"The ANBU would never make a mistake. Although the process has changed, Mizuki's target must still be the Scroll of Seals. He gave Naruto the pill to divert my attention so he could steal the scroll himself." Hiruzen filled in the gaps on his own, convinced this was the truth, "Hmph, then I'll keep playing along with your act."
He glanced at the sky outside — it was already evening. His face showed no expression, but a new plan had already formed in his mind.
As soon as Mizuki stole the Scroll of Seals and the evidence was clear, he could order his arrest, throw him in prison, and then use coercion and persuasion to make him reveal the pill formula.
If he wanted the formula, sending Mizuki to the Yamanaka clan would be the fastest method. But if he did that, the formula could easily leak. How could he let a second person know about something so important?
Especially Danzō — he absolutely couldn't let him know the pill existed.
"Grandpa Third, are you done yet? You keep examining me over and over. Did you find anything or not?" Naruto had lost his patience.
Hiruzen had no interest in dealing with him at this point.
He said offhandedly, "The examination's done. Nothing wrong for now. It's getting dark — you should head home."
Naruto said, "What about my ninja headband? I've already mastered the Clone Jutsu, and I'm even better than the other students. I should be able to graduate, right?"
Hiruzen, "You've graduated, you've graduated. Go find Iruka and get your headband. Tell him I said so."
After sending Naruto away, he headed to the Hokage Building.
He found some random excuse to send all the ANBU guards off to eat barbecue, then took out a censored version of the Scroll of Seals he'd prepared in advance and placed it on his desk before casually heading home.
The entire Hokage Building was empty — not a soul in sight. The Scroll of Seals sat on the Hokage's desk, as if afraid no one would notice it.
After returning home, Hiruzen immediately pulled out his crystal ball and used the Telescope Technique to remotely monitor the Hokage Building.
Half an hour passed with no movement. An hour passed — still no movement.
He wasn't anxious. He was patient. When it comes to fishing, the fish won't bite if you don't have a little patience.
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Meanwhile, Naruto had already received his headband and headed enthusiastically to Ichiraku Ramen, planning to celebrate with three big bowls.
"Hey, Naruto, you're here for ramen too!"
The moment Naruto entered Ichiraku Ramen, he heard a familiar voice. Mizuki sat at a table with a half-eaten bowl of ramen in front of him.
"Master Mizuki, I didn't expect you to like Ichiraku Ramen too!" Naruto's eyes lit up when he saw him.
Mizuki, "I came here right after finishing up at school. The ramen here really is quite good. By the way, you're wearing a headband — looks like you graduated successfully."
{T/N: Just for the knowledge, the original Mizuki hated Ramen.}
Naruto said eagerly, "Yes, yes! It's all thanks to Master Mizuki. Without you, graduating today would have been really difficult. Getting my headband made me so happy that I wanted to eat a bowl of ramen to celebrate. Unfortunately, I'm too poor to afford ramen. But just coming here to smell it is enough to satisfy me."
He pulled his hands out of his pockets and put on a pitiful expression, staring at the ramen in Mizuki's bowl while drooling.
Mizuki's eye twitched.
Could you be any more dramatic? Even though Hiruzen had embezzled the Fourth Hokage's inheritance, he hadn't skimped on the monthly stipend, had he?
"Alright, alright, alright! Tonight's ramen is on me!" He couldn't take it anymore.
Naruto, "Yeah! Master Mizuki is the best! I've decided — I'm going to eat 3 bowls!"
Mizuki shouted, "Don't push your luck! Two bowls maximum!"
Damn it, his monthly salary was barely enough to get by — he couldn't afford three bowls.
Naruto muttered under his breath, "Won't even give me one more bowl, so stingy!"
Mizuki, "..."
He wanted to hit someone!
Soon, Naruto's first bowl of ramen arrived.
[ Ding! ]
[ You have granted your disciple Naruto Uzumaki one bowl of Ramen, triggering a 1,000× Return! **]
[ Congratulations, you have obtained one bowl of Chakra Ramen! **]
〖 Chakra Ramen: Upon consumption, increases chakra capacity by 1 Kakashi Unit. 〗
Mizuki, "..."
You've got to be kidding. Each disciple gets three return opportunities per month. Including this one, Naruto's three returns for this month were now used up.
'This third return was way too casual. I was planning to teach him some ultimate secret technique to trigger the return...'
Also, what the hell is 1 Kakashi?
Before long, Naruto had finished 2 bowls of ramen. After Mizuki paid, Teuchi brought out two more bowls.
"Little Naruto graduated from school today and officially became a ninja. I want to show my appreciation too, so I'm giving you master and disciple one bowl each."
"Thank you, Uncle Teuchi!" Naruto beamed with joy.
Mizuki looked at the bowl of ramen in front of him with a strange expression. He already had a premonition.
He picked up some noodles with his chopsticks and took a bite. The taste was no different from the previous bowl — in fact, due to palate fatigue, it wasn't as good as before. However, the total amount of chakra in his body began to increase.
His eyes lit up. He stopped caring about the taste and started eating in big gulps, not daring to waste a single bite. In less than half a minute, the bowl was finished — he even drank every last drop of soup from the bottom.
Mizuki's chakra capacity was now more than 10 times what it had been before.
'The system is awesome!'
After all, Kakashi was an Elite Jōnin. Although he was always short on chakra, his capacity far exceeded that of a trash Chūnin like Mizuki. An increase in chakra capacity meant an increase in strength — a good thing.
Beside him, Naruto had devoured 3 large bowls of ramen and was now clutching his stomach with a blissful expression.
"Master Mizuki, thanks for treating me!" Naruto headed home. He still had to gather at school early tomorrow morning.
After parting ways with the boy, Mizuki headed toward the Hokage Building.
"Hiruzen will definitely pay close attention to the blue pills. I need to talk with him."
Now that he'd brought them out, there was no way to keep them hidden.
And Hiruzen still hadn't sent anyone to find him, which made it obvious — the old man was playing dirty. Taking the initiative to come clean would save him a lot of trouble.
As for his excuse — he'd already thought it through!
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In the Sarutobi Clan residential district, Hiruzen suddenly sat up straight and set down his pipe.
The crystal ball clearly displayed the scene outside the Hokage Building. He saw Mizuki calmly walk up to the base of the building, climb the stairs, and head straight for the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen's eyes widened. He was dumbfounded.
"Are thieves these days really this brazen?"
He controlled the Telescope Technique, keeping his view fixed on Mizuki. When Mizuki arrived at the door of the Hokage's office and was about to knock, he discovered the door was open. Inside, the lights were on. On the desk sat a large scroll with the four characters "Scroll of Seals" written on it.
Mizuki: "..."
Good grief, leaving it in such a conspicuous spot — was he afraid Naruto wouldn't be able to steal it?
Too bad Naruto had already graduated and didn't need to steal it anymore. And since he was a transmigrator, he didn't need to use the Scroll of Seals as an offering to defect to Orochimaru.
"It's probably fake anyway, and likely only has the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu recorded in it. Such an obvious trap — only Naruto would fall for it."
In the few days since transmigrating here, he'd been planning to live a good life in Konoha. Defecting was pointless. Plus, he knew the village had been watching Mizuki, so defection couldn't possibly succeed. He wouldn't be following in the footsteps of the original villain.
"Lord Hokage isn't here. I came at a bad time. As for those pills — forget it, I'll come back tomorrow." Mizuki muttered to himself at the doorway, then turned and left.
Hiruzen: "..."
What just happened? Mizuki just — left like that?
You supposedly wanted the Scroll of Seals so badly, and it's right there on the desk, within arm's reach! Not only did you not take it, you didn't even glance at it?
"Could it be that he realized it's a trap?" Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, forming a new assessment of Mizuki.
In his understanding, Mizuki was arrogant and acted without thinking. So even though this trap was full of holes, he'd believed Mizuki would fall for it.
But the result exceeded his expectations — Mizuki was completely unmoved.
"Damn it, I've tipped him off." Hiruzen felt frustrated.
Now that Mizuki hadn't fallen into the trap, it would be much harder to set him up next time.
"However, his words just now seemed to mention the blue pills."
Hiruzen's eyes lit up. He quickly got up and left home, heading toward the Hokage Building. A few minutes later, he ran into Mizuki.
"Lord Hokage, so you're here! I just went to the Hokage Building looking for you but you weren't there."
Hiruzen smiled and asked, "Ah, Mizuki. What did you need to see me about?"
Mizuki, "It's about Naruto. Today, I—"
Hiruzen immediately waved his hand, "Let's discuss this in my office."
How could they talk about something like this on the street? He still wanted to keep the formula to himself.
Following Hiruzen, they arrived at the Hokage's office and closed the doors and windows.
"Mizuki, I heard from Naruto about what happened today. You gave him two blue pills that greatly improved his chakra control. Is that what you want to talk about — these blue pills?"
Hiruzen got straight to the point. Naruto was secondary — the blue pills were what mattered.
Mizuki said, "Please forgive me for acting on my own, Lord Hokage. Naruto didn't pass the graduation exam and was sitting alone on the swing looking lonely. I felt sympathetic, so I — I never expected the blue pills would actually work for him."
Hiruzen asked, "Where did you get the blue pills you gave Naruto?"
Mizuki had prepared his story, "Three years ago, I was on a mission to hunt down Orochimaru at the ruins of Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools. I found a wooden box in a hidden compartment in an abandoned secret chamber. Inside were five blue pills."
Hiruzen nodded. Three years ago, hunting Orochimaru at the Uzushiogakure ruins — there had indeed been such an incident. Quite a few ninja had been dispatched at the time.
Mizuki pulled a small wooden box from his pocket and placed it on the desk. Hiruzen could tell at a glance the wooden box was old. But immediately after, he frowned.
Written on the wooden box were the words: 'Chakra Control Pill, improves chakra control ability, for exclusive use by Uzumaki and Senju clans'.
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
If you want to enjoy a large catalog of good novels with excellent translations: MrBlackWing
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)