Chapter 2: The Third's Satisfaction
"The Hyuga from the Village?"
Naruto asked, needing confirmation, though he already knew the answer in his heart.
Those unmistakable pale eyes and the insults the other kids had just hurled said it all.
Besides, Naruto had known Hinata for a long time.
Hinata gave a small nod, fingers still nervously twisting the hem of her jacket, and whispered, "Y-yes."
Seeing her so timid made something in Naruto's chest soften.
He planted his hands on his hips, puffed out his chest, and struck what he hoped looked like a dependable pose.
"Listen! If anyone ever picks on you again, come find me!"
He thrust his thumb toward his chest, flashing a grin brimming with confidence.
"I'll settle the score for you. I keep my word—that's my ninja way!"
The blunt, blazing promise melted the unease in Hinata's heart like a sudden warm current.
She almost reflexively declined—words like "You don't have to trouble yourself" hovered on her tongue.
But looking at the blond boy who had swooped in like a hero and now stood up for her with unshakable sincerity, she swallowed the refusal.
A faint blush tinted her cheeks; she lowered her head again, her voice softer than before but warmer: "Th-thank you."
"Thanks…"
"No problem!"
Naruto waved a hand, his voice even brighter than before, ringing with absolute certainty.
"I'm gonna be Hokage, y'know!"
He paused, as if stating the obvious, and continued with his simple, stubborn logic: "I won't let anyone bully the people of this Village! Protecting them is the Hokage's job, right?"
Blue eyes sparkled with idealism, yet his words carried a clarity and boundary beyond his years.
"If someone picks on a villager without cause—even if the bully's from the Village too—it's not allowed! In my eyes, creeps who hurt their own aren't part of the Village until they truly repent.
Tell me if anyone bullies you; while I help you, I'll drag the lost ones back onto the right path!"
Spoken with ringing conviction, the logic was simple yet filled with a unique sense of justice, and it etched itself deep into Hinata's heart.
She gazed up at the boy who seemed to glow amid the snow, and for the first time the distant title "Hokage" felt concrete and warm.
Over the years Naruto had grown used to playing the sunny, optimistic "Uzumaki Naruto" under the Anbu surveillance dispatched by the Third Hokage.
At first these declarations of the will of fire had been carefully polished acts for survival, performed for the hidden eyes and ears in the shadows.
But after saying them countless times they rolled off his tongue without effort.
Naruto would never believe in the version of the will of fire rewritten after the Second's death; under the Third's rule even children were sent to the front lines, completely betraying the First's original vision for the Village.
Yet right now, facing this girl who thanked him so sincerely, he was willing to believe every word he spoke was true.
"O-okay…"
Hinata answered softly. His speech about the Hokage and protection landed like a warm seed taking root in her heart. Watching the blond boy standing in the snow, she felt he was literally glowing.
"Heh-heh!"
Hands on hips, Naruto grinned in delight, showing a flash of even white teeth.
His smile looked especially bright against the snowy backdrop.
But the grin lasted only seconds before an embarrassingly loud gurgle—glu-lu-lu—erupted from his stomach, cutting through the hush of the post-snow air.
The sudden noise snapped his laughter off; he scratched his spiky blond hair in awkward embarrassment.
He really was hungry—training had ended not long ago and it was already late.
Whatever little breakfast he'd eaten had been burned up long since.
He clapped his hands together, eyes sparkling as he turned to Hinata with an enthusiastic invitation: "Ahaha… look, it's almost mealtime and it's so cold!"
He pointed at the still-falling snow, trying to sound casual.
"How about we grab some hot ramen together? I know a place—Ichiraku Ramen is amazing!"
Without waiting for an answer he caught her hand and set off toward Ichiraku.
Almost the instant Naruto pulled Hinata cheerfully toward Ichiraku, several figures hidden along rooftops or among snowy shrubs exchanged silent glances.
No words needed: the Anbu wearing a cat-face mask flickered like smoke across the snowy roof, racing for the Hokage Tower.
Meanwhile Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office, a pipe between his lips, white smoke curling upward.
In the crystal ball before him the Telescope Technique replayed everything: Naruto hurling snowballs, his ringing declaration, and the pure smile he gave when inviting the Hyuga girl for ramen.
When the Anbu knelt and finished a terse report, the Third merely nodded, eyes still on the crystal, an almost imperceptible warmth in his gaze.
"Mm, understood. Dismissed."
The Anbu vanished; the office fell silent again.
Hiruzen slowly exhaled a stream of smoke that curled and spread in the air.
Naruto's performance today matched—no, surpassed—his expectations.
Sunny, cheerful, and above all that spontaneous drive to protect comrades and treat "guarding the Village" as his own duty: exactly what the Third had tried to nurture.
Yet amid his satisfaction a detail in the crystal stung his eyes: the boy's winter jacket was clearly too short, sleeves and pant-legs showing gaps.
Coupled with long-standing Anbu reports that villagers shunned the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, a harsher truth instantly replaced the thought "careless kid."
"The child's outgrown his clothes and hasn't changed…"
he mused, then jolted to the obvious.
"No—not that he doesn't know; the shops simply won't sell to him."
The realization brought a headache laced with helplessness and faint guilt.
Silently he tapped the pipe against the hard desk edge, knocking free the ash—and, it felt, his own thoughts.
A decision formed.
He would increase Naruto's living allowance!
At least let the boy have enough for food and clothing; he was at the age to make friends and needed pocket money.
He resolved: "Tonight I'll deliver a proper winter coat myself."
Using the gift as an excuse, he could improve the child's plight, praise him face-to-face for protecting a comrade, and strengthen the boy's bond with the Village.
[end of chapter]