Chapter 154: The Ninja World is a Land of Outstanding People and Abundant Resources, Is That a Problem?
Konoha had not changed much.
At least, on the surface, it looked just as it always had, as if Kenichi's previous strike had never happened. Still, that was not entirely true.
There were noticeably more shinobi stationed around Konoha Hospital, and the sealing barrier in that area also seemed to have been reinforced. It piqued Kenichi's curiosity, but with the sky clear today, he could not use his Thunder Dragon technique to test anything.
That technique required rain and thunderclouds. Ninjutsu could imitate the atmosphere, but there was a clear difference between an artificial setup and a storm that formed naturally.
In any case, Kenichi had not come back to measure Konoha's toughness. After selling his goods, he headed straight for a ramen shop.
Ichiraku Ramen, the shop that would become legendary in the future, was already well known. By the time Kenichi arrived, there were no seats left, and he had to wait.
While eating, he overheard two villagers whispering nearby.
"Those guards are damned. They trampled my flowers to death this morning."
"Are you crazy?" the other person hissed, quickly tugging his friend back. "How can you say that out loud? They're Uchiha. They're all shinobi."
Kenichi remained indifferent.
Giving the Uchiha clan the role of guards sounded prestigious, but in reality, it was the kind of false honor that slowly pushed them toward a dead end. Just look at how Konoha's villagers and shinobi spoke about them now.
And those guards, no matter how visible their posts were, still had no voice in Konoha's top level decisions. Of course they did not.
When Minato was alive, things were better, at least on the surface. Minato's family had a decent relationship with Fugaku and the clan. But now Hiruzen held power again, and the future the Uchiha had finally begun to see was suddenly out of reach.
Kenichi did not deny Hiruzen's abilities. Whatever Hiruzen was as a shinobi in his teacher's eyes, he was undoubtedly a capable politician.
"Danzo probably won't be able to hold back much longer," Kenichi thought, slowly. "That old man has been staring at the Sharingan for a long time."
A new idea surfaced.
He could pin his upcoming actions on Danzo.
Kenichi knew exactly what Root masks and clothing looked like. He had also seen the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal before. If he wanted, he could draw a fake version on his own tongue, let it be "accidentally" exposed, and shift suspicion toward Root.
It might not solve everything, but it would at least irritate Danzo.
And Kenichi found that man disgusting.
"Ramen!"
A childish voice rang out.
Kenichi did not react at first, but he noticed the villagers around him quietly pulling away, their faces filled with disgust.
He turned his head and saw a small child with bright blond hair. The whisker like marks on the child's cheeks made his identity obvious.
Naruto Uzumaki.
"Kids in this world really are frighteningly early developers," Kenichi thought, watching Naruto walk in and speak so clearly at such a young age.
Even after living here for so long and getting used to the shinobi world's strange logic, he still could not help feeling that it was absurdly magical sometimes.
Kenichi kept his seat and calmly continued eating his tonkotsu ramen.
Naruto tiptoed to pay, then deliberately chose the most secluded spot.
He did not sit beside Kenichi. There was no dramatic coincidence, no warm scene.
Only silence.
Kenichi watched and found himself at a loss for words. He had known Naruto's childhood was miserable, but seeing it with his own eyes still pushed past what he considered normal.
He could hear the whispers around the shop, the ugly word demon fox slipping between bowls and chopsticks.
Kenichi suddenly wondered what was wrong with the spies from other villages.
So many people openly ostracized a child and called him a demon fox, and nobody thought to investigate? Were they just pretending they could not hear?
If it were Kenichi, he would absolutely look into it. Even if it turned out to be nothing, there was no loss. How much effort could a little kid possibly cost?
But if it was true, if the child really was the Nine Tails jinchuriki, then it would be a jackpot.
Yet those foreign spies seemed blind and deaf, ignoring everything about Naruto as if it did not exist. It was incomprehensible.
"It's a fox spirit. How terrifying."
"Don't go near him. He'll bring misfortune."
Kenichi lifted his bowl, took a sip of broth, and licked his lips with satisfaction.
Ichiraku's greatest feature was its soup. Rich, deep, and layered, the kind of broth that made you understand why it would become famous.
Kenichi glanced at Naruto again. The child was staring down at the table, seemingly busy with something, shoulders small under the weight of the room's hostility.
Kenichi's gaze dropped thoughtfully toward Naruto's stomach.
So that was the Nine Tails.
A pity it was only half. The other half had been sealed into the Shinigami's stomach.
How interesting.
It was said Minato could see everything Naruto experienced as he grew up. Kenichi wondered what Minato would think if he witnessed this scene.
After finishing his ramen, Kenichi left.
He found a suitable spot, drew the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on his tongue, changed into a mask and clothing, and then leapt up to crouch on a telephone pole.
From above, he watched the ramen shop in silence.
Running into Naruto here was an unexpected surprise. More than that, Kenichi had already noticed something else.
There were not many shinobi watching Naruto.
Only two.
Kenichi genuinely did not understand how Hiruzen could be so carefree.
"Sasuke, be a good boy."
A voice reached his ears.
Kenichi looked down and saw a woman guiding a child along the street not far from Ichiraku.
Mikoto.
And beside her, a young Sasuke.
Kenichi raised an eyebrow. Meeting these two here was unexpected. Looking at Mikoto, he remembered something else.
Mikoto had been close friends with Kushina.
Did Mikoto know Naruto's real identity?
At that moment, a commotion broke out at the ramen shop.
Kenichi glanced over and saw an ordinary old man crying as he hurled rotten eggs at Naruto.
One of the eggs struck Naruto's head and fell straight into his ramen bowl.
Naruto did not cry out. He only stared for a moment, then carefully scooped the rotten egg out with a spoon.
Teuchi, the owner, stood nearby with his fist clenched so tightly his knuckles whitened. In the end, he said nothing. He silently took the ruined bowl away and went to cook Naruto another.
Teuchi had done everything he could.
He was only a shopkeeper living in Konoha. If he openly defended Naruto, the shop might not survive. So all he could do was replace the ramen, and try to stop people outside from throwing eggs into his business.
Throughout the entire process, the two shinobi assigned to guard Naruto did not move.
Not once.
Kenichi's eyes narrowed slightly. He could not help suspecting those guards held grievances of their own.
Kenichi shook his head.
Naruto's situation could only be described as miserable.
He also noticed Mikoto watching Naruto with a complicated expression, and that made his earlier suspicion deepen. Mikoto might have guessed the truth.
But for reasons Kenichi could already imagine, she could not reach out. She could only watch, silently.
"Mom, who is that?" Sasuke asked, tugging on her hand.
"It's nothing, Sasuke," Mikoto said.
She glanced once more at Naruto, who was forcing a grin at the world that hated him, then took Sasuke's hand and left.
Kenichi watched Mikoto's back, then looked down at Naruto again, and finally turned away.
He had no intention of interfering with Naruto's life.
He had come to Konoha for one reason, to lure some Uchiha clan members out.
If he appeared beside Naruto, it would draw Konoha's attention immediately.
It was not worth the risk.
Finding the Uchiha district was not difficult. It sat at the edge of Konoha, quiet and barren compared to the rest of the village.
The closer Kenichi got, the fewer ordinary villagers he saw. The number of Uchiha increased instead. Even other shinobi were rare in this area, and several shops were clearly owned by Uchiha clan members.
"So many people," Kenichi murmured, crouched on a distant tree trunk and observing.
If Itachi ever truly slaughtered the clan from one end of the street to the other, it would take days and nights.
And there was probably Root involvement too.
Kenichi's experiment was meant to verify something about the Sharingan, and the method was not gentle. Working on the brain rarely ended well. One wrong step could leave someone with dementia, or turn them into a living corpse.
To burn through the risk, he estimated he needed at least five test subjects.
More would be better.
The best option would be to wait for the night of extermination, but Kenichi had no way of knowing when it would happen. So he had no choice but to kidnap people early.
"It's best to pick ones I've already seen before," Kenichi decided, scanning the street.
His gaze settled on an oden stall.
Six Uchiha were seated there, eating.
The stall owner also wore a one tomoe magatama pendant.
"Six, plus the owner makes seven," Kenichi calculated quietly. "That should be enough."
The people were found.
Now came the real problem.
How was he supposed to take seven Uchiha out of Konoha and bring them to the Land of Rice Fields without resistance?
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