Ch.18 Skipping Stones

"I understand." Uchiha Shinji took out his key to open the door. Before entering his house, he said to Iruka, "Thank you for helping me with the travel pass this morning."

Iruka was momentarily stunned, then said, "No need to thank me."

Shinji nodded, entered the house, and closed the door.

Lying on his bed, he finally relaxed a bit.

Since Haku hadn't been arrested, it meant that last night's events hadn't been exposed.

So Hidden Mist is pressuring the village for Haku…

He chuckled to himself.

Initially, he had some uncertainty about who Haku was working for, but with Hidden Mist's actions today, he was now certain—Haku was indeed a spy Hidden Mist had planted in the Hidden Leaf.

Hidden Mist's actions today:

On the surface, they were putting pressure on the Hidden Leaf, but secretly, they were actually protecting Haku.

The logic behind it was quite clear.

And it was perfectly reasonable for the Hidden Leaf to take Haku in.

First of all.

Haku came from the Yuki clan, which was wiped out by Hidden Mist. As a survivor of the Yuki clan, everyone would assume Haku harbored deep hatred toward Hidden Mist.

Secondly.

Hidden Mist had once orchestrated the rampage of the Three-Tails in the Hidden Leaf Village.

It was in this battle that Kakashi had to kill Nohara Rin, who had been forcibly made the Three-Tails' jinchūriki.

This event had created a deep grudge between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Mist, so it made sense that the upper echelons of the Hidden Leaf wouldn't miss any opportunity to irritate Hidden Mist.

Finally.

Haku was likely the last shinobi in the current world who possessed the Ice Release Bloodline Limit.

By taking in Haku, there was a chance that, in a few decades, the Hidden Leaf could develop its own Ice Release Bloodline Limit.

With the motivation, the benefits, and the ability to rule out the possibility of Haku being a Hidden Mist spy, the village's decision to take in Haku made perfect sense.

After all, it was inconceivable that Hidden Mist would wipe out one of its own Bloodline Limit clans just to plant a spy.

Shinji shook his head as he thought about this.

The village might have miscalculated this time!

Although Haku had the Ice Release Bloodline Limit, he had already been living outside his clan before Hidden Mist wiped out the Yuki clan, which showed he wasn't a direct heir of the clan.

And with Haku's personality, it was hard to say how much hatred he actually held.

In the original timeline, the reason he followed Zabuza and was even willing to sacrifice his life for him wasn't about revenge against Hidden Mist.

Shinji thought to himself: If the village really hands Haku over, it'll be a joke!

And that wasn't out of the question.

If Hidden Mist were to be a bit more assertive, even threatening war, the village, which was currently weak despite its strong appearance, might actually hand Haku over.

Things like that had happened before.

Now that Shinji was sure Haku was a Hidden Mist spy, another question puzzled him: Was Hidden Mist's mission for Haku to get close to me on purpose?

He didn't understand Hidden Mist's motives behind this.

However, with Hidden Mist's actions today, the likelihood of the village investigating Haku had dropped, which also meant Shinji would be safer as a result.

[The world is under invasion.]

[Countdown: 2 days]

At that moment, the mysterious voice rang out again, signaling the approaching invasion.

Shinji immediately sat up from his bed, clearing his thoughts, and temporarily set aside his concerns about Haku to focus on his own plans.

If I can get Uchiha Fugaku's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan before the invasion, I'll be much safer. I might even be able to farm the invasion for a higher rating and better rewards!

You want me to save the shinobi world? Sorry, I'm here to milk it for rewards!

Shinji mused to himself as he unfolded a map of the Hidden Leaf Village on his bed.

Excluding the central districts—residential areas, the Hokage Tower, the hospital, and the ninja academy—this area belongs to the Hyūga Clan… this area is Nara Clan's deer grounds… this area is the Inuzuka Clan's dog kennel… and this area is the Aburame Clan's insect chambers…

He used a pen to gradually mark off and eliminate areas on the map.

Shinji had no idea where Danzo's base was, so he could only search for clues on the map.

The Hidden Leaf Village wasn't small, but it wasn't overwhelmingly large either.

By eliminating the key areas—the commercial district, residential areas, and clan grounds—there weren't many regions left.

After ruling out some of the outlying corners, Shinji's attention locked onto one specific area.

Is the Root base really here?

He found it hard to believe.

This particular area was incredibly close to the Uchiha Clan's grounds. If Danzo had set up his headquarters here, it would mean that whether or not the Uchiha clan ever intended to rebel, Danzo was already planning to wipe them out.

He recalled the memory fragments left by the original owner of this body.

It did seem like the original owner rarely ventured into that area, as if it was some sort of forbidden zone.

Next, he circled a few other suspicious areas on the map, which also had the potential to be Danzo's base.

After finishing this, he put the map away and walked to the window.

The sky was gradually darkening, and the streetlights had already turned on.

In the distance, the lights were still on in the ninja academy, where the teachers seemed to be making their final preparations for tomorrow's Chūnin Exams.

Only if there's chaos in the village during the Chūnin Exams can I take action!

Shinji wasn't going to act recklessly this time—he needed to wait for the right opportunity.

...

Elsewhere in the village.

After being interrogated by the ANBU all night, Sasuke had slept through the day. After waking up, he went out, grabbed something to eat, and then wandered aimlessly, eventually arriving at a small river.

Why is the whole world against me? Damn it!

Remembering the events of last night, he couldn't suppress his anger.

At that moment, his gaze was drawn to a figure on the opposite bank of the river.

He recognized the person—Uzumaki Naruto, a boy with the rumor of being the "Fox Demon Child" circulating at the ninja academy, someone Sasuke normally wouldn't care about.

Yet Naruto, much like Sasuke himself, was wandering around aimlessly despite it being nighttime, seemingly with nowhere to go.

Perhaps it was the similarity of their situations.

Naruto, standing on the opposite bank, also noticed Sasuke on the other side.

The two of them silently sized each other up across the small river.

After a moment, Naruto walked to the riverbank, picked up a flat stone, and skipped it across the water toward Sasuke.

Plop… plop… plop…

The stone skimmed across the surface of the water with crisp sounds, forming a series of ripples as it headed toward Sasuke.

On this side, Sasuke stretched out his right hand and effortlessly caught the skipping stone.

On the other side, Naruto smiled and waved at him.

Sasuke thought to himself: That guy... everyone hates him, so how can he still smile so happily?

Though he didn't understand, he found himself unexpectedly affected by Naruto's smile. His previously dark mood suddenly felt a bit lighter.

Boom!

Just as Sasuke was about to throw the stone back across the river, an explosion sounded from the nearby woods behind him.

Sasuke turned to look: Was that a firework?

At that moment, he didn't notice that the two ANBU assigned to secretly guard both him and Naruto had already vanished, rushing toward the small woods where the explosion had occurred.