Path Of War-Chapter 352: Stupid Kid

The early morning light seeped through an apartment window. Inside a room, Jasper stirred slowly, feeling a faint sense of distance from everything around him.

It had been over a year since he first arrived in the ninja world. Every night, he had to remind himself that he was in a virtual world. Otherwise, he truly would start to think he was no longer Jasper Reza but Jasper Ōtsutsuki.

He skipped breakfast, not because he wasn't hungry but because his thoughts were elsewhere.

Quickly, he dressed in his usual attire—dark trousers with a sleeveless shirt. The Leaf Village headband was something he didn't quite like to wear. But if he wanted to maintain his image, he had no other choice.

Breakfast was skipped due to too many things on his mind. So he headed out the door and reminded himself that he was to become the ultimate ninja.

Today's task was straightforward: watch Naruto at the hospital.

Recently, the main character had left the village without permission somehow. All because he wanted Sasuke Uchiha so badly. The results landed the boy on a stretcher right back to the Leaf Village.

Jasper honestly disliked Naruto. Despite his boisterous and exuberant personality, Naruto's unorthodox behaviour and pursuit of recognition came across as immature and self-centered to Jasper.

The boy's tendency to also act out through pranks and loud declarations, such as ending sentences with "Dattebayo!" was truly annoying. Jasper just couldn't comprehend the main character's naivety as a ninja.

And his forgetfulness or oversimplified analogies was frustrating for the mature man.

While Naruto's intentions may seem decent, his reckless pursuit of acknowledgment and tendency to ignore social cues made Jasper undermine the boy. Perhaps it was Naruto's need for validation, especially through his desire to become Hokage, that made Jasper view him as superficial or vain.

Either way, Naruto's own character had grown far better than the original. No thanks to Jasper, of course.

As Jasper stepped into the quiet corridors of the hospital, he was eventually checked in and allowed into Naruto's room.

The boy lay sleeping, peaceful and unaware of his visitor. Naruto's mother, Kushina, was nearby, also asleep. Her face was calm but showing signs of exhaustion.

One step closer from Jasper was enough to rouse Kushina from her rest. She blinked awake, yawning and stretching as she looked up. Then she smiled when she saw him standing there.

"You're on shift this morning?" she softly asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'll take over from here." Truthfully, he didn't want to do this. "So you can go home now."

Kushina sat up, looked at Naruto one last time, and then bowed her head politely before slipping out of the room.

'So stupid,' he thought to himself.

He then checked his watch—two hours before the next shift. Not much time, but enough for him to let his mind wander.

Sitting back, he crossed his arms and gazed at Naruto's sleeping face, lost in thought. He recalled Naruto's recent troubles.

The boy had been found by Jada and Minato, nearly dead when they arrived. Margaret, who had stupidly decided to chase after him alone, suffered a similar fate—her condition wasn't much better, reports said.

The only thing that Jasper found remotely interesting was that Naruto had awakened his Uzumaki Chains—something that also made everyone more worried.

The official story was that Naruto had followed Jiraiya toward the Sound Village, only for the Sannin to suddenly disappear. Left with Sasuke, Naruto desperately fought his lost friend to bring him back.

But then Kaito from the Akatsuki appeared and intervened at a critical moment. Naruto claimed Kaito had stopped him just as he was about to try. Then everything went blank, as Naruto put it.

His details were fuzzy, but the picture was clear: Kaito's involvement added layers of complication.

As for Margaret, she had tracked Naruto down thanks to her new Sage Mode. But when she arrived, she felt dizzy and unsteady, eventually collapsing. Most believed it was because she hadn't fully perfected her control over Crow Sage Mode—though she insisted she had.

The possible truth was likely her powers were more fragile than she let on, or that her body was simply incapable of having two Sage Modes.

When Jasper had listened carefully to Naruto's account, he had claimed that Jiraiya had vanished without a trace. That explanation didn't satisfy the elders; they suspected there was more to it. And with Kaito involved in everything from the attack on Naruto to Jiraiya's disappearance, they believed these events might be connected.

Jada was most troubled by one detail: Naruto had said Kaito wasn't wearing his usual Akatsuki cloak—the iconic black and red one everyone recognized. Instead, he had been in a white cloak, the same kind worn by the Sound ninjas who had attacked Naruto's group before.

That was a major red flag. It suggested Kaito might be working with someone else or hiding his true allegiance.

The village leaders were furious after hearing everything. Naruto's disobedience had led to his suspension as a shinobi. That meant no missions, no leaving the village without permission or an escort, and any use of chakra would mean harsher punishments.

The elders had also ordered around-the-clock supervision, assigning at least one ninja to watch Naruto constantly for two hours every day and night.

During a meeting, the other players suggested that the main character would be better off without the Nine-Tails. Their idea was to transfer that half of the beast to Minato or Kushina. Jasper honestly didn't care what they did with the boy, so long as he didn't have to be the one to do it.

At the end of the day, they wanted to think the matter over. Naruto was just fortunate that the elders didn't ban him permanently from being a ninja.

Regarding this constant supervision of Naruto, Jasper's own schedule was once every two weeks for just two hours—a brief window, but enough for him to complain about.

To him, the boy was just another troublesome ninja, a pawn in bigger political games. Yet, for Jada and the others, Naruto was a key figure—an inheritor of this world and how it would be dictated. That's why they wanted to keep him under watch at all times from now on.

Jasper's job was simple: observe, report, and maybe understand why Naruto was attracting so much danger. While he didn't much care for the main character, he did still wonder what role the boy's disobedience played in all of this.

Was it just youthful rebellion? Or was there something darker behind it?

Just then, Naruto's eyes fluttered open. His face looked tired but determined, as if he already knew what was coming next.

"Morning," he mumbled in a hoarse voice.

"Morning, kid..."

Naruto sat up a little, rubbing his eyes. When he saw that it was Jasper who would be monitoring him for today, he pointed and yelled, "Quit calling me that when we're the same age!"

'Stupid kid,' Jasper thought.

As Naruto looked around the room, Jasper sat back to contemplate his next move. In this game of political chess, every decision mattered. And right now, Naruto was a pawn—maybe even a king in the making.

The boy's gaze was curious, a little wary, as if he was trying to figure out what Jasper was really thinking. After a moment of silence, he decided to casually ask, "So... what's our plans for the morning?"

Jasper didn't bother to look at him. Instead, he smirked at the ceiling. "That's not really your concern."

Naruto frowned. "Come on, I'm just asking. Everyone's usually making me do something, so lay it on me already."

Finally, Jasper turned his head. "You really wanna to know?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, a little annoyed. "I mean, there's only so much I can do right now. Might as well tell me so I can know what to expect today."

Jasper chuckled amusingly. "Alright, fine. Today, we're gonna sit here and do nothing."

"What?!"

Jasper's voice was relaxed, as if he didn't care much. "I've got a few things to take care of outside the village soon. Mostly just waiting to see how everything plays out." Little did Naruto know, he was speaking in riddles. "Best I relax until I feel like moving."

"I don't even know what that means!"

Jasper shrugged. "What can I say? I don't really plan ahead that much. I just take things as they come. And right now, I'm still tired from having to wake up early just to babysit you."

"Well," Naruto said, flicking his eyes. "You don't have to be such a downer about it,"

Jasper's smirk grew wider as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"You know... I've been meaning to ask you something. What do you really think about me?"

Naruto blinked, caught off guard. The question was unexpected. "Ugh..." he started, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, Ally says you're pretty cool, even though Will thinks you're a jerk."

Jasper's eyebrows raised slightly, surprised by that. That comment was enough to make him chuckle. "Okay, but what do you think?"

"I guess I don't really know since we don't hang out like that," Naruto shrugged. "Besides, it's not like you're out to get me like everyone else."

That made Jasper laugh outright, a genuine, easy laugh that seemed to lift the atmosphere. Naruto watched him, confused.

"Where are you going with this?" the boy finally asked.

Jasper raised his hands in mock innocence and said, "I'm just saying I find you a little more interesting than before. That's all..."

Naruto looked at him carefully, then a little warily. "You're kinda weird, you know that?"

Jasper's smirk turned into a faint grin. "Maybe. But I guess that makes two of us."

The quiet stretched for a moment. Naruto honestly couldn't read Jasper's motives at all. To him, Jasper didn't seem like a typical schemer—at least, not in the way others around the village talked about him.

No one except William ever spoke badly about Jasper, and even then, it was mostly behind his back. While Naruto knew that Jasper was a part of the Ōtsutsuki clan, which William informed him of, there wasn't anything to work with.

Among the other ninjas of the village, Jasper had a somewhat bad reputation. Many said that he was arrogant, aloof, and pretty distant.

But Naruto had never hung out with him alone to confirm these things. When they were together, it was often with Alice. In fact, that's the only other person Naruto had ever seen around Jasper.

Apart from that, he'd only ever seen Jasper fight a number of times. The first was against Arthur, over a year ago. Both of them seemed strong at the time. The second was during the Chūnin Exams, which many of the Jōnin believed Jasper was far too cocky to uphold the Will of Fire the Leaf stood by.

Naruto wondered why Jasper was so interested in him. Was it curiosity? Or was there some hidden agenda? All he knew was that he didn't want to get on Jasper's bad side.

Yet there was this strange aura around Jasper, one that always seemed to draw Naruto. Or maybe it wasn't Naruto that was drawn to him; maybe it was the Nine-Tails. For whatever was causing that, Jasper seemed to have a lot going on beneath that cool exterior, and Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to be part of that.

As the minutes dragged on, Naruto kept quiet, not wanting to make things worse. The room itself was noiseless except for the beeping of machines and the nurse walking in and out to deliver Naruto's breakfast.

Naruto's mind drifted, trying to figure out what Jasper was really thinking—whether he was just messing around or had some secret plan.

Not long, Jasper looked at his watch and smiled. Only fifteen minutes left before his shift ended. But who would complain about fifteen minutes? As such, he finally stood up, stretched, and gave Naruto a casual wave. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

"See you around," he said, turning to leave.

Naruto watched him go after returning the awkward gesture. Once alone, he leaned back against the bed, crossed his arms, and looked up at the ceiling.

"He sure is weird," he voiced aloud.

Naruto didn't fully trust Jasper because of what William said about him. But he also didn't want to say anything that might make things worse. For now, he'd keep his thoughts to himself. Whatever game Jasper was playing, Naruto knew one thing: Jasper was someone to watch out for.