Chapter 7: Drawn Attention and Clean Records

The next day, Naruto climbed out of bed and looked at the blazing sun hanging high in the sky. His face instantly scrunched up in panic.

"Oh no, oh no! I overslept!"

Last night, he had gotten too excited watching Bulbasaur and ended up staying up late.

He quickly jumped out of bed, washed up, and glanced at Bulbasaur, who was still sleeping soundly. Naruto called out loudly, "Bulbasaur, get up! We've got a mission today! If we're late, Kakashi-sensei will punish us!"

At the mention of punishment, Naruto couldn't help but clench his butt cheeks—fear crept through his heart.

"Ganeya~"

Bulbasaur ignored Naruto's shouting, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Last night, Naruto's excitement had kept it awake too. Now it was drowsy—there was no way it was getting up so easily.

Seeing this, Naruto's mouth twitched, and without further hesitation, he scooped up Bulbasaur and dashed outside.

"Ganeya! Ganeya!"

Bulbasaur was instantly wide awake, angrily yelling at Naruto as it struggled in his arms.

But Naruto ignored it. His legs carried him swiftly toward the meeting point.

On the other side of Konoha, at the training ground, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke were already waiting for the late Naruto.

"Where is that idiot Naruto? Why isn't he here yet?" Sakura clenched her fists, her expression filled with frustration.

Kakashi and Sasuke stood calmly—one reading a book, the other maintaining a cold, indifferent look.

"Ahhh—!"

Suddenly, a shout came from the distance. The three at the training ground turned to look.

Naruto appeared, holding something in his arms, gritting his teeth as he sprinted toward them.

"Huff—huff—"

Panting heavily, Naruto finally arrived at the training ground. He looked at them sheepishly. "Sorry... I... I'm late."

Smack!

"You idiot! Why are you so late?" Sakura marched up to him and delivered a punch to his head.

"Hehe..." Naruto rubbed his head awkwardly. "I stayed up late last night."

"Ganeya!"

Bulbasaur blinked in confusion. What just happened? Why was Naruto getting hit but still smiling?

"Huh?"

Hearing the unfamiliar sound, Sakura froze and looked at what Naruto was holding.

When she saw Bulbasaur, she instinctively took a step back. "Naruto, what—what is that? Why does it look so ugly?"

"Ganeya!"

Bulbasaur's eyes flared with anger. Ugly? Did she just call it ugly?

Unforgivable! How dare she insult its handsome appearance! Bulbasaur immediately began to struggle.

"Bulbasaur, calm down! Don't be mad—Sakura didn't mean it."

Naruto panicked, not knowing what to say. First Fang yesterday, and now Sakura today—both were really something.

Seeing that Bulbasaur was acting up, Sakura quickly retreated behind Kakashi.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed in curiosity. "Naruto, what is that in your arms?"

"Ah? You mean Bulbasaur? It's my partner."

"Partner?"

Kakashi's curiosity deepened.

Even Sasuke, who had seemed uninterested before, turned his gaze toward Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah! Bulbasaur is my partner. Don't be fooled by its appearance—Bulbasaur is really strong!"

"Ganeya!"

Hearing Naruto's words, Bulbasaur raised a vine from its back and lightly smacked him. Of course, it didn't use much strength.

Its eyes filled with fury. It was already angry about being called ugly, and now Naruto was badmouthing it again?

When they saw Bulbasaur's vine, the expressions of the three in front of him changed drastically.

"W-Wood Release?" Sakura asked in a shaky voice, turning to Kakashi.

Sasuke's gaze became serious as he stared at Bulbasaur.

Kakashi furrowed his brows and ignored Sakura's question. "Naruto, where did you get that Bulbasaur?"

Naruto didn't think much of it and rubbed the spot where the vine had hit him. "It's a gift from Brother Ryo."

Kakashi glanced at Bulbasaur, then said to the group, "You'll be training on your own today."

With that, he disappeared with a swoosh.

"Huh? Huh?"

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Weren't we supposed to have a mission?"

Not knowing what to say, he stood there in a daze. After rushing here in such a hurry, they weren't going on a mission anymore?

"Let's just train by ourselves, Naruto," Sakura suggested after seeing Sasuke walk off to train on his own.

Naruto nodded reluctantly, then looked at Bulbasaur. "Bulbasaur, let's train too."

He hadn't forgotten what Ryo had said yesterday—if he trained Bulbasaur well, it could become even stronger than the Hokage.

"Ganeya~"

Bulbasaur nodded in agreement.

Without saying anything more, Naruto led Bulbasaur in the direction of Sasuke and Sakura.

While Naruto was starting his training, Kakashi arrived at the Hokage's office.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in."

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was smoking his pipe, smiled kindly when Kakashi entered. "Ah, Kakashi. You're here about Naruto's summoning beast that can use Wood Release, right?"

"Lord Hokage, you already know?"

Kakashi's eyes filled with surprise, but upon reflection, it made sense.

After all, Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. If anything unusual happened, the Hokage would be the first to know.

Hiruzen put out his pipe and nodded. "Yes, I'm aware."

"Then, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."

Kakashi turned to leave but was stopped.

"Wait, Kakashi."

Hiruzen's voice turned serious. "If possible, I'd like you to gather some information about this Ryo. See what his thoughts are about Konoha—but don't be too obvious about it."

Kakashi fell silent for a moment, then nodded before leaving.

Click—

After Kakashi left, Hiruzen lit his pipe again, taking a deep drag.

Sigh.

He exhaled slowly, his gaze falling on the desk in front of him.

There was a file with Ryo's information on it—detailing every aspect of his life from childhood to the present.

That was the source of his headache.

The records were too clean—so clean that it felt unnatural. The Ryo described in these records seemed like a completely different person from the one he had encountered.

…