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"Can't find a single person! Root is too embarrassed to say they're overseeing the Leaf!"
After a long while, when the nameless fire in Danzo's heart subsided, he leaned back in his chair, his only remaining eye pondering something.
"So, there's still no news?"
"Yes, following the direction that person left last night, we haven't found any new traces for 20 kilometers…" Aburame Torune knelt on the ground and replied.
"So, what do you mean?" Danzo seemed to suddenly remember something.
"It's very likely that person is still in the Leaf." Aburame Torune wasn't by Danzo's side last night, but he could still feel Zhongli's imposing aura.
He even had a new understanding of Zhongli's strength when he went to investigate in person.
"Yes, that's possible. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that person uses space ninjutsu. Otherwise, it's hard to explain why their presence suddenly disappeared."
Aburame Torune was one of the only two who didn't tremble, he calmly answered Danzo's words.
"Does Root's archives have any record of that person's portrait?" Danzo narrowed his eyes, this suddenly appearing Zhongli was a threat to his position.
However, he didn't think he would be affected by this sudden appearance.
He now wanted to find Zhongli, plant the Tongue-Tied Seal on him, and then he could definitely pull Sarutobi Hiruzen down from the Hokage's position!
Only then would he be satisfied, and only then would he let Senju Tobirama know who was the most suitable person to be Hokage!
"We've searched through all the Leaf's archives, even asked spies from other countries to search their archives, but we haven't found any record of such a person."
"Did you check the Iwagakure archives? That massive earth element, even Ōnoki couldn't achieve that, right?"
"Yes, that's difficult. Iwagakure is the most strict about protecting their archives." Aburame Torune said coldly.
"Keep searching. Also, how's the Nine-Tailed Fox situation?" Danzo knew that this matter of Zhongli wouldn't be easily resolved.
But the Nine-Tailed Fox was different. If he could get the Nine-Tailed Fox situation under control, it would be a chance to turn the tables.
"We've already released the information as instructed. Now, some villagers know that the Nine-Tailed Fox has transformed into a blonde baby, and that baby is currently in the Third Hokage's hands."
Aburame Torune handed a scroll to Danzo.
"Hmm, I see. You may leave."
Danzo looked at the report in his hand, which detailed information about the Nine-Tailed Fox and Uzumaki Naruto.
A smile appeared on Danzo's lips as he looked at the information.
This way… you, Sarutobi Hiruzen, will have nothing left to fight me with.
…
Six o'clock in the evening.
"Sure enough, rumors are starting to spread." Shinji was lying on a lounge chair, looking very relaxed, with the warbler singing in its cage on the table beside him.
Although he was sitting in his shop, he could still hear various rumors being spread by the people coming and going.
It seemed that the news that Uzumaki Naruto was the Nine-Tailed Fox had spread throughout the Leaf.
And this matter must have originated from Danzo, and then Sarutobi Hiruzen used it to his advantage and pushed the rumors further.
"This is interesting, but… I still need to increase my proficiency."
After checking the system prompt, Shinji knew.
This so-called role-playing system gave a 30-minute duration for each character per day.
In other words, if he only had Zhongli as a character, then he would only have 30 minutes of output time.
Although it was much better than the Ultraman from M78 Nebula.
But that was it. Besides, he only had 5.6% role-playing progress, which meant he only had the strength of 5.6% Zhongli, which wasn't enough in the world of Naruto, where strong individuals were everywhere.
To change this, then…
Increasing proficiency and having more characters was the wisest choice.
But there was one advantage now.
He was in the shadows, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo didn't know he was still in the Leaf.
He even had the audacity to open a shop and do business.
That made things much easier.
Just as Shinji was constantly thinking in his mind.
The bell at the door rang again.
What day was it, his All-Purpose Shop had only been open for a day, and two customers had already come.
This wasn't common.
Opening his eyes, Shinji saw a young boy wearing Uchiha clan clothing walk in.
The two deep nasolabial folds on his cheeks already indicated his identity.
"Uchiha… Itachi?" Shinji didn't get up, but remained lying on the lounge chair.
"You know me?" Uchiha Itachi had just finished eating his favorite three-colored dumplings with his girlfriend, Uchiha Izumi, next door.
Uchiha Izumi had something to do and left early. Itachi, who was about to get up and leave, saw the words written at the entrance of the All-Purpose Shop.
He entered Shinji's All-Purpose Shop without thinking.
"Uchiha Itachi, the eldest son of Uchiha Fugaku, I know him. You just finished eating three-colored dumplings next door, right? That's your favorite food." Shinji sat up and looked at this famous filial son.
He took a closer look, although Uchiha Itachi was only five years old, he already had an unusual maturity, even a calm expression on his face.
However, when he heard about three-colored dumplings, a hint of color still flashed in his eyes.
"Please have a seat." Shinji pointed to a chair on the side and said to Uchiha Itachi, his eyes devoid of any other emotions.
"Thank you." Uchiha Itachi pulled a chair over and began to carefully observe everything around him.
A very ordinary shop, even the decorations were ordinary. He vaguely remembered.
The general store next to the Three-Colored Dumpling shop was still there, although Uchiha Itachi had never been inside, he still had some impression of Shinji.
"Itachi-kun, did you come to our All-Purpose Shop to ask about something?" Shinji lay back on the lounge chair, his eyes constantly observing Uchiha Itachi.
This famous filial son of later generations, for the sake of his foolish little brother, even went so far as to massacre his entire clan.
This was simply foolish in Shinji's eyes.
There were clearly better options at the time.
"I…" Uchiha Itachi was about to say something, but suddenly stopped.
[Ding]
[Triggering task: Uchiha Itachi's Heart Knot]
[Task 1: Untie Uchiha Itachi's heart knot, Reward: Temporary Card Draw Count +1]
[Task 2 (Main): A Different Ending, Reward: Zhongli role-playing progress +0.1%!]
[Task 3: Complete 5 transactions in total, Reward: Bind the All-Purpose Shop as a spawn point (other functions will be introduced after task completion), Current progress: 1/5]
[Temporary Card does not occupy the role-playing character card slot, each use will provide three characters for the host to choose from, usage time limit: 30 minutes, the temporary card will automatically disappear after use, each use of the temporary card can obtain 60% of the character's peak strength!]
Shinji looked at this suddenly popping up system task, something new again, Temporary Card…
Was this like a Kamen Rider transformation?
However, 60% of the character's peak strength would be very useful for Shinji.
Especially if he drew Son Goku from Dragon Ball…
If he got a Son Goku with Ultra Instinct… even 60% of his strength could destroy the entire ninja world in one blow.
Moreover, this last task, it seemed the system had counted Kakashi's task just now?
"You can speak freely here, I don't just answer questions and resolve doubts for customers, and I won't reveal customer information."
"..." Hearing Shinji's words, Uchiha Itachi felt even less reliable.
"It seems… Itachi-kun doesn't trust me." Shinji smiled. With Uchiha Itachi's personality, he wouldn't easily trust someone who suddenly appeared.
Especially someone who was talking about answering questions and resolving doubts.
Uchiha Itachi's young heart suddenly flashed with a hint of self-mockery, what was he thinking?
"Excuse me, I don't have anything to ask." Getting up, Uchiha Itachi bowed to Shinji, then planned to leave.
Shinji watched Uchiha Itachi's departing figure and smiled lightly.
As he was about to walk out of the All-Purpose Shop, he suddenly said.
"Clan and village, that's a good question. Don't let me keep you… Itachi-kun." Shinji took out an eyepatch from somewhere and covered his eyes.
Uchiha Itachi paused for a moment after hearing Shinji's words, but still left directly.
"Sure enough, he's worthy of the title of Itachi-sama?" Shinji watched Uchiha Itachi leave completely, but he wasn't surprised at all.
If he could unravel Uchiha Itachi's heart knot in just a few words, and even make him confide in him, it would be impossible no matter how you thought about it.
It seemed like it was a long-term strategy task.
But… the line had been dropped.
Will the fish… be far behind?
…
…
Outside the All-Purpose Shop, Uchiha Itachi was about to leave when a dark figure suddenly appeared beside him.
"Itachi."
"Shisui, you're here." Uchiha Itachi looked at Uchiha Shisui, who suddenly appeared beside him, seemingly not surprised at all.
"What's this shop?" Uchiha Shisui looked at the All-Purpose Shop, he had just seen Itachi coming out of it.
"An interesting shop, let's go, to the training ground."
"Hey, even you say it's interesting." Uchiha Shisui looked up at the All-Purpose Shop's signboard, then leaped towards the training ground.
Although Itachi left first, Shisui surpassed him almost instantly.
After all, Shisui was known as "Shisui of the Body Flicker".
He was definitely much faster than Itachi.
Shisui was three years older than Itachi. For Itachi, Shisui was more like a brother and teacher than a best friend. Many of Itachi's thoughts and ideas actually came from Shisui.
As they were approaching the training ground, Itachi suddenly slowed down, his brow furrowed slightly, as if he was thinking about something.
"What's wrong, Itachi?" Sensing Itachi's slowdown, Shisui also slowed down and came to his side.
"Clan and village, what do you think, Shisui?" In the original story, Uchiha Itachi started thinking about these issues after he entered the Ninja Academy at the age of six.
But now, Shinji had brought it up directly.
Stopping, Shisui looked at Itachi with some hesitation. He knew that Itachi had his own thoughts, but he didn't expect him to start thinking about these issues so soon.
Especially…
Shisui knew that it was less of a conflict between the Hokage lineage and the Uchiha clan, and more of a conflict between the Leaf Village and the Uchiha clan.
Especially after last night's Nine-Tailed Fox incident, the Sharingan in the Nine-Tailed Fox's eyes was so clear, almost everyone saw it.
This made the Uchiha clan even more entangled in the quagmire of public opinion.
"Since you brought this up, I…" Uchiha Shisui looked at Itachi, a flicker of struggle in his eyes, but it was quickly covered up.
Could Itachi… stand on the same side as him now?
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Shixie here, last upload for the day if you want to read in advance visit my:
p@treon.com/ShixT9
Currently working on more advance chapters but I will still keep up with the daily uploads of course.