The next morning.
The Leaf Village was what he expected it to be. A backward village, lagging in several aspects but advanced in others. The fact that it had electricity, even cameras, but they weren't used for espionage was something to discuss.
The times when photos were used were laughable. It was like having a resource and not using it just because they thought it wasn't a 'ninja-like' thing to do.
Another thing... The food was mediocre.
Both the barbecue from last night, which was highly praised, and the breakfast he had were just average.
Another thing was the ninja tools. They were incredibly durable. The element 'iron' in this dimension was stronger than in his own dimension.
Of course, this applied only to common iron; there were metals with more durable properties than the iron in this dimension.
However, it was still something worth studying.
"Two, please." Paying, he bought two Dango.
When he tasted them... They weren't bad, but also within the average standard.
By the way, last night, when he manipulated memories, he made it seem like he was renting a room in the same building as Naruto. As for the records, it was easy to alter them later, just like the mission records he 'completed.' And precisely because of that, he took the commission for his missions 'by right.'
Well, he would compensate the village somehow later. It wasn't like this small amount of money would bankrupt it.
Finishing the Dangos, he simply used the Power of Destruction to discreetly pulverize the sticks.
It wasn't necessary, really. However, he still followed his father's teachings of using his powers whenever he had the chance.
"Zaydas, good morning."
"Naruto, good morning."
As he turned the corner, he came across him. Obviously, even Naruto wasn't restricted by his manipulation.
He's the protagonist—shouldn't that work?
Heh... It seems that kind of thing stops existing the moment he arrives in X dimension. Because if it were the opposite, many things he had done before would have been impossible. In fact, he didn't even have to put in much effort to 'take' things from other protagonists, which proved that there was no greater force manipulating things in favor of the 'chosen by luck.'
"Going to train?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head while walking beside him.
"Just wandering around aimlessly." Zaydas asked, "And you, Naruto? Have you managed to win over Sakura yet?"
"..."
"Sakura-chan..." When he murmured her name, his face looked sad, but he quickly cheered up. "Not yet, but I'll prove I'm better than a certain someone!"
"For that, you need to erase the ghost that was created in her heart," Zaydas said.
"Ghost in her heart?" He seemed confused.
"Yes, at the moment, she sees a Sasuke that doesn't exist and chases after him in her dreams," Zaydas said. "However, the one she truly pursues doesn't exist, but she deceives herself into believing he is real, and she has a slight princess syndrome, believing that true love will bring him to the right path."
"This sounds confusing. I kind of understood, but at the same time, I didn't..." Naruto scratched his head.
"Simplifying." Zaydas said: "She needs to understand how unrealistic what she's looking for is. Actually, I have something good here that portrays this very well."
Zaydas pretended to rummage through his Chūnin vest and soon pulled out a book.
It was a rather thick manga, modified by him from Fruits Basket. In this version, it wouldn't take place in a modern world, but it followed the original plot with some alterations.
"This is a book I created. It portrays well the subject I was talking about." Zaydas said. "If you want, you can read it too, or you can simply give it to Sakura."
Holding it with both hands, Naruto looked at him, seeming very grateful.
"Thank you, you're a friend!" He said in his annoyingly loud voice.
Zaydas simply smiled in response.
"I'm going to read it right now, see you later!" With that, Naruto simply took off, jumping across the rooftops.
'So impatient...'
A thin smile appeared on his face as he walked in a good mood.
'It would be perfect if Naruto actually managed to start dating Sakura. Good luck, Naruto, I'm rooting for you!'
He thought with a hint of amusement.
By the way, right at that moment, a shadow clone of Zaydas emerged from his shadow and followed Naruto.
'With this, I just need to wait for Naruto to meet Sasuke.'
Of course, he wasn't Naruto. His objective was never Sasuke, but rather Orochimaru. And honestly, going on a search for him was troublesome and boring. There were better things to do than that, like for example...
"Ino!" Zaydas called out to her as she walked ahead of him.
Turning around, she showed a surprised look, then smiled. "Oh, it's you, Zaydas. It's been a while~"
As she approached, he said, "Yeah, it's been some time since we last talked."
By the way, talking about supposed conversations that never happened was a bit strange, but he was adapting pretty quickly, actually.
"Going somewhere?" She asked.
"No." Zaydas replied, saying, "I just suddenly felt like wandering around aimlessly. By the way, have you heard the news?"
"Wandering aimlessly, I know how that is." She nodded. Then, upon hearing the last part, she asked, "News? What news?"
"I was transferred to Team 8, and Kiba to Team 7." He smiled.
"Really?" She said. "What a surprise, I didn't expect something like that to happen..."
"Yeah, me neither." Zaydas said. "Until now, I basically lived in the shadows as an ANBU, you know."
"Yeah." She murmured, "What a waste..."
"Did you say something?" Zaydas asked, pretending not to have heard.
"Nothing at all~" She replied cheerfully, then stopped and added, "I've reached my destination. Until next time. Bye-bye~"
"Mm, see you." He looked at the flower shop, bidding her farewell.
...
In the Leaf Village, there were many different bloodlines and jutsus, but in reality, only Kekkei Genkai and Hiden functioned as abilities, while jutsus were like magic in TSSDK.
The same applied to his spells, even the barrier ones, etc. None of them were recorded on his status page since they were not considered abilities but rather a set of information that utilized a real ability. In his case, most of them relied on demonic power.
Even the jutsus he obtained from Deidara were the same—they did not appear in the status bar, but he could still use them.
On the other hand, when he analyzed Ino, her 'Hiden' was replicable and could be transformed into an ability.
Perhaps if he replicated or stole the Sharingan from a Uchiha, for example, it would function as a unique ability—a combination of various abilities like [Demonic Dragon], [Legion of Shadows], etc.
He thought, 'If I leave this dimension, will my clones remain intact?'
He didn't know if the distance would still apply. After all, this was a distance between dimensions. Would his clones survive? And if so, would they still send information to the main body when they were destroyed?
He wanted to test it, but not now.
For now, he wandered through the village, talking with some people while evaluating a few jutsus.
By the way, he also evaluated Hinata's. However, as interesting as the Byakugan was, it wasn't attractive to him, as he possessed so many sight-related abilities that were better than the Byakugan itself.
Still, he intended to replicate it when his chances of doing so increased. It might not be purely useful, but what if he fused it with various other vision-related abilities?
That was why he also wanted to replicate or steal the Sharingan...
And then, he saw Kakashi.
'If I steal his Sharingan... would I be indirectly stealing Obito's Sharingan?'
If so, he would do it, even if that turned Kakashi's Sharingan into a normal eye...
'By the way, if he stole a Dojutsu, would he also lose his vision?'
It was something worth considering. He didn't care about Obito, but Kakashi was different. Kakashi was cool in the manga, although Zaydas thought he was kind of a jerk for letting Naruto go through so much and doing nothing, despite being his father's student... However, many believe that Kakashi, like the rest, didn't know that Naruto was Minato's son.
'Should I steal his Sharingan or not?' He remained undecided while eating a golden fruit.
Yes, eating golden fruit was important too. A small but continuous increase in his physical strength.
However, the effect was lost if he simply ate too many like a madman... Yes, he had tested it.
Even using 'Fenrir' wasn't very effective. The effect diminished.
That reminded him that in TSSDK, he had planted more golden fruit trees, and it was right after the [All-Purpose Farming Tool] reached Rank S-.
'Last time, I saw that the fruits had already started growing.' He chewed the rest of the golden fruit, thinking, 'Next time I return, I should check the results of the improved version of the golden fruit.'
His eyes narrowed as he saw a man dressed in black entering the Hokage's Office.
'Danzo...' Out of curiosity, he simply became part of the shadows, advancing toward Danzo's and merging with it.
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