Yasuka only felt that the little blonde lolita in front of him looked somewhat familiar.
Thinking carefully…
why did she look so much like that guy Minato?
And “demon fox”…
wasn’t that the nickname of the protagonist, Uzumaki Naruto?
Wait a minute?
Naruto…
became a little lolita?
“Who is she?”
Pushing his confusion aside, Yasuka turned back to look at the rabbit-masked Anbu.
After all, he wasn’t a local and wasn’t familiar with many things here.
“The demon fox.”
The rabbit Anbu was concise, but Yasuka frowned, correcting him and demanding to know the context and the story behind it.
Seeing Yasuka’s unyielding attitude, the rabbit Anbu hesitated for a moment before briefly explaining the events following the Nine-Tails incident, and the subsequent appearance of Naruko.
“Bullshit!”
Yasuka directly shoved past the people in front of him, forcing his way to the front to look at the sobbing little kid.
No matter how he looked at it, this was clearly Minato’s child!
“What do you think you’re doing?!
This demon fox wanted to steal things from my shop!
Even if I beat her to death, she’d deserve it!”
The woman’s face was masked in heavy fat as she roughly tried to grab little Naruko.
Little Naruko, being only a five- or six-year-old child, could only sob out an explanation:
“I!
I didn’t!
I paid!
But…
but you took the money…
and then said I stole something…”
Instantly, the woman grew flustered, loudly shouting that the demon fox was starting to bewitch people’s minds again.
Her voice was incredibly loud, almost drowning out little Naruko’s voice.
By comparison, little Naruko’s weak, timid explanation seemed exceptionally pale and powerless.
“Shut up, you’re too loud!!!”
Yasuka knew that when dealing with a woman this unreasonable, he had to be louder than her to shut her down.
After intimidating the overbearing woman, Yasuka carefully questioned Naruko.
Seeing that someone was willing to stand up for her, Naruko was highly surprised.
Feeling touched yet constrained, she explained:
“She put the money in her pocket, and then said I stole something.
It was one thousand eight hundred ryo in total…
one one-thousand bill, and eight hundred in coins…”
Yasuka turned back to look at the woman.
By now, she had turned her shame into rage, screaming that if he dared to touch her, she would go to the Military Police Force and report him for molestation!
“I would never touch a piece of trash like you.
Miss Rabbit, could I trouble you for a moment?”
Yasuka looked at the woman in front of him with pure disgust, turning instead to let the Anbu beside him take action.
As a ninja, the most important thing was to obey the client’s orders.
Naturally, the rabbit Anbu would not defy the command, though the title “Miss Rabbit”…
felt a bit strange.
“Wait?
What are you doing?!
Assault!
The Konoha Anbu is assaulting someone!!!”
The woman let out a pig-slaughtering shriek, completely flabbergasting the rabbit Anbu, who barked out coldly, “I’m a woman!”
The rabbit Anbu pulled exactly one thousand eight hundred ryo from the woman’s pocket, without a single cent of variance from what Naruko had stated.
Seeing that her act of robbing a child was exposed, the woman gritted her teeth and stubbornly insisted that this one thousand eight hundred ryo was her own.
“What’s all this shouting about?!”
A man with a uchiwa fan symbol stamped on his back twisted his neck as he squeezed into the crowd.
He raised an eyebrow upon seeing the Anbu.
However, he didn’t show much fear.
After sorting out the situation, he told both sides to go to the Military Police Force.
Hearing many villagers whispering in hushed tones about things like “the naturally evil Uchiha” and criticizing them for not directly dealing with the demon fox, a vein popped on the man’s forehead, but he endured it from start to finish without snapping.
Looking at the attitude of these villagers, Yasuka finally realized that the stories he had heard in his past life about Naruto’s dark childhood seemed to have been a bit understated.
A six-year-old child, at an age when they were just starting to understand the world blindly, was forced to bear the malice of an entire village.
Anyone else would have gone insane long ago.
Strictly speaking, given his position, he could have completely ignored this.
But Minato was his friend after all, so Yasuka still chose to meddle.
In any case, he possessed a natural advantage.
He was a noble, a registered noble of the Land of Fire, and shared a bloodline with the Daimyo.
On top of that, he held favors from countless powerful figures and elites he had saved.
As long as he didn’t try to become the Hokage, he could basically do whatever he wanted in Konoha.
If he were targeted, the Daimyo would dare to cut off Konoha’s funding immediately, and other nations would use the opportunity to pressure Konoha.
You think you’re good at fighting?
What’s the damn use of being good at fighting!
To survive out in the world, you need connections; you need a background.
Did they really think everyone was Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara, capable of defying all logic and refusing to play by the rules?
Meanwhile, in the Hokage’s office, an old man with half of his body wrapped in bandages pushed open the door.
He began shouting that the moment Yasuka arrived in Konoha, he had made contact with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, meaning he definitely harbored ill intentions.
“Danzo, don’t you know how to knock?”
Looking at the wooden door rattling like a candle in the wind, the Third Hokage couldn’t help but frown.
Danzo didn’t care in the slightest, repeatedly bringing up the matter of Yasuka making contact with Naruko.
While puffing on his pipe, the Third Hokage explained with earnest well-meaning, “He was friends with the Fourth Hokage.
Seeing his friend’s child being mistreated, it’s only natural for him to step in.
There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“But he is an outsider!
Sarutobi, aren’t you afraid he will secretly take the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki away?!”
“If you ask me, the Root should first restrict his movements, and then use genjutsu…”
“Danzo!”
The Third Hokage forcefully cut off Danzo’s speech, and then proceeded to list Yasuka’s favors, his background, and the legendary medical skills that could regrow flesh on bare bones.
“Why do you think I invited him to settle in Konoha?
Wasn’t it all for you!”
The Third Hokage’s tone carried a few hints of blame.
This completely threw Danzo off; how did Yasuka coming to Konoha suddenly get tied back to him?
“Your eye and face are both ruined.
I heard the divine doctor has methods to regrow flesh on bare bones, so naturally, I wanted him to help heal you!”
Pausing, the Third Hokage added in a huff, “Besides, we are both old.
You should know exactly how painful the old injuries from past battles can be.”
“In the future, even if Tsunade isn’t around, any issues can be handled by the divine doctor.
This is of immense benefit to our Konoha!”
“You have no idea how upset the people of Kumogakure were when they learned we successfully invited the divine doctor.
They even wanted to offer more money to snatch him away.”
Hearing that Sarutobi had actually done this for him, Danzo didn’t know how to argue back for a moment.
He could only turn his face away and complain with a look of distaste:
“Hmph!
My body is perfectly fine, I have absolutely no need for some divine doctor.
Sarutobi…
you will regret this!”
Leaving behind those words exactly as he usually did, a strangely uncomfortable Danzo fled the room as if escaping.
The Third Hokage silently breathed a sigh of relief.
The fact that he had used the public funds to invite Yasuka to settle in Konoha just to treat his own erectile dysfunction was, for now, successfully smoothed over.
As for Yasuka’s attitude toward Naruko, the Third Hokage wasn’t particularly worried.
It was plain for all to see that Yasuka never participated in disputes between nations.
He was only responsible for saving people—saving commoners and saving ninjas.
Therefore, he enjoyed an excellent reputation in the shinobi world.
Coupled with the fact that this was his friend’s orphaned child, if he stayed behind to take care of Naruko, it would be equivalent to binding Yasuka to Konoha.
For Konoha, this brought nothing but absolute benefits.
*Naruko…
Grandpa is sorry for you, but on this point, I will definitely help you,* the Third Hokage thought to himself as he took a deep drag from his pipe.
Amid the swirling smoke, his gaze seemed to drift back to the past.
Thinking it over, he then instructed an Anbu to send the invoice for repairing the wooden door to the Root.