Talent

Far away in the Hokage Building, Sarutobi looked at Naruto's face on the Crystal Ball, then glanced somewhat dazedly at Danzo beside him.

"You really have changed."

The moment Naruto took the initiative to approach Danzo, the Anbu had reported it to Sarutobi. Given Sarutobi's original temperament, he would have appeared immediately to stop them.

But after their conversation yesterday, Sarutobi actually felt somewhat guilty toward his old friend. Patiently, he used the Telescope Technique to observe the two of them.

The Telescope Technique could only reveal images, not sound.

However, through the Anbu secretly following them, Sarutobi had more or less learned what was happening.

He had never expected Danzo, who had once wanted to turn Naruto into a fighting machine, to now patiently teach him about acceptance and trust.

But this was a good thing. Sarutobi dispatched another squad of Anbu to follow them and stopped paying attention to the two.

Should Danzo intend to teach Naruto any extreme ideas, those Anbu would naturally step in to stop him.

Danzo's strength was far from what it had once been, and these Anbu could monitor him well enough.

Meanwhile, the Root ninja had already reported the increase in Anbu around them to Danzo.

Noticing that the feeling of being watched had vanished, Danzo could more or less guess that Sarutobi had been spying on him again.

"Uncle Dan, I still can't control the Chakra inside my body." Naruto stood before Danzo, looking somewhat dejected. "Every time I try to mobilize my Chakra, it takes a lot of effort. Am I really that stupid?"

Ever since he had learned to extract Chakra, he had found it difficult to mobilize the Chakra in his body and make it circulate.

Hearing this, not only did Danzo roll his eyes, but even the Anbu Ninja hidden nearby could not help rolling his eyes as well.

After their brief interactions and confirming that Naruto's values were indeed extremely positive, Danzo had begun planning to teach Naruto to become a ninja.

It was important to keep the child of destiny firmly in his grasp.

And the most basic requirement for becoming a ninja was Chakra.

After teaching Naruto how to extract Chakra, Danzo was dumbfounded. The Anbu Ninja hidden in the shadows were equally dumbfounded.

On his very first attempt at extraction, Naruto had successfully extracted a considerable amount of Chakra.

His Chakra reserves could be explained by the Uzumaki Clan bloodline and his identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

But Naruto had successfully extracted Chakra on his first attempt.

If it was not because Danzo's teaching ability was maxed out, then it had to be because of Naruto's talent.

According to the original Danzo's memories, even he had spent nearly an entire day before successfully mastering Chakra extraction.

And Naruto...

Danzo coughed, his expression calm as he said, "It's only the first day. Everything takes time. Your talent is decent, but compared to your father and Uncle Dan, you're still just a little behind."

"Because of the Nine-Tails inside your body, your Chakra reserves are much greater than ordinary people's, but they are also harder to control."

Naruto asked in confusion, "What effect does it have if it's hard to control?"

"Every bit of Chakra is extremely precious, especially in battle."

"Better control over your Chakra lets you conserve Chakra when using ninjutsu."

"At the same time, Chakra control and mastery over ninjutsu determine how powerful your ninjutsu will be."

As Danzo explained, he slowly formed hand seals.

"This is a Rank C Wind Release ninjutsu, Vacuum Sphere. Remember my hand seals and their order." To conceal the speed of his hands, Danzo deliberately slowed down even further as he spoke to Naruto.

Chakra gathered within his body, and an invisible blast of air shot from Danzo's mouth toward a large tree nearby.

Bang.

Though it was only a Rank C ninjutsu, with Danzo controlling the amount of Chakra, it merely made the tree sway.

"I controlled the amount of Chakra just now, so its power was reduced." Danzo explained at Naruto's puzzled look. "Next, I'll release the Chakra and use the same hand seals to increase this ninjutsu's power."

He demonstrated it once more using the same method.

But as the Chakra within Danzo's body was fully released, a huge, tangible mass of wind visible to the naked eye burst from his mouth and charged toward the tree with fierce, swift force.

After a brief collision and booming crash, Naruto stared wide-eyed at the tree, which had shattered into several pieces.

"Under my control, the same Rank C Vacuum Sphere can reach Rank B, or even a level no weaker than Rank A." Danzo spoke proudly.

Though the original Danzo had mastered four Chakra natures, he had studied Wind Release in exceptional depth.

If Sarutobi was a Doctor of Ninjutsu proficient in all five transformations, then Danzo was a Wind Release master who had received the Second Hokage's teachings and focused solely on one nature.

Because he had inherited Danzo's memories, he was extremely skilled at controlling the flow of Chakra.

No wonder Lord Danzo earned Father's praise, the Anbu Ninja observing from the shadows thought.

Even though he had awakened the Sharingan's copying ability, without absolute mastery of the wind nature, even if he copied Danzo's ninjutsu, he would be unable to unleash the same power.

Naruto's eyes lit up as he tugged on Danzo's clothes and shouted, "Uncle Dan, teach me that!"

"Wait until you can control the Chakra in your body flexibly." Danzo curled his lips. With the Nine-Tails' interference, it would not be easy for Naruto to gain flexible Chakra control.

"Come on, let's go eat ramen."

Pulling Naruto along, Danzo stopped him from eagerly wanting to keep climbing trees. "I forgot to pay Teuchi yesterday. Today, I'll have to eat a few extra bowls to apologize to him."

"Eh!"

Naruto widened his eyes and suppressed his desire to continue training.

Now that he had such a great Uncle Dan, he had to introduce him to Ichiraku Uncle and Sister Ayame.

"Shikamaru, this is so boring. Think of some fun game we can play."

Just then, a somewhat mischievous, childish voice rang out.

The familiar name made Danzo turn around. A group of three was walking toward them: one fat, one thin, and one girl.

The chubby boy held snacks in his hand, continuously stuffing them into his mouth.

The girl with a blond ponytail tugged on the skinny boy's arm. "So boring, so boring!"

"Please don't. What a hassle." The skinny boy replied lazily, his face full of helplessness.

Ino-Shika-Cho.

Danzo recognized the three immediately.

He and Naruto had not gone to the Training Field. At present, the Training Field had long been occupied by ninja groups making preparations for war.

They were currently in a relatively secluded park, and because Naruto was there, it was now completely deserted.

The three approaching them also spotted Naruto and Danzo. They had initially seemed surprised by the empty park, but upon seeing Naruto, they understood.

So this kid is here.