Chapter 14: Bringing Someone Home as Soon as We Met

"I won't sell it to you, don't you understand? Get out of here!"

In the crowded toy store, the store owner raised his broom to drive Uzumaki Naruto away, as if the latter had some odor that made him feel sick.

Among the guests with children around, some of them were chuunin or below or civilians, they all showed bored eyes and hid to the side to watch indifferently.

Several Jonin who knew Naruto's true identity frowned slightly, but in the end they didn't say anything and immediately left quickly with their children.

Seeing that all the really wealthy customers had left, the shopkeeper's face turned red with anger.

He stared at Naruto with the eyes of an infectious disease patient, and shouted at the child who was standing motionless at the door of the store: "If you don't get out, I'm really going to take action!"

But he didn't know that in Naruto's heart, the hatred in the shopkeeper's eyes obviously caused more damage than the raised broom.

In the midst of dozens of eyes full of ridicule, hatred or indifference, Uzumaki Naruto felt as if countless cold hands were grabbing the joints of his body, but his throat seemed to be wrapped with hot coals, blocking him. All grievances.

After a long time, Uzumaki Naruto skillfully adjusted his mood and forced a forced smile.

"I-I can pay you double. Triple is fine too."

He took out a lot of coins from his pockets, held them in both hands and handed them to the shop owner, who was looking at them coldly.

This is all money that he can't usually spend.

Naruto opened his clear sky-blue eyes and looked hopefully at the dark green frog wallet on the shelf next to him, with a hint of pleading in his tone: "Please sell me that wallet. I like it very much."

The frog wallet had a wide open red mouth, as if it could laugh loudly on any occasion; and the bulging eyes looked very much like the goggles Naruto wore on his head.

Because of this similarity, Naruto fell in love with that wallet at a glance and planned to give it to himself as a New Year's gift.

Before coming here, he thought that he had not appeared here for a long time, and maybe everyone had forgotten about him.

But the truth is cruel.

"You want this wallet, right?"

The shop owner didn't even look at the coins in Naruto's hand. He sneered, pinched the frog wallet, rounded his arms and threw it out the door, onto the busy street.

"Go out and pick it up!"

It’s just a small wallet. Even if it’s triple the price, how much is it worth?

But if this kid continues to stay here, he really won't be able to sell anything.

Might as well lure him out.

Naruto turned his head in panic, and followed the wallet as it fell into the snow outside the door.

He watched as the frog with its wide mouth was stepped on by a foot, and then kicked further away, and he seemed to hear a miserable croak in his ears.

At this moment, Uzumaki Naruto felt that his situation in the village was very similar to that wallet being kicked around, and his young heart was sinking into a cold feeling.

He hurriedly ran out of the toy store, but tripped over the threshold again. The coins he held in his hands scattered like flowers and were buried in the thin snow on the street.

"Hahahaha, so stupid!"

"A monster can actually trip? It's so funny."

"Is he the one who says he wants to become Hokage all the time?"

"Really, why didn't you just fall to death?"

The bad words stabbed into Naruto's back like knives, but he had neither the mind nor the time to deal with them.

【This is all my savings. 】

Naruto wailed in his heart and rolled out of the toy store. With his young body lying on the street, he picked up coins one by one from the feet of pedestrians. At the same time, his eyes were also paying attention to the dirty frog wallet that had been kicked across the street.

Soon, after he collected all the coins around him, only one coin with a face value of 100 taels (equivalent to 60 yuan) was left lying in the middle of the street. The figures of passers-by were reflected on the portrait of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. The color also changes with the different costumes of pedestrians.

[With 100 taels, you can buy a box of miso-flavored cup noodles. 】

Naruto got up from the ground and staggered through the gaps between pedestrians while uttering words of apology.

But when he was less than one meter away from the coin, the latter was picked up by two slender fingers.

It was a child of eight or nine years old. He held the coin in his hand and then turned his attention to Naruto.

"Thanks……"

Just when Naruto thought that the other party was about to return the money to him, the child made a face at him, and then escaped into the dense crowd, out of Naruto's sight.

"Hey, that's——"

Naruto stood there in a daze, his pants below the knees were covered with a thin layer of snow, his two red hands were dirty, but he didn't know where to put them.

Fully feeling the various looks that people on the street cast at him, Naruto finally lowered his head, crossed the street amidst the murmurs of complaints and curses, and picked up the "scarred" item at the door of the Taiyaki shop opposite the toy store. " wallet.

The frog was laughing, and Naruto wanted to cry, but he didn't want to cry here.

Otherwise, you will only be ridiculed more cruelly.

"You are actually in pain too."

The frog was still laughing, and Naruto closed the zipper of his wallet before it shut its mouth.

"It's better to go back to eat first."

He muttered to himself, patted the shoe prints on his wallet with his hand, and when he turned his head, he bumped into a body radiating intense heat.

【Oops. 】

Uzumaki Naruto raised his head in panic, but met eyes as unfathomable as the sea, but unexpectedly did not feel any malice.

The intense heat from the other person's body rushed towards him, washing away the coldness welling up from his heart.

Naruto felt that this boy who was slightly taller than him looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him before.

Until Uchiha Giyuu took the lead to speak out.

"Oh, it's you after all."

[I haven’t seen him for so long that I thought he was no longer in the village. 】

As Yiyong spoke, he spread out his free hand, and inside lay a coin worth 100 taels.

"Is this yours?"

"Hey, this..."

"I saw it and took it back for you."

Yongyong's words are concise and concise.

He said almost nothing, only showed the Uchiha crest on his back to the kid who took Naruto's coin, and the kid obediently presented the coin.

"Thank you."

The moment Naruto reached out to take the coin, he suddenly remembered!

He remembered where he had heard this sound!

He will never remember it wrong, because what happened that day is still one of the warm memories that cheers him up when he is alone.

"It's you!"

The last bit of chill in Naruto's body was dispelled and turned into an inexplicable excitement, sinking into his limbs like wine.

In the disgusted eyes of passers-by, he grabbed Yiyong's hand that hadn't been taken back, "You were the one who gave me the mask last time. In the woods over the village, do you still remember me? You should remember me. Bar?"

His sky-blue eyes were filled with passion, and he had never been more eager to be remembered than now.

"Um."

Yiyong nodded and glanced at the grabbed hand with some embarrassment, fearing that the high temperature around him would burn the child.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I was too excited."

Naruto took his hands away embarrassedly, and then noticed that his hands were now dirty.

Looking at Yiyong who was almost spotless, with not even a single extra wrinkle on his clothes, he suddenly felt a little ashamed of himself.

"Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto."

He lowered his head and felt a little shy. After all, except for the old man who often came to see him, Sister Changpu, and the confused girl with white eyes, he had almost never communicated with anyone who was not hostile to him.

"Last time you left suddenly and I didn't even have time to ask your name. Can you tell me your name?"

"Uchiha Giyu."

Yiyong said his name, but this time there was some emphasis in it.

Because it wasn't long ago that he truly accepted his identity with peace of mind.

"Haha, I just remember that girl said the word Uchiha or something..."

Naruto was happy for his good memory for a while, then looked at the paper bag in Giyuu's hand, looked around for a while before asking: "Are you alone?"

"My mother... my mother went to buy fireworks."

Giyuu turned his attention to Uchiha Mikoto, who was queuing not far away.

But this time, Uchiha Mikoto just waved to Giyuu. Her eyes stayed on Naruto for a moment and then immediately looked away. She seemed to be looking for something around, and finally took a deep look in one direction.

Not far away, Kakashi, who was wearing a mask behind the chimney on the roof, had two drops of sweat on his forehead, and muttered in a low voice: "I can only say that he is worthy of being an Uchiha clan?"

"What are you muttering about?"

An old but powerful voice sounded in his ear, "Is it because you have to be on duty during the New Year, so you have complaints against me?"

"Sandaime-sama?"

Kakashi turned around and knelt down on one knee, "Why are you here?"

[Is it the third generation’s shadow clone? 】

Kakashi discovered that the other party did not carry a cigarette rod.

"Because Naruto seems to have made a new friend."

Since the third generation heard that Naruto had gone out, he has been monitoring Naruto's every move with the telescope technique, "So let's take a look."

"Sorry, it was my negligence. I separated them immediately and will prevent them from meeting again."

Kakashi thought that the third generation was influenced by Danzo and had to guard against even such a young child.

But the third generation laughed.

"That was not what I meant."

He put his hands behind his back, first glanced at Uchiha Mikoto, and then focused on Naruto and Giyuu who were talking at the corner of the street. His kind eyes looked full of smiles.

"Naruto will be enrolling in school in March, wouldn't it be nice to have some friends in advance? This way he won't be too lonely."

Kakashi said nothing.

[Make it as if his current situation has nothing to do with you. 】

["Because he is a Jinchuuriki, he knows how to be more patient than ordinary people." Isn't this your exact words? 】

"I came here to tell you that you don't have to worry about the matter between Naruto and the child for the time being."

Sarutobi Hiruzen has recently been very attracted to Uchiha Itachi, who became a chuunin, but that child is very strong and has a bit of an independent personality. There is no hope of locking him up by relying on the bonds between partners.

But his two younger brothers are still blank slates.

If these two children could have more friends outside of Uchiha in the village, I believe it would be easier to influence Itachi's attitude towards the village.

"But Danzo-sama..."

"He is not in the village." Sarutobi Hiruzen said calmly.

"Yes." Kakashi was relieved.

In this way, no one will make a fuss about this matter.

"Thank you for your hard work, Kakashi."

The third generation finally said: "If you want to give something to Naruto, do it in these few days."

After that, he turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared directly.

It was indeed a shadow clone.

The real Sarutobi Hiruzen was still smoking a pipe in front of the crystal ball, quietly observing everything that happened inside.

At this time, most of Giyuu's attention was focused on Naruto's hair.

He found that due to malnutrition, the child's hair color, which should have been brilliant, was now extremely dull, and his physical condition was also a bit difficult to describe.

"Don't you usually eat enough?"

Giyuu always asked directly when he thought of something, which made Naruto a little confused.

"Yes, yes."

Naruto's food and clothing can still be guaranteed.

Most of the expired instant noodles and milk that the stores didn't want were picked up by him.

"Oh." Giyuu paused, "Then what you eat is not nutritious. Don't your family members know how to cook?"

Hearing the word "family", Naruto's expression suddenly darkened, and his three pairs of beards were swept down as if they were wet.

"I'm the only one at home."

[What would he say if he knew I was an orphan? ]

He was a little nervous, worried that Giyuu's attitude towards him would change because of this.

"..."

Giyuu was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Always?"

He had been an orphan, but at least he had a sister, and later he had Santu and his master.

But this child, who looked younger than he is now, is living alone in this village?

"Yeah." Uzumaki Naruto's head sank even lower.

Giyuu Tomioka did not continue to ask "How did your parents die?", but looked up at the sky.

It's still a long time before dark.

"Can I go to your house to see?"

After Giyuu said this, Uzumaki Naruto suddenly raised his head.

"Huh?!"

He was a little surprised at first, but the expression on his face immediately turned into surprise, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

Giyuu planned to become friends with this child first to see if he could improve his life.

In addition to the simple reason that he was soft-hearted...

He also wanted to ask for Naruto's hair as the material for the spiritual Rengoku Kyojuro after solving Naruto Uzumaki's malnutrition problem.

First, he took it for granted that the better Naruto Uzumaki's health was, the better the resurrected Rengoku Kyojuro's health would be (in fact, it didn't affect it).

Second, since he asked the other party to help provide hair, he should also give back, otherwise he would feel bad.

"Is it okay?"

Giyuu asked again.

Sarutobi Hiruzen behind the crystal ball narrowed his eyes, wondering if the imagined friendship was developing too quickly, as if someone was pushing it from behind.

But Giyuu was just a child without any threat after all, so he planned to wait and see.

Uzumaki Naruto nodded heavily: "Yes! Of course!"

Then he asked worriedly: "But does your mother agree?"

The children who were willing to play with him before all started to stay away from him under the lessons and warnings of their parents.

"I'll tell her."

Under Naruto Uzumaki's expectant eyes, Giyuu walked to his mother who was queuing and told her his plan.

"Hey, did you meet a new friend?"

Uchiha Mikoto glanced at Kakashi's position with some surprise, as if to question why he didn't stop her.

The latter gave her a gesture that only jonin could understand.

[What does the Third-generation Master mean. ]

She frowned and turned back, intending to let Giyuu go home with her.

But when she saw Naruto Uzumaki's two bright eyes, she thought of her old friend Kushina Uzumaki again.

[Since I can't do anything for her...]

[And that child is as lonely as Giyuu before. ]

"Then Giyuu can't disturb him for too long."

Uchiha Mikoto touched her son's hair and said with a smile.

"Otherwise I'll cook by myself."

Not far away, Naruto Uzumaki recognized the meaning of that expression and jumped up happily on the spot.

"I know." Giyuu nodded.

"Hmm?" Uchiha Mikoto raised her eyebrows.

"I understand," Yiyong's face turned slightly red, "Mom."