Skipping Stones

"I understand," Shinji said, taking out his key to open the door. Before entering, he spoke to Iruka, "Thank you for the pass you issued me this morning."

Iruka blinked, "You're welcome."

Shinji nodded and entered the room, closing the door behind him.

He lay down on the bed and let out a small sigh of relief.

The fact that Haku hadn't been captured meant that what happened last night hadn't been exposed yet.

"Kirigakure is pressuring the village for the person."

He chuckled.

He had been a little uncertain about who was behind Haku initially, but with Kirigakure making this move, he was suddenly sure that Haku was a spy planted in Konoha by Kirigakure.

Kirigakure's actions today.

On the surface, they were targeting Konoha, but in reality, they were protecting Haku.

The logic behind this was easy to understand.

And it was perfectly normal for Konoha to take Haku in.

Firstly.

The Snow Clan, Haku's origin, was wiped out by Kirigakure. As a survivor of the Snow Clan, anyone would believe Haku held a deep hatred for Kirigakure.

Secondly.

Kirigakure had once planned to cause the Three-Tails to rampage in Konoha.

It was during this battle that Kakashi personally killed Rin Nohara, who was forced to become the Three-Tails Jinchuriki.

Konoha had a major grudge against Kirigakure because of this, so the Konoha leadership would clearly not miss any opportunity to annoy Kirigakure.

Lastly.

Haku was likely the last ninja in the current Ninja World possessing the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai.

If they took in Haku, perhaps in a few decades, Ice Release could become Konoha's Kekkei Genkai.

With motive, benefit, and the elimination of the possibility of Haku being a Kirigakure spy, it was entirely reasonable for the village to take Haku in.

After all, it was impossible for Kirigakure to deliberately destroy one of its own Kekkei Genkai clans just to plant a spy.

Thinking this, Shinji shook his head.

The village had probably miscalculated this time!

Although Haku possessed the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, he had already been living outside the village before the Snow Clan was annihilated by Kirigakure. This indicated that he was not a direct descendant of the Snow Clan.

Furthermore, given Haku's personality, it was hard to say how much he cared about hatred.

In his original timeline, the reason he followed Zabuza, and was even willing to risk his life to protect Zabuza, was not for revenge against Kirigakure.

Shinji grumbled inwardly, "If the village actually handed Haku over, that would be hilarious!"

It was hard to say if something like that would really happen.

If Kirigakure was resolute and threatened war, the outwardly strong but inwardly weak village might actually hand Haku over.

Such things had happened before.

After confirming that Haku was a Kirigakure spy, he became puzzled again, "Could deliberately approaching me have been a mission assigned to Haku by Kirigakure?"

He didn't understand Kirigakure's purpose in doing this.

However, with Kirigakure's actions today, the probability of Haku being investigated by the village had decreased, and he would also be safer.

[Plane under invasion.]

[Countdown: 2]

Just then, the mysterious voice sounded again, signaling the imminent invasion for Shinji.

He sat up abruptly from the bed, collected his thoughts, and temporarily put Haku's matter aside to ponder his own affairs.

"If I can get Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyo before this invasion, not only will I be much safer, but I might even be able to try and brush up on my rating for higher rewards!"

You want me to save the Ninja World?

Sorry, I'm here to fleece you!

As Shinji thought this, he took out a map of the village and spread it on the bed.

"Excluding the central districts, residential areas, the Hokage Building, the hospital, and the Ninja Academy, the remaining area is the Hyuga clan compound. This area is the Nara clan's deer park. This area is the Inuzuka clan's dog kennels. This area is the Aburame clan's insect houses..."

He used a pen to mark and eliminate areas on the map one by one.

He didn't know where Danzo's lair was, so he could only search on the map.

Konoha was not small, but it wasn't huge either.

After excluding some core areas, commercial districts, residential areas, and the compounds and properties of various clans, not many areas remained.

After further eliminating some miscellaneous areas, Shinji's gaze quickly locked onto one area.

"Could the Root base be here?"

He could hardly believe it.

This area was far too close to the Uchiha compound. If Danzo were to set up his base here, it would mean he had to deal with the Uchiha Clan, regardless of whether they harbored any rebellious intentions.

He recalled fragments of memories left by the original owner.

The original owner seemed to have rarely approached this area, as if it were some kind of forbidden zone.

Next, he circled several other suspicious areas on the map. These locations also had a chance of being Danzo's base.

After finishing these tasks, he put away the map and went to the window.

The sky was darkening, and the street lamps had already lit up.

In the distance, the Ninja Academy was brightly lit. It seemed the teachers were making final preparations for tomorrow's Chunin Exams.

"I can only make a move if there's another disturbance in the village during the Chunin Exams!"

Shinji wouldn't act blindly this time. He needed to wait for an opportunity.

In the village.

Sasuke, who had been interrogated all night, slept through the day. After waking up, he went out for something to eat and then wandered aimlessly, ending up by a small river.

"Why is the whole world targeting me, damn it!"

He still couldn't suppress his anger as he recalled what happened last night.

At that moment, his gaze was drawn to a figure on the opposite bank of the river.

He recognized the person: Naruto Uzumaki, rumored in the Ninja Academy to be the "Child of the Fox Demon." It was someone he would never have paid attention to before.

The other person seemed to be in the same situation as him. It was already night, and they should have been home, yet they were still wandering aimlessly outside.

Perhaps they were in similar circumstances.

Naruto, on the other side of the river, also noticed Sasuke.

They simply looked at each other across the small river.

A moment later, Naruto walked to the riverbank, picked up a flat stone from the ground, and skipped it in Sasuke's direction.

Skip. Skip. Skip.

The stone hit the water, making crisp sounds as it skipped in arcs toward Sasuke.

Sasuke, on this side, extended his right hand and steadily caught the skipping stone.

On the opposite bank, Naruto smiled and waved at him.

Sasuke muttered to himself, "He's hated by everyone, so why can he still smile so happily?"

Although he didn't understand, he found himself seemingly infected by the other's smile. His previously gloomy mood suddenly improved considerably.

BOOM!

Just as Sasuke was about to throw the stone in his hand back to the opposite bank, an explosion suddenly erupted from the nearby woods behind him.

Sasuke turned his head to look. "Was that fireworks?"

At this moment, he didn't notice that while he was looking away, two Anbu ninjas, who were secretly protecting him and Naruto, had already flashed towards the woods where the explosion occurred.

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