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Rob was standing behind the counter of the Art Store, staring curiously at the flood of notifications appearing on his system's interface.
They just kept coming one after another:
[+11 AC from Rengiro]
[+13 AC from Hinada]
[+18 AC from Kawasi]
…
…
[+999 AC from Sarutobi Hiruzen (Hokage)]
…
[+399 AC from Ikkaku Umino (Jonin)]
[+345 AC from Kohari Umino (Jonin)]
…
…
[+219 AC from Ryumin (ANBU)]
…
…
[+8007 AC from 200 other people.]
{Author's note: AC stands for Art Coins}
Rob felt like an investor whose risky venture had just paid off big time on its opening day… His smile kept growing wider and wider with every additional Art Coin! This was wealth piling up!
He could only use this currency to buy things from the system's shop. Did he really need this world's paper money? Of course not! Rob had been outside this feudal imperial system from day one!
'Still, it doesn't hurt to collect this world's currency too… What's wrong with hoarding riches? I'll be like a dragon sitting on its treasures! Hahaha!'
Rob wasn't joking—he knew that after today, both Naruto Manga and the Art Store would explode in popularity, and he would become the first and foremost in everything. Making money through manga would be easier than drinking water—after all, he had no competition whatsoever.
'Hmm, it seems ordinary people give at most a few dozen coins, while famous figures in the manga or high-ranking ninjas give hundreds!'
Rob grew curious when he saw the Hokage's name shining like a blazing star on his notification board. Compared to it, the names of ordinary people were like moths.
"Wonderful! I must give the honorable Hokage special treatment for sure!"
Rob was thrilled—those thousand coins from the Hokage alone were quite the gift!
After all, this was the very leader of the village himself; no one else would possibly donate more than him…
'Or maybe I spoke too soon.'
Rob's eyes widened when he saw two children running toward him… no, upon a closer look, he realized the red-haired girl in front was dragging along a blond boy who looked rather pitiful.
"It's really you! Big brother Rubirō!" shouted Kushina in surprise as she tried to cling to the counter, which was far too tall for her height.
"Oh~ my little Kushina, how have you been? It's been so long." Rob was surprised. As Rob from Earth, he knew who Kushina was—Naruto's mother. But he hadn't realized until now that, as Rubirō, he had actually known her personally, too.
Rob's memories of this world came flooding back, neatly organized in a twenty-year mental archive. He had spent half of those years in Konoha, and the other half in the now-destroyed Uzumaki Village. Back then, their families had been good neighbors, and Rubirō's parents had often taken care of the orphaned Kushina.
She had always thought of Rubirō as her big brother…
Rob lifted the 12-year-old girl and placed her gently on the wide counter with a brotherly warmth. All this unfolded right in front of the surprised Minato.
For Rob, the true surprise was realizing that the only family he had left in this world was Kushina—the very girl who, in some years, would become the mother of this world's main protagonist, Uzumaki Naruto.
Kushina felt genuine warmth from Rubirō, and her smile grew even brighter. She had been extremely worried these past few days after hearing he'd been seriously injured in battle, but hadn't found the time to visit. Who would've thought that not only had her brother fully recovered, but he had also opened such a miraculous store—one that looked far larger inside than out!
The moment she and Minato stepped in, they almost tripped from sheer shock. The interior and exterior were like two separate worlds!
But since this was the ninja world, not much could really shock them.
After all, what could surprise a girl who had a massive beast sealed inside her belly? A building that's bigger on the inside? Please.
"I'm fine, big brother! You've recovered, right?" asked Kushina with concern.
Seeing that worried expression on her face—something rare for the hot-tempered redhead—Minato stepped back in disbelief. He had never seen such a gentle look on her face before!
'She has an older brother? I didn't even know that…' Minato thought, quietly swallowing his curiosity.
"My health? I'm perfectly fine! Haven't you realized your big brother has the vitality of a cockroach? Haha!" Rob laughed heartily. Though he didn't yet know how to handle Kushina properly, he could still feel the deep affection Rubirō had always had for the girl who grew up by his side.
After all, he had cared for her since she was a newborn. On the fateful day when they fled Uzushiogakure, Rubirō had been 13, and Kushina was just a toddler. They had escaped together as families, and Rubirō's parents had been entrusted with protecting Kushina—whose own family had sacrificed their lives in battle.
"Big brother Rubirō, what's the story behind this store? Is it really yours?" Kushina asked excitedly. She was amazed by everything inside. She looked at Minato and saw the same astonished look in his eyes. Around them, people were reading manga—laughing, gasping in shock, and even crying at certain parts.
"Yes, this is my store. Anyway, enough about that… This is your friend, right? Come with me, both of you. I'll give you the best seats in the bar."
Rob left the counter and led them to a comfy couch right beside the Third Hokage.
"I assume you're Namikaze Minato, the prodigy who rose from the academy to Chunin rank at record speed," Rob said with a smile.
"Chunin? No one's supposed to know that yet… Did my teacher tell you?"
"What?! Minato, you became a Chunin? But the exam hasn't even happened yet!" Kushina exclaimed, shocked. After all, Minato still wore a Genin forehead protector just like her.
"No one told me—I just guessed." Rob smiled. "Here, take these." He handed each of them a manga volume.
…
[—Inside the academy classroom, Naruto was tied up by his teacher, Iruka.
"Tomorrow, all your classmates will pass the final exam and graduate from the Ninja Academy. But the last two times this day came around, you flunked every single course!" Iruka was pointing angrily at Naruto, who turned his head away.
"So you chose today for your stupid tricks? You moron!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" Naruto rolled his eyes sarcastically, annoying Iruka even more.
"Today in class, we'll be reviewing the art of transformation!" Iruka suddenly announced.
"WHAT???!!!" the students yelled in shock.
"All you have to do is transform into something that looks like me!" Iruka said, laying out the exam's condition.
One by one, students took the test. "Right, well done."
"Next up, Uzumaki."
A few students complained, "This is all your fault!!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Naruto muttered, thinking, ("This sucks!")
"But, here goes nothing…" He prepared the hand signs for the transformation jutsu and shouted, "Change!!!"
The next moment, he transformed into a nude, curvy blonde girl covered only by thin clouds, striking a seductive pose.
Iruka's face went pale as twin fountains of blood erupted from his nose.
"Hahahahaha!! I call this one the Ninja Centerfold!" Naruto laughed proudly after canceling the transformation.
"How big a fool are you?!" Iruka exploded in anger, "You waste all your time and talent making stupid tricks like this!!"—]
"Pffffttt!!" The Third Hokage barely managed to hold his nose, nearly bursting into a nosebleed just like Iruka.
The Hokage was lucky, but many others weren't—they had lost quite a lot of blood.
The scene of Naruto's "Sexy Jutsu" was rendered so vividly that Rob had made sure it would become legendary from day one. It would stay forever in the minds of readers—whether ordinary civilians or elite ninjas. Even the Hokage wasn't immune.
"What nonsense is this?!" Mortified at being watched by his student and Kushina, the Hokage almost exploded with anger. Even he, the reader, had fallen for Naruto's prank!
"What a mischievous brat! How could he pull something like that during an exam?! Iruka should've smacked him!"
Sigh… "It seems his teacher is far too kind to him, though he doesn't deserve it," Hiruzen muttered as he turned the pages. Back in his day, academy teachers were terrifying; such jokes would've earned at least a whipping.
But it seemed Iruka was far too gentle.
…
Not far away, a man and a woman sat side by side reading the manga, their faces showing a very different kind of shock.
Not an ordinary kind.
Ikkaku Umino and Kohari Umino.
They were husband and wife—Kohari had taken her husband's surname after marriage. Both were 32 years old.
"Kohari… do you really think so?" Ikkaku asked in a trembling voice.
"Yes, dear… I'm sure of it. He looks just like you." Kohari replied, her voice equally shaky as she stared at Iruka, the teacher. Even Naruto's prank didn't make her laugh much—only a faint smile appeared.
The same went for Ikkaku. He looked almost identical to the Iruka drawn in the manga—just without the scar on the nose.
"Could it really be…?" The couple's wild guess grew stronger with every page they turned.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 12: Ichiraku Ramen.
Chapter 13: Naruto Fails the Exam.
Chapter 14: Literacy. Ambitious Danzo.
Chapter 15: The Kyūbi Appears!
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BlackStar_BH:
The chapters currently available on Patreon are these up to Chapter 15.
I will be uploading more over the coming days, heavily, starting today—up to 50 advanced chapters.
But I won't neglect updating here either, and I'll also be updating frequently.
For now, you can read all the advanced chapters for only $5 in the Silver Tier, and also on Ko-fi.