Chapter 66
As a father, prying into his daughter's privacy was something he really shouldn't do.
But Yamanaka Inoichi was highly skilled. As long as he didn't look at anything else, it would be fine—just checking what happened these past few days.
Mind Body Switch Technique—Mind Reading Technique!
While his daughter had her back to him, his spirit directly entered Ino's body.
Ino's movements pruning the flower branches paused for an instant, then returned to normal.
Yamanaka Inoichi temporarily overrode Ino's mind, carefully and cautiously entering his daughter's brain.
He bypassed her private memories and went straight for the events in the back mountains these past few days.
Sure enough.
He found traces that had been hidden and altered by external force.
The other children were probably in the same situation—they had all forgotten about that outsider child.
It must have been at that time—some kind of technique was used.
He did not touch Ino's hidden memories.
The necessary reports on the incident's cause and process had already been properly submitted and organized.
Forcibly unlocking them now would only unnecessarily burden his daughter with a segment of painful memory.
This was better.
Yamanaka Inoichi withdrew his spirit quietly and seamlessly.
As the head of the Yamanaka clan, the entire process was smooth and flawless.
Ino—still with her back to him—didn't even notice that for a brief moment, her body had not belonged to her.
…
A few days later.
At the Konoha mission dispatch office, a civilian staff member from the Hokage Tower was sorting through a pile of D-rank mission reports submitted by genin.
"Weeding… finding cats… clearing river channels… the missions were completed reasonably well." He flipped through them boredly.
Then he noticed a description in one of the reports.
"…While helping with weeding in the fields outside the village, I accidentally spotted a small fire in the distance that appeared to have been caused by leftover embers. Just as I was about to go observe the situation, a small dark cloud happened to drift over and a light rain fell, perfectly extinguishing the flames."
The chūnin curled his lip.
"Another weird report like this. A little rain is worth writing down? If you don't know how to write reports, don't turn it into a diary."
After confirming the rest of the normal mission details, he casually filed this document into the "processed" stack.
…
Life at the Ninja Academy went on exactly as before.
Iruka was thoroughly familiar with the lesson plans he had prepared in advance.
He explained various theoretical knowledge to the students from the podium with just the right timing and tone, while the students below reacted in all sorts of ways.
Inuzuka Kiba was secretly feeding Akamaru. Sakura and Ino occasionally shifted their gazes toward Sasuke.
Hinata, sitting behind Naruto, could openly steal glances at him while facing forward.
Chōji was thinking about the new potato chip flavor the store had just released.
Shikamaru—today not skipping class—was propping his chin on his hand, staring out the window at the sky in his classic daydreaming pose.
Uzumaki Naruto, on the other hand, was listening seriously. Ever since he began absorbing natural energy recently, his mind had become much clearer.
Only occasionally, a faint empty feeling would flash through his heart.
A strange sensation, but following what the Fox Sage had said, he didn't keep obsessing over it.
When the dismissal bell rang and Iruka left the classroom, the previously quiet students inside immediately relaxed.
"Hey, Naruto—wanna go to the training ground?"
Sasuke turned his head toward Naruto beside him, his eyes carrying a challenging glint.
"How come you're free today? Did Itachi-niisan go on another mission?" Uzumaki Naruto asked in confusion.
Sasuke had been saying he had no time these past few days.
Sasuke nodded in annoyance: "He originally said he'd stay home longer, but then there was a sudden mission. He left today."
"Alright then!" Naruto agreed readily.
The two of them often trained together in their free time anyway, each driven by the competitive urge not to let the other pull too far ahead.
"Tch, training every day—boring."
Inuzuka Kiba curled his lip from nearby: "Wouldn't it be more fun to go catch stag beetles in the back mountains? Right, Akamaru?"
Akamaru barked once: "Woof," meaning either was fine.
As the group bickered noisily, Shikamaru suddenly pointed outside the window and let out a curious "Huh?"
"What's up?" Chōji tore open a bag of chips and turned to look at Shikamaru.
"Just now… it looked like a small cloud was chasing a butterfly." Shikamaru scratched his cheek, describing it uncertainly. "Did I see wrong?"
Chōji stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth and mumbled: "Was it Naruto doing it?"
In their impression, Naruto could do things like that.
Naruto—suddenly called out—also subconsciously looked out the window.
After preparing in advance, he could indeed release small-scale cloud-mist.
But what Shikamaru described just now wasn't him.
Outside it was clear and sunny now; the butterfly had long since flown out of sight.
A few white clouds hung in the blue sky at the horizon, but that was perfectly normal scenery.
…
After leaving school, Naruto and Sasuke walked side by side through the village.
"What are we competing in today?" Naruto asked first.
"Same as always."
Sasuke glanced at him: "Taijutsu. No cheating."
"Then I've already won." Naruto grinned mischievously.
"Try me. My brother gave me special training these past few days."
Bickering back and forth, they turned into the Uchiha clan training ground.
Reaching an open area, the wind felt quieter than usual.
The two stood in the center of the field and took a deep breath at the same time.
After adjusting their breathing, they had warmed up sufficiently.
As usual, they formed the confrontation seal. Their gazes met, and their fighting spirit steadily rose.
This gesture was a habit all academy students developed.
Unless it was a real conflict where they wanted to immediately charge and beat the other up,
in school or outside training, they would always go through this formality.
"Ready?" Sasuke lowered his fingers.
"Of course!"
Naruto shifted his stance and closed the distance in an instant.
Their clash erupted in a flash of sparks.
The moment they engaged, Naruto immediately felt that Sasuke's moves were indeed sharper than before—direct, decisive, and fast.
He really had been chasing after him without letting the gap widen completely.
Was this the result of Sasuke's intensified special training with Itachi-niisan these past few days?
Having sparred with him often, Naruto naturally understood.
Several moves that used to be good counterattack opportunities had now been patched up by Sasuke.
"You've improved so fast!"
Naruto praised, casually blocking an elbow strike, then using the momentum to push Sasuke back half a step.
"I just thought… the idea that you're actually that strong makes me want to train even harder."
His move blocked by Naruto again, Sasuke wasn't angry.
That was the whole point of training.
By the end, their stamina began to drop, breathing noticeably ragged.
This taijutsu session finally concluded.
"Tie." Sasuke spoke first.
"Clearly I had the upper hand." Naruto retorted unhappily.
"You didn't knock me down."
"But I blocked all your moves."
Sasuke turned his face away, thought for a moment: "You didn't gain much advantage either."
The two looked at each other for a second.
The tense atmosphere suddenly loosened. They couldn't help but smile at each other.
"Tch, tie is tie." Naruto pouted.
"Hmph."
Sasuke gave a light snort—at least he wasn't far behind Naruto.
And Naruto knew full well that without using the unreasonable power of the Fox Sage, he really couldn't completely suppress Sasuke.
At the same time, a light breeze swept across the training ground's grass.
The wind wasn't strong, but it perfectly carried away the heat from both of them.
If anyone had paid close attention, they would have noticed—this breeze continued to circle around the training field the entire time.
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