Chapter 16: Will of Fire?After Naruto left the Village, he quickly found Rock Lee and began training with him.Seeing his senior brother return after being out, Rock Lee noticed he was in a bad mood and couldn't help but be curious about what had happened.However, he didn't dare to ask Naruto directly; after all, Rock Lee was simple, not stupid, and certainly wouldn't choose to court disaster at such a moment.Naruto kept a straight face, training without a word, while lost in his own thoughts.In reality, he had considered leaving Konoha Village to strike out on his own and create his own faction, but ultimately, he rejected this idea.Because in his plan, Konoha Village was a crucial link, and for the time being, he needed the protection of this massive tree that was Konoha Village.Moreover, if he tried to leave the Village now, he would likely be dragged back immediately; after all, Konoha Village would not allow the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to escape its control.Furthermore, there were many things he wanted to acquire through the Village, such as the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, the Rasengan, the Senjutsu of Mount Myōboku, and even the Sharingan.To this end, he planned to wait until he reached the Ninja Academy to fully become Naruto in the public eye, from the inside out, because he wasn't sure if he would still be able to learn these Ninjutsu that originally belonged to him if he acted according to his own methods.Therefore, he could only try his best to gain the recognition of these people for now, but he didn't expect that trouble would come knocking on his door again the next day.Today, just like usual, Naruto headed early in the morning to the place where he met Rock Lee every day, but to his surprise, he was surrounded by three people before he could even leave the Village.He recognized one of them; it was the ruffian-like boy he had heavily injured yesterday, and the other two, a man and a woman, appeared to be his parents.The boy stepped forward, pointed at Naruto, and said: "It's him! Yesterday, he stole my candied hawthorn and beat me up."Upon hearing this, his father walked over to Narutoin a rage, grabbed him by the collar, dragged him close, and said viciously: "Kneel down and apologize to my son right now, or I won't let you off."The commotion quickly attracted the attention of others, and more and more people gathered to watch. In fact, the moment Naruto saw the parents, he realized there were no Chakra fluctuations within them; they were just ordinary people.He also knew that this was likely Danzomanipulating everything from behind the scenes. Although he didn't know the purpose of targeting him like this, the method used was clearly to provoke him using these ordinary people, thereby achieving the desired result.Since he had already seen through the opponent's intentions, it was only logical not to let him succeed. Besides, he was a Rubber Man; ordinary people naturally couldn't cause him any harm.So, Naruto calmly said: "Can you be sure that what your son said is true? Yesterday, he and others were bullying a girl, and I only attacked them because I couldn't stand by and watch.""You're lying! You were the one bullying people. A dog can't change its habit of eating feces; it seems the Demon Fox is born evil and cunning.""That's right, how can you believe the words of the Demon Fox?""It's truly hateful; we were almost deceived by him."Hearing the people around them taking his child's side, the boy's father felt more confident and a smile appeared on his face.He gripped Naruto even tighter and said arrogantly: "See that? No one believes you. Kneel down now, or you'll regret it."Naruto didn't speak this time, only a look of disdain appeared on his face.Seeing this, the man became even angrier and swung his fist at him.Although this kind of ordinary attack couldn't cause any harm to Naruto, he was still knocked flying backward.After falling to the ground, he slowly stood up, looked up at the sky, and didn't know what he was thinking.White clouds drifted freely, and occasionally a few birds flew by. At this moment, a leaf was swept over by the breeze, and Naruto's gaze was drawn to it.Meanwhile, the people around had started hurling things at Naruto while cursing, which naturally included some sharp stones. Blood was already streaming down his face.However, Naruto maintained his posture without reacting. He thought to himself: "Where the leaves dance, the Fire also burns on.The firelight will continue to illuminate the Villageand cause new leaves to sprout.Heh, I'm afraid it's the leaves that the fire burns. The firelight illuminates the Village, but the leaves only end up as fertilizer for the next generation of leaves. It goes on and on, and it seems like it's always the leaves that pay the price!""But has anyone ever truly asked how the leaves feel? Are they truly burning themselves willingly?""Then what are these people before me? They aren't the fire, nor are they the leaves. Could they be the rotting tree?""Is this the Will of Fire? Then..."The more Naruto thought, the sharper his gaze became. Chakra fluctuations began to emerge from his body, and his aura became increasingly terrifying.At this moment, a voice suddenly appeared, interrupting his train of thought."What are you doing? Why are you treating my senior brother like this?"It turned out that Rock Lee, seeing that his senior brother was rarely late, felt uneasy and decided to come looking for him. Who would have thought he would see this scene just as he entered the Village.So, after letting out a loud shout, he quickly rushed in front of Naruto and began blocking the things being thrown.But Rock Lee had only been training for a short time and his strength was limited. Coupled with the fact that more and more people were throwing things at them, he soon began to suffer injuries himself.Naruto looked at Rock Lee, and his heart was touched. Just then, another person ran over from the crowd; it was actually the boy whose arm he had snapped yesterday.His strength was even worse, but he still stood in front of Naruto without hesitation. Seeing him appear, Naruto was somewhat surprised, not knowing why the other party was doing this.At this moment, the ruffian-like boy opposite shouted: "Tong Yu, are you crazy? What are you doing? Come back here quickly."This person named Tong Yu, while protecting his vital parts, shouted: "Cut that out! From the moment you abandoned me in the forest yesterday, I haven't been your underling anymore.""What kind of leader abandons his people just to save himself?"Afterward, he turned to Naruto and said: "Big Brother, your strength is so great, and you are full of justice. Please take me as your underling in the future! I want to become someone like you too
