They had come to an erotic bookstore to appreciate art?
Naruto’s smile remained gentle, yet it caused cold sweat to pour down the faces of the shinobi opposite him.
If Naruto exposed their visit to this bookstore, how were they supposed to find wives in the future?
They weren’t shamelessly indifferent like Kakashi.
They still wanted to preserve their dignity!
“Kakashi!”
Kotetsu immediately appealed to Kakashi for help.
Kakashi yawned and walked over from another shelf.
He looked at Naruto with mild confusion.
This was an erotic bookstore.
What was Naruto doing here?
Naruto responded with a radiant smile, but his heart gradually turned cold.
Kakashi Hatake!
He was Naruto’s father’s former student, an elite jōnin of Konoha, and the man renowned throughout the shinobi world as the Copy Ninja.
Kakashi knew that Naruto was the Fourth Hokage’s son, yet he had never once offered Naruto any help.
A single limited-edition copy of Icha Icha Paradise cost sixty thousand ryō.
That might not have been much money to Kakashi, but to Naruto, it represented half a year of living expenses.
Kakashi would rather purchase an erotic novel than help him even once.
Even in the original future, Kakashi had never directly taught him a single ninjutsu.
Kakashi Hatake!
Inside the sealed space, the Nine-Tails opened its eyes in surprise.
Its nine enormous tails, each seemingly capable of blotting out the sky, swayed behind it.
“Naruto, what happened?
You seem angry.”
“No.
I merely saw someone I find unpleasant.”
Naruto’s calm voice echoed through the sealed space.
The Nine-Tails nodded slightly.
“If you need my power, say the word.
I’ll lend it to you.”
“I understand.
Thank you.”
After hearing Naruto’s response, the Nine-Tails closed its eyes again.
Kakashi glanced at Naruto before looking away.
He lazily rubbed his thumb and index finger together.
Kotetsu and the other three immediately breathed sighs of relief.
Of course!
Money!
A child like Naruto could easily be persuaded to keep their secret as long as they gave him some money.
Without hesitation, Kotetsu produced a ten-thousand-ryō banknote and offered it to Naruto.
“Naruto, here’s ten thousand ryō.
Take it and spend it however you like.
Just remember not to tell anyone about what happened today.”
Naruto frowned, pushed Kotetsu’s hand aside, and shook his head.
“Do I look like the kind of man whose eyes light up at the sight of money?”
“This is a matter of principle.
Your conduct has become utterly depraved.”
How could I possibly lower myself by colluding with people like you?”
Naruto’s voice was gentle yet resolute.
Kotetsu, Izumo, Aoba, and Raidō were overwhelmed with shame.
They wished they could find a crack in the ground and crawl inside.
Kakashi stared at Naruto with dead-fish eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Since when had Naruto possessed such a strong sense of justice?
Besides…
Hadn’t this brat just robbed several other children not long ago?
“Then what do you want?”
Naruto considered the question briefly before smiling with slight embarrassment.
“You’ll have to pay more.
I want to purchase some study materials.”
Kakashi fell silent.
Kotetsu fell silent.
Izumo fell silent.
Aoba fell silent.
Raidō fell silent.
“…”
By the time Naruto left the bookstore, he possessed four additional ten-thousand-ryō banknotes.
Kakashi, Kotetsu, Izumo, Aoba, and Raidō stood outside the bookstore, all five wearing identical dead-fish expressions.
After a lengthy silence, Kotetsu quietly remarked, “That child… is destined to accomplish great things.”
The corners of Izumo’s mouth twitched.
“Of course he is.
He’s already blackmailing us.
How could his future achievements possibly be insignificant?”
Aoba nodded thoughtfully.
“The important thing is that we paid him willingly.
He’s such a gentle child—he didn’t even blackmail us for very much…”
Raidō turned toward Kakashi.
“Kakashi, you need to take responsibility for this.”
Kakashi remained silent.
He stared at his companions with dead-fish eyes.
What a group of prideful idiots.
Why couldn’t they simply stop caring what anyone thought, like him?
Still…
“Blackmail… and that recent fight…”
Kakashi gave Naruto’s departing figure a complicated look before turning toward the Hokage Building.
“Mmm…”
Naruto sat at his desk, carefully considering which work from his previous life he should use as inspiration.
His former world had possessed no shortage of excellent erotic stories.
However, he needed to consider what the people of this world were culturally prepared to accept.
Even something as tame and lacking in explicit content as Icha Icha Paradise had sold extraordinarily well.
If he suddenly produced something far more explicit, wouldn’t his readers suffer uncontrollable nosebleeds?
“I’ll choose this one—Taimanin.”
After considering the matter repeatedly, Naruto decided to create a heavily modified version of a particular Japanese work from his previous life.
Line after line of black ink flowed across the page.
The Hokage Building.
Inside the Hokage’s office, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat behind his desk and smoked his pipe while listening to Kakashi’s report.
Once Kakashi finished recounting recent events, Hiruzen exhaled a cloud of smoke and frowned.
“You’re saying Naruto Uzumaki recently fought several children and extorted a few thousand ryō from them?”
“Why did Naruto fight those children?”
Hiruzen’s expression darkened slightly.
If the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki underwent a drastic change in temperament while living in an environment filled with malice, he could easily develop intense resentment toward the village.
That couldn’t be allowed.
Naruto might be the final descendant of the Uzumaki clan.
Without him, where was Hiruzen supposed to find another suitable jinchūriki?
Kakashi frowned and considered the question.
“It appears he was protecting a girl from the Hyūga clan.
Her name was… Hinata Hyūga, I believe.”
Hiruzen sighed inwardly with relief, and his expression gradually returned to normal.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.
This proves that Naruto has begun forming bonds within the village.
It’s a good start.”
Kakashi’s frown deepened.
“But Naruto also blackmailed Kotetsu and the others, taking tens of thousands of ryō from them.”
“He claimed it was for study materials, but I’m beginning to wonder whether Naruto has recently fallen in with a bad influence.”
Hiruzen paid no attention to the blackmail itself.
Instead, he looked at Kakashi in surprise.
“Kotetsu?
How did Naruto manage to blackmail him?”
Kakashi remained silent.
“Kakashi, why aren’t you answering?”
Hiruzen was genuinely confused.
He could understand Naruto extorting several other children.
But Kotetsu?
Kotetsu was a special jōnin of Konoha who could defeat a hundred Narutos by himself.
How could a six-year-old child possibly blackmail him?
Kakashi’s expression darkened.
How could he possibly explain this?
If word got out, Kotetsu and the others would come after him with murderous intent!
Ultimately, however, Kakashi yielded beneath Hiruzen’s oppressive authority and explained everything from beginning to end.
Hiruzen immediately “flew into a rage.”
“What?
How could shinobi of Konohagakure engage in something so indecent and offensive to public morality?”
“Kakashi, such behavior must be explicitly forbidden!”
“First, hand over your copy of Icha Icha Paradise!”
Kakashi fell silent.
With a dark expression, he handed his copy of Icha Icha Paradise to Hiruzen.
Damn it.
You’re no better than any of us.
You spend all day using that crystal ball to spy on people.
You just wanted a free copy of Icha Icha Paradise, didn’t you?