The outcome

Still shaken, Naruto stared in fright at the tip of the Kunai right in front of him. A few strands of blond hair had even been sliced off his forehead. "Careful, careful! It's me!"

"Y-you... how did you get here?" Sasuke Uchiha's eyes went wide. Naruto had suddenly appeared right before him, and he had nearly thrown his Kunai. The shock left him stammering.

This was his and Itachi's secret base. Although it was really just a place where Itachi had trained years ago and hardly ever visited anymore, no one besides Sasuke should have known about it.

Besides, he was only sneaking out to practice at night because he had talked tough in front of Naruto that morning. More importantly, this place was inside the Uchiha Clan's grounds!

"Ah, it's a long story. I was, uh... desperate enough to try anything." Naruto gently nudged aside the Kunai still pointed at his head with a finger and chuckled. "It's fine. Just pretend I was never here. Let me find the right spot... got it!"

As soon as Naruto finished speaking, he suddenly vanished before Sasuke's eyes again, leaving him dumbfounded. Sasuke hurriedly rubbed his eyes, even wondering whether he had practiced so much that he was hallucinating.

At that moment, Sasuke desperately wished he could awaken his Sharingan.

Naruto appeared again, but this time, he had returned neither home nor to the place he had just left. Instead, he arrived at the training ground he had visited before.

"Guy said this was a training ground assigned to the village's Jonin. I wonder if I can find any other ninja here." Naruto looked around, puzzled that someone had ambushed him inside the village without anyone noticing.

If he had not just seen Sasuke using the Flying Thunder God Technique, he would have thought something had happened to the entire village.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Before Naruto could even start searching, a familiar, kindly voice sounded behind him. Wearing ordinary robes, the Third Hokage approached like an old man out for a stroll.

"Grandpa Hokage?" Naruto looked at him in surprise and hurried over. "Listen, listen! Just now, I..."

As the Third Hokage listened to Naruto's account, his expression grew increasingly grave. Then he nodded. "Don't worry, Naruto. I understand. This is dangerous, so I'll send someone to deal with it right away. Are you hurt?"

"No, no. I was really careful. That guy had lightning on his hand. I didn't dare touch it." Naruto looked troubled. "Sorry, Grandpa Hokage. I didn't get a good look at his face."

"Is that so? That really is a shame." Hearing that, the Third Hokage actually felt relieved. It seemed Kakashi would not have to leave the village for now.

Naruto kept telling the Third Hokage about the danger he had just faced, and the Third nodded repeatedly.

It looks like Kakashi did a very thorough job. Still, I'll have to ask him exactly how Naruto escaped at the end.

Once Naruto had more or less finished his account, the Third finally found an opportunity to interrupt.

"Naruto, go study at the Ninja Academy," the Third said suddenly, his expression serious. "The village will do everything it can to prevent dangerous situations like this, but this world is simply that dangerous."

"Although you now have some ability to protect yourself, battles between ninja aren't just about running away. If you truly dream of becoming Hokage, then learn all you can at the academy and become an outstanding ninja!"

Go to school?

Naruto was a little stunned.

"And you'll get to make plenty of friends, too." The Third dropped his serious expression, smiled, and winked at him.

After Naruto finished recounting what had happened and the Third Hokage learned what he wanted to know, he did not leave right away. He had only briefly brought up attending the academy; planting the idea in Naruto's mind was enough.

Soon, the Third led Naruto back to the road he had been taking home.

All along the way, Naruto stayed alert, scanning his surroundings and even darting and hopping about. By contrast, the Third Hokage, who was supposedly protecting him, remained cheerful, looking for all the world like an old man taking a stroll after dinner.

"It's just up ahead. Be careful, Grandpa Hokage. We should hide." As they approached the spot, Naruto hurried behind a tree, narrowed his eyes to survey the area, then cautiously beckoned to the Third.

"All right, all right." Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled and played along with Naruto's antics. He was in such a wonderful mood that even if Naruto had asked to relieve himself on Hokage Rock, the Third probably would have watched with a smile.

Hiding behind the tree, Naruto feinted with his hand and suddenly poked his head out. After a series of antics that were hard not to laugh at, he finally worked up the courage to leap out with both hands full of Shuriken. But what he saw left his wary expression frozen in bewilderment.

Although it was already evening, the street was as busy as ever, with plenty of people coming and going. Some were even familiar faces.