Meanwhile, on the other side.
Inside the Hokage's Office.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat in his office chair, carefully reviewing the intelligence on Shinobi from various countries provided by the intelligence unit.
The theft of the Scroll of Seals had kept him awake almost all night.
After all,
If this had happened during a normal period, it might have been manageable.
But now, during the Joint Chunin Exams, the various forces within Konoha were extremely complex.
Added to that, almost all the techniques sealed within it were forbidden technique of terrifying power. If other villages got their hands on them...
When a Shinobi World War broke out in the future, the consequences would be unthinkable!
Especially...
The Impure World Reincarnation!
As someone personally guarding the Scroll of Seals, Hiruzen naturally knew all the techniques within it very well.
And even among all these forbidden techniques,
Impure World Reincarnation was the most malicious and most resisted forbidden technique!
It was invented by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, and during the First Shinobi Wirkd War, it was directly called "despicable" by the Second Tsuchikage and others, receiving countless contempt!
Even Tobirama's elder brother,
The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, was also very troubled by it.
Because this forbidden technique was different from others,
Other techniques were banned almost always because they caused extremely negative effects on the user.
For example, Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tags, and so on.
But,
Impure World Reincarnation was banned purely for ethical reasons!
It was a technique that required using living people as vessels to summon the souls of the dead for battle!
When Hiruzen was young, he had seen his teacher, Tobirama use it.
Since then,
It had left him with quite a bit of trauma.
If another village mastered Impure World Reincarnation this time,
It would be really troublesome...
"Sigh..."
Hiruzen sighed deeply.
He continued flipping through documents with a complex expression, a trace of worry occasionally flashing in his murky eyes.
And just at this moment,
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.
Hiruzen's mind stirred, and he raised his eyes, frowning as he said:
"Come in."
He was somewhat puzzled.
Logically, at this time, most people in Konoha should be busy preparing for the Chunin Exams. Why would anyone come here?
However, just as he was wondering, the person who pushed open the door and entered was actually Shikaku, the one in charge of investigating the Scroll of Seals theft.
Seeing him arrive,
Hiruzen immediately put down the documents in his hand and quickly said:
"How is it, Shikaku? Any news?!"
His eager expression and rapid speech clearly showed his inner anxiety.
However, hearing this,
Shikaku showed a grave expression, slowly shook his head, and said in a deep voice:
"I'm sorry... Hokage-sama."
"For now, I haven't found any major breakthroughs."
"And moreover... I now have another piece of bad news that I must tell you."
"...???"
As his words faded, Hiruzen's expression froze.
'This...'
'What's going on?'
'Not only no major breakthroughs,'
'But there's also damn new bad news...???'
'One wave unresolved, another rises.'
Hiruzen frowned deeply at Shikaku, sighed, and then said:
"Ah... let's hear it."
As his words faded,
Shikaku stepped forward two paces, lowered his voice, and said solemnly:
"Before the Chunin Exams started this morning,"
"Because I noticed something strange about an Amegakure's Shinobi, I had Kakashi probe him, hoping to find clues."
"Unexpectedly,"
"That Amegakure's Shinobi knew all about Uzumaki Naruto's origins...!"
"Furthermore, he directly revealed in the exam plaza,"
"In front of all the participating Shinobi from various countries, that Naruto is the son of the Fourth..."
"-!!!"
"What?!"
Hiruzen's expression changed, and he shot up with a slap, quickly saying:
"Who is this person...?!"
"How does he know all this?!?"
Almost instantly,
Hiruzen immediately growled out the questions.
Shikaku's expression remained helpless, and he shook his head, saying:
"Currently... it's all unclear."
"However, I have confirmed that he is not the mysterious person from last night."
"And his personal information simply states he is an ordinary teacher at the Amegakure's Shinobi Academy, with no other content."
"...?"
As his words faded, Hiruzen was momentarily stunned.
'Ordinary teacher...?'
'He knows all these secrets of Konoha, and you call him ordinary!'
Hiruzen's expression darkened.
'After desperately hiding this secret for so many years, was it really going to be directly exposed like this...?'
Thinking this, Hiruzen looked at Shikaku and said solemnly:
"This person is definitely suspicious!"
"He must be investigated quickly!"
"Instruct Konoha's intelligence unit to dispatch a team immediately to Amegakure for verification!"
"His information... is highly likely forged!"
"And,"
"Regardless of whether he was the one who acted last night..."
"Since he knows Konoha so thoroughly, he definitely has a connection to the Scroll of Seals theft!"
Hiruzen's gaze solemn as he spoke with great certainty.
Hearing this, Shikaku's eyes flickered, and he said:
"You're right... I thought so too."
"So, should we temporarily place some Anbu's members around him for surveillance...?"
"...Hmm."
Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully and said in a deep voice:
"Do as you suggest."
"For now, we can focus most of this investigation's attention on him."
"Perhaps, based on his contacts with others, we can also find the whereabouts of the stolen Scroll of Seals..."
"Make the arrangements."
"...Yes!"
After Shikaku responded, he quickly left.
A moment later,
Hiruzen slowly turned around, looked out the window at the distant Hokage Rock, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
His gaze rested on the fourth stone face on the Hokage Rock.
It was Konoha's Fourth Hokage,
Namikaze Minato.
A man who, at the cost of his own life, sealed the Nine-Tails to protect Konoha.
Recalling that past Nine-Tails Rampage,
At this moment,
Hiruzen's expression was extremely complex.
He knew that this time,
He would inevitably have to have a full discussion with Naruto.
"Sigh..."
Another soft sigh sounded in the Hokage's office.
...
And at this moment, on the other side.
On a commercial street in Konoha.
Kyo was slowly walking out of an unpretentious ramen shop, revealing a very comfortable smile.
'Ichiraku Ramen,'
'Truly worthy of the ramen shop run by the strongest man in the Shinobi World. The taste is indeed excellent.'
Kyo chuckled lightly, thinking this in his heart.
That's right.
The ramen shop he had just visited was the famous dining destination in Naruto-
Ichiraku Ramen.
As the favorite of the protagonist, Naruto, it had a very high appearance rate in the series.
In fact, it could almost be called one of the "Two Wonders of Naruto" that travelers must experience.
The other was called Icha Icha Series.
And the reason Kyo came here,
Was naturally not just to satisfy his appetite.
As expected,
Just at this moment, the system's prompt sound opportunely rang out.
[Ding! Congratulations Host, side mission accomplished!]
[Taste a Konoha's delicacy: Ichiraku Ramen (1/1), completed! Reward: Spiritual Pressure +1500, Mall Points +300!]
Excellent.
Listening to the system's prompts and feeling the increase in Spiritual Pressure within him, Kyo showed a satisfied smile.
'Earning Spiritual Pressure just by eating a bowl of ramen, what could be easier than this?'
As he thought,
Kyo decided to return to the exam venue.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the results of the first exam should be out soon, and the second exam was about to begin.
Kyo naturally needed to find his three students.
After all,
Now that the Konoha Crush Plan had been advanced,
It was necessary for them to make some preparations.
"..."
However,
Just as Kyo was about to leave, a strange feeling suddenly appeared in his Spiritual Pressure Perception.
"Hmm...?"
Kyo's mind stirred, his eyes flickering slightly.
Within his perception range,
Around this commercial street, four hidden figures had suddenly appeared, closely watching this area.
Their auras were all completely unfamiliar.
However, their attire of gray clothes + masks + straight knives instantly gave away their identities.
Kyo slightly raised an eyebrow.
'Hmm,'
'Konoha Anbu...?'