Chapter 33: I Am the Fourth Hokage’s Son

Seeing Uchiha Izumi continuing to mumble through her muffled protests, Naruto finally realized what he was doing and released her.

Her lips are pretty soft.

What am I even thinking about?

Naruto shook his head, casting the unnecessary thought aside.

"Good. As long as you didn’t tell anyone."

"An eight-year-old with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan is way too abnormal. The higher-ups of Konoha will assume you have the potential to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan someday and become wary of you."

"Unless absolutely necessary, don’t activate your Sharingan anymore."

"I understand."

Izumi nodded before asking curiously,

"What exactly is the Mangekyō Sharingan?"

She had wanted to ask about it earlier, but she’d realized that the situation wasn’t appropriate.

"The Mangekyō Sharingan is the next stage after the Three-Tomoe Sharingan."

"You could consider it the ultimate dōjutsu of the Uchiha Clan."

"The Three-Tomoe Sharingan can evolve further?"

Izumi was stunned.

She had always thought the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was the end.

She’d never imagined there was another stage beyond it.

Naruto ruffled her hair.

"Don’t overthink it."

"Just let things happen naturally. You already understand the price of awakening the Sharingan."

There was still the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan beyond the Mangekyō, but the price was too cruel. Naruto had no intention of telling Izumi about it yet.

As for the Rinnegan...

That could no longer really be considered an Uchiha dōjutsu.

It required the powers of Indra and Asura to be combined into the complete Six Paths lineage before the Rinnegan could be awakened.

Even Indra himself—the ancestor of the Uchiha Clan and son of the Sage of Six Paths—had never awakened the Rinnegan.

Aside from the Sage of Six Paths himself, the only person in history to awaken it was Madara.

After taking the cells of Hashirama, the reincarnation of Asura, Madara’s body spent more than a decade nurturing that power.

Only shortly before his death did he finally awaken the Rinnegan.

He then summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, allowing himself to continue living.

And Sasuke?

That was simply the Sage of Six Paths personally giving him a power-up.

An ordinary Uchiha had no chance of awakening the Rinnegan.

Obito had Hashirama’s cells implanted into his body for more than a decade without showing any signs of evolving his eyes.

Of course, perhaps that was partly because he didn’t possess the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

But don’t tell Naruto that it was because Obito only had one eye.

Madara had lost one eye to Izanagi and still awakened the Rinnegan.

Bloodline purity was the real foundation.

Izumi nodded.

She understood the price of awakening the Sharingan better than anyone.

Her father had died, causing her first awakening.

Being abandoned by her best friend and her clan had evolved her eyes to the Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

Then Naruto had been sent to the battlefield.

Believing he might never return...

And becoming completely disappointed in Konoha...

Those emotions had finally pushed her to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

From an outsider’s perspective, aside from losing her father, the other prices might not seem particularly severe.

But as the person who experienced them...

The pain had been very real.

Collecting herself, Izumi pulled out a thick stack of banknotes and handed them to Naruto.

"By the way, besides combining the two apartments, the Third Hokage also gave you the reward for an S-rank mission."

"One million ryō."

"He said he was worried you’d spend it recklessly, so he asked me to keep it for you."

"Just keep it."

"Consider it household expenses."

"Whether I spend money recklessly or not... Do you really think the Third Hokage doesn’t know?"

Naruto pushed the money back toward Izumi.

Money wasn’t particularly useful to him anyway.

There weren’t many people in Konoha willing to sell things to him in the first place.

"Household expenses?"

The moment Izumi heard those words, she froze.

Then she remembered some of the villagers’ rumors about her being Naruto’s "child bride."

Her face instantly turned bright red.

She lowered her head and murmured shyly,

"Then... I’ll keep it."

"Go ahead."

Naruto waved his hand.

His attention wasn’t on the money at all.

The Third Hokage had suddenly become this generous?

He had combined the apartments...

And even given him an S-rank mission reward?

Of course, Naruto felt no gratitude toward him.

These things were what he deserved.

The inheritance left by his parents hadn’t even been returned to him yet.

As for combining the apartments...

Could it be that Hiruzen had suddenly realized the Nine-Tails’ power could be utilized?

Perhaps he wanted an excuse to enter Naruto’s home and conduct a thorough search to determine whether the Jinchūriki was still under control.

With that thought, Naruto swept his gaze across the apartment.

The floor.

The ceiling.

The furniture.

Everything had been replaced.

Yep.

That confirmed it.

Naruto then asked Izumi,

"When did they renovate the place?"

"Did the Third Hokage buy all the furniture too?"

"Huh?"

Izumi, who had been lost in her own thoughts, didn’t immediately react.

Naruto pinched her cheek again.

"I asked when they renovated the place."

"Did the Third Hokage buy all the furniture?"

"Yes."

"They came first thing in the morning on January 26th."

"Everything was finished that afternoon."

As she answered, Izumi puffed out her cheeks, as though trying to push Naruto’s fingers away from her face.

Good.

Now there’s evidence.

January 26th.

The day after the defeat of the Hidden Cloud.

And they had arrived first thing in the morning.

Fortunately, Naruto had never kept anything at home that would contradict the persona he presented to Konoha.

"What’s wrong?"

Seeing Naruto’s strange expression, Izumi became curious.

Naruto shook his head.

It was only a suspicion, so he didn’t explain.

Instead, he changed the subject.

"By the way, how’s your Fire Release training going?"

"I’ve only learned a few."

Izumi looked slightly embarrassed before explaining,

"I was worried someone would discover them, so I haven’t had many opportunities to practice."

"Most of the time, I just practice the hand seals at home and feel the flow of chakra."

"Once I feel confident enough, I find an opportunity to practice outside."

"Learning several in a month is already pretty good."

Naruto nodded in satisfaction.

And that was without anyone teaching her or giving her many opportunities to practice.

Of course, "pretty good" was only relative to certain ridiculous geniuses.

In the original story, Izumi’s proficiency in taijutsu was probably largely because no one had taught her properly.

She also wouldn’t have had easy access to ninjutsu scrolls.

Hearing Naruto’s praise, Izumi finally relaxed.

Then, as if she’d suddenly remembered something, her expression became serious.

"Naruto..."

"Where exactly did you get those ninjutsu?"

Izumi still remembered the thick notebook Naruto had been carrying at the time.

He had even searched through its table of contents before finding the Fire Release section and tearing out only a small portion of the pages.

The pages he’d removed weren’t even one-tenth of the notebook.

Probably not even one-twentieth.

How could a three-year-old child living in such difficult circumstances in Konoha possibly possess something like that?

And...

Did Naruto know all the techniques written inside?

Izumi didn’t know why such an absurd thought had suddenly entered her mind.

Then—

Minato Namikaze’s voice suddenly sounded from deep within Naruto’s mind.

"Naruto."

"I want to meet Izumi."

Minato believed that, as a father, meeting his son’s "good friend" was very important.

He also wanted to personally express his gratitude to this "good friend."

And, while he was at it, perhaps give her a few words of advice as a father.

Hearing this, Naruto smiled.

Then, with a playful tone, he said to Izumi,

"I can tell you..."

"But you probably won’t believe me."

"If you don’t tell me, how would you know whether I’ll believe you?"

Izumi smiled as well.

She was curious to see what kind of ridiculous story Naruto would come up with.

Naruto suddenly became completely serious.

"I’m the Fourth Hokage’s son."

"That’s not funny at all!"

Izumi rolled her eyes.

She had thought Naruto was going to tell her some incredible and touching story.

The Fourth Hokage’s son? How could...

Suddenly—

Izumi’s expression changed.

Blond hair...

Yet the surname Uzumaki...

P.S.

A few things I want to say.

This ended up being a little long.

I originally considered making it a separate Chapter, but decided against it.

If you don’t have any questions about the story, you can skip this section.

I’ve been reading the comments every day.

Recently, several questions have come up repeatedly, so I’ll answer them all here.

First: Clickbait titles.

Clickbait titles have no balls.

Second: When will Konoha be destroyed?

Read the synopsis.

Everything mentioned in the synopsis will eventually happen in the novel, so the story will reach the Konoha Crush during the Chūnin Exams.

It’s not really a spoiler.

It’s already written clearly in the synopsis.

Third: Is the protagonist going to suffer?

Sorry...

Yes.

Anyone who’s made it this far already knows that, so I’m not afraid to admit it.

But let me try to explain why.

This is a darkening protagonist story.

How does a protagonist become dark?

I can’t simply write that the protagonist knew Naruto’s fate from watching the anime in his previous life, became Naruto, gained some power, and immediately decided to destroy Konoha.

That wouldn’t make sense.

This isn’t some deep literary masterpiece, but it’s not mindless nonsense either.

At the very least, I need to show what grievances the protagonist suffers and why he eventually decides to destroy Konoha.

Along the way, I’ll also contrast the warmth and coldness of human nature.

Who treats the protagonist well?

Who treats him badly?

Konoha’s leadership consists of politicians.

Everything they do is ultimately based on interests.

The villagers hate the Nine-Tails because it destroyed their village, so they despise the protagonist.

Kurama entered the sealing space when the protagonist was still an infant and stayed by his side as he slowly grew up.

So Kurama treats the protagonist like his own son.

Minato gradually becomes darker after learning what happened to Naruto.

Uchiha Izumi is the first person who doesn’t look at the protagonist through prejudice and instead approaches him willingly.

After becoming close, she treats him like family.

Kakashi will give Naruto some conveniences within the limits of his responsibilities, but he won’t actively help him.

Jiraiya will fight desperately against Naruto being sent into battle, but will ultimately yield to Konoha’s difficult circumstances.

Hinata is still too young to understand anything, so there’s not much to say about her yet.

This is a darkening protagonist story.

I can’t have the protagonist living happily every day, enjoying a smooth and peaceful life, and then suddenly decide to destroy Konoha at the end.

If everything is going well...

Why would he destroy it?

Wouldn’t it be better to treat Konoha as his own foundation and become the Seventh Hokage someday?

But if the protagonist doesn’t become darker...

Then it goes against the central theme of the novel.

Fourth: Is the protagonist worshipping Konoha too much?

I hope everyone can distinguish between the persona he’s pretending to be and his true personality.

Things like:

"I’m willing to sacrifice myself for Konoha."

"I want the villagers to acknowledge me."

Those are all outward disguises.

They’re the persona he uses to lower Konoha’s guard.

Simply saying he doesn’t want to go wouldn’t accomplish anything.

The Third Hokage already sent him to the battlefield.

Even if he refused, he’d eventually be forced to fight.

Jiraiya could only suppress the order for so long.

As for helping Konoha achieve victory...

It’s not that the protagonist willingly helped them.

He was being controlled.

And why did he allow himself to be controlled?

It was deliberate.

He wanted to numb Konoha’s leadership into believing he could be controlled whenever they wanted.

He also wanted to dig another hole for the Uchiha.

And demonstrate the villagers’ ignorance.

No matter what the Fox Demon does...

The villagers will never truly accept him.

That deepens the protagonist’s descent into darkness.

There’s another reason too:

He needs time to grow stronger.

Why does he need that time?

Read the next point.

Fifth: If the protagonist is so powerful, why doesn’t he simply kill Konoha’s leadership and destroy the village?

Knowing all of Minato and Kushina’s abilities doesn’t mean the protagonist possesses their actual strength.

I’ve already said it.

He’s only three years old.

He hasn’t undergone proper training.

Aside from knowing many techniques, his physical body is still that of a three-year-old child.

No matter how much he knows...

He’s still physically fragile.

His lack of physical ability can even limit how effectively he uses those techniques.

If someone actually lands a hit on him...

He could be knocked out by a single punch.

Of course, with Flying Thunder God, his ability to escape and preserve his life is excellent.

The assassination of the Hidden Cloud envoys is an example.

I specifically wrote that all the envoys were drunk to avoid creating a problem with Naruto’s weak physical condition.

As for using the Nine-Tails...

He could.

But what happens after destroying Konoha?

He becomes a missing-nin.

His own strength isn’t enough.

He’d be alone.

And he’d spend the rest of his life being hunted by the entire ninja world.

The novel has already explained that the protagonist intends to leave only after he possesses enough strength to make the entire ninja world hesitate before pursuing him.

As for those saying he should simply defect with Hinata and Izumi...

Their relationships haven’t developed enough yet.

Their affection hasn’t reached that level.

Who would willingly follow him?

Sixth: Why didn’t he kill Shisui or Jiraiya?

I agree that I handled this part somewhat awkwardly.

If I wanted them dead, I should have killed them.

If I didn’t...

I shouldn’t have written it that way.

So I’ve realized the problem and revised that section.

Sorry for the discomfort it caused.

You don’t need to reread the earlier Chapters.

It won’t affect your reading experience.

Seventh: Jiraiya’s strength.

Don’t use the Jiraiya from Konoha Year 64, when he fought Pain, to judge Jiraiya’s strength in Konoha Year 52.

There’s a twelve-year difference.

That’s still plenty of time for him to grow.

When Orochimaru defected in Year 49, Jiraiya couldn’t even defeat him.

Meanwhile, by Year 52, the Fourth Raikage and Killer B were already operating at Kage-level strength.

Minato could fight two opponents at once because he was an extremely fast assassin-type fighter.

Jiraiya isn’t fast enough for that.

He has to confront enemies head-on.

Two Kage-level fighters overwhelming a version of Jiraiya who hasn’t yet reached his Year 64 strength isn’t unreasonable.

As for Sage Mode...

I’m not even certain whether Jiraiya had mastered it by Year 52, so I didn’t write it into the battle.

Some people ask:

"What about fighting two against one? Doesn’t Hiashi count?"

Hiashi...

During the Fourth Great Ninja War in Year 64, he didn’t exactly have any particularly impressive moments.

So what could we realistically expect from him in Year 52?

Occasionally entering the battlefield, using Rotation, and helping Jiraiya block a couple of attacks is already about the limit.

Finally: Please read and discuss the novel civilly.

If you have questions or dislike something I’ve written, feel free to discuss it.

Say whatever you want.

But please keep the discussion focused on the story.

If you genuinely don’t like it, you can simply click the top-right corner and leave.

Comments that leave the story entirely and turn into personal attacks will be deleted, and the users will be put in the blacklist.

Being timid in real life but becoming aggressive online isn’t a good habit, brothers.

All it does is create a cycle.

You suffer grievances in reality, go online to vent your anger, feel relieved for a moment, and then return to reality only to tolerate even more grievances.

It’s a vicious cycle.

Take this little brother’s advice:

Be the same person online and offline.

And finally...

Everyone who has made it this far is clearly a reader who has genuine expectations for this novel.

So let me say this:

Thank you.

And because my writing ability isn’t strong enough yet and some parts of the story may have made you uncomfortable...

I’m sorry.