Konoha Village Is Still Mine to Command

The two of them looked at each other.

One had not expected the other to really want it.

The other had not expected him to really refuse.

Eventually, Eiji was tempted to simply reach over and take it himself.

Fugaku had no choice but to pull a wallet from inside his clothes.

"The clan's funds have been tight lately. I'll give you some private money to help out. This is two—"

"Hand it over."

Eiji snatched Fugaku's wallet away. "Thank you, Lord Fugaku."

Fugaku: My dignity?

Eiji: No.

With a whoosh, Eiji vanished from in front of Fugaku and appeared at home in the blink of an eye.

"Whoa! I hit the jackpot!"

"This must be seven or eight hundred thousand ryo. As expected of the clan head—even his pocket money is this substantial."

After his brief excitement, Eiji began to feel somewhat troubled.

When would he finally get a larger house?

He still had to find an opportunity to get one from Fugaku.

The next morning, two Anbu shinobi arrived at the Uchiha Clan Compound.

"Excuse me, where does Uchiha Eiji live?"

"Who?"

Tenzo raised his voice. "Uchiha Eiji."

"Who?"

"Uchiha Eiji!"

"Why are you shouting so loudly? My hearing isn't good, but I'm not deaf!"

The old man's voice suddenly rose, attracting the attention of quite a few Uchiha clan members.

He practically had the words "bad-tempered" written across his face.

Honest Tenzo lowered his voice. "They don't seem to welcome us."

"They don't welcome anyone, especially since I took Obito's eye."

"All right..."

Tenzo never had any objections to anything his senior said.

The owner of the pancake shop, Te-shō, poked his head out. "Go straight ahead from here, then turn left... The house at the very end is his."

"Thank you." Kakashi thanked Te-shō and, being quite tactful, bought several pancakes from him.

Of course, he used Tenzo's money.

Knock, knock, knock.

With a creak, the door opened from inside.

"Let's go. The Fourth Hokage is urging us quite urgently. Tenzo can also use Wood Style Ninjutsu, so he may be able to help with the investigation."

[New Mission: Investigate the Masked Man's true identity and the person directing him from behind]

There's no need to investigate. I know the Masked Man's name is...

[All conclusions must be based on facts. Lord Tobirama's speculation cannot be used as evidence]

Very impressive. So noble of you.

The group soon arrived at the archives.

"All the information concerning the Wood Style Kekkei Genkai is here. Let's split up and look through it. Maybe we can find something useful."

Eiji knew there definitely would not be any information about the Masked Man here, but he still began looking through the records seriously.

Orochimaru had been one of the key figures involved in this research back then.

And as the foremost scientist in the Shinobi World, Orochimaru might have left something useful behind for Eiji.

However, Eiji searched through everything and still found nothing he wanted.

He did, however, see a familiar name several times in the records.

"Aburame Ryoma." Eiji stroked his chin. "I didn't expect that this senior was such a workaholic. Without his help, Lord Danzo must be heartbroken."

The two of them glanced at Eiji, but they read an emotion called schadenfreude on his face.

Noticing their gazes, Eiji forced himself to wipe the smile from his face.

"Ahem. What we can confirm is that Ryoma had been colluding with Orochimaru all along, secretly carrying out the evil Wood Style Experiment."

"But that was in the past, after all, and there's no specific date recorded. It would be difficult to pin the blame on Lord Danzo—or rather, clear him of suspicion."

Kakashi and Tenzo exchanged a glance and pretended not to hear what Eiji was saying.

At that moment, Eiji had already realized why Hiruzen had sent him to investigate this matter.

On one hand, it was to show his trust in him.

It could be shown to the clan members as well: See? Konoha still trusts the Uchiha. Don't cause trouble.

It would also help win Eiji over.

A talented shinobi with as much potential as Eiji was extremely important to Konoha.

If Eiji really piloted a giant robot to knock on the office door one day, it would be quite troublesome.

On the other hand, Hiruzen also wanted to give Danzo a warning.

He wanted Danzo to stop going too far and understand who truly called the shots in this village.

The Hokage seems to have a few schemes of his own after all...

The group searched through the records for a long time, but still found no information about the Masked Man.

"That's strange. Could this Masked Man really be Orochimaru's work?"

Tenzo thought seriously for a long time. "As far as I remember, apart from me, none of the test subjects survived the Wood Style Experiment."

Eiji knocked on his head.

"Let's stop here for today. I'll report today's progress to the Hokage first. The Hokage can decide what to do next."

"All right."

Near dusk, Eiji knocked on the door of the Hokage's office.

"Come in."

Hiruzen rubbed his aching lower back. "Eiji, get straight to the point."

Eiji placed the scroll on Hiruzen's desk.

"Lord Hokage, the two seniors and I went through all the records in the archives concerning the Wood Style Experiment. We found no information about the Masked Man."

Hiruzen did not show any particular reaction.

Those records were far too old. It was indeed difficult for them to provide useful intelligence.

"In the records, Orochimaru mentioned Ryoma's name several times."

"Unfortunately, Ryoma is dead. The trail ends there."

Hiruzen nodded in agreement, displaying an expression of regret.

He knew the contents very well. These records had also been shown to Eiji deliberately.

Allowing the Uchiha to participate was a way of giving them a little taste of the benefits.

Some matters could not be investigated too deeply, or he would be dragged into them as well.

Thinking of this, Hiruzen began to admire his own wisdom.

Danzo, Danzo. You only know how to suppress others. No wonder our teacher never chose you to become Hokage.

Hiruzen lightly tapped the desk. "If the Ryoma lead is a dead end, then change directions."

Eiji raised an eyebrow. "Lord Hokage means Orochimaru?"

Hiruzen hesitated slightly before nodding.

"Yes."

"I understand, Lord Hokage."

After Eiji left, Hiruzen found a yellowed photograph in his desk drawer.

He gently wiped the dust from it and let out a long sigh.

"Orochimaru, I didn't kill you back then because I was softhearted for a moment. Not only did that fail to make you restrain yourself, but you became even more vicious and turned around to attack Konoha."

"As your teacher, I truly was a failure."

Since it was still early, Eiji went to Naruto's doorstep.

Just as he was about to knock, he sensed several Chakra fluctuations nearby.

It seemed that after the previous incident, Hiruzen had made Naruto's protection even more thorough.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Coming! Just a moment."

Naruto opened the door, and when he saw Eiji, his grin nearly reached his ears.

"Teacher Eiji, come in quickly! I'll show you the great things I prepared."

This was Eiji's first time visiting Naruto's home. In the past, he had always called out from downstairs a couple of times, and Naruto would come rushing out.

Eiji sat on the sofa and stared at the boxes of limited-edition instant noodles with a pained expression.

"Naruto, did you buy all these instant noodles? Can you finish them?"

"I can't bear to eat them. I'm going to treasure these instant noodles forever. But if Teacher Eiji likes them, I can give you a few boxes."

The Masked Man's invasion seemed not to have affected Naruto at all. He was still the same adorable Little Blondie.

Although he often felt lonely, his heart was also filled with hope.

It was difficult not to like a little fellow like him.

Eiji rubbed Naruto's Little Blondie hair.

"Let's go. We have time today, so we'll practice some basic ninjutsu."

"Yay!"

On the way to the training ground, Naruto asked about Konoha's history again.

"Teacher Eiji, today you're supposed to tell me the story of the Fourth Hokage."

Eiji sighed with emotion. "The Fourth Hokage was a truly great shinobi."

"In the year you were born, a major incident occurred in Konoha. An enemy invaded Konoha, causing tremendous casualties."

"At the critical moment, the young Fourth Hokage stepped forward."

"He and his wife protected the comrades and villagers behind them at the cost of their lives."

As he said this, he glanced at Little Naruto again.

"His son became an orphan and lived alone in this world."

At that, Naruto suddenly grabbed Eiji's hand.

"Then how is the Hokage's son doing now? Does he have a place to sleep? Now that it's winter, does he have hot ramen to eat?"

Eiji nodded.

"Yes. He has friends now, and he also has a handsome teacher."

"Huh?" Naruto scratched his Little Blondie hair. Why did he feel that the Hokage's son's situation was a little similar to his own?