Forced to sell misery

-

The faint morning light scattered through the tall trees, and the dewdrops on the grass leaves rolled, refracting colorful fragments of light.

"Wake up."

The hand that was strangling Naruto's neck paused for a moment, and finally placed it on Naruto's shoulder and pushed.

"You'll catch a cold if you sleep here."

Naruto rubbed his eyes blearily, and when he saw the person in front of him, his eyes widened.

At that moment, time was peaceful and the girl who woke him up had gentle eyes and brows.

"Um..." Naruto blushed, "Were you the one who woke me up, onee-san?"

"Yeah." Bai Wei smiled.

"By the way...what are you doing here?"

“Picking herbs.”

"Big sister has to come pick herbs early in the morning, it's so hard!"

Trying hard to tell the difference between grass and herbs, Naruto turned to look at the herbs in the basket beside Shiro and sighed.

"You are the one. What are you doing in a place like this so early in the morning?"

"Practice!" Naruto said proudly with a big smile.

"You, are you a ninja?" Bai pursed his lips and lowered his head, "Look at your forehead protector."

"Do I look like it? Do I?"

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Yeah." Facing Naruto's childlike innocent gaze, Bai nodded and couldn't help laughing.

How can a ninja be so stupid...

Although I want to deny it...but I can't bear to make this child sad.

"Yes, I am a ninja!"

As if he got some encouragement, Naruto pointed at his forehead protector with his thumb, showing off innocently like a little kid "seeking praise".

"Hey, you're really awesome." Bai couldn't help but tease him.

"hey-hey……"

It's a rare occasion to be praised... Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"But why do you have to train so hard..." Shiro asked, looking into Naruto's clear blue eyes.

"I want to become stronger!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

Naruto nodded heavily, "I want to be the strongest ninja in the village. Let everyone recognize my strength. And now I have to prove something to a certain guy..."

"Is it for someone? Or for yourself?"

"Eh?" Naruto was stunned, not expecting Bai to ask that.

For whom?

I don’t want to lose to him, I don’t want to be looked down upon again… In order to gain Sasuke’s approval, I practice very hard. Doesn’t it seem like there’s nothing wrong with that?

But...why do I always feel something is weird?

Naruto was lost.

"What's so strange about this? Do you have someone important?"

"Important?" Naruto looked at Bai in confusion, "What on earth does Big Sister want to say?"

It is the most important salvation for myself.

Bai closed his eyes,

My memory goes back to that snowy night.

He survived those difficult days by picking up other people's garbage and fighting stray dogs for food.

In order to survive, in order to meet... the person who needs him.

“When people want to protect something important, they become powerful.”

He raised his head, smiled, and said this to Naruto.

"important?"

Naruto was stunned.

Bai stood up and left. Finally, he looked at Naruto and said seriously,

"You will become stronger—"

"Ah... um!"

"Let's meet again somewhere if we have the chance," Bai stood up and left, glancing at Naruto and smiling beautifully.

“Also, I’m a man.”

"Eh?"

"Eh?!!!"

……

A thin morning mist shrouded the forest, and the sound of footsteps on the fallen leaves seemed quiet and gentle.

Sasuke stopped after passing Bai.

He looked at the figure walking away, feeling a subtly complicated mood.

Bai, the one who taught Naruto to become strong in order to protect the most important people to him, is a very gentle child.

"She's obviously more gentle and lovely than Sakura..."

"How is it possible... It's unbelievable..."

And Naruto...

Naruto stared at the direction Bai left for a long time, his expression still in disbelief...

Even when Sasuke walked up to him, he didn't react at all.

Sasuke was helpless after giving Naruto a slap on the face.

This idiot.

"pain!"

Covering his head and coming back to his senses, Naruto glared at Sasuke in dissatisfaction, "What are you doing?"

"Super idiot!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto in annoyance. He was obviously just taking a walk and just happened to walk here and met this super idiot, but he would never tell this slow-witted guy so much!

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto suddenly seemed to remember something and excitedly grabbed Sasuke, "I can already climb to the top of the tree!"

"is it?"

Unconsciously curling up the corners of his lips, Sasuke turned around and coughed lightly, "Well done."

"Yeah, yeah, I said?!"

The results of a night of hard training were affirmed, and it seemed as if all the tiredness disappeared. Naruto jumped up excitedly, "I will not lose to you!"

"Super idiot!"

"Hey, wait!?"

"What's with your Kakashi-sensei tone?!"

Naruto finally reacted - what does "well done?!" mean?

It's a recognition to some extent, though...but what's with that subtle yet complacent tone of yours, as if you were coaxing a child?

"We are rivals!" Naruto got angry, "No, I want to compete with you!"

"No, if you compete with idiots, you will become stupid too!" Sasuke held back his laughter.

……

In the end, Sasuke still couldn't defeat Naruto... In fact, few people could defeat Naruto.

So after the two of them had exhausted their physical strength, they supported each other and went back... Actually, Sasuke was not yet unable to walk, but... If he showed that he was at ease, then some super idiot would definitely ignore his own condition and force him to continue the "competition", and there would definitely be no end to it...

Really are……

This overly persistent, hot-blooded idiot!

Sasuke "threw" Naruto on the tatami with disgust and took a deep breath.

——Thanks to this guy, he has to take a shower again!

-

"We only need a little more progress to complete the bridge," Tazuna said happily while looking at Kakashi and others sitting around the dinner table.

“Thanks so much to you guys!”

"That's great!" Naruto raised his head from his rice bowl and gave a bright smile.

It's really... eye-catching.

So similar to that man...

"If something is important, you have to protect it with your own hands!"

The man's confident and cheerful voice rang in his ears again. Inari lowered his head, and tears gradually filled his eyes.

"Why……"

"What?" Naruto looked at Inari, somewhat confused.

"Why do you have to work so hard!" Pressing his palms hard on the table, Inari stood up and stared at Naruto with tearful eyes.

"Even if you practice, you can't beat Cardo's men! No matter how many nice words you say or how much effort you make... In front of the real strong, the weak can only be defeated!"

"Isn't this the true fact?!"

"You're so annoying——"

Looking up at Inari, Naruto curled his lips, "I'm different from you!"

"Shut up!"

Inari cried and shouted,

"I get angry when I see you!"

"You don't know anything at all, yet you still love to show off!"

"You know nothing about painful things—"

"I'm not like you who smiles all the time!"

"so what?"

Naruto's voice suddenly turned cold.

Inari was stunned.

"So I should feel like the hero of a tragedy and cry every day?"

"A fool like you, just cry all day long," the flames of anger ignited in his eyes, Naruto raised his eyes and glared at Inari, "Crybaby!"

"Naruto, you're going too far..." Sakura subconsciously wanted to stop Naruto.

Naruto said nothing more and turned and left.

"This...idiot."

Looking at Naruto's leaving back, Sasuke felt complicated for a moment.

-

At night, Inari sat on the aisle with his knees crossed, staring at the calm water in the distance in a daze.

"Can you listen to me for a minute?"

Kakashi deliberately made his footsteps heavier, stopped behind Inari, and said with a sigh,

"Naruto didn't say that out of malicious intent, he's just clumsy..."

Yeah, a huge idiot.

Leaning on the railing of the side aisle, Sasuke raised the corners of his lips slightly as he looked at the backs of Kakashi and Inari sitting side by side, one big and one small.

In his previous life, because he was blinded by hatred, he really ignored a lot of important things...