Under the setting sun, on a park bench, Menma and Naruto sat at either end.
The two orphans quietly watched as the other children in the park were picked up by their parents.
"Hey... Menma, why are you willing to play with me?" Naruto mustered his courage and asked the boy sitting on the other end of the bench, his voice tinged with anticipation.
Though the two had simply been sitting in the park after dinner, silently watching the sunset, for Naruto, who was usually avoided by the other kids, having someone willing to sit with him on the same bench as the sun went down already felt like a rare friendship.
"Hm?" Menma slightly turned his head, the fading sunlight casting a soft glow on his face.
He looked at the blond, blue-eyed boy beside him… Uzumaki Naruto, the protagonist of this world, the [Child of Prophecy] who would one day save the world.
"I had a friend once who helped me when I was feeling lost. Maybe I see a bit of my past self in you." Menma lied.
He knew the Third Hokage's crystal ball was always monitoring Naruto.
There were also Anbu constantly surveilling Naruto, so his approach would undoubtedly be reported to the Third Hokage.
Besides, Menma wasn't entirely sure why he was reaching out to Naruto.
Was it because Naruto was the protagonist? Or was it because he had transmigrated as Naruto's brother, bound by blood and an inexplicable sense of kinship?
Menma couldn't quite figure it out.
He didn't want to disrupt Naruto's growth, at least not until after graduation, when the main plot began.
But he also couldn't stand the injustice of Naruto's current circumstances.
Where had Minato and Kushina's assets gone? All that money! And their house!
Kushina is the last member of the Uzumaki Clan. Mito had treated Kushina as her own, so even if the Uzumaki Clan's inheritance hadn't been passed down, Mito would've surely left Kushina enough to live comfortably.
And then there was Minato. Not to mention his salary as the Fourth Hokage, just his Ninja Career alone included 39 S-Rank missions, which had to have earned him a fortune.
An S-Rank mission paid at least one million Ryo, and that was after the village's cut. The team leader usually took half, meaning 500,000 Ryo.
Thirty-nine S-Rank missions would amount to at least 19.5 million Ryo!
And that wasn't even counting his 323 A-Rank, 216 B-rank, 147 C-Rank, and 122 D-Rank missions.
A-rank missions paid between 150,000 to 1 million Ryo, B-rank 80,000 to 200,000, C-rank 30,000 to 100,000, and D-rank 5,000 to 50,000.
Minato's total earnings over his career, averaged out, exceeded 230 million Ryo. Even at the lowest estimate, it was over 54 million Ryo.
That much money couldn't have all gone into buying custom Flying Thunder God kunai, nor could it have just disappeared after buying a house when he married Kushina.
And yet, the money Hiruzen gave Naruto was only enough for him to have enough food and clothing, while the whereabouts of the Fourth Hokage's inheritance remained unexplained.
Naruto's favorite food was cup ramen. He never cooked, only eating instant noodles for two meals a day, with just milk and fried eggs for breakfast. How much could that possibly cost?
And yet, he somehow never had any spare money, with the occasional trip to Ichiraku Ramen counting as a luxury!
"A... friend?" Little Naruto's eyes suddenly lit up, brimming with hope, "Then... are we friends now?"
"I guess so." Menma rubbed his stomach.
'This month's 'friend allowance' had been deposited.'
"Alright, it's getting late. I should head home." As the sun fully set and dusk deepened, Menma stood up from the bench, brushing the fallen leaves off his pants.
"Then! See you next time!" Naruto grinned widely. Today, he'd made his first friend… well, aside from Teuchi and Ayame.
Naruto's naturally cheerful personality made it easy for him to push aside the recent troubles and the villagers' malice.
After waving goodbye to Menma, Naruto bounded off toward home.
Once Naruto disappeared at the edge of the park, the little Nine-Tails poked her head out from Menma's scarf.
"Menma, is that guy your brother in this world? His Chakra... feels very unique." After the little Nine-Tails sensed a familiar yet strange Tailed Beast's Chakra earlier, she immediately retreated into Menma's mental space.
It was not until Naruto left and the restless Chakra faded from her perception, did the little Nine-Tails dare to peek out again.
"Yeah, that's him… Uzumaki Naruto, my foolish little brother." Menma narrowed his eyes slightly, a playful smirk curling at the corner of his lips as he watched the direction where Naruto had disappeared.
With the Third Hokage's crystal ball surveillance, Anbu monitoring Naruto 24/7, and the influence of Asura's Chakra Reincarnation, it would be difficult for Menma to instill any ideological teachings in Naruto.
But he really wanted to see, during the [New Konoha Crush Plan], when he said to Naruto, "I am your brother! We are both sons of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato!"-
And then followed it up with "My foolish little brother"-
What kind of expression would Naruto make.
However, before the [New Konoha Crush Plan] could be set into motion, Menma needed to figure out how to recruit a few Ninjas to his side.
Imagine the looks on the faces of the reanimated First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, when they saw the Uchiha, Hyuga, and Uzumaki Clans rebelling against the Third Hokage, joining forces to destroy Konoha-
What kind of expressions would appear on the faces of these two 'predecessors'?
'Just thinking about it makes me giddy.' Menma chuckled under his breath, feeling his brain tremble with excitement.
'Even if Naruto is the protagonist… he wouldn't be able to stop me!'
…
Inside the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen observed through the Telescope Technique as little Naruto ran home from the park. Beneath his Hokage's hat, his aged face, speckled with liver spots, remained as unreadable as still water.
He then pulled out a background investigation report from his desk drawer.
"Menma…?" Hiruzen's eyes scanned the intel gathered by Konoha's intelligence division from the orphanage, finally landing on the line:
[Primary Chakra Attribute: Fire. Possesses qualification to be a Ninja.]
The background check indicated that Menma is just an ordinary war orphan.
"If the other child had survived, perhaps Naruto wouldn't be so lonely now." Hiruzen set down the report and took a slow drag from his pipe.
The smoke curled lazily in the dim office.
Hiruzen couldn't help but remember the joy on Minato's face when the medical checkup revealed that Kushina was pregnant with twins.
In order to ensure a smooth delivery for Kushina, Hiruzen had asked sent his wife, Biwako to assist in the birthing room.
But then-
The Nine-Tails Rampage happened.
By the time Hiruzen and Konoha's Ninjas arrived at the battlefield where Minato had sealed the Nine-Tails, all they found were the bodies of Minato and Kushina, pierced by the fox's claws inside the barrier, and the wailing infant Naruto in his swaddling clothes.
The other child was nowhere to be found.
'If he hadn't been taken by some mysterious figure, then he had most likely perished in the chaos.'
"Naruto is almost three years old now. He's starting to interact with people and form his own thoughts. It's time for him to understand… the Will of Fire." Hiruzen traced the rim of his Hokage's hat thoughtfully.
Watching Naruto through the crystal ball, who was lying on the bed with a smile on his face after returning home, Hiruzen pondered, 'What kind of figure should I present myself as?'
'How can I make Naruto rely on me… and see me as family?'