Naraku and Kakashi walked off the field, supporting each other, their conversation completely baffling the audience.
"No, Old Thief, do you really need that little bit of traffic money? What are they even saying? Explain it to me clearly!"
"Naraku comforting Kakashi is kind of funny; it's like he's comforting a child."
"He agreed the moment it was mentioned that it would be charged to Sakumo's account. What exactly did Sakumo do to Kakashi, hahahahahaha?"
"That strange jutsu mentioned earlier couldn't have been Sakumo's doing, could it?"
"It's very possible, hahahaha."
The scene shifted to the Hokage's Office, where Hiruzen Sarutobi held two pieces of paper, staring at them for a long time. He puffed on his pipe, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke.
"These are troubled times," he sighed, casually placing the papers on the desk. He turned to an empty corner and instructed, "Go and invite Uchiha Fugaku over."
The next second, a masked figure appeared in the previously empty corner, bowed, and responded, "Yes." Then, he vanished.
The camera zoomed in on the two pieces of paper on the desk, which were clearly the promotion documents for Kakashi and Naraku, already stamped with a red seal.
"No, what does 'troubled times' mean? Is Hiruzen Sarutobi unhappy that the Village has geniuses?"
"Something's not right; something is one hundred percent not right."
"Ever since he became Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi has become increasingly inscrutable."
"What is he planning? What happened?"
With the audience's questions, this episode came to an end.
The audience was unclear, but Naraku, who knew the Uchiha Clan's fate, understood perfectly.
The Uchiha Clan had always been a target for the Third's faction. Now, a genius like Kakashi had emerged, who was also Sakumo's disciple.
If the Uchiha and Sakumo's forces were to unite, it was uncertain if the next Hokage would be the person he favored to inherit the position.
This situation instinctively made Hiruzen Sarutobi, who always prioritized Konoha's stability, feel threatened.
He needed to probe Uchiha Fugaku to see if he had any intentions of vying for the position of the next Hokage.
If not, he would let the matter rest for now.
If he did, he would suppress him with all his might.
Always seeking stability, he did not want to see Konoha split due to the Uchiha Clan contending for the Hokage position, nor would he allow the prejudiced and radical Uchiha to become Hokage.
In his view, whether the Uchiha succeeded or not, it would lead Konoha into an abyss.
Therefore, such a possibility could not be allowed to emerge from the start.
Naraku could only pray that Uchiha Fugaku wouldn't get carried away and blurt out everything.
He truly couldn't guess what was going on in this big brother's mind.
Leaving aside him taking his four-year-old son to the battlefield and his various actions after the Night of the Nine-Tails, just consider the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre.
What normal person, when their Clan was being annihilated, would embrace his wife and offer his neck to his own son, who had come to kill his parents?
Also, as the Clan Leader, did he not feel any guilt at all for the clan members who did not participate in the coup, who lived honest lives, but were innocently implicated and died?
Naraku couldn't understand, nor did he want to.
Lest he get infected.
"Sigh..."
The Uchiha Clan's future was fraught with difficulties.
Naraku silently sighed and opened the forum.
"What Does Hiruzen Sarutobi's 'Troubled Times' Mean?"
1L (OP): Kakashi and Naraku became the youngest Chunin, yet he sighed about troubled times, as if this event caused him trouble?
2L: Could it be that the prophets were right, and Konoha is going to have internal strife?
3L: No need to worry too much, everyone. Perhaps the current situation in the Ninja World is unstable, and Hiruzen is worried that these two geniuses won't grow up.
4L: What the user above said isn't entirely baseless. Given Kumogakure's behavior, it's hard to say.
5L (OP): Reply to 3L: It doesn't feel like it. He didn't show any joy at all about his own Village having two more geniuses...
6L: There's another possibility: he's guarding against Danzo. After all, Danzo is currently half his political rival.
8L: Yes, if Danzo wanted to do something to these two children, it would be very troublesome.
9L: I feel like I understand Hiruzen Sarutobi less and less. Ever since he took over as the Third, he's become different from before.
10L: He gives me the feeling of a politician, no longer a Ninja.
11L: Everyone, don't rush to guess. Has The Old Thief not tricked us enough times? Maybe he's just being mysterious to gain popularity.
12L: Reply to 11L: Indeed, he's not above that...
"They All Didn't Think Highly of You, Yet You Stood Out the Most (Uchiha Naraku Solo)"
1L (OP): [Video]. I edited it a bit. Naraku's growth along this journey is truly visible to the naked eye.
2L: Our Baby Naraku is truly super hardworking!
3L: There are so many fair-weather fans. They used to curse him for being gloomy, but now it's all "Naraku-kun" this and "Naraku-kun" that~
4L: Looks are justice, after all.
...
"They Are Real (Kakashi)"
1L (OP): Sisters, this thread is for compiling all the sweet moments of Kakashi and Naraku since they met. If there are new sweet moments in the future, I'll continue to update them below~ Hero saves the beauty by the river: [Image], [Image]. Bandaging wounds, eating: [Image], [Image], [Image]. Holding hands at the Hospital... After the finals: [Image], [Image].
2L: You really can't blame us for shipping them so hard. The Old Thief has given us too many sweet moments... It's like he's forcing us to ship them.
3L: This should be considered an official pairing, right?
4L: Who would believe that they're not a couple!
5L: I certainly don't believe it.
Naraku also took the opportunity to review his and Kakashi's past moments in the thread, and suddenly realized how much time had passed since he came to this world.
Fortunately, thanks to Kakashi and Sakumo, this journey hadn't been too difficult.