Encounter

As evening approached, the afterglow of the Sun illuminated Konoha Village, as if soaked in a red dye.

Naruto's face stiffened as he pondered how to answer the question.

"How troublesome, I won't ask then." Shikamaru was a smart guy; the moment Naruto's face froze, he lazily said, flopping back onto the grass.

Since Naruto didn't want to answer, he wouldn't press him.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru gratefully, a Warmth smile spreading across his face.

He could roughly guess what Shikamaru was thinking; being able to know these three friends was truly worthwhile.

"What a useless crybaby!"

"Look at her eyes, so scary!"

"Haha, those eyes are disgusting."

Some noisy clamor arose not far from Naruto and his friends.

Accompanying it was a faint sobbing sound.

"Probably those guys bullying someone again."

Naruto said, patting his butt and standing up.

"Need any help?" Ino said lazily.

Choji, beside her, also stopped eating his potato chips and looked at Naruto.

The three of them were already used to Naruto meddling in other people's business. Although Naruto used to be bullied a lot, after gaining power, Naruto would instead protect the weak and uphold the justice in his heart.

This point made all three of them admire him.

Naruto smiled and replied, "No need, I'll go take a look and be back in a bit."

As he spoke, his figure had already disappeared from their sight.

With light footsteps, Naruto arrived at the source of the sound.

Through the dense forest, Naruto could clearly see those three bastards who used to bully him surrounding a girl.

The girl's appearance was unclear; her Xiao Xiao body was squatting on the ground, burying her face in her arms, not daring to look to the side, the soft sobs coming from her.

"Her eyes are so scary."

"Yeah, so disgusting."

"Hey, stop crying, quickly lift your head and let us take another look."

The three brats surrounded Hinata, spewing vile words.

This scene, however, gave Naruto an inexplicable sense of pity.

He felt that the girl in front of him was very similar to how he used to be.

Being mocked, cowardly, afraid to face things.

The more pity he felt in his heart, the more angry Naruto became. With a leap, he arrived beside the group and roared, "You guys are bullying someone again!"

His voice made the three who were still laughing stop abruptly. After clearly seeing Naruto's face, they subconsciously turned around and ran away.

Things were different now.

The monster they could bully at will was now a Genin, and they couldn't beat Naruto at all.

Watching the backs of the three running away, Naruto didn't plan to chase them.

He could understand children's mischievousness, but he couldn't change them.

This wasn't the first time Naruto had rescued someone being bullied by these three. He had once tried to change their childish prank ideas.

But he had never succeeded, and over time he gave up.

He couldn't just kill them all and bury them on the spot, could he?

"Are you okay?" Naruto came to the girl's side and squatted down, asking softly.

The girl was stunned, and her sobs stopped.

Somewhat cautiously, she raised her head from between her arms, looked at Naruto blankly, and quickly buried her head again.

The girl's actions made Naruto smile. He could probably understand the reason why those people bullied this girl.

"Very beautiful eyes." Naruto sincerely praised. The moment the girl raised her head, Naruto saw the girl's face clearly.

On her round and lovely face were a pair of pure white eyes.

The whites and pupils of these eyes were both white, and it was difficult to distinguish between the two without careful observation.

The girl's body trembled slightly, and she raised her head to look at Naruto again. This time, she didn't bury her head again, but just stared straight at Naruto.

Noticing the girl's courage, Naruto extended a hand, revealing a gentle smile, and said, "What's your name? I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Uzumaki Naruto.

Hinata repeated this name in her heart, and answered softly, "I... I'm Hinata."

As she spoke, she also stretched out her fair little hand to hold Naruto's palm.

"Lord Danzo."

The first thing Fugaku did after returning to the camp with his clansmen was to come to Danzo's tent.

Danzo glanced at the somewhat restrained Fugaku and asked, "Have you finished talking?"

"I have explained everything to the clansmen. They don't want to be enemies with the village either. I implore Lord Danzo to help us mediate. I will also resolve the radical voices within the clan as soon as possible," Fugaku nodded and said.

"That's natural." Danzo gestured for him to sit down next to him.

Fugaku sat nervously next to Danzo. When he was a child, he often heard his father talk about Danzo's prestige, compared to Sarutobi Sasuke, a senior he respected.

Danzo was a childhood shadow that frightened him.

This shadow accompanied him as he became a Ninja and the Clan Head, until now.

Especially recently, Danzo's shadow on him had become deeper and deeper. He sometimes even had the illusion that Danzo knew him better than he knew himself.

Danzo asked plainly, "You have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, haven't you?"

His tone was certain and calm, as if he were stating something commonplace.

Yet, this sentence made Fugaku's heart race wildly. As expected, he wasn't mistaken; Danzo definitely knew him better than he knew himself.

"Yes," Fugaku answered nervously, cautiously glancing at Lord Danzo.

The Mangekyo Sharingan was an eye only Madara Uchiha possessed, capable of bringing earth-shattering power to its awakeners. With such eyes, Lord Danzo should be very wary of him, right?

"That's good then."

However, Danzo's attitude was completely different from what he had imagined. He said calmly, "Since you have awakened the Mangekyo, then I'll leave the Two-Tails Jinchuriki to you to deal with."

"The Two-Tails Jinchuriki?"

Fugaku asked, his eyes widening, "Cloud Village has used a Jinchuriki?"

Danzo nodded, "Only the Two-Tails."

Fugaku: . . .

What do you mean 'only the Two-Tails'?

Any of the Tailed Beasts are difficult to deal with.

Fugaku asked with a heavy expression, "Do the others know about this news?"

Seemingly because of Danzo's words, the aura within the entire tent began to solidify. This was undoubtedly bad news.

Tailed Beasts were humanoid weapons, and the use of each Tailed Beast meant there would be widespread casualties.

If this news were known by others in the camp, it would definitely cause a small-scale commotion.

To send a Tailed Beast into battle right at the start of the war, truly worthy of Cloud Ninja.

Danzo shook his head, "They don't know. I didn't tell them. Only Root and I know about this."

"Why not tell the other team leaders?" Fugaku was somewhat puzzled. He understood not making the news public, but why not tell the other team leaders?

"The others don't know the power of the Mangekyo. Telling them will only increase their pressure. Besides the Jinchuriki, there are other guys more troublesome than Tsuchikage," Danzo explained.