NOVEL WEB Chapter 27: Chapter 27
"Woman! Now you've made me angry!" Zabuza didn't expect that this girl would dare to say something like that to him. In his eyes, Esdeath was just a beautiful woman, and he didn't know what gave her such courage. After all, he was originally an elite jounin of Kirigakure, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist!
No woman in this damn world would dare tell him to just give up!
"Looks like we're going to have a fight." Esdeath looked at Haku, who was still sleeping in her arms, shook her head and said, "Okay, just hurry up, I still need to wash her and take her to eat."
As soon as she finished speaking, all the surrounding ice and snow suddenly rolled in a monstrous wave towards Zabuza…
. . . . . .
Naoki was unaware of what had happened in the Land of Water, he had just returned from a mission and was rewarded with over an hour of ideological lectures on the will of fire by the Third before he managed to escape.
Walking through the streets of Konoha, Naoki wandered aimlessly for a while. Then suddenly he remembered that he wanted to see someone. The next moment, his figure flashed and disappeared into the street.
When he appeared again, he was already standing at a small apartment building. He found the apartment he needed and knocked on the door.
The door creaked open, but it wasn't the person inside who opened it, but Naoki, who knocked on that ill-fated door.
"Really, why lock the door?" Naoki couldn't help but shake his head.
When he walked inside, all he saw was a mess: on the table was a box of expired milk and several unthrown cups of noodles that already smelled.
"This Naruto is exactly the same as the original," Naoki sighed.
He wanted to see Uzumaki Naruto, our young protagonist. Although to Naoki now he was just Minato and Kushina's child. Since the Fourth and his wife had once shown him kindness by promoting him and trusting him, in return, although he had not helped them survive the disaster, he could at least secretly take care of their son.
Although the Third was secretly watching Naruto to keep him out of trouble, he clearly lacked care and warmth. Hiruzen even issued a decree forbidding anyone from influencing Naruto's life.
That's why the boy's life was so miserable since childhood. On the one hand, ignorant people were afraid of the legend of the fox demon, so they deliberately avoided it. On the other hand, it was also the result of the old man's deliberate prohibition.
In fact, from the Third's perspective, the purpose of this decree was simple: to prevent influential people from influencing Naruto, fearing that he would become a tool for people with ulterior motives. After all, Naruto, as the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, was to become the foundation of the village in the future. The Third would never allow anyone to lead him astray until he grew up.
So that's also the reason why Naoki never got involved with Naruto before. Only this time, out of his own whim, he wanted to take a risk. Well, he had his own goal in mind, to be honest.
Given his status in the old man's mind, although personally interacting with Naruto wouldn't anger him much, it would inevitably cause some discontent. After all, what Naoki was doing now was disrespectful of the Hokage's prohibition. In the worst case, it might even pose some threat to the village.
However, Naoki also wanted to use this opportunity to lower the Third's expectations of him. After all, the old man had been trying to promote him more and more lately. He had become a threat in the eyes of interested people, especially Danzo, who had always wanted to become Hokage. If the Third continued to push his own agenda and try to groom him as a successor, he could run into trouble from Danzo at any time.
Naoki didn't want to deal with this annoying old man right now. He just wanted to live the life of an ordinary jonin in peace and just as calmly spin his roulette.
Seeing that the room was in disarray and Naruto was probably causing trouble outside at that moment, Naoki didn't stay long, took out some money, put it on the table and turned around to leave.
Nearby, the ANBU shinobi who was watching Naruto's apartment was about to jump out and interrogate Naoki, but given his current status in the village, he did not show up. However, when he left, the ANBU also went to report the incident to the Third Hokage.
At this time, Naoki suddenly appeared where the ANBU had just been, with a slight smile on his lips, "The Third shouldn't be so insistent on my advancement right now, right? I really hope that the attention on me will die down for a while, and I can continue to be a weird, lazy jounin in peace