I, Naruto Uzumaki, don't need your approval.

Naruto clenched his fist. Strengthening the seal would be a good thing for an ordinary Jinchuriki, but not for him.

At that moment, in the real world, Hinata brought a plate of peeled fruit to Naruto and said cautiously, "Naruto-kun must be hungry. Here, have some fruit."

……

In the hospital corridor, the Third Hokage and Kakashi stood together, watching the flow of people coming and going.

Taking out a lighter, the Third Hokage said while smoking, "Kakashi, ask whatever questions you have. There are no other outsiders here, so there's no need to keep them to yourself."

Kakashi looked at the Third Hokage and took a deep breath: "Third Hokage, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in the village should be Minato-sensei's posthumous child, right?"

The Third Hokage exhaled a puff of smoke and nodded: "That's right, Naruto is Minato's child. Before his death, Minato sealed the Nine-Tails into Naruto, making his child with Kushina the village's new Jinchuriki."

After easily obtaining the answer, Kakashi fell silent.

Over the years, he had been carrying out missions in the shadows and had heard rumors about the fox spirit, but he had never been able to connect with Minato's child. He thought that the child was being well taken care of by the village.

But reality differed somewhat from what he expected.

"Third Hokage, if that's the case, why don't you take the initiative to reveal Naruto's identity?"

The Third Hokage glanced at Kakashi and said, "Minato made many enemies back then. What would they do if they knew Naruto was Minato's child? As for the rumors about the Nine-Tailed Fox, I was indeed negligent."

After a moment's hesitation, the Third Hokage continued:

"Furthermore, if we tell Naruto his true identity now, I'm worried he won't be able to handle the huge psychological shock. It's better to keep it a secret until the right time."

"Yes, Lord Sandai."

Kakashi did not refute the Third Hokage. He felt that this approach was not appropriate, but there was really no better way at the moment.

After all, this truth is far too cruel for Naruto right now.

Chapter 22 Future Plans

Lying in his hospital bed, eating fruit fed to him by Hinata, Naruto was enjoying this leisurely moment.

In his past life, he was a single man who had never experienced the care of a girl.

This is the first time in my life, both past and present.

Using his ability to sense malice, Naruto waited until the Third Hokage and Kakashi left the hospital before asking Hinata about what had happened in the past few days.

As Hinata hesitated in her reply, Naruto gradually frowned.

Despite his intervention, the Cloud Village delegation incident still occurred.

However, this time the leader of Kumogakure didn't kidnap Hinata, but rather Hinata's younger sister Hanabi, who was less than a year old. The rest of the story unfolded exactly as he remembered.

In order to save his daughter, Hiashi Hyuga killed the leader of Kumogakure and was questioned by the delegation.

Ultimately, under pressure from the village and higher-ups, the Hyuga clan was forced to hand over Hiashi's younger brother, Hizashi, as a scapegoat, who became a sacrifice to witness the peace treaty between the two countries.

Naruto is not a member of the Hyuga clan and does not wish to comment on the merits or demerits of the Caged Bird Seal system.

However, the Third Hokage's performance greatly disappointed him. He learned from Kurama that the ninja who had harassed the Anbu that day was none other than a member of the Kumogakure delegation.

This indicates that the Hidden Cloud Village also has the intention to take action against him.

But the Third Hokage, with the Hyuga main family and Jinchuriki under threat one after another, still chose to compromise with the Kumogakure delegation. Wasn't he afraid of being called a coward by the village ninjas?

Or is it that the public hopes to achieve a false peace through this situation?

Putting himself in Naruto's shoes, he felt as if Konoha had been slapped hard in the face and lost the dignity of the number one ninja village.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Naruto looked at the embarrassed Hinata: "Hinata, your sister was just kidnapped. Have you forgotten what I said before and secretly run away again?"

Hinata shook her head, her tone firm: "That's not how it is... I have Father's permission. As long as I finish my homework, I can manage my time freely, as long as I go back before dark..."

Looking at Hinata, who was no longer hesitant in her speech but was still a little shy, Naruto smiled from the bottom of his heart.

It seems Hinata is unaware of the fate that awaits Hizashi after he is handed over. The Hyuga clan has protected the main branch very well, but Hinata's father's willingness to allow her to go out suggests that he has probably guessed her true identity.

Is this a counterattack by Hyuga Hiashi against the Third Hokage after he was forced to hand over his younger brother?

The carefree time passed quickly. Naruto and Hinata talked a lot, but eventually they had to part ways.

After watching Hinata leave under the protection of the main family's guards, only one person and one fox remained in the ward.

He picked up several ninjutsu scrolls left behind by the Third Hokage, which contained training methods for several C-rank Wind Release ninjutsu.

It covers various ways of utilizing wind-style chakra, making it the most comprehensive wind-style ninjutsu he has encountered so far.

It must be said that the Third Hokage was never stingy with his training of ninjas, but these Wind Release ninjutsu felt inferior to Rasengan.

He prefers simple and brutal domination to flashy techniques.

After putting down the Wind Release scroll, Naruto, though eager to improve his strength, naturally couldn't train in the hospital.

In the afternoon, the Third Hokage reappeared in the hospital room.

After confirming that Naruto had fully recovered, the Third Hokage handled his discharge procedures and delivered a key to him.

The room where Naruto previously lived is no longer suitable for human habitation and is currently undergoing emergency repairs.

After moving to his new home, Naruto felt awkward no matter how he looked around. Not only was the room not tidy enough, but the refrigerator was also not full of food, which gave him a strong sense of crisis.

With the thought that he had to fill the refrigerator, Naruto went out onto the street.

Familiar streets, familiar pedestrians.

As Naruto prepared to ignore the stares of passersby as usual, he suddenly sensed something was wrong.

The way the passersby were looking at him was very strange. If the villagers' eyes had just been filled with simple disgust before, now they were filled with fear, as if he were some kind of man-eating monster.

Ignore them.

Naruto greeted the unscrupulous merchant as he entered the familiar shop.

When Naruto was about to haggle as usual, the unscrupulous merchant proactively carried a pile of goods and placed them in front of him, somewhat awkwardly trying to ingratiate himself:

"Fox spirit... no, Lord Naruto, I'm giving all of these things to you, they're all free."

Naruto frowned, puzzled as to why a profit-driven, unscrupulous merchant would be so kind as to give him something.

To everyone's surprise, upon seeing Naruto frown, the unscrupulous merchant immediately knelt on the ground and slapped himself several times: "Lord Naruto, I deserve to die for what I did before. I shouldn't have sold you counterfeit goods. Please forgive my disrespect!"

Naruto seemed to be deep in thought. During his coma, rumors that were detrimental to him began to circulate in the village again.

Was it because the villagers saw him going berserk?

Naruto decided to get to the bottom of things, deliberately lowering his voice: "Boss, have there been any rumors about me circulating in the village these past few days?"

"I dare not say that those people went too far."

Are you sure you don't want to tell me?

Under Naruto's threat, the unscrupulous merchant finally revealed the rumors circulating in the village over the past few days.

After listening to the unscrupulous merchant's words, Naruto frowned, placed the money for the goods on the counter, and left the store with a grim expression, leaving the unscrupulous merchant trembling in fear.

Although Tianfeng is dead, he has brought considerable trouble to himself.

In order to deceive the three generations of elders, his rampage was witnessed by many villagers, further confirming his identity as a fox demon and verifying the rumors.

However, after seeing the road he had destroyed...

Before him, they dared not show any disgust, and their attitude became respectful, for fear that he might suddenly go berserk and kill them all.

A few days ago, when the villagers suspected that he was a fox spirit, they bullied and discriminated against him in every way, and even the children attacked him.

But after they learned that they were indeed fox spirits, their attitude became respectful, as if they were afraid of angering them.

Is this the true treatment of Jinchūriki?

Thinking of this, Naruto chuckled, unsure whether he was laughing at himself or at the villagers.

The Nine-Tails heard Naruto's self-deprecating remark and its voice echoed in the sealed space: "Naruto, this is the treatment of Jinchuriki, and also the treatment faced by Tailed Beasts. Don't you feel an urge to destroy everything?"

"It's a pity that the seal on you has been reinforced, preventing you from causing a great disturbance. What a shame."

"No, I still don't have the urge to destroy everything. I just feel sorry for the villagers. However, I suddenly have an urge to leave Konoha Village."

Naruto shook his head slightly. He hadn't lost his mind, nor was he a madman who wanted to destroy everything.

"Leave here?"

Kurama (the Nine-Tails) scoffed at these words, saying, "With your strength, how can you leave Konoha? What group would allow you to leave the village? Jinchuriki are the most valuable fighting force."

"Unless you can break the seal and fully accept my power, but you don't have that ability."

Naruto looked at Kurama and said seriously, "So I need to work harder. Only by growing to the maximum extent can I better accept your power, instead of going berserk because of a small amount of tailed beast chakra."

"There is another crucial question: why should I lend you my power?"

Nine-Tailed rolled its eyes and couldn't help but say, "Even if you escape, I will still be a prisoner inside you."

Naruto laughed and said, "Even as a prisoner, don't you want to see the wonderful world outside? I really yearn for the outside world and to see different scenery."

"Besides, I might be able to leave here without your help."

Chapter 23 The Unpopular Family

Kurama (the Nine-Tails) didn't believe Naruto could leave Konoha, but that didn't stop it from having wild fantasies.

As a tailed beast capable of sensing good and evil, Kurama (the Nine-Tails) hates cities with their complex human nature and is disgusted by the ubiquitous evil thoughts.

If there's a chance to go out and see the world with this kid, that would be a pretty good suggestion.

But can the tailed beasts really regain their freedom? Even Kurama (the Nine-Tails) is somewhat uncertain.

……

The next morning, Naruto brought the Wind Release scroll to a secluded woodland in the village.

After reading through the entire Wind Release scroll, he formed hand seals and summoned five or six shadow clones.

Unlike taijutsu, ninjutsu is the best choice when learning multiple ninjutsu techniques, using the Shadow Clone Technique to accelerate training.

This is due to the characteristic that after the shadow clone is dispelled, the memories will also return to the original body.

However, it should be noted that fatigue, like memory, will return to the body. Ordinary ninjas cannot train in this way, which is one of the benefits of the Uzumaki physique.

Having a large amount of chakra means you can do whatever you want.