Naruto, my father's name is Uchiha Madara.

Page 2

Naruto excitedly announced, "Iruka-nii said drinking more milk will make you grow taller!"

Madara looked at the shabby room through Naruto's eyes—the peeling paint, the moldy tatami mats, and the dead potted plants on the windowsill.

Even the most destitute Uchiha clan members during the Warring States period wouldn't live in a place like this.

"Hmph, Konoha has become so poor?"

Naruto, who was putting on the last orange jacket, tilted his head upon hearing this: "Because I'm a monster, that's what everyone says."

Hearing Naruto's words, which were completely without malice, Madara felt a fire rise in his heart for some reason.

The shopkeeper grabbed a broom as soon as she saw Naruto.

"Get out!" She swung a broom and hit Naruto on the back. "I haven't settled the score with you for the soy sauce you stole last time!"

Naruto shielded his head, the coin clattering to the ground between his fingers: "I didn't steal it! That was the Third Hokage..."

"Liar!" The broom struck Naruto's knee hard, and he staggered out the door.

The villagers passing by sneered, and someone deliberately spat phlegm at his feet.

Madara, who saw all this through Naruto's eyes, maintained his cold expression, but his hands unconsciously clenched.

He had witnessed his clansmen die at the hands of the Thousand Hands Clan.

I have seen children torn to pieces by ninjas from an enemy country.

But I've never seen such malice, like being cut with a dull knife.

Especially for a defenseless child.

“Kill them.” Madara’s voice was as cold as ice. “One Fire Release technique is enough to…”

"It's okay!"

Naruto suddenly spoke loudly, it was unclear whether he was comforting Madara or himself.

He got up, dusted himself off his pants, and bowed to the proprietress, saying, "Sorry to bother you!"

Ban watched in shock as the blond brat picked up the scattered coins, even retrieving one that had fallen into the gutter.

What shocked him even more was that Naruto had a smile on his face when he turned around.

"The old man on the block ahead will sell me milk!" Naruto explained softly, "though it's a bit more expensive..."

At this moment, Madara couldn't help but recall why he and Hashirama had created Konoha Village.

Isn't the goal simply to spare children from suffering and allow them to live happily in the sunshine?

But this little brat in front of me, despite living in a peaceful era, suffers just as much harm as the children of the Warring States period.

As dusk fell, Naruto sat on the swing, sipping his hard-earned milk.

He had a large bruise on his knee, which he had sustained that afternoon when he was pushed down the stairs by several older children.

“They didn’t do it on purpose,” Naruto said, swinging his leg. “I just lost my balance…”

“Foolish,” Ban interrupted him. “That was clearly a deliberate shove. If that happened in the Warring States period, we would have fought back.”

Naruto blinked, his clear eyes completely devoid of malice: "Why? Wouldn't it be better if everyone was happy?"

Ban did not answer.

He is reassessing this container—no, this child.

Everything that happened during the day made him realize that being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki brought Naruto more than just loneliness.

It's a slow death, and this little brat can still smile foolishly at the sunset.

“Listen, kid,” Ban suddenly said, “starting tonight, I’m going to teach you something.”

Naruto's eyes lit up: "Really? Dad's going to teach me ninjutsu? Like those on the Hokage Rock..."

"Shut up and listen carefully." Madara's voice carried an undeniable authority. "What I'm going to teach you isn't child's play ninjutsu, but how to survive in malice—the true survival method of a Sengoku period ninja."

When the moonlight shone on the abandoned training ground, Madara appeared as a phantom that only Naruto could see.

His body was a translucent, dark blue, and his long hair swayed slightly in the night breeze.

“First, remember these three ironclad rules.” Ban held up three fingers. “First, always assume everyone is an enemy; second, always test all food for poison; third, stay alert even when you sleep.”

Naruto nodded as if he understood, then suddenly sneezed.

The night dew soaked his worn-out coat, but his eyes shone with an astonishing light.

Ban frowned, looking at the little boy's thin frame, then suddenly changed his mind: "Tonight, I'll teach you the most basic thing—how to fall down."

"Huh?" Naruto looked puzzled. "I already knew that! I even learned it today..."

"That's called wrestling, not a tactical takedown," Ban sneered. "Watch closely."

The next second, Naruto felt his body being taken over by an unfamiliar chakra.

His right hand automatically protected the back of his neck, and his left leg bent to cushion the impact.

The person fell backward in a strangely fluid motion, rolled twice on the ground, and then immediately crouched down.

"What... what is this?" Naruto looked at his hand in surprise.

"Uchiha-style Body Retrieval Technique," Madara's voice carried a hint of pride, "...allows you to fall from a ten-meter-high tree without getting hurt."

For the next two hours, Naruto repeatedly fell, rolled, and got up.

His clothes were covered in mud, and his knees had new injuries, but his smile grew brighter and brighter.

"Dad's amazing!" Naruto cheered as he got up for the umpteenth time. "Now it won't hurt if I get pushed down again!"

Ban's expression froze.

He originally intended to teach how to minimize damage when encountering enemy ninjas, but this brat thought of...

"I'll teach you to identify poisons tomorrow," Ban suddenly said. "Now, go back to sleep."

On the way back to the orphanage, Naruto limped but was in high spirits.

He suddenly stopped as he passed a shop with its lights on.

Two figures, one large and one small, were reflected in the shop window—a blond boy and a ghostly blue shadow floating behind him.

Naruto secretly reached out to tug at Madara's sleeve, but his hand passed right through the semi-transparent chakra.

"Does Dad get cold too?" Naruto asked abruptly.

Looking at this bruised and battered brat who cared about the enemy, Madara suddenly understood Hashirama's thoughts.

Perhaps that naive idealist had already seen through one thing: in endless war, the first thing to be lost is always the smiles of children.

“Idiot,” Madara said softly, but gently pressed Naruto’s shoulder with his chakra. “Hurry up, it’s going to rain.”

A light drizzle did indeed begin to fall from the night sky.

As Madara watched Naruto skip and hop away, he felt a strange emotion for the first time regarding this absurd "father-son" relationship.

Deep within the seal, the Nine-Tails, with one eye open, thoughtfully observed everything.

Chapter 3 The Third Generation's Test

Before the morning mist had completely dissipated, Naruto was already squatting in the pine forest behind Konoha, clutching a few brightly colored mushrooms in his small hands.

Dewdrops slid down the mushroom caps, reflecting a dangerously beautiful hue in the morning sun.

"Never touch the one with the red umbrella and white stem," Madara's voice echoed in Naruto's mind. "Eating this kind of poisonous mushroom will cause your intestines to rupture within two hours."

Naruto shuddered and almost threw the mushroom away.

He carefully drew the mark Ban had taught him on the mud with a twig—a crooked skull with an X next to it.

"Then, what about this?" Naruto parted a clump of bushes, revealing several round, white berries that looked like pearls.

Ban replied, "Stay away! That's 'Widow's Tears,' it will... if it touches your skin..."

Before Madara could finish explaining, an old voice came from behind, startling Naruto so much that he fell to the ground.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had appeared behind him at some point, the smoke rising from his pipe standing out conspicuously in the morning mist.

"Third...Third Hokage!" Naruto hurriedly wiped away the skull pattern on the ground with his foot. "I was...picking mushrooms!"

The third generation's gaze swept over the colorful fungi, the shadows between his wrinkles deepening: "Who taught you to identify these?"

Naruto's eyes darted around, because Madara had warned him not to reveal his existence.

After thinking it over, Naruto could only stammer a lie: "It's...it's from a book! The Complete Book of Konoha Plants!"

The Third Hokage crouched down, picked up a "Widow's Tear," and then looked at Naruto's palm.

Surprisingly, his fingers were covered with a thin layer of chakra, which protected him from the toxins.

This is definitely not a level of chakra control that a child of this age could master.

“This book,” the third generation said slowly, “is the seventh one from the right in the third row of the library. It was only checked out three times last year.”

His gaze suddenly sharpened. "And you, Naruto, have never been to the library."

Naruto, whose lie had been exposed, felt cold sweat trickling down his back.

He could feel Madara's chakra enveloping his thoughts like armor, but the Third Hokage's gaze seemed to penetrate everything.

"It's a seal," Naruto said aloud what Madara had told him in his mind, "survival knowledge left behind by the Fourth Hokage."

The third generation narrowed his eyes slightly.

He stared intently at Naruto's small face, his right hand already subtly forming the "未" (unknown) hand seal.

"The Fourth Hokage?" the Third Hokage asked softly.

"The Fourth Hokage...?"

However, Naruto was unfamiliar with this term and looked puzzled.

This made Ban cover his face; it seemed that getting a child to lie was still too difficult.

“Repeat to me, it’s the information left by the Fourth Hokage in the seal that gives you the ability to protect yourself.”

Naruto tried his best to finish his sentence, but when the words came out, they came out as: "Um, it seems to be some kind of information... um... that gives me the ability to protect myself."

Seeing this, the Third Hokage realized something. Naruto was still a child and couldn't express it clearly, but it was probably some kind of backup plan left by Minato.