After finishing a steaming bowl of ramen, Naruto rubbed his round belly with satisfaction, his eyes curving into crescents.
Today’s ramen seemed even more delicious than usual, probably because Little Sora was by his side; even the flavor felt different.
“Little Sora, Uncle Teuchi’s ramen is super tasty, right?
Hehe~” Naruto turned to look at Sora beside him, his tone full of pride, as if showing off a precious treasure he had collected.
Not far away, Teuchi quietly pricked up his ears, the cloth in his hand wiping a bowl slowing down by half a beat.
He had always been confident in his ramen skills, but the approval of a young diner still made him look forward to it.
Sora swallowed the last mouthful of ramen, rubbed his belly as well, and nodded seriously: “It really is delicious; the ramen Uncle Teuchi makes is very tasty.
Naruto-niisan, let’s come back to eat tomorrow, okay?” “Yosh!” Teuchi felt a secret thrill in his heart; this simple evaluation made him happier than any praise, and the movement of his hand wiping the bowl quickened.
Naruto patted his chest and said straightforwardly: “No problem!
No matter how many times you want to eat, Little Sora, it’s no problem!” Seeing that Sora also liked his favorite ramen, he was very happy in his heart; finally, someone could accompany him to eat Ichiraku Ramen in the future.
Sora softly agreed, holding the large bowl with both hands and tilting his head back to drink the remaining broth completely; the soul of this ramen was all in this broth.
After finishing the ramen, Naruto waved goodbye energetically to Teuchi and Ayame, then pulled Sora’s small hand, walking slowly along the commercial street to digest.
After just a few steps, Sora clearly felt the surrounding atmosphere change.
Countless gazes fell upon them, most aimed at Naruto, with a few occasionally sweeping over himself, carrying a hint of inquiry and doubt.
The villagers who were originally laughing and chatting instantly froze when they saw Naruto holding Sora’s hand, their expressions becoming complex and cold.
In their perception, the blonde child was the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that destroyed the Village years ago, and it was only because the Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life that he was turned into this form.
“Where did that monster kidnap that child from?” “The child looks quite pitiful;” “with that red hair, maybe he’s some kind of freak too…” Someone covered their mouth with a sleeve, whispering with the person beside them; the voices weren’t loud, yet they were like fine needles pricking the air.
No one dared to say the words ‘Demon Fox’—the Third Hokage had long ago issued an order that anyone who dared to mention it in public would certainly be punished.
Thus, all this dissatisfaction turned into silent cold violence, wrapping around Naruto layer by layer.
Only ignorant children, hearing the adults’ discussions about Naruto, would run over to bully him just to prove they were ‘great’; their parents would afterwards blame the children for getting too close to the monster, but they didn’t do much else about it.
If it were before, Naruto might have been very sad and then, unable to bear these people’s discussions, run away to play alone in a forest or by a stream where no one was around.
But it was different now; his attention was entirely on Sora beside him.
Those cold gazes and fragmented whispers were like passing clouds, unable to enter his eyes at all.
Passing by a children’s clothing store, Naruto’s eyes lit up, and he excitedly pulled Sora inside.
The moment they pushed the door, the wind chime went ‘ding-ling-ling.’ The shopkeeper, who was organizing shelves, looked up; when she saw Naruto, the smile on her face instantly froze, followed by a forced, stiff business smile.
Naruto completely failed to notice the shopkeeper’s abnormality.
He pulled Sora to the clothing area for three-to-four-year-olds, picked up a blue jacket, his eyes sparkling: “Little Sora, look at this!
You’ll definitely look very spirited wearing this!” But after looking for just two seconds, he frowned and put the clothes back: “No, no, too ordinary, doesn’t suit Little Sora.” Next, he picked up a piece of clothing with a little bear pattern, looked it over for a long time, and still shook his head: “The pattern is too childish, doesn’t quite match Little Sora.” The shopkeeper stood to the side, the clothes hanger in her hand almost deformed from her grip.
She was already going crazy inside: these were new styles she had carefully designed, and every single one sold like wildfire; this ‘Demon Fox’ actually dared to be picky?
But remembering the Sandaime’s order, she could only swallow her retort, her voice tense: “Li—Little friend, these are all this year’s new styles, many children like them.” Naruto didn’t listen to her at all, still picking and choosing in front of the shelves, muttering: “Why aren’t there any good-looking ones…
Little Sora is so good-looking, he has to wear the most beautiful clothes.” Seeing his serious yet clumsy manner, Sora sighed helplessly, stepped forward to gently pat Naruto’s shoulder, and whispered: “Naruto-niisan, I’ll just choose for myself.” Naruto blanked for a moment, then reacted, scratching his head and laughing sheepishly: “Oh right, Little Sora has his own ideas!
Then I’ll leave the casual clothes to you, and I’ll go pick out pajamas for you!” After saying that, he turned and rushed toward the pajama area, calculating in his heart: he must pick out the most comfortable and best-looking pajamas so Little Sora can sleep soundly at night; as an older brother, this was his responsibility!
Sora watched his receding figure and shook his head helplessly—he really had no confidence in his silly brother’s aesthetics, but since pajamas were only worn at home, it wasn’t a big deal.
As for casual clothes, it was more reliable to choose them himself; in his past life at the orphanage, the Director Mom always taught him how to coordinate clothes, so his fashion sense was much better than Naruto’s.
Since his silly brother was helping him pick pajamas, he couldn’t just look out for himself; he had to work hard to pick a good-looking outfit for his silly brother too.
As the saying goes, ‘clothes make the man’; let him give Naruto a complete makeover!
Naruto’s foundation wasn’t bad; it was just that he usually dressed too casually.
A memory of Naruto’s outfit when he fought Pain suddenly flashed through his mind; Naruto looked quite handsome wearing that red and black coat, maybe he could use that as a reference.
The two of them thus picked and chose in different areas.
The shopkeeper standing in the distance controlled herself from looking at Naruto; she was afraid that one more look would make her explode, unable to resist stepping forward to rant at this ‘Demon Fox.’ She had no choice but to watch the red-haired child the ‘Demon Fox’ had brought; at first glance, like everyone else, she thought the child had been kidnapped.
But eyes do not lie; she discovered that this child named Sora didn’t have a hint of fear toward the ‘Demon Fox,’ but instead showed a bit of closeness and helplessness, like he was humoring a mischievous older brother.
This was truly incredible; had this child been given some kind of confusing potion?
However, she didn’t develop any thoughts of meddling; under Hokage-sama’s control, the ‘Demon Fox’ shouldn’t be able to kidnap children.
For this child to appear by his side, it must be Hokage-sama’s intention.
After waiting aside for a while, Naruto picked out three different styles of pajamas; seeing Sora also holding a few items and running to the shopkeeper’s side, a happy smile overflowed on his face.
He thought to himself that it was good Little Sora could dress himself; anyway, he wasn’t short on money and could buy more good-looking clothes for his younger brother, as long as Little Sora was happy.