Still shaken from the encounter, Naruto stared wide-eyed at the kunai tip inches from his face.
Several strands of blond hair had already been sliced off.
"Careful, careful! It's !"
Sasuke Uchiha's eyes widened as well.
"Y-you… h-how did you appear here?!"
He had nearly thrown the kunai out of reflex and was so startled he began stamring.
This place was supposed to be his and his brother's secret training ground.
Technically, it had originally belonged to Itachi, who used to practice here years ago. Nowadays, though, almost nobody ca anymore.
Aside from himself, nobody should've known about it.
And more importantly—
Earlier that morning, Sasuke had boldly declared he would surpass Naruto soday.
That was precisely why he had secretly snuck out at night to train harder.
Most importantly of all—
This place was inside the Uchiha Clan compound!
"Aaaah, it's a long story."
Naruto carefully pushed the kunai away from his forehead with a finger and laughed awkwardly.
"I kinda panicked and teleported randomly."
"Anyway, just pretend I was never here, okay? Let find another spot…"
"Oh, found one!"
The mont Naruto finished speaking, he vanished once more.
Sasuke stood there completely dumbfounded.
He even rubbed his eyes in disbelief, wondering whether he had trained so hard that he'd started hallucinating.
At that mont, Sasuke desired the Sharingan more than ever before.
Naruto reappeared once again.
But this ti, instead of returning ho or going back to the previous battlefield, he arrived at the training ground from earlier.
"Uncle Guy said this place belongs to Konoha's Jonin. Maybe I can find another ninja here."
Naruto cautiously scanned the surroundings.
He still couldn't understand why nobody in the village had noticed him being attacked earlier.
If he hadn't accidentally teleported to Sasuke just now using Flying Thunder God, he might've thought the entire village had disappeared.
"Naruto? Why are you here?"
A familiar and kindly voice suddenly sounded behind him.
Naruto turned around in surprise.
Wearing ordinary civilian clothes, Hiruzen Sarutobi was slowly walking over like an elderly man out for an evening stroll.
"Grandpa Hokage?!"
Naruto hurried over imdiately.
"Listen, listen! Just now, I—"
The Third Hokage listened quietly as Naruto rapidly described the situation.
The more he listened, the more serious his expression beca.
Finally, he nodded solemnly.
"Don't worry, Naruto. I understand."
"I'll imdiately have people deal with such a dangerous matter."
"Were you hurt?"
"Nope, nope!"
Naruto waved his hands rapidly.
"I was super careful! That guy had lightning on his hand, so I didn't even dare touch him."
Then Naruto scratched his head in frustration.
"Sorry, Grandpa Hokage… I didn't get a clear look at his face."
"Is that so?"
"What a sha."
Although the Third spoke regretfully, inwardly he relaxed.
It seed Kakashi would not need to leave the village for the ti being.
Naruto continued animatedly describing how dangerous the situation had been.
The Third simply nodded repeatedly along the way.
Looks like Kakashi handled things perfectly.
Although the escape thod Naruto used at the end…
He would still need Kakashi to personally explain the details later.
Once Naruto had nearly finished recounting the story, the Third finally found an opportunity to interrupt him.
"Naruto."
"Co study at the Ninja Academy."
The Third suddenly spoke with a serious expression.
"Even though the village will do everything possible to prevent dangerous situations like this…"
"…the world itself is still dangerous."
"You may already possess so ability to protect yourself."
"But battles between ninja are not just about escaping."
"If you truly dream of becoming Hokage…"
"Then go to the Academy."
"Learn more skills."
"Beco an outstanding ninja."
School?
Naruto blinked blankly.
"And…"
The Third suddenly smiled and winked at him.
"You'll make lots of friends too."
After obtaining the information he wanted from Naruto, the Third did not leave imdiately.
The matter regarding the Academy had rely been ntioned casually.
As long as the idea had taken root in Naruto's mind, that was enough.
Soon afterward, the Third accompanied Naruto back toward the area where the attack had happened earlier.
Along the way, Naruto remained highly alert.
He constantly inspected the surroundings, jumping around nervously and scanning every corner.
anwhile, the supposedly "protecting" Third Hokage simply kept his usual cheerful smile.
He truly looked like an old grandfather taking an evening walk after dinner.
"We're almost there."
"Grandpa Hokage, be careful!"
"We should hide first!"
As they approached the location, Naruto imdiately ducked behind a tree and narrowed his eyes suspiciously while surveying the area.
Then he secretly waved the Third over.
"Alright, alright."
Hiruzen followed along with Naruto's antics while chuckling happily.
His mood was unbelievably good.
At this point, even if Naruto suddenly suggested sneaking onto the Hokage Monunt to pee on it, the Third suspected he'd probably still smile and watch.
Naruto hid behind the tree while repeatedly sticking out fake hand signs, peeking around corners, then rapidly withdrawing again.
After a series of increasingly dramatic stealth maneuvers that would've made anyone laugh—
Naruto finally gathered his courage.
With both hands full of shuriken, he leapt out aggressively—
Only for the expression on his cautious face to freeze completely.
Even though it was already nightti—
The street looked exactly the sa as usual.
Plenty of villagers walked back and forth normally.
So of them were even familiar faces Naruto recognized.
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