One year had passed since the Nine-Tails' attack.
During this time, Konoha had gradually regained its vitality and was thriving under Minato Namikaze's leadership.
But for every person celebrating, there was someone else mourning.
Minato Namikaze might have been happy, but Danzo certainly was not.
The better Minato performed as Hokage, the slimmer Danzo's chances became. It would be extremely difficult for him to rise again.
After all, age worked against Danzo—Minato could easily outlive him.
Although opportunities seemed slim at the moment, creating chances was exactly what Danzo excelled at.
Danzo summoned his trusted subordinate, Tatsuma Aburame.
"Tatsuma, the timing is right," Danzo said. "They've spent so long investigating the leak from that day without any results, so they probably won't waste more resources on it anymore. Next, I need you to do something."
"Secretly spread the word that Naruto Uzumaki, the son of the Fourth Hokage, is the container of the Nine-Tails. Stir up fear and hatred toward Naruto within the village. We can't let Minato keep having it too easy."
Understood!" Tatsuma Aburame accepted Danzo's command.
Danzo continued, "How are those Uchiha doing now?"
"They've been driven to the very outskirts and isolated."
Keep close watch on them. Report any unusual activities immediately to me."
Understood! Lord Danzo!"
After Tatsuma left, Danzo gave a smirk.
Still relying on the Uchiha, huh? These Uchiha clansmen hated Fugaku Uchiha and resented Minato Namikaze—they were perfect to manipulate.
Meanwhile, Shindai was conducting research inside his workshop at the shop.
His research naturally focused on puppet upgrades.
Shindai wanted his puppets to become smarter—besides providing emotional fulfillment through companionship, they should also excel at cooking, cleaning, and other chores.
Though it sounded simple enough, practical implementation proved challenging.
Shindai had to continuously develop and refine the puppets' propulsion systems, sensors, and recognition mechanisms.
In addition to these improvements, he was also upgrading the Kannazuki-class combat system and researching Ninja-Ware.
Shindai truly enjoyed this concentrated feeling of dedicating himself entirely to research—it brought him joy and relaxation.
Meanwhile in the store's main area, Hikaku Uchiha sat with her legs propped up, reading a book lazily.
She didn't need to handle any daily operations herself. When customers arrived, Hikaku typically only spoke two sentences:
"Sit down, fill out the form, and pay the upfront payment."
"Come back in five days to pick up your puppet."
All other tasks were handled by Shindai's worker puppets. Life was pretty comfortable indeed.
Thus, Hikaku Uchiha currently enjoys reading *The Pros and Cons of Transitioning from Clan System to Ninja Village System*.
Shindai doesn't understand this at all and worries that Hikaku might become a stuffy bookworm.
So two days ago, Shindai secretly swapped her books for Jiraiya's newly released novel *Make Out Paradise*.
However, the outcome was predictable—Shindai never dared to try that again.
"Riiiiing..."
The wall clock began ringing. Hikaku decisively closed the book, stood up, and walked into Shindai's workshop to call her to wrap up work. Together, they would go find Pakura before heading home.
When she saw Shindai's hands placed on the puppet's suggestive areas, Hikaku gave her a look usually reserved for trash.
"Pervert! Time to go home!"
Shindai felt a sudden chest discomfort and snapped back in annoyance: "What pervert? How can your mind be so dirty?"
Hikaku snorted disapprovingly twice: "What am I supposed to think with you doing that?"
Shindai glanced at their own hands. It indeed appeared quite misleading.
After letting go, Shindai argued: "I was just checking if there were any issues! I'm definitely not a pervert!"
After changing out of her work uniform, Shindai said, "Fine, let's go find Pakura then."
Shindai and Hikaku locked the shop door and went together to the handicraft shop where Pakura worked.
Pakura had already finished preparing to leave. Seeing Shindai and Hikaku coming to pick her up, she simply walked over with a smile and said: "Let's go, time to head home."
The trio strolled down the street chatting cheerfully.
Suddenly, some comments from the roadside drew the attention of Shindai and the others.
"Hey, did you hear about the Hokage-sama's child?"
"Of course I heard. Never expected him to be the incarnation of the Nine-Tails demon fox."
"You mean that demon fox is adopted by the Hokage-sama?"
"I guess so. They certainly didn't give birth to a demon fox. Probably, the Hokage keeps it under personal surveillance."
"How terrifying! Why not just eliminate it completely?"
"Yeah, what if the Nine-Tails' attack happens again? It's only been a year since that incident."
Upon hearing these remarks, Shindai, Pakura, and Hikaku's faces instantly turned serious.
They exchanged glances, then hurriedly quickened their pace toward home.
As they entered Minato Namikaze's house, they overheard Kushina Uzumaki angrily say, "How infuriating! Those people actually claimed Naruto is the reincarnation of the demon fox. When I confronted them, they even refused to admit it! I'm so mad!"
Minato Namikaze was trying to calm Kushina Uzumaki down.
Shindai asked with confusion: "Hokage-sama, how did this information leak out?"
[Minato shook his head: "Not sure either. Seems like suddenly everyone knew."]
"Suddenly spreading everywhere like this means someone must have deliberately spread the rumor. It seems they're targeting you, The Fourth," Hikaku Uchiha speculated.
Pakura frowned and agreed, "Yes, we overheard it on the street earlier too—claiming that Naruto is the Nine-Tails' incarnation, that Minato adopted him to keep watch over Naruto. There's no point in targeting Naruto directly, so it can only be aimed at you."
Kushina Uzumaki was so angry her hair practically floated up as she waved her cooking ladle around, "Nonsense! Naruto was carried in my womb for ten months and born from me! They're the ones who adopted!"
Minato Namikaze continued trying to calm down Kushina Uzumaki.
Shindai asked, "What are you planning to do next, Lord Minato?"
Minato replied, "Since Naruto's identity has been exposed, we'll need to investigate first, then discuss with the Third and others how best to resolve this properly. Kushina, I'll handle this matter well."
Kushina said fiercely, "We must catch that rumor-monger and punch him hard right in the face!"
Baby Naruto had already crawled to Shindai's feet and grabbed his trouser leg.
Baby Naruto, who could already talk, said cutely to Shindai, "Carry me~"
Shindai picked up baby Naruto and rubbed his face against the baby's cheek, saying, "Don't worry, before you grow up, your big brother will protect you first, and later you can protect me!"
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