Traveling Frog ×1?

At four in the afternoon, Sōkyū Hatake finally prepared to leave home and head to Hokage Rock to check in.

"Lord Danzo, Sōkyū Hatake is on his way here." The Root ninja who had been keeping watch appeared before Danzo and began reporting on Sōkyū Hatake.

"He finally left?" At this point, Danzo just wanted to curse.

What the hell? He was only leaving home now?

Over the past few days, Sōkyū Hatake had generally arrived here around noon, but today he was only coming over at this hour.

Danzo felt rather aggrieved. The mosquitoes had bitten him and left several large welts.

"Yes, Lord Danzo. While keeping watch on Sōkyū Hatake, I discovered some secrets of the Hatake Clan," the Root ninja said excitedly. He felt he had obtained something very valuable for Danzo.

"Secrets of the Hatake Clan?" Danzo looked at the Root ninja in confusion.

Back when the Second Hokage had led Konoha, many clans had handed over some of their secret manuals. Some of the contents of the Scroll of Seals were treasured secrets from those clans.

Moreover, Danzo had read the Scroll of Seals himself. Although the Hatake Clan had handed over its Hatake swordsmanship to Konoha, Danzo did not think the clan had any other secrets.

"Yes. I discovered that Sōkyū Hatake was practicing a secret technique very similar to the Body Flicker Technique, and it doesn't require chakra." The Root ninja told him everything he had just seen.

He even personally demonstrated Sōkyū Hatake's frog-jump movements for Danzo.

"You mean... this movement?" Danzo was rather bewildered, but he still tried to copy Sōkyū Hatake's frog jumps.

But at that moment, Danzo did not realize how his movements looked to others...

"Yes, just like that. After practicing for a few hours, Sōkyū Hatake could use that secret technique similar to the Body Flicker Technique," the Root ninja said with absolute conviction.

He had indeed witnessed it himself, which was why the Root ninja had directly connected the frog jumps with Soru.

Meanwhile, Danzo pondered the frog jumps. Without realizing it, he had already jumped out of his hiding place...

Just then, Sōkyū Hatake had reached the vicinity of Hokage Rock. As he was about to arrive, a figure suddenly frog-jumped out from beside the bushes?

For a moment, Sōkyū Hatake froze. What...?

What was going on?

Why... had Danzo jumped out of the bushes and landed in front of him like that?

And... that movement... was that a frog jump?

"Um... Lord... Danzo, what are you doing here?" Sōkyū Hatake asked rather mechanically. He had recognized Danzo.

Although he was somewhat confused, Sōkyū Hatake could not just leave now.

After all, with Danzo's suspicious nature, would leaving so abruptly cause some sort of misunderstanding?

Besides, he had nothing to feel guilty about.

There was just one thing Sōkyū Hatake was unsure about. Now that he had seen Danzo doing frog jumps...

Would a petty man like Danzo... kill him to keep him quiet?

I let my guard down.

"Ahem, you're Sōkyū Hatake?" Only then did Danzo realize that his movements had been just a teensy, enormous bit... abnormal?

"Yes, Lord Danzo. What are you doing here?" Sōkyū Hatake did his best not to do anything strange.

Although he did not know why Danzo had appeared like that, he still had to stay alert.

"Ahaha, I just happened to come here for a walk. You didn't see anything just now, did you?" Danzo stood up with a constipated expression. He wanted to ascertain whether Sōkyū Hatake had seen his movements.

Of course, if Sōkyū Hatake admitted it, he would not mind giving him a beating that induced amnesia.

"Well, um, I was just looking at the scenery over there. Lord Danzo, if there's nothing else, I'll be leaving." Sōkyū Hatake swallowed.

I really don't want Danzo getting his hands on me.

With that, Sōkyū Hatake quickly walked past Danzo and went straight to Hokage Rock.

He opened the system. There was a check-in button in the bottom-left corner.

[Check in at Hokage Rock?]

[Yes/No]

Looking at the system prompt, Sōkyū Hatake did not hesitate at all and clicked [Yes].

[Detected that the host has completed today's task. One check-in attempt awarded!]

[Ding!]

[Check-in successful!]

[Location: Hokage Rock, Konoha!]

[Check-in count: 6/365]

[Check-in successful!]

[Congratulations to the host on obtaining Traveling Frog ×1 (one-time use)!]

Traveling Frog?

Sōkyū Hatake was rather stunned. What was this thing?

While Sōkyū Hatake was puzzling over it, a little frog suddenly appeared on his shoulder. A lotus leaf shaped like a four-leaf clover covered most of its head like a hat.

"Lord Danzo?" After the frog appeared, the Root ninja noticed it as well. None of them had seen how the little frog had appeared on Sōkyū Hatake's shoulder.

"Let's take a look." As Danzo watched the little frog on Sōkyū Hatake's shoulder, his expression returned to its original coldness.

Then he strode over to Sōkyū Hatake.

"Sōkyū Hatake, what's that on your shoulder?" Danzo forced a smile onto his face, though that smile looked just a teensy, enormous bit awkward.

"This? It's just a pet I keep. It was in my clothes just now. I happened to come here to let it get some sun." Sōkyū Hatake turned around and explained.

A pet? A little frog? Getting some sun???

That string of explanations left Danzo somewhat speechless.

Are you taking advantage of my lack of experience?

Whose frog would sit out in the open sun like that?

"I see. Sōkyū Hatake, I heard about your father. White Fang was a very powerful ninja. His passing weighed heavily on me as well."

Danzo realized he had better stop chatting with Sōkyū Hatake about random things. He still needed to proceed according to his original plan and win Sōkyū Hatake over through family affection.

"About my father..." Sōkyū Hatake lowered his head, keeping Danzo from seeing his expression.

Weren't you the old bastard stirring things up behind the scenes to bring about Hatake Sakumo's death? Why are you playing the caring elder now?