto Uzumaki suddenly spoke, causing Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile to freeze. Naruto then pursed his lips and asked in a low voice, "You are the Hokage, aren't you?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew very well that the best way to get close to a child was to do so in a way that created no sense of difference in status or distance between them.

Although their true identities will eventually be revealed, at least a basic level of goodwill has been established between them, which is enough to compensate for the distance caused by their different social statuses.

In this way, when Naruto sees him in the future, the image he will think of is a kind grandfather who is hungry, rather than the Hokage who is unattainable and engraved on the Hokage Rock.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not expect Naruto to recognize him so quickly.

This completely ruined his plan to make a good first impression on Naruto.

Noticing the wary look in Naruto's eyes, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly felt a headache coming on.

However, he quickly realized that any cover-up or denial at this moment would only deepen Naruto's suspicion and vigilance, pushing the situation to a worse point.

"Oh dear, this old man rarely wants to take a break and come out for a walk to get some fresh air. I smelled the aroma of your soup and couldn't help but come over to take a look. I didn't expect you to recognize me."

He withdrew his outstretched hand, scratched his graying hair, and quickly switched to a helpless and frank smile like an elder: "That's right, child, I am Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage."

He acknowledged his identity but cleverly attributed it to a chance encounter during a "lazy walk," attempting to downplay any deliberate attempt to approach him.

"But what I never expected was to meet you here, Naruto Uzumaki."

Hearing his name clearly uttered by Hiruzen Sarutobi, Naruto Uzumaki instinctively looked up, his face full of surprise, and asked, "You, you know me?"

"Of course I do."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled gently: "You are a villager of Konoha, a child of Konoha. As the Hokage of Konoha, how could I not recognize my own child?"

"Moreover, there have been some unpleasant rumors circulating in the village recently, and they are about you."

Upon hearing this, Naruto's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms.

Hiruzen Sarutobi keenly noticed Naruto's change, so he changed the subject and said in a firm and powerful tone, "But I know you're a good boy, Naruto."

“I know about your situation and that you would never do anything to harm others. Those rumors are nonsense and malicious gossip.”

Under Naruto's surprised gaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and said gently, "So, I've already sent people to deal with and clarify these rumors, so you don't need to worry anymore."

Clarify the rumors?

Naruto blinked.

Is this Hokage speaking up for himself?
This caused a slight crack to appear in the high wall that Naruto had built in his heart.

Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi breathed a sigh of relief, his gaze returning to the still steaming mushroom soup, his tone carrying a perfectly balanced sense of relaxed anticipation:

"Um, Naruto, I haven't had dinner yet. I wonder if this old man will be lucky enough to have some..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi once again brought the topic back to the original image of the "greedy old man," attempting to use food as a bridge to rebuild that broken, warm and approachable feeling.

Naruto looked into Hiruzen Sarutobi's expectant eyes, then at the pot of mushroom soup that had been painstakingly picked and cooked.

After hesitating for a moment, he picked up the spoon, scooped up a full spoonful of fragrant mushroom soup, and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took the spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and then carefully took a bite.

Just then, as if remembering something, Naruto asked in a low voice, "Third Hokage... Third Grandfather... can you tell me why they treated me like that?"

"I don't know anything about the Fourth Hokage, so why do they say that I killed him? And why are they looking at me like I'm a monster..."

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi paused, swallowing back the praise he had intended to utter.

This is a difficult question to answer.

He wanted Naruto to feel a sense of belonging to Konoha.

"Um……"

He carefully chose his words and said gently, "Actually, the villagers just don't know you well enough yet. If you can treat them with the same kindness you've shown me, that will be enough."

"Sooner or later, they will recognize you, understand your kindness, and repay you with the same kindness."

Hiruzen Sarutobi observed Naruto's changing expressions, while Naruto simply lowered his head, seemingly deep in thought.

But in fact, he was asking the same question to his teacher in his mind.

And the answer given by his "teacher" was...

When a mirror is dirty, do you feel like it's your face that's dirty?

He said calmly, "If you don't, then why do you feel that it's your own problem when faced with rejection and malice from others?"

Upon hearing this, Naruto paused for a moment, then thought to himself, "But they call me a monster, they say I killed the Fourth Hokage..."

"so what?"

Yun opened her eyes, frowned, and said, "If someone falsely accuses you of eating their food, would you cut open your own stomach to prove your innocence?"

"No, you should gouge out his eyes, swallow them, and let him see clearly from inside your stomach, instead of choosing to hurt yourself because of someone else's attitude!"

These extremely biased words left Naruto momentarily stunned and bewildered.

He suddenly remembered what his brother Yun Chuan had said.

"Naruto, this is not your fault."

For a long time, he had endured the disgust and rejection of everyone. Apart from that Brother Yun Chuan, this teacher was the second person to stand up for him and speak up for him.

Unlike the Third Hokage, who rejected him from the perspective of others.

Thinking of this, a warm current mixed with sourness rushed to Naruto's eyes, making his nose tingle slightly.

Seeing the tears welling up in Naruto's eyes, Hiruzen Sarutobi secretly breathed a sigh of relief and felt a surge of joy.

Sure enough, for a child like Naruto who had been isolated for a long time, "recognition" and "trust" were the things that moved him the most.

That way, there will be no more problems.

(End of this chapter)