Konohamaru walked home alone, his thoughts churning. Ever since leaving Tsunade's office, he had been thinking about the Third Hokage. Clearly, he was no longer a naive little child. On the contrary, he was clever and saw many things for what they truly were.
But precisely because he saw through so much, he no longer blindly believed what others said as he once had. Nor did he still believe, as he had in childhood, that everything his grandfather, the Third Hokage, did was right. He now had his own standards and knew how to weigh things up. Yet growing up too soon had also robbed him of his former happiness. Whether that was a blessing or a curse was hard to say.
Before he knew it, Konohamaru had reached his front door, where he happened to see the Third Hokage. The Third Hokage smiled. "You're back. How did the mission go?"
Konohamaru nodded. "It went pretty well. Big Brother Naruto left me some Ninjutsu before he went away. It was thanks to the scroll he left that this mission went so smoothly."
The Third Hokage raised his eyebrows and smiled. "That's good." With that, he turned and went inside. He knew about the scroll Naruto had left Konohamaru, of course. After all, Konohamaru read it whenever he had time each day and worked hard to practice the Ninjutsu recorded in it.
Most of the Ninjutsu in the scroll concerned applications of Space-Time Ninjutsu, particularly Summoning Jutsu. The Third Hokage knew all of that. But Konohamaru had not told him the whole truth. There was actually another scroll. Naruto had left two, and when he handed over the other one, he had specifically warned Konohamaru not to let anyone know about it. He could only read it alone. To preserve its