At this moment, Naruto had already returned to Konoha, landing at the edge of the Forest of Death.
After spending a moment to get his bearings, he turned and headed toward the village.
The village looked the same as always, with little change. Naruto’s return didn’t cause much of a stir, but it did excite a few of his friends, who immediately planned to have a drink together.
In the courtyard outside a barbecue restaurant, white sand had been piled up to create a makeshift beach.
Two beach parasols stood on either side, with a blue stone path running between them. A few beach chairs were placed on either side, and two figures, one fat and one thin, were lounging on them.
"How long are you planning to stay this time?" Choji glanced at the blond-haired guy next to him. For some reason, his right eyelid had been twitching since a while ago.
"I’m not sure, but it won’t be too short." Naruto lay comfortably on the beach chair, squinting his eyes slightly, "I can’t say for certain. Why do you ask?"
Choji had wanted to mention what Shikamaru had said, but he changed his mind and swallowed it back.
"It feels like you don’t really want to stay in the village. You’re always running around outside. Now that Shikamaru and the others have jobs, sometimes I don’t even know who to ask to grab a drink with."
Hearing this, Naruto sat up abruptly.
"Choji."
"What's wrong?"
"If you’re really that bored, go find a job." Naruto patted Choji on the shoulder and said with a serious tone, "Choji, you’re too idle."
"You're the one who’s too idle!" Choji swatted his hand away, "By the way, yesterday I kept feeling uneasy. Do you think something’s wrong with my body?"
"Wrong? Like what?" Naruto lay back down again, not paying much attention to what Choji said.
"I always feel like I'm being targeted or something, like a curse or bad luck." Choji said worriedly, his chubby face scrunching up like a bun.
Naruto paused when he heard this. Then, he turned his head slightly and looked at Choji in surprise, "Cough… Choji, don't let your imagination run wild. There's no way that kind of thing could happen. Relax, you need to believe in science, not all this superstitious nonsense."
"Oh, okay," Choji said, still confused.
After this, Naruto couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. He thought to himself, ‘This Shinobi World was truly bizarre. Could there really be some kind of sixth sense or something?’
‘Wait… I had done so many shady things under Sasuke’s name. Could Sasuke be...?’ When Naruto thought of this, he quietly suck in a breath of cold air.
"As for why I don’t like staying in the village, well... it’s not that I don’t like it." Naruto hesitated for a moment and said, "I just don’t like the people in the village."
Choji: "..."
"That’s pretty much the same as not saying anything. The people in the village are indeed..." Choji stopped talking halfway through, as it was really hard to put it into words.
Naruto is no longer the Kyubi’s Jinchuriki, but the villagers still viewed him with fear and disgust, even if they didn’t show it openly.
"Choji, it’s fine that you love this village, but you can’t guilt-trip me, okay? I know exactly how those people have treated me."
Naruto gazed at the blue sky outside the parasol, watching the white clouds floating by.
"I don’t hate the village, I just don’t like it here. If it weren’t for all of you being here, I might have left long ago and never come back."
"If you went through what I did, you probably wouldn’t like it here either. The way I’m acting now is already pretty good."
"That may be true, but…" Choji stammered. What he wanted was to live together with his friends forever… except for Sasuke.
Sasuke didn't have much interaction with him, as he had defected from the village at a young age. After so many years, Choji felt almost nothing toward Sasuke and no longer considered him a companion.
"But... those things are in the past, aren’t they?" Choji’s brain wasn’t as sharp as Shikamaru’s, so these arguments had taken him nearly two days to come up with.
"Things in the past? Yeah, they’re in the past. But who’s to say what will happen in the future? What if something happens again and they need a Jinchuriki to risk their life?"
Naruto curled his lips and said with slight dissatisfaction.
"At that time, what choice will I have? Most likely, I’ll be forced to do things I don’t want to do. Like being a container, a weapon, or something like that."
"No! That kind of thing definitely won’t happen." Choji said earnestly, "The current Rokudaime Hokage is Kakashi-sensei, right? With Kakashi-sensei in charge, that kind of thing…"
"Choji, am I not making myself clear enough?" Naruto interrupted his friend, turned his head and looked at him quietly.
Then, he said seriously, "I-don't-want-to-die."
Hearing this, Choji was stunned. He stared at Naruto for a long time before he began to explain helplessly.
"No, that’s not what I meant. I just think the village is in a good place now. How did we get to talking about death? That’s too..."
"Good? How is it good?" Naruto crossed his arms and lay back in the chair, "Kakashi's personality isn’t suited to being Hokage for long. He has no ambitions, and he is just filling in for Tsunade-sama temporarily. He’ll step down eventually."
"Who will be the next Hokage? What kind of person will they be? How will they view the Jinchuriki issue? Can you figure that out?"
"I..." Choji was at a loss for words.
"Even if the next Hokage is a good person, who’s to say Konoha won’t be attacked? What should I do if I’m in the village then?"
"I clearly don’t like this village, and I don’t want to risk my life for those people. But staying in the village is the beginning of disaster. They will naturally see me as a weapon."
"If the village is attacked, it’s my responsibility. If the village loses a war, it’s my responsibility. Even if I risk my life to protect them, what about the damaged houses? What about the villagers who get hurt by mistake?"
Naruto was unusually serious and spoke a long string of blunt truths to Choji.
Choji was a little confused for a moment, but hearing this from Naruto's perspective, the more he thought about these words, the more sense they made.
"This…"
"You don’t need to answer. I’ve thought about those things countless times." Naruto waved his hand, then pointed at himself, "The answer is obvious… In the end, it's all my damn fault."
"In the future, whenever a dog dies in the village, people will suspect that I killed it in the middle of the night."
"So, now you know why I act so recklessly in the village, right? There’s no need to restrain myself. The more aggressive I am, the safer I’ll be. The more they fear me, the less they’ll blame me for everything."
Choji fell silent. He hadn’t realized the situation was so complicated. He had been too simplistic in his view of the problem, and he just thought it would be nice if friends could just get together often.
But in reality, everyone staying safe and sound was the best outcome.