After the two had eaten for a while and taken the edge off their hunger, Iruka put down his chopsticks and asked, "Naruto, you've been a ninja for a while now. Any thoughts?"
Naruto thought for a moment, and said, "I'm one step closer to becoming the Hokage."
Iruka smiled but didn't refute him.
In the past, whenever Naruto said, "I want to be the Hokage," the whole class would laugh. Even Iruka himself would think to himself that this kid probably needed to trip and fall a few more times before he could learn to keep his feet on the ground.
But now, when Naruto said those words, his tone wasn't loud and he didn't jump onto a chair. He was just like a traveler confirming his destination.
Teuchi brought over two more bowls of ramen, saying it was to help Naruto build up his strength.
Naruto thanked him, and as he and Iruka ate and chatted, the topic slowly shifted from his experiences in the Land of Waves to funny stories from his time at the Ninja Academy.
By the time the two finished, it was completely dark outside.
Teuchi began to close up shop, and Ayame was wiping down the counter.
After Iruka paid the bill, he and Naruto walked out of the shop together.
"Naruto, good luck with the Chunin Exams."
"I will give it my all, Iruka-sensei."
The two parted ways at a fork in the road.
Naruto walked back to the yellow apartment building along the dark street. He inserted the key into the lock and entered his room.
He didn't rush to turn on the lights. Standing in the darkness, he closed his eyes and spread out his perception.
Absolute Control allowed him to finely regulate his senses. It wasn't the kind of flashy detection method that released waves of Chakra, but rather mobilizing his hearing, smell, tactile sense of air currents, and faint sensing of Chakra, silently covering an area of about one hundred meters around the apartment.
There was no prickling sensation specific to being watched and the hairs on the back of his neck didn't stand up.
Naruto frowned slightly.
Not feeling watched didn't mean no one was monitoring him.
Hiruzen might be busy dealing with the upcoming Chunin Exams. As the Hokage, the documents on his desk were probably piled higher than he was. But with the Telescope Technique, as long as he wanted to watch, he could look at any time.
Naruto didn't let his guard down just because he didn't feel watched for the moment.
He raised the precision of his perception to another level. This time, it was a directional detection specifically targeting Chakra sources.
With the assistance of Absolute Control, he could distinguish the subtle differences between different Chakra sources: the Chakra of ordinary villagers was as faint as a thin mist, a Genin's Chakra was a small flame, and a Jonin's Chakra was like a bonfire.
And Anbu's Chakra had a very distinct characteristic. Their Chakra was deliberately suppressed. It was calm on the surface, but it was highly concentrated and could erupt at any moment.
Two such Chakra sources appeared in his perception, one on a tree about fifty meters to the left of the apartment, and the other behind the water tank of a residential house about seventy meters to the right.
Naruto curled his lip in the darkness.
As expected, there were Anbu. Their positions were chosen very carefully, capable of covering all entrances and exits to his apartment without blocking each other's line of sight. This level of surveillance deployment could be considered standard configuration.
For Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, two Anbu taking turns keeping watch was already the minimum security measure.
Hiruzen ignored him on the surface, but the arrangements in the dark had never slackened.
Fine, since you love to squat there, then keep squatting.
Naruto withdrew his perception and flipped the light switch. He took off his shoes and walked into the bathroom.
After filling the bathtub with water, he soaked in it. The moment the hot water covered his shoulders, all the muscles in his body relaxed simultaneously.
While soaking in the bath, he re-sensed those two Anbu Chakra sources. They were still in their original positions, with no signs of moving.
Their surveillance of a Jinchuriki was a long-term mission. Usually, one group would watch for six hours, then swap with the next group.
Naruto silently calculated the time in his head. It was probably past nine o'clock at night, and there were at least two hours until the next shift change. There was enough time.
He stood up from the bathtub and put on clean loungewear.
Then he pulled out the trash bag inside the trash can in the kitchen.
A ninja who had just taken a bath tidying up the room and preparing to take out the trash—it couldn't be more normal.
But just then, a Shadow Clone appeared silently behind him.
At the exact same instant he activated the Shadow Clone Technique, Naruto used Absolute Control to suppress the fluctuations of Chakra within his body to the minimum limit. He simultaneously activated the Transformation Technique to turn into an empty shampoo bottle, getting inside the trash bag.
Under the precise regulation of Absolute Control, his heartbeat dropped to almost a few beats per minute, and his body temperature was adjusted to be completely consistent with the surrounding environment.
***
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