Afternoon sunlight filtered through gaps in the canopy, forming shafts of light among the trees. Dust that was usually hard to see seemed to come alive, drifting slowly within those beams.
A herd of antlered deer rested on a relatively open patch of grass. There were quite a few fawns among them, nestled beside their mothers. The little horns standing atop their triangular heads made them look particularly stubborn.
Every now and then, the clear calls of birds echoed through the forest, making the woods seem even quieter.
Whoosh~ Whoosh.
An unnatural sound suddenly came from the forest. The deer on the grass immediately rose to their feet in neat formation, like a well-trained troop. Their trumpet-like ears beneath their antlers perked up warily, as though listening for movement nearby.
Swish! Swish!
Two dark figures suddenly flashed past the tree trunks not far from the grass.
The orderly herd was immediately startled and scattered in all directions, quickly vanishing without a trace.
"Naruto! Let's stop here. I'm out of strength, and it's almost five. The Forest of Death is up ahead!"
One of the figures, slightly behind the other, stopped on a tree trunk and spoke in a weary voice.
"Oh? Shikamaru, is this the Forest of Death you mentioned before?"
The figure ahead stopped at those words, his blond hair especially conspicuous in the sunlight.
The two figures standing one before the other on the forest trunks were Naruto and Shikamaru.
"Yeah, we can't go any farther. I... huh? Naruto, you—"
As Shikamaru spoke, he suddenly saw Naruto flick one hand, sending a kunai hurtling straight at him.
Before he could finish speaking, Shikamaru's body flashed aside. While evading the kunai, he threw one at Naruto as well.
It was a ninja's instinctive counterattack.
But what happened next made Shikamaru's pupils contract. He saw Naruto neither dodge nor evade, allowing Shikamaru's kunai to strike him.
Bang!
Just as he began to panic, Naruto, who had been hit by the kunai, fell backward. The instant he hit the ground, he suddenly turned into a log.
Shikamaru immediately relaxed, then turned his gaze in another direction and said in surprise, "You've actually already learned the Substitution Technique!"
"What's so strange about that? It's just one of the basic Three Transformations." Naruto, appearing on another large tree, calmly glanced toward a distant direction before replying, "People from major Konoha clans like yours mastered the things genin should learn early on, didn't you?"
The moment Gekko Hayate saw him use the Substitution Technique, he began moving away.
Shikamaru shook his head without speaking. He himself had mastered the Substitution Technique and the Transformation Jutsu. The Clone Technique could only create controllable, incorporeal clones, so it was meaningless.
He had devoted most of his energy to cultivating his clan's secret techniques, because his father had told him he could learn the Shadow Clone later.
But these beginner-level Three Transformations were not actually simple.
How long had Naruto been training in total? The information he had received from the Third Hokage was perfectly clear—Naruto had only obtained the ninjutsu scroll last night.
And Naruto had never received guidance from anyone.
"Come on. Didn't you say you were introducing me to a friend today?" Seeing that Shikamaru had fallen silent, Naruto's eyes flickered as he reminded him.
A conflicted look crossed Shikamaru's face. "Finding him won't be a problem, but did you bring money?"
"Money?" Naruto's gaze held a hint of amusement. "You can buy friends with money?"
"Absolutely not!" Shikamaru's expression turned serious before he showed a pained look. "He just likes food a lot. I'm afraid I didn't bring enough money."
Naruto's heart stirred. So the person Shikamaru meant was Choji.
Since the Mirrored World needed to collect data, he had also planned to get to know more people.
Especially characters related to the Naruto storyline. He wanted to see whether he could verify some of his guesses about the Mirrored World's data collection patterns.
Choji was one of the Konoha 12.
After memories of Choji's storyline flashed through Naruto's mind, he said, "You have to bring money when you go out. Let's go. I'm quite interested in this friend."
Early that morning, after Naruto finished breakfast and had just reached the first floor, he discovered Gekko Hayate standing invisibly beside the chair Naruto had sat in the night before. The ninjutsu scroll the Third Hokage had given him last night was also lying on the chair.
Naruto naturally walked over, picked up the scroll, and sat down in the chair in front of Gekko Hayate. He carefully read the sections on the Substitution Technique and Clone Technique several times.
He pretended to practice the Clone Technique with great difficulty inside the house, deliberately failing many times. Only after lunch did he successfully perform the Clone Technique once.
At that point, he muttered that he wanted to go find Shikamaru, and Gekko Hayate immediately slipped away quietly.
Kurama and Minato Namikaze in the Sealed Space were somewhat puzzled as to why he had mentioned finding Shikamaru in front of Gekko Hayate.
Naruto explained that he was proactively giving the Third Hokage an opportunity to arrange for Shikamaru to appear before him at the right time and place.
Otherwise, where was he supposed to find Shikamaru?
He had never been to the Nara Clan. He did have the patience to ask around all the way there.
But the Third Hokage might not have that patience.
He had merely given the Third Hokage a convenient opportunity to make arrangements. Only if they arranged it would Shikamaru take the initiative to find him.
Sure enough, things went exactly as Naruto expected. He soon had a chance encounter with Shikamaru.
Just as Naruto reached the entrance of Ninja Tool Full Point Hall, Shikamaru spotted him at the intersection, and Gekko Hayate followed invisibly as well.
Because Naruto had taken a stroll through the village in his real appearance yesterday, he did not use the Transformation Jutsu when he went out today, though that did earn him plenty of second glances.
Besides, how else was Shikamaru supposed to greet him if he used the Transformation Jutsu?
After meeting Shikamaru, Naruto said he wanted to test Shikamaru's skills. Shikamaru readily agreed, and the two came straight to this forest, where they had first met.
However, Shikamaru had said when they first met that he wanted to introduce Naruto to a new friend. Since nobody had appeared, Naruto had assumed the Third Hokage had arranged another candidate to wait for him.
Hokage's Office.
"Are you certain Naruto has already mastered the Clone Technique and Substitution Technique?"
The Third Hokage sat in his chair and asked Gekko Hayate with a solemn expression.
Gekko Hayate took out a small notebook and flipped through it, replying seriously, "Yes. However, the target had some difficulty when performing the Clone Technique. His failure rate was extremely high, but during his spar with Shikamaru, he successfully performed the Substitution Technique on his first attempt."
It seemed the Five Elements Seal had already taken effect. Things were going smoothly, and Naruto could no longer control his Chakra well.
Thinking this, the Third Hokage nodded before asking, "Shikamaru suggested taking Naruto to meet a new friend. He didn't refuse?"
"No!" Gekko Hayate flipped another page in his notebook. "The target actually appeared somewhat expectant upon hearing that he would meet someone else."
"Hm?" The Third Hokage's gaze sharpened. After pondering for a moment, he ordered, "Go back immediately and continue monitoring him!"
Something was not right.
Naruto's temperament after waking from his coma seemed rather different from before.
Still, the Jinchuriki being willing to form bonds with people in the village was something he was happy to see.
"Hello, I'm Choji."
After leaving the forest, Shikamaru led Naruto straight to the entrance of a snack shop, where they immediately found Choji Akimichi.
He was a somewhat simple-looking chubby boy wearing a white T-shirt with the character for "food" printed across the chest.
"Hello. Shikamaru said you like potato chips."
Naruto held out a pile of snacks in both hands and handed them to Choji.
"Mhm!" Choji Akimichi's eyes lit up. He immediately gathered every snack Naruto had handed him into his arms and began opening them. Under Naruto's slightly surprised gaze, he rapidly devoured bag after bag of snacks.
An embarrassed look flashed across Shikamaru's face. Choji had been tempted by snacks so easily that he worried Naruto might form a bad impression of him.
"Thanks!" After finishing the last bag of chips, Choji placed both hands on Naruto's shoulders and said warmly, "You're Shikamaru's friend, so you're my friend!"
Beginning data collection.
The instant the voice appeared in his mind, Naruto casually placed one hand on Choji's arm. Sure enough, he could collect data from Choji.
Data collection complete. Current data completeness: 8%. Please complete the data as soon as possible!
"Yeah. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm very happy to meet you!"
Naruto's expression was incomparably sincere as he spoke.
In the pitch-black night, Naruto sat on his bed studying the changes in the Mirrored World after its data update. The result was that almost nothing had changed from before. He guessed the data completeness was still too low.
But he had basically confirmed that the people the Mirrored World collected data from were closely related to the storyline characters he knew.
However, there was one thing he did not understand. The Third Hokage was also a character with considerable importance in the Naruto story, so why could no data be collected from him?
"Naruto, aren't you afraid that acting so differently from usual today will arouse the Third Hokage's suspicions?"
As Naruto pondered, Minato Namikaze's voice sounded in the Mental World.
Naruto shifted his consciousness to the Sealed Space and calmly looked at his father. "Oh? Even you think I've been acting a little unusually, Father?"
Minato Namikaze's expression was complicated. "I only feel that you became a little more proactive today. I'm afraid the Third Hokage might..."
"Change itself is a positive thing. I'm merely controlling myself so I change in a beneficial direction. There will be more and more such changes in the future."
"As for the Third Hokage..."
Naruto's gaze had already become extremely dangerous when he said this.
"I trust that the Third Hokage, who monitors me in real time, will soon find a reasonable explanation himself."
"I merely expanded my circle of friends a little."
"Isn't that exactly the outcome he hoped for?"
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