Chapter 47: The Love-Starved Churl

Kakashi did not pay much attention to such gazes at first, merely assuming it was the villagers' fear of the jinchuriki.

As for Naruto, he was already long accustomed to this kind of treatment.

At that moment, Kakashi arrived in front of a dumpling stall, intending to buy something to fill the two children's stomachs first.

When they reached the stall, the vendor sitting inside looked up and first saw Naruto, who appeared somewhat hesitant before the stand.

The stall owner immediately wore a look of disgust, waving his hand as if shooing away a fly.

"What are you doing here, you demon fox brat? Good grief, no wonder my business hasn't been doing well today!" The stall owner glared and shouted viciously, "Get lost this instant!"

However, when the stall owner turned his head and saw Kakashi standing beside him with a dark, iron-blue expression, he froze in place.

Kakashi did not speak, but a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

Over the years, he had not been entirely unaware of the rumors surrounding Naruto's experiences, but he had simply thought it was merely alienation driven by the villagers' fear of the jinchuriki's power. Seeing it with his own eyes today, however, he realized that what Naruto had endured all these years was this kind of unmasked malice.

"Who... who are you?" As a ninja who had served in the Anbu for years, the slight bit of murderous intent Kakashi inadvertently leaked was clearly more than the dumpling stall owner could bear, startling the man into backing away repeatedly.

Yet, upon noticing the headband on Kakashi's forehead, the man grew somewhat bolder. In this village, it was an iron-clad rule that ninja could not attack civilians, so he felt he had no need to be afraid of Kakashi.

With renewed courage, the man raised his voice and aggressively demanded, "What relation are you to this demon fox brat? What do you want? Are you trying to attack a civilian?"

The commotion here attracted quite a crowd of onlookers. Although most of them were somewhat wary of the ninja identity represented by the headband on Kakashi's forehead and did not step forward directly, they began whispering among themselves on the sidelines.

"Who is that guy?"

"I don't know. I've never seen him around this demon fox brat before."

"Anyway, can anyone who hangs out with that demon fox brat be any good?"

"Shh, keep your voice down, he's a ninja."

"Ninja? So what if he's a ninja? Do you really think he'd dare to beat someone up right here in the village?"

"Hmph, even if that damned demon fox brat has a ninja backing him up now, we shouldn't be afraid of him!"

"Exactly, exactly! As long as we stick together, the Hokage-sama will back us up!"

The surrounding chatter naturally could not escape Kakashi's ears, and his expression grew increasingly grim amidst the whispers. This was the son of the Fourth Hokage, who had risked his life to protect them during the Nine-Tails' attack! To think he was being treated this way now—thinking of his own past neglect of Naruto made him want to slap himself twice.

"Forget it, Kakashi-哥哥, let's go," Naruto said softly at that moment, tugging at Kakashi's sleeve.

Seeing this, Kakashi turned back to look at the still-ranting stall owner, and the murderous intent in his body erupted unreservedly.

How could a humble dumpling stall owner have ever witnessed such an aura? He was instantly frightened into retreating step by step, tripped over the stool behind him, and fell flat on his backside.

Having done all this, Kakashi turned and pulled Naruto along, preparing to leave.

However, the fallen stall owner suddenly began to wail loudly, "Assault! A demon fox brat brought a ninja to beat people up! A ninja is bullying a civilian!"

The massive commotion caused the weekend crowd in the commercial street to start gathering toward this direction.

Watching the swelling crowd and the strange looks in people's eyes, Kakashi frowned deeply and could only pull Naruto even closer to his side.

Right then, a commotion stirred at the outer edge of the crowd.

"Move along! Move along! Don't all crowd together, watch out for a stampede!"

The onlookers turned their heads and saw that the patrol members of the Military Police Force had arrived, quickly clearing a path.

The moment Kakashi saw the arrival of the Military Police Force, he let out a sigh of relief. The leader of this patrol squad was none other than Uchiha Zaidou.

The Military Police personnel dispersed the crowd with standardized smiles, while Uchiha Zaidou walked up to Kakashi, gave a slight nod in greeting, and then turned his gaze to the dumpling stall owner wailing on the ground.

"What happened?" Uchiha Zaidou asked sternly.

"Officer from the Military Police, you've come just in time!" Seeing Uchiha Zaidou, the stall owner scrambled to his feet briskly and began pouring out grievances, "Quickly arrest this ninja who attacked someone! He's in cahoots with this demon fox brat! Arrest this demon fox brat along with him while you're at it!"

"Kakashi-bro didn't hit you at all!" Naruto could not help but chime in at that point.

"Did you strike him?" Uchiha Zaidou looked at Kakashi and asked.

"No," Kakashi replied concisely.

Uchiha Zaidou nodded, then turned back to the stall owner. "You claim he hit you. Do you have any evidence?"

"I... I was knocked down by him!" The stall owner's confidence wavered slightly, but he still stubbornly argued.

"Ask around to see if anyone witnessed this ninja physically assaulting someone," Zaidou instructed his subordinates upon seeing this.

Soon, the squad of Military Police members began routine questioning with standardized smiles, but the outcome was predictable.

While these people dared to huddle together and gossip in whispers, standing before the Military Police, they would never dare to fabricate false testimony openly.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Uchiha Zaidou asked with a smile, looking at the troublemaking stall owner.

"No, nothing at all. It's all a misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding." Realizing the situation was unfavorable, the previously unreasonable stall owner instantly deflated and laughed sheepishly.

"Since it's all a misunderstanding, let's talk about your issue of illegal street vending and blocking the pathway," Zaidou stated. "How many times has our Military Police Force warned you not to set up your stall out on the street? Men, confiscate his stall and invite him to the Military Police headquarters for a chat."

Hearing Uchiha Zaidou's words, the stall owner immediately started shouting and screaming all over again.

"Is it because your Military Police Force doesn't dare to offend the ninja that you're bullying a defenseless civilian like me?! I'm going to file a complaint against you! I'm taking this all the way to the Hokage's office!"

However, his attempts to make a fuss and muddle through were completely ineffective in front of the civilian-ninja members who were increasingly accustomed to the work of the Military Police. Two officers in Military Police uniforms kept smiling as they simply watched him.

Only after he grew tired of shouting did they proceed to remove his stall and escort him away to the police headquarters.

By this time, the surrounding crowd had long since scattered like birds and beasts. Uchiha Zaidou then turned to Kakashi and said, "Kakashi-senpai, I am on official duty, so I won't disturb you any further. If anything similar happens next time, feel free to come directly to the Military Police."

"I understand. Thank you very much," Kakashi nodded in gratitude.