The Third's surprise

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Inside the room.

Yecheng walked upright along the wall, soon reaching the ceiling, where he actually "stood" upside down like a bat.

"The Six Eyes really lived up to their name!"

Yecheng exclaimed in admiration, then flipped over and landed on the floor.

In the original story, Tree Walking and Water Walking were training exercises undertaken only after graduating from the Ninja Academy and becoming a Genin, meant to improve a ninja's chakra control.

Developing this ability offered many benefits and was one of the fundamentals every ninja had to master.

With the Six Eyes helping him, however, Yecheng could already do it easily after just a little practice.

In other words, in terms of chakra control alone, many Genin were not even at his current level!

This was all thanks to the atomic-level chakra control the Six Eyes provided.

And this was merely the result of Yecheng practicing for a short while.

As long as he continued training, he would certainly reach even greater heights.

"Time to go fishing."

After checking the time, Yecheng decided to head to the river for their appointment.

He still had no money for today's meals.

By the river.

When Yecheng arrived, he found Naruto already there.

The bucket he had brought already held a few small fish.

"Hey, Naruto. You're here early today."

Yecheng assembled his makeshift fishing rod as usual and sat down two or three meters away from Naruto.

At this distance, they would not interfere with each other.

"Yecheng, you're finally here! I want to learn how to grill fish soon!"

Seeing Yecheng, Naruto immediately called out happily, startling the fish in the river into scattering in every direction.

"Naruto, keep your voice down. You'll scare all the fish away."

Yecheng spoke helplessly.

"Sorry, sorry..."

Naruto's little face reddened, and he immediately scratched his head with an embarrassed smile before sitting back down.

He was truly happy to have someone who did not reject him, dislike him, or fear him, someone who could play and chat with him.

Everyone in the village shunned him. Aside from Grandpa Third, almost everyone looked at him with a mixture of disgust and fear.

Naruto understood all of this.

After they parted yesterday, he had been truly afraid-afraid that when he woke up the next day, everything that had happened yesterday would turn out to be a dream, afraid that he would return to the river and not find Yecheng.

There was no describing how happy and excited he was to see Yecheng again.

Having come prepared today, Yecheng put his Six Eyes to full use and soon caught an entire bucket of fish, weighing several dozen kilograms by his rough estimate.

Never mind feeding the two of them; it would have been more than enough even to supply a restaurant.

Yecheng expertly built a campfire. He had just finished cleaning a fish and was about to put it over the fire to grill when he heard a splash from beside him.

Naruto had shouted, "A big fish!" and plunged headfirst into the river.

Yet after all that thrashing and splashing, Naruto still did not surface.

Yecheng inwardly cursed. Most likely, the rocks on the riverbed were too slippery, and the big fish was struggling desperately. Naruto might drown.

He hurried out onto the river, stepping on the water's surface, hauled Naruto out of the water, and dragged him ashore.

"Naruto, you've really got some nerve, jumping straight into the river like that."

Yecheng could not help instinctively launching into a lecture.

With his mature mind, he had always been Yakushi Nonō's right-hand man at the orphanage, helping discipline the orphans and serving as their "big brother."

Seeing Naruto do something so dangerous, he had instinctively treated him as one of the children at the orphanage and begun lecturing him.

Only after speaking did he belatedly realize that Naruto was not a child from the orphanage, and he hastily stopped.

Besides, there were surely ANBU ninja secretly watching Naruto. Even if he really did drown, they would rescue him. Yecheng had been meddling unnecessarily.

But Naruto did not see it that way.

Ever since he was little, he had always been alone. Watching other people impatiently endure lectures and scoldings from their parents and older siblings, all he felt was envy.

And today, someone was finally willing to scold and lecture him too.

He felt warmth in his heart, the feeling of being cared about.

"Sorry, Yecheng. I just wanted to catch this big fish for you..."

Naruto spoke hurriedly, even holding out the blackfish he had been clutching tightly to his chest, which was fully half his own size.

...Please don't leave because of this. But he could not get the second half out.

Tsk, being too observant isn't always a good thing. Isn't everything he wants to say written all over his face?

Yecheng sighed inwardly and flicked him on the forehead, feigning anger. "No matter how big the fish is, is it worth more than your life? You need to value yourself more!"

"Ow!"

The blackfish fell to the ground and flopped desperately while Naruto covered his reddening forehead with both hands.

Although Yecheng had flicked him hard and his forehead hurt, Naruto felt happy inside.

He could tell that Yecheng was scolding him because he cared about him, not because he disliked him.

His eyes were different from everyone else's in the village!

Just then, an elderly voice came from the side. "He's quite right, Naruto. You need to value yourself more."

"Grandpa Third!"

Seeing the newcomer, Naruto cried out in delighted surprise.

Yecheng also bowed slightly and said respectfully, "Lord Third."

The newcomer was none other than Konohagakure's current leader-the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi!

"None of that, none of that. We're not on official business right now. I'm just an old man out for a stroll."

Hiruzen Sarutobi waved a hand with a genial smile.

In fact, he had already discovered Yecheng's contact with Naruto through the Crystal Ball yesterday. But seeing that the two were close in age and that Yecheng meant no harm, he had taken no action for the time being, merely having someone investigate Yecheng's background.

Today, he had finally found the time to come here and take a look.

He had not expected to witness something surprising the moment he arrived.

He just attached chakra to the soles of his feet and walked across the water to rescue Naruto. At only six years old, his chakra control is already this strong?

Looking at the boy's head of white hair, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt for a moment as though he were seeing that equally white-haired young prodigy from over a decade ago.

Konoha's hereditary old-age farsightedness was kicking in, so to speak.

Hiruzen Sarutobi considered the matter privately. Yecheng's background was quite clear. He had been brought to the Konoha Orphanage as an infant and raised there, leaving almost no possibility that he was a spy.

How had a child like this escaped being recruited into Root by that old fellow Danzo and trained from an early age?

He knew Danzo had been secretly extending his influence into the orphanage, searching for promising children to recruit into Root. He had even used its funding budget to pressure the director, who possessed outstanding Medical Ninjutsu skills, into working for Root.

Yecheng had always been raised and cared for by Yakushi Nonō. Under her protection, concealing his talent as a ninja would have posed no problem.

Presumably, she did not want him entering an environment as dark as Root.

Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly "figured out" the connections.

This boy Yecheng has a bright future. He ought to become an inheritor of Konoha's Will of Fire and contribute to the village's development.

I should give him some extra attention.