Naruto pestered Hiromi, wanting him to say who his father was. However, Hiromi did not say it. After all, once it was said, the entire situation would collapse.
Hiruzen would collapse because he had treated the son of the Fourth Hokage, a hero of Konoha, in such a manner.
The villagers of Konoha would collapse because they could not forget the hateful things they had done to the son of the Fourth Hokage.
Konoha would collapse—firstly because the ninjas would be lost, wondering what they were protecting by serving such a village and secondly because the Uchiha clan would take the opportunity to stage a Coup détat.
In the end, only the other villages coveting Konoha would benefit. They would seize Konoha's superior geographical resources and build their own hidden villages upon its ruins.
And the Uchiha clan, after Konoha's collapse, would naturally not be able to remain unscathed.
The Land of Whirlpools was incredibly powerful, with Fuinjutsu unrivaled in the world, yet it was still destroyed. If it was true for the Fuinjutsu of the Land of Whirlpools, it was even more so for the Uchiha's Sharingan.
Ultimately, Hiromi only took Naruto to have a good meal before sending him back.
This scene left the silver-haired Anbu bewildered. 'What on earth is this kid doing?'
Everyone was bewildered, but only the High Command of Konoha had exceptionally grim expressions.
Because only they knew that Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
—
Hokage Building.
In the corridor, the sound of footsteps accompanied by a cane made a series of intimidating thuds.
Soon, the door to the Hokage Office was slammed open, as if a gust of wind had made a sharp whooshing sound.
"Hiruzen!"
Hiruzen puffed on his pipe and looked at Danzo before him, asking, "Is something the matter?"
Danzo stated grimly, "Today, an Uchiha made contact with that demon fox."
Though it was a statement, Hiruzen understood the underlying implication the moment he heard it.
But he didn't take the bait. Instead, he took a drag from his pipe, exhaled a thick cloud of white smoke, and said, "I already know."
Danzo acted as if he didn't hear the refusal in Hiruzen's words and said vehemently, "The Uchiha clan is becoming more and more arrogant. If this continues, the Uchiha clan will stage a Coup détat sooner or later."
Hiruzen's worries seemed to drift like the smoke. He took a puff of his pipe and gave a perfunctory "Mm," his gaze distant, looking at nothing in particular, his thoughts unknown.
This greatly dissatisfied Danzo. He lifted his cane slightly and brought it down with a thud, as if commanding Hiruzen to listen to him seriously.
Hiruzen looked at him calmly and asked, "Is there anything else?"
Danzo's hand gripped his cane so tightly it creaked, his eyes revealing a flash of ruthlessness. But eventually, he backed down.
He no longer thought he could use this opportunity to push Hiruzen to eliminate the Uchiha. Instead, he stated his other objective.
"Hand over that fox brat to Root."
Hiruzen answered decisively, "No."
Danzo stared at Hiruzen with a chilling gaze. "Then are you just going to let the Uchiha make contact?"
Hiruzen naturally could not let the Uchiha clan make contact with Naruto, but he also could not let Danzo get involved. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was the village's most powerful weapon. He would not let anyone get close easily, nor would he let Danzo, who had gouged out Uchiha eyes, get near.
"I have my own methods."
With this sentence from Hiruzen, Danzo left in a rage.
...
Night.
Naruto stayed in his small rented room. He didn't have high demands for where he lived but he was always unable to eat well.
As for money, he had enough. However, the villagers wouldn't sell to him, and his personality wasn't one to steal, nor did he think that he could.
He didn't know where the villagers' disgust toward him came from, but he knew of the greatness of grandpa Hokage.
Everyone liked grandpa Hokage. Therefore, as long as he became the Hokage, everyone would come to like him. Thus, his dream was to become the Hokage and make everyone like him.
Knock. Knock.
A knock on the door sounded.
Immediately after, a familiar voice came.
"Naruto, are you asleep?"
Naruto's eyes lit up, and he nimbly climbed out of bed to open the door.
"Grandpa Hokage!" He shouted excitedly.
Hiruzen chuckled, picked up Naruto, and walked into Naruto's room.
He asked Naruto a few cliché questions: "Have you been good lately?" "Have you made any friends?" "What do you want to do in the future?"
After confirming that Naruto was the same as before, Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief. Following that, he asked Naruto to tell him how he had spent his day.
Naruto naturally told him everything. When he mentioned eating with a kid who could walk with his eyes closed, drool even ran from the corner of his lips.
It was so delicious!
The Akimichi clan's barbecue was super tasty!
If it were him alone, even if he had money, the others wouldn't let him in. But today was strange, everyone's focus was on that kid with his eyes closed.
He was clearly very nice, so why did everyone seem so afraid of him?
Hiruzen seemed happy that Naruto had made a new friend, and he smiled inadvertently. "That person is very powerful. My Hokage Building was destroyed by him, and many houses in the village were also destroyed by him, causing huge losses to the village."
"Ah? Then are they afraid of him because..." Naruto was stunned.
Was that person a bad guy after all?
Hiruzen nodded slightly and smiled. "Naruto, your dream is to become the Hokage, right?"
Naruto said excitedly, "Yes. I want to become the Fifth Hokage."
Hiruzen said with regret, "But the Hokage cannot be friends with bad people."
Although Naruto felt something was a little off, with his brain that had been manipulated for years, he couldn't figure it out, so he said, "I'm not friends with him."
Upon hearing this, the smile on Hiruzen's face became even broader.
But what he didn't know was that Naruto quietly said a sentence in his heart: "I have to pay him back for the meal he treated me to."