Chapter 374: Uncontrollable Circumstances
Golden light flashed briefly. Naruto saw the sea of people surging toward him and immediately activated Flying Thunder God Technique, bringing Satsuki along as he directly "teleported" from the village entrance back to his former small apartment.
He chose the old apartment rather than his new home based on quite reasonable deduction. Since the village entrance was already packed like that, his new home bore the label "Fourth Hokage's Former Residence"... returning there would be walking into a trap.
After his feet touched ground, Naruto exhaled in lingering fear. He genuinely hadn't anticipated that publicly revealing his parentage could trigger such... fanatic reactions.
What made him feel even more subtle was that among the crowd gathered earlier weren't merely ordinary villagers, but many Konoha shinobi wearing chunin and even jonin vests.
Many of them, during past years, hadn't spoken harshly or shown discrimination like some villagers did. Did feeling guilty need to reach this extent?
He glanced at Satsuki beside him. With the situation urgent earlier, he'd naturally bring her along when transferring. At this moment, he clearly saw Satsuki's delicate face with brows tightly furrowed, the coldness and impatience in her eyes from the village entrance still not completely dissipated.
Her right hand even maintained a position slightly reaching toward her waist pouch. Obviously, if the crowd had pressed closer earlier, or if anyone attempted overly intimate gestures, she probably wouldn't have simply maintained distance.
"Tch..."
Satsuki muttered quietly, voice filled with undisguised annoyance. "A bunch of opportunistic sycophants... truly nauseating reactions."
Naruto didn't respond. He quietly walked to the window, using his finger to lift a corner of the curtain, carefully peering outside. Just one glance almost made him drop the curtain again.
The street below the apartment building was similarly packed with people! Though not as exaggerated as the village entrance, they'd still formed considerable crowds gathering to watch. Many pointed at this unremarkable apartment building, faces carrying curiosity, excitement, and even... expressions resembling "pilgrimage"?
"Don't these villagers... need to work?"
Just then, deliberately lowered conversation voices came from the hallway outside. The voices were very close to the door, as if people stood right at the entrance.
"Finally our turn! Make sure to photograph it nicely!"
"Of course! This is where the Hero's Son used to live... Third Hokage-sama really went too far."
Before Naruto fully understood what "photographing" and "too far" referred to, Satsuki beside him had already been thoroughly enraged by the boundary-less discussion outside the door.
She suddenly strode forward in one swift motion, reaching out to yank open the apartment door with a "whoosh," unceremoniously shouting harshly at those outside.
"Hey! You lot! What are you sneaking around trying to do here?!"
"Wah?! Someone's here?!"
"Who are you?! How dare you barge into..."
Standing outside the door were two genin who looked slightly younger than Naruto, probably fresh graduates, holding a portable camera, obviously preparing to take photos.
Satsuki's sudden door-opening startled them. They instinctively started questioning. But when their gazes fell on Satsuki's face—outstanding in both temperament and appearance—the questioning words immediately stuck in their throats, momentum involuntarily weakening.
Taking advantage of this gap, Naruto also poked his head out from behind Satsuki. This time, he finally saw clearly that on the wall beside the entrance, at some unknown time, a brand new, even "exquisitely" crafted wooden plaque had been nailed up, carved with proper characters reading—
[Hero's Suffering Residence]
Naruto: "..."
Those two young genin, after brief daze, finally focused their gazes past Satsuki onto Naruto. Their eyes instantly widened, expressions transforming from shock to excitement.
"Na-Naruto-sama?! You, you're actually here?! Please... please give me an autograph!" One stammered incoherently in excitement, frantically searching his body for pen and paper.
"Me too! I want one too! Can we take a photo together?!" The other immediately followed.
These two genin's exclamations instantly shattered the relatively restrained atmosphere in the hallway. From below the stairs, those villagers and shinobi waiting in line to "visit and photograph" immediately stirred.
"What? Naruto-sama is upstairs?!"
"Quick! Get up there!"
"Let me see! I want to personally witness the Hero's Son!"
Chaotic footsteps and excited shouts immediately surged from the stairwell entrance. The crowd began surging upward out of control.
Naruto's scalp tingled. No time to think further, he grabbed Satsuki's wrist beside him.
Whoosh—!
Flying Thunder God Technique's light flashed again. The instant before the first batch of fanatics charged up the stairs, both figures had completely vanished from this "Hero's Suffering Residence," leaving only the door and two young genin outside holding cameras, looking bewildered and disappointed.
---
Naruto's new home—the current scene could be described as "disastrous."
Uzumaki Kushina was currently bent over, face full of distress and irritation, laboriously searching through a massive pile of accumulated packages and gifts of varying wrapping.
Her target was very clear—those packages wrapped particularly exquisitely, tied with ribbons, or colored in ambiguous pink shades.
"Another one..."
She muttered quietly, extracting from the gift pile a pink gift box tied with a bow, emanating perfume scent. Opening it revealed a carefully crafted enormous heart-shaped chocolate, with a pink letter attached beside it.
Kushina's brows furrowed tighter. She skillfully relegated this obviously confession-intended chocolate to a nearby area already piled into a small mountain under "special classification."
That zone resembled a small gift shop counter. Delicate roses—some already wilting—hand-knitted sweaters and scarves, adorable stuffed animals, ornately decorated cakes... every single item exceeded "ordinary friend" or "fan tribute" scope.
Kushina rubbed her throbbing temples, beginning serious consideration whether she should contact the village's welfare home.
She tossed the newly found letter into a plastic box at her feet, just like the hundreds of similar letters processed before.
The box was already half full, densely packed with various letter papers carrying who knows how many people's special thoughts.
Extended bending made Kushina feel her lower back aching. She estimated Naruto should return soon, hurriedly hugging the box filled with letters and quickly walking toward the bathroom.
After locking the door, she nimbly retrieved a matchbox. "Scratch"—a light sound, flame leaping up. Kushina looked at those letters perhaps filled with emotion in the box with complex eyes, still tossing the lit match inside.
Flames rapidly spread, devouring the pages, illuminating Kushina's profile carrying resolve yet some guilt. Safety hazards? Disappointing sincere feelings?
These concerns only stayed in her heart for an instant. Compared to these, what she cared more about was her own son's already-satisfactory romantic situation.
As a mother, sometimes she had to serve as the strictest "firewall."
"Mom... what exactly is this?!"
Just as flames completely reduced the letters to ash, Naruto's shocked voice came from outside the bathroom door. Obviously, he and Satsuki had already returned home.
"Ah! Naruto? You're back? Wait a moment, Mom will be right out!"
Kushina panicked inside, hurriedly responding while frantically turning on the ventilation fan, checking whether the ashes had completely extinguished. Only after confirming everything was fine did she arrange her expression and pull open the bathroom door to step out.
Outside the door, Naruto had been completely stunned by the scene before him, frozen in place.
He'd previously casually remarked that the new house was quite large, somewhat empty for two people living there.
But now... forget empty—the house could barely find a single spot to safely step! Large and small packages wrapped either simply or lavishly, gift bags, parcels... like flooding waters occupied every inch of floor space in the entrance, living room, and hallway, layer upon layer, piled higher than people in some places.
More resembling an unmanaged university package station than a home.
"Naruto... you're back," Kushina forced a slightly weary smile, "Can you help Mom clean up together? Your... 'fans' seem a bit too enthusiastic."
"Kushina-san!" Uchiha Satsuki at the side could no longer restrain herself, indignantly speaking, voice carrying obvious displeasure. "Why don't you directly refuse those people?! They're already not expressing goodwill—they're outright disturbing Naruto's life! Can't you see?"
Naruto also felt somewhat strange. According to his understanding of his mother, last time when some villagers attempted sending gifts to express apology, Kushina decisively drove them out along with their gifts, attitude quite firm. This time how...did she accept so many?
"..."
Hearing this, Kushina's face flashed with embarrassment and speechlessness. The reasons were complicated. She hadn't not refused. In fact, the first several waves of arrivals were mostly blocked by her using reasons like "Naruto doesn't need them," "Please don't disturb." But later, gift-givers became too numerous, their composition becoming complex.
More importantly, in many visitors' eyes, she didn't see guilt or compensatory psychology, but pure admiration, gratitude, and passion without impurities.
She realized not all gift-givers had wronged Naruto in the past. Among villagers were certainly those wanting to compensate, but also many who originally held no ill feelings toward Naruto, now simply admiring the hero. Even more so among shinobi.
Those currently expressing respect included many sincerely revering his strength and deeds from the new generation of shinobi. Facing such genuine goodwill, Kushina truly struggled to treat them all like harassers with cold rejection.
Naruto casually picked up an unsealed plain paper box at his feet. Opening it—inside was a fish cleaned thoroughly, meat fresh, clearly suitable for high-grade sashimi.
Zacian was currently lying listlessly on a barely-cleared empty space, looking like its "soul was about to leave its body." Before it sat an enormous plate piled with various premium, untouched meat foods—steak, chicken, fish...
After the refrigerator and storage spaces were completely stuffed, Kushina assigned it the "processing" task for those perishable fresh foods that truly couldn't be preserved.
Now it seemed, though Zacian's appetite was impressive, it couldn't withstand this continuous "feeding."
Bang bang bang!
Just then, urgent knocking suddenly rang out.
Kushina immediately became alert, signaling Naruto and Satsuki to stay quiet first. She herself quickly walked to the door, looking out through the peephole, mentally calculating how to quickly dismiss them if they were those enthusiastic villagers or fans outside.
However, what came from outside was a crisp, familiar child's voice.
"Naruto-niisan! It's me, Konohamaru! I heard you came back?! I have something very important to ask you!"
It was Sarutobi Konohamaru.
Before anyone inside responded, Konohamaru's urgent voice already came through the door like rapid-fire, carrying a child's directness and hurt.
"Everyone in the village... everyone's discussing! Saying the suffering Naruto-niisan endured before was all, all caused by my grandfather!"
"Saying Grandfather deliberately concealed your identity out of jealousy toward the Fourth Hokage, not letting you live well! Naruto-niisan... is this... is this true?!"
****
Yes! F the third! that bitch