Chapter 41: My foolish little brother!

Under the setting sun, Menma and Naruto sat at opposite ends of a park bench.

The two orphans sat in silence, watching the children in the park being picked up by their parents.

"Um... Menma, why are you willing to play with me?" Naruto mustered his courage, directing a question filled with a hint of hopeful uncertainty toward the young boy sitting on the other end of the bench.

Although they had only been sitting in the park for a short while after eating, quietly watching the sun go down, it meant a great deal to Naruto. At a time when the other children in the park went out of their way to avoid him, having someone willing to sit on the same bench to watch the sunset was a rare friendship.

"Hmm?" Menma turned his head slightly, the afterglow of the sunset tracing a soft outline across his face.

He looked at the blond, blue-eyed Uzumaki Naruto sitting beside him, the one with the six whisker marks on his cheeks. This was the protagonist of the Naruto world, the "Child of Prophecy" who would save the world in the future.

"I had a friend before who helped me when I was feeling lost. Perhaps I see a shadow of my past self in you," Menma lied.

He knew that the Third Hokage's crystal ball was monitoring Naruto at all times. There were also Anbu members constantly surveilling him; his approach to Naruto was destined to be discovered by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Furthermore, Menma wasn't entirely sure what his own psychological motivation was for approaching Naruto. Was it because Naruto was the protagonist? Or was it because he had transmigrated as Naruto's brother, driven by a sense of blood relation? Menma couldn't distinguish the feeling.

He didn't want to disrupt Naruto's growth—at least not until Naruto graduated and the main plot began. However, he felt a sense of indignation regarding Naruto's current circumstances.

Where did Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki's assets go? All that money! And the house!

Kushina was the last of the Uzumaki clan. Grandma Mito had treated Kushina as her own; even if the Uzumaki inheritance wasn't given directly to Kushina, surely Mito would have prepared some assets for her to start a household?

And then there was Minato Namikaze. Setting aside his salary as the Fourth Hokage, he had earned a significant amount of money through his career as a shinobi, having completed 39 S-rank missions. An S-rank mission paid at least one million Ryo, and even after the village took its cut, the lead Jonin of the squad would typically take half—about five hundred thousand Ryo.

Thirty-nine S-rank missions meant at least 19.5 million Ryo!

That didn't even account for his 323 A-rank, 216 B-rank, 147 C-rank, and 122 D-rank missions. A-rank missions ranged from 150,000 to 1 million Ryo; B-rank from 80,000 to 200,000; C-rank from 30,000 to 100,000; and D-rank from 5,000 to 50,000.

The total income from Minato's shinobi career, using the median value, exceeded 230 million Ryo; even using the lowest values, it exceeded 54 million Ryo.

That was an immense amount of money! It couldn't have all gone toward buying special Flying Thunder God kunai for Minato, nor could it have vanished simply by buying a house after marrying Kushina.

Yet, the money Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Naruto was barely enough for basic sustenance. The whereabouts of the Fourth Hokage couple's inheritance were truly inexplicable.

Naruto loved instant ramen and never cooked. He ate ramen for almost every meal, perhaps having some milk and eggs for breakfast. How much money could he possibly spend? Yet, he never seemed to have any spare change, and occasionally going to Ichiraku Ramen felt like a luxury feast!

"A friend?" Little Naruto's eyes suddenly lit up with anticipation. "Then... are we friends now?"

"I guess so," Menma said, rubbing his stomach. He had received his "friendship fee" for the month.

"Alright, it's getting late. I need to go home too." Seeing the sun fully set and the twilight deepening, Menma stood up from the bench and brushed the fallen leaves off his pants.

"Then! See you next time!" Naruto grinned widely. He had made his first friend today—no, wait, there was also the old man at the ramen shop and Ayame. His naturally optimistic and cheerful personality allowed him to cast aside the troubles of the past few days and the malice of the villagers.

After waving goodbye to Menma, Naruto skipped off toward his home.

Once Naruto had disappeared past the end of the park, the little Nine-Tails poked its head out from Menma's neck scarf.

"Menma, is that guy your brother in this world? His chakra... is very special." After sensing a familiar yet strange Tailed Beast chakra earlier, the little Nine-Tails had retreated into Menma's mental space. It only emerged once Naruto had left and that restless chakra had vanished from its perception.

"Yeah, that's him. Uzumaki Naruto, my foolish little brother." Menma watched the direction where Naruto had disappeared, his eyes narrowing slightly as a playful smirk curled on his lips.

With the Third Hokage's crystal ball voyeurism, the 24-hour surveillance of the Anbu, and the influence of the reincarnation of Asura's chakra, it would be difficult for Menma to provide Naruto with any "ideological education."

However, he was very curious to see what kind of shocked expression Naruto would make during the "Konoha Crush" when Menma would say, "I am your brother! We are both the sons of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze!" and call him "my foolish little brother."

But before the "Konoha Crush," Menma still had to find a way to take a group of shinobi clans with him. When Orochimaru's Edo Tensei summons—Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju—saw the surrounding Uchiha, Hyuga, and Uzumaki clans rebelling together to fight the Third Hokage and destroy Konoha... what kind of expressions would cross the faces of those two "ancestors"?

"Just thinking about it is delightful," Menma hummed softly, feeling a thrill run through him. Even if Naruto was the protagonist, he couldn't stop him!

***

Inside the Hokage's office.

Through the Telescope Technique, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, watched little Naruto jogging home from the park. The face beneath his Hokage hat, mottled with age spots, remained as calm as a still well.

He pulled a background investigation report from the Intelligence Division out of his drawer.

"Menma?" Hiruzen looked at the information gathered by the Intelligence Division ninjas from the orphanage, his eyes finally resting on the words: "Primary chakra attribute is Fire; possesses shinobi potential."

The background check indicated that he was merely an ordinary war orphan.

"If the other child were still here, perhaps Naruto wouldn't be so lonely," Hiruzen said, putting down the report and taking a puff from his pipe. The exhaled smoke drifted through the office.

Hiruzen couldn't help but remember the joy on Minato's face when they discovered Kushina was pregnant with twins. To ensure a smooth delivery, Hiruzen had even asked his wife, Biwako, to assist in the delivery room.

And the result—

During the Nine-Tails' attack, when Hiruzen arrived at the battlefield where Minato was sealing the Nine-Tails, he found only the bodies of Minato and Kushina, pierced by the Nine-Tails' claws within the barrier, and a crying Naruto in swaddling clothes. As for the other child, they were nowhere to be found. If they hadn't been taken by a mysterious person, they had likely died during the chaos.

"Naruto is nearly three years old now. He is starting to encounter various people and ideas. It is time to let him understand the Will of Fire," Hiruzen murmured, stroking the rim of his Hokage hat.

Watching Naruto through the crystal ball, lying in bed with a smile on his face after returning home, Hiruzen pondered what kind of image he should present to Naruto to foster the greatest sense of dependence and familial affection.