The Third Hokage's Attention

[Valor Points +50]

Cangyue paused just after landing on the ground from the treetop.

He had already reached the eaves, ready to head back to his room and sleep.

Now, however, he turned and cast a suspicious glance at the empty backyard.

Naruto had already left.

The Nine-Tails was isolated within the Sealing Space as well.

Who had given him these 50 Valor Points?

Cangyue opened the log. When he saw the source, his eyebrows slowly rose.

Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The Third Hokage was actually keeping an eye on this place.

After a moment's thought, Cangyue guessed why.

As the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto had gone to a classmate's house late at night. The Anbu assigned to watch him could hardly have ignored it.

What had happened tonight had probably already reached the Hokage's desk.

Cangyue lifted his head and glanced toward the distant Hokage Rock.

Drawing the Hokage's attention meant that every move he made from now on might come under the eyes of the Konoha High Command.

An ordinary Ninja Academy student would probably have been anxious by now.

But Cangyue soon looked away, pushed open the door, and went inside.

Let them watch.

There was always a way forward.

As long as he wanted to leave, the road lay beneath his feet.

He had anticipated this from the moment he decided to approach Naruto.

Besides, since Hiruzen Sarutobi had contributed Valor Points, tonight's events clearly had not stirred any hostility. Instead, they had provoked a considerable emotional response from the Hokage.

In a sense, he had simply gained another spectator.

The Hokage Building.

The office lights were still on.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk with a pipe between his lips. Before him, an Anbu wearing an animal mask knelt on one knee.

"What exactly were those two little fellows doing so late at night?"

The Anbu kept his head lowered and reported everything he had seen that evening.

After entering Cangyue's home, Naruto had first shared a meal with him.

Once they had finished, Naruto had washed the dishes while Cangyue went into the backyard.

For a while afterward, the two had simply lain on the grass. They had neither fought nor touched anything dangerous.

At this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's tense expression eased slightly.

Whether because of Minato Namikaze's dying request or the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's importance to Konoha, he had to ensure Naruto's safety.

Still, Naruto was willing to visit someone his own age, and someone was willing to invite him over for a meal. That was a good thing.

The boy had been lonely for far too long.

As long as Cangyue meant no harm, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no intention of stopping them from spending time together.

He picked up a match and relit his pipe.

"What happened afterward?"

The Anbu fell silent for a moment.

"When Naruto woke up, the bruising and swelling on his face had disappeared."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand froze in midair, still holding the pipe.

"Disappeared?"

"Yes."

The Anbu continued his report.

"His mental state changed as well. Afterward, Cangyue had him do Tree-Climbing Training."

"Naruto failed on his first two attempts. On the third, he maintained steady control over the chakra in the soles of his feet and successfully reached the treetop."

Clack.

The pipe struck the edge of the desk and nearly slipped from Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand.

He caught it in time, but the wrinkles on his face had already drawn together.

"How many attempts?"

"Three."

"Are you sure that was Naruto?"

The Anbu raised his head.

The animal mask concealed his expression, but his tone remained earnest.

"I'm certain."

The office fell silent.

Hiruzen Sarutobi put the pipe back between his lips and took a deep draw.

He knew Naruto's performance at the Ninja Academy all too well.

The boy possessed enormous reserves of chakra, but he could not control it precisely.

His Three Basic Techniques worked only intermittently, and his Clone Technique produced limp failures every single time.

Naruto's scores in theory were equally consistent.

Consistently near the bottom, of course.

At Naruto's previous level, mastering Tree-Climbing Training would have required countless attempts, even with a teacher guiding him.

Yet tonight, he had failed only twice.

Being in good form could no longer explain this.

"Did they do anything else while they were lying on the grass?"

"Cangyue covered Naruto's face with his palm."

The Anbu took a moment to recall the details.

"Neither of them formed any hand seals, and there were no obvious chakra fluctuations. They appeared to be sleeping."

Sleeping?

Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help recalling another report the Anbu had delivered earlier that day.

At the Riverbank, Cangyue had claimed that he trained in his dreams, then lain down in the pouring rain.

When he got up, his swordsmanship had suddenly reached an entirely new level. The Sword Intent he released had even briefly parted the curtain of rain.

At the time, Hiruzen Sarutobi had dismissed "training in his dreams" as a boy's attempt to sound mysterious.

That breakthrough in swordsmanship had most likely come from an insight Cangyue gained after the fight.

But now, Naruto had also slept for only a short while, and his chakra control had noticeably improved.

With one person, it could still be called a coincidence.

But what if it happened to both of them?

"Could it be..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi unconsciously pinched a strand of his beard.

Was the dream training that brat talked about real?

No sooner had the thought surfaced than he quickly suppressed it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi released his beard and leaned back in his chair.

In all his years, he had seen countless secret techniques, yet he had never heard of anyone completing their training simply by sleeping.

A more reasonable explanation was that Cangyue had mastered some special Mind Technique that allowed him to help others regulate their chakra while they slept.

The Anbu had simply been too far away to notice.

But why would a student who had yet to graduate know such a secret technique?

And how could he improve a jinchūriki's chakra control in such a short time?

Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a mouthful of smoke.

The white smoke curled upward, gradually obscuring his face.

Cangyue seemed to harbor more secrets than he had expected.

"Continue monitoring Naruto's condition."

"For now, don't interfere with their contact, and don't alert Cangyue."

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the desk.

"If anything abnormal happens to Naruto's body, report to me immediately."

"Yes."

The Anbu vanished after acknowledging the order.

Silence returned to the office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up Naruto's Ninja Academy records and placed the Anbu's latest report beside them.

On one side was a perennial dead-last student with terrible chakra control.

On the other was a student who had completed tree climbing after only two failures.

Placed together, the two records hardly seemed to describe the same person.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up and gazed out the window.

Konoha was quiet in the darkness.

Was Cangyue's talk of training in dreams mere nonsense, or some legacy that had never appeared before?

The embers in his pipe flickered.

Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly realized that he was actually beginning to look forward to Naruto's performance tomorrow.

Early the next morning.

The weekend was over, and the Ninja Academy came alive again.

Students entered the school gates in twos and threes, and the corridors filled with footsteps and conversation.

Yawning, Cangyue ambled toward the classroom.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"Morning, Cangyue!"

A familiar voice came from behind him.

Naruto bounded past several steps and leaped straight down from the turn in the staircase, landing steadily beside Cangyue.

His eyes were bright and his steps light, with no trace of fatigue from staying up late on his face.