Chapter 336 That's Not the Case
Uchiha Itachi entered the kitchen with a watermelon, clearly planning to cut it, and Uchiha Sasuke followed him in at a trot.
"Naruto, come over!"
Soon after, Sasuke stuck his head out of the kitchen doorway and shouted.
"What is it?"
Uzumaki Naruto, who was watching TV with Uchiha Fugaku, asked without turning his head.
"Idiot, isn't the storage scroll for fruit with you? Hurry up and bring it over!"
"Oh, coming!"
Naruto did a somersault, grabbed the storage scroll he had casually placed on the table, and ran toward the kitchen.
Before long, Naruto and Sasuke came out carrying a platter of cut fruit—watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, and more.
There were also several specialty fruits from the Land of Demons that they had eaten before.
Naruto walked out of the kitchen, turned a corner, and headed upstairs.
He was clearly going to deliver the fruit to his mother and Uchiha Izumi.
About an hour later, Izumi came downstairs alone. Uchiha Itachi glanced at her and noticed her flushed face, feeling a trace of confusion.
What happened to her?
"Uncle Fugaku, I'm heading home now!"
Uchiha Izumi greeted him and went straight to the entrance to change her shoes.
"Alright. Be careful on the way. Itachi, go see her off."
Fugaku looked up and said, nudging Uchiha Itachi beside him.
Uchiha Itachi checked the wall clock as he walked over. It was only nine o'clock.
Going back so early?
Was it because Uzumaki Kushina was here?
Outside the door, Uchiha Itachi asked curiously,
"Why are you heading back so early today?"
The moment he mentioned it, Izumi's face flushed again as she recalled Mikoto-auntie's and Kushina-auntie's relentless teasing. Even her ears turned red.
"What's wrong?"
Uchiha Itachi asked with concern.
Because of the darkness, he didn't notice her blush. He only saw her hesitation and felt puzzled.
"It's nothing…"
Uchiha Izumi muttered softly.
How could she possibly tell him that his mother wanted them to get married right away?
Seeing that Izumi didn't want to explain, Uchiha Itachi didn't push the matter further.
After seeing Izumi off and returning home, Itachi could hear laughter and noise coming from the living room as soon as he stepped into the genkan.
Naruto and Sasuke were once again playing Resident Evil in the living room.
Uchiha Itachi changed his shoes and walked inside, but he didn't see his father.
Neither his mother nor Kushina-auntie were there either.
"Sasuke, where are Kaa-san and the others?"
"Ah, Ni-san, you're back. Kaa-san and Kushina-auntie are still upstairs. Father went to take a bath."
Uchiha Itachi glanced toward the bathroom. The door was indeed closed.
"Have you two bathed yet?"
He sat down on the sofa and asked casually.
"Not yet, Ni-san. After Father finishes, let's go bathe together."
"Alright."
"Itachi-aniki, let's play multiplayer."
Naruto disliked Sasuke's poor gaming skills, so he deliberately let his character die, preparing to restart the round.
What he didn't know was that Sasuke had the exact same idea—but Naruto was a step faster.
Sasuke snorted internally. If it weren't for him carrying Naruto, that idiot would've been bitten to death by zombies long ago.
Upstairs, in Kushina's room, Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina had been chatting for a very long time—from Izumi and Itachi, to fond memories of the past, and finally to the current state of the ninja world.
The chakra extracted from Naruto still contained very limited information about present-day shinobi, so the more detailed matters had to be explained directly by Mikoto.
After hearing everything, Kushina was deeply moved.
She hadn't expected Uchiha Fugaku to be so powerful—strong enough to completely suppress Kumogakure.
Even Ōnoki of Iwagakure had been brought under Fugaku's control.
Ōnoki was a legendary powerhouse from the older generation, famous for decades. Yet even he had been subdued.
The Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan was truly terrifying.
Being allies with the Uchiha Clan inspired a deep sense of security—but becoming their enemy was nothing short of horrifying.
Mikoto hid nothing from her good sister, telling her almost everything.
"Mikoto… I feel like Naruto doesn't like me very much,"
Kushina sighed softly.
"He always runs toward Sasuke and Itachi."
"Doesn't like you? That's not the case at all,"
Mikoto said gently.
"Several times before, when I covered him with a blanket at night, I heard him murmuring 'Mama' in his sleep. Today was just too sudden, and it's your first meeting. Once he gets used to it, he'll definitely cling to you."
Mikoto comforted her.
Kushina nodded. The heavy feeling in her heart faded away.
"Is that so… Naruto dreams of his Mama?"
She smiled briefly, then her expression dimmed again.
Poor Naruto.
It was all Minato's fault.
If Namikaze Minato hadn't been so impulsive and had waited for the Third Hokage's support to seal the Nine-Tails together, she wouldn't have had to use the Reaper Death Seal to die alongside it.
At least one of them could have survived.
If either of them had lived, Naruto would never have had to endure such suffering.
Scenes from Naruto's childhood replayed in her mind, and Kushina's heart ached intensely.
She resented Hiruzen Sarutobi—but she also resented Minato.
She silently decided that once Minato was revived, she would beat him up properly to vent her anger.
"Oh my, it's already so late."
Mikoto took out her phone and checked the time. It was already eleven o'clock.
She was about to call the children to go to sleep.
"Kaa-san,"
Kushina asked curiously,
"what's that thing in your hand? It's glowing—and it seems like everyone has one."
She had noticed Naruto and Sasuke holding it several times while shopping earlier.
She had wanted to ask but felt awkward. After shopping and going to Pansi Cave, she had forgotten about it—until now.
"Oh, this?"
Mikoto handed it to her.
"It's called a cell phone. We didn't have anything like this back then. It's a smartphone developed by Orochimaru. You can use it to make calls—and it even shows the time."
"Oh! It really does!"
Kushina exclaimed in amazement.
"You said Orochimaru developed this? I remember Jiraiya-sama saying that Orochimaru went into hiding after losing the Hokage position to Minato and pursuing immortality."
"Oh, you don't know yet?"
Mikoto smiled faintly.
"After the Nine-Tails incident, Orochimaru defected when his forbidden human experiments were discovered. It wasn't until recently that my husband found him and brought him back. He's now the head of the village's research department, developing all kinds of useful technologies for Konoha."
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