"Naruto?"
"He already went ho."
The mont Might Guy heard the question, he hurriedly explained:
"Lord Hokage, were you looking for him? I was wondering why the Anbu suddenly started chasing …"
Guy spoke as casually as if he were reporting so completely ordinary and insignificant event.
As a result, the entire office instantly fell into an awkward silence.
At that mont, another Anbu rushed in from outside.
He had originally intended to report imdiately, but the mont he looked up and saw how crowded the Hokage's Office currently was, he froze on the spot.
"…Report."
Hiruzen Sarutobi recognized the Anbu—it was the one he had stationed near Naruto's ho.
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
"Uzumaki Naruto returned ho safely a short while ago. Observation confirms nobody followed him."
"And additionally…"
The Anbu glanced at Guy and the two village advisors nearby before carefully organizing his words.
"It appears mbers of Root are currently searching for soone's whereabouts."
Soone?
Hiruzen glanced at the innocent-looking waterlon-headed man standing before him.
They were probably searching for Guy and Naruto.
Danzo…
That man was becoming increasingly disrespectful toward him, the Hokage.
"Since Naruto returned ho safely," Hiruzen said calmly while looking toward the two advisors, "then this matter should already be resolved, correct?"
Ignoring Guy's frantic attempts at sending him signals with his eyebrows, Hiruzen turned toward the newly arrived Anbu and ordered:
"Go inform Danzo to co to the Hokage's Office."
"And while you're at it…"
"Tell him to pull back his hands."
"Yes, sir!"
The two Anbu imdiately vanished.
anwhile, the two advisors could only leave awkwardly with dark expressions.
After all, just monts ago they had confidently insisted this matter was related to the Uchiha Clan and so kind of massive conspiracy.
Still, before leaving, both of them glanced at Guy with utterly baffled expressions.
Once the office was finally left with only Hiruzen and Guy, the old Hokage sighed helplessly.
"Stop making faces and explain."
"Oh! Right, Lord Hokage!"
Guy instantly stopped winking wildly and adopted an extrely serious jōnin posture.
"It started when I returned from a mission and encountered mbers of the Hyuga Clan together with Naruto Uzumaki at the training grounds…"
As Guy recounted everything that had happened, Hiruzen's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
"…After shaking off the Anbu, I originally intended to bring Naruto directly to you."
"But unexpectedly, I simply couldn't restrain him."
"No matter how I locked onto him or grabbed him, he would instantly reappear two or three ters away."
"And it definitely wasn't the Body Flicker Technique."
"He used the Flying Thunder God Technique with unbelievable familiarity."
"Then I realized… if he possessed that kind of ability, there probably weren't many people in the village capable of truly threatening him."
"Afterward, he insisted on going ho."
"And shortly after we separated, a group of Anbu suddenly appeared and attempted to arrest . So I ca here imdiately…"
"I understand the situation now."
Hiruzen slowly nodded.
"The Hyūga matter isn't important. That little girl becoming friends with Naruto is a good thing."
"But…"
"You say Naruto mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique…"
"That is no small matter."
Ever since Minato Namikaze's death, not a single shinobi above jōnin level in Konoha had successfully mastered this terrifying space-ti ninjutsu.
Even Hiruzen himself—despite being hailed as "The Professor"—had only barely grasped it after investing an enormous amount of ti.
He was nowhere near capable of wielding it in battle like Tobirama or Minato.
The Flying Thunder God Technique's difficulty, especially its fusion of sealing arts and ninjutsu, was absurdly high.
Even Minato's personal guard squad had required three people working together just to perform it.
Putting aside who taught Naruto…
The child had only just turned five years old.
Such talent was unheard of.
Could this have been a safeguard Minato left behind?
At this thought, Hiruzen suddenly fell into a daze.
Truthfully, Minato had once been the most perfect successor Hiruzen could possibly imagine.
Whether it was his thods of governing the village, his personal strength, or his character—
Everything about him had been flawless.
Back then, after Minato inherited the Hokage position following his legendary achievents during the Great Ninja War, Hiruzen had already envisioned Konoha's glorious future.
Even Homura, Koharu, and the perpetually dissatisfied Danzo had all admitted that Minato's era as Hokage held limitless promise.
Unfortunately…
The loss of the Fourth Hokage during the Nine-Tails Disaster had been a catastrophic blow to Konoha.
And in many ways, it was also the root cause behind the village's growing paranoia toward the Uchiha clan.
"…You may leave now as well."
"I'll personally visit Naruto later."
After dismissing Guy, Hiruzen stared silently into the night outside the window.
A long while later, the Third Hokage appeared outside Naruto's apartnt wearing only a simple robe.
Looking up at the dark window without lights, his thoughts drifted far away.
This apartnt was not Minato and Kushina's forr ho.
It had been assigned to Naruto through the orphanage system by Hiruzen himself.
It could not attract attention.
And the reason was simple—
Minato's identity and residence were both far too sensitive.
Behind the legendary fa of the Yellow Flash during the Great Ninja War stood countless enemies, hatred, and blood debts.
The Hidden Cloud Village had never stopped hating Konoha.
Back then, after the Nine-Tails Disaster, Konoha had beco extrely weakened.
Even when the Hidden Cloud attempted to fra the Hyūga clan and demanded the corpse of Hizashi Hyuga, Konoha had been forced to compromise.
The reason was simple.
At that ti, Konoha no longer possessed the strength to confront them directly.
Even the Hyūga clan had been forced to retreat.
So if the Hidden Cloud discovered that Minato Namikaze's orphaned son still lived—
And that he was also the Nine-Tails jinchūriki—
What kind of danger would Naruto face?
Hiruzen knew he owed this child greatly.
But as Hokage…
He had no choice.
The old man sighed inwardly and ultimately chose not to go upstairs.
Instead, he turned to leave.
"Hokage Grandpa?"
Before Hiruzen could walk far, Naruto suddenly appeared from around the corner carrying a bag full of snacks.
The boy raised his head and imdiately greeted the familiar old man happily.
"Naruto?"
"You went out to buy food?"
Hiruzen froze briefly before revealing a warm smile.
"There wasn't any food left at ho."
"Today so weird uncle dragged all over the place, and after I got back and slept a little, I got hungry again."
Naruto complained while rummaging through his bag.
Then he pulled out a cup of instant ran and handed it toward Hiruzen.
"Grandpa, want so?"
Looking at the small child offering him ran so naturally, Hiruzen's smile softened further.
"It's not good to eat instant noodles this late at night."
"Well, it's not like I can go catch fish in the middle of the night."
Naruto casually retorted.
He stuffed the ran back into the bag and dug around again before pulling out two sausages.
After hesitating painfully for a mont, he reluctantly put one back and handed the other to Hiruzen.
"Then I'll treat you to this instead."
Hiruzen quietly stared at the sausage in Naruto's tiny hand before accepting it.
"Alright then, Grandpa, see you later!"
"It's already late, so you should head ho and sleep early!"
Naruto waved energetically before dashing upstairs toward his apartnt.
Very quickly, his small figure disappeared from sight.
Hiruzen stood there silently for a long ti, looking first at the sausage in his hand and then at Naruto's vanished silhouette.
Finally, he spoke softly:
"Tomorrow…"
"Tell Iruka Umino and Kakashi Hatake to co to my office."
"And bring Might Guy as well."
"Yes, sir."
The hidden Anbu instantly acknowledged the order from the darkness.
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