"So that brat is the one…"
The contemptuous gazes of passing villagers.
"Don't go near him! Stay away from him!"
Parents pulling their children behind them while looking at him with disgust.
"Damn it, why did the Hokage let this brat leave the orphanage…"
Even Konoha shinobi wearing forehead protectors made no effort to hide their hatred.
The sunlight was clearly warm.
So why did he always feel cold?
Little Naruto walked down the street with his head lowered.
The reactions of the people around him confused him.
He didn't understand.
He hadn't done anything wrong.
So why did everyone in the village look at him like they hated him?
At that mont, a slightly dirty rubber ball rolled to Naruto's feet and stopped.
Naruto looked up in the direction the ball had co from. A child around his age was waving enthusiastically, signaling for Naruto to throw it back.
A small smile appeared on Naruto's face.
Just as he bent down to pick up the ball and walk toward the boy, the child's mother suddenly appeared, grabbed the boy, and hurried away from Naruto.
Naruto's smile froze on his face.
He stood there holding the ball.
But when he looked around again, he realized the villagers who had been whispering insults had disappeared at so point as well.
The entire world seed to have left only him standing there alone.
The blond child lowered his head blankly.
His hands were empty.
Even the ball was gone.
He stood there all alone.
No one…
"Naruto."
A familiar voice suddenly called out from behind him.
A blond man stood there, looking at him with guilt and tenderness.
But Naruto showed no reaction.
He rely stood there blankly.
"It's useless. This is his dream."
Kurama's voice sounded at the right mont as he explained things to Minato.
"He's never seen what you look like. In his mories, in his dreams, you simply can't appear."
"I see."
Minato nodded softly, though his gaze never left Naruto inside the dream.
Kurama wasn't human.
He knew he couldn't truly understand the complicated emotions Minato felt right now, nor did he intend to. He simply continued reminding him:
"Like this old man told you before, you need to beco soone Naruto recognizes. Only then can you approach him inside the dream."
"Only after he reacts to you in the dream can you truly influence him… and begin teaching him things."
Minato nodded again.
But he still remained standing behind Naruto instead of following Kurama's suggestion.
He simply called Naruto's na once more.
Only this ti, after saying Naruto's na, Minato added quietly:
"Your mother, Kushina, loved you very much."
As though triggered by certain words, another pair of figures appeared before Naruto.
A mother leading her child out to eat ran.
Both of them wore bright smiles as they walked past Naruto.
Naruto still stood motionless, watching the mother and child disappear into the distance.
He still hadn't heard Minato's voice.
Still gave no reaction.
But Kurama seed to understand what Minato was trying to do this ti.
And for once, he stopped urging him.
Inside Naruto's dream, people and scenes constantly appeared around the little boy… only to vanish again monts later.
Cold and indifferent villagers.
Groups of children mocking him.
The Third Hokage, one of the few people who occasionally brought warmth into Naruto's life.
But appearing before him more than anything else…
Was himself, crying alone in hidden corners.
...
Minato stood silently behind little Naruto, watching every person and every face that appeared.
He even saw so people he himself had once known well.
In Minato's mories, those people had always shown him respect.
But before Naruto, Minato could see the malice hidden deep within them.
Perhaps their hatred wasn't truly directed at a three-year-old child…
Yet Naruto was the one forced to bear that hatred.
Minato remained standing behind Naruto, repeating similar words again and again.
But each sentence carried slight differences.
Every word Minato spoke was filled with love, guilt, and encouragent.
Kurama quietly observed the father and son.
Until after so ti, he finally spoke.
"Ti's up."
The mont his voice fell, the scenery before Minato suddenly changed.
Little Naruto vanished from sight.
In his place remained the dark, enclosed ntal world once more, along with the gigantic Nine-Tails sitting behind the bars.
"Is it over?"
Minato slowly closed his eyes, seemingly recalling everything he had just witnessed.
Kurama yawned lazily.
"Ti flows differently in dreams. You might think only a short while passed, but it's already morning in reality."
"Naruto's awake now."
"I see… ti really flies."
Minato made no attempt to hide the sorrow in his expression.
"So what exactly were you trying to accomplish all night?"
Kurama narrowed his eyes slightly, mockery evident in his tone.
"Don't tell this old man you forgot the fact that you're already dead?"
"..."
Minato remained silent at first.
Then after a mont, he said:
"Can you observe Naruto's reaction after waking up? Has anything changed?"
"Hmph. He's currently sitting on his bed spacing out…"
Kurama paused briefly.
"He muttered the word 'Mom'…"
"And then…"
It seed Kurama had realized sothing.
"He also ntioned words like 'Hokage' and 'recognition,' and now he's getting up to make breakfast."
"I ntioned Kushina's na twenty-six tis."
Minato spoke calmly.
"I ntioned the word 'mother' seventeen tis."
"And I only ntioned Hokage once…"
As he spoke, he compared the keywords with Naruto's current reactions described by Kurama.
After a long pause, Minato reached a conclusion.
"Less than twenty percent."
He sighed softly.
"Judging from just one night, the influence was probably less than ten percent. Even after an entire night, I still couldn't properly convey his mother's na to him."
"I thought… at the very least, I could comfort him through his dreams."
"Kushina definitely would've wanted that."
"...Well, Naruto doesn't have any mories of you or Kushina."
Kurama awkwardly tried to console him.
"You kept ntioning her, but to Naruto right now, she's just an unfamiliar concept. Naturally, that kind of thing is easy to forget in dreams…"
Kurama suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
"Hm?"
The surprise in Kurama's tone imdiately caught Minato's attention.
"What is it?"
"..."
Kurama didn't answer.
anwhile, in the real world—
Naruto sat bored at his table eating instant noodles.
Dipping a finger into so water, he absentmindedly scribbled across the tabletop while muttering under his breath:
"Kushi… Kushi… what was it again…?"
"Maybe things aren't as hopeless as you think."
Kurama glanced toward Minato and grinned.
Since arriving within Naruto's sealed ntal world—
For the very first ti—
Minato Namikaze smiled from the bottom of his heart.
Unable to stop himself, he softly murmured:
"Kushina… Naruto really is a wonderful child."
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