“Now, all I’m missing are skills, I guess.”
Naruto muttered to himself.
He had never believed that he had any particular strengths.
After all, he couldn’t even slack off properly.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have attracted the Third Hokage’s attention and ended up eating lunch on this mountain.
But this was simply how things stood now.
Three LV5 skills had become the obstacle preventing him from advancing to the Jonin Template.
The Special Jonin Template hadn’t granted him a buff.
Naruto was still very much looking forward to whatever buff the Jonin Template would provide.
But there was no need to rush.
Naruto opened the locked skills section.
After the Hashirama Template unlocked Water Release chakra, the large collection of Water Release techniques created by Tobirama could now be used.
Naruto had accumulated rewards for an entire month, but he hadn’t collected that many.
Neither the variety nor the quantity was particularly impressive.
Aside from the Tailed Beast Bomb, Naruto currently had six unactivated Water Release techniques:
Water Release: Water Shockwave, Water Wall, Water Dragon Bullet, Water Severing Wave, Water Tornado, and Water Continuous Bullet.
They were all Water Release techniques, and all of them had been further developed by Tobirama.
However, Naruto could only check in at the Academy a maximum of eight times per week.
Occasionally, the rewards were also replaced by miscellaneous support-type techniques, so he hadn’t accumulated many copies.
He had the most copies of Water Tornado.
He remembered that one week, it had appeared several days in a row.
There were ten LV1 copies in total.
Next was Water Dragon Bullet, with eight LV1 copies.
The system’s skill-upgrade rules were simple.
Two identical LV1 techniques could be combined into an LV2 technique.
Two LV2 techniques could become LV3.
Naruto guessed that the same principle applied further upward.
Of course, there was also the more conventional method of upgrading.
Studying diligently and training hard.
But Naruto wasn’t going to do that…
[Your B-Rank Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet has been upgraded to LV3.]
[Your A-Rank Water Release: Water Tornado has been upgraded to LV3.]
[Your B-Rank Water Release: Water Wall has been upgraded to LV2.]
The system notifications appeared one after another.
Naruto combined everything that could be combined.
He wasn’t short on Lazing Points anymore, nor did he need to increase his attributes.
In fact, after adding the Hashirama Template, his strength had skyrocketed, but it had also interfered with his original slacking plan.
He genuinely wanted to live quietly as a useless person.
But now that his strength had suddenly exploded, it would be difficult to avoid exposing himself if he wasn’t careful in daily life.
He had already accidentally beaten Sasuke once.
And as a result, Might Guy had moved into his house and stood outside his door for an entire day.
If Naruto hadn’t stubbornly maintained his habit of sleeping in, he would probably already be wearing that ridiculous green jumpsuit!
“If my luck isn’t too bad, I should have enough by next month, right?”
Naruto continued eating.
Lee seemed to be stuck on the final fifteen tree-hanging sit-ups and still hadn’t come out.
But then—
Snap!
Naruto suddenly frowned.
The chopsticks in his hand had broken cleanly in two.
“Two, four, six, eight, ten…
Why are there so many people?”
His explosively increased mental energy had greatly expanded his perception range.
A large number of ANBU were gathering in this area.
Naruto remained calm and pretended not to notice.
Knowing wouldn’t help anyway.
They were ANBU.
Behind them stood the Third Hokage.
And behind him stood the entire Konoha.
What could Naruto do?
Besides, he had already obediently allowed the Third Hokage to manipulate him.
He had almost ended up wearing Guy’s ridiculous green jumpsuit.
So what reason would the Third Hokage have to deal with him?
And even if he really wanted to…
Naruto would simply endure it.
He couldn’t resist right now anyway.
Naruto continued eating.
But just as he was about to take another bite, he noticed that the chopsticks in his hand had been reduced to only half their original length.
“…Oh.”
His physical energy had skyrocketed to 937.
This wasn’t merely a number on a screen.
Naruto’s eyelid twitched.
Was this the trouble of being Superman?
A six-year-old body possessing strength comparable to an elite ninja.
One after another, ANBU members concealed themselves in the forest behind Naruto.
They didn’t approach.
They even deliberately maintained their distance.
Naruto recognized this state.
It seemed to be…
protection.
No.
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
His period of surveillance had already ended.
If he calculated the timing correctly…
At this point, the protagonist of Konoha wasn’t supposed to be this Nine-Tails jinchuriki anymore.
“Hey, Naruto!”
At that moment, Lee finally emerged.
He was limping badly.
Just looking at him made Naruto feel sorry for him.
“Here, Lee.
Hurry up and eat.
It’s still warm.”
“Ah…
Thank you.”
Lee dropped onto the ground, opened his lunchbox without caring about his appearance, and was instantly overwhelmed by the delicious aroma.
The exhaustion on his face disappeared.
Time to eat!!!
Naruto sat atop the Hokage Rock and gazed at the sky.
It had been perfectly clear that morning.
Now, however, a mass of dark clouds had suddenly gathered on the horizon.
The entire atmosphere of Konoha seemed to become oppressive.
Naruto looked toward the Hokage Building.
It seemed as though someone there was looking back at him.
Pitter-patter…
Before long, a light rain began to fall.
“Ah!
It’s raining.”
Lee paused in the middle of his meal before continuing to eat.
Rain couldn’t extinguish the flames of youth.
“Yeah.”
Naruto faced the gentle breeze and spoke softly.
“It’s raining.”
The ANBU hiding in the forest behind him weren’t there to monitor him.
They were there to protect him.
A genius had fallen.
Another person who was about to shoulder the darkness was nearing the moment when he would have to make his choice.
Konoha was about to undergo a great change.
…
Konoha — Hokage Building
Itachi, wearing his ANBU mask, knelt on one knee.
The Third Hokage stood with his hands behind his back, gazing toward the child standing atop the Hokage Rock.
“Ever since Shisui’s body was discovered, the Uchiha have been accelerating their preparations.”
“They have already armed most of the Uchiha elites.
Recently, some of them have even proposed capturing the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.”
Itachi reported everything he knew, one detail after another.
The Third Hokage took a long drag from his pipe.
Smoke filled the room and obscured his eyes.
Some things were already known to him even without Itachi’s report.
Itachi’s intelligence was indeed timely and accurate.
But one shouldn’t forget—
Ever since the Second Hokage’s era, the ANBU’s surveillance of the Uchiha had continued for decades.
As for protecting the Nine-Tails jinchuriki…
Arrangements had already been made long before Itachi arrived.
“Did you discover anything about Shisui’s death?”
The Third Hokage asked.
That was the key issue.
On the day Shisui left the Hokage Building, he had been carrying a mission that could potentially change the entire Uchiha clan.
Yet after that very day…
Shisui suddenly disappeared without a trace.
When they eventually found him, he was already dead.
His eyes had been removed.
Those Mangekyo Sharingan, possessing the strongest genjutsu, had vanished.
And the Uchiha had suddenly accelerated their preparations.
“I haven’t found anything yet.”
Itachi lowered his head, maintaining the same cold tone and expression.
“But judging from the Uchiha’s behavior, the person who killed Shisui…
should not have been from within the Uchiha clan.”
The Third Hokage’s hand paused for a moment as he smoked.
His eyes sharpened, but no one could tell what he was thinking.
As Hokage…
There were things he knew.
Things he didn’t know.
And there were things that, even if he knew them, he could choose to pretend he didn’t.
Like now.
The Third Hokage turned around and looked at Itachi.
“Tell me your thoughts, Itachi.”
“Our time…
is running out.”