Naruto woke up rubbing his eyes, only to find an extra person in his home.
Still groggy, he shook his head and realized it was the Third Hokage.
"Grandpa Third, why are you here so early?"
Hiruzen gave him a kind smile. "Naruto, do you still have enough money lately?"
Naruto beamed. "Yeah, plenty! Now I can eat whatever I want."
"And at the academy? Any difficulties?" The Hokage sat down, chatting like a family elder.
In truth, ANBU reported Naruto's daily activities to him. This was just small talk to maintain closeness.
After some more casual chatter, Hiruzen confirmed Naruto was behaving normally and left.
Once the Hokage was gone, Naruto closed the door and let out a heavy sigh. Acting is exhausting, but I can't stop.
Teacher Natsuki had told him not to let the Hokage know how much he already understood.
Naruto tidied up his room, ate the bento he'd bought yesterday, and then headed out.
The ANBU shadowing him quickly followed, but Naruto only went to the riverside, where Sasuke was already practicing Fire Release.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Sasuke inhaled deeply and exhaled a massive fireball. He launched it forward, leapt up, and hurled two shuriken.
The fireball skimmed the water before fading out, while the target behind it now had two shuriken embedded dead center.
Clap, clap, clap! Naruto applauded enthusiastically. "Sasuke, you're amazing!"
Sasuke turned proudly. "Hmph, of course."
"Come on, let's head into the woods."
Naruto followed Sasuke to a grove with two tall, straight trees.
Sasuke cleared his throat, putting on a serious air. "Yesterday, my teacher told me my chakra control still wasn't good. So he taught me tree climbing. But doing it alone is boring."
"So, Naruto, I'll teach you too. Let's climb together."
Naruto obediently sat down and nodded repeatedly. He knew this was actually something Teacher Natsuki wanted Sasuke to pass on to him.
Sasuke was surprised at how cooperative Naruto was.
That morning, Natsuki had approached him, asking if he'd be willing to act as Naruto's teacher.
Sasuke, who was used to bickering with Naruto, jumped at the chance.
The academy had just started teaching chakra refinement, so Natsuki immediately thought of tree climbing and water-walking training.
But with ANBU watching Naruto day and night, if he personally trained him, the Hokage would explode in suspicion.
Even though Natsuki now had Eternal Mangekyō and didn't fear Hiruzen, he was preparing to leave the village. Best to stay low-key.
Since Sasuke was close with Naruto, having him teach wouldn't raise eyebrows.
After giving Naruto a serious explanation, the two boys began their attempt.
Sasuke made it five steps before falling.
But as an Uchiha, his body control was excellent. He landed gracefully with a flip.
He turned—only to be shocked. Naruto had also taken five steps up.
When Naruto first tried channeling chakra to his feet, he was nervous, afraid the Nine-Tails would interfere. But surprisingly, it worked.
"Thanks, Kurama," Naruto whispered inwardly. The fox gave no reply, but Naruto was still delighted.
So delighted, in fact, that he lost focus and fell.
Though not as graceful as Sasuke, his training in taijutsu showed—he adjusted midair, landed on his feet, bent his knees, and rolled safely.
It wasn't pretty, and it dirtied his clothes, but he avoided injury.
"Look at you, all filthy," Sasuke laughed loudly.
Then the realization hit him: Naruto had climbed just as high as he had.
He immediately sobered up. "Let's continue…"
Meanwhile, the Third Hokage reviewed the ANBU's report.
The two boys had trained all day, and Naruto's progress was on par with Sasuke's—completely unlike his poor performance in academy classes.
Hiruzen puffed on his pipe.
Though called the "Professor of Ninjutsu," he'd never studied jinchūriki in depth. As long as Naruto remained under Konoha's control, that was enough.
That Sasuke was teaching him tree climbing was no big deal.
He instructed ANBU to keep a closer eye and dismissed them.
As Hokage, his workload was immense.
Danzō had vanished for quite some time—Hiruzen knew the man would never give up easily, surely biding his time somewhere.
In the Mist, the "Bloody Mist" policy had driven many elite shinobi into becoming rogue ninja, flooding the black market with chaos.
The Rain had sealed itself off, with Hanzō silent for years.
The Sand had been quiet, too poor to cause trouble, as Rasa focused on rebuilding the economy after the Third Shinobi War.
Iwagakure's Onoki was busy cleaning up the messes caused by his troublesome prodigy.
But the new Sound Village in the Land of Rice Fields… that was suspicious.
Hiruzen flipped through the thick intelligence files.
Itachi and Shisui had led over a hundred elite Uchiha out of the village and vanished. Attempts to track them with ANBU failed miserably.
When they resurfaced, they were in Otogakure.
Yet Konoha couldn't act. The Uchiha within the village had given up their political power and lived peacefully, while those outside had simply moved on.
Declaring Itachi and Shisui as missing-nin would bring no benefit—especially since four Mangekyō Sharingan wielders together were untouchable.
Reluctantly, Hiruzen swallowed his pride.
What nagged at him now was the Uchiha's new "Chinese Cuisine" business.
What did "Chinese" even mean? Was it a code?
He'd tried the food himself, and had to admit—compared to it, everything he'd eaten before was pig slop.
The variety of dishes, the small snacks… their entire culinary system had crushed the old one.
In the Land of Rice Fields, reports said the daimyō himself had given support, and restaurants were flourishing far beyond Konoha's own.
If his guess was right, all this originated from Uchiha Natsuki.
He knew Mangekyō could awaken unique eye powers… could Natsuki's ability be related to food?
When his aides calculated the profits, they found that just the restaurants on Konoha's Eighth Street alone brought in staggering sums.
Though the clan never disclosed figures, the improved standard of living among the Uchiha was proof enough.
And it was all thanks to Uchiha Natsuki.
If only he weren't around…
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