"Hinata."
"As the heir of the Hyūga Clan, why did you act on your own?"
"I..."
"For you, for the main family, how many have sacrificed themselves?"
"You should understand this by now."
Hinata closed her eyes in pain.
For some unknown reason, she turned her head and looked in the direction Naruto had left.
…
"How many floors do you need to carry a bag of rice?"
"Carry it to the fourth floor."
"A bag of rice needs to be carried to the fourth floor?"
"Get lost! I won't sell it anymore!"
The shopkeeper looked very unhappy.
But remembering what the owner of the mask shop had said before, I gritted my teeth and carried the rice up.
Taking the money, the shopkeeper glanced at Naruto with disgust.
He muttered, "I'd rather strangle you to death!"
Naruto was already used to such looks.
The way they looked at me never changed.
And the way I looked at them never changed either.
When he opened the door, he saw an elderly shinobi appear in his home without him noticing.
He was also holding a scarf and some warm clothes.
Naruto knew that the scarf was left by his bad-tempered yet naive mother.
"Grandpa!"
Naruto instantly put on a smile.
"Hey, Naruto."
"The weather is getting cold, so I brought you some clothes and some good news."
"Thank you, Grandpa. What's the good news?"
The old shinobi smiled kindly, took out a scroll, and placed it on the table.
He chuckled and said:
"Congratulations, Naruto."
"You have passed the test and possess the qualities to be a shinobi."
"Passed the test? Grandpa, when did this test happen?"
Naruto pretended not to know.
The elderly shinobi shook his head. You can't just say that the Will of Fire has already taken root in your heart, right?
During this period, he had been constantly instilling the Will of Fire into Naruto.
Besides, he knew Naruto had the Uzumaki clan's vitality.
After all this time, the Nine-Tails' chakra had started to leak out.
The most urgent thing now was to teach Naruto how to refine chakra to suppress it.
Recently, several of the Anbu watching Naruto had stopped their surveillance.
Naruto had discovered them all.
With the combination of his heightened instincts and the Nine-Tails' chakra, Naruto had become more sensitive to malicious intent.
To obtain a chakra refinement method in advance, Naruto had been playing both an open and hidden game.
It was exhausting.
"Hahaha, the assessment and all that are just in my head."
"Why, aren't you happy to be a ninja?"
Naruto quickly shook his head and smiled.
"But, Grandpa, you said I needed everyone's approval."
"Well, I did, but haven't you been trying?"
"Your efforts haven't gone unnoticed."
The old shinobi continued along the same line of reasoning.
Naruto sneered inwardly.
Feeling that the act had gone on long enough, he asked expectantly:
"Is it really possible?"
"Of course. You can read the scroll now. If you don't understand something, ask me."
Naruto: "(＾－＾)V~"
Then he skipped to the table and started flipping through the scroll.
Chakra – the fusion of spiritual energy and physical energy.
These two energies don't automatically combine.
They need to be actively refined.
Without chakra refinement, you won't be able to use chakra.
The method wasn't difficult.
But turning it into an instinctive action was.
Soon, under the old shinobi's guidance, Naruto completed his first chakra refinement.
How did the Sandaime's teaching compare to Danzō's?
Of course, it was only after becoming Hokage and gaining access to vast resources that he could achieve this.
The Ninjutsu Professor knew a lot, but that was all…
After all, in this world, knowing more jutsu didn't necessarily make one stronger.
But leaders of ideological movements? They knew how to teach.
Naruto had only a vague understanding of chakra refinement before, but after the old shinobi explained some key points, he grasped it immediately.
Speaking of the Hokage, the Second Hokage couldn't be ignored.
He hadn't died due to the plot, but because his body had deteriorated so much that Kinkaku and Ginkaku finally killed him.
That man was full of forbidden techniques.
But that was also why his body had suffered in his later years.
To put it simply, forbidden techniques were powerful, but they carried a heavy price.
And, most importantly, they weren't necessarily difficult to learn.
In the original story, Naruto learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu in one night.
But look at how much effort it took for him to develop the Rasenshuriken.
Now, consider the variety of forbidden techniques the Second Hokage possessed.
The fact that he lasted so long was already impressive. It was only natural that his condition worsened over time.
How badly had he declined?
The first thing Kinkaku and Ginkaku said after being revived by the Edo Tensei was:
"He was resurrected using the jutsu of the defeated Second Hokage."
And yet, the Second still had the highest-level strategies.
The progress of an era relies on change.
That meant replacing the old with the new.
If he had used Edo Tensei to summon his brother, he could have crushed Kinkaku and Ginkaku in a few moves.
But he didn't.
Instead, all his jutsu and accumulated knowledge… were passed on to Sarutobi Hiruzen, the so-called 'strongest Hokage,' to strengthen Konoha's position.
Well, at least within the village.
"Not bad. It's impressive to succeed on your first try."
"I'm sorry, Grandpa. I'm so useless."
Naruto lowered his head, looking ashamed.
The old shinobi was satisfied with this attitude.
Smiling, he reassured him:
"Take things one step at a time. Don't rush. You have plenty of time. If you practice more, chakra refinement will become second nature."
After guiding Naruto for a while, he left, satisfied.
The seal wasn't a concern.
After all, Naruto was Minato's son and had the Uzumaki clan's chakra reserves.
But in the end, it was his "teacher" who had taught him well.
Even if they had failed before, success wasn't far off.
This was just his first attempt at chakra refinement. He wasn't familiar with his chakra yet, and time was limited.
If he were more patient, Naruto was sure he could have refined chakra on the first try.
Little did the old shinobi know, Naruto had succeeded on his first try.
He had only pretended to fail to deceive him.
Sure enough, not long after the shinobi left, one of the Anbu watching Naruto withdrew.
With chakra, his perception had greatly improved.
So, it was better to be cautious.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Mm. Go back. Shinnosuke will assign your next mission."
See? The Sandaime's son and daughter-in-law were both high-ranking Anbu.
Meanwhile, after the old shinobi left, Naruto closed the door expressionlessly.
He could still sense the remaining Anbu watching him.
He went to the bathroom and turned on the shower.
Immediately, the feeling of being watched vanished.
After washing his hands, he lay on his bed for a while before pacing back and forth.
He paid close attention to when the Anbu's gaze fell on him.
How long they usually watched.
After establishing a pattern, he took off his clothes and entered the bathroom.
As expected, the surveillance vanished.
A closed space created blind spots. Besides, who would be interested in watching a kid use the toilet?
After refining his chakra once more, Naruto raised his hand.
Looking at the wooden tendrils sprouting from his palm, the corners of his mouth curled slightly.
"It works. The Mokuton ability from the Mori Mori no Mi is easier to control with chakra."
"With chakra, half the plan is complete."
"Now, with future knowledge, I can master chakra control early."
Tree climbing, water walking—he could train those in secret.
But just as he was about to practice water walking, his chakra suddenly became unstable.
His frown deepened before realization struck.
"I almost forgot… Seems like there's a certain tenant inside me who's been dodging rent for years."
…
💎 Support this novel with Reviews & Power Stones! 💎
…
✅ Check out my Patreon for Advanced chapters 📚 on all my fanfics! 🎉
🔗 [patreon.com/LordMerlin]
🙏 Thank you for your support! ❤️