The Shadow Clones were still fully focused on practicing Wind Release nature transformation, and the speed at which the leaves in their palms were sliced was a bit faster than before.
The several Shadow Clones in the distance quietly guarded their respective directions, no alarms had been sent back.
Naruto walked out of the training area and followed the path along the edge of the cliff to the very top of the Hokage Rock, taking in the entire view of Konoha.
Negative Emotions Sensing!
This time, Naruto did not do as he had before. Instead, he precisely directed his sensory focus to the special location he had discovered this morning.
Soon, the sensory feedback returned. This was an area hidden deep within the mountains on the edge of Konoha, tightly enveloped by layers upon layers of barriers.
The density and complexity of the barriers far exceeded those of an ordinary Sensory Suppression Barrier. Not only was there a physical isolation layer, but there were also multiple layers of Chakra sensing barriers, anti-detection trap barriers, and a complex formula detection network.
If it weren't for Negative Emotions Sensing being able to lock onto malice signals, he would absolutely never have noticed the existence of this place.
"Where on earth is that place?" Naruto muttered to himself in a low voice, his brow furrowing slightly.
Places around Konoha with a large number of barriers generally only included the Anbu Headquarters, the Hokage's Direct Archives, and the Forbidden Jutsu Seal Vault. The barrier density in these places was very high.
Naruto roughly knew the locations of all these places, and none of them overlapped with the area before him.
A place in Konoha with so many barriers shouldn't be so well-hidden, nor should it be completely unrecorded on all public maps and documents.
Unless this place was not something that existed publicly.
Naruto suddenly thought of a person.
Danzo.
Hiruzen's old friend, a core member of the Konoha Council, and the founder and sole controller of the Root.
This old fellow played an extremely unique role in the Naruto world, serving as the overall person-in-charge of almost all of Konoha's gray areas, undertaking numerous missions that Hiruzen found inconvenient to execute publicly, and causing many tragedies that should never have happened.
When Pain attacked Konoha, this old guy not only refused to participate in the defense but even cut off the intelligence channels.
Kabuto's childhood tragedy was entirely his doing, and he was also one of the instigators behind the Uchiha clan downfall. Countless orphans were taken away from the village by him to be trained as emotionless tools of Root.
He is known as the "Scapegoat Hokage" of Konoha, meaning that if you pin any of Konoha's blame on him, ninety-nine percent of the time you won't be wronging him.
'If it really is that old geezer, then that's just perfect.' The corners of Naruto's lips curled up slightly.
Right now, Hiruzen is still alive, and Danzo's activities during the Chunin Exams are temporarily suppressed by him using his Hokage authority.
But once Hiruzen dies, Danzo will no longer be suppressed, and that old guy will become his greatest threat. No one wants to control the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki more than Danzo.
'I need to take this opportunity while there's still time to properly observe this place.'
Naruto silently noted the location of this area in his mind, while a rough idea began to form in his head.
'Danzo, I'll send you a grand gift during the Konoha Crush Plan. You'd better hold on tight.'
'It would be best if I can kill him. Even if I can't, I'll deal him a heavy blow so that he won't have the energy to bother me for a while.'
Naruto temporarily put this thought to the back of his mind because he thought of something else.
His consciousness entered the Sealing Space, where Kurama was currently dozing under the blue sky and white clouds.
"Kurama, I want to have a good chat with you about the Tailed Beast Ball now."
Kurama's head lifted from its crossed front paws. "Didn't you say before that you had no place to practice? Why do you want to learn it now? I just fell fast asleep, and you come to disturb my rest."
Naruto said, "I had some chores to handle before, but now I have time. And you said that unless I thoroughly understand the principles first, I'll have a hard time when practicing later."
Kurama snorted, "Alright, I am bored anyway. Listen up. The core of the Tailed Beast Ball is the mixing of Yin and Yang Chakra. Yin Chakra and Yang Chakra are compressed into a high-density sphere at a ratio of eight to two. There must not be the slightest deviation in this ratio."
Naruto asked, "How long does the final step of compression take before firing? In actual combat, is there a safe limit to the time window from the condensation of the Tailed Beast Ball to its launch?"
Kurama explained, "Hmph, you certainly know what to ask. The compression speed of the Tailed Beast Ball depends on how accurate the Chakra mixing ratio is. The more precise, the faster the compression."
"Under normal circumstances, the shortest time from condensation to firing takes about ten seconds, but that's while you're still inexperienced. Once you're practiced, you can complete the charging and firing within just a few seconds."
Naruto nodded, noting down each point.
He prepared to start practicing the Tailed Beast Ball whenever he had time.