Three scrolls were placed in front of Makoto. He opened them one by one.
The first scroll contained money. Makoto counted it—there were two hundred thousand ryō in total.
He carefully stored the money away. No matter what world you were in, money was always better in greater amounts.
Ninja, after all, were big spenders. Whether it was various ninja tools or secret medicines used for training, everything required a lot of money.
Next, he opened the second scroll. Inside was a C-rank ninjutsu.
Fire Release: Flame Bullet Technique.
Makoto hadn't obtained this technique before, but he had already mastered quite a few Fire Release techniques—both large-scale ones and more flexible variants. There was no need for him to waste time practicing this particular jutsu.
Finally, he picked up the last scroll and opened it.
This one contained Danzo Shimura's reply to his report.
Danzo first praised Makoto's work performance. Becoming an outstanding teacher so quickly and even earning praise from the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had made him very satisfied. Because of this, Danzo granted Makoto a reward and then went on with a long paragraph of manipulation and rhetoric.
Skipping past Danzo's obvious psychological manipulation, Makoto looked directly at the actual request.
"Become the tutor of Asuma Sarutobi. Gain his trust and become someone he respects."
That was Danzo's directive.
Makoto stored the ninjutsu scroll away and then burned the other two scrolls completely.
Although he didn't plan on practicing the technique, it had been something he essentially freeloaded from Danzo. Burning it still felt a little wasteful.
"Danzo really hasn't given up on the Hokage position," Makoto muttered.
It was obvious that Danzo had his eyes on the Third Hokage's youngest son.
But Makoto didn't care much. At worst, he would spend a few hours on weekends teaching him. It wouldn't affect him much.
"Maybe I should sell the house in the main district."
The thought suddenly occurred to him.
The original owner of this body hadn't always lived near the sparsely populated southern forest of Konohagakure. In fact, he owned a house in the main district of the Hidden Leaf Village, left behind by his parents.
However, in order to keep his identity hidden, he had built a residence near the southern forest.
Even though he rarely stayed there, the original owner would return once every year to clean the house in the main district.
Since he didn't live there anymore, Makoto considered simply selling it.
He remembered the location being quite good. It might sell for a decent amount of money, which he could then use to purchase Soldier Pills.
Even with the system's help, any extra improvement he could gain was worthwhile.
With that thought, Makoto set off toward Konoha's main district, planning to check the house and clean it up before putting it on sale.
Following the original owner's memories, Makoto soon found the house.
Just as he was about to unlock the door, the door of the neighboring house opened, and a blond-haired figure walked out.
"Hello. Are you a new resident who just moved in?" the man asked curiously.
Minato Namikaze had bought this house several months ago. This was the first time he had seen someone enter the house next door, so he assumed a new neighbor had arrived.
When Makoto turned around, Minato noticed the man's blond hair and blue eyes.
Instantly, he remembered meeting Makoto once before in the library.
It wasn't because Minato had an extraordinary memory for everyone he met. Rather, Minato himself had blond hair and blue eyes. Combined with the gentle smile on Makoto's face, seeing him felt almost like looking at another version of himself.
So the impression had stuck.
"No, this is actually my house," Makoto replied with a warm smile. "But due to some circumstances, I moved out later and rarely come back."
At that moment, Makoto suddenly felt that maybe selling the house wasn't necessary after all.
He had been wondering how to get closer to Minato to learn Sealing Techniques from him for free.
And now?
They were neighbors.
Technically, Minato had even moved in later than him.
"Minato, I'm here!"
Just then, a lively female voice rang out.
"Hey, Minato! You never told me you had a brother who looks so much like you."
Kushina Uzumaki looked at Makoto—another blond man with blue eyes and a gentle smile—and couldn't help teasing him.
From a facial perspective, they didn't actually look that alike. But the bright blond hair and similar atmosphere made Kushina feel as if they were somehow brothers.
"Sorry about that," Minato said apologetically to Makoto. "This is my girlfriend. As you can see, she's a bit… energetic."
"This is my neighbor—"
Minato suddenly realized he didn't know Makoto's name yet.
"My name is Hosokawa Makoto," Makoto introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Kushina Uzumaki. Your name sounds pretty nice," Kushina said while hugging Minato from behind and leaning her head forward to greet him.
"Hello, I'm Minato Namikaze," Minato said with a gentle smile as he gently pulled Kushina off his back.
"Thank you. Your bright red hair looks great as well," Makoto replied while opening his door.
Kushina's eyes immediately lit up. She raised a thumbs-up.
"Nice! You've got good taste."
She instantly felt Makoto was someone who knew how to talk.
The moment the door opened, a cloud of dust hidden in the cracks drifted into the air.
Makoto glanced inside.
It wasn't particularly dirty—there was just a thick layer of dust from being unoccupied for so long.
"Sorry, I probably can't host you right now. I need to clean first," Makoto said.
"In that case, we won't disturb you," Minato replied before returning home with Kushina.
As Makoto watched Kushina's departing figure, he activated his system's Appraisal.
Name: Kushina Uzumaki
Chakra: 150,000 (???)
Potential: SS
Evaluation: Skilled in Sealing Techniques, possessing an enormous and extremely special chakra reserve far beyond ordinary people.
Makoto could only say that the sheer amount of chakra was enough to make him jealous.
As for the question marks beside the chakra value, this was the first time he had seen that.
He guessed it was because Kushina had already become the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki. The system probably couldn't fully analyze the chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox, hence the question marks.
Kushina's potential was honestly terrifying.
Double S-rank potential was the highest Makoto had seen so far.
However, considering the original story, Makoto suspected at least one of those S-ranks came from the Nine-Tails sealed inside her.
If Kushina lost the Nine-Tails, her potential would probably drop to S-rank.
Otherwise, with double S-rank potential alone, she wouldn't even need the Nine-Tails. With normal growth she would already dominate everyone.
After all, both the Third Hokage and Minato were only rated at S-rank.
Makoto then used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, creating ten shadow clones.
He instructed them to start cleaning the house.
Once again, Makoto couldn't help but admire Tobirama Senju's genius.
To develop such a convenient technique like the Shadow Clone Technique was truly remarkable.
After finishing the cleaning, Makoto bought some daily necessities and placed them inside the house.
He didn't immediately go next door to Minato's house to build a relationship.
Instead, he planned to occasionally stay here and naturally become friends with Minato over time.
Opening the window, Makoto let the evening breeze flow in as he began refining the training plans for his students.
Both Might Guy and Obito Uchiha, who hadn't obtained first place in the grade, needed targeted reinforcement training.
As for Shisui Uchiha, Makoto planned to strengthen his chakra control.
It would both increase his current combat ability and lay the foundation for learning genjutsu in the future.
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