Chapter 22 - Innately Evil...
"Little Naruto, remember to follow the book and learn properly. No more diving into rivers on your own."
Yugao handed the book to little Naruto, who was lying on his bed with a vacant, thousand-yard stare, and explained that from now on, the Third Hokage himself would be handling bath time.
Little Naruto's dead eyes slowly came back to life.
No more Acorn Kappa encounters. Ever.
After Yugao left, he sat up in bed.
Thanks to his healing ability, the red marks from the scrubbing had long since faded only the psychological damage remained.
"Hmm... On Chakra Control (Student Edition)?"
"Big Sis told me to take good care of it. I'll hand it over to Sensei tonight."
In little Naruto's eyes, even though Hashirama occasionally made small errors during training like accidentally knocking himself backward while channeling chakra, or being the reason Naruto ended up in the river earlier today he was, on the whole, pretty reliable.
Besides, Big Sis had said this was the annotated edition personally written by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
Incredibly valuable.
Handing it to Sensei for safekeeping was obviously the right call.
Somewhere deep in the afterlife, Tobirama's soul shuddered for no reason it could identify.
If he had known what little Naruto was planning, he would have screamed, used Flying Thunder God to appear instantly, knocked Naruto gently unconscious, and reclaimed his precious annotated first edition on the spot.
Leave it with Big Brother? That's the same as throwing it into a dog kennel.
Back in the day, he'd abandon his own administrative work halfway through to go running off with that insufferable Madara, leaving me to sort through everything alone. Files scattered everywhere. Stacked carelessly. Crumpled at the corners.
Not dirty just absolute chaos.
A moment of silence for this book.
"Oh! Another one of Tobirama's books! Let me see, let me see!"
The moment Hashirama heard it was his little brother's work, he immediately abandoned the wooden horse he'd been galloping around on, scooped up a small Kurama, and came sprinting over.
Kurama: I despise humans with no concept of personal space. Especially cheerful ones.
"Come on, show me!"
Hashirama flipped to the first page and immediately zeroed in on the heavily blacked-out section of text.
His curiosity became almost physical.
"Oh wait, I think I've actually read this book before!"
He clapped his hands, eyes lighting up.
"Really? Then what does it say after 'Evil'?"
Little Naruto pointed at the visible word and looked up curiously.
Hashirama scratched the back of his head.
He felt it probably wasn't appropriate to say.
After all, Tobirama had written it.
The question Tobirama had clearly been answering: Define 'evil,' and explain, with examples, why the answer is the Uchiha clan.
During the war, the feud between the Senju and Uchiha clans had been deep and complicated but thankfully, two particular individuals had changed that history together.
Frankly, if either of those two had been born a woman, the other Four Great Nations probably wouldn't exist anymore.
The original unedited text of that blacked-out section had read something like:
"The evil Uchiha clan is hereby forbidden from accessing this annotated training manual, which the great Senju clan developed specifically for Konoha's next generation!
You are unworthy! Furthermore tell your clan leader to stay away from my older brother!!!"
After Hashirama had accidentally spotted it, he had forcibly edited it out.
The annotated edition was never formally published.
"It says... evil people aren't allowed to read this book."
Hashirama said this with a straight face.
Kurama could smell the lie from across the sealed space.
It didn't even need more than one tail to figure out who the original text had been referring to. Back when Tobirama had been doing his research, he'd frequently consulted Mito and every single time, without fail, the phrase "those evil Uchiha" had come up at least two or three times per conversation.
Kurama had simply grown used to it.
"Really? Then why is the smudge so long? What you said was only a few words!"
Little Naruto was deeply skeptical. The length of that black ink did not match the explanation at all.
"It's true. Back then, Sensei personally... watched as my foolish younger self painted over that section."
"He said that becoming a shinobi means you carry darkness within you."
"But in reality, shinobi aren't evil. We're human too and humans come in all shapes and sizes."
Hashirama said this with a gentle, earnest smile.
Little Naruto stared at him.
No wonder Madara was completely taken in by this man for so long.
He's simultaneously sharp and completely oblivious a genuine paradox.
"...Oh. Okay. I get it."
Little Naruto nodded, thoroughly outmaneuvered by the First Hokage's silver tongue.
Hashirama stroked his gradually lengthening hair with quiet satisfaction and turned to the next page.
A brief aside: why had little Naruto started growing his hair long?
Two reasons.
First his teacher, Senju Hashirama, had long hair.
And the way it swept dramatically around him when he used Wood Release was, in little Naruto's opinion, the coolest thing he had ever seen. So he'd decided to grow his own out.
Second the village barber did not particularly welcome little Naruto.
Naruto had a reasonable concern that if he walked in, it might not be his hair that ended up getting cut.
More realistically, the scissors would probably get stuck halfway through, Nine-Tails chakra would surge reflexively, and the entire barbershop would cease to exist.
"Hmm.
It says here that you must first learn to guide chakra smoothly through your own body. Chakra that a beginner has just started generating is unstable there's significant loss during use, and the results can be unreliable."
Hashirama stroked his chin thoughtfully. Had it been like this for him when he was young?
He supposed that at first, using ninjutsu had required real effort.
But after a few months, most techniques had needed only a handful of hand seals.
And eventually he'd simply clapped his hands, and whatever he imagined would appear.
That was a testament to Hashirama's extraordinary mastery over his own chakra.
But little Naruto was still a child. He genuinely needed to build his foundation step by step.
The book's recommended starting point: for students with a basic chakra foundation already established, begin with tree-climbing training.
What followed was a detailed list of tips and techniques for maintaining chakra control while climbing.
Most of the annotations came from Tobirama and Mito.
A few had been contributed by Madara and a Hyuga clan elder.
Madara's contributions had been circled in red by Tobirama, with a handwritten note alongside:
"Worth considering but do not allow the evil Uchiha clan's influence to corrupt you."
True to Tobirama's personal writing style —
blunt, precise, and absolutely saturated with carefully documented disdain for the Uchiha clan.
Right then. Tree climbing it is.
Now how tall of a tree should I give little Naruto.
Hashirama pondered this with great seriousness.
Under the combined gaze of little Naruto who looked completely stunned and Kurama who registered three parts exasperation, two parts genuine fear, and five parts delighted anticipation a tree erupted from the ground of the sealed space.
It grew, and kept growing, until it stood a full head taller than Kurama's nine-tailed form.
"Alright, kid.
Once you can climb this tree all the way to the top, we'll go back to water-walking practice."
Little Naruto stared up at it. His legs felt slightly weak.
But his teacher's warm, sunny smile looked down at him and somehow, that was enough.
"Okay! I'll give it everything I've got!"
Kurama slowly covered its face with one enormous paw.
He'd really been had.
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End of Chapter..