Imminent Crisis

Kakashi had his subordinates take the Kumogakure intelligence agents straight to the interrogation room, while he returned alone to the Hokage Building.

There was little to be gained by questioning intelligence like this. Reading their memories directly from their minds was the simplest and fastest method. As for whether they would become imbeciles afterward, that was not his concern.

"Kakashi, well done. And that Uchiha Qingfeng—he truly gave me a surprise. I thought he was merely fooling around with Might Guy, but I never expected him to be so gifted in taijutsu."

Without a doubt, ever since the disturbance broke out over there, everything had been under the gaze of the Scrying Jutsu, completely exposed before Konoha's higher-ups.

Such a major incident had originally prompted the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, to go there personally. However, after seeing Qingfeng's accomplishments in taijutsu, Hiruzen Sarutobi stopped him and sent Kakashi Hatake to provide support instead, specifically instructing him to capture them alive if possible.

"Extracting the information from their minds will likely take some time. We should have the results by tomorrow."

"If I remember correctly, this Uchiha Qingfeng is Obito Uchiha's younger brother, isn't he? He has some ties to the Fourth Hokage and Kakashi as well. The Uchiha have produced another genius comparable to Shisui. You must guide him properly."

Hiruzen Sarutobi had made his stance clear. A genius like this had to be properly guided toward the correct Will of Fire. In the future, he would surely become a great asset to the village.

"It seems Shisui taught him the Body Flicker Technique. I trust Shisui will not disappoint us. As for the rest, we can carefully instruct him once he enters the Ninja Academy."

Hiruzen Sarutobi made the final decision. "There is no need to meet him for now. We can discuss this after we finish dealing with these matters."

Minato Namikaze also set down Qingfeng's file. It was far more detailed than the one Hiruzen Sarutobi had reviewed last time.

It recorded the instruction Qingfeng had received from "Veterinarian" Shisui, his friendship with Uchiha Itachi, and Might Guy's teachings, including the Eight Inner Gates Formation. It even documented his daily habits, as well as his visit to the Orphanage a few days ago with Anko from the Mitarashi family and Uzuki Yugao.

Fortunately, whenever Qingfeng used items produced by the System, he always hid alone in his room, cutting off any chance of outside observation.

As for the Rusted Katana he had sold, it could only be assumed to have been something his grandfather had stored in the Pharmacy. Since it had already been sold, it would not draw much suspicion.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe.

"How is the most important matter progressing?"

"The barrier has been set up, and the location is well concealed. The Anbu will escort her there when the time comes. Every possible precaution has been made."

Without question, they were discussing the imminent childbirth of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. In the end, the location had still been chosen outside the village.

"Biwako has more experience with this sort of thing. Have her go along when the time comes."

Hiruzen Sarutobi had arranged everything thoroughly. Minato Namikaze only needed to agree.

Meanwhile, when Qingfeng entered the Pharmacy, he found the two little troublemakers, Mitarashi Anko and Uzuki Yugao, inside.

Sure enough, only those two sisters would act as though they were not outsiders. Qingfeng did not intend to fuss over it. There was nothing valuable or special in the Pharmacy anyway.

Everything drawn from the System was stored in the System Inventory. As for anything else, Qingfeng was utterly broke, with no valuables to speak of.

When they saw Uchiha Qingfeng returning early, filthy and disheveled, his clothes torn to rags, it looked like he had gone through a fierce battle.

"Qingfeng, what happened to you? Did you lose a fight and run home?"

Though their words were somewhat sharp, the two still stepped forward and supported Qingfeng from either side.

After all, aside from saying a few excessive things at the beginning, Qingfeng had never provoked them again. They still remembered his expression at the Orphanage donation—how pained he looked, yet how he had no choice but to take out the money.

"Nonsense. Not only did I defeat two enemy spies, but I'll be receiving a reward in a couple of days. I'll treat you to a feast then."

Though the two sisters did not quite believe him, Qingfeng's weakness was real, so they did not argue.

"If possible, I hope the two of you can help me upstairs. I need to rest for a while."

Anko was somewhat annoyed by Qingfeng's inching demands. He had already walked himself home; helping him along was generous enough...

Catching a glimpse of Anko's expression, Qingfeng hurriedly added, "Or you can let go of me. I should be able to make it upstairs myself..."

Beside them, Uzuki Yugao gave a soft "Mm," reminding Anko why they had come here today.

Though unwilling, Anko and Yugao slowly helped Qingfeng up the stairs.

It had to be said, being cared for felt pretty good. The last person to care for Qingfeng had been Inuzuka Hana, but she had recently been busy at home feeding the dogs—Ninja Hounds—and had no time to come out. Inuzuka Tsume was about to have another baby, so Hana had no choice but to take over part of her work.

The moment Qingfeng reached the second floor, he noticed something different. The window that had originally been smashed was restored.

So they picked the lock and came in today to make up for their earlier mistake?

Qingfeng sat down on the floor without a care for appearances.

"If there's nothing else, you can leave."

Looking at Qingfeng sitting on the floor and hearing him chase them away, Anko truly wanted to kick him flying.

Even Uzuki Yugao did not look very pleased.

Qingfeng sensed that he might have said something wrong. Was it too late to salvage this? Urgent. Waiting online.

"Thank you very much for fixing the window. Go downstairs and rest for a while first. I'm too dirty, so I need to take a bath. Tonight, I'll treat you to barbecue and properly thank you."

"Hmph. That's more like it."

They were finally gone. To make sure it was safe, Qingfeng first scanned the area with the Sensory Technique. Only after finding no problems did he take out a potion from the System Inventory and drink a mouthful.

The Master Potion and Physical Enhancement Secret Medicine were forever the best!

Upon carefully sensing the changes, he found that drinking the Physical Enhancement Secret Medicine in this state increased the speed of bodily enhancement far more effectively than having a mouthful morning and night under normal circumstances.

His body was already very strong. Running laps alone no longer made him feel tired at all. But if he spent the entire day training taijutsu, he would have to temporarily set ninjutsu aside, and that was unacceptable.

It looked like he would have to change his daily "warm-up" routine in the future. From now on, he could only warm up by opening the Eight Inner Gates Formation. Accelerating the depletion should produce much better results.

Qingfeng put those thoughts aside. His body had already begun to recover, and he took a set of clothes into the bathroom. The clothes on his body were beyond repairing.

"Enemy spies were willing to expose themselves just to attack me. I've always kept a low profile, and those two had gone through great trouble to infiltrate Konoha and gather intelligence. There's no reason for them to take such a huge risk. There must be another reason."

"Thinking about Konoha's tense atmosphere lately... could it be because the crown prince is about to be born? Those two knew they could not avoid inspection, so they hastily targeted an Uchiha brat with an awakened Sharingan. That way, they could give an account when they returned and perhaps earn a little reward?"

Qingfeng had guessed almost everything correctly. Unfortunately, they had chosen the wrong target. Capturing him was far harder than capturing the Uchiha heir.