Naruto: Forbidden Arts and an Immortal Agenda

In Konoha, Hokage's office.

"...Although we managed to kill three Iwa jonin at the cost of our lives, four enemy jonin escaped and are now hiding in the shadows. The entire squad was injured, and most of the escorted supplies were burned to ashes.

Under these circumstances, to protect Konoha's forces, Captain Shuichi and I had no choice but to make the painful decision to abandon the mission.

It was to protect Konoha's young generation, it was to quickly return with information about Iwagakure's possible involvement in war, it was..."

Hearing Aozora continue with "though... though...", Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the table lightly, interrupting, "Enough with the excuses. I know how difficult things were. You've done well on this mission without any fault."

The [White Fang] incident had caused a major impact, sparking much discussion among Konoha's ninjas afterward.

Ninjas are human beings, not machines. While missions come first, everyone has emotions. Who could guarantee they'd never face a dilemma someday?

Therefore, although Konoha hadn't officially changed its Ninja Code, many policies had secretly become more lenient.

This escort team had encountered an Iwa assassination unit. Complete annihilation would have been normal. Under such conditions, surviving while eliminating three jonin and bringing valuable intelligence back already made them heroes.

If they were punished for this, what would other ninjas think?

They couldn't afford to lose morale during wartime.

Moreover, what concerned Hiruzen Sarutobi more was the intelligence regarding Iwa infiltration into the Land of Fire.

"Are you certain all seven were from Iwagakure?"

Aozora naturally wouldn't guarantee anything, replying only, "My knowledge is limited; I cannot confirm that."

As he spoke, he took out three scrolls. "These scrolls contain the sealed bodies of the three dead enemies. Please have our experts analyze them!"

Hiruzen accepted the scrolls. "You've worked hard on this mission. Go home and rest properly now!"

After Aozora left the office, Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, pipe in mouth, blowing smoke rings.

Seven jonin skilled in Earth Release—could be from either Iwagakure or Sunagakure.

Whichever it was, the situation had just become far more complicated.

Hiruzen exhaled deeply, tapped the table, then systematically issued orders.

"Hand the bodies to the Interrogation Unit for identification!"

"Summon Elder Danzo, Elder Homura, and Elder Koharu for a meeting!"

"Pass this suspected Iwa warfare intelligence to Jiraiya!"

"Have the Intelligence Division monitor large-scale Iwa ninja movements!"

"..."

Leaving the Hokage's office, Aozora turned toward the Police Force headquarters.

However, upon reaching the original location, he discovered it completely deserted.

Aozora suddenly recalled—the Uchiha Compound had relocated, so naturally the Police Force had moved as well.

After a brief moment of nostalgia, Aozora headed for the new Police Force building.

The newly built headquarters looked exactly the same as before—cute and oddly stylized—but the shinobi inside appeared significantly more lackadaisical and gloomy. The move had not been kind to the Uchiha clan.

Aozora casually observed for a moment before heading directly to the Chief's office.

Kyudai seemed to be away doing something else, leaving Fugaku alone in the office—an opportunity for Aozora to calmly report all the details of his recent mission.

Upon hearing Aozora's report, Fugaku's face hardened in serious contemplation.

"Good thing I let you join the caravan escort mission this time. Otherwise, the third squad's Uchiha members would've been completely wiped out."

Aozora remained modest about it.

"It wasn't just my contribution alone. Without Shuichi and the others fighting desperately, I could only have escaped in disgrace."

Fugaku didn't take offense and smiled. "Of course Shuichi and the others deserve credit, but you don't need to be so humble either."

After saying that, he hesitated slightly before continuing, "Aozora, I'll give you the clan vault token later. Additionally, I'll reward you with a secret family technique. When your Sharingan evolves into the three-tomoe form, remember to come find me."

Aozora nodded with a smile upon hearing this. A secret family technique usable only by someone with a three-tomoe Sharingan must certainly be remarkable.

The two chatted for a while before Aozora said, "Clan Head, I'd like to request some time off!"

"How long?"

Aozora raised two fingers.

"Two weeks? Granted."

Aozora shook his head.

"Two months?" Fugaku's voice rose in surprise. "Aozora, do you think the Police Force is your personal property?"

Aozora replied, "Isn't it basically ours anyway?"

Fugaku was left speechless. He couldn't exactly deny they were both from the Uchiha bloodline.

After taking several deep breaths, Fugaku said, "Fine then, I approve! But you must report to me before going anywhere, and you must arrive promptly if there's any important matter."

Aozora quickly nodded in agreement.

These two months were mainly for cultivation purposes anyway—he hadn't planned to go anywhere.

After approving Aozora's extended leave, Fugaku clearly didn't feel like chatting anymore, so Aozora made his exit not long after.

Back home, Aozora collapsed onto his soft bed and wrapped himself in the blankets.

After consecutive battles and continuous journeys, even with Aozora's abundant energy, he felt utterly exhausted.

After resting briefly, Aozora kept his body lying down while his mind started working.

He started going over the original plot and weighing up the current situation.

If his memory served him right, the war between Konoha and Kumo hadn't escalated further and ended with both sides signing a peace treaty.

It was during the signing of this peace treaty that the incident occurred—the Kumo leader attempted to kidnap Hinata and was killed by Hiashi Hyuga, resulting in Hizashi Hyuga's death.

The original plot didn't even include Iwagakure at all.

Now it appeared that it was actually Iwagakure that prevented the war from expanding.

Iwagakure attacked Konoha, making Konoha develop suspicions toward them.

Would Kumo rejoice if Iwagakure attacked Konoha?

Absolutely not!

The Fourth Raikage held a deep-seated hatred toward Iwagakure for his father's death—there was no way they could ever form an alliance. Toward Iwagakure, they would naturally maintain even greater vigilance and hatred.

When two wolves clash, one usually ends up losing. But when a third wolf shows up, everything changes.

Kumo and Konoha would never allow Iwagakure to benefit from sitting idly by.

Either drag Iwagakure into the war or back down slightly to end the conflict.

Clearly, Konoha and Kumo had chosen the latter approach.

After roughly analyzing the situation, Aozora began tallying up his gains from this mission.

The first gain, and also the most important one, was dozens of golden droplets flowing onto the Wordless Divine Book.

Aozora hadn't expected that this simple escort mission would bring more and quicker gongde than killing in the black market.

He counted again: currently, there were 32 droplets of gongde accumulated on the Divine Book.

Among them, two drops were obtained by slaying rogue ninja, and seven drops came from killing Akai and the short, fat Rock Ninja. These were all earned through bloodshed. The remaining twenty-three drops of gongde were gained by rescuing people buried inside the caravan.

It was evident that saving lives was the right way to earn gongde.

Thinking about this, Aozora decided to study Medical Ninjutsu and create a reputation as a miracle doctor. Unfortunately, there was already someone known as Shinno in the Ninja World. Otherwise, he would have used that name for his miracle doctor alias.

The second gain was the access token for the Uchiha Clan Vault.

Confident that the rich resources inside the Uchiha Clan Vault could help him selectively stimulate the Heavenly Book, Aozora hoped to learn some powerful techniques—like Earth Release abilities.

The Iwagakure technique used by the Rock Ninja earlier had deeply impressed Aozora. He also wanted such an earth-style skill, which could be used for hiding, escaping, and traveling all in one.

The last gain was making a friend named Shuichi.

Shuichi was about twenty years old now—not a prodigy among ninja—but Aozora believed in his bright future. Hearing so many illustrious swordmasters speak of the Way of the Sword, it was intriguing to wonder how Shuichi would develop along that path.

After going through his loot, Aozora felt too exhausted and soon fell into a deep sleep.

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