Hokage Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat down in the Hokage’s seat.
The moment he leaned back into his chair, he let out a long sigh.
He pulled a pipe from his pocket, lit it with a match, and took a deep drag.
The smoke rose, blurring his wrinkled face.
Naruto’s eyes flashed repeatedly through Hiruzen Sarutobi’s mind.
He was no longer the child who would unconditionally worship and respect him.
Something had changed.
When that child asked, “Who are my parents?”, his tone wasn’t filled with the anger and grievances of the past, but was instead earnest and calm.
That earnestness made Hiruzen Sarutobi feel a tightness in his chest.
He took a second drag of smoke, which puffed out from his nostrils and slowly dissipated in front of him.
Flying Thunder God Technique…
When he had handed over this space-time Ninjutsu at that time, he actually harbored a sliver of wishful thinking in his heart.
A twelve-year-old child learned even the simplest difficulty of Ninjutsu at the academy.
From childhood to now, no teacher had ever guided his fundamentals.
How could he possibly learn an S-rank space-time Ninjutsu in a short period of time?
But that incident with Mizuki…
What on earth was that golden rope?
Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his fingers gently on the stem of his pipe, intending to have Kakashi investigate it tomorrow.
“Bang!”
The door was shoved open violently from the outside, slamming against the wall with a muffled thud.
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s brow furrowed slightly as he slowly raised his eyelids.
The newcomer leaned on a cane with his right hand, wore a dark coat, and had his head wrapped in bandages with only his right eye exposed.
Seeing clearly who it was, Hiruzen Sarutobi’s brow did not relax as he said in a flat tone, “Danzo, is there something you need?”
Danzo ignored this remark, stepped directly in front of the desk to stand still, and glared down condescendingly at the person in the chair.
“Sarutobi.” Danzo’s voice was pressed very low, carrying a suppressed anger that felt ready to burst out at any moment, “Have you gone senile in your old age?”
“The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki learned a strange technique without our knowledge.”
“You actually don’t deal with this out-of-control signal, but instead hand the Flying Thunder God Technique over to him?”
“You are the Hokage of Konoha Village, not his Ninja instructor!”
“Considerations?” Danzo took another half step forward, his cane making a dull sound on the wooden floor, “Do you know what technique he used when he subdued Mizuki outside the academy?”
“According to the interrogation department’s questioning, that technique had no Chakra fluctuations at all.”
Danzo’s voice lowered a bit, as if he was afraid of being overheard, or as if he was speaking of some incredible secret: “This sign is already wrong.”
“The fact that he has slipped out of our control is right before our eyes.”
“In my opinion, it would be better to hand him over to me.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
Danzo continued speaking, his speaking speed slightly faster than before: “Root can handle this matter properly.”
“Interrogate clearly the source of that technique, and then make him understand where he ought to stand.”
“He will become a qualified weapon, used in the right place.”
“Hand him over to you?” Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly chuckled, then sat up straight, pressed his hands on the desktop, and lowered his voice, “To raise Naruto into a weapon that only takes orders from Root?”
Danzo did not speak, the eye exposed beneath the bandages remaining fixed on him.
“Naruto is the Fourth Hokage’s son.” Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his finger on the desk, his voice raising a few decibels, “I could never hand him over to you!”
Danzo said coldly: “Sarutobi, listen well.”
“In case he masters the Flying Thunder God Technique and chooses to destroy Konoha at that time, who can stop him?”
“If he defects, who can catch up to him?”
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his chair, lowering his gaze, and said in a deep voice: “There is no room for negotiation on this matter.”
“Don’t forget, I am the Hokage!”
Hearing this, Danzo’s expression changed slightly, and he immediately turned and walked toward the door.
When he reached the edge of the door, Danzo paused for a moment without turning back, leaving behind only his back.
“Hiruzen, you will regret this.”
As his words fell.
“Bang!”
The door was slammed shut heavily.
…
The night was deep and quiet.
The moonlight outside the window poured in, spreading across the desktop into a patch of white.
Naruto sat before the desk, with the scroll recording the Flying Thunder God formula unfurled in front of him.
“Sigh.” Naruto let out a soft sigh, pushed the scroll aside, tilted his head back to lean against the chair, and looked out through the window at the night sky.
The Nine-Tailed’s voice came from the mental space, carrying a hint of banter: “What?
Having witnessed the difficulty of the Flying Thunder God, are you planning to give up just like that?”
Naruto didn’t turn his head, his gaze still lingering outside the window.
“No.”
“Then what are you thinking about?”
“I’m wondering why Grandpa Hokage has kept things hidden from me all along.”
“Just now when I asked him those few questions, the expression on his face…
was like he was dodging something.”
The Nine-Tailed did not reply.
Naruto continued: “I suddenly realized that the secrets in this Village are far more numerous than I imagined.”
“Speaking of which…”
He rotated his chair at an angle to face the windowsill.
“You said before that a mysterious person attacked Konoha twelve years ago.
Who is he?”
The Nine-Tailed spoke in a deep voice: “I don’t know.”
“I can only be certain of one point: that person possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, and his attainment in sealing techniques was not low either.”
“He never revealed his true face from beginning to end, and his methods were clean and neat, as if every step had been planned out long ago.”
“Therefore, if you want to know the truth of back then…”
“You can only keep growing stronger, and then investigate it yourself.” The Nine-Tailed’s voice paused, “Expecting the Third Hokage to tell you?
I think that’s difficult.”
Hearing this, Naruto pulled his gaze back from outside the window, looked down at his hands resting on his knees, and gently clenched them.
“You’re right.”
“He’s always like this.
Every time he faces a difficult question, he either doesn’t answer or starts beating around the bush.
I cannot count on him.”
Naruto raised his head, his gaze falling back into the moonlight.
“Forget it, I won’t think about this tonight.”
He put away the scroll, stood up, walked over to the bed, and sat down.
“I still have to wake up early tomorrow.”