The Important Thing Is the Process!

Naruto successfully lured Hiruzen Sarutobi out of the Hokage Office and led him to the Hokage Tower's lobby.

The people in the lobby respectfully greeted Hiruzen Sarutobi upon seeing him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi amiably returned their greetings one by one.

This saved Naruto a lot of trouble, since even though he said he wanted to show Hiruzen Sarutobi something, he hadn't actually figured out what to show him.

Meanwhile, Uzumaki Menma and the others, who were lying in wait in the shadows, saw Naruto leave with Hiruzen Sarutobi and slipped into the Hokage Office.

As soon as they entered the office, Uzumaki Menma, Shikamaru, and Choji began rummaging through everything.

Choji was about to lift a flowerpot to check underneath when Shikamaru reminded him, "Choji, don't bother looking under the flowerpot. The Hokage would probably not put it there. The Crystal Ball should be in a cabinet drawer or something."

"Huh? Oh." Choji put down the flowerpot and started searching the cabinets.

The rough way Uzumaki Menma and his friends were searching left Hinata dumbfounded.

"Um..."

Uzumaki Menma, Shikamaru, and Choji stopped what they were doing and looked at Hinata, asking, "What is it, Hinata?"

Hinata pointed to the messy books and documents on the floor, reminding them, "Um... aren't we here to steal the Crystal Ball? If we're stealing, won't this kind of rummaging make it obvious that someone stole something?"

Uzumaki Menma, Shikamaru, and Choji said in unison, "You're right!"

After saying that, they lowered their heads and continued searching, their movements even rougher than before, and the books and documents on the floor became even more chaotic.

Hinata was speechless. If she was right, why were they still doing this?

Shouldn't stealing involve gently picking things up and putting them back down without anyone noticing?

Shikamaru thoughtfully explained to Hinata, "It's already very messy here, and it's impossible to put everything back the way it was, so we can only make it even messier. That way, the Hokage might not even realize what's missing."

Hinata tilted her head, thinking there was some logic to that.

Watching the three of them searching so enthusiastically, Hinata also started searching nearby.

Since she was already on the boat, there was no getting off, so she might as well join in.

The short time Hinata had spent with Uzumaki Menma and the others had given her a feeling she had never experienced before.

It was joy!

After searching for a while...

"Found it!"

Uzumaki Menma found a Crystal Ball in a drawer of the desk.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata crowded around to examine the Crystal Ball in Uzumaki Menma's hand.

Choji reached out and poked the Crystal Ball with his finger. "Is this the Crystal Ball that Naruto said can see all of Konoha? It looks like jelly, and it looks very delicious."

Shikamaru retorted, "Idiot Choji, how can you eat this thing? But since this Crystal Ball is in the desk drawer, it should be the one. Now that we have it, let's get out of here."

The Crystal Ball was quite large, so it couldn't fit in a pocket. Uzumaki Menma stuffed the Crystal Ball into his shirt, holding the Crystal Ball in his clothes with both hands, and said, "Let's go!"

Uzumaki Menma, Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata left the Hokage Office, and even politely closed the door behind them.

Naruto, who was stalling Hiruzen Sarutobi on the first floor, couldn't hold on any longer.

Because Hiruzen Sarutobi had already started asking Naruto what he wanted to show him.

Naruto thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a way to fool Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Finally, his savior arrived.

Naruto saw Uzumaki Menma and his friends coming down from the second floor. Uzumaki Menma even gave him a 'success' gesture.

Naruto immediately said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Hokage Grandpa, I forgot to bring what I wanted to show you today! I'll bring it to you next time! Goodbye, Hokage Grandpa!"

After saying that, Naruto ran off as fast as he could.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Naruto leave and then returned to his office.

Seeing the messy office, Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head with a helpless smile.

He had noticed Uzumaki Menma and the others hiding in the shadows from the very beginning and understood that this was Naruto's diversion tactic.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi pretended not to know and left the office with Naruto.

For no other reason than that since Naruto and the others wanted to play, it wouldn't hurt for him to cooperate.

"Sigh, what an energetic bunch of little guys. It's going to be a pain to clean up. But I didn't expect Hiashi's eldest daughter to join Naruto's little group as well. That's good."

After cleaning up, Hiruzen Sarutobi realized that his Crystal Ball was missing and muttered in confusion, "It seems that this prank was Naruto's idea. After all, only Naruto knows about the existence of the Crystal Ball. But this Crystal Ball is no different from an ordinary Crystal Ball if it's not used with a technique."

Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair, took out his pipe, and started smoking, unable to suppress the smile on his face.

"Letting Danzo adopt Menma was really a good idea. Danzo's personality has changed so much, thanks to his grandson Menma. Now Naruto and Menma have more and more friends, and everything is developing in a good direction."

In a remote, abandoned training ground.

Uzumaki Menma and his friends were squatting together, studying how to use the Crystal Ball.

Uzumaki Menma asked, "Naruto, you're the only one who's seen the Hokage use this Crystal Ball. Do you know how to use it?"

Naruto scratched his head, "I don't know either. I just happened to see Hokage Grandpa looking at it with the Crystal Ball when I went to find him. And Hokage Grandpa was covering his nose, staring intently. But when he saw me, he hurriedly covered the Crystal Ball with a cloth.

"When I said I wanted to see too, Hokage Grandpa said he was using this Crystal Ball to observe Konoha's security. No matter how I begged, Hokage Grandpa wouldn't let me see."

Seeing that Naruto didn't know how to use the Crystal Ball, Hinata guessed, "Could it... could it have some kind of mechanism?"

Uzumaki Menma looked at the Crystal Ball from left to right, but it didn't seem to have any mechanism at all. After all, it's a transparent Crystal Ball, so if there were any mechanisms, they should be easy to spot.

The clever Shikamaru guessed, "Perhaps this Crystal Ball should be used with ninjutsu. Only after using a specific ninjutsu can images appear on the Crystal Ball."

Choji dejectedly lay down on the ground, "What a waste, after busying ourselves for so long, it's useless in the end."

Shikamaru also lay down, enjoying the warm sunlight shining on him.

'So comfortable~ Busying myself for so long isn't as comfortable as sunbathing.'

Uzumaki Menma threw the Crystal Ball aside, sighed, and lay down on the ground like Choji and Shikamaru. He had originally wanted to use the Crystal Ball to see what the women's bathhouse looked like.

Seeing Uzumaki Menma, Shikamaru, and Choji so dispirited, Naruto felt he needed to say something!

Naruto began his Talk no Jutsu with a firm and powerful voice, "What was our purpose in stealing the Crystal Ball? It was to have fun! The important thing isn't the result of stealing the Crystal Ball, but the process! We should be happy! Because we've already succeeded!"

Hinata looked at Naruto with stars in her eyes.

So cool!