What happened within the Uchiha clan that night reached the ears of both the Hokage and Danzō before six in the morning.
Before noon, Hagoromo had also learned of the latest developments.
Kotoamatsukami…
That technique really was troublesome.
According to the Hokage, Shisui stood firmly on the village's side, meaning Hagoromo shouldn't be at risk—but "shouldn't" was not the same as "won't."
Hagoromo had never entrusted his own safety to someone else's convictions.
His understanding of Kotoamatsukami came from Konoha's intelligence archives, which was precisely why he knew how dangerous it was.
The strongest genjutsu.
As long as someone hid somewhere and glanced at you, you'd be caught—silently, without even realizing it.
Hagoromo possessed resistance against ordinary mental interference techniques, but when it came to the Mangekyō Sharingan's ultimate genjutsu…
He had no confidence at all.
His defenses were conditional.
For example—if someone used a technique specifically designed to block vision, like Bringer-of-Darkness, could he defend against that?
If he had sufficient time to prepare, Hagoromo believed he could resist Kotoamatsukami using his unique eyes.
But the problem was that the technique activated without warning.
There was no time to prepare.
Which made things rather headache-inducing.
Hagoromo had returned to Konoha because of the Uchiha issue—but by the time he was actually needed, the two sides might already be at war.
At present, the Hokage was busy to the point of exhaustion.
Hagoromo, on the other hand, had nothing to do.
Put bluntly, his return served as deterrence.
He was here to scare people.
Which meant he still had the leisure to wander around Konoha.
As for his "kids' group," the three of them had gone off to play on their own.
They had their own training routines, but given their age, no one was going to push them too hard. They had plenty of free time.
Mirai's identity was already public.
Despite having just returned to Konoha, she was more socially active than Hagoromo. Being the Fourth Hokage's daughter meant she could get by anywhere on reputation alone.
Coupled with her personality, she was immensely popular.
What was happening in Konoha had nothing to do with children.
That said—
When it came to the Uchiha, Hagoromo felt it was more effective to keep an eye on Danzō than on the clan itself.
Judging by the signals coming from the upper levels these past two days, the Hokage was still searching for a peaceful solution.
Danzō, however, clearly leaned toward eradicating the problem entirely.
As for the two advisors, their stance was ambiguous—but they didn't seem opposed to extreme measures.
Based on Hagoromo's understanding of Danzō, it was entirely possible that he would act before the Uchiha did.
After all, Root was a massive and formidable force, and Danzō had a habit of making decisions independently of the Hokage.
Hagoromo sat on a bench near the hot spring street, thinking about all this—
When suddenly, he noticed a tuft of blond hair.
Ahem.
A blond-haired kid had entered his field of vision.
Was this a coincidence?
Of course not.
Hagoromo wasn't that idle. In a village the size of Konoha, randomly running into the same kid wasn't particularly likely.
Sensing the gaze on him, Naruto turned around—and sniffed loudly.
The kid had caught a cold from what happened a few days ago.
When he saw Hagoromo, his first instinct was to turn and run.
But after Hagoromo waved at him, Naruto found himself walking over anyway.
Compared to last time, Hagoromo's smile was noticeably gentler.
"Get into a fight?" he asked, looking at Naruto's dusty appearance.
"It wasn't a fight—it was a spar!" Naruto protested stubbornly.
Despite that, he was strangely compliant with Hagoromo's questions.
He didn't know why.
He didn't even realize how obedient he was being.
"You lost?"
"It was two against one—but there's no way I'd lose!"
He even sounded a little proud.
Though really, two-on-one didn't qualify as sparring. That was still a fight.
Hagoromo nodded.
Winning was normal.
It proved all that childhood electrocution hadn't been wasted.
Naruto's physical condition far exceeded that of his peers.
"Where's your scarf?" Hagoromo asked next.
Naruto wasn't wearing the scarf Mirai had given him.
"I… left it at home. It's important, so I was afraid it'd get damaged if I kept wearing it."
Naruto truly treated it as a treasure.
That was good.
Boys were rough by nature, and Hagoromo didn't want Kushina's keepsake to be ruined.
Naruto wanted to ask where the scarf had come from—
But Hagoromo cut him off.
"Do you want to become a ninja?"
The question seemed random—but it struck Naruto straight in the heart.
"Of course!"
At those words, Naruto forgot even the fear he'd felt a few days ago. He pointed toward a distant direction.
"I want to become a ninja like the Fourth Hokage!"
His finger pointed straight at the Hokage Monument.
"Why the Fourth Hokage?" Hagoromo asked.
His gaze followed Naruto's finger to Minato's face.
After a brief silence, he spoke.
"Because everyone in the village says the Fourth Hokage was the greatest ninja ever… Don't you know?"
The Fourth Hokage.
No matter what, that was the best possible goal Naruto could have.
"In that case," Hagoromo said, "I'll tell you my name. It's Hagoromo. I'm a jōnin."
"The Fourth Hokage's techniques—I know them all."
"If you want to become a ninja like him… how about it? Want to learn his ninjutsu?"
Hagoromo had begun deceiving an innocent child again.
Did he really know all of Minato's techniques?
Please.
Did he know Flying Thunder God?
"No way… really? You know them all?" Naruto stared at him skeptically.
"Are you the Fourth Hokage's student?"
"Student…" Hagoromo replied. "You can think of it that way."
"Y-You're not lying, right? You'll really teach me?"
Naruto's face twisted with conflict.
He wanted to learn ninjutsu—but he was afraid this guy was messing with him.
This was like someone selling obvious scam artist on the street.
Not believing it was normal.
"Of course," Hagoromo said.
"But before learning ninjutsu, you need to learn how to control chakra."
As he spoke, Hagoromo pulled out a scroll and handed it to Naruto.
"Chakra? What's that?"
Naruto accepted it without thinking.
Unlike the hands-on, one-on-one instruction he used with Mirai, Hagoromo preferred to guide Naruto's own potential.
For example—
Which would be stronger: Naruto using Lightning Release, or Naruto using Wind Release?
Hagoromo didn't know.
So he let Naruto decide.
Naruto carried greater responsibility—and higher expectations from the Fourth Hokage.
There were choices Hagoromo didn't want to make for him.
Mirai, whom he had personally taught, was effectively Hagoromo Version Two.
Naruto needed to walk his own path.
…Even if Hagoromo had already blocked the path Naruto was supposed to take.
Boys and girls were different, after all.
But before anything else—
Naruto had to learn how to control chakra.
Though Naruto had already begun "training" for his goal, his routine was something like:
One hundred push-ups.
One hundred sit-ups.
One hundred squats.
A ten-kilometer run.
If he kept this up for three years and didn't go bald, it was still time to return to the proper chakra path.
With Kushina's bloodline—and the physical modifications Hagoromo had made—Naruto possessed an enormous chakra reserve.
He simply didn't realize it yet.
That foundation gave Naruto limitless potential.
Hagoromo hoped this child would become a rare genius of the shinobi world—in his own way.
"When you can complete everything on that scroll," Hagoromo said,
"come find me at this address. After that, I'll teach you the Fourth Hokage's ninjutsu."
He handed Naruto another slip of paper with his residence written on it.
This was blatant temptation.
Which raised an important question—
Did Naruto even know how to read?
And even if he did—
Would he understand what was written on that scroll?
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