Inside the Mirror World, Naruto's real body broke through the swarm of his shadow clones and appeared directly before Shikamaru. Without hesitation, the kunai in his hand pierced straight into Shikamaru's heart.
Congratulations, you have gained training experience in Shadow Imitation Technique…
The scene flickered. The data puppet dissolved, and the battlefield vanished.
"It has been a week, yet the rewards are still nothing more than this…"
Naruto muttered to himself. For seven days he had feigned unconsciousness in the hospital, using the chance to fight again and again inside the Mirror World, hoping to unlock new chakra attributes.
But no matter how many opponents he challenged, no matter how many times he circled back, nothing worthwhile appeared. The only real prize had been the fire attribute and shuriken mastery he had obtained from the Itachi puppet. Everything afterward was a disappointment, rewards like Body Flicker, Substitution, and other low-level techniques.
Even just now, defeating Shikamaru's puppet again brought nothing but bitter frustration.
"How does this reward system even work…" Naruto whispered, eyes narrowing as he studied the puppet's fading image.
Then a familiar voice rumbled in his mind.
"Naruto, that old man came again. And those four medics who examine you every day, they look ready to break."
It was Kurama. Naruto's mind instantly shifted back into the seal.
"Break? Under what pressure?"
He extended his senses. Inside the ward there was no one else, only his own body lying on the bed. Everyone else stood outside.
"Because you refuse to wake up," Minato said gravely, stepping up beside him. "Those four medics have made a new… suggestion."
Something in his father's eyes was darker than usual, edged with anger.
"What suggestion?" Naruto asked coldly.
"A shameful one," Minato answered quickly. "They proposed summoning Morino Ibiki, the captain of the Torture and Interrogation Unit, and Yamanaka Inoichi of the Yamanaka clan. Both are masters of mental jutsu. Inoichi especially, he can invade another's mind and pry out their thoughts."
Naruto's eyes hardened. "So I am no longer a patient. To them, I am a prisoner."
The hypocrisy was suffocating. If they truly wanted him awake, why not summon Tsunade, the most brilliant medical-nin alive? Why leap so quickly to interrogators?
"Did the Third agree?"
Minato shook his head. "Not yet. The medics claimed your coma is spiritual trauma, and only by entering your mind could they diagnose and heal you. The Hokage did not commit, but… I saw it in his face. He was tempted."
"Tempted…" Naruto sneered.
If they dared enter his mind, the Mirror World would seize them, their souls crushed into data. Two corpses in Konoha. But that would bring more trouble than he could afford. They would dissect him like an experiment.
"Time to wake up." Naruto's thoughts cooled, and he opened his eyes.
Outside the ward, a medic was speaking stiffly to Hiruzen. "Lord Hokage, these are the jinchūriki's weekly reports. You can see for yourself, his body is abnormally healthy. There are only two possible causes for his unconsciousness.
"First, his spirit has collapsed inward, his self trapped deep in the mind. This has been observed in soldiers traumatized by war. If we bring Ibiki and Inoichi, they can draw his consciousness out.
"The second possibility is…"
The man faltered, face paling.
"Well? What is the second?" Hiruzen's tone cut like steel.
The medic swallowed hard. "The possibility is…"
Creak.
Every head turned toward the hospital room door.
The latch clicked, and the door opened. Naruto stepped out, still in his plain sleepwear, his expression dazed. "Lord Hokage?"
Relief washed over Hiruzen's face. He smiled warmly, grandfatherly. "Naruto, you are finally awake."
"This… is the hospital?" Naruto blinked. "I feel thirsty. Do you have water?"
Later, inside the Hokage's office.
"So I was asleep for an entire week?"
Naruto sat stiffly in a chair, now dressed in a clean outfit fetched from his home.
"Yes," Hiruzen chuckled, nodding. "Do you remember what happened that night? How do you feel now? Any pain?"
Naruto shook his head. "No pain. But…" His eyes widened suddenly, feigning alarm. "Lord Hokage, that night… what was that thing that came out of me? Everyone says I'm the demon fox. Was it because of that? Am I… a monster?"
He asked three questions in a row, voice quivering just enough to sound genuine.
Hiruzen's smile did not falter. "Naruto, you are not a monster. Do not burden yourself with such thoughts. Rest a few more days. I have already sent carpenters to repair your wall."
He reached across the desk, handing over a scroll.
"What is this?" Naruto asked, eyes wide as he accepted it.
"Training material," Hiruzen replied cheerfully. "Last time I gave you taijutsu basics. This time, the scroll contains Substitution and Clone Technique."
Naruto's face lit with childlike joy. "Thank you, Lord Hokage! I will practice hard."
"Good boy." The Third's eyes softened. "And Naruto, do not stay shut indoors all the time. You said you made a friend, did you not? You should meet more children, make more friends."
Naruto's heart stilled. Shikamaru had not reported their true conversation? Or had Hiruzen chosen silence? Either way, it gave him room to act.
"Yes. Tomorrow, I will find Shikamaru again."
Hiruzen's smile deepened. He personally escorted Naruto to the tower's front gate, watching him leave.
Naruto walked home with a faint smile, enduring the fearful and disgusted glares of passersby. But the moment he stepped inside his own small house, his expression turned cold.
"Naruto," Kurama's voice rumbled. "That hidden one, he just landed on your rooftop."
"I know. He has been tailing me since I entered the Hokage's office." Naruto sat down calmly on a chair, mind sinking once more into the seal.
"The Hokage still doubts me," he said. "He sent this one to confirm if I was acting."
Minato's face clouded. "Yes. The first question he asked was whether you remembered that night. That was his test."
Naruto's lips curved in a bitter smile. "I told him I remembered nothing. Then I pretended confusion, asked about the Nine-Tails' chakra, forced him to dodge the truth. He avoided the subject completely, then handed me that scroll as a distraction. And finally, he had Hayate Gekkō follow me home to observe my every reaction."
Minato's expression tightened. "It seems he will have Hayate shadow you from now on."
"Why did you not demand answers from that old man?" Kurama's voice thundered, restless with frustration.
Naruto inhaled slowly, eyes sharp as ice. "Because silence is not forgetfulness. The Hokage conceals the truth to bury his crime. I conceal my knowledge to carve it into memory."
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