Clearing the Roadblocks

"Yes, after all, I'm a ninja too, isn't it normal for me to be interested in ninjutsu?" Naruto admitted generously. "I heard the ninjutsu recorded in the Scroll of Seals is very interesting. Hmm?"

Just as he finished speaking, Naruto suddenly noticed that Iruka had stopped at the last row of desks where he was sitting, holding a report card.

It was after class, and he slowly turned his gaze. Apart from Shikamaru, who seemed to be sleeping on his desk, only he and Sasuke were left in the classroom.

"Teacher Iruka, is there a problem with my grades?"

"No! No," Iruka said with a complex expression. After exhaling softly, he handed the report card in his hand to Naruto. "I've come to apologize to you."

"Apologize?" Naruto's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise at this.

"Yes!" With the words out in the open, Iruka's gaze gradually became sincere. "I shouldn't have looked at you with prejudice."

Naruto was a little surprised. Judging by his expression, Iruka wasn't faking it. He smiled slightly. "Teacher Iruka, you're a really good person."

"Uh~ Thank you."

Upon hearing this, Iruka's expression immediately became a little unnatural. For some reason, he felt that Naruto's words sounded strange.

Meeting Naruto's gaze, Iruka forced a smile. "You're also an excellent student. If you don't understand anything in the future, you can come to me anytime."

Naruto didn't say anything, just nodded with an unchanging smile.

It seemed the Hokage was right; Naruto didn't reject others approaching him. With this thought, Iruka felt a sense of relief and turned back towards the podium.

Meanwhile, in a conference room in the Hokage's office building, the Third Hokage and three advisors were sitting around a coffee table for a meeting.

"Recently, the public has been voicing strong opinions. They are protesting the strict enforcement by the Police Department, and these are their complaint letters."

Utatane Koharu spoke first, and after finishing, she pushed a thick stack of letters towards the Third Hokage.

"Indeed," Mitokado Homura added with a grave expression. "The villagers' suspicion of the forces is growing by the day."

"Hiruzen, it's time to make a decision. The Uchiha are clearly flaunting their power," Danzō said coldly, narrowing his eyes.

"This is all a lingering effect from the Nine-Tails incident years ago," the Third Hokage said expressionlessly.

Mitokado Homura immediately interjected, "But the Uchiha Clan wasn't harmed at that time."

Utatane Koharu, sitting opposite him, immediately followed up, "That's the root of the suspicion."

The Third Hokage's expression was solemn. After a moment of silence, he said, "The decision to order the Uchiha to stay away from the Nine-Tails during that incident already planted the seeds of suspicion."

Danzō's expression darkened upon hearing this, and he slightly opened his eyes. "The policy of isolating the Uchiha has been a basic Konoha principle, continuing from the Second Hokage!"

The Third Hokage's expression also turned stern, and he looked directly at Danzō. "The Second Hokage's intention was not isolation; he wanted to create a balance among the major clans in the village. The arrangements for the Uchiha Clan need careful consideration, especially since the current situation is not..."

"Hokage-sama! Kakashi is here, and the Barrier Team has made an important discovery!" A sudden voice from an Anbu member outside the door interrupted the Third Hokage.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura stood up simultaneously, knowing it was time for them to leave. Under the Third Hokage's gaze, Danzō also finally stood up and followed them out without saying a word.

A moment later, Kakashi and members of the Barrier Team entered with stacks of reports. After quickly reviewing the reports from both, the Third Hokage's expression became extremely grim.

"Kakashi, what are your thoughts?"

"Hokage-sama, we haven't found any trace of the intruders. However, regardless of who the intruders are, the current information is insufficient to ascertain their motives. The only approach I can think of is to combine efforts with the Barrier Team using sheer numbers."

"But that's the Uchiha Clan Compound, and the Barrier Team can't enter. So, we can only have the Police Department, who belong to the Uchiha, dispatch additional personnel. However, regarding the Uchiha side..."

Kakashi hesitated at this point.

"Only what?"

The Third Hokage's expression grew even more solemn as the previous conversation with the advisors flashed through his mind.

"It's nothing," Kakashi replied after carefully recalling his visit to the Uchiha Clan Compound. "I just felt that the atmosphere throughout the Uchiha Clan Compound was very different from before. They seemed quite resistant to non-Uchiha entering the area."

"I see," the Third Hokage said as he picked up the Barrier Team's report again. "I will discuss the matter of the Police Department with the higher-ups. Your mission is concluded."

The evening breeze blew as night fell.

Naruto, sitting on the second floor, was in the Mirrored World with Minato Namikaze, researching other forms of Chakra transformation. Pale blue Chakra enveloped Naruto's hands as he attempted to materialize different forms.

After a long while, Naruto clenched his left fist. The Chakra on his fist instantly expanded and rapidly changed, forming a circular light screen in front of him.

"Father, is this Chakra shield from the Sand Village, or a form transformation?"

"Chakra nature transformations require slow exploration, Naruto. You can only explore how to add nature transformations to the Rasengan by thoroughly understanding Chakra form transformations."

"Moreover, the effectiveness of training in the Mirrored World is actually different from what you feel in the real world. Strictly speaking, we are always in the theoretical stage."

Naruto also knew this fact, but the time was not right. He had to escape surveillance before he could practice with peace of mind.

"Naruto, the people monitoring you outside have suddenly doubled. It seems a bit strange."

"Huh?"

Naruto immediately left the Mirrored World with Minato Namikaze. As soon as he activated his senses, he realized something was wrong. Konoha seemed unusually quiet today.

Not only had the number of people monitoring his small building doubled, but most of the ninjas in Konoha village seemed to have no intention of sleeping tonight, and their Chakra felt exceptionally active.

The key point was that he discovered he couldn't probe the Uchiha Clan Compound. Not only was the entire area sealed off by barriers, but numerous ninjas had also gathered around it. The Third Hokage's chakra was clearly detectable not far outside the Uchiha Clan Compound.

"Could this be?"

Naruto thought of this and walked to the window in two steps, looking up to see a bright full moon hanging overhead!

Moreover, there wasn't a single person in the Hokage's office building.

After gently closing the window, Naruto took out his black robe and mask.

"Father, it's time."

"What do you mean?"

Minato Namikaze was confused. Just as he was about to ask for clarification, he saw that Naruto had already created a clone, and his main body had quickly finished changing.

Whoosh!

Naruto instantly appeared in the Hokage's office. He scanned the room's layout: two large bookshelves and a desk.

Well then, it was time to see the legendary Scroll of Seals.

However, after dozens of breaths, apart from the Third Hokage's desk, Naruto had searched both bookshelves, but there was no sign of the Scroll of Seals.

"Naruto, what are you looking for? The Crystal Ball is in the Third Hokage's desk drawer."

"Father, where is the Scroll of Seals?"

"It's in Konoha's Forbidden Jutsu Vault, of course," Minato Namikaze's expression shifted. "Naruto, you don't think the Scroll of Seals would be in the Hokage's office, do you?"

"Forbidden Jutsu Vault?" Upon hearing this, Naruto's expression under his mask turned extremely grim.

"So you left your mark here back then to find the Scroll of Seals."

"That's right! It seems I was being too presumptuous," After confirming the Scroll of Seals wasn't here, Naruto adjusted his emotions and opened the Third Hokage's desk drawer.

A crystal-clear crystal ball lay quietly in a box.

"Father, are you sure the Third Hokage can't create a second crystal ball?"

"I'm sure. This type of crystal ball isn't something that can be made casually. The Second Hokage used a special material collected by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire to create this treasure."

Naruto looked at the crystal ball without speaking.

According to the plot he was familiar with, besides the old toad in Mount Myōboku, only he had such a crystal ball. He hadn't seen anyone else use anything like it.

After a few thoughts flashed through his mind, Naruto placed his hands on the crystal ball. Just as he was about to channel his chakra to shatter it, he heard a prompt from the Mirrored World.

'Data collection in progress.' 'Updating. Data collection complete! Synchronization function enabled! Update contents as follows:' 'Current data integrity 20%, permission update! Uzumaki Naruto; Third Level World Master!'

"Heh, I didn't expect this unexpected gain."

Naruto had been a bit unwilling earlier because he hadn't found the Scroll of Seals, but he didn't expect that this crystal ball, which he was about to destroy, would provide 10% of the data for the Mirrored World at once.

Naruto smiled slightly, and pale blue chakra instantly enveloped his palm.

Crack~ Crack~

The crystal ball had already been shattered by him.

Bang!

Naruto formed hand seals again and created a Shadow Clone.

"I'll leave the Hokage Rock to you."

The Shadow Clone immediately activated the Flying Thunder God technique and disappeared.

Minato Namikaze stared blankly at Naruto's arrangements and said, "Naruto, many people will die this way."

Naruto nodded. "I know, but I'm sure you also understand that if I only damaged the crystal ball the Third Hokage used to monitor me, and didn't blow up the Hokage Rock to completely bury this area, the village would only need a simple process of elimination to suspect me."

"I'm just moving aside the obstacles others have placed in my path."