Meanwhile, Naruto, who was lying unconscious in the middle of the street, slowly opened his eyes. When he regained his senses, he found himself staring blankly at the blue sky. He lay on his back like that for a few seconds, still utterly bewildered and unable to shake off the effects of the extraordinary mental experience he had just gone through. He muttered to himself:
"...Was I dreaming just now?"
Naruto quickly sat up, got to his feet, and looked around. At that exact second, he heard that deep, familiar voice echoing directly inside his head:
"That's a bit rude, kid. We sat down in there, talked seriously, and ate together. Are you going to come out now and call it all a dream?"
Bewildered by the clear voice he heard, Naruto spun around in the middle of the street, his eyes searching for the source of the voice in a panic:
"NII-SAN!?"
Naruto suddenly shouting into the void and looking around literally dumbfounded the four Anbu members who had been silently watching him from the rooftops since the beginning. The masked ninjas stared at each other. Throughout their surveillance, they had watched Naruto get into a minor scuffle—or rather, take a one-sided beating—with three kids in the neighborhood, but they hadn't felt the need to intervene. After all, it was an ordinary childhood fight, and according to the Hokage's orders, they were strictly forbidden from interfering unless the Jinchuriki's life was in direct danger. But now, this kid was standing in the middle of the street, yelling to himself and looking around for invisible people. The exact same question crossed the minds of all four Anbu:
'...Did he take a really hard blow to the head during the fight that we didn't notice?'
Altay, inside Naruto's mind, realized how comical and absurd the situation looked from the outside and spoke in a soothing tone:
"Don't yell, Naruto, everyone who sees you will think you are completely crazy..."
Startled by this warning, Naruto quickly clamped his small hands tightly over his own mouth. Taking a deep sigh, Altay began to explain, step by step and in the simplest terms a three-year-old child's mind could grasp, how to establish mental communication—that is, telepathy. With his mouth shut tight by both hands and his eyes wide open, Naruto listened carefully to Altay, constantly nodding his head up and down in the middle of the street and making muffled humming noises to himself to show that he understood. Watching the boy's bizarre behavior, the Anbu members began to sweat cold under their masks:
'Is this kid really okay? He definitely took a hard hit that's going to leave permanent brain damage! If the Jinchuriki's brain is damaged, Hokage-sama will hang us by one leg and flay us alive!'
Having finally grasped the telepathic communication method that Altay had spent ten full minutes explaining in the simplest terms, pushing the limits of his patience, Naruto curiously called out to Altay inside him—this time without moving his lips at all, purely through thought:
'Nii-san? How can I hear your voice so clearly?'
Altay gave a tired sigh at this innocent question and replied:
"I am inside you, in your mind. Did you forget, little fox?"
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed; he still didn't quite understand these abstract concepts:
"What do you mean?"
Feeling a slight headache at his temples, Altay spent another three minutes trying to explain the concepts of 'mental link' and 'seal space' in their simplest forms. This time, Naruto seemed to understand the situation somewhat, even if only halfway. Giving up, Altay let out a deep sigh and changed the subject:
"Anyway, Naruto, we will talk about these things again later. Now, start walking towards Ichiraku Ramen. I will teach you something on the way."
Hearing the mention of Ichiraku Ramen and the feeling of a 'mission', Naruto shouted with great curiosity and excitement:
"What is it!? What is it!? Tell me right now!"
Altay warned the boy in an exhausted, military tone:
"Do not speak out loud, Naruto. Didn't I tell you to only speak through your thoughts... I swear, people will genuinely think you belong in a mental asylum."
Just as Altay predicted, Naruto shouting to himself excitedly in the middle of the street caused the Anbu to panic even more. Now thoroughly convinced that their target had gone mad, they were seriously hesitating over whether or not they should go give the Hokage an emergency report. However, when Naruto clamped his mouth shut again after the warning, took a deep breath, and began walking silently while focusing on his mind, the Anbu breathed a sigh of relief. From the outside, as Naruto walked, he simply looked like an ordinary, absent-minded boy staring straight ahead; yet in reality, he was deep into a heated conversation with Altay inside his mind. Not sensing any further abnormalities, the Anbu team continued to silently but cautiously monitor the Jinchuriki. Altay cleared his throat and got to the main point:
"Now listen to me very carefully, Naruto. The first theoretical lesson I will teach you to survive in the ninja world is; 'How to make a piece of information you already know look as if you are hearing it for the first time, as if you are just learning it, in front of others.' In other words, playing the fool."
Naruto tilted his head slightly to the side and asked in his mind:
'I don't get it. Why would I do that?'
Altay chuckled at the boy's innocent naivety:
"Don't worry, little fox. Now listen carefully, it goes something like this..."
Altay began to explain the intricacies of extracting information from a target in intelligence games and interrogation techniques, and the false sense of security that playing ignorant gives the other party, using simple examples Naruto could understand. While Naruto listened to this lesson with great attention, his steps led him toward the crowded streets of Konoha, towards the marketplace. The moment he entered the market, the villagers and merchants passing by on the street began to glare at him with malicious eyes, hastily backing away from him as if he had the plague, and whispering while looking at him with disgust.
"Hey, look... It's that cursed child..."
"I don't understand why they let this demon breathe the same air as us!"
"Yes, he needs to die! Why is Hokage-sama still keeping him alive! I can't sleep at night, he should be killed immediately!"
"Shh! Be quiet! Did you forget the Hokage's decree? We are forbidden from talking about him..."
"Filthy fox..."
"Why do they let him wander around the village so freely anyway? He should at least be banished!"
A young mother hastily pulled her child away from Naruto and whispered:
"Don't you dare go near that blonde demon, my daughter, keep walking!"
"Why, mommy?"
"Because he is a demon!"
"He is the reincarnation of the Demon Fox that killed our families!"
"He has no place in this sacred village! Hokage-sama should either exile him immediately or hang him!"
These kinds of hateful whispers and disgusting slander echoed all over the market. Foolish, ungrateful villagers were inflicting psychological violence on a sinless child who was only three years old—violence he shouldn't have to experience in a lifetime—in mere seconds. Yet, most of these hate-spewing people were alive precisely because of this child's parents, and in the original future, they would be saved from absolute death time and time again thanks to this very child they despised.
Under normal circumstances, Naruto would instantly be heartbroken by this situation; his shoulders would slump, his eyes would well up, and he would want to run away quickly to cry in a desolate corner. But right now, Naruto was too occupied within himself to see or hear the toxic whispers and disgusting glares of the villagers. All his attention was on the espionage lessons being taught by his new 'Nii-san', who shared the same house with the 'Demon Fox' in his mind and was a chakra brother to the nine-tailed beast.
A little further down the market, standing in front of a greengrocer's stall, Mikoto Uchiha—a beautiful woman with black hair, deep black eyes, and the red-and-white fan crest on her clothes—witnessed this scene from afar. Seeing what the villagers were doing to a tiny child made her heart ache with immense sorrow. Beside her was her youngest son, Sasuke, who looked very much like her and was also only about three years old. Sasuke noticed the sudden sorrow on his mother's face and asked worriedly:
"Mom, are you okay?"
Startled, Mikoto snapped out of her sorrowful thoughts, looked down at her son, smiled affectionately, and stroked his hair:
"I'm fine, my Sasuke, I just spaced out for a bit. Come on, let's hurry back home, we need to prepare dinner."
Hearing this, little Sasuke instantly crossed his arms over his chest and pouted grumpily:
"Hmph! Why should we hurry? Nii-san is always on missions anyway, and dad rarely comes home from that police station... Like always, it'll just be the two of us eating at that huge table!"
Giggling at her son's adorable, childish rebellion, Mikoto stroked Sasuke's head once more. Then, to lighten the mood, she acted a bit dramatic and pretended to be sad:
"I see... So my little boy doesn't want to have a quiet dinner alone with his mother... Even though your poor mommy really enjoyed spending time alone with you... Sniff sniff..."
Currently only three years old, Sasuke instantly fell for his mother's fake tears and panicked, waving his hands and hastily protesting:
"NO! NO! I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT! I REALLY WANT TO EAT DINNER WITH YOU TOO, I PROMISE!"
Unable to resist her son's panicked state, Mikoto smiled brightly and lovingly, leaning down to gently pinch Sasuke's chubby cheeks:
"I'm so glad! It seems my little boy really does love me! Well then, little sir, let's head home for dinner right away!"
Seeing that his mother had returned to normal and wasn't sad, Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. However, unable to suppress his longing for his father and older brother, he muttered in a slightly gloomy tone:
"...But why do my brother Itachi and my dad so rarely eat with us..."
Gathering her things to leave, Mikoto paused, leaning down affectionately in response to her son's justified grievance:
"Because both of them have so, so much work they need to do for the village and the clan, sweetheart, and heavy responsibilities they must bear."
Seeing that Sasuke understood but still looked down sadly, Mikoto sighed, feeling helpless as a mother. She knelt completely down to her son's eye level, looking directly into his eyes, and spoke with an affectionate and hopeful voice:
"Don't worry, honey. When their workload lightens up a bit, both of them will definitely join us! I promise you."
Sasuke quickly lifted his head and looked at his mother with innocent skepticism in his eyes:
"Really?"
Mikoto smiled with a sincere grin:
"Really!"
With this maternal promise, Sasuke instantly grew excited and smiled broadly:
"Okay! Let's go right now then!"
Mother and son held hands and set off from the marketplace towards the Uchiha clan compound. However, the real truth that little Sasuke didn't know and couldn't comprehend at that moment was this: The only reason Mikoto wanted to use dinner as an excuse to leave here in such a hurry was that she couldn't bear to watch the inhumane, disgusting treatment her best friend Kushina's only son was enduring in the middle of the street any longer. Due to both her clan's sensitive position within the village and the cursed political identity Naruto carried, Mikoto's hands were completely tied; even if she wanted to, she couldn't just go and openly hug that child. With a broken heart and suffering immense guilt, she had no choice but to flee the scene.
'Kushina… I am so, so sorry, my sister… But if I approach your son and try to protect him; my clan, which is already walking on eggshells, and my own children would pay a very heavy price for it… I am truly so sorry, Kushina… What was the need for all of this? Why did you have to seal the damn Kyuubi inside your son as you died?'
In truth, Mikoto wasn't wrong; if the Kyuubi hadn't been sealed inside Naruto, Mikoto, as the wife of the Uchiha patriarch, would have taken him under her wing without a second thought and raised him with love as if he were her own son. The Uchiha clan might seem cold from the outside, and getting along with them is difficult; but once you win their hearts and they call you "one of ours," that loyalty doesn't break easily, and they will protect you to the end. But the fact that Naruto was a Jinchuriki and the Uchiha clan was directly under suspicion because of the fox attack made this bond of love politically impossible… At least for now.
Meanwhile, completely unaware of this tragedy Mikoto was experiencing in her inner world, Naruto had already cut through the toxic crowd and was about to reach his destination, Ichiraku Ramen. In his mind, he had finally deciphered the complex yet logical tactics Altay had explained. He called out to Altay excitedly:
'I UNDERSTAND, NII-SAN!'
Having turned the same topic over and over in his mind for fifteen minutes, Altay finally breathed a sigh of relief as the boy grasped the concept, thinking to himself with a massive headache:
'God... How truly difficult it is to teach a tiny child from scratch, to try to explain things to him... My respect for my own mother and father has just multiplied exponentially.'
Altay let out a tired but proud breath and spoke into Naruto's mind:
"Well done, little fox. Now, when you walk into the shop, just be calm, don't be tense at all. Remember, I am always here, and I will have your back. Just act the way I told you to. I have full faith that you can succeed in this mission!"
Naruto, who was just about to pull back the curtain of the ramen shop, froze on the spot the moment he heard these words; his steps cut off like a knife. For the first time in his life, someone—an "adult"—trusted him so unconditionally, supported him, and believed that he "could do it". A massive, warm feeling he had never tasted before spread through his tiny heart; his lips trembled, and as a genuine smile appeared on his face, a single tear involuntarily rolled down his cheek. Unaware of the emotional weight of the situation, Altay inside him asked curiously:
"What happened, kid? Why did you just stop at the door? Is there a part you didn't understand or are confused about?"
Snapping out of it at Altay's voice, Naruto quickly wiped the single tear from his face with his sleeve and took a deep breath. The loneliness inside him had been replaced by an immense determination:
'No! I understood everything perfectly! I promise you, I will never let you down, Nii-san!'
With unshakable resolve on his face, Naruto straightened his small shoulders, pulled back the small cloth curtain of the Ramen shop, and stepped inside. The Anbu members watching him from the shadows were utterly baffled by these sudden emotional shifts in the Jinchuriki:
'Wait a minute... Why did this kid suddenly look like he was going to cry, and then start walking filled with such immense motivation?'
Meanwhile, in the seal space, Altay chuckled warmly at the boy's pure, childish loyalty:
"Don't worry about me, little man. Even if you make mistakes during training, even if you mess up, I will always be here to show you the right way. Never be afraid of making mistakes; I will be by your side for a very long time. Even if you fall, I will definitely catch you... Well, metaphorically, at least. Physically, I can't catch you if you fall... For now."
Naruto's heart warmed up once again, he felt emotional, but this time he didn't hesitate at all. He took those small steps with great determination; he knew he was no longer alone in life, and he was ready to do everything in his power not to disappoint his big brother Altay.
If you'd like to read the ten chapters in advance, you can find them at p@@tre@@n. The link is in my profile.