"Hokage-sama, I'll be taking my leave now."
After Kakashi finished speaking and the Third Hokage gave a slight nod, he instantly vanished from the spot just as Danzo entered.
Although Danzo saw him, that wasn't why he was there, so he ignored it.
"Hiruzen! Let me train Chiye!"
The Third Hokage had already anticipated Danzo coming to ask for Chiye, as Chiye's performance today was simply too dazzling.
He sat steadily in his chair, quietly observing Danzo, whose face was almost entirely wrapped in bandages, his expression calm: "I have other arrangements for Chiye."
"What!?" Danzo was somewhat shocked; he had come immediately, yet this guy had already made arrangements?
"Did you give him to Kakashi?" Danzo asked, realizing he had indeed seen Kakashi earlier.
The Third Hokage nodded: "That's right. Entrusting an excellent person to be mentored by another excellent person, is there a problem with that?"
"Absolutely not!"
Danzo slammed his cane heavily on the ground, angrily declaring: "A genius like Chiye must be personally trained by me for him to have better development. It's not impossible for him to become a Konoha weapon like the Nine-Tailed in the future!"
Seeing Danzo's anger, the Third Hokage naturally wouldn't indulge him. He stood up directly, a hint of displeasure in his expression: "Chiye is a Ninja of Konoha, he belongs to Konoha, and I will not hand him over to you!"
"You..."
"Danzo, don't forget, I am the Hokage!"
"Hiruzen!" Danzo was startled, his eyes instantly bloodshot. He was furious, not expecting Hiruzen to use his Hokage status to suppress him, when the position of Hokage should rightfully belong to him!
Damn it!
So, he said nothing more and turned to leave.
As he exited, he dropped a line.
"Hiruzen! You will regret this!"
Immediately after.
"Bang!"
The door closed.
The Third Hokage looked at the tightly shut door and let out a soft sigh. This was the only way he could protect Chiye; he could never hand him over to Danzo!
But just as he lit his pipe and before he could enjoy it, an Anbu figure suddenly appeared in the office.
"Hokage-sama, it's bad! Naruto has stolen the scroll of seals!"
"What!?" The Third Hokage nearly choked on his smoke. How could one thing follow another? Why was Naruto such a handful!
"LUCK!"
Naruto and Chiye, having successfully stolen the scroll of seals, were leaping through the forest, escaping Konoha Village. They both knew a large group of people would surely be coming for them.
"Chiye, thanks! If it weren't for you, I might not even have found where the storage room was," Naruto said.
"Haha, I just got lucky too," Chiye chuckled. His mind wasn't on their escape right now, but on the reward he had just received.
Kamehameha.
Kamehameha: Its power varies depending on the charging time. A single release requires a minimum consumption of 1 kilogram of chakra.
He hadn't expected the Kamehameha to consume so much chakra. He just didn't know how powerful 1 kilogram of it would be. Perhaps he could try it on Mizuki later.
Just a moment ago, Chiye, wearing a mask, had drawn away the sentries outside the storage room, allowing Naruto to slip inside.
It went very smoothly, so smoothly that Chiye found it a bit surprising. Perhaps no one had expected anyone to actually try to steal the scroll of seals, leading to lax security, or maybe the argument between the Third Hokage and Danzo just now had drawn most people's attention.
In any case, the scroll was in their hands.
By now, it was late, and visibility in the forest was gradually dimming. Only a few rays of moonlight filtering through the treetops allowed them to see their way.
"Chiye, where are we going now?" Naruto asked.
"Let's get out of Konoha's territory first. Getting caught stealing the scroll will definitely lead to punishment."
"How about we find a place to look at what Ninjutsu are in the scroll? We're far enough now," Naruto said, jumping down under a large tree and, using the moonlight, opened the scroll of seals.
He had been itching to do this for a while. He wanted to open the scroll the moment he stole it, but Chiye had stopped him.
However, now that they were more or less safe, he eagerly unfurled the scroll.
Chiye couldn't do anything about it; Naruto had already opened it, and he couldn't stop him now. Besides, he also wanted to see what Ninjutsu were recorded in the scroll of seals. They must all be forbidden Ninjutsu invented by the Second Hokage.
As he walked over to Naruto, he saw Naruto scratching his head in frustration, muttering: "Ah, ah, ah! Why is the first one Shadow Clone! I'm terrible at Shadow Clone!"
Chiye smiled. This was exactly like the original story, but this time, he was there with Naruto.
Just as he was about to say something to Naruto, suddenly, two shuriken flew rapidly from behind, heading straight for Chiye's back.
Killing intent radiated, and Chiye immediately sensed it. He lunged, tackling Naruto to the ground, narrowly avoiding the incoming shuriken. He thought they were attacking Naruto.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Naruto looked at Chiye in alarm, only then noticing Chiye's grim expression, and standing opposite them were two Ninja wearing Anbu masks.
"We've been found?" Naruto exclaimed in shock.
Chiye didn't reply directly, instead saying: "You go first, I'll hold them off."
"No! If we go, we go together!" Naruto immediately refused.
"Hurry up! If you don't leave, the main force will arrive soon, and no one will be able to leave. Don't you want to graduate?"
This sentence made Naruto momentarily dazed. Yes, he still needed to graduate. If he got caught here, everything he had done so far would be in vain.
Thinking of this, he stood up and said to Chiye: "Be careful!"
He then quickly left the area. Normally, he would have stood with Chiye, but staying now would only make all their efforts pointless.
After Naruto left, Chiye continued to confront the two in front of him. He didn't understand. Shouldn't it just be Mizuki? How did these two Anbu find them here? And the killing intent they radiated just now didn't seem like they intended to capture him and Naruto alive at all.
Could it be that...
These two were fake Anbu?
Generally speaking, Anbu's strength is between Chunin and Jonin. In any case, he would test their skills first.
With that thought, Chiye launched his attack first, and the two 'Anbu' also met him.
Chiye charged at the first Anbu, dodged the kunai thrusting at him, and grabbed the arm holding the kunai. With a pull, he delivered a heavy flying knee to the person's chest.
With a thud!
The person cried out in pain from the heavy blow, was sent flying by Chiye, fell to the ground, clutching his chest, and couldn't get up for a long time.
"So weak..." Chiye thought to himself. This level of strength was only that of a Genin to Chunin, right? Are there Anbu this weak?
The other Anbu was also stunned by the sight, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes beneath the mask. How could this kid be so strong? Didn't Mizuki say he was just a Ninja Academy student who hadn't graduated yet?
This strength was illogical!
He hadn't even seen Chiye's movements just now, and then his companion was sent flying...
"Don't just stand there. Who exactly are you? Why are you wearing Anbu masks?"
As he was distracted, Chiye's voice suddenly appeared next to his ear. He snapped back to attention and, without a moment's hesitation, quickly jumped back to create distance from Chiye.
While airborne, he formed hand signs and shouted: "Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
Immediately after, his cheeks puffed out, and he spat out a colorless, rotating vortex of wind that shot rapidly towards Chiye.
However, to his utter surprise, Chiye didn't even bother to dodge; he simply charged straight through it.
Is this guy an idiot?
Getting hit by a Vacuum Wave could tear his entire body apart!
Yet, in the next second, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Chiye, with a casual wave of his hand, actually dispersed the incoming wind vortex!
"How is that possible!" The person couldn't comprehend it. He was a Chunin, after all. Unless it was a Jonin, it was impossible to casually disperse his Ninjutsu.
"Could it be that this kid's strength is already..."
While he was still in shock, Chiye had already arrived in front of him.
"Can't you use some decent Ninjutsu? Even a Vacuum Serial Waves would be better," Chiye's voice carried a hint of helplessness.
"What!" The person was shocked: "Vacuum Serial Waves, how would I know that..."
But, before he could finish his exclamation, his voice abruptly cut off.
Chiye delivered a heavy punch to his abdomen. This time, the force was great enough to knock him unconscious.
Considering Naruto's situation, Chiye didn't linger. After kicking the previous 'Anbu' Ninja unconscious, he left the area.
Vaguely, he felt that the plot had changed, and things were becoming more complicated.
Where did Mizuki go?
Could it be that he guessed he would be acting with Naruto?