Chapter 583: Lady Kushina Smoking Behind the Supermarket

After finishing Makoto's file, Naruto found nothing particularly strange about it.

If anything, compared with the Makoto of the real shinobi world, this version seemed almost painfully ordinary.

He had been born in Amegakure, moved to Konoha for work, saved up some money, and eventually opened a supermarket.

As far as background and life story went, he wasn't all that different from Uncle Teuchi.

Naruto returned the file and thought about his situation.

The reason he kept having to come back and gather more information was ultimately his own fault.

He had none of this world's Naruto's original memories, so he needed documents to fill in the gaps.

Otherwise, sooner or later, he was bound to make some ridiculous mistake.

So, under the archivist's increasingly speechless gaze, Naruto simply requested a copy of his own file.

He could learn all of his relationships with other people, then use the Shadow Clone memory trick to memorize everything at once.

Problem solved.

Unfortunately, after reading his own file, Naruto's head began to hurt.

Makoto really was his friend in this world.

The problem was that this version of Naruto was apparently a social butterfly.

He had friends everywhere.

Across practically every nation.

Thank goodness for the Shadow Clone memory method.

Without it, Naruto doubted he could remember even half of these people.

That inevitably reminded him of his father, Namikaze Minato, who had been slapped across the room by his mother yesterday.

Could it be that this world's Naruto had inherited his father's talent for getting unusually close to people?

As for Kushina's line about stepping out to buy cigarettes and somehow running into nine people who knew Minato a little too well, Naruto had only paid attention to the second half.

He had no idea whether his mother smoked in the real world.

As far as Naruto was concerned, adults could do whatever they wanted.

He had only ever personally known two living Hokage.

The Third smoked.

The Fifth drank.

Now that his mother was Hokage in this world, smoking hardly seemed unusual.

Naruto was still grinning stupidly over how many friends he apparently had here.

What he didn't realize was that the underlying logic of Engraved Tsukuyomi's Heaven's Will was specifically designed to force him to understand the damage caused by bullying—and to understand that indiscriminate kindness could become an accomplice to cruelty.

So naturally…

There was much more waiting for him.

Naruto shamelessly finished every snack he had bought from the supermarket while sitting inside the library, terrified that bringing any home might earn him another beating from his mother.

After leaving, he finally decided it was time to train.

First priority:

Regain control over the Nine-Tails' chakra.

In the real world, Naruto had already experienced the overwhelming power of Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

As far as he was concerned, if he wanted to survive comfortably in this version of the shinobi world, recovering his strength came first.

And since this world's Naruto was apparently some kind of living demon-fox incarnation, using his own power should be easy, right?

Naruto found an empty training ground and began practicing.

While training, he suddenly remembered one particular line from his personal file that had been bothering him.

"The report said Mom was nicknamed the Little Red Fox Matchmaker when she was young because of her red hair and because she was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki…"

Naruto frowned.

"But apparently my nickname is the Little Fox Femboy."

"What does that even mean?"

As far as Naruto knew, femboys were practically a Kirigakure specialty.

He, Uzumaki Naruto, was a proud, manly man.

What part of him looked remotely feminine?

And yet…

"Huh?"

Naruto, who had been training with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.

Something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

As he practiced, he had suddenly started feeling an unfamiliar tightness in his body.

Naruto looked down.

Then froze.

Something had changed.

Naruto immediately checked for the familiar "switch" associated with his Sage Mode shortcut.

Gone.

"What happened?!"

He stared at himself in horror.

"I didn't use Sexy Jutsu!"

Naruto's brain nearly stopped working.

His first assumption was that he had somehow unconsciously activated Transformation Jutsu.

He tried dispelling it.

Nothing happened.

"What the heck is going on?!"

At least he had successfully accessed the Nine-Tails' chakra.

But in the real shinobi world, Naruto could use Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and Sage Mode simultaneously.

And Sage Mode was actually the one he was more familiar with.

He had expected to relearn it in this world within minutes.

Except now the usual shortcut was completely unavailable.

So what was he supposed to do?

Wait.

Naruto suddenly had an idea.

Forced into an unfamiliar form by whatever absurd rule governed this world, Naruto left the training ground and wandered around Konoha.

After searching for a while, he discovered that the famous Bottle-kun Ninja Tool Shop from the real world didn't exist here at all.

With no better option, Naruto decided to head back to Makoto's supermarket and buy a cucumber to improvise with.

By the time he got there, however, evening had already fallen and the supermarket was closing.

Naruto hurried forward, planning to shout for Makoto to wait until he had bought what he needed.

Then he spotted a familiar figure.

Naruto immediately covered his mouth and ducked out of sight.

It was his mother—Kushina!

Naruto was genuinely afraid of her now.

Not merely because of yesterday's brutal beating, but because of Kushina's overwhelming presence and everything he had learned from the classified records.

He didn't dare challenge her at all.

If this had been some other tyrannical Hokage, Naruto might have charged forward in the name of justice and tried to Talk no Jutsu them.

But this dictator was his mother.

What was he supposed to do?

And considering his current appearance, wouldn't Kushina beat him first and ask questions later if she saw him?

Actually…

Naruto suddenly felt even worse.

Calling himself a femboy wasn't even accurate anymore.

He had somehow been completely transformed into a girl!

Naruto nearly collapsed from despair.

'No! My precious shortcut!

'Come back!

'I swear I'll never complain about you again!'

Naruto hid nearby and continued watching.

Makoto, as the supermarket owner, had already pulled down the front shutter.

Kushina had apparently gone inside to buy cigarettes and was helping him finish closing up.

Then, right in front of Makoto, she casually swiped a pack from behind the counter.

Oh, right.

Naruto remembered.

Yesterday, his mother had specifically mentioned that merely going out to buy cigarettes was enough for her to encounter—

Wait.

Naruto's eyes widened in horror.

Of those nine people his mother had implied were unusually familiar with his father…

Makoto couldn't possibly be one of them, could he?!

Fortunately, Naruto's imagination was running too far ahead.

What happened next immediately erased that particular concern.

Behind the supermarket, Lady Kushina leaned comfortably against the doorframe, smoking her cigarette.

After enjoying it for a while, she turned her gaze toward Makoto.

Then she slowly walked over.

Naruto watched nervously from hiding and silently mourned for him.

'Makoto's doomed.'

Apparently his friend was about to suffer at his mother's hands too.

Kushina planted one hand beside Makoto and pinned him against the wall.

Then she exhaled a cloud of smoke toward his face, narrowing her eyes as she interrogated him.

"What exactly happened between you and the Mizukage yesterday?"

Her voice was dangerously calm.

"Was this what you were supposed to be doing after the Five Kage Summit ended?"

"The Mizukage said I looked like the man of her dreams."

"And?"

Kushina's eyes narrowed further.

"You gave in?"

"She insisted."

"She insisted, so you gave in?!"

Obviously, Naruto's education level was nowhere near sufficient to understand what they were actually talking about.

But even if he couldn't follow the conversation—

He understood what happened next.

After getting angry, Kushina kept Makoto pinned against the wall and leaned in, pressing him there as she continued the confrontation.

Naruto's shoulders immediately relaxed.

"Thank goodness."

He let out a long sigh.

"At least Makoto has nothing to do with Dad."

Then Naruto blinked.

"Huh?"

Something about that conclusion didn't seem quite right.