Chapter 21 - Tobirama's Book
After enduring a brutal ordeal that made him question the value of life itself, little Naruto was finally freed from the merciless scrubbing of the Acorn Kappa Uncle.
"Big Sis... waaah..."
Naruto felt as though his whole body was simultaneously clean and unclean — physically spotless, yet spiritually scarred.
The moment he stepped out of the bathhouse, he threw himself into Yugao's arms.
Looking at little Naruto's flushed cheeks and big, watery eyes, Yugao felt a sudden and deeply uncomfortable thought creep into her mind.
Had something happened between Might Guy and Naruto during that hour-long bath?
Oh no. Oh NO. This would be a complete betrayal of Senpai Kakashi.
Wait. No. Stop. He's THREE years old.
How could Guy possibly have done anything to Naruto?
"Hey, Guy — what exactly did you do to little Naruto?!"
Yugao's tone came out slightly strange.
She'd just violently evicted a very inappropriate thought from her own head, and the residue was still affecting her voice.
Realistically, she didn't think Guy would ever lay a finger on Naruto.
If nothing else, Kakashi — his so-called best friend, the future ANBU Captain, the legendary Copy Ninja would absolutely not let him survive it.
Speaking of Kakashi though... white hair, mismatched eyes, one red and one dark, 181 centimeters tall...
...Huh. Actually.
I never expected Guy to have such refined taste. He's been fixated on Kakashi since they were kids.
You could almost call that dedication.
"Oh ho ho! I simply gave little Naruto a taste of the power of youth!"
Guy flashed his teeth.
"Hey someone notify the Captain."
Yugao turned sharply toward the ANBU posted in the tree. "There's an unidentified creature here who has committed an unforgivable offense against a Jinchuriki."
"WAIT hold on I just gave him a BACK SCRUB!!!"
Guy flailed urgently. He didn't know exactly what "unforgivable offense" meant in this context, but Yugao's tone made it devastatingly clear she had completely misunderstood.
"...Oh. A scrub. Just a scrub."
Yugao called the ANBU agent back down, pressed a hand to her chest, and exhaled slowly.
She had genuinely been afraid that little Naruto had been... subjected to something far worse.
"By the way," Guy said, shifting smoothly into a new topic, "I heard little Naruto has been training lately. Would you consider letting me take him under my wing? Let him experience some real youth?"
The Green Beast of Konoha extended this offer to Yugao with a winning smile.
Yugao considered this for approximately half a second.
She declined.
"I appreciate it, but I can't make that decision on my own. You'd have to ask..."
Naruto was still clinging to her, so she didn't finish the sentence. Guy understood perfectly.
"I see. What a shame."
He crouched down to Naruto's eye level.
"But don't be sad, little Naruto! You've got a long and brilliant youth ahead of you!"
"If you ever want to truly live — come find me."
Guy gave a thumbs-up. His teeth caught the sunlight and gleamed.
Naruto said nothing. But Yugao felt his arms tighten around her neck.
Ow.
"Alright, little Naruto. Let's go home."
Yugao picked him up, turned around, and headed out.
"Guy, thanks for today. I've already paid, so we'll be off."
She walked away with Naruto attached to her like a very small, very traumatized sloth.
"Ahh... the beauty of youth."
Might Guy watched their retreating figures with warm, glistening eyes. Even that brief parting glance from little Naruto had been enough to feel his vibrant, untamed youth radiating outward.
Naruto: I only opened my eyes for one second because I thought we'd already left. And I still saw those teeth.
How is this my life.
Little Naruto's expression as he looked back at the Acorn Kappa Uncle had begun to resemble the look one gives a known public menace.
"Don't cry, little Naruto.
We won't ask that uncle to bathe you again, okay?"
Yugao gently patted his back as they walked.
But then who would?
Naruto was still young if he accidentally went under in a bathhouse pool, that would be catastrophic. She couldn't just leave him unsupervised.
Her mind began to wander into increasingly absurd territory.
Breaking News: The Jinchuriki of Konoha — the mightiest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages — has drowned in a public bathhouse.
The resulting Nine-Tails incident topples the village. The Fourth Great Ninja War begins.
History books will record it as: The War That Started With a Bath.
Yugao shuddered and forcibly shut that train of thought down.
Maybe Captain Kakashi could bathe Naruto from now on?
No. That felt like a genuine waste of talent. The future leader of the ANBU should not be responsible for bathing a three-year-old.
What about Naruto?
No — he's been on missions.
She was still going in circles when the Third Hokage knocked on the door of her apartment.
"Yugao. I heard little Naruto fell into the river today. What happened?"
The moment Naruto had gone into the water, an ANBU agent had already reported it upward.
But upon hearing that Yugao had taken care of it and brought Naruto to the bathhouse, the Third Hokage had decided to wait until they were back.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. It happened like this..."
Yugao relayed almost exactly what Naruto had explained earlier.
"I see. A white-haired ninja uncle was spearfishing while standing on the water's surface."
The Third Hokage's lips twitched.
He hadn't expected that particular reason.
He'd given little Naruto more than enough money — why was the boy thinking about catching his own fish?
If he'd sent Naruto to buy fish at the market, the ANBU could have managed the situation despite the stares.
But the way those stall owners looked at little Naruto...
It genuinely irritated him.
So when Hashirama and Kurama had been working out what excuse Naruto should give, they had settled on this one.
Note: Little Naruto contributed 49% of this excuse. Kurama contributed 50%. Hashirama contributed 1%.
Hashirama: Why do I only get 1%?! I'm the one who proposed the water-walking training in the first place!
Kurama: And besides that initial suggestion, what exactly did you contribute to the excuse-making process?
Meanwhile, the actual excuse had been loosely inspired by a memory a white-haired figure once standing calmly on a river's surface, fishing with a spear.
Hashirama had been immediately swept away by the nostalgia of it.
"Tobirama... why didn't I just turn you into a pebble and skip you across the river to go be with Madara already?"
"Speaking of which has little Naruto managed to refine his chakra control yet?"
The Third Hokage asked, genuinely surprised that a child Naruto's age had gotten this far.
He'd been self-studying for less than two months.
"Ah — Hokage-sama, it was mentioned in a previous log report that little Naruto had already mastered that quite some time ago."
The Third Hokage blinked.
Then laughed, a little awkwardly.
"Ah. Right. Getting old really does affect the memory."
"Though I recall it only took me three days to master chakra control in my time."
Sarutobi then held out the book he'd brought On How to Refine Chakra Control: Student Edition.
"Give this to little Naruto tomorrow. Tell him to take his time and not rush."
"And next time little Naruto needs to go to the bathhouse I can come along and help. Old folks need to spend time with the children every now and then."
Yugao nodded and accepted the book.
"This copy has annotations written by my own teacher. Make sure Naruto takes it seriously."
The Third Hokage's teacher.
That would be the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju.
Yugao turned to the first page of the slim volume.
On How to Refine Chakra Control: Student Edition.
Written and Annotated by: Tobirama Senju.
There was another line of text below that — but it appeared to have been deliberately and thoroughly smudged out.
Only the first two characters remained visible.
Evil...
Yugao stared at it.
Could this be some kind of forbidden technique?
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End of Chapter..