Chapter 11: Whitebeard's Dream! The New Whitebeard Pirates!
"Old man, why won't the Third Hokage let me have a family?" Little Naruto's face was full of confusion. He couldn't understand why the usually kind Hokage was so strict today.
It even made him feel that the Hokage was somewhat unfamiliar.
"Gu la la la! Who cares!" Whitebeard said, "Anyway, he won't be Hokage for long."
Naruto was stunned, "Why?"
Whitebeard laughed heartily, "Because my foolish son is going to become the Hokage! When a new Hokage takes office, doesn't the old one have to step down?"
"Do you think I can become Hokage?" Naruto's eyes lit up.
"Foolish son, this is your dream. Are you doubting your own dream?" Whitebeard said, "When you speak of your dream, do it without any doubt."
"You should say—I will become Hokage. I definitely can, and I certainly will! That's what a man of the sea would say!"
Naruto felt excited by his words.
Clenching his fist, he didn't care that they were on the street. He shouted, "I will definitely become the Hokage of Konoha!"
"Gu la la la! Good! Very spirited!" Whitebeard said with satisfaction, "As expected of my son!"
Riding on Whitebeard's shoulders.
Naruto suddenly asked curiously, "Old man, what is your dream? Is it to become Hokage too?"
Whitebeard shook his head.
"Old man, I'm not interested in your Hokage. If I have to talk about dreams... I do have a few."
Under Naruto's expectant gaze.
Whitebeard said, "Family! Treasure! A pirate crew! These are my dreams! I want to gather more sons here, bring back some treasure, and rebuild my pirate crew."
Whitebeard didn't care about titles like "The World's Strongest Man," "Four Emperors," or "Hokage."
He only cared about those three things.
Since he was young, he had always wanted a family. So, after going out to sea, he adopted many orphans from the sea as his sons and formed a large family.
Coming to the Shinobi World, Whitebeard lost his family. He couldn't find a way back, so he wanted to find some new family members.
"Treasures" didn't particularly interest Whitebeard, but he always remembered his homeland, which was greatly damaged by war.
The treasures he plundered at sea were all sent back to his homeland for its construction.
As for the "pirate crew," Whitebeard believed that if he weren't the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, he wouldn't be a complete Whitebeard.
He longed to rebuild the Whitebeard Pirates in the Shinobi World.
He looked forward to the day he could return with the "New Whitebeard Pirates" and see Marco and the others.
"Cough, cough, cough..." Suddenly, Whitebeard coughed heavily, and his brows furrowed.
"Old man, what's wrong?" Naruto noticed something was wrong.
Whitebeard smiled casually, "People age, and I'm already 72 years old. It's just a minor ailment."
Despite his words, Whitebeard added a new goal to himself.
——Find a way to restore his health.
He still wanted to see this foolish son Naruto grow up day by day and didn't want to miss that.
Speaking of which, in this place called the Shinobi World...
How is the medical level here?
"Naruto!" Noticing that the concern in Naruto's eyes hadn't faded, Whitebeard smiled and changed the topic, "Do you know what it takes to become Hokage?"
As expected, the term "Hokage" had a great attraction to Naruto.
The topic successfully shifted.
Naruto answered seriously, "You must uphold the Will of Fire! You must also be skilled in powerful ninjutsu, be a strong ninja, and be someone who can bring safety to everyone!"
"Uh..." Naruto thought for a moment and added, "You also can't be hungry all the time. I think you can't become Hokage if you're starving. Finally, you need to earn the respect of the village."
"The Third Hokage is highly respected in the village, and even his face is carved on the Hokage Rock."
"Is that so?" Whitebeard didn't know what the Will of Fire was.
But the rest seemed to boil down to—whoever has the biggest fists becomes Hokage.
That seemed simple!
It sounded similar to pirates, where whoever has the biggest fists becomes one of the Four Emperors and the strongest man in the world.
At this moment.
Naruto mumbled, "But the Third Hokage is always unwilling to teach me ninjutsu. He says that when I turn six, he will enroll me in the Ninja Academy, and then I can learn ninjutsu."
"Ninjutsu, is that the trick of spitting fire and water?"
Whitebeard laughed, "Gu la la la! If everyone can learn it, I thought it was like the power of Devil Fruits."
"Devil Fruits?" Naruto scratched his head.
Sometimes, Whitebeard's words were so new that Naruto couldn't understand them.
Suddenly, Naruto's eyes lit up.
He turned to Whitebeard, "Old man, are you also a ninja? You must be a very powerful ninja! Otherwise, you couldn't have defeated those three Uchiha guards so easily."
"Old man, can you teach me ninjutsu?" Naruto looked at him expectantly.
"I'm not a ninja, and I don't know any ninjutsu."
Before Naruto could show his disappointment, Whitebeard laughed and continued, "But, I can teach you other things that won't be much worse than those ninjas!"
"But, Naruto." Whitebeard's smile became meaningful, "Are you ready for this?"
"Of course!!!"
Naruto changed his sitting posture to standing. He shakily stood on Whitebeard's shoulders.
And tried to puff out his chest.
He shouted, "Old man! I, Naruto, am ready!"
"Gu la la la! Then don't regret it, you foolish son!"
...
An hour later.
Outside Konoha.
"Old man, do we really have to do this? This could be deadly," Naruto's ambition deflated. His lips trembled, and he wore a bitter face, "Can this really work?"
"Why not?" Whitebeard frowned, "This is how I trained back in the day!"
Naruto was hanging from a tree, his legs tightly bound by ropes, forming an upside-down position.
But it wasn't a complete upside-down.
Because Naruto's body was in an "L" position, with his legs tightly pressed against the tree trunk but his waist hanging in the air.
"Old man, my stomach hurts!" Naruto was sweating profusely. He couldn't hold this position for a minute; his abdominal muscles were screaming in pain.
But Naruto didn't dare to let his back down because below his back was a Murakumogiri!
If he let his back down...
He would be cut in half!
...
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