Time-Limited Sign-In Task
Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but scrutinize Xu Fan from head to toe, his sense of reality slowly unraveling.
If he didn't already know the Nine Tails was sealed inside Naruto, he might have suspected Xu Fan harbored the beast himself.
No…
Judging by the sheer volume of chakra Xu Fan had just displayed, it was even more exaggerated than the Nine Tails' itself.
What baffled Hiruzen the most was that Xu Fan hadn't been surrounded by any rumors or legends at birth. His rise had only begun recently.
"Xu Fan… just how many secrets are you hiding?" Hiruzen muttered, eyes narrowing.
But even as the Third Hokage, Hiruzen understood that some truths shouldn't be pursued out of mere curiosity. If Xu Fan wanted to speak, he would—on his own terms.
Right now, there was a more urgent issue to address: the Uchiha clan.
Even if Xu Fan had subdued them temporarily with Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence, leaving them immobilized near the Naka Shrine, they couldn't stay there indefinitely.
"Where is Uchiha Itachi?" Hiruzen asked after dispatching the ANBU and Root operatives to maintain order.
"Hm…" Xu Fan paused in thought. "Itachi planned to help me stop the Nine Tails… but along the way, he was intercepted by a masked man."
"Masked man?" Hiruzen's brows furrowed deeply.
The village was protected by several powerful detection barriers. No intruder should've been able to enter unnoticed.
A sense of dread crept up his spine.
"What did he look like?"
"He wore a black cloak and an orange mask. It was too dark to make out more details," Xu Fan replied.
Even he didn't know the masked man's identity.
"I see…"
Hiruzen nodded, anxiety settling in. This event was too reminiscent of the Nine Tails' rampage from years ago.
And he had noticed something strange during Naruto's rampage: not a single trace of Uchiha chakra had been present.
Moreover, if the Uchihas truly intended a coup, they would've used the opportunity to eliminate him. But they didn't.
Their goal wasn't to destroy Konoha—it was to take control of it. Using the Nine Tails would only deepen the village's hatred toward them.
They were being used.
But even Hiruzen couldn't fully grasp the masked man's motives yet.
"What should we do with the Uchiha clan?" he asked seriously.
Xu Fan had already proven his strength and insight tonight. Hiruzen's perspective on the boy had shifted completely.
Where once he had hoped to mold Xu Fan into a tool like Danzō… now, he was beginning to see him as Hokage material.
"Imprison them for now," Xu Fan said after brief thought. "Then deploy them to the frontlines in our coming war with Kumogakure."
He was calm, but the implication was clear.
War always brought casualties. Using the Uchiha clan as a main fighting force would strategically reduce their power—without a massacre.
"What if they refuse?" Hiruzen asked cautiously.
"They won't," Xu Fan said confidently, turning toward the Uchiha compound.
This was no minor rebellion. It was a coup d'état.
And with the Nine Tails incident tied to them, the evidence—however manipulated—was damning.
Such accusations would justify even a purge.
But the Uchiha clan loved their own deeply.
If threatened with the lives of their women and children—those uninvolved in the uprising—they would submit.
Any attempt to flee or betray the village on the battlefield would result in the same consequences.
"Make them the vanguard against Kumogakure's shinobi," Xu Fan concluded firmly.
Seeing Xu Fan's decisiveness, Hiruzen nodded solemnly. It was cruel… but not unreasonable.
Executing them all in the village would only create deeper hatred. But this way, they might preserve their honor—and their future.
"I'll speak with Fugaku," Hiruzen said. "In exchange for surrendering and taking responsibility for the Nine Tails attack, the Uchiha clan will be spared."
But even as he spoke, Hiruzen sighed.
If this deal was made public, they'd need Naruto back in the village quickly.
"What's wrong?" Xu Fan noticed the change in Hiruzen's expression.
He couldn't help but feel this wasn't the first time the Third Hokage had faced such a dark dilemma.
"That… was a long time ago," Hiruzen replied cryptically. "In any case, Xu Fan—you've become one of Konoha's heroes."
Itachi's words echoed in Xu Fan's mind.
Only when you gain the village's acknowledgment can you become Hokage.
Just as he was about to leave the rest to Hiruzen and step away—
A familiar, mechanical voice rang in his mind.
Host is requested to go to Mount Myōboku for a limited-time sign-in task. Deadline: three days. Successful sign-in will yield special rewards!
Xu Fan's expression darkened.
A time-limited sign-in task?
That meant the reward must be extraordinary. But so would the difficulty.
In the Naruto story, Mount Myōboku only appeared when Naruto was reverse-summoned by Fukasaku after Jiraiya's death.
Xu Fan had no way of locating it himself.
And with just three days… even if he tried to find it through information channels, reaching the location on time might be impossible.
"Third Hokage-sama," Xu Fan said, turning back, his mind already racing.
"Hm?" Hiruzen looked up.
"Whatever that masked man's goals are, we can't keep protecting Naruto forever. We need to give him the strength to protect himself."
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