For Naruto, this was one of the best moments of his life. He had friends at his house, they told stories to each other, and they ate instant ramen together.
Usually, Naruto would eat the instant ramen alone.
Then he would be alone in thought, imagining if he had parents, then his house wouldn't be this quiet.
He would be praised if he did something good, scolded if he did something wrong, eat together, if he came home there would be his parents welcoming him and if he left, there would be his parents seeing him off.
But Naruto knew, that wouldn't all happen to him.
Naruto hoped, that when he opened his eyes the next day, he could have parents.
But reality wasn't that sweet.
And when Naruto opened his eyes on the new day, the silence was still there.
"..."
"—ruto."
"Oh? Sorry, I didn't hear you earlier, hehehe..." Naruto said, who had returned to reality.
"..." Souji could only shake his head.
"So, do you always eat ramen? Don't you buy anything else?"
Naruto scratched his cheek, "Well... how do I put it..."
Naruto explained to Souji that he couldn't buy anything, because no one wanted to sell their goods to him.
Naruto also told Souji the reason, because he was the incarnation of a demon fox.
Souji, who heard that, was angry at Naruto.
"Do you consider yourself a demon fox?"
"..." Naruto wanted to answer, no. But he couldn't say it.
"B-but... they call me that..." Naruto said softly.
Souji sighed and let his emotions out with his breath. He looked at Naruto.
"Naruto, do I mean anything to you?" Souji asked.
Naruto looked at Souji, "... Friend... you are my friend..."
Souji, who heard that, nodded, "That's right, I am your friend. What about the people who hate you? Are they also your friends?"
Naruto shook his head, "No, they are not my friends."
"So they are just strangers to you, right?"
"Un." Naruto nodded his head.
"Exactly, they are strangers. While I am your friend." Souji added, "If I say, Naruto is not the incarnation of a demon fox, Naruto is Naruto. Will you believe me?"
"Of course, ttebayo! Because Souji is my friend."
Souji smiled, "So, Naruto. Whose words do you trust more, me as your friend or those who hate you?"
"..."
Naruto thought, of course he trusted Souji more, but why did he believe what they said.
"Souji." Naruto replied confidently.
Souji felt pleased to hear that, "That's right." He added, "Remember this, Naruto. You don't need to pay attention to what they say and don't care about those who hate you, you only need to care about the people who care about you."
"Trash like them doesn't deserve your attention at all." Souji said about the people who hated Naruto.
Souji really hated the ordinary civilians in Konoha, not all of them, but most of them. Especially the fools who were so easily provoked. And also the people who let all these rumors spread.
"..."
Naruto, who heard Souji call them trash, somehow felt... happy?
Uncle Teuchi, Ayame-nee, and even the Old Man Hokage, never insulted the people who hated Naruto.
He was grateful to them for not hating him and caring about him. However, there was someone who was annoyed and angry at what he had experienced and even insulted those people, and that was Souji.
Even Souji told him that they didn't deserve his attention, was he more valuable than all of them?
Souji's words seemed to make him feel much better than them, more valuable than them.
The people who cared about Naruto before, never said that he was valuable, that he had a value.
Souji was the first person he had met today. However, the impact that Souji gave Naruto was far greater than the others.
He felt happy and safe when he was with Souji, even Old Man Hokage didn't give that impression to Naruto, but Souji, who was still the same age as him, gave him that impression.
'How strange.' Naruto thought.
"So, Naruto. How did you get all this instant ramen, if you can't buy anything?"
"Oh, that? The Old Man bought it, sometimes the instant ramen boxes are delivered by a masked ninja or even already on the dining table." Naruto explained.
Naruto added in a whisper, "But the masked ninja is strange, he doesn't say anything and then just leaves."
Souji nodded, hearing Naruto's explanation. Even though Hiruzen could have bought him healthier food besides instant ramen and some bottles of milk.
'Hiruzen... Hiruzen...' Souji thought.
"..."
"Achoo!" Hiruzen wiped his nose.
"What else is Danzo planning against me...?" Hiruzen said, believing that his comrade was planning something behind his back.
"..."
"Naruto, do you have money?" Souji asked.
"Yes, I do."
"Let me buy the groceries tomorrow."
"Sure." Naruto said happily.
If Souji was a thief, he could easily take all of Naruto's money, fortunately, he wasn't. And the money wasn't that much either, so it wasn't worth doing.
"..."
"Naruto, do you have a mother?" Souji asked seriously.
"Huh?"
Naruto thought, didn't Souji know that he didn't have parents? Why was he asking something that was already obvious?
"..."
But Naruto thought again, what Souji asked was, did he have a mother? Not, did he have parents?
'Yes, that's different.' Naruto thought.
"No, I don't." Naruto replied, this time he answered without any sadness in his eyes, maybe because he was feeling happy right now.
"Hm... in that case, Naruto. Let me be your father." Souji said while patting Naruto's head.
"Huh?"
"..."
This time, Naruto couldn't say anything, his mind was even blank.
"..."
"—ruto."
"Naruto." Souji called to the silent Naruto.
"Eh? Em... yes?"
"Call me Dad."
"Dad?" Naruto said, obeying Souji's request because he was still dazed.
"Good," Souji said while giving Naruto a head pat.
"Ah?"
"..."
"..."
———————————————————
Morning, at the Hokage's office.
"So that's how it is... Souji, huh?" Hiruzen said, stroking his chin.
Hiruzen had just received a report from the Anbu who were watching Naruto. He didn't expect that someone would dare to approach him.
He directed his gaze at the Anbu who gave him the report.
"What about his background?" Hiruzen asked.
"He's an orphan, his father and mother were civilian ninjas, they both died during the Kyuubi incident." He continued, "From the information available, their bodies were destroyed without a trace."
Hiruzen closed his eyes, "So, he is one of the children who came from the heroes of Konoha."
He wanted to know, how Souji would react if he knew that his parents died during the Kyuubi incident. Would he hate and avoid Naruto?
"..."
"What about the house left by his parents?"
"Destroyed, leaving nothing behind."
"..."
'That Danzo... how could he make an orphanage close.' Hiruzen thought, annoyed with what Danzo had done, 'How could he possibly forget one child?'
The orphanage where Souji was staying was taken over by ROOT and supposedly, ROOT took all the children there, but here was Souji, wandering freely without knowing anything about it.
Hiruzen also couldn't hand Souji over to ROOT now, because from what he heard, Souji had formed a bond with Naruto.
And he couldn't give Naruto a bad impression.
'What does he mean by becoming Naruto's father? Doesn't he understand what parents are?' Hiruzen thought, confused by what Souji was trying to do.
Hiruzen also wanted to adopt Naruto, it's just that Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki made it all complicated, he couldn't openly state that the Jinchuriki was in the Hokage Faction, the Clan Leaders would protest because of that.
The political situation in Konoha was also complicated, there was the Hokage Faction along with the Advisors and Clans allied with the Sarutobi Clan, such as the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi.
The Advisors can also sometimes be divided into two factions, the Hiruzen side and the Danzo side. Then there are the Civilian ninja Faction, the neutral Clan Faction, and the Uchiha Faction.
The Uchiha Faction itself only consists of their Clan, nothing else.
Even from the political situation alone, we can see that the Uchiha Clan is truly isolated, both from the Village and from other Clans.
So that's why Hiruzen couldn't adopt Naruto, but that doesn't mean he just left him alone, in the name of Konoha, Naruto became part of the village, making all the Factions think that Naruto was Konoha's weapon, not anyone else's weapon.
But Hiruzen could make good use of that, he could approach Naruto without associating him with the Hokage Faction.
And slowly, he could make Naruto lean more towards the Hokage side, or that's what he planned.
Before Souji finally entered and made his plan go up in smoke.
Hiruzen massaged his temples, "You can go."
"Hai."
Poff
The Anbu disappeared and left thick smoke.
Cough Cough
Hiruzen inhaled too much smoke, he coughed uncontrollably.
'Damn Kakashi! Does he want to kill me!' Hiruzen thought, annoyed at what Kakashi 'deliberately' did.
Kakashi wanted to make Hiruzen feel what he felt when Hiruzen smoked without caring about the smoke that got to him. And again, for some reason he wanted to do it because of what happened to Naruto last night, he watched Naruto walking in the rain, alone.
Until he met Souji and became cheerful again or perhaps became more cheerful than before.
And knowing that Souji had the possibility of being sent to ROOT, which would definitely affect Naruto.
And that possibility could happen if Hiruzen did it.
That's why Kakashi did a "little prank" on Hiruzen.
Hiruzen opened the office window and used the wind release jutsu, the smoke was so thick.
After all the smoke disappeared, Hiruzen could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Maybe, this is the right time to visit Naruto." Hiruzen muttered.
"..."
"..."
———————————————————
Early in the morning, Souji woke up from his sleep, he then saw Naruto who was still sleeping soundly.
He then woke Naruto up, "Naruto, wake up. Aren't you going to school today?"
Naruto, who was still sleepy, spoke with his eyes still closed, "Em... Isn't today a holiday?" Naruto asked in a hoarse voice.
"Oh? Is that so."
It turned out that the holidays here were the same as in his old world.
"You can sleep again, I'm going shopping."
"Un." Naruto replied, nodding his head and then continuing his sleep.
Souji stood up and went to the bathroom, he looked at his reflection in the mirror.
Short black hair with wavy ends and red eyes, yes red.
He also had soft and smooth white skin.
"..."
After being satisfied with seeing how handsome he was, he changed his clothes and didn't forget to wash his clothes beforehand, he wore Naruto's unused clothes, a black t-shirt with a red circle emblem, which was originally the emblem of the Uzumaki Clan and wore white shorts.
Souji then came out of Naruto's apartment door and didn't forget to close it. Before he walked further, he checked if anything was left behind.
'Money? Check. Clothes? Check. Handsome? Check.' Souji said, who was now narcissistic.
If only his physical appearance was ordinary, maybe he wouldn't be this narcissistic.
Souji then continued his journey which had been interrupted earlier.
"..."
"..."
After walking for a long time, Souji just remembered, he didn't know where the market was. He wanted to ask the people around him, but before he did that, a system voice stopped his footsteps along with what he saw.
[Ding.]
[Harem Target detected.]
"..."
[Do you want to add Uchiha Mikoto to the list?]
[Yes/No]
'YES!'
[Target registered.]
[Uchiha Mikoto :
Heart : 0%
Mood : Bored.
Thoughts : doesn't see you.
Lust : 60%
Satisfaction : 0%]
"..."
'60%? Dayum!'
Souji then decided to approach Mikoto.
"Excuse me." Souji called to Mikoto who was walking.
"Hm?" Mikoto turned around and saw Souji.
"Oh? What's wrong?" Mikoto asked gently while bowing slightly.
Souji 'accidentally' smelled a fragrant and fresh aroma from Mikoto.
'The aroma of flowers... but what?' Souji thought.
"Ano... I don't know the way to the market, do you know the way, auntie?" Souji asked politely but his thoughts were not polite at all.
"Hm... I see."
[Thoughts : So polite! His parents seem to have raised him well, but why is he going to the market alone?]
"..."
'Oh? Great help, system.' Souji thought while giving a thumbs up.
"I also happen to be going to the market, do you want to go together?"
"Of course. Thank you, auntie." Souji said.
Mikoto waved her hand with a smile, "It's nothing."
"Come on." Mikoto said.
"Yes." Souji replied, while following Mikoto from behind.
The reason?
Because from behind, he could see the beauty of Konoha village in the morning.
"..."
"..."