Knock, knock…
"Naruto-chan, are you home?"
"Grandpa is here to see you."
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, followed by the voice of Sandaime.
"Coming."
Naruto hurriedly shoveled a couple more bites of food into his mouth, tossed the lunchbox into the sink, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and walked to the door.
Before opening it, he rubbed his face with his small hands and put on a wide-eyed innocent expression.
It really was a challenge for him, who has the soul of an adult, to keep acting like a naive kid in front of the old man...
'Please let the Academy start soon!'
Naruto shouted in his mind and slowly opened the door.
The moment he saw Sandaime, Naruto subconsciously stepped back, made the Kamehameha gesture with his hands, and shouted, "Let's duel!"
"Go, Kunkun Beast! I choose you!"
"Use tackle attack!"
Naruto threw an old hen at Sandaime, but the effect was not effective.
As the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the so-called Professor, there was no way Sandaime would be fazed by such a scene.
Not to mention that it was just an ordinary old hen summoned with Summoning Technique.
Sandaime deftly grabbed the chicken by the neck, gave it a gentle twist, and tucked it under his belt.
What puzzled Sandaime the most was...
He doesn't remember when it started, but one day, when he came to visit Naruto, the one and a half year old Naruto suddenly summoned a chicken and threw it to him.
Just like the scene when he walked in just now, he said some strange words while giving himself a Kun... hen.
As for why he kept taking the hens away...
At first, he wanted to take the hen back home to see what was different about it.
As a result, after receiving the research report from the Anbu, it was said that the chickens were almost exactly the same as the chickens sold in the local market outside.
He really didn't know whether he should marvel at Naruto's talent in Summoning Technique, or at the fact that Naruto would never have to worry about food and drink in the future.
Eventually, Sandaime convinced himself that Naruto was just being considerate of his poor old grandpa.
After all, he was the closest thing Naruto had to family.
…
Regarding this old man who comes to my house from time to time...
Naruto naturally would not tell Sandaime what he really meant by all this.
Giving him a 'Kunkun Beast' was just his subtle way of mocking the guy.
It's a little jab at the Hokage who always lurked in the shadows, controlling the Konoha PR machine to suppress criticism against his precious 'brother'.
Naturally, Naruto just wanted him to take the damn chicken and go away.
Of course, Naruto would never say such things to his face.
Whenever Sandaime asked him why he gave the chicken, he would always say with a smile, "Of course I gave it to Grandpa to nourish his body!"
As the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha Village and a widower in his seventies…
While working diligently, Sandaime still remembers to use his crystal ball to 'care about' the daily lives of the young girls in the village.
Such a serious work attitude inevitably makes this old man in his seventies look as vicissitudes of life as a man in his eighties.
So it's reasonable to give him a hen to nourish his body, right?
Moreover, every time this old man come here, he would cough from time to time.
Not to mention that overwhelming smell of 'old person' Sandaime brought with him… Every time he left, Naruto had to scrub down the whole place.
He was still a kid after all. Getting sick wasn't on the agenda.
…
"Naruto-chan, here's this month's allowance."
"And this too..."
Sandai took out three bills and an envelope from his pocket, then placed them on the table.
"Naruto-chan is six years old now, so it's time for you to go to the Academy."
This table, along with the sofa, bed, fridge, and practically everything else in the house, had all been summoned by Naruto.
What's even more outrageous is that there is a furnace in the room!
If Sandaime hadn't warned Naruto not to start any open fires in the house, he'd genuinely be worried Naruto might burn the place down.
When he'd first seen Naruto summoning all this stuff, he'd thought that Naruto had awakened some rare Kekkei Genkai.
He'd even considered grooming him for the future, but then he thought that for a Shinobi, this ability's best-case use in the Shinobi World was probably just logistics.
He wanted to make the Kyubi's Jinchuriki uses his weird Kekkei Genkai to provide logistics for the village?
If this gets out, it would be strange if the other villages don't laugh their heads off!
Sandaime had seen a lot in his long life, more than most Shinobi.
But looking at Naruto...
Well, the furniture in the house is acceptable.
But chickens, ducks, cows, pigs, bread, and wheat? It's a bit too outrageous for a Shinobi.
Even more absurd were things like dirt, snowballs, blocks of mud, seeds…
You are the son of the Yellow Flash, Yondaime Hokage, and also the member of the Uzumaki Clan and the Kyubi's Jinchuriki...
You were destined to become one of Konoha's strongest!
Not to become a damn farmer raising livestock!
What the hell kind of broken Kekkei Genkai was this!?
Was this even still considered a Summoning Technique?
And don't even get him started on the wooden planks, bricks, stones, sticks, wooden hoes, wooden axes...
No matter how hard he looks at it, the only remotely weapon-like thing was that the wooden axe.
Was Naruto planning to fight enemies by summoning an axe while everyone else was using actual Ninjutsu?
Everyone is all Shinobi, so why are you the only one with an axe?
Are you planning to chop down trees mid-fight to make the enemy die laughing?
Or do you expect to break through someone's defense with a wooden axe?
If this gets out, won't people say that Konoha is so poor that they can't even give their Shinobi a kunai?
So... what was the actual use of this Summoning Technique?
Everyone else was out here using powerful Ninjutsu and Taijutsu to make a name for themselves.
You're the Kyubi's Jinchuriki! You're supposed to be a ninja in the future, not a farmer!
When Hiruzen got home that day, he nearly tore out the last few hairs left on his head.
And yet, no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't figure out what else this Summoning Technique could be used for… other than farming.
"Thank you, Grandpa. I'm really looking forward to going to the Academy."
Naruto said as he began to carve a miniature Minecraft model.
At one point, Hiruzen had even suspected that Minato had hit the child's head when he was saving him, which led to his strange behavior now.
However, what Hiruzen didn't expect was that the child's head wasn't just hit, but it was his soul being replaced.
"Naruto-chan, make sure to go out more during the day. Try to make some new friends instead of staying cooped up at home all the time."
Hiruzen's eyes were full of kindness, but his mind was full of confusion.
After all, when Minato and Kushina were young, they weren't as reclusive as Naruto.
Carving wooden models all day at home? What kind of lifestyle was that?
Did he have some sort of grudge against wood?
What kind of genes did he even inherit?
Naruto's face stiffened slightly when he heard that.
'Go out?'
'What am I going out for? Do you want me to be criticized by those haters?'
'Or should I go out and feel everyone's 'kind' gaze?'
'I'd rather stay home and watch the fox.'
"I know, Grandpa."
Naruto tilted his head and responded innocently, but in his heart...
'Get lost, you crusty old fart!'
Glancing at the clock on the table, Naruto decided to finish carving the miniature model first.
Once it was dark and the streets were clear, he'd head out for a stroll.
After all, with the village leader himself coming to check in this many times, if he didn't show some cooperation, it's a problem of attitude.
It's just that Hiruzen is indeed too annoying…
Ever since Naruto came to this world, this old man hadn't brought him food consistently, and even had him under surveillance.
And in Konoha, there were even rumors spreading that he was the reincarnation of the Kyubi...
How was any normal person supposed to tolerate that?
If it weren't for being too young and too weak right now…
Naruto would've already held the diamond sword against Hiruzen's neck and said to him, "Old man, don't think I won't use this blade!"
And every single time he was immersed in his game, the old guy just had to knock on the door.
Which meant Naruto had to stop whatever he was doing and clean up the house to greet his 'Grandpa'.
Of course, after getting used to it, Naruto felt that there was no need to clean up the house to receive this old man, so he was too lazy to do it.
Three years ago, when Naruto went out during the day, got bombarded by a bunch of those 'kind-hearted' stares.
After hearing the 'praises' from his haters, he decided to go out less.
As soon as these people saw him, they went into a frenzy. Who could stand that?
He might as well just stay holed up for ten years or so, planting crops at home.
No matter how wild the rumors got, if no one saw him, the haters wouldn't organize any smear campaigns, right?
And it's not like the Anbu would let people show up at his doorstep.
If these people dare to come, he'd go full crazy and hang himself outside a villager's house. Let's see if Hiruzen can deal with them when the time comes.
By the time ten or eight years have passed, no matter how powerful the rumor is, it would fade into mere village legend.
Besides, it's not like he never went out, he just went out late at night.
Three years ago, he even sent the little loli Hinata home.
Naruto thought about how he acted like a child in front of Hiruzen.
It's the only way to make Hiruzen feel at ease and allow himself to play games is to play games.
After all, in Konoha, it's reasonable for a three-year-old kid like him to play with building blocks, right?
Although Hiruzen had mistakenly thought that he was crafting a scale model of the village.
But this can be chalked up as the imagination of children.
So what if he was a little reclusive? The last reclusive person like that, Orochimaru, even defected.
At best, he is just a person who has no ambition to make progress and is wasting his time on trivial matters.
What can he do to him?
After seeing off Hiruzen, Naruto finally noticed the Academy's entrance letter sitting on the table...