Under the glow of the setting sun, Menma and Naruto sat at opposite ends of a park bench.
Two orphans, quietly watching as other children were picked up by their parents.
"Um… Menma," Naruto finally gathered his courage and asked, voice filled with hesitant hope, "why are you willing to hang out with me?"
They had only eaten together and then sat in the park for a while, silently watching the sunset.
But to Naruto—who was usually avoided like a plague—having someone sit beside him on the same bench was already a precious thing.
"Hm?" Menma turned his head slightly. The warm orange light outlined his face in a gentle glow.
He looked at the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy beside him—the one with six whisker-like marks on his cheeks.
Uzumaki Naruto.
The protagonist of this world.
The "Child of Prophecy" destined to save it.
"I once had a friend," Menma replied casually, making something up on the spot. "When I was confused about a lot of things, he helped me. Maybe… I just see a bit of my old self in you."
He knew full well that the Third Hokage's crystal ball was constantly watching Naruto.
ANBU were also monitoring him around the clock.
There was no doubt that his approach toward Naruto would eventually reach Sarutobi Hiruzen's ears.
Even Menma himself wasn't entirely sure why he had chosen to meet Naruto.
Was it because Naruto was the protagonist?
Or because, in this world, he was technically his brother—tied by blood and fate?
Menma couldn't clearly sort out those feelings.
He didn't want to disrupt Naruto's growth—at least not before graduation, before the main storyline began.
But seeing Naruto's current situation still filled him with resentment.
Where did Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina's assets go?
All that money! Their house! Their inheritance!
Kushina was the last of the Uzumaki clan. Uzumaki Mito treated her like her own granddaughter—there was no way she wouldn't have left something behind for her.
And Minato?
Putting aside his salary as Fourth Hokage, he had completed 39 S-rank missions in his career.
An S-rank mission paid at least one million ryo, and after the village took its cut, the squad leader usually received half—around five hundred thousand.
That meant at least 19.5 million ryo from S-rank missions alone.
And that didn't even include:
323 A-rank missions,
216 B-rank missions,
147 C-rank missions,
and 122 D-rank missions.
A-rank missions ranged from 150,000 to 1,000,000 ryo.
B-rank from 80,000 to 200,000.
C-rank from 30,000 to 100,000.
D-rank from 5,000 to 50,000.
Even by conservative estimates, Minato's total career earnings exceeded 54 million ryo.
By average calculations, it was well over 230 million ryo.
So much money!
There was no way it all went into buying Flying Thunder God kunai or simply disappeared after marriage.
Yet Naruto was given barely enough to survive.
He loved cup ramen and almost never cooked. Two out of three meals a day were instant noodles, with maybe milk and eggs for breakfast.
How could he possibly be running out of money every month?
Even going to Ichiraku was treated like a rare luxury.
"Friends…?" Naruto's eyes suddenly lit up. "Then… are we friends now?"
"Sure, I guess," Menma replied, patting his stomach.
This month's "friendship fee" had been successfully collected.
"Alright, it's getting late. I should head home." Menma stood up and brushed the leaves off his pants as dusk settled in.
"Then—see you next time!" Naruto grinned brightly.
For the first time in his life, he had made a friend. No—two friends, counting Uncle Teuchi and Akemi.
His naturally cheerful personality instantly swept away the gloom of the past few days.
Naruto waved goodbye and skipped happily toward his home.
Once he disappeared at the far end of the park, a small head poked out from Menma's scarf.
"Menma, was that boy your brother in this world?" the tiny Nine-Tails asked. "The chakra inside him… it felt strange."
Earlier, sensing a familiar yet unfamiliar tailed-beast chakra, the little Nine-Tails had hidden inside Menma's mental space.
Only after Naruto left and that restless chakra faded did it reappear.
"Yeah," Menma replied with a faint smirk. "Uzumaki Naruto… my foolish little brother."
With the Third Hokage constantly spying on him, ANBU watching 24/7, and the influence of Asura's reincarnated chakra, trying to indoctrinate Naruto with any alternative ideas would be nearly impossible.
Still, Menma couldn't help imagining it.
During the "New Konoha Crush Plan," when he finally revealed the truth—
"I'm your brother! We're both sons of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato!"
And then—
"My foolish little brother."
What kind of expression would Naruto make then?
But before that day came, Menma still needed to find a way to take several ninja clans with him.
Just imagine it—
When Orochimaru summoned the First and Second Hokage with Edo Tensei, and they witnessed:
The Uchiha clan,
The Hyuga clan,
The Uzumaki clan—
all rebelling together, fighting against the Third Hokage, destroying Konoha from within…
What kind of faces would those two "ancestors" make?
"Just thinking about it makes me excited," Menma muttered with a grin, feeling his brain practically tremble with anticipation.
Even if Naruto was the protagonist—
He wouldn't be able to stop him.
Inside the Hokage Office
Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Naruto through the Telescope Technique as the boy ran home from the park.
His aged face remained calm and unreadable.
From a drawer, he pulled out a background report compiled by the Intelligence Division.
"Menma…" he murmured, reading the details gathered from the orphanage.
The report concluded:
Primary chakra nature: Fire.
Possesses ninja aptitude.
Everything indicated he was nothing more than an ordinary war orphan.
"If only the other child had survived," Hiruzen muttered while lighting his pipe, "Naruto might not have been so lonely."
Smoke curled lazily through the office.
He recalled the day Kushina was confirmed to be pregnant—with twins.
The joy on Minato's face back then.
To ensure a safe delivery, Hiruzen had even arranged for his wife Biwako to assist.
And yet—
During the Nine-Tails Incident, when Hiruzen rushed to the battlefield, he found only Minato and Kushina—both pierced by the beast's claws inside the sealing barrier.
And the crying infant Naruto.
The other child was nowhere to be found.
If he hadn't been taken away by some unknown figure, then he had likely died that night.
"Three years old… it's about time Naruto begins to understand different people and ideas," Hiruzen mused, stroking the brim of his Hokage hat.
"It's time he learns the Will of Fire."
Watching through the crystal ball as Naruto lay on his bed with a small, contented smile, the Third Hokage began pondering—
What kind of approach would best make the boy rely on him, trust him, and see him as family?
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