Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy Chapter 17: Birthday Present

Although there had been a small disturbance, once Hiashi left with Hyūga Kōsuke, the crowd gradually dispersed as well.

So people did end up rembering Naruto—Neji among them—but because Hiashi had imdiately stopped the matter from escalating, most of the clan mbers never connected the incident to Naruto in any serious way.

They simply assud the clan heiress happened to be friends with that unpopular brat from the village.

Afterward, Hinata found Naruto while he was preparing to go eat and handed him a neatly wrapped little gift.

Originally, she had only intended to follow her father's instructions and deliver a return gift to Naruto.

But the instant Naruto accepted it, he suddenly froze.

Then he said sothing Hinata never expected.

"Th-This… this is a birthday present for ?"

"T-Today is Naruto-kun's… your birthday?"

Hinata nearly skipped a heartbeat as she stamred the question.

"Yeah…"

Naruto held the gift carefully, his face filled with emotion.

"The teachers at the orphanage said my birthday's October 10th, so… I guess it is."

"Can I open it now?"

His birthday…

Should I also prepare a present for him…?

Because… we're friends?

"A-Ano, Naruto-kun!"

Hinata hurriedly interrupted Naruto before he could open the gift.

"What do you want the most right now?"

Perhaps because she was thinking too hard, even her habit of speaking softly had temporarily disappeared.

"What I want the most?"

Naruto imdiately grinned.

"Well, obviously I wanna eat Ichiraku ran! Preferably tonkotsu ran with an extra egg!"

"Th-Then… then I'll treat you!"

Hinata responded almost instinctively.

"Eh?"

...

"Will Hyūga Hiashi notice anything?"

Inside Naruto's ntal world, Kurama had already cut off the chakra sharing the mont Hiashi approached Naruto earlier.

Naturally, Minato had been unable to observe what happened afterward.

After all, Hiashi's mastery over the Byakugan was extrely advanced.

If he sohow discovered the abnormal state of Naruto's inner world, there was no telling what actions he might take.

"I already gathered all my chakra inward."

Kurama sneered dismissively.

"Forget the Byakugan—even the Rinnegan wouldn't see through anything."

"That's good."

After hearing Kurama's explanation, Minato visibly relaxed.

Although he had no real concept of just how powerful the Rinnegan was, if Kurama said it was fine, then it probably was.

"But this is wonderful. Naruto made a friend."

Minato's mood was obviously excellent after seeing Naruto finally connect with soone.

He even started joking around with Kurama.

"But earlier, when you said Naruto was just like , what exactly did you an? Back then, I definitely wasn't the type to attract that much attention."

"Who said I was talking about personality?"

Kurama glanced sideways at Minato before narrowing his eyes.

"Hyūga Hinata."

"She's your future daughter-in-law."

"At least, that's how it was in the future this old man experienced."

"…Daughter-in-law?"

Minato froze.

Only now did he finally understand what Kurama had ant earlier.

Back then, he had saved Kushina at the Academy, and that encounter had beco the beginning of their bond…

"Uh…"

Minato suddenly looked conflicted.

"But Naruto's still just a child. Isn't this a little too early?"

"Even during warti, people didn't start relationships this young…"

"But Kurama said they really do end up together in the future… would that even count as puppy love?"

The Yellow Flash of Konoha.

The heroic Fourth Hokage.

Namikaze Minato had entered the inevitable stage every father must eventually experience—

Overthinking.

"That girl's personality is completely different from Kushina's…"

"Naruto won't bully her in the future, right…?"

Hmph.

Seeing Minato descend into full father-mode anxiety, Kurama had absolutely no interest in continuing the topic.

Besides, enough ti had passed.

Naruto was most likely nowhere near the Hyūga Clan anymore, which ant nobody should be capable of sensing him now.

Kurama slightly released a trace of chakra and imdiately observed Naruto's current situation—

Only for an unexpected figure to appear.

"Uchiha Itachi?"

Uchiha Itachi was equally surprised.

He had just finished carrying out an ANBU mission today and was ntally and physically exhausted.

Because he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, he unexpectedly got stopped by Naruto while passing Ichiraku Ran.

"Do you need sothing?"

Itachi asked softly.

He still rembered his father's warning from before—

As a mber of the Uchiha Clan, he should avoid unnecessary contact with Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, to prevent misunderstandings.

"Hic… I ca to return this…"

Naruto, who had eaten slightly too much ran and was still stuffed, fumbled around on himself before pulling out a kunai and handing it over.

But just as he did—

He saw Itachi instantly pull out a shuriken and point it at him.

Realizing his own reflexive response had been overly cautious and caused a misunderstanding, Itachi felt slightly awkward internally.

However, his expression remained completely blank as he calmly lowered the shuriken again before accepting the kunai and shuriken Naruto handed over.

"Uh, well…"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"I picked these up at the river last ti and wanted to return them, but I just never ran into you again…"

"I definitely wasn't secretly trying them out or anything…"

"I know."

Itachi interrupted him calmly.

"They are indeed my ninja tools."

Then his gaze shifted toward the Flying Thunder God formula engraved on the kunai handle.

"And this is?"

"Ah, crap, I forgot to erase it!"

Naruto froze before hurriedly explaining himself.

"O-Oh, that's just random doodling I did! It's just… kinda hard to wipe off…"

"Is that so?"

Perhaps feeling he had already spoken too much with Naruto, Itachi didn't continue the conversation.

He simply put away the kunai and shuriken, thanked Naruto briefly, and disappeared from sight.

"So cool!"

Watching Itachi's Body Flicker Technique again, Naruto's eyes sparkled brightly.

He beca even more excited about growing up quickly so he could attend the Ninja Academy.

After all, once today—his birthday—passed, he would officially turn five years old.

Only two more years remained before he could finally start learning real ninjutsu.

Speaking of birthdays…

Naruto suddenly rembered that he still hadn't opened the birthday present Hinata gave him.

This was the first birthday gift he had ever received in his life.

Should he prepare a return gift for her too?

"Oh right…"

Naruto suddenly scratched his cheek thoughtfully.

"Co to think of it, I think soone in my dream wished happy birthday today."

"Otherwise I probably wouldn't have even rembered my own birthday."

"And then I never would've t a friend who gave a birthday present."

The more Naruto thought about it, the more he felt his dreams were filled with good luck.

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