Haruto was kind enough after that to walk home with Naruto, giving him space and not asking him unnecessary questions before walking to his own home pondering on the implications of the genjutsu he'd just witnessed.
'Am I feeling bad for taking over this body?'
'...it wasn't like I wanted this… and it wasn't like the Dark God asked me for my permission before transmigrating me…'
'It isn't your fault Haruto…' Megumin timely commented.
'Thanks… I don't think so too… I'm sure the Dark God must've given the real Haruto some peace and quiet in his heavenly kingdom.'
'...'
When Haruto reached home, he quietly prayed in the Dark God's shrine for a few minutes before exiting it and making himself a bowl of ramen, but he quickly realised he couldn't feast on it just yet.
'Was that paper always there?'
Haruto questioned himself while staring at a slip of paper that was left under his textbook that he was about to read during lunch.
'No one has entered the room since you were here… whatever it was it must've been placed before you entered the house Haruto-kun.' Unohana helpfully explained.
And although Haruto should've been afraid or scared of another incident like the first time such a thing had happened when he'd nearly lost his life to a White Zetsu, Haruto was slightly relaxed since he had already guessed who had sent him the paper.
'It must be Kakashi… he's probably secretly communicating with me to prevent Danzo from finding out about my breaking out of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.'
'Let's see what he has to say for himself.'
Haruto picked up the paper and slipped it into his book for cover and began reading the book as usual while eating his ramen.
Flipping the page to the sheet of paper that had been left beneath it Haruto quietly went through the message.
The words on it were short and simple.
'How did you do it?'
Haruto frowned as he pondered if he should write down the method on the paper, since ROOT agents might go through his things and find out about his one trump card that he held.
'....Kakashi–san probably entered my house when I wasn't there to prevent the ROOT shinobi following me from finding out that he'd placed a note here… he probably remembered that I read books while eating, back from when he was on guard duty to protect me from that spy.'
'So they shouldn't know about it and I haven't given them a reason to go through my things yet…'
'So it should be saf-'
Just as Haruto was about to pull out a pen to pretend he was making a note on the textbook to record his thoughts on what he was reading, a knock on the door startled him slightly.
Haruto placed down the book on the table and walked to the door to open it.
His heart was beating slightly loudly since he didn't expect any visitors. He'd never made any serious work friends who would've visited him in the middle of the day.
Haruto opened the door while pretending to be normal and his heart sank when he opened it fully.
It was an ANBU agent but all of them at this point were from ROOT, so whoever was in front of him was a ROOT agent.
A flurry of thoughts rushed past Haruto's mind in seconds.
'Did they notice my emotions during the training with Kakashi and come to doubt the seal on me too?'
'Was the piece of paper a trap planted by them?'
'To check if I was cooperating with Kakashi in some way?'
'Should I have reported him?'
The ROOT spy looked down on Haruto with a calm stare from behind his mask and spoke in a neutral voice, "Danzo-sama has taken note of your research. He hopes for it to continue without any troubles. If you encounter any obstacles on the way that need to be dealt with don't hesitate to contact us regarding it."
A heavy sigh made its way to Haruto's lips but he paused it at the last second using Occlumency.
"Yes… I will… please convey my thanks to Lord Hokage…"
"I will… that's all for now. You may go back to eating your lunch."
"Thank you."
Haruto closed the door and sat back down in front of his ramen.
Suddenly the noodles that had felt heavenly just a few seconds before felt cold and soggy. But Haruto quickly cheered himself up and pulled out a pen to pretend to scribble on the textbook.
'You taught me the Shadow clone jutsu. But a curious application of the jutsu is to split the mind.'
Haruto stuck to Kakashi's way of leaving out any mention of Danzo on the note just in case someone else leafed through the textbook. He even drew up a bunch of diagrams to confuse people just in case. Encoding the jutsu in those diagrams while disguising it with the Shadow clone jutsu.
Haruto closed the book after that and concentrated on finishing his lunch before he quickly went to sleep. While he pretended to sleep outwardly, Haruto focused with renewed vigor on his training with Unohana Retsu. A simple brush with death had given him much to think about regarding his mortality and fragility.
***
During the next day, when Haruto and Naruto were training under Kakashi, Kakashi's shadow clone visited Haruto's home and picked up the textbook where he'd left his note.
Not finding it in the place he'd left it Kakashi softly turned to flip the pages of the textbook wondering if Haruto had leafed it into it to better disguise the note.
And almost immediately a page filled with various scribbles of Haruto's chakra system with complicated markings about how much least tenketsu energy the jutsu drawn in the note would consume, appeared.
Kakashi decoded what Haruto was trying to say rather quickly with the help of the words Haruto thankfully left on it and frowned deeply.
'A method that splits the seal's control by introducing a false yin construct to share space in the mind.'
'Clever but limiting…'
'After all the yin construct and the mind share the same body… so if Danzo still orders him to do something physical like killing himself with a kunai, he'll still do it, unless he's fast enough to dismiss that yin construct and create another one in the time it takes to commit to the order.'
'Hmmm… it's a good method but unrealistic to teach a six year old and a one year old in the Hyuga Compound.'
Kakashi frowned in thought for a while and came up with a plan before scribbling something new on the note using the same handwriting that Haruto used.
After that, Kakashi quietly dispelled himself and returned his memories to the original.
In the training grounds, Kakashi didn't even flinch when he regained the memories and continued to tutor both Haruto and Naruto in their respective tasks until the day ended and Haruto finally went back home after helping Naruto with the leaf concentration exercise for a while longer.
Arriving home, Haruto made some ramen for food and quietly picked up the textbook that he'd hidden the note in.
He opened the textbook to the page where he'd hidden the node, and it was right there, exactly where he'd left it, only with a small addition at the end.
'The research project will take at most three weeks to finish.'
'Huh…'
***
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