Konoha Is Still My Domain

The two of them stared at each other.

One hadn't expected the other to actually want it.

The other hadn't expected the one to actually refuse to give it.

Eventually, Eiji was ready to just reach in and grab it.

Forcing Fugaku to have no choice but to pull a wallet from his inner lining.

"The clan's funds are tight lately, so I'll give you some of my personal savings as a supplement. Here's two—"

"Hand it over."

Eiji snatched Fugaku's wallet in one go. "Thanks, Lord Fugaku."

Fugaku: Face?

Eiji: No.

Eiji vanished from before Fugaku with a shwoosh, reappearing at home in an instant.

"Whoa! Jackpot!"

"This has to be seven or eight hundred thousand ryo. As expected of the clan head, even his pocket money is this much."

After the brief excitement, Eiji felt a bit annoyed.

When would he ever get a bigger house?

He'd have to find an opportunity to squeeze a property out of Fugaku.

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

"Excuse me, where is Uchiha Eiji's house?"

"Who?"

Tenzo raised his voice. "Uchiha Eiji."

"Who?"

"Uchiha Eiji!"

"What are you shouting for! My ears are bad, but I'm not deaf!"

The old man's voice suddenly rose, drawing the gazes of several Uchiha clan members.

He might as well have had the word irritable written on his face.

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

"They don't welcome anyone. Especially me, since I took Obito's eyes."

"Alright..."

The senior's words were never questioned by Tenzo.

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

"Thanks," Kakashi expressed his gratitude to Te-shō and even bought a few of his pancakes to be polite.

Of course, using Tenzo's money.

Knock knock knock.

With a creak, the door opened from inside.

"Let's go. The Hokage is pressing urgently. Tenzo can also use Wood Style ninjutsu, so his investigation might be helpful."

[New Mission: Investigate the true identity of the Masked Man and the mastermind behind him]

No need to investigate. I know the Masked Man is called—

[All shall be based on facts. Lord Tobirama's conjecture does not serve as evidence]

You're so great. You're so pure.

Soon, the group arrived at the archives.

"All the materials related to the Wood Style Kekkei Genkai are here. Let's each look through them and see if we can find useful information."

Eiji knew there definitely wouldn't be any info on the Masked Man here, but he still read seriously.

The key figure who conducted this research back then was Orochimaru.

And as the number one scientist in the ninja world, Orochimaru might have left something useful for Eiji.

But after searching through everything, Eiji still didn't find what he was looking for.

He only saw a familiar name appear many times in the records.

"Aburame Ryoma," Eiji stroked his chin. "Never expected this senior to be such a workhorse. Losing his help must make Lord Danzo quite sad."

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

Sensing their gazes, Eiji forced himself to wipe off the smile.

"Ahem. What's certain is that Ryoma was colluding with Orochimaru all along, secretly carrying out evil Wood Style experiments."

"But that was in the past, and there's no specific date on it, so it's hard to pin anything on Lord Danzo—er, clear his name."

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

By now, Eiji had realized why Hiruzen had sent him to investigate this matter.

On one hand, it was to show trust in him—

It served as a display to the clan: look, Konoha still trusts the Uchiha, don't stir up trouble.

And it also helped win Eiji over.

A genius ninja with potential like Eiji was critical to Konoha.

If one day Eiji showed up knocking on the office door in a Susanoo, that would be a real problem.

On the other hand, it was meant to rein in Danzo.

To remind him not to go too far, to make him understand who really called the shots in this village.

The Hokage had a bit of cunning after all...

They searched through records for a long time but still found no trace of the Masked Man.

"Strange. Could this Masked Man really be Orochimaru's work?" Tenzo pondered seriously. "As far as I remember, there are no other survivors from the Wood Style Experiment besides me."

Eiji tapped his head.

"Let's call it a day. I'll go report our progress to the Hokage first. Everything's up to him."

"Alright."

As evening approached, Eiji knocked on the Hokage's office door.

"Come in."

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

Eiji placed the scroll on Hiruzen's desk.

"Hokage-sama, my two seniors and I went through all the records in the archives related to the Wood Style Experiment. We found no information on the Masked Man."

Hiruzen showed no particular reaction.

Those records were too old; it was indeed hard to extract useful intel from them.

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

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

Hiruzen nodded in agreement, putting on a look of regret.

He knew the contents well—these records were meant for Eiji to see anyway.

Letting the Uchiha get involved was like tossing them a little bone.

Some things couldn't be dug into too deeply, or he'd get dragged in himself.

Thinking this, Hiruzen admired his own cleverness.

Danzo, Danzo, you only know how to suppress. No wonder the teacher didn't choose you as Hokage back then.

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

Eiji raised an eyebrow. "Hokage-sama means Orochimaru?"

Hiruzen hesitated briefly, then nodded.

"Mm."

"I understand, Hokage-sama."

After Eiji left, Hiruzen pulled a yellowed photo from his drawer.

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

"Orochimaru. Back then, I was too soft-hearted to kill you. It didn't make you hold back—instead, you went further and attacked Konoha."

"As your teacher, I really failed."

Since it was still early, Eiji headed to Naruto's place.

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

Looks like after last time's lesson, Hiruzen had tightened Naruto's security.

Knock knock knock.

"Coming, hold on!"

Naruto opened the door, and when he saw it was Eiji, his grin nearly split his ears.

"Teacher Eiji, come in quick! I'll show you what I've got ready."

This was Eiji's first time inside Naruto's home. Usually, he'd just yell up from downstairs, and Naruto would come bounding out.

Eiji sat on the couch, wincing at the sight of boxes of limited-edition instant ramen.

"Naruto, you bought so much instant ramen—can you even finish it all?"

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

The Masked Man's invasion didn't seem to have affected Naruto at all. He was still that adorable Little Blondie.

Though he often felt lonely, his heart was still full of hope.

It was hard not to like a little guy like that.

Eiji ruffled Naruto's blond hair.

"Come on, I've got time today. Let's go practice some basic ninjutsu."

"Yeah!"

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

"Teacher Eiji, today you should tell me the story of the Fourth Hokage."

Eiji sighed a little. "The Fourth Hokage was a truly great ninja."

"In the year you were born, a major incident happened in Konoha. An enemy invaded the village, causing massive casualties."

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

"He and his wife sacrificed their lives to protect their comrades and the villagers behind them."

Saying this, he glanced at little Naruto again.

"His son became an orphan, living 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? Does he get to eat hot ramen in the winter?"

Eiji nodded.

"He does. Now he has friends, and he also has a cool teacher."

"Huh?" Naruto scratched his blond head. Somehow, the Hokage's son's situation felt a bit similar to his own?