Sometimes Change is a Good Thing

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps between the trees, casting beams of light into the forest. The usually invisible dust particles floated gently in these beams, as if they had come to life.

In a relatively open grassy area, a herd of deer lay resting. The deer had small, tree-branch-like antlers on their heads. Among them, there were quite a few fawns nestled close to their mothers, their tiny triangular heads sporting little horns that stood stubbornly upright.

Occasionally, the ethereal calls of birds echoed from deep within the forest, making the place feel even more quiet and serene...

Swish~ Swish...

Suddenly, an unnatural sound disturbed the peace of the woods. The resting deer immediately stood up in unison, their movements precise and disciplined, like a well-trained unit. Their large, trumpet-shaped ears beneath their antlers perked up, attentively listening to their surroundings.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two dark shadows flashed past the trunk of a tree not far from the clearing.

Startled, the entire herd scattered in all directions and disappeared in an instant.

"Naruto! That's enough! I'm out of energy! It's almost five o'clock, and if we go any farther, we'll reach the Forest of Death!"

A voice, panting with exhaustion, called out from behind.

"Oh? Shikamaru, so this is the Forest of Death you were talking about?"

Hearing this, the figure in front stopped. Under the sunlight, his bright golden hair stood out sharply.

At that moment, the two figures standing on tree branches in the forest were none other than Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Yeah, we can't go any farther. I—huh? Naruto, you—!"

Shikamaru suddenly noticed Naruto flick his wrist, sending a kunai flying straight toward him.

Without finishing his sentence, Shikamaru's body instinctively flickered away, dodging the kunai while simultaneously throwing one of his own back at Naruto.

It was a ninja's natural reflex to counterattack.

But the next moment, Shikamaru's pupils contracted—Naruto made no attempt to dodge and was directly hit by the kunai.

Poof!

As Shikamaru's mind wavered for a split second, Naruto's body toppled backward—only to transform into a wooden log upon hitting the ground.

Shikamaru immediately relaxed. Then, shifting his gaze in another direction, he exclaimed in surprise, "You've already mastered the Substitution Jutsu?!"

"What's so surprising? It's just one of the basic Three Basic Jutsu."

Standing atop another large tree, Naruto responded nonchalantly. He then glanced off into the distance before adding, "You guys from the big clans in Konoha mastered these basic genin techniques long ago, didn't you?"

At that moment, Gekkō Hayate, who had been watching from the shadows, began moving away.

Shikamaru shook his head without replying. He himself had already mastered the Substitution and Transformation Jutsu, but he hadn't bothered with the Clone Jutsu—since it only produced intangible clones, which were of little practical use to him.

Most of his energy had been dedicated to practicing his clan's secret techniques, as his father had told him he could learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu later.

Still, these Three Basic Jutsu weren't actually that simple.

Naruto hadn't been training for long. Shikamaru knew from the intelligence provided by the Third Hokage that Naruto had only obtained a scroll of ninjutsu last night.

And Naruto had no one guiding him.

"Let's go. Didn't you say you were going to introduce me to a friend today?" Naruto asked when he noticed Shikamaru had gone silent.

A conflicted look flashed across Shikamaru's face. "We can go see him, but… do you have any money on you?"

"Money?" Naruto's gaze turned playful. "Can you buy friends with money?"

"Absolutely not!" Shikamaru's expression turned serious before shifting into one of reluctant resignation. "It's just… he really likes food, and I'm afraid I don't have enough money on me."

Naruto's eyes gleamed—so, Shikamaru was talking about Chōji.

Since he needed to gather data for the Mirror World, meeting more people seemed like a good plan.

Especially characters important to the story of Naruto—he wanted to see if they could help confirm his theories about how data collection in the Mirror World worked.

Chōji was one of Konoha's "Twelve Strongest Genin," after all.

Recalling Chōji's role in the story, Naruto said, "Bringing money when you go out is a must. Let's go—I'm very interested in this friend of yours."

Hokage's Office

"Are you certain Naruto has already mastered the Clone Jutsu and the Substitution Jutsu?"

The Third Hokage sat in his chair, his expression solemn as he questioned Gekkō Hayate.

Flipping through his small notebook, Gekkō Hayate nodded seriously. "Yes. However, when attempting the Clone Jutsu, the target seemed to struggle quite a bit. The failure rate was high. But during his spar with Shikamaru, he successfully performed the Substitution Jutsu in one go."

So, the Five Elements Seal had taken effect.

Everything was proceeding smoothly—Naruto could no longer control his chakra properly.

Realizing this, the Third Hokage nodded, then asked, "When Shikamaru suggested introducing him to a new friend, Naruto didn't refuse?"

"No!" Gekkō Hayate flipped another page in his notebook. "In fact, when the target heard about meeting others, he actually seemed… expectant."

"Hmm?"

The Third Hokage's gaze sharpened.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he ordered, "Return immediately and continue monitoring him!"

Something was off.

Naruto's personality after waking up seemed quite different from before.

But… a Jinchūriki forming bonds with the villagers was ultimately in the village's best interest.

"Hello, I'm Chōji."

Leaving the forest, Shikamaru led Naruto straight to a snack shop, where they quickly found Akimichi Chōji.

A slightly chubby boy with a blank, straightforward expression stood there. He wore a white T-shirt with the kanji for "food" emblazoned across the front.

"Hello, I heard from Shikamaru that you like potato chips."

Naruto extended both hands, offering a pile of snacks to Chōji.

"Mm-hmm!"

Chōji's eyes lit up. He immediately scooped all the snacks into his arms and started tearing them open. Under Naruto's slightly surprised gaze, he rapidly devoured bag after bag.

A flash of embarrassment crossed Shikamaru's face—Chōji had been so easily swayed by snacks. He worried Naruto might think less of him.

"Thanks!"

After finishing the last bag, Chōji enthusiastically placed both hands on Naruto's shoulders. "You're Shikamaru's friend, so that makes you my friend too!"

'Beginning data collection...'

The moment the voice echoed in Naruto's mind, he casually placed a hand on Chōji's arm.

Sure enough—he could collect data from Chōji.

'Data collection complete. Current data integrity: 8%. Please continue gathering more data.'

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. It's great to meet you!"

A bright and sincere smile appeared on Naruto's face.

That night, as Naruto sat on his bed analyzing the newly updated data from the Mirror World, he found that not much had changed.

He figured it was still due to the low data integrity.

However, he was now fairly certain that the Mirror World's data collection was strongly tied to characters important to the Naruto storyline.

But there was one thing that puzzled him—why couldn't he gather any data from the Third Hokage?

"Naruto, aren't you worried that acting so differently today will make the Third Hokage suspicious?"

Minato's voice echoed in the mental space.

Naruto shifted his consciousness to the sealed space, calmly looking at his father. "Oh? Even you think I'm acting strangely?"

Minato's expression was complicated. "I just feel like you're being unusually proactive today. I worry the Third Hokage might..."

"Change is inherently a good thing."

Naruto's gaze darkened. "I'm simply controlling my transformation in a way that benefits me. And there will be many more changes to come."

"As for the Third Hokage…"

Naruto's eyes gleamed with a dangerous light.

"I'm sure that, with his constant surveillance on me, he'll come up with his own reasonable explanation soon enough."

"I'm just… expanding my social circle."

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