“I’m home.” The door to the small apartment opened, followed by Naruto Uzumaki’s customary greeting.
There were always one or two days each month when an old man would be waiting inside and warmly answer him.
Those were the happiest days for Naruto.
But today, his voice carried a completely different kind of excitement and enthusiasm, as though he hoped the “home” where he had lived for years could welcome his rare guest with the same warmth.
“Come on in.” After entering, Naruto gently tugged on Tōru’s sleeve.
A yellowed wall covered in the marks of time came into view.
Tōru looked around.
The furnishings in Naruto’s home were extremely simple.
A small bed, a wardrobe, and a low tea table occupied one end of the room, all pressed against a huge window.
At the other end was the rudimentary “kitchen”: cabinets, a sink, a dining table, a kettle, and a refrigerator.
There wasn’t even anything that could properly be called a stove.
It was impossible to prepare anything complicated here.
After one final glance at the cup of instant noodles still sitting on the table with chopsticks sticking out of it, Tōru more or less understood the reason for Naruto’s malnutrition.
“Ah!
I forgot to clean that up this morning!” Naruto noticed Tōru’s gaze and hurriedly climbed onto a chair to put away the cup noodles.
But he was too anxious.
The chair tipped sideways with him.
“Waaah!” He had gotten used to tripping over nothing at home.
He just didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of his new friend.
This time, however, Tōru’s body appeared beside him in an instant.
He caught the chair with one hand before it could fall.
The cup noodles, however, slipped to the floor.
To Tōru’s surprise, there was not a drop of soup left inside.
Naruto had actually drunk every last bit of it, despite the soup having almost no nutritional value.
“Eh?” Naruto’s eyes widened.
He still hadn’t recovered from what had just happened.
“You’re really fast.” The distance from the doorway to the table was only two or three meters, yet Tōru had crossed it in an instant.
Naruto became curious.
“Are you a student at the Ninja Academy?” “I just have a strong body.” Tōru helped Naruto down as easily as if he were lifting a toy, then placed him firmly on the floor.
“If you eat properly, you can become like that too.” “But I do eat properly.” Naruto counted on his fingers.
“Besides cup noodles, I drink one carton of milk every day.
Two on Sundays.” He grinned and emphasized proudly: “Except for occasionally getting diarrhea, I’ve never had any other illness.
The old man says I was born with a body that’s stronger than most people’s.” [Being physically healthy isn’t the problem, but…] “Diarrhea?” Tōru’s eyes swept over Naruto’s body before focusing on his abdomen.
The Transparent World once again revealed a mass of red energy stagnant within him.
Last time, Tōru hadn’t known that it was also a form of chakra.
But after observing it carefully this time, he realized that the dark-red chakra seemed to be restricted, as though locked inside Naruto’s body.
Yet it wasn’t actually the cause of his diarrhea.
Its interference with Naruto’s body was limited.
In fact, it even seemed to help Naruto recover from injuries.
[I need to look deeper.] Tōru took a deep breath and concentrated all his attention on maintaining the Transparent World.
He attempted to see through the troublesome mass of chakra and inspect Naruto’s internal organs more carefully.
Inside Naruto’s body, a pair of orange-red eyes suddenly opened.
The Nine-Tails cautiously retreated a step before becoming annoyed with itself for showing such weakness.
“Without using any chakra-related technique, he almost saw me?” The Nine-Tails frowned.
“Didn’t that brat say his surname was Uchiha?
What’s going on here…?” Fortunately, its sudden retreat caused the dark-red chakra occupying Tōru’s field of vision to contract sharply.
Tōru finally succeeded in seeing through Naruto’s digestive system.
He could see beneficial intestinal bacteria being attacked by harmful foreign substances.
Yet Naruto’s unusually resilient constitution allowed the beneficial bacteria to reproduce rapidly and fight back.
The two sides fought back and forth, turning his entire digestive system into a battlefield.
For now, however, it was merely a minor skirmish.
Once Naruto rested, the “battlefield” would become much livelier.
His diarrhea was therefore inevitable.
“Your stomach is usually uncomfortable, isn’t it?” Tōru asked.
“It often makes noises, and you get bloated too.” “Whoa!” Naruto felt a little creeped out under Tōru’s all-seeing gaze.
But he was also amazed by how accurately Tōru had described him.
“How did you know?” “You also often wake up in the middle of the night because you have diarrhea.” Naruto nodded repeatedly like a pecking chick.
His eyes practically screamed You’re amazing!
“That’s right!
That’s right!
Do you have the same problem as me?” “No.” Tōru opened the refrigerator, took out a carton of milk, checked the production date, and placed it on the cabinet.
Then he checked them one by one, removing every carton of milk from the refrigerator.
“These are all more than two months past their expiration date.” He pointed to the numbers printed on the cartons and explained: “If milk is left for too long, harmful substances will appear inside it, such as bacteria.” “But it tastes fine when I drink it.” Naruto scratched his head in confusion.
“And what’s a bacterium?
Is it something really bad?
Why does it make me have diarrhea?” Tōru thought for a while.
These were terms he hadn’t originally understood either.
But when he had previously investigated the meaning of “genes,” he had gained a basic understanding of things like bacteria.
The problem was how to explain them in a way Naruto could understand.
He couldn’t help remembering how Shinobu Kocho had explained injuries while treating Tanjiro and the others.
After all, the boy who wore a boar’s head couldn’t understand complicated terminology unless someone used an extremely vivid analogy.
[How would Shinobu or Itachi explain this?] Tōru’s gaze passed through the window toward Konoha, which was blanketed in white snow.
Suddenly, he had an idea.
He pointed at Naruto’s stomach and slowly began: “If we compare your body to Konoha, then the bacteria in expired milk are like shinobi from an enemy country.” Naruto’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Tōru knew he had finally figured out how to explain things to children.
“If the enemy shinobi are too strong while Konoha’s shinobi are too weak, the village will be destroyed.” “Your body would become sick, just like an ordinary person’s.” “But if the two sides are evenly matched, they’ll keep fighting inside the village.” “Konoha won’t be destroyed, but the buildings will be damaged and everyone’s lives will be disrupted.
The village won’t be able to function normally.” “That’s what happens when you have diarrhea.
You can’t properly do anything else.” “Ohhh…” Naruto suddenly understood.
“I get it!” Tōru shook the expired milk carton.
“In other words, because your body is strong, you haven’t become seriously ill from the bacteria inside.” “But if those bacteria keep fighting inside you, your body will eventually become weaker and weaker.” “So next time you buy milk, check the date on the back first.” “As for these, you should throw them all away as soon as possible.” Tōru exhaled.
He felt as though he’d used up an entire month’s worth of words.
[This village lets him live alone, yet nobody has even taught him something this basic?] The next moment, however, Naruto’s head drooped as though a heavy weight had been placed on it.
“But I…
I can’t buy milk that isn’t expired.” “Why?” Tōru was confused.
“People in the village say that I…
that I’m a monster.” Naruto’s voice suddenly choked up.
He took the milk carton from Tōru and turned it over repeatedly without looking up.
“So they don’t want to sell me food.” “The food at home is either given to me by the old man or something I find outside.” “I already drink it as quickly as I can.” Naruto looked at the milk cartons without disgust.
Instead, there was a strange sense of attachment in his eyes.
He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with them.
Sometimes he felt that rejected food paired with a rejected person didn’t seem so strange.
At least eating it didn’t make him sick immediately like it would other people, right?
“Monster?” Tōru repeated the word.
“Yeah.” Naruto turned around and began searching through the refrigerator.
“Someone in the village called me a Demon Fox or something.” “I don’t understand why, but everyone seems to think that.” He pulled a box of biscuits from the back of the refrigerator.
The moment he turned around, Naruto’s previously gloomy features suddenly brightened.
“Look!
The old man gave me these snacks last time he came!” “Let’s eat them!” “Anything he gives me definitely won’t be expired.” Clearly, in order to change the subject, Naruto had employed one of his proudest survival techniques— Putting on a brave smile.
Whenever the old man asked how things were going, Naruto did the same thing.
The old man would then be distracted and stop asking about things that made him uncomfortable.
Tōru, however, was an extremely serious person.
He remembered the term “Demon Fox.” Naruto had said the same thing the previous time they met.
Tōru pointed at his own cheeks.
“Is it because of the whisker marks?” “M-Maybe.” Naruto tore open the biscuit package and placed it on the table.
Then he turned around and began boiling water, deliberately avoiding Tōru’s gaze.
“I tried cutting them off before, but they grew back the next day.” Deep inside him, the Nine-Tails proudly rolled over.
“I just don’t know what I have to do with a Demon Fox.” “Do we really look alike?” “I’ve seen a Demon Fox.” Tōru suddenly said this.
Not only Naruto, who was standing right beside him, but even Kakashi outside the window froze.
[During the Nine-Tails’ attack, Tōru should have been less than three months old.] Hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn’t sit still either.
He immediately created a Shadow Clone, selected two gifts from among the presents his subordinates had given him, and headed outside.
Inside the apartment, however, the conversation continued.
Naruto spun around.
His face was filled with astonishment.
“R-Really?” “Mm.” Tōru carefully examined Naruto’s face.
“You don’t look anything like it.” “That Demon Fox was huge.
It looked a little like a dog and a wolf at the same time, and it was extremely fierce.” “But its fur was red, and its eyes were red too.” “It’s completely different from you.” “Damn brat!” Hearing himself compared to both a dog and a wolf, the Nine-Tails flew into a rage.
“When I’m free, the first thing I’ll do is stomp you into dog shit!” No matter how furiously it raged, however, it couldn’t break through the bars in front of it.
In the end, all it could do was bark helplessly.
“D-Did it do something?” Naruto looked as though he were listening to a ghost story.
“Why does everyone in the village become so scared and hateful whenever they mention it?” “One night, five years ago, the Demon Fox nearly destroyed half the village.” Tōru continued: “It was taller than the largest building in Konoha.” “People in the village had every reason to be afraid of it.” Tōru had personally witnessed how terrifying that monster was—far more terrifying than Muzan Kibutsuji.
That was precisely why he had begun training his Breathing Styles again.
He never wanted to face something like that again without having the strength to protect Sasuke and Itachi.
Then Tōru added: “Regardless, that Demon Fox has nothing to do with you.” “I still don’t understand why people refuse to sell things to you, but there is a way for you to buy unexpired food.” “You have an idea?” Naruto’s eyes widened with hope.
“You can wear the mask.” Tōru pointed at the warding fox mask resting beside Naruto’s pillow.
It was the same mask he had given Naruto the last time they met.
“There’s no point having it if you don’t wear it.” After all, a warding mask was supposed to have the function of a protective talisman.
“But you gave this to me.” Naruto hesitated.
“I don’t want it to get dirty or damaged.” “I make a new one every year.” Tōru replied: “If that still doesn’t work, I can help you contact a few shops that hire Genin to deliver groceries.” “They can deliver fresh food to your door at regular intervals.” “That way, you won’t have to meet the shopkeepers.” As he spoke, his eyes dropped toward Naruto’s bulging trouser pockets.
“You’ll just have to pay an additional delivery fee.” [At least it’ll still be better than eating expired food.] The money in Tōru’s household wasn’t his to spend on other people.
He had no right to use it for Naruto.
The delivery fees would therefore have to come from Naruto himself.
After all, Naruto would eventually have to live independently.
“Can we really do that?” Naruto jumped excitedly.
Then his expression sank.
“But I don’t know how to cook.” “Maybe I should just keep buying cup noodles and milk.” “I have a cookbook at home.” Tōru continued: “I’ve already cooked every dish in it once, so I remember all the recipes.” He was naturally referring to the Secret Recipe Book of Teacher Minato, which Kakashi had previously given him.
It had been copied by a clan member named Uchiha Obito.
Apparently, the “Minato” mentioned in the book was the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
Tōru had seen Minato’s face on the Hokage Rock and in books.
Honestly, Minato and Naruto looked quite similar.
That was also why Tōru had immediately remembered the cookbook.
“Next time I come, I’ll bring you the cookbook.” “I’ll also teach you how to make a few simple dishes.” Tōru paused.
“Then you won’t have diarrhea anymore.” Outside the window, Kakashi suddenly covered his mask with one hand to prevent himself from making a sound that might attract attention.
He had never imagined that the belongings of his teacher, Minato— And Obito— would return to Minato’s son in such a manner.
The workings of time, fate, and coincidence truly were extraordinary.
“Um…
Can I ask you something?” Naruto stood frozen in place.
He stared blankly at Tōru.
His eyes were filled with excitement and gratitude.
Yet a trace of doubt remained.
“Why…
why are you so kind to me?” [We’ve only met twice, haven’t we?] Tōru, however, intended to solve Naruto’s food problem once and for all.
Kakashi held his breath completely.
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, sitting before the crystal ball, leaned toward it, eager to hear Tōru’s answer.
Tōru’s expression remained unchanged.
He was just about to speak— when someone knocked on Naruto’s door.
An elderly voice came from outside.
“Is Naruto home?” “It’s Grandpa.
I came to see you!” “Come open the door for Grandpa!” In the Hokage’s Office, the veins on the forehead of the real Hiruzen Sarutobi bulged violently.
He nearly crushed the crystal ball in his hand.