In Huomen's eyes, Shisui was a famous elite jōnin, well-known throughout the ninja world.
As for Naruto—who had arrived in Uzushiogakure alongside Shisui—he appeared to be a mysterious Uzumaki senior who had never shown his face in the wider world. His strength was at least on the level of an elite jōnin.
With those two present, Uzushiogakure finally had hope for development.
But in Shisui's eyes, Naruto was far beyond that.
At minimum, Naruto possessed strength comparable to the Five Kage. As for his true upper limit… unknown.
Only because Naruto stood with the Uchiha could they settle peacefully in Uzushiogakure. Otherwise, ambitious schemers across the ninja world would sooner or later target them, forcing the Uchiha into exile again—this time permanently burying their name.
And Huomen, being an Uzumaki with blood ties to Naruto, was naturally closer to him than any outsider.
In short—
Without Naruto's backing, neither of them could realize their ambitions.
So when Naruto appeared, the two spoke in unison:
"Master Mianma (Senior), do you have new instructions? We're debating whether to build the docks first… or the ninja academy…"
Naruto looked at the odd duo and frowned thoughtfully.
Both cared about Uzushiogakure's development.
But both were thinking too big.
For ninjas, constructing docks or schools could be sped up with ninjutsu. That wasn't the issue.
The real problems were stability, time, money, and population.
Right now, Uzushiogakure wasn't even a proper village. It was barely a settlement with just over a thousand residents—most of them civilians. There were only a few dozen ninja.
Under these circumstances, rushing large-scale development would only cause collapse.
There were only two urgent priorities:
First—eliminate wandering rogue ninja on the island to secure basic stability.
Second—attract population. Grow from a thousand to tens of thousands before even dreaming of large-scale infrastructure.
After a moment of silence, Naruto gave his suggestion.
Huomen and Shisui fell into deep thought.
They had been thinking in terms of recreating either the old Land of Whirlpools model or copying Konoha's system.
They had forgotten the fundamentals.
For the next few hours, they bombarded Naruto with questions about governance.
Naruto was slightly helpless.
The ninja world and his previous life were completely different systems. Many experiences couldn't be directly transplanted.
Still—
Compared to the backward feudal structure of the ninja world, even basic capitalist reform concepts looked advanced as hell.
After hearing Naruto's proposals, Huomen and Shisui were stunned.
After exchanging looks, they pulled Naruto into an even deeper discussion about Uzushiogakure's future.
It wasn't until several hours later that they finally let him leave—both of them filled with ambition.
Suddenly, Shisui remembered something.
"Master Mianma… what was the matter you originally came to discuss?"
Naruto coughed awkwardly.
He had almost forgotten.
Taking out a scroll, he placed it on the desk.
Shisui immediately recognized the style. He had seen similar scrolls when reporting to the Third Hokage.
Before leaving Konoha, Naruto had even visited the Hokage Building.
Understanding dawned.
Shisui stood up.
"I'll leave you two to it."
If it involved Uzumaki secrets, it wasn't appropriate for him to remain.
Naruto didn't stop him.
After a brief pause, he turned to Huomen.
"Set up a barrier. Block all signals."
Huomen nodded. For an Uzumaki ninja, barrier techniques were trivial.
Within moments, the office was sealed off.
Naruto tapped the scroll.
"This is Konoha's Forbidden Scroll. Can you break the seal?"
Huomen twitched slightly.
Konoha's Forbidden Scroll?
That was no small matter.
He examined it briefly.
"The sealing formula is complex… but I can crack it in a few minutes."
Naruto stared at him.
"A few minutes?"
He had spent hundreds of hours deciphering portions of it himself.
Were other Uzumaki really this cracked at sealing techniques?
Huomen ignored his silent suffering.
Ten minutes later, the seal was undone.
Naruto opened the scroll.
There it was—
Tandem Paper Bomb.
And—
Impure World Reincarnation (Edo Tensei).
Using his Sharingan, Naruto copied the contents and nodded in satisfaction.
These were battlefield-changing techniques.
Especially Edo Tensei.
A complete bug in the ninja system.
Summon the dead. Infinite chakra. Immortal body.
It had given Kabuto Yakushi and Obito Uchiha the leverage to launch a ninja war.
This was Naruto's biggest gain since arriving in Uzushiogakure.
Inside the sealed space, Namikaze Minato looked grim.
He had seen everything.
Forbidden techniques like Multiple Shadow Clone were one thing.
But Edo Tensei?
That crossed moral lines.
Not only that—
Naruto's earlier discussions about chakra education for civilians and removing ninja authority from village monopolies—
Those ideas could overturn the entire ninja world order.
Naruto called it an "experiment."
But that word alone revealed ambition.
Naruto didn't just want to change the Uchiha.
He wanted to change the entire world.
Minato sighed.
If Naruto succeeded… the ninja world would descend into chaos first.
But what came after chaos?
He didn't know.
And he didn't want his son standing at the center of it.
Naruto sensed Minato's emotional fluctuation but didn't engage.
Approval?
He didn't need it.
Whether Minato agreed or not, he would act.
The ninja world's future would depend on how others responded.
After all, the current village system stood no chance against enemies from the stars.
The Ōtsutsuki Clan were far stronger than Nagato or Madara.
Yet the Five Kage still argued over dirt and borders.
Short-sighted.
Weeks later, Naruto mastered Edo Tensei.
The principle wasn't complicated.
It was an advanced summoning technique—using a dead person's cell tissue to summon their soul from the Pure Land and bind it with a contract.
Naruto had also used his malicious intent sensing ability.
Several White Zetsu lurking around Uzushiogakure were captured.
Clearly sent by Obito to monitor the Uchiha survivors.
Now?
They were perfect sacrifice material.
If Obito came to cause trouble over it—
Naruto didn't care.
He had already replaced his eyes with Kotoamatsukami to guard against manipulation—whether from Danzo or Obito.
Obito, after all, was the man who welcomed him into the world with explosive tags.
Naruto began considering potential summons.
The First Hokage?
Second Hokage?
Impossible—no cell samples.
Other legendary ninja?
Same problem.
Naruto glanced at Minato inside the seal.
Minato stiffened slightly.
"Naruto… give up Edo Tensei. It's a blasphemy against the dead."
Naruto replied calmly:
"Fourth Hokage… if you and the Third had used Edo Tensei during the Nine-Tails attack—summoned the First and Second—would the tragedy have been avoided?"
Minato froze.
"Maybe Mom wouldn't have died. Maybe you'd still be Hokage."
"Are the dead more important than the living?"
"Do you really think the First and Second would blame you?"
Minato couldn't deny the logic.
But something felt wrong.
Edo Tensei required living sacrifices.
That violated the Will of Fire.
Naruto continued:
"Relax. I won't use it recklessly. And I won't randomly grab innocent people as sacrifices."
"I've already found suitable ones."
Minato suddenly had a bad feeling.
Somewhere in the shadows—
White Zetsu probably felt an unexplained chill.
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