"Haiichi, have you finished investigating the matter?"
Inside the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage questioned Yamanaka Haiichi, who had come to report the intelligence.
At this moment, the Third Hokage's gaze was almost entirely hidden beneath his bamboo hat, making the atmosphere in the room solemn and oppressive.
Tampering with a jinchūriki was clearly not something the Third Hokage could tolerate, so the matter had been handled with swift and decisive efficiency.
However, the "carefree and undisciplined" face of a certain person present in the same room completely ruined that solemn atmosphere…
Could he not even properly put on the dignity of a leader anymore?
The Third Hokage glanced at Yagoromo, then reached up and pressed down the front brim of his hat.
This was what they called "out of sight, out of mind."
Were it possible, he really would have liked to throw this person straight out the window.
Mirai's act of violently beating up a certain chūnin teacher had cast a tragic shadow over this year's graduation exam. Yet at the same time, in a somewhat absurd way, it also made some of the students feel that this was "only natural." At the very end, just as they were about to leave the school, the Blood-Red Pepper had finally stretched her little black hand toward the ranks of the teachers… After all, once she graduated, she would no longer have the chance.
Long live understanding. This way, the teachers could finally empathize with the hellish six years the students had endured.
However, after Mirai's explanation, it was obvious to Yagoromo and the others that the matter was not that simple.
The chūnin teacher named Mizuki, who had been beaten unconscious, was immediately taken into custody and sent straight for a personal experience package from the Torture and Interrogation Force.
Yamanaka Haiichi had shown no mercy as he invaded the other party's mind, passing through the shaqima-like outer layer and reaching all the way to the innermost situation.
A chūnin's consciousness like this, unprotected and limited in mental strength, posed no difficulty whatsoever for Yamanaka Haiichi to invade. It was as easy as entering and leaving his own front door.
"It's been clarified, Lord Hokage," Yamanaka Haiichi reported. "Simply put, the chūnin Mizuki seems to have intended to steal the Scroll of Seals, and Naruto was merely one part he planned to make use of."
Unfortunately for him, before he could take any action, he had fallen into the hands of a certain young lady and was cleanly dealt with… Always beware of little girls. What a painful lesson to learn.
After hearing the full details of the matter, Yagoromo was rendered completely speechless. Clearly, he had overcomplicated this matter earlier.
The one targeting Naruto was not a boss on Pain's level, nor was it a scientist on Orochimaru's level. It was merely this chūnin's spontaneous action…
At most, this was the arrogance and unscrupulousness of an ordinary chūnin who craved power. He did not even think things through properly. Even if he obtained the Scroll of Seals, what could he do with it? Could he undo the seals on it? Or rather, even if those techniques were laid out clearly in front of his eyes, would he be able to understand them or learn them?
Besides, with the security protecting the Scroll of Seals, was that really something so easy to get his hands on?
"Even if someone wanted to steal the Scroll of Seals, they should at least look for a shinobi like me. What use is looking for Naruto?" Yagoromo muttered quietly, only to immediately receive a rather sharp gaze from the Third Hokage.
All right. He had done this before.
Leaving aside the issue of success rate, an attempt to steal the Scroll of Seals was absolutely intolerable for the village. Many years ago, Yagoromo and Teacher Kushina had merely stolen a look at it on the spot. Even the first-generation reckless Blood-Red Pepper had never intended to take the Scroll of Seals away.
Moreover, could the nature of Kushina glancing at the Scroll of Seals twice be the same as an ordinary chūnin with impure motives glancing at it twice?
The former was just another instance of Kushina and Yagoromo courting death. The latter was a grave crime of stealing state secrets and attempting to subvert the coun—countr—whatever.
In any case, Teacher Mizuki was in big trouble.
The level of danger this matter posed to Naruto was nowhere near as serious as Yagoromo had imagined, which allowed him to let out a breath of relief. However, he still had one small question.
"How did this chūnin teacher named Mizuki find out that Naruto was a jinchūriki?"
Who the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki was might not count as classified intelligence to Konoha's upper leadership and higher-ranking shinobi, but it should at least count as confidential information. As for ordinary civilians and lower-ranking shinobi, this should be something beyond their ability to know. So how exactly had Mizuki, who was merely a teacher and definitely not part of Konoha's inner circle, learned about it?
He was Mizuki, not Minato.
Yagoromo suspected that Konoha's intelligence system might have sprung another leak, or perhaps someone had been fanning the flames behind him.
"This…" Haiichi weighed his words briefly before continuing. "Actually, this Mizuki could be considered rather clever…"
Although Yagoromo thought the man was a little stupid, he had unexpectedly received the evaluation of "clever" from Haiichi.
"He deduced Naruto's situation himself. Starting from the timing of the Nine-Tails' attack, Naruto's age, identity, personal circumstances, relationships, and other aspects, Mizuki observed him for a long period and eventually concluded that there was an eighty percent or higher chance Naruto was the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki."
Yagoromo froze for a moment, then…
This explanation was not actually unacceptable. Setting aside everything else, just noticing that there was always some Anbu riffraff following behind Naruto was already enough to spark certain guesses.
Keeping watch on such a child for a long time could indeed reveal some clues. This person's brain did seem to work decently enough…
However, in the end, Mizuki had still failed to see anything more substantial. Otherwise, he definitely would not have dared entertain any reckless thoughts. Had he really acted according to his own plan, the one he would have faced then would not have been Big Sister Mirai, but Big Brother Yagoromo.
And when Big Brother handled problems, the level of cuteness involved was not as simple as beating someone up and calling it done.
This unexpected interlude did not affect the continuation of the graduation exam. As for the matter that had revolved around him, Naruto-kun had not noticed even a hair of it. To him, the exam result was still more important.
And the result was…
He graduated without any problems.
With Yagoromo and Jiraiya giving him private lessons, if Naruto still could not successfully graduate from the Ninja Academy, then he definitely would not be Minato's son.
Moreover, with Mirai watching him, there were probably some issues with the development of Naruto's legendary epic-level ninjutsu, the "Sexy Technique." After all, that had originally been nothing more than a prank created by the lonely Naruto in hopes of attracting other people's attention. Its root was fundamentally different from the current situation.
Besides, even if he did develop something like that, he would not dare show it off. Imagine this: if he absentmindedly transformed into Mirai or something in certain situations, then Mirai could probably smash even his protagonist halo to pieces…
The basic principle of courting death must never be violated no matter what. Namely, one must absolutely never do something that would genuinely get oneself killed.
...
"After graduation, there'll be a jōnin leading the team. I wonder who I'll be placed in a squad with, and what kind of jōnin teacher we'll get. It'd be best if they were stronger than Yagoromo, and if their training methods weren't as 'hellish' as Yagoromo's…"
While Yagoromo was holding a major meeting over at the Hokage's side, the children's group was holding a small meeting over here.
Naruto's fantasies did not draw any agreement from his little companions. Instead, Mirai and the other two all glanced sideways at him with the eyes one used to look at an idiot.
Even now, Naruto had clearly still not figured out what level Yagoromo's strength was at. Finding someone stronger than him to lead the team would probably be difficult.
Besides, these were just insincere wild words from Naruto. Compared to a complete stranger, of course he hoped he could continue following Yagoromo.
But in reality, the Hokage had already made arrangements for him. His wish was destined to fall through.
After Naruto graduated, the Anbu would no longer follow him so closely at every step, so choosing a suitable team-leading shinobi at that time became especially important.
And who was the chosen shinobi?
A certain dead-fish-eyed man was the one most favored by the Hokage.
If one were to compare whether Yagoromo or Kakashi was more trusted by the Third Hokage, that would be rather hard to say.
But if one were to compare which of them made the Third Hokage feel more at ease and reassured?
Then the question became simple.
In any case, it definitely was not Yagoromo, the guy standing at the peak of the world of courting death.
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