A month passed since then. Satoru could now speak at about the level of a young child.
"Jin, let's go play."
"You just went for a walk earlier. When Naruto comes, I'll ask him."
"Hiiing..."
Perhaps because Satoru was still young, he had boundless energy. I felt like just letting him run free. Our Satoru doesn't bite. Or wait, does he?
'There might be times when he's alone, so I should give him some training.'
The next day, the shop next door was finally completed as a workshop. Since I had invested a lot of money, it was quite sturdy, and because it was connected to the house, I could go back and forth between the house and the workshop without even going outside.
Also, since it could be noisy, I paid attention to soundproofing and reinforced it again with [Material Manipulation]. Additionally, because the shop was connected to the house, the yard naturally became larger, which would be good for Naruto to train.
'I should have done this sooner.'
Satoru was also happy, running and playing in the spacious yard.
Just then, the printing press owner came to see me.
"Long time no see."
"Indeed. Actually, when is the next novel coming out?"
"Isn't the printing press still busy? I heard you don't have the capacity."
"You're right. We still don't have room. But the higher-ups are pressuring us, asking why the next novel isn't out. So I'm asking you to do another one, about the length of one volume like 'The Boy and the Dog'. With pressure from above and us being busy, we have no choice."
I had thought the owner was being greedy, but it seemed the printing press had its own circumstances. The ones doing the pressuring were probably the nobles under the Daimyō.
"I see. Understood. I have something in mind, so it won't take too long."
"That's a relief. Understood."
After the owner left, I decided to write 'A Christmas Carol' (Scrooge) that I had thought of before. This time, I changed the title and the protagonist's name both to 'Sakuraji' and began writing. Again, I was able to complete it in three weeks. Since I only needed to refine Sakuraji's emotional expressions a little, and the episodes didn't require major changes from the original, even writing leisurely didn't take too long. For the cover, I drew an elderly Sakuraji counting money.
Having completed it, I showed it to Naruto again this time.
"This work, how should I put it... It warms the heart. But this time, the protagonist lived? Since the person who seemed like a villain was the protagonist, I thought you were going to kill him again, ya know?"
"Yeah. Since you all said I kill too many, I let him live this time. How is it? Do you like it?"
"Yeah, I think it's good."
Since Naruto seemed to like it, I handed it over to the printing press immediately. The owner also read it and was lost in thought for a moment.
"It's a good piece. A work that makes you reflect on your life. Good! I'll print it right away."
In the village, there was also a lot of talk about the novel 'Sakuraji'.
"Indeed, people need to know how to be generous."
"I know, right. It's not like you can take it all with you when you die."
"I don't want to live a life with nothing to spare, like Sakuraji."
The village elders also read the novel and laughed ruefully.
"Hohoho, I've been living my life in vain…"
"I agree. But it's not too late yet."
"Right! Like Sakuraji, we still have the chance to look around us."
I enjoyed their reactions, occasionally giving autographs, and went grocery shopping with Satoru, then returned home. Just then, Naruto and his classmates suddenly came flooding into our house. Naturally, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chōji, Ino, Kiba, and Shino all came.
"Huh? What brings you all to our house?"
When I asked, Naruto scratched his head and answered.
"Well, we were told to read 'Sakuraji' and write a book report, but we've never written a book report before, ya know. We don't know how to write it…"
"Then why didn't you ask your teacher?"
Then Sakura answered, "The teacher said he doesn't really know either. He said he's never written one…"
"What? Huh... Really. Anyway, come in."
I was dumbfounded, but I guided the children to the living room. However, Shino seemed unable to enter, as if blocked by something.
"Aren't you coming in?"
"Well... I can't get in."
That's when it suddenly occurred to me. Shino is a ninja who uses insects. So he probably couldn't enter the house because of the barrier I had set up to block bugs. I quickly removed the barrier.
"Huh? I can get in now? Was my clothing caught on something? That's strange."
Shino looked around at his clothes and the surroundings, then came in.
"Sorry. It seems my clothing got caught on something."
"R-Right. Everyone, please sit down. I'll bring you something to eat."
Fortunately, he thought his clothes had been caught, and it passed naturally, but if I hadn't been careful, I could have revealed my abilities.
'I need to be careful.'
First, I set out drinks and snacks for the children. Meanwhile, Kiba was playing with Satoru in the living room.
"So, the teacher gave you an assignment to write a book report, even though he didn't know how to write one himself?"
When I asked the children, Sakura answered again this time.
"Yes, that's right. It's the Hokage's orders. But, Jin Author-nim, do you have a girlfriend?"
Sakura blushed and asked me.
"No, I don't."
"Kyaa~! He doesn't! Ino, did you hear that?"
"Yeah, I heard. Then, could we perhaps know Author-nim's ideal type?"
These kids, not even ten years old—I had no idea what they were talking about.
"Well, I don't know. I've never thought about it. But you're not here for love counseling, are you?"
At my words, Ino said shyly, "Haha! W-Well, that's true…"
The boys looked at Sakura and Ino as if they were pathetic.
Anyway, from what the children told me, it seemed the Hokage had ordered them to read my novel 'Sakuraji' and write a book report. The problem was that there had never been proper novels for children to read, so they didn't know how to write a book report. Even their teacher, Iruka Umino, didn't know. So, at Naruto's suggestion, they came to my house.
'Honestly... Even if they write book reports like this, I doubt they'll be assessed properly.'
Anyway, because of these circumstances, I decided to teach the children how to write a book report.
"A book report is, you know, organizing your feelings, thoughts, and lessons learned after reading a book, and expressing them in writing."
"Then, how should we start?"
"First, it's good to start with the basic information about the book, right? You need to let the person reading the report know what book you read. Then, start by writing a simple summary."
"Then, what comes next?"
"Next, you write down what you felt and thought while reading the book. It's also good to write down what you liked or what was disappointing."
At that, Kiba suddenly stood up and said, "Author-nim's writing is perfect! There's no way there could be anything disappointing!"
"R-Right..."
Kiba seemed to have become my true fan. Anyway, the children, since they were already at my house, seemed to want to do their homework there, so they sat down and began writing their book reports. So I watched over their writing for a while, then in the evening, I made kimbap, tempura, and made a slightly less spicy version of special cheese tteokbokki. Of course, I made generous portions, keeping Chōji in mind.
"Wow~ This is so delicious! Jin Author-nim is also an amazing cook."
"I know, right. It's really delicious."
"Bro is an unbelievably good cook."
It was nice to see them all eating well. After finishing the meal, the children who had finished their book reports began to head home one by one.
"Author-nim, the food was really delicious. Thank you for the meal."
"Thank you for helping us with our homework."
"Yeah. Everyone, go home carefully."
What surprised me as I watched the children leave was that, unlike in the original story, they were all interacting with Naruto without any hesitation. Honestly, that was something I couldn't ask about, so I hadn't known, but seeing the children getting along so well made me quite happy. Sasuke also didn't seem bad—perhaps because the Uchiha clan massacre hadn't happened yet.
'I'm glad. Everyone's getting along well.'
Another month passed like that. News came from my clones that Shisui had had one eye stolen by Danzō and, having entrusted his other eye to Itachi, had died. As a result, Itachi awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
'As expected, Danzō never changes.'
Honestly, I had had a little hope, but it was still impossible to reform Danzō with just a few novels. The village, unaware of such things, was as peaceful as ever.
I had rested a lot, so I thought about releasing a new work, but the printing press was still swamped printing additional copies of the existing novels, so they asked for more time. So I decided to just make some swords as a hobby. I wasn't planning to make a huge number like in 'The Lord of the Rings'—I intended to focus on just a few.
"Hmm... First, the first sword will be a flame sword."
It wasn't just a simple flame sword. It was a sword that, when infused with the user's chakra, would envelop the blade in powerful flames that could melt even the opponent's weapon. Because of that, ordinary metal was impossible. After many failures, I had no choice but to create an alloy sword mixing a small amount of mithril and chitauri metal, metals that didn't exist in the Naruto world. I even gave it a regeneration ability.
The shape of the sword was a black, somewhat long katana. I made it that way because I thought the user wouldn't be able to withstand the heat. There was another problem: it consumed a large amount of chakra. This was the result of making it too extreme, but I figured the user would figure it out, so I didn't fix it and left it as it was.
While making swords like that, another month had passed before I knew it.
'Hmm... What should I name the first sword…'
After thinking for a moment, I combined the god of fire with the word for sword and named it 'Kagutsuchi-no-ya', and engraved that on the scabbard.
"Oh~ Is it finally finished, ya know?"
Naruto, who had been watching me make it for the past few days, said.
"Yeah, it's finished. 'Kagutsuchi-no-ya'."
"Wow~ That's a cool name! Can I see it?"
"No. This sword is dangerous. It ignites when you put chakra into it."
"Then isn't it dangerous, ya know?"
"It's dangerous. If you mishandle it, the house could go up in flames, so don't touch it."
I warned Naruto and Satoru and hung the sword in my room.
A few days passed like that. I was out grocery shopping with Satoru when I saw people running somewhere in a hurry.
"What's going on? Why are they like that?"
"Fire!!"
"Huh? Fire?"
I looked in the direction the people were running and saw smoke rising from the Academy side. So I picked up Satoru and ran to the Academy. When I got there, Naruto and Sasuke were standing with their hands up, being punished, and 'Iruka Umino' was scolding them. Looking around the Academy, one side of the building was charred black. The fire seemed to have already been extinguished.
I decided to go to Iruka and ask what happened.
"What happened here?"
"Ah, Jin Author-nim, you're here. Well, you see…"
According to the story, Naruto had taken the sword from my room and gone to show it off to the other kids. Then Sasuke said he wanted to try it, so he drew the sword and swung it, but it got too hot and he dropped it, causing the fire.
I immediately flicked Naruto on the head.
Thwack!
"Ugh! That hurts!"
"You brat! I told you not to touch it because it's dangerous! What if someone had gotten hurt!"
Just then, a man I hadn't seen before flicked Sasuke on the head.
Thwack!
"Ugh!"
"You brat! Causing a fire by touching a weapon you don't even know how to use!"
"I'm sorry, Father."
From Sasuke calling him 'Father', this man seemed to be 'Uchiha Fugaku'. And because of the fire at the Academy, Hiruzen, the elders, and Danzō, who had been nearby, had also come. They were looking at my sword, 'Kagutsuchi-no-ya', when they spotted me and called out.
"You, come here for a moment."
Called by Hiruzen, I went over to him.
"This sword, where did it come from?"
I told the story I had prepared in advance.
"This sword was made using a manufacturing method passed down through my family for generations. I had some free time, so I tried making one."
"Then, can you mass-produce them?"
"Impossible. It requires a special meteorite ore, and I used up all the ore I had to make this sword."
"I see... 'Kagutsuchi-no-ya'... A formidable sword. Or rather, a cursed sword that burns even its master? You have many talents."
"Originally, I come from a blacksmith family. Anyway, I'm sorry for causing trouble. I should have stored it more securely. I will compensate for the Academy building."
I reached out my hand to take back the sword, but Hiruzen did not return it.
"About this sword. Sell it to the village. It's too dangerous for a civilian like you to possess. After this incident, word has spread, and people may come after it. I'll give you a fair price."
In Hiruzen's eyes, if a blacksmith who didn't even know jutsu continued to possess this sword, various problems would arise.
Truthfully, the reason I hadn't put it in my inventory and had hung it in my room was that I had intended to give it to someone worthy of using it. I didn't want a sword I had made to rot away in my inventory; I wanted it to come out into the world and be useful. Although this wasn't the way I had wanted it to come out.
"Then, make me one promise. I don't want to see that sword end up in a warehouse. If there is someone who can freely wield that sword, promise that you will give it to them. If you promise, I'll hand it over for just the cost of the materials."
"Hmm... Very well. I promise."
At those words, Danzō's eyes sparkled. He seemed to covet the sword. Since Danzō wasn't wearing bandages yet, it seemed he hadn't received Shisui's eye.