Chapter 23 Eternal Friendship, Don't Forget My Faith

  Saying that, Mei Ling brought Xiao Ming to a small stream outside the village of Konoha, which attracted many Anbu agents for surveillance. It's understandable that these should be people from "Root", after all, they wouldn't want anything to happen to Naruto, this "human weapon" with Nine-Tails' extremely powerful power.

  "Alright, it's right here." Mei Ling smiled and pulled Naruto to the edge of the stream, putting her right hand into the water. She muttered something under her breath, then lifted her hand again. This time, there was an ice-made "forget-me-not" on her palm. Then she handed it to Naruto behind her.

  "What is this?" Looking at the beautiful ice flower in front of him, Naruto asked blankly.

  "This ice flower is made in the shape of a 'forget-me-not' from our hometown, this flower represents eternal love... no, eternal friendship! So please accept this flower as proof of our friendship, no matter what happens, you must not forget me as a friend." Meng Ling said with a smile. Originally, Meng Ling was going to say the previous meaning of 'forget-me-not': 'eternal love', but thought better of it. (PS: After all, Meng Ling is still very sensitive about his own gender.)

  "Really, can I have this?" Naruto asked tentatively.

  "Of course, and because this ice flower is made of ice, I'm afraid it might melt later on, so I added a layer of transparent material on top to ensure it won't melt." After saying that, Meng Ling smiled lightly and handed the ice flower into Xiao Mingren's hands.

  "Thank you, really thank you so much... um, what's your name?" Naruto asked somewhat awkwardly.

  "Just told you, didn't I? Shen Ruyue Meng Ling, sigh, from now on just call me Meng Ling." Meng Ling let out a somewhat helpless sigh, thinking to herself that this big fool was indeed as silly and naive as in the original story. Being friends with him made her happy, but she also knew that from now on, she would definitely have her hands full.

  "Oh, right, that... Mugen, I wanted to ask you something. Do you have any goals for your future?" Naruto asked suddenly, immediately pulling Mugen back from his thoughts.

  "What about my own dreams? I should have some, like having extremely strong power, that's also one of my dreams." Meng Leng said thoughtfully as she gazed at the sky.

  "A powerful force? Why do you want to have a powerful force? Isn't it good enough to live a peaceful life?" A hint of puzzlement appeared on Naruto's face. (Note: At this time, the current Naruto is only over two years old, so he hasn't established the ambition of becoming the Hokage yet. Let's just assume that at this time, Naruto is very timid, after all, there have been hints in the story.)

  "Don't you know that in this world, it's impossible to get by without a strong power, especially since you're living in Konohagakure, the strongest ninja village? Moreover, only when you possess a strong power will you gain recognition from others and be able to protect your loved ones, or those precious to you." Merei explained to Naruto.

  "Protect the one I hold dearest?" Naruto muttered to himself, his eyes darting a glance at Mei Terumi in front of him, his mind already made up.

  "Alright, I won't say much more. I've already given you a gift representing eternal friendship, shouldn't you also make some kind of gesture?" Meng Ling said with her hands on her hips, looking at Xiao Mingren with a playful expression.

  "Uh, well, I, uh..." Naruto said up to this point, and unknowingly started to feel a bit awkward.

  "What's wrong?" Meng Ling asked with some confusion.

  "Uh, I didn't know you were coming to befriend me today, so I haven't prepared a gift for you yet." Little Miao Ren said with embarrassment, drawing small nines on his chest with his two small hands.

  "Huh?" Now Meng Ling was truly defeated by this little devil in front of him, how to put it? I think the cow might have been slightly moved by Meng Ling's brain and would have turned around, but now looking at his own eyes, Meng Ling almost wanted to whip him. But this stubborn kid's head just wouldn't work, and he still hadn't come around. Fortunately, Meng Ling didn't have any heart problems right now, or else Fei Bei Xiao Ming would have been driven to death.

  "Sigh, tell me, what's your favorite thing?" Meng Ling asked with a hint of helplessness.

  "What about me? Of course, it's ramen. This doesn't even need to be said. I'm telling you, Ichiraku's ramen is really delicious, actually just now I was thinking of going there to eat ramen but unfortunately those people saw me." Naruto chattered on.

  "Well then, you can just treat me to a bowl of your favorite ramen. That's the gift you're giving me." Meng Ling smiled.

  "How can this be? Ramen may be delicious, but how can it be a gift?" Naruto asked loudly.

  "Alas, I'm telling you, no wonder you don't have any friends. You're really a big fool! Don't you know that sharing your favorite things with your own friends is actually the best gift?" Meng Ling said somewhat speechlessly.

  "Really? Alright, let's go eat ramen there now. I'm telling you, that old man is really nice, he never chases me away, every time I go to other places I get chased away." Naruto excitedly said to Mengying.

  "Alright, alright, so now it's your turn to lead the way. This time, you're treating us, hehe." Meng Ling playfully smiled and suddenly revealed an extremely adorable expression, causing Minato to be stunned for a moment.

  "Hmm? Why haven't you left yet?" Meng Ling asked, pretending to be somewhat angry as she stared at Ming Ren who was dazed.

  "Ah, ah, nothing, let's go." Naruto forced a laugh and immediately led Meng Er towards the Ichiraku Ramen shop.

  About twenty minutes later, the two finally arrived at their destination. Naruto and Mengying lifted up the sunshade of a ramen shop and walked in.

  "Uncle, it's me. Today I want two large bowls of special ramen." As soon as he entered the store, Naruto shouted loudly.

  "Oh, isn't that Minger... and..." Ramen Uncle originally wanted to continue saying "and also Xiaoming has arrived too." However, this sentence was interrupted by a glance from Xiaoming towards Ramen Uncle. Although he didn't know why, Ramen Uncle also didn't dare say more, immediately letting Chongpu bring out two large bowls of special ramen, smiling as he presented them to Minger and Xiaoming.

  "I'm starting." Meng Ling and Ming Ren both picked up their chopsticks and said loudly, then began eating the noodles.

  "By the way, Naruto, you just asked me about my future goals, and I gave you a good answer. Shouldn't you also tell me something?" Yumei asked lightly, taking a sip of her noodles.

  "My goal? To be honest, just now when I was asking you, I didn't have an answer of my own, but now I do." Naruto said with his mouth full of ramen, looking at Meng.

  "Oh? Is that so? Then what is your goal now?" Meng Ling asked, pretending to be curious. In fact, she had already had the answer in her heart.

  "My goal is to become a great ninja and Hokage, so that everyone in the village will acknowledge my existence just like you do. I'll keep working hard for this." Naruto put down his chopsticks, clenched his fists tightly, and said with determination.

  "Oh, then you'd better work hard, being the Hokage isn't that easy." Meng Ling encouraged with a sentence, but in her heart, she still didn't have much feeling for the title of Hokage. Although on the surface it looked glorious, behind the scenes there were still struggles with the village elder council, and day and night there were piles of documents to review, it was like being an emperor from another world. If she became that way herself, she'd rather live a free and easy life.

  ————I am that boring divider line————

  Men Ling and Ming Ren chatted until dusk, although they ate a total of 13 bowls of large special ramen during this time. However, when Ming Ren paid the bill, he didn't care how much money was left in his small bag. He just smiled and said goodbye to Men Ling, and made an appointment to play together tomorrow afternoon.

  But is Ling'er really just playing around? No, of course not. Although Ling'er now looks like she's only five years old (PS: She actually is only five years old), her actual age has long since passed the juvenile stage. The reason she's friends with Naruto now is because she was influenced by him in that previous world, and they share a common bond, plus Naruto's strong heart moved Ling'er's spirit.

  "It seems I only have tomorrow afternoon to practice properly, otherwise I'll definitely regress." Meng Ling thought and said, after going to the ninja tool shop, she returned home.

  "To be honest, that Naruto kid is quite interesting. I think I'll take a day off for myself today, and then I'll have to train properly from now on." Yumei's hands formed a seal, and suddenly three Yumeis appeared out of thin air in the small room.

  "One cultivates chakra, one continues to practice the Shadow Clone Technique, and one reviews the Spirit Communication Technique. As for me, this original body, I'll just take a good look at my own chakra nature." With that, Mengying took out a square piece of white paper from her bosom, then used her right hand's index finger and middle finger to pinch the center of the paper. She began to inject her own chakra into it.

  "I wonder what the nature of my chakra is? I'm really looking forward to it." Meng Ling's eyes shone brightly as she stared at the white paper in her palm, increasing her chakra output...