The next day, morning.
"I'm leaving now."
After having breakfast and tidying up, Minato said to Naruto and his sister.
"Okay, goodbye, Dad!" Chiharu nodded obediently.
Minato ruffled her soft hair and looked at Naruto.
The lack of confidence in Naruto's eyes from yesterday was gone.
"Come on."
With a small chuckle, Minato stretched out his other arm and thrust his fist toward Naruto.
Naruto was stunned for a moment, then he also stretched out his arm, bumped fists with Minato, and nodded vigorously.
Minato smiled at them and disappeared from in front of Naruto and his sister.
"Okay, time to start practicing!"
Naruto clashed his fists and palms together, looking full of energy.
With that, Naruto walked to the yard and sat down cross-legged.
He began to make hand signs.
After encouraging Naruto yesterday, Minato had told him that his taijutsu foundation was actually not weak, and was even a little stronger than Sasuke's.
His only weakness was his chakra control.
However, this kind of practice couldn't make progress just by someone's guidance. The most important thing was accumulation and a certain level of talent.
Naruto's talent wasn't bad, but his practice in chakra control was fundamentally different from that of others.
So even Minato couldn't find a way to solve this problem for him.
"Haaah..."
In the courtyard, Naruto slowly closed his eyes, concentrating all his energy and sinking into his body and mind.
"Hoooo..."
The boy's breathing gradually became even. The most basic and important point in practicing chakra manipulation was to first form perfect control over your own body.
Whether it was movement, breathing, or heartbeat...
In front of the door, Chiharu leaned against the wall, looking at Naruto's back, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, nearly a year had passed.
In the Hokage's office.
Minato looked at a scroll in his hand with a slightly serious expression.
"As expected of you, one of the Legendary Sannin and the Third Hokage's most proud disciple."
He sighed. This scroll was sent back to Konoha by a Toad from Mount Myoboku at the request of Master Jiraiya. It recorded information about Orochimaru's whereabouts.
Naruto was already five years old this year.
The masked man's attack on Konoha, Orochimaru's defection, and Jiraiya leaving the village all happened during that period.
For five years, Jiraiya had been tracking Orochimaru's whereabouts but had never seen him in person.
But through the information collected over the years, plus what Orochimaru did in the village at that time, it seemed this guy was conducting some kind of human experiments for unknown purposes.
Jiraiya had discovered several of his experimental bases over the years.
"My sensei is an expert in this area, but he can't track down Orochimaru's exact whereabouts."
Minato said as he handed the scroll to the black-clad man in front of him, who was none other than Uchiha Yoruki.
As the captain of the Anbu, Uchiha Yoruki was of course paying close attention to these matters.
He read the information sent back by Jiraiya and showed the same expression as Minato.
"That masked man, the man in black, and Sasori of the Red Sand seem to have disappeared over the years. There is not much valuable information to be found."
Over the years, the Anbu had never given up tracking down the masked man and his group.
But those people were all S-level wanted criminals, so it was not easy to find them.
Konoha had collected some information about Kakuzu over the years.
That guy had been hunting down ninjas on the underground black market bounty list, and from time to time he showed up at the black market's exchange office, exchanging corpses for money.
The ninjas of Konoha had also launched several attacks to capture him, but failed every time.
After all, Kakuzu was a ninja from the same era as the First Hokage and had rich experience. With his strength, how could he be caught so easily?
"Don't worry, one day, they will appear in our sight."
Minato nodded. It was useless to be anxious at this moment.
He believed that the masked man would strike again one day, but he didn't know whether the target would be Konoha or the entire ninja world.
In addition to being wary of his special abilities, what made Minato even more uncertain was the identity of this man and the man in the black robe.
To this day, no matter how many files and documents he searched through, he could not find any information about them.
The masked man possessed the Sharingan, but even in the Uchiha clan's records, there was no record of this person.
He seemed to have appeared out of thin air, leaving no trace or information in this world.
The two of them stopped dwelling on this matter. Uchiha Yoruki pondered for a moment and asked Minato, "What about what I told you last time?"
Upon hearing this, Minato immediately took out a file from the drawer of the table in front of him.
The name column of the file read [Uchiha Itachi].
It recorded all the information about Itachi from birth to the present.
"Given this child's abilities, he is indeed qualified to enter the Anbu."
Minato nodded. Itachi was only ten years old now, but he was already a very capable ninja.
"Besides, when Shisui joined the Anbu, he wasn't much older than Itachi is now, so I think it shouldn't be a problem."
He laughed. Itachi was someone who Minato had watched grow up. It would be great if he could become an Anbu directly under his jurisdiction.
Moreover, Itachi was mature for his young age and had a calmness far beyond his years.
"Yes, they are both exceptional talents."
Uchiha Yoruki nodded, and when he mentioned Shisui, a look of pride appeared in his expression.
He was the one who had brought Shisui into the Anbu, and now Shisui's strength and reputation in the Anbu were second only to his own as captain.
Seeing how much he had grown in just a few years, the joy in his heart was indescribable.
"Haha, you have really changed a lot."
Seeing the look in his eyes, which was like a father watching his child achieve something great, Minato couldn't help but smile.
"Come to think of it, you're already grown up. It's time for you to start a family."
Over the years, Minato had mentioned this matter to Uchiha Yoruki more than once.
The two were classmates, and Minato's children were about to enter the ninja academy, but Uchiha Yoruki was still single.
"That doesn't seem to be within the scope of our work discussion."
Uchiha Yoruki's expression immediately became serious. He lowered his eyes and looked at the scroll that Minato had just handed him.
"It's just out of concern as a friend, not work," Minato said.
Uchiha Yoruki raised his eyes and said, "If there is nothing else, I will leave first."
"Alright."
Minato reluctantly nodded.
Uchiha Yoruki immediately turned around and left the Hokage's office
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