Chapter 17: Regret! Shadow! Bang!
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Naruto cultivating hard late at night, showing an extremely shocked expression.
This was far too different from the Naruto in his memory...
You know, the previous Naruto would be reported by ninjas every few days, causing some trouble or disaster in the village again...
Come to think of it, no one has reported on Naruto for several days...
Sarutobi Hiruzen scratched his head, and a few more strands of his aged and sparse hair fell out.
"Anbu."
"Here, Lord Hokage!"
Swish swish swish...
Several figures wearing eerie masks instantly appeared in front of Sarutobi Hiruzen like lightning.
"You are responsible for keeping an eye on Naruto. These past two days, has he..."
"Is there anything different about him?"
The Anbu looked at each other, exchanging glances.
"Lord Hokage, how, how should we put it..."
"It's not just different, it's simply like seeing a ghost!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned: "Oh? What's going on?"
The Anbu recounted Naruto's changes one by one, making Sarutobi Hiruzen more surprised the more he listened.
"Is that so?"
"Could he change so drastically all of a sudden?"
"What exactly happened to that guy..."
The Anbu also shook their heads.
"It seems nothing happened..."
"However, Lord Hokage, this is actually not strange. Boys of this age might suddenly work hard for various things."
"Of course, most people are just intermittently ambitious but persistently muddle along waiting for death."
"Few can persist; it's just a three-minute passion..."
"Indeed, with that guy Naruto's personality, I don't believe he can persist for long..."
These Anbu didn't look down on Naruto.
In fact, no one understood Naruto better than them.
After all, they had been secretly monitoring and protecting Naruto.
These conclusions were completely based on their deep understanding of Naruto in the past.
Sarutobi Hiruzen also nodded: "That's true..."
But just then.
From the shadows of the Hokage's office, a figure suddenly walked out silently.
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned his head slightly and guessed the identity of the person.
"Do you have something to say?"
"Danzo."
The man hidden in the darkness was none other than the Darkness of Konoha, known as the Pot Shadow (Danzo taking the blame), the old partner of the Third Hokage...
Shimura Danzo!
Seeing this, the Anbu also shut their mouths.
Shimura Danzo said coldly: "Hiruzen, how do you plan to handle this matter?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned deeply.
"Handle?"
"You mean Naruto?"
"Exactly!"
Shimura Danzo's tone had a desolate yet sharp feeling.
"Even if he is still a child, he is ultimately the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki!"
"Now that such changes have suddenly occurred, shouldn't we try every means to investigate clearly?"
"Or do you want to repeat the disaster of the Nine-Tails?!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen said in a deep voice: "Danzo, just because Naruto suddenly started working hard, you thought of so much?"
"Isn't that worrying too much unnecessarily?"
"Worrying unnecessarily?"
"Hmph, it's you, Hiruzen, who is too naive!"
Shimura Danzo raised his voice: "Go look at how the Hidden Sand Village treats the One-Tail Jinchūriki?!"
"Also a child, also the son of the Kage, but Kazekage Rasa has never shown mercy to that Gaara!"
"Jinchūriki are both the village's strategic weapons and carry huge dangers. They absolutely should not be neglected like this!"
"If you hand over that brat Naruto to me..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's face changed drastically instantly.
"Shut up, Danzo!"
"I will absolutely not hand Naruto over to you!"
A trace of gloomy ruthlessness flashed in Shimura Danzo's eyes.
"Hiruzen, doing this is completely a sign of naivety and weakness!"
"I must remind you..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's tone also became stern.
"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"
Shimura Danzo was stunned, revealing an even gloomier expression.
"You will regret this, Hiruzen!"
His figure retreated into the darkness again, and then...
Bang!
The sound of the door closing was heard.
As Shimura Danzo's figure disappeared, those Anbu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Such a fierce verbal confrontation between the two powerful figures of Konoha Village was a rare scene even for these Anbu members closely following the Hokage.
For a moment, no one dared to breathe loudly.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was silent for a moment.
In the Hokage's office, only the sparks of the pipe lit up from time to time, followed by thick smoke gradually spreading...
"Continue to protect Naruto well."
"Report to me anytime if there is anything unusual."
"Yes, Lord Hokage!"
Swish swish swish—
Several Anbu figures instantly disappeared into the moonlight.
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up at the full moon outside the window.
His memory seemed to return to that bloody night ten years ago...
A long sigh echoed in the silent office.
...
By the time Naruto finally completed one hundred times of Chakra Refining Technique and two hundred times of Clone Technique.
He couldn't even yawn anymore.
Without waiting for the system notification, he immediately entered deep sleep mode.
However.
For Naruto, the gains of this day could still be called incredibly rich.
Tutoring with Hinata in the morning greatly improved his proficiency in cultural studies.
Cultivating Taijutsu with Lee in the afternoon not only allowed his stamina to break through 90 points but also led to encountering Might Guy and learning a killer-level Taijutsu move...
Leaf Whirlwind!
And the Chakra Refining Technique and Clone Technique at night also improved his mastery of these two ninjutsu quite a bit.
If this continued, getting into the top ten of the class in the assessment a month later, perhaps...
Wasn't completely a daydream...
...
Early the next morning.
Naruto habitually got up early, washed up, prepared breakfast himself, and ate it.
He looked out the window but didn't see Hinata.
It seemed she couldn't ask for leave to come out today...
Naruto sighed somewhat disappointedly.
"Forget it, I can study by myself too!"
After listening attentively these days, plus Hinata's tutoring yesterday, and the assistance of Naruto's [Knowledge Absorption] entry, and of course including the improvement of his proficiency in various subjects...
Although he was alone, he found that he could understand these things a little bit.
The textbooks that were originally like heavenly scripts were now just slightly obscure.
For Naruto, this was a huge step.
Naruto didn't waste any time all morning.
Although the improvement wasn't as great as with Hinata's tutoring, he still gained a lot.
After having a full meal at noon, Naruto headed towards the Konoha Training Ground again as agreed.
Before he got completely close, he already heard the familiar sound.
Bang bang—
Bang bang bang!
It was Rock Lee!
Naruto couldn't help but admire him greatly.
"Lee... you guy, really work hard..."
Rock Lee also spotted Naruto and was pleasantly surprised, revealing his signature bright smile.
"It's Naruto!"
"Today I prepared a new training plan!"
"Not only greatly increased compared to yesterday, but also added that move for special training!"
"That's right, it's the Leaf Whirlwind Guy-sensei taught us!"
"Kick the wooden stake 3500 times consecutively!"
"Then punch the wooden stake 4500 times!"
"Then jump rope 3500 times!"
"Push-ups 3500 times!"
"If you can't do it, walk on your hands around Konoha Village 35 times!"
"After finishing, practice Leaf Whirlwind 500 times!"
"How about it, very simple, right?!"
Naruto: "...This seems worse than being struck by lightning!"