Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 208 A Fulfilling Day Begins

"Yo~ Happy New Year." A Jonin who rarely gets a holiday appeared outside his bedroom window early in the morning and greeted the sleepy Naruto through the window. "Iruka is sleeping here? That's perfect, no need to make another trip."

Although it's impolite to speak through a window, Naruto didn't open it to conserve chakra and keep the room warm. "Happy New Year, Kakashi-sensei. What brings you here so early?"

"Nothing much, just letting you guys go to the barbecue restaurant at 12 noon." Judging Kakashi's mood is a complicated thing, and it's not uncommon for him to say one thing and mean another, but Naruto was certain that Kakashi was in a good mood right now and wasn't faking a smile.

Most shops in Konoha are owned by locals, and the food and beverage industry doesn't completely close even during holidays; most just open around noon. The barbecue restaurant is their usual hangout, and this year's teachers seem to really like it. The New Year holiday is when everyone's there, and to keep the students' relationships strong, the teachers didn't miss this excellent opportunity.

Naruto readily accepted the appointment on Iruka-sensei's behalf and turned to prepare breakfast. The sake Iruka drank yesterday was Hui's latest experimental product, targeted at the nobles. Its slightly sweetness was tailor-made for palatability, but since the Senju clan prefers strong liquor, this stuff had a rather strong aftereffect, requiring further adjustments. After preparing breakfast, Naruto didn't immediately wake Iruka, but instead continued to curl up on the sofa reviewing old files. Naruto may seem carefree, but he's actually very meticulous in managing his Shadow Clones. Each clone focuses on its current identity, performing the duties required for that identity. Even if they encounter each other unexpectedly while out and about, they'll act as if they don't know each other.

At this moment, Naruto Uzumaki is just Naruto Uzumaki, and of course he will only consider how to handle the official business on Konoha's side. However, he still has to prepare lunch himself, because the clone cannot eat and would expose itself if it were served.

On the other side, Naruto's main body woke up rather suddenly. He was awakened by a rather intense barrage of "Happy New Year" greetings, a situation he was quite familiar with, as it happened every year since they became communication links. Naruto rolled over in bed, intending to wait for the barrage to pass before going back to sleep, but sleepiness is not something one can consciously control, and he was suddenly wide awake again. It can only be said that the Uzumaki clan's constitution is truly terrifying; it only takes four short hours for them to go from being utterly exhausted to being wide awake.

"Damn it, I'll find a way to block these out sooner or later!" Kurama, who had also used his chakra, heard these sounds and covered his ears as if burying his head in the sand, but it was no use.

"Just bear with it, it's a festival that only comes once a year." In his spiritual world, Naruto lay on Kurama's back, the seal practically nonexistent, and no one in Konoha dared to check anyway.

"But you should at least consider yourself, shouldn't you?" Kurama wagged its tail in annoyance. "What exactly is the research department doing? Will that wireless communication project even work?"

Naruto rolled over, somewhat surprised, and said, "You actually remember this! I thought you were sleeping while I was reading the report."

Kurama felt a tickle in his claws and wanted to scratch something, but Naruto was on his back, making it difficult to reach.

"You guys are making so much noise, how can I sleep?" No way, he was just worried that Naruto was so engrossed in his work that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, and he was afraid that the kid would ruin his life.

In reality, Naruto was already dressed neatly, his appearance altered, and he sat upright at his desk. He certainly had many ideas about building an army, something that couldn't be taken lightly, and he'd scribbled them down on paper, but something just didn't feel right. That's right, ninjas made up a single-digit percentage of the world's population; the vast majority of ordinary people had always dominated the world. Before the one-country-one-village system was established, history records numerous battles between nations. Back then, ninjas existed in the form of clans, focusing more on surprise attacks, while armies were the absolute main force. Assembling and commanding an army of hundreds of thousands seemed so easy in writing, but how many difficulties were there in actually carrying it out?

The largest war he personally participated in was the Fourth Shinobi World War, when the five great nations formed an 80,000-strong Allied Shinobi Forces to fight against a 100,000-strong White Zetsu army. Although he didn't participate in the initial preparations and command, he deployed a large number of Shadow Clones to assist in the battles on various battlefields in the later stages. Many had already sacrificed their lives by then, but the sheer scale of the battlefield still deeply shocked him; it was the first time he had ever seen how war was fought. However, this experience was unlikely to be applicable to armies of ordinary people, because the individual differences between ninjas could be vast, and even the strongest ordinary person is still human. On a real battlefield, an individual's strength has its limits.

We really need to think of ways to recruit talent. How to deal with ordinary people is something they have to figure out themselves. The military academies of the five great nations are monopolized by nobles; getting someone in is no easy feat. Hopefully, that lucky one will learn from Xia and bring back that prodigy as soon as possible.

After about three hours of writing and drawing, Naruto finally remembered where this uncomfortable feeling came from. He remembered to leave a clone for Konoha, but he forgot about Sasuke, who was far away in the Snake Cave! It was all because he was used to celebrating holidays in the past. Even though last year's holiday was different, he was present on both sides at the same time and didn't feel any difference at all.

Sasuke should be asleep by now, right? Should he apologize tomorrow? Or should he go check on him now? What should he prepare? He didn't expect to be so busy before the New Year; he didn't even have time to prepare a gift!

After much deliberation, Naruto grabbed the only decoration in the room that he found pleasing to the eye and vanished in a flash.

It was time for his usual rest, but Sasuke tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. Finally, he stormed out the door, sword in hand. Orochimaru, though puzzled by his decision to train in the middle of the night, still dutifully summoned a group of pitiful punching bags.

Who would understand? Their blissful time snuggled in bed at home was suddenly interrupted. They were forced to brave the freezing wind and lie in ambush in the woods at midnight, simply because that living devil was bored and couldn't sleep.

Doesn't he have a home?! He's causing trouble even during the Lunar New Year!

Oh...it seems not...that's alright then.

Sasuke, of course, had no idea what these punching bags were thinking. Otherwise, he would have done more than just hit them with the back of his sword; at the very least, he would have made them take a bath in the thunder.