Chapter 4

Chapter 4 — Lord Hokage of Blame Doesn’t Mind Carrying a Few More Burdens

When Uzumaki Menma opened his eyes again inside the orphanage that night, he had already returned from his mental world to reality.

Feeling chakra flowing continuously through his pathways, he sensed overwhelming strength filling his body.

Even with the vitality of the Uzumaki clan, it had taken him three years to accumulate enough chakra to give birth to the little Nine-Tails. Now that she existed, his chakra was no longer swallowed by that bottomless void.

He could even draw chakra from her instead.

Little Nine, lend me some chakra, Menma communicated inwardly.

“I’ll give you enough for one Tailed Beast Bomb. I don’t have much left,” the little Nine-Tails replied reluctantly as she shared part of her remaining chakra.

For a normal tailed beast, the chakra required for one Tailed Beast Bomb was insignificant—but for the weakened little Nine-Tails, it amounted to nearly half her total reserves.

Even so, that amount already surpassed the total chakra possessed by most elite jōnin.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu.”

Menma formed hand seals.

Poof.

Smoke dispersed, and a shadow clone appeared beside the bed.

After exchanging a silent nod with the clone, Menma carefully climbed out of bed while the clone lay down in his place.

He moved to the window and opened it, but did not immediately leave.

Instead, he borrowed the little Nine-Tails’ chakra and activated malice sensing.

The dark Nine-Tails from the Inifinite Tsukuyomi world had been regarded as a manifestation of hatred, resentment, and betrayal, granting her extremely sharp perception of good and evil.

With her chakra, Menma wielded that ability with mastery.

During the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Nine-Tails had sensed hostile chakra across the entire battlefield.

Menma focused.

“Found you.”

Less than ten meters from the orphanage, inside a tree, he detected malicious chakra.

A White Zetsu was monitoring the orphanage.

To avoid disturbing the children and Yakushi Nono, Menma slipped outside the window, quietly closed it behind him, and vanished forward in an instant.

Purple lightning-nature chakra gathered around his right hand, forming a technique resembling a chakra scalpel.

One of many jutsu he had developed in the Inifinite Tsukuyomi world.

In his attempt to escape that world, Menma had captured jinchūriki from various nations and collected countless secret techniques and ninjutsu, giving him immense theoretical knowledge.

Crackle—

Lightning hummed softly as his hand pierced straight through the massive tree.

“Aaaah!”

A scream echoed as a white figure was dragged out from the trunk—a White Zetsu, its pale face frozen in terror.

It could not understand how the child it had monitored for over two years had discovered it, nor how he possessed such terrifying techniques.

White Zetsu’s combat power was weak. One strike killed it instantly, leaving only a corpse.

“Shame I don’t have a storage scroll.”

Menma hoisted the body onto his shoulder and sprinted toward Konoha.

Leaping between trees, he performed another transformation jutsu, returning to the appearance he used in the Inifinite Tsukuyomi world.

Short black hair framed a white three-eyed fox mask hiding his face. He wore a dark robe with a white fur collar, red bandages wrapped around his arms and legs, and fingerless sleeves.

The dark aesthetic contrasted sharply with Naruto’s bright orange attire.

“Menma, what is that thing?” the little Nine-Tails asked, poking her head out from the fur collar as she sat on his shoulder, instinctively repulsed by the corpse.

She had never seen such creatures before.

“White Zetsu. Victims from the era of the Divine Tree—people drained of life and chakra.”

As Menma reached the outskirts of the village, his malice sensing detected another White Zetsu hiding inside a tree near Konoha’s gate.

Looks like Black Zetsu deployed quite a few around Konoha.

After Madara’s death, the corrupted Obito had likely begun monitoring the village.

Except for areas guarded by the Hyūga clan’s Byakugan, many Zetsu were probably hidden throughout Konoha—especially near the Uchiha district.

Menma struck again.

A chakra blade cleaved the tree in half, slicing the hidden White Zetsu at the waist.

He collected the corpse and continued moving.

The surveillance around the orphanage had to be cleared if he wanted freedom of action. Being constantly watched was unacceptable.

But he couldn’t alert Obito or Black Zetsu.

The blame had to fall elsewhere.

Konoha at night appeared peaceful and quiet.

Menma exited a ninja tool shop, leapt onto a rooftop, and gazed toward Hokage Rock, taking in the entire village under moonlight.

The White Zetsu corpses were gone. In their place were several storage scrolls—and numerous ninja tools he had conveniently taken from the shop.

Probably worth about the price of Asuma’s bounty, he estimated.

“Was that Tenten’s shop…?”

The location felt strangely familiar.

I’ll pay them back someday.

He shifted his gaze to Hokage Rock.

If I remember correctly, Root’s base lies beneath it.

He began moving again across the rooftops.

I need to develop the Nine-Faced Suvahā as soon as possible.

He missed the flight ability granted by the “Heavenly Maiden” form within that technique.

All nine manifestations were fox-type entities, and Nine-Faced Suvahā was a summoning system derived from Nine-Tails chakra—something only possible with the little Nine-Tails’ assistance.

Moving through Konoha with extreme mobility and malice sensing, Menma avoided the village’s sensory-type ninja and eliminated two White Zetsu hidden beneath Hokage Rock.

He did not remove all of them.

He cleared only the path between Hokage Rock and the orphanage.

Surely Lord “Hokage of Blame” wouldn’t mind taking responsibility for a few more incidents.

By the time Obito and Black Zetsu noticed anything unusual, Menma would already be living independently.

After finishing, hunger finally struck him.

He landed in an alley, transformed into an ordinary black-haired boy, and walked into Ichiraku Ramen.

“Hey, I heard the war might finally be ending. Peace is coming, right?”

“The Cloud Village envoy arrived yesterday. The Third Hokage personally hosted them. This war should be over soon,” two ninja chatted while eating ramen.

Cloud Village envoy…

Menma sat nearby.

Right.

This was Year 54 of Konoha.

The war between Konoha and Kumogakure ended that very year.