Naruto, born from the world of his parents.

Naruto sat quietly to the side, making no attempt to comfort Sasuke.

He knew that Sasuke didn't need comforting; sometimes people need to cry.

As Naruto listened to Sasuke's cries, his mind gradually went blank, but he became increasingly puzzled.

"What exactly did Itachi do?"

After these two interactions with Sasuke, Naruto was certain that Itachi Uchiha, the ninja his father trusted most and whom he respected immensely, must have done something in this world.

But what exactly did they do?

"Itachi? He's a thoughtful child, but he lacks direction."

"But everyone says Itachi is very smart, right?"

"Hahaha, I once heard a sage say something like this: 'Thinking without learning is dangerous.' Itachi is a case in point. He is very smart and loves to think, but because he has no direction, without proper guidance, he is very likely to go down the path of self-destruction."

My conversation with my father suddenly surfaced from my memory.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, who had cried himself to sleep beside him, and whispered, "Self-destruction?"

Thinking about the bad feeling this world gave him, Naruto frowned.

"As expected, Father is always right."

The biggest difference between this world and my own world is the choice of the Hokage.

In retrospect, this is probably the reason why the two worlds have undergone such drastic changes.

In his own world, Sasuke is not like that. He is the young master of the number one ninja clan in Konoha, a child who is loved and pampered all his life, but has no flaws except for being a bit of a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome).

In this world, Sasuke becomes someone shrouded in pain and isolated from the world.

While Itachi is the key figure, the core of the matter is his own father.

From the current perspective, the Third Hokage of this world did not provide Itachi with the right direction, leading to a series of tragedies.

Thinking of this, Naruto felt fortunate, because in his world, the Hokage was not the old man who created tragedy.

But Naruto didn't hate Hiruzen Sarutobi; he just felt sorry for him.

"The Third Hokage? He's not a bad person, just a good person who's not very bright. But often, the destructive power of a fool is greater than that of a bad person, and that's something you need to be careful about."

This is his father's evaluation of the former Hokage. To be honest, Naruto was quite surprised when he first heard this evaluation.

After all, he found it hard to believe that such a scathing critique would come from his father.

However, now he seemed to understand why his father had made such a comment about the Third Hokage.

Sasuke, who was sleeping beside him, slightly twitched his eyelids. This subtle movement did not escape Naruto's notice. He turned his head to look at the boy who was still pretending to be asleep and smiled, "Awake?"

Having been exposed, Sasuke was too embarrassed to continue pretending. He opened his eyes, pursed his lips as if he had made up his mind, and strode up to Naruto. To Naruto's utter surprise, he knelt down and spoke to Naruto in a perfectly standard taxi dismount posture.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I lost control of my emotions just now and almost hurt you."

Not only was Naruto surprised, but Sasuke himself was also extremely surprised by his own actions.

He couldn't understand why he did it, but if Naruto hadn't been focused, his kunai would probably have pierced his heart.

Thinking of this terrible consequence, Sasuke's heart tightened, and he pressed his head even closer to the ground.

Hearing Sasuke's words, Naruto smiled and helped him up, looking at him with utmost seriousness: "We're comrades, aren't we?"

Sasuke's lips moved as if he was about to say something, but Naruto continued, "But it really was scary, wasn't it? Promise me, Sasuke, this is the last time."

"Promise me, Sasuke, this is the last time."

"Promise me, Sasuke, this is the last time."

"Promise me, Sasuke, this is the last time."

These seemingly ordinary words echoed in Sasuke's mind like a demonic chant.

The same words, the same gentle tone, made it almost impossible for him to distinguish between reality and memory.

But that head of golden hair, even more dazzling than the sunlight, rose like the sun in Sasuke's dark world, where a blood-red moon always hung.

He stared intently at Naruto, and tears welled up in his eyes once again, uncontrollably.

This scene startled Naruto. He thought he had said something wrong and was about to apologize when he heard Sasuke speak very seriously.

"I promise you, Naruto, big brother."

Naruto was visibly taken aback upon hearing this address, but seeing Sasuke's unwavering gaze, he smiled and ruffled Sasuke's hair, saying, "What? You're a few months older than me, yet you call me 'big brother'?"

But he didn't correct it; instead, he was secretly pleased.

"It's just a pity that Sasuke in my world can't see this, otherwise his expression would be priceless."

Thinking of the incredulous expression on that immature boy's face, Naruto laughed even harder.

He stood up and extended a hand to Sasuke: "I was originally going to ask you to treat me to a meal as an apology, but since you're calling me 'big brother,' what else is there to say?"

"Follow your big brother, and he'll take you to eat something delicious!"

Sasuke was stunned for a moment, then grabbed Naruto's hand without hesitation and stood up. For the first time, a smile appeared on his pale and cold face.

"Okay, big brother."

……

"Big brother, is this what you meant by delicious food?"

Standing at the entrance of Ichiraku Ramen, listening to Sasuke's question, even Naruto, with his resolute character, felt an indescribable awkwardness.

"this."

He scratched his head: "You know I'm an orphan, and I don't really have much money right now, so..."

"Yes, I should. It's my duty to apologize to my elder brother."

This made Naruto even more embarrassed.

Although my parents never spoiled me, because of my excellence, I always received a generous allowance.

So in Naruto's memory, he was usually the one treating others to meals. Now that he had just accepted a subordinate as his ally, it felt awkward for him to be treated to a meal by his subordinate.

He took a deep breath and turned to the side: "Sasuke, you're thinking too simply."

"what?"

"Do you know how long Ichiraku Ramen has been open in Konoha?"

Sasuke shook his head: "I don't know."

Naruto's expression suddenly became incredibly inscrutable. He held up five fingers: "Fifty years ago, this was arguably the first shop established since the village's founding, and all those established around the same time were from ninja clans. Do you understand?"

"Huh? I don't understand."

Naruto ruffled Sasuke's hair, feeling a sense of relief, and his expression became more natural: "Fool, since it was established alongside the ninja clan's shops and has been operating for over fifty years, there must be something different about it. I've heard that."

"What?"

Seeing the interest in Sasuke's eyes, Naruto shared a rumor: "I've heard that the ramen at Ichiraku Ramen can boost chakra activity."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke's eyes lit up immediately.