Aftermath of the Incident

After yesterday's fierce battle, Naruto was utterly exhausted.

But his body had already fully adapted to his bloodline. With the support of three major bloodlines, Naruto's recovery ability had reached an astonishing level.

After waking from a good night's sleep, he immediately felt refreshed and full of energy.

Being young was great. No matter what happened, one good sleep made it all go away.

"System, what's my reward?"

No wonder Naruto had felt like he had forgotten something. He had been too tired yesterday, so after returning home, he had gone straight to sleep.

Only after waking up this morning did he remember that he had not claimed his system reward.

"Congratulations, Host, for killing two Spies and recovering the Intelligence Scroll."

"Congratulations, Host, for obtaining Perfect Contact Lenses."

"Perfect Contact Lenses: After the Host wears them, changes to the eyes will not be visible to others."

"Not bad. This reward is at least somewhat useful!" Naruto recalled at that moment.

Only then did he remember that he had not completely forgotten about the Sharingan during yesterday's battle. He had simply had some concerns whenever he used it.

Of course, the Sharingan was definitely powerful and could provide Naruto with considerable help in battle.

Now that he had Perfect Contact Lenses, he could freely switch to the Sharingan whenever he fought in the future.

If he obtained other Dojutsu in the future, would he be able to switch between those freely too?

By then, he could have a Rinnegan in his left eye, a Tenseigan in his right, and open another hole on his forehead. He could use whichever eye he wanted!

The scene shifted, and time returned to the previous night.

"Move it! There was quite a disturbance in the Small Forest. Ninjas from another village may have infiltrated Konoha as Spies!"

After sounds of battle came from the Small Forest, the Anbu patrolling nearby quickly sent out a notice and summoned other nearby Anbu to head over.

The Anbu ninjas swiftly gathered, their movements soundless as ghosts in the night.

They darted through the streets of Konoha, moving quickly and orderly toward the Small Forest.

After arriving at the scene, they immediately spread out and carefully searched the surrounding area to ensure that no clues were overlooked.

Deep in the Small Forest, the Anbu ninjas found three corpses. One of them wore Konoha clothing and was likely a Spy who had been hiding within Konoha.

Of the other two bodies, one wore ordinary clothes, making it impossible to tell which ninja village he came from. The other wore black clothing.

All of them bore obvious traces of battle.

Clearly, these corpses belonged to Spies from other villages. However, all of their heads had suffered fatal blows, and their brain tissue had been destroyed beyond recognition.

Other than the information that could be seen directly, the Anbu searched all three corpses but failed to find any further relevant intelligence.

"Captain, there's no intelligence on these bodies. It's as if they were thoroughly picked clean. And the other party seems to know that our Interrogation Division has methods to read some information from the brain. Their brains were directly destroyed, so there's no way to obtain information from them!"

One Anbu reported to the captain leading this operation.

This left them unable to obtain any intelligence through interrogation.

"Expand the search area. Look for any traces nearby. We must find every suspicious item in the area!"

"Yes!"

Upon receiving the order, all the Anbu immediately scattered, expanding their search range and swearing to find at least some evidence!

In a patch of woods some distance away from the corpses, the Anbu ninjas found Rock Lee.

They discovered that he was panting heavily, with several minor injuries on his body.

He was working hard at his training.

"Who are you? What are you doing here so late at night?" one of the Anbu ninjas asked Rock Lee.

Faced with the Anbu ninja's question, Rock Lee appeared somewhat nervous.

"My name is Rock Lee. I'm about to enter my second year at the Ninja Academy. I'm here training my body. These training methods were taught to me by my teacher, Might Guy. Teacher Might Guy's full name is Might Guy, and he's an incredibly powerful Konoha jonin!"

After briefly questioning Rock Lee, the Anbu concluded that he was merely a student and was unlikely to be directly connected to the Spy incident, so they allowed him to leave.

They brought the three corpses back to Konoha's Interrogation Division, hoping to find some clues from them.

Even when Morino Ibiki, the Special Jonin who led Konoha's Interrogation Division, personally stepped in—

Because the brains had been destroyed, they were unable to obtain any useful information from the corpses.

Afterward, the Anbu ninjas reported the situation to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was an experienced leader. After hearing the report from his Anbu subordinates, he pondered for a moment.

He then immediately realized, "This may have been a premeditated infiltration by enemy village ninjas. These Spies may have been spotted by a Konoha ninja while carrying out some secret mission or exchanging intelligence, and were defeated in a fierce battle."

"Furthermore, two of them possessed chunin-level strength and should have been the primary participants in this intelligence exchange. The other ninja, who had elite chunin-level strength, was likely responsible for meeting them."

"To defeat three chunin attacking together, the person should possess jonin-level strength. And judging from the time it took the Anbu to arrive at the scene, this jonin should not be weak."

"Not many traces were left at the scene. That is highly unusual."

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he fell into thought.

"Did the examination reveal anything unusual about the corpses?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked Morino Ibiki, who had come to report.

"Reporting to Hokage-sama, we could only observe that they were attacked with taijutsu. Judging from the marks left by the attacks, it should have been Konoha's basic taijutsu. The person who defeated them should be a Konoha ninja skilled in taijutsu."

Morino Ibiki stated what he had observed, along with his own deductions.

"Hokage-sama, there are also traces of Wind Release ninjutsu at the scene. We believe they were cast by the ninja in black. Other than that, we found nothing," an Anbu added.

"Proficient in Konoha's basic taijutsu and possessing jonin-level strength... could it have been him? Go summon Might Guy for me!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi sent one of the Anbu away.

Among those in Konoha who matched the description of being proficient in Konoha taijutsu, only Might Guy came to mind. There was also Teacher Chen, once praised as Konoha's strongest taijutsu ninja, but he had already died of illness.

"Hokage-sama, you summoned me?" Might Guy soon arrived at the Hokage's Office and bowed to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Guy, I trust you already understand the situation. Did you do this?" Hiruzen Sarutobi went straight to the point.

"No, it wasn't me, Hokage-sama. At the time, I was eating at a restaurant on Konoha's streets. The owner can testify for me. However, my student, Rock Lee, was training nearby. He told me that he encountered a Konoha ninja nearby, but apparently that person was not very skilled in taijutsu."

"Then my student Rock Lee challenged him to a taijutsu spar. After sparring with Rock Lee, that Konoha ninja even gave him some guidance."

"However, he did not leave his name. It may very well have been this unidentified Konoha ninja. I have already had Anbu ninjas draw a portrait based on Rock Lee's description. It should be ready shortly."

Might Guy answered.

"Is that so? Then let's wait a little longer," Hiruzen Sarutobi replied.

Very soon, the ninja in Konoha's Interrogation Division who specialized in profiling had finished drawing the portrait.

After comparing the portrait, they found that the person was a snack vendor on Konoha's streets. Clearly, he was not a ninja.

It seemed that a ninja had used the Transformation Jutsu to assume the vendor's appearance, then dealt with the Spies.

The trail ended there.

Hiruzen Sarutobi then summoned Kakashi Hatake and asked about Naruto's situation.

"Kakashi, things in the village have not been peaceful lately. How has Naruto been doing?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked kindly.

Kakashi watched over Naruto every day and knew his situation inside and out.

He answered, "Hokage-sama, Naruto has been acting normally lately. No unusual behavior has been discovered. The only difference is that the kid seems to be growing. His appetite has become extraordinarily large, and he basically just sleeps, eats, eats, then sleeps."

"I see. It seems little Naruto really is growing. His nutrition needs to keep up. In a while, I'll send him some more money so that he can eat his fill."

Hiruzen Sarutobi often received ramen bills from Uncle Teuchi. When he heard that Naruto had eaten it, he never said anything.

The money he had gained from dividing up Minato's inheritance back then was far more than this. Supporting Naruto again was no big deal.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, satisfied with Kakashi's answer.

He knew that Naruto possessed a special bloodline. The Uzumaki Clan Physique was quite extraordinary and possessed formidable vitality.

That might have been why his appetite had recently increased so much. The Uzumaki Clan bloodline within him might have begun to awaken.

"Kakashi, strengthen your supervision of Naruto and ensure that he does not stray onto the wrong path. At the same time, we must remain vigilant and prevent similar incidents from happening again," Hiruzen Sarutobi said gravely.

Kakashi nodded in understanding.

He knew that, as a ninja, protecting the village's safety was his duty. Protecting Naruto as he grew up was also his duty.

While protecting Naruto, he would also remain more vigilant toward any developments that might threaten Konoha's safety.

After sending Kakashi back to continue looking after Naruto—

Hiruzen Sarutobi still felt troubled by the Spy incident, because it meant Konoha might be facing an unknown threat.

Somewhere in the shadows was someone highly skilled in taijutsu whose ninjutsu capabilities had yet to be exposed.

It was difficult not to worry.

In the end, the attack on the Spies could only be left unresolved.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately ordered increased patrols within Konoha.

To ensure that the same kind of incident would not happen again!

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