"If you become so engrossed in it that you can't pull yourself away, it can make you extreme, obsessive, and even plunge you into total darkness..."
Naruto slurped his ramen, gazing at Sarutobi Hiruzen with a look of half-understanding.
"Do you know someone like that, Third?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and nodded.
"I do. More than one, in fact. For example..."
"The disciple I once valued most..."
"Orochimaru."
Orochimaru?
Naruto gulped down his ramen and asked through a mouthful, "Orochimaru?"
He thought he'd heard that name somewhere before.
He'd once been a powerful ninja, but had since defected from Konoha.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and nodded.
"Orochimaru was once my most outstanding disciple. He was exceptionally gifted and talented, and the one most suited to inherit everything I had to teach. But..."
"After his parents died, he began immersing himself in all sorts of dark forbidden techniques. He even went so far as to perform human experiments, using living people. His actions enraged everyone. I should have cleansed the village of him and killed him with my own hands, but at the last moment, my feelings for him after all those years as teacher and student made me go soft. I couldn't bring myself to do it, and he escaped from the village..."
"If things had gone differently, perhaps he could have become Hokage..."
Naruto had finished a bowl of ramen and let out a long, satisfied breath.
"He gave up becoming Hokage for those forbidden experiments?"
"What kind of person would do that...?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head. "You think becoming Hokage is your dream, but not everyone thinks the same way..."
"Like Orochimaru. Like Sasuke..."
Naruto couldn't help asking, "Sasuke... what happened to him?"
But Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't answer.
"Naruto, you're still too young. It's better if you don't know some things just yet."
"Anyway, it's fine for you and Sasuke to be both rivals and friends, but you can't keep fighting as if you're trying to kill each other."
"...Oh, I understand."
"Good."
After they finished dinner, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked around Naruto's room. It really had changed a lot.
"Naruto, I heard you want to rank in the top ten in your class?"
"Yeah! That's my little goal!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled. "It's good to have a goal..."
"No wonder you've been training so hard..."
[The host has finished eating. Begin tonight's training at once. Tonight's special training is Dual-Tasking: practice the Chakra Refinement Technique and Transformation Technique at the same time!]
Naruto wanted to chat with Sarutobi Hiruzen a little longer.
But it seemed that wasn't going to happen.
Still...
"Third, I'm going to start training. Will you watch me?"
He really wanted someone to guide him.
Even if they just watched.
Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled. "What are you going to practice?"
Naruto called out, "I'm going to keep practicing Dual-Tasking!"
"I'll practice the Chakra Refinement Technique and the Transformation Technique at the same time!"
"Oh, right—my Transformation Technique is amazing!"
"It's an incredibly powerful ninjutsu I invented myself. Want to see it, Third?!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's face changed dramatically!
He nearly choked to death on his pipe!
He knew exactly what Naruto's incredible Transformation Technique was...
The Sexy Technique!
He didn't want to spray blood from his nose in front of Naruto and all those Anbu, humiliating himself!
What would become of his dignity...?
"Cough, cough. Naruto, I'd love to stay and train with you, but as Hokage, I have work of my own to take care of..."
"Thanks for dinner."
"Oh, all right..."
Naruto was a little disappointed, but didn't try to persuade him to stay.
After all, Sarutobi Hiruzen was the Hokage of Konoha.
Sarutobi Hiruzen went downstairs. Soon, he heard the sounds of repeated transformations coming from above...
He let out a long breath, stepped outside, and looked up at the crescent moon, which was once again growing larger. His expression was complicated.
"Ah..."
Beneath the night sky, he let out a long sigh.
"Na-ru-to!"
"Sa-su-ke!"
At that moment, the scene from earlier kept replaying in Sasuke's mind.
If the Third hadn't arrived in time, who knew how things would have ended...
"Damn it..."
Sasuke slammed his fist into the wall in anger. With a loud bang, dirt crumbled down and dust billowed into the air.
"What am I even doing...?"
His abdomen was still aching.
That was where Naruto had hit him with the Leaf Whirlwind.
"Naruto..."
"How strong are you now?"
Sasuke was shaken by how their fight had nearly ended, but at the same time, he was furious and frustrated by Naruto's strength.
More accurately...
It was his own weakness.
At this rate, forget killing Itachi Uchiha—Naruto might even leave him in the dust...
Sasuke clenched his fists and returned to the training room.
Thud—
Thud, thud, thud!
Ignoring his pain and exhaustion, he gritted his teeth and threw himself into training once more!
At the same time.
At the Hyuga Clan compound, in the residence of clan head Hiashi.
Hinata hadn't gone to sleep either.
Her younger sister, Hanabi, quietly crept up to the door and peered through the crack. She saw that her older sister was still training with all her might...
Her young heart was deeply moved.
"Big sister..."
During their earlier spar, Hanabi had shown a level of skill that even surpassed her older sister's.
As a result, their father, clan head Hyuga Hiashi, had chosen to focus on training Hanabi. He had even given up on the idea of making Hinata, his eldest daughter, the heir to the Main House.
But in truth, Hanabi understood her sister's gentle strength better than anyone.
Hinata hadn't lost that spar because she lacked strength...
She had lost because she was kind.
Hinata had seen the opening in Hanabi's defenses, but hesitated at the last moment, unable to bring herself to strike. That was why she had ended up losing.
But was that outcome good or bad...?
Hanabi herself didn't know.
She knew her sister worked hard, but with her gentle and kind nature, Hinata had never liked fighting. She didn't want to become the heir to the Main House either. She believed the system separating the Main House and Branch House was a shackle, a cage...
Especially after seeing how their father treated Neji Hyuga.
So...
Perhaps losing to Hanabi had been Hinata's way of escaping her fate.
And yet now...
She was training harder than ever.
Why was that?
"Is that you, Hanabi?"
Hinata sensed someone watching her and paused her training. Slightly out of breath, she called out.
Hanabi stopped hiding and pushed the door open.
"Big sister, why aren't you asleep yet?"
Hinata smiled gently.
"I wanted to train a little longer."
"What about you, Hanabi? Why aren't you asleep?"
Hanabi shook her head. "I can't sleep."
"What's wrong?"
"Because I can't figure something out..."
"What is it? You can tell me."
Looking at Hinata's training clothes, soaked with sweat, Hanabi asked with both concern and confusion, "Big sister, you weren't happy training even when Father was so strict with you before."
"Now, even though Father has practically given up on you, you've become much more hardworking..."
"Why is that?"
Hinata paused. Looking at Hanabi's puzzled expression, she wasn't sure how to explain.
She took out a towel and wiped the sweat from her face.
Then she patted the floor, inviting Hanabi to sit with her.
Before you continue