"No… I still can't help Naruto directly." Haruto said with a soft sigh.
Megumin was instinctually about to react to the statement before she too realised why that was not possible. "Is it because of the ANBU tailing him?"
"Precisely because of it." Haruto nodded.
Megumin sighed ruefully but said nothing afterwards since she too understood how dangerous it could get for Haruto if he was caught up in Danzo's web.
Especially now that he had a way to bypass the Cursed Tongue Eradication seal on his tongue. If Danzo even caught wind of it, Haruto's life would be the first thing on the chopping block the next morning. After all, at that point Danzo wouldn't even care if Haruto was useful for keeping Naruto in check or not.
On the outside, Naruto suddenly stopped behind a large wide tree causing Haruto to nearly stumble into his little frame.
"What happened? Why did you stop all of a sudden?" Haruto asked Naruto pointedly making Naruto frown in displeasure before he spoke sharply, "We're here. The lake's behind this tree."
Haruto looked at Naruto with some confusion before stepping out from behind the tree expecting to see some clear forest lake, only he was left speechless.
"We're fishing in that? Are the fishes there even safe to eat?" Haruto mumbled while looking at the large pile of trash floating on top of the murky pond.
Naruto didn't care for Haruto's mumbling and walked straight ahead, plopping himself down by the pond's side on a relatively flat dry stone before creating his fishing rod, a branch with a string tied at its end.
"Go somewhere far from me while you're fishing. I don't want you stealing all the fish I attract with my bait." Naruto scolded Haruto when he noticed him coming to sit beside him on the same rock since it was large enough for the two of them.
With no other choice but to split up from Naruto, Haruto picked the exact opposite spot from Naruto and plopped himself down there.
From his spot Haruto could clearly see the inlet pipe that was carrying all of Konoha's trash into the pond and making it dirty. He however didn't know any better spots to fish in the village and so he stayed put in his place.
'He probably got chased away from all the good spots to fish in the village, leaving him with just this one.' Haruto concluded after looking at how naturally Naruto had begun to fish from his spot.
Haruto picked up the fishing rod he'd brought along with him, unsealing it from a sealing scroll before looking for some earthworms under a rock and spearing them onto the hook and casting the line.
'Sorry Mr. Earthworm… I've got bigger fish to catch right now… and… now we wait…' Haruto told himself as he sat there by the pond waiting for fish to take the bait.
With the silence in between Haruto and Naruto, the sounds of nature soon took over along with the sound of the running pipe that was constantly bringing Konoha's trash towards them.
Haruto wondered if Genin teams were responsible for cleaning this trash every once in a while and continued to wait.
Soon the fish caught the bait.
With all his strength, Haruto fought against the fish and pulled out his first fish from the pond.
It was a small fish, about the size of Haruto's forearm, he didn't know what kind the fish was since he'd never read up on fishes, but it looked ordinary enough to him that it didn't trigger any disgust in his head.
The fish flopped around for a few seconds before Haruto placed it into a bucket filled with water from its natural habitat, the dirty pond.
Only as soon as the sound of the fish splashing into the bucket echoed in the forest, Naruto's ears twitched. His keen focus shifted from his bobbing bait to Haruto's bucket where he quietly noted that Haruto had caught his fish before him.
Naruto's eyes narrowed and he went back to focusing on his bait.
Haruto of course noticed nothing strange about it all and went to cast his line back into the pond with a fresh earthworm.
They waited a bit longer and Haruto's line was pulled taut once again!
Haruto reeled in another fish, making Naruto frustrated. Naruto's hands trembled in annoyance but he quickly took deep breaths in and calmed himself before focusing on his bait like it was a matter of his life or death and not the fish's.
Fifteen more minutes passed after Haruto cast his line again before another fish caught his bait!
"Enough! I know you're cheating! You're stealing all my fish somehow and leaving me with nothing!" Naruto shouted, getting up from his spot and rushing over to the spot where Haruto was fishing before casting his line exactly where Haruto had just picked up his fish from.
Haruto frowned at the behaviour but then quietly stood up and moved away, sitting at Naruto's old rock and casting his line there.
'It was stinky there anyway…'
With their new spots decided, Haruto spent fifteen more minutes on his spot before his line sank again!
"What…" Naruto's focus was dragged to Haruto once again. His eyes widened in surprise and his fishing rod nearly slipped out of his hands. "No way… is he like a fishing god or something?"
Haruto glared at Naruto fiercely, freezing the young boy in his spot and making sure he wouldn't throw a tantrum once again.
Naruto bit his lip with confusion before sighing and continuing to fish on his end.
Haruto pulled out the fish and was about to put it into the bucket but froze.
'What…!?'
Haruto nearly screamed in disgust but barely managed to keep his emotions in check with the help of occlumency.
'Eww… what's that Haruto? Why does that fish have a human face?' Megumin asked in a tone filled with disgust.
Megamind frowned for a second and then spoke up with the point he noticed, 'Isn't that face quite similar to the stone monument face on the mountain?'
'Now that you mention it… it is… it looks a lot like the first Hokage…' Megumin said with confusion. 'Did he reincarnate as a fish or something in his next life?'
Haruto shrugged with equal parts confusion and equal parts disgust.
He wanted to toss the fish back into the pond but then thought better of it and tossed it into his bucket without inspecting the fish any closer to prevent any suspicion from the ANBU watching Naruto.
'The only other place that had Hashirama's face like that was Madara's chest…'
'Hashirama cells?' Haruto concluded this was a topic to explore further when he was alone today. 'Maybe they restarted the Wood Release Experiments after Danzo took over… maybe the fish is the by-product of a failed experiment?'
'I like the way you're thinking, Haruto…' Grindelwald said softly.
Haruto simply shrugged and continued fishing.
At the end of the day, Haruto had collected fourteen fish and Naruto only three.
Haruto wasn't unkind however, so after careful consideration he kindly donated five fish to Naruto.
This way Naruto still lost, but it didn't sting as much.
"You're still good after all…" Naruto mumbled just loud enough for Haruto to catch him saying it.
Haruto wanted to fluff up Naruto's hair but controlled himself and quietly walked back the way they'd arrived, going straight home to explore his strange find from today.
***
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