Fugaku believes that he had to be careful dealing with Naruto not only because it will result in failure but also because Fugaku realizes that only through slow and meaningful interaction can one get closer to another person.
Fugaku decides to think about another important matter aside from helping Minato and Naruto rebuild their relationship. Fugaku thinks about the Chunin Exam.
He heard the news about the exam after he returned from the Land of Waves.
Right now Fugaku wasn't sure whether to recommend his team to participate in the exam or not.
He believes his team already qualifies to become Chunin. While others might think it was still too early, they couldn't deny the capabilities of Hinata, Satsuki, and Naruto once they saw them, especially Naruto.
While both Hinata and Satsuki weren't at the same level as Naruto, they are still strong nonetheless, especially Hinata, who grew much faster than even Satsuki.
Of course there are many reasons behind such rapid growth of strength, but that's beside the point.
What was really important was promoting them to the exam, which is the right move to do, especially given the fact that Naruto is a flight risk.
After thinking about this topic for long, Fugaku decides to recommend his team for a simple reason. Fugaku believes that by doing so he can get to Naruto's good side at the very least.
Fugaku knows that the relationship between him and Naruto isn't really close despite being on the same team since Naruto always keeps anyone at arm's length.
It was clear to Fugaku that being a Genin is definitely annoying to Naruto despite the constant indifference he has when they take a D-rank mission.
Unlike Hinata and Satsuki, who openly showed their annoyance of dealing with D-rank missions, Naruto always wore an indifferent and bored expression on his face.
With his experience of interacting with various people who are powerful, they without a doubt despise the D-rank mission, and Fugaku felt it was the same way for Naruto as well.
Of course there are chances that his guess about Naruto is completely wrong, but Fugaku thinks it is incredibly unlikely to happen.
The reason behind his guess was due to the investigation he had about Naruto; that's why he was at least 90% sure of his guess.
'I need to inform Minato about this after I finish this paperwork,' Fugaku thought as he stared at his desk.
Just as Fugaku was about to resume his work, out of nowhere he suddenly heard a knocking noise from the door, attracting his attention.
"Come in."
Elsewhere in the Hidden Leaf
The elderly man looks to his left out at the impressive view of the village from atop the restaurant, sitting alone at the table. The fedora hat atop his head and dark glasses obscuring his eyes match the black suit he has on. His eyes stay glued on the view even as his ears register the sound of footsteps approaching his position.
He turns his head to see a sharply dressed young male with slicked-back brown hair. The male places the silver platter in his right hand onto the table and sits opposite Danzo without a word. Finally Danzo turns his head to Hisateru, who sits back in his waiter disguise.
"Mission accomplished, old man," Hisateru said casually while lifting the lid on the silver platter, grabbing a pair of chopsticks, and separating them.
Danzo watches on as the boy pulls the platter of food he had ordered and begins eating casually.
"Mh, quite quick," Danzo muses, looking at the boy from behind his dark shades. "So Mizuki is dead?"
"Affirmative," Hisateru replies, using one hand to ruffle his own hair, attempting to get it back to its usual spiky look. He can't wait to wash this stupid dye out.
"I see. And you ensured not to leave any trace of distinctive evidence?" the old man asks. The boy, in response, shoots him a deadpan look, showing his feeling of being insulted by the question, before continuing with the meal before him, the old man watching in silence.
Hisateru cleaned up any possible clues that he left behind, and that was also the reason why after completing his task, he still had stayed in the facility for a few hours just to ensure he didn't make any mistake. Usually he wouldn't be as thorough as this, but seeing the fact that Danzo views this matter as incredibly important, Hisateru decides to give more than his 100% to cleanly accomplish his task.
"In his last moments," Hisateru said after a few moments of silence, bar the sound of his eating, "he seemed...rattled. Talking to himself, seeing things, displaying paranoia. His psychological state clearly wasn't stable. It's possible that the T and I department may have broken him before I got to him," he muses casually, not looking up at the old man but rather fully focused on his incredibly delicious meal. He'll have to check this place out himself sometime.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. That is of no concern to us. He knew nothing of the Foundation and any affiliation or ties we may have had to his master. The client's request was the elimination of Mizuki. That has been done, and the payment for our services has been given," he said plainly.
Hisateru looks up from his platter for a moment, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. What had Orochimaru offered, or perhaps rather, what had the old man demanded in exchange for this mission's completion? Money? Necessary when running a top secret organization of military black operatives, but Gramps isn't short on that and certainly wouldn't waste an opportunity to leverage the snake on just money.
He resolves to do mental gymnastics about that later. The point is his work is done. Mizuki's remains won't offer the opportunity for any information to be retrieved either. It's hard to retrieve Intel from ashes, at least from his knowledge.
"You understand that this doesn't count as an official mission report, right?" Danzo asks, his chin rested upon his interlocked hands, one of which is hidden by a black glove that seems to extend up his sleeve. He watches on as Hisateru places the last bit of food left on the platter in his mouth.
"I know," he responds, standing up. "I'll do that tomorrow. I'm tired, Gramps. See ya," he yells, running towards the edge of the rooftop dining space and jumping off, disguise and all, disappearing in a burst of smoke.
"Hey!" Danzo calls out to the boy in vain as he leaves abruptly. He turns his head back to the platter of food he had ordered; not a shred of it is left. He sighs heavily, shaking his head.
'Mhm. "There's quite a lot to be desired, but...you're coming along nicely," he said inwardly before turning his head, his shaded eyes once again glued to the grand view of his home.
Training Ground 12
Mikoto looks at her students, who are currently busy training differently to increase their capabilities. Mikoto's eyes shone with pride seeing the growth of her students.
While staring at her students, her eyes couldn't help landing on Keimei, who was busy practicing her swordsmanship.
She quickly learned the truth behind the injuries Sasuke suffered yesterday. While she was first angry, after learning the truth, she couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed, especially about how Sasuke acted toward Keimei.
Mikoto wasn't ignorant about Keimei's pride, and what Sasuke did yesterday really provoked Keimei, who decided to punish Sasuke.
Mikoto greatly cared about her children, but that doesn't mean she will always be on their side, especially if they were the ones who caused trouble.
Mikoto can only apologize to Keimei after learning the truth, and Keimei readily accepts her apology since, from Keimei's perspective, it wasn't Mikoto's fault but Sasuke's.
While Mikoto did her best to raise her children well, she couldn't control Sasuke's lust for power—probably no one can other than himself.
'Is it really the right decision not to take Sasuke under my tutelage? 'Mikoto asks inwardly.
When she decides to return back to become a ninja for the village, she asks Minato a favor to become a Jonin sensei as well to not let her children be under her squad, as she might never be able to separate her feelings as a mother and teacher, unlike Fugaku.
Mikoto also believes the fact that Sasuke will definitely grow if he is under someone's tutelage. After learning it was Kakashi, this belief only strengthened.
While Kakashi can be considered 'lazy' by those who don't know him well, no one can doubt his capabilities, and with his help, Sasuke will definitely grow stronger.
Kakashi might be focused on teamwork, but that doesn't mean he was stupid to ignore increasing his students' fundamentals.
Yet after learning about the incident yesterday, Mikoto started to doubt if it's really a correct decision to take, especially after seeing Sasuke's lust for power.
Still, Mikoto knows she can't change the past and can only move forwards from here onwards.
'It seems after meeting with my students I had to make time to teach Sasuke a few things, but this definitely isn't going to be a long-term solution,' Mikoto said inwardly.