Uchiha Shisui's appearance prevented Naruto from personally beating the scoundrel Mizuki, which annoyed Naruto a bit.
Mizuki would probably be thrown into prison after returning, and Naruto wouldn't have another chance to beat him.
Seeing Naruto's silence, Shisui thought he was scared, so he showed an even gentler smile and said, "Are you alright, little one?"
Shisui naturally knew Naruto, and precisely because he knew Naruto, he, as a member of the Uchiha Clan, should not have interacted with him.
But today was an unexpected situation.
The shortest way back to the Uchiha Clan Estate passed through this forest, as the Uchiha Clan Estate was quite remote.
As he passed by, he heard an explosion, which was Mizuki using Fire Release.
Hearing the noise, Shisui naturally went to investigate, and then he saw Mizuki holding a kunai, lunging at Naruto, while Naruto stood frozen in place as if completely terrified.
Although Shisui was still some distance from Mizuki, he was Shisui, Shisui of the Body Flicker. That distance would be covered in the blink of an eye.
"I'm fine. Thank you for your help!"
Naruto could only thank him against his will.
It was indeed against his will. He had been so happy today to find a Chunin to test his strength, but Uchiha Shisui had appeared midway through.
Uchiha Shisui naturally didn't know Naruto's thoughts. He kindly said, "Do you want me to take you home?"
"No need, I can go back by myself!"
Just as Naruto finished speaking, Zephyr appeared behind him.
This time, Zephyr appeared in his own form.
Zephyr's sudden appearance immediately put Uchiha Shisui on alert. At the same time, a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared in his eyes.
Seeing this, Naruto waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, he's my teacher, Zephyr!"
Hearing Naruto's words, Shisui nodded, thinking, "It seems the rumors are true. This Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki really does have a split personality."
With his Sharingan activated, Shisui naturally saw that the tall Zephyr in front of him was merely Naruto's clone.
Naruto calling his own clone 'teacher'—even if Naruto claimed he wasn't schizophrenic, others probably wouldn't believe him.
Finally, after Naruto's repeated assurances that he would be fine going back alone, Shisui gave up on taking Naruto home.
Naruto and Zephyr walked out of the forest, while Shisui carried the unconscious Mizuki to the Third Hokage.
Upon arriving outside the forest, Naruto saw Lee waiting there with a worried expression.
Seeing Naruto, Lee first looked him over, then asked, "It looks like you won, Naruto!"
Naruto heard this and shook his head helplessly, saying, "The fight was interrupted! It looks like we'll just have to spar, you and I, for now!"
"Oh, that's a shame!"
Next, Naruto, Lee, and Zephyr still went to their usual training spot for their daily exercises.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Shisui brought the unconscious Mizuki to the Third Hokage and recounted what had just happened.
Learning that Naruto had been attacked, the Third Hokage naturally didn't let Mizuki off easy, immediately having Anbu take him to Konoha's prison to eat prison food.
After Mizuki was sent away, the Third Hokage gave Shisui a deep look, then said, "Shisui, you've worked hard, you can go back now!"
Hearing the Third Hokage's words, Shisui was a little surprised. He had expected the Third Hokage to remind or even warn him not to interact with Naruto, but to his surprise, the Third Hokage said nothing at all.
What was this? This was trust in him.
The Third Hokage, who was just taking out his pipe to smoke, suddenly felt an intense gaze on him. He then saw Shisui's clear eyes.
Seeing this, the Third Hokage lightly coughed and said, "Shisui, remember, you are a successor of the will of fire."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!"
With that, Shisui left the Hokage Office.
In the Root base lounge.
"It feels like lately, besides monitoring the Uchiha, we haven't had any external missions for a long time!"
"That's right..."
"Ever since Danzo-sama became obsessed with that thing called a 'notebook computer,' he's rarely assigned any missions."
"Who's to say! I heard a senior Ninja suspected Danzo-sama was under a genjutsu, so he secretly stole the notebook computer while Danzo-sama was resting. Guess what happened?"
"What happened?"
"Danzo-sama went crazy right then and almost tortured that senior to death with his cursed seal!"
"Because of that incident, no one dares to stop Danzo-sama from playing games anymore..."
In the Root lounge, many Ninja were discussing their Danzo-sama.
And their Danzo-sama? He was still intently staring at the computer screen.
At this moment, Danzo looked a bit disheveled, his single eye blood-red as if he had activated a Sharingan.
Most of the hair on his head had fallen out, pulled out by himself.
After such a long struggle, Danzo had finally reached the Untended Graves.
There were only a few bosses left until he completed the game.
Naturally, Danzo also felt that he would finish the game very soon.
Just then, a Root Ninja entered the room and knelt on one knee before Danzo.
Hearing the movement, Danzo asked indifferently, "How's the investigation coming along?"
"Reporting, Danzo-sama, we have completed the investigation."
"Hmm? Tell me, where has Hiruzen reached in dark souls iii?"
That's right, this Root Ninja's mission was to investigate the Third Hokage's game progress.
Hearing Danzo's question, the Root Ninja was a bit flustered.
"Um... Danzo-sama, actually... actually, the Third Hokage isn't playing dark souls iii at all."
"The game he's playing seems to be a dating game..."
The Root Ninja naturally didn't know about so-called romance games, so he could only describe it in the colloquial term 'dating.'
"Hehehehe... As expected of you, Hiruzen, playing such an indecent game!"
"What the hell, you bastard Hiruzen, you tricked me!"
The furious Danzo wanted to smash the computer in front of him right then.
Seeing this, the Root Ninja immediately became excited. If the computer was smashed, their Root would return to its former state, and Danzo-sama wouldn't become increasingly decadent and lazy.
Just as the Root Ninja thought Danzo would smash the computer in a fit of rage, Danzo's hand, raised in mid-air, froze.
In the end... Danzo couldn't bring himself to do it.
Seeing this, the Root Ninja, kneeling on the ground, sighed helplessly in his heart, thinking, "Destroy, Root, quickly destroy! This organization no longer has any reason to exist!"