"Ao... Aoba..."
"My na is Uzumaki Naruto, just call Naruto!"
Naruto's eyes lit up. This was the first ti soone told him their na. In the village, he finally had his first friend.
"Nice to et you, Naruto."
Considering that going outside the hospital might attract a lot of onlookers, Aoba simply sat down on a lounge chair in the hospital corridor.
Naruto also sat down beside him, still unable to recover from his excitent.
"Ao... Aoba, I'm really happy too, but... why are you in the hospital? Are you injured sowhere?", Naruto seed to have suddenly thought of sothing, and his expression beca very worried.
Aoba shook his head and explained with a smile, "I have a decent talent for dical ninjutsu, so I'm here learning from a dical ninja."
"That's amazing! Then, are you already a ninja?"
"A ninja only counts after graduating from the Ninja Academy. Right now, I just know a little bit of ninjutsu."
"That's still amazing! I saw soone by the river the other day who could breathe fire, it looked so cool."
"Ah, that should be..."
The two chatted back and forth like that. Maybe it was because Naruto had never really talked with anyone before.
All morning, Naruto's mouth practically never stopped moving. Even about how many slices of fish cake were in his ran this morning, or how the milk he drank was expired by a few days, he just kept talking.
Aoba, on the other hand, was providing full emotional support, responding whenever Naruto said sothing.
He originally ca out just to clear his mind, and had no mood for studying. Now with Naruto here, it was actually the perfect distraction.
By noon, Sukui's surgery was also finished.
She changed her clothes and stepped out of the dressing room, just about to head downstairs when she saw the two little ones sitting in the corridor.
"Little Aoba, do you want to go eat with sis—", Sukui was about to invite Aoba to eat together, but as she walked closer, she finally saw the face of the little kid sitting next to him.
Her voice abruptly stopped.
Of course, she recognized him. Or rather, in the entire Konoha, there were few who didn't know Naruto.
It wasn't that she had anything against Naruto. Whether this little blonde was a demon fox or not had no impact on her life.
She was just curious. Why was Aoba sitting in the hospital, chatting and laughing with him?
Aoba and Naruto naturally heard Sukui's voice.
Hearing the sudden stop in her words, Naruto thought she must have sothing against him, and lowered his head timidly, not daring to speak.
Aoba, however, kept his expression unchanged and looked at Sukui, who was approaching with a surprised face. He asked, "Sukui neesan, was your surgery successful?"
Sukui casually rubbed Aoba's head with a confident smile, "If I do it, of course, it's a piece of cake."
"But you guys..."
"This is Uzumaki Naruto, my new friend," Aoba introduced him naturally and nudged Naruto with his elbow, saying,
"This is Sister Sukui. She's the one teaching dical ninjutsu."
Naruto hesitated for a mont, then stood up nervously and said, "Y-You… Hello, my na is Uzumaki Naruto, p-please take care of ."
Sukui was montarily stunned, then patted Naruto's spiky head and smiled.
"Hello, little Naruto, nice to et you too."
"So, do you two want to eat with ?"
———
At noon, Aoba and Naruto freeloaded a al from Sukui at the hospital cafeteria.
Although Naruto's presence caused many people to give them strange looks, with Sukui around, who would soon beco a big shot at Konoha Hospital, no one dared to say anything out loud.
Overall, the al was quite delicious. After all, free food always tastes better than food you have to pay for.
Leaving Konoha Hospital, Aoba looked at Naruto and asked, "Naruto, do you have anything else to do? If not, I'm going ho now."
Naruto, who had been excited just monts ago about eating with a friend, suddenly had his joy freeze on his face. Then, he looked bitter, "Aoba, can you play with a little longer? I can take you to see my secret base."
Looking at Naruto's expectant face, Aoba glanced at the sky and thought for a mont before saying, "Okay, but only for a little while. I have to train in the afternoon."
"Mm-hmm!"
Naruto happily grabbed Aoba's hand and ran while explaining along the way, as if afraid there wouldn't be enough ti.
"Aoba, my secret base is in the forest. I usually go there to fish for food."
"Fishing?"
Aoba recalled a scene from the original story where Naruto roasted fish as a child. But he was still curious, 'Why did Naruto say "fishing" instead of "catching fish"?''
"Naruto, what do you use to fish?"
"Just a stick with a string tied to it. Sotis, I can catch a bunch at once."
"..."
The two ran all the way.
"A small grove… by the river… This should be the place, right?", Aoba panted slightly.
"Yeah! This is it, co on!", Naruto nodded excitedly.
Calling it a secret base was a bit much. It was really just a fire pit made of stones, though the fire wasn't lit at the mont.
'It must be where Naruto roasted fish.'
"Aoba, wait a sec. I'll tie the string, then we can fish."
Saying that, Naruto picked up a wooden stick from the ground and started tying a string to it.
'Wait, bro—'
'You're really fishing like this?'
Then, Aoba witnessed what could only be described as EX-rank Luck.
Sitting there for just ten minutes, he saw Naruto pull up several fish.
No bait, no hook—the fish literally volunteered to be caught.
Aoba fell silent.
'A stick, a string...'
'What will those fishern with thousands of ryo worth of equipnt but no catch say to this?'
At that mont, Naruto let out a surprised cry, "Huh? It's that fire-breathing guy!"
Just as he was fishing, Naruto suddenly exclaid in doubt and looked sowhere else.
Aoba followed his gaze.
'Black hair, black eyes... cold expression... fire-breathing...'
'Isn't that Sasuke?'
———
Inside the Hokage Office, Sarutobi Hiruzen was watching the crystal ball with a gratified expression.
It reflected the peaceful scene of Aoba and Naruto getting along.
But when he suddenly saw Sasuke appearing out of nowhere, his brows furrowed.
He hadn't expected an Uchiha to show up.
Just as he was about to call soone to inquire—
BANG!
The door was kicked open.
"Danzo?", Sarutobi Hiruzen was startled, "How many tis have I told you, when you co here, you must... huh?"
To his surprise, standing before him wasn't Shimura Danzo.
It was Tsunade—dusty, disheveled, and looking like she had been through hell.
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