Masahiko was surprised for a moment, but quickly calmed down again.
An investigation did not necessarily mean recruitment.
Even if he were recruited, at most he would be an outer-ring informant. The subordinates Danzo truly valued would inevitably come from his own training; he would not recruit them from outside.
However, this was indeed one possible path.
Maintaining a relationship with Danzo would better reflect his identity as a “villain”...
Today’s comments were proof of that.
Masahiko relaxed, and his gaze soon turned to this round’s reward.
The reward for the first episode had been the Taijutsu Chapter of Basic Advanced Training.
This time, no new advanced training module had been unlocked, but he had been directly rewarded with a Ninjutsu Mastery Promotion Card, which could raise a technique straight to the mastery level.
With just one glance, he made his decision.
“Upgrade the Shadow Clone Technique.”
【Consuming Ninjutsu Mastery Promotion Card...】
【Shadow Clone Technique has been upgraded!】
On the panel, the proficiency of the Shadow Clone Technique changed from “Beginner” to “Mastery.”
A vast amount of insight flooded into his mind, all of it techniques related to shadow clones.
“Chakra refinement still needs to be optimized...”
“So that’s how it is. Once Shadow Clone reaches mastery, the greatest difference lies in the clone’s thinking, abilities, and so on.”
“Besides that, the main body can also handle the impact of the information flow more easily and skillfully, without freezing for a second or two like before.”
Masahiko understood.
For ninjutsu proficiency, Beginner and Proficient could be slowly figured out through time and bitter training. Mastery was somewhat more difficult.
But the hardest part was still what lay above Mastery.
Above Mastery were Perfect and Limit-Breaking.
The Perfect level symbolized that a ninja had already grasped all the techniques of the ninjutsu itself, while Limit-Breaking surpassed a ninja’s understanding of that technique.
For example, Shisui’s Body Flicker Technique.
The White Fang’s swordsmanship.
However.
As Masahiko recalled the many techniques of the Shadow Clone, he did have some ideas regarding this technique’s future development—
Chakra nature transformation!
Like Kakashi, who added Lightning Release nature transformation on the foundation of the Shadow Clone, evolving it into the Lightning Release Shadow Clone.
Uchiha Itachi had a similar Clone Great Explosion.
But in essence, these techniques were still Shadow Clones.
“Difficult!”
Masahiko sighed softly.
Nature transformation...
Up until now, the only elemental ninjutsu he had, the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, could not even be considered beginner-level, and he had yet to sense any technique from it.
Moreover, the techniques of the Shadow Clone were still far from Perfect.
“I’ll practice taijutsu first!”
Masahiko cast aside his stray thoughts. With a thought, he entered the training space.
...
Inside the space.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
Two figures constantly crossed paths. Their speed itself was not especially fast, but the reactions of their hands and feet were extremely sharp.
After fighting for quite a while, the young Might Guy stopped.
“If you don’t use the Body Flicker Technique, your technique is already more or less there.”
“So, the advanced training is over?”
Masahiko was slightly stunned.
The young Might Guy shook his head and said, “No. Or rather, it has only just begun.”
The next second, a green skintight suit appeared on the young Might Guy.
Full of confidence, Masahiko stepped forward and engaged him in fierce combat.
After only a few moves, he took two kicks in succession and nearly fainted.
The gap was this big?
So.
The reason they had been evenly matched before was purely because the other side had been going easy on him?
Was this really basic advanced training?
The corner of Masahiko’s mouth twitched slightly, but he refused to admit defeat. In any case, he was undying and indestructible within the training space, and could recover in an instant.
If he could improve, what did getting beaten up matter?
...
Early the next morning.
Masahiko slowly opened his eyes. After sitting up, he looked around before finally fixing his gaze on the time shown by the alarm clock.
Five fifty.
Last night, he had been cultivating in the training space the entire time. All he remembered was getting beaten up at the end, his body and mind utterly exhausted. He had no idea when he had fallen asleep.
Forget it. Time to get up!
He could not waste the daily mission.
Ten minutes later, when he saw Naruto’s face full of misery, the gloom from Masahiko’s beating last night instantly dispersed.
A few minutes later, he once again discovered Uchiha Sasuke’s figure in the forest.
This kid had gotten stubborn about it too.
Still, being able to compete with each other and improve was ultimately a good thing.
...
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
“Damn it! Once I get stronger, I’ll definitely pay you back for everything today!”
Naruto fumed in anger.
“I look forward to it.”
Masahiko’s tone was indifferent.
Beside them, Sasuke silently clenched his fist, then gave a cold snort and walked toward the school gate.
Naruto talked tough, but his body honestly stood at the gate and waited.
Seeing that Masahiko had not come over, he even turned his head. “Not running today?”
“I still have something to do. Later.”
Masahiko did not explain further and walked toward the office.
“Oh.”
Naruto sat on the swing by the gate and waited.
A while later, when he saw Masahiko come out, he put on that cold expression again.
The two of them, just like always, ran toward the outside of the village.
For the past half month, Masahiko had maintained the same rhythm of life as before, occasionally taking time to train the Great Fireball Technique and study chakra nature transformation.
However.
News of the third episode had been slow to come.
While not neglecting his training, Masahiko had also been thinking about the method of “acting” and the reason why the third episode had not progressed for so long.
After pondering and observing for half a month, Masahiko gradually came up with an idea, and so he settled down.
The fact that Naruto: The Prequel was set at this point in time was undoubtedly related to two factors.
One was Naruto’s situation.
The current Naruto still had a terrible attitude, but in reality, Masahiko could tell—
The other party was slowly adapting, and had developed a certain degree of dependence.
The other was the night of the Uchiha massacre.
In that case...
As long as he maintained his current relationship with Naruto and Sasuke, and then followed Danzo’s route, he would definitely be able to participate in the main plot of the “prequel”!
Secondly.
With his connection to Danzo, he no longer needed to play a genuine “bad guy” in front of Naruto. He could appropriately peel back one layer of his mask.
So.
He was waiting for the right opportunity.
...
On this day, the opportunity arrived.
Another Friday.
After school in the afternoon, Naruto sat on the swing at the school gate and waited. But even after waiting for quite a while, he did not see anyone come out.
He sat on the swing, swaying back and forth, back and forth, as his expression gradually sank into silence.
Just as Naruto got up and prepared to leave—
“Snap!”
A crisp sound came from behind him.
“The weather still hasn’t warmed up, but eating some popsicles is still pretty nice.”
Masahiko handed over the other half of the popsicle.
He had specifically found the same kind of popsicle!
Naruto’s eyes widened. With a face full of astonishment, he took it, then looked Masahiko up and down before saying in shock, “W-We’re not running?”
“You’ve held on for more than half a month, and you haven’t gone off to pull any more pranks either. So today, we won’t run. What do you want to eat? I’ll treat you.”
Masahiko smiled.
Naruto blinked, his shock turning into an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
Was this really the Yagyu Masahiko he knew?
“You don’t want me to treat you?”
“No! I want to eat Uncle Ichiraku’s ramen! Add every topping! I’m going to eat you into poverty!”
...
Ichiraku Ramen.
Steam rose from the bowls.
After finishing his soup, Masahiko glanced out of the corner of his eye, and his eyelids immediately twitched.
To the side, beside Naruto’s bowl of noodles, two empty bowls had already been stacked, and another freshly served bowl of noodles sat in front of him.
He had really come for revenge!
Slurp!
After devouring the noodles like mad, Naruto let out a satisfied sigh. “Ah!! Ramen with all the toppings really is delicious!”
“Full?”
“Mm!”
Naruto nodded.
After that, he tilted his head strangely, a probing look hidden in his eyes.
Masahiko reached out and ruffled his hair.
“Don’t go around making mischief anymore. The so-called Hokage is someone chosen after gaining everyone’s recognition. Don’t get the order backward.”