Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy

"What!?"

"Oh, you foolish boys!"

Before Tsunami could even finish explaining, Tazuna suddenly bolted toward his house at full speed.

The confused citizens of Wave Country followed after him.

And when they saw the shining gold bars and mountains of cash piled inside Tazuna's home, every single one of them froze.

To be honest, nobody in Wave Country had ever seen such wealth before.

Even if every family in the country emptied their savings, it probably still wouldn't amount to this much.

With money like this, they could do anything...

"Aiya! This is a terrible debt!"

Yet instead of celebrating, Tazuna let out a long sigh.

The crowd stared at him in confusion.

Only Tazuna himself remembered his earlier conversation with that black-haired boy.

At the time, he had thought it was merely a joke.

—

"No."

"This won't do."

"You saved this country. How could I possibly..."

"In any case, I can't accept this!"

Looking at the glittering gold hidden inside the safes and vaults, Tazuna remained completely unmoved.

Instead, he firmly rejected the offer.

"Old man, this was originally money Gatō squeezed out of your people."

"And your country needs money right now, doesn't it?"

"Why not accept it?"

The blond boy who had arrived later asked in confusion.

"That's not how it works."

Tazuna waved his hand.

"Yes, Gatō's shipping company did terrible things in Wave Country."

"But he's only been here a little over a year."

"There's no way he earned all of this from us."

"Part of this wealth came from other places."

"Our country is poor, but before all this happened, we still lived by our own labor."

"I know exactly how much money we could earn in a year."

"And right now, what Wave Country needs most isn't money."

"It's courage."

His words sounded righteous.

Though everyone could hear the struggle behind them.

"But..."

Shino seemed to want to say something.

Unfortunately, he was already reaching his limit.

Lying on the sofa, his voice was so weak nobody heard him.

For some reason, that made all his injuries hurt even more.

"Besides."

"I already deceived Konoha."

"I heard from that beautiful female jōnin that this mission should've been B-rank at minimum, maybe even A-rank."

"You were all seriously injured because of it."

"Take this money back as compensation."

Seeing how stubborn the old man was, Naruto began developing a headache.

Earlier, while escorting Kurenai back to the village, she had explained the situation to him.

Wave Country was extremely poor.

The unfinished bridge had already consumed nearly all of their savings.

Then the battles with Gatō's forces caused even more losses.

Many civilians had suffered damage to their homes and property during the pursuit and fighting.

"Leave it to me."

Sasuke suddenly spoke.

He then pulled Tazuna aside.

Meanwhile, Naruto remained behind, attempting emergency treatment on Shino lying on the sofa.

Unfortunately, Naruto had inherited none of Hinata's delicate touch.

Applying far too much force, he nearly worsened Shino's injuries.

On the other side, Tazuna's eyes grew wider and wider during his conversation with Sasuke.

"You mean... as a loan?"

"Yes."

"We'll take part of it."

"The rest stays here."

"Consider it a loan to your country."

"With interest."

Sasuke nodded confidently.

After all, lending money to a country was not his first time.

"..."

Tazuna fell silent.

Then he shook his head again.

"No."

"Even if you call it a loan, you never intended to collect it."

"You're just finding an excuse to leave this money behind."

Tazuna's stubbornness surprised Sasuke.

However, he quickly changed his approach.

"Then consider it an investment."

"An investment?"

"What does Wave Country even have worth investing in?"

"Of course it does."

Sasuke paused.

"Actually... what does Wave Country have?"

"..."

Tazuna stared at him.

"You want to invest without even knowing that?"

"Unfortunately, Wave Country is just a poor nation."

"If there's anything valuable at all, it's probably that unfinished bridge."

"Then that's perfect."

Sasuke immediately nodded.

"We're investing in the bridge."

"..."

"And another thing."

"You should properly submit a long-term protection mission to Konoha this time."

"Don't hide the mission rank again."

"You've seen for yourself that Konoha ninja are trustworthy."

Tazuna originally thought they were joking.

Yet they really did leave the money and depart.

Looking around at the wealth filling his house, Tazuna knew Wave Country truly owed the Konoha ninja a debt it could never fully repay.

He carefully inspected the amount.

It was not all of Gatō's wealth.

The black-haired boy had actually calculated it.

The money left behind roughly equaled a year's worth of Wave Country's former national income.

He had even considered the danger of possessing too much wealth.

"Hey, Tazuna."

"What about all this money?"

"Wood Leaf Bridge."

"Huh?"

"I said the bridge's name will be Wood Leaf Bridge!"

Tazuna stood and slapped his chest.

"I won't keep a single coin."

"It will all go toward rebuilding Wave Country."

"Anyone whose family suffered because of Gatō's men will receive help first."

"And after that—"

"We'll devote ourselves to finishing Wood Leaf Bridge!"

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke returned to Konoha to report the mission.

Since Kakashi was currently bedridden in the hospital and had no relatives, Hinata had volunteered to stay behind and care for him.

After hearing the report, the Third Hokage finally relaxed.

Emergency rescue missions were not uncommon among shinobi.

However, complete survival was.

Most such missions ended with casualties.

"No matter what happened..."

"It's enough that Kurenai's team returned safely."

The Third looked at Naruto with obvious satisfaction.

The restrictions surrounding Naruto's Flying Thunder God Technique no longer needed to remain hidden.

As Naruto grew stronger and earned the trust of more villagers, concealment became increasingly unnecessary.

"Since Kakashi is recovering, I'll personally evaluate this mission."

"For now, no more assignments."

"Go get some rest."

Leaving the Hokage Tower, Sasuke kept staring at Naruto.

"What?"

"...Where's that woman?"

Naruto immediately froze.

He looked left.

Then right.

As though checking whether anyone might be listening.

But seeing that reaction alone was enough.

Sasuke already had his answer.

"She finally went to seek revenge?"

"How did you know?!"

Naruto exclaimed.

"...Need I remind you?"

"I'm a revenge seeker too."

"And during our travels, I spent more time with her than you did."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You didn't seriously think only you and Kakashi knew what she was planning, did you?"

"Oh."

"So you knew too?"

"I even told Hinata not to let you find out because maybe—"

"..."

Sasuke remained silent.

Now that he had confirmed Mei's whereabouts, he simply pointed toward his own back.

Naruto immediately understood.

Sasuke was reminding him not to forget about the matter concerning his clansmen.

Scratching his head, Naruto suddenly had a strange feeling.

Lately...

It seemed like he had inherited Kakashi-sensei's overworked lifestyle.

Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon -> [email protected]/AiraTales7 (replace @ with a)