"Say it again from the beginning?"
Hearing this, the Anbu instinctively stepped back, almost losing his footing and falling off the utility pole.
After barely steadying himself, he felt a surge of anger.
You said it so casually?!
Do you know how much chakra and energy it takes to maintain that illusion?
The Anbu roared internally but quickly calmed down.
He stared intently through his mask at Natsuhiko's handsome face, unable to tell if this guy was messing with him.
Could it be that he broke my illusion?
No, at his age, having such a level of sealing jutsu is already remarkable. How would he have time to study illusions?
Could thieves get to the bottom of things?
Yeah, only someone with that personality would delve into the obscure and challenging sealing techniques.
But even so, he had no intention of repeating that long speech, so he said:
"I'm glad you have such a curious mind. Our Root needs talents like you!"
"But as the saying goes, seeing is believing. Instead of just listening to me here, why not directly visit the Root to get a more direct understanding."
As he finished speaking, the corners of his mouth under the mask couldn't help but lift slightly.
Because he wasn't lying, it takes a firsthand visit to understand the organization's culture truly.
However, Natsuhiko's expression gradually turned skeptical: "Wait, don't tell me you made all that up earlier and now can't repeat it exactly?"
"..."
The Anbu was silent for a moment; seeing Natsuhiko's hand reaching towards his ninja tool pouch, he thought of Lord Danzo's instructions and sighed quietly.
"Since you're asking so sincerely, I'll say it again."
"So first, let me introduce you to the organizational culture of the Root..."
And so, the Anbu stood on the utility pole, once again enthusiastically promoting thhe organisation to Natsuhiko.
But he didn't know that in Natsuhiko's empty courtyard, the three little ones in the barrier listened to his pitch while happily BBQing.
"I like to eat grilled chicken wings~"
Number Three sang while placing ingredients on the grill, occasionally brushing on the Amou family's secret sauce.
Watching the chicken wings, skewers, and sausages sizzling with oil on the charcoal, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva.
"Oh, almost forgot to add some vegetables."
So, Number Three grabbed a handful of green onions and sprinkled them on the food.
Number One was sitting at a stone table nearby, his legs swinging. He was holding a grilled chicken wing and eating with grease all over his mouth.
"How long do you think that idiot will keep talking?" he mumbled with his mouth full.
"The longer, the better."
Number Two replied, then casually forked a meatball from a plate on the table into his mouth.
But his eyes never left a meridian model projection in front of him, which displayed numerous changing parameters around it.
"At least long enough for us to analyze his illusion technique."
Before long, Number Three had grilled quite a lot of food and placed it on a plate, one by one.
After finishing his tasks, he smiled and reached for a skewer.
But he grabbed nothing but air.
Number Three, bewildered, looked towards the rising plate, only to see his main body.
Natsuhiko, now in fresh clothes with wet hair from a recent shower, was holding the plate high, glaring at Number Three:
"I asked you to prepare dinner for me, not to eat it! Look at them, how obedient they are."
"But they also..."
Number Three instinctively looked at Number One and Number Two.
I only saw them seriously studying and analyzing the meridian model, with no food or plates in sight and their mouths clean.
"..."
Number Three pouted.
Why am I always the one who gets hurt?
Natsuhiko casually tossed a meatball into his mouth, then looked at the Anbu, who was still foolishly giving a speech on the utility pole, with a peculiar expression.
"Hasn't that guy realized that the me at the door is just a projection?"
"Who told him to show off and keep standing on the utility pole."
Number Two explained casually.
"Not to mention I've been controlling that projection to repeatedly ask him various details. If he gets it wrong, he has to start over."
Are you a devil?
Natsuhiko internally complained, then walked to the three-dimensional meridian model and said:
"How's it going, figured out the principle of this technique?"
"Not so fast, but we can see that this technique is similar to the BGM illusion technique we developed earlier, just with smaller chakra fluctuations, making it harder to detect."
Natsuhiko nodded with lingering fear: "Yes, if the intelligent system hadn't detected the abnormal chakra fluctuation in me just now, I wouldn't have noticed I was under an illusion."
Number Two added: "Also, this technique is quite valuable for our research on the relationship between emotions and chakra nature."
"But what really makes this technique effective is his mouth."
"I've heard the Root collects people with various special abilities, but I didn't expect they'd have talent for MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) as well. Truly unfathomable."
Number One echoed: "Yeah, honestly, now I'm a bit curious about visiting the Root."
Number Two also nodded: "Maybe we've been too prejudiced against the Root. Although the original series depicted the Root as doing nothing good, if it really contributed nothing to Konoha, the Third Hokage wouldn't have kept it around."
"You guys have a point. After being in the ninja world for so many years, I know we shouldn't judge people and things from the original series too harshly."
Natsuhiko stroked his chin thoughtfully.
We should give Lord Danzo a chance. With Root's support, we could advance our plans faster. Don't you think I'm right?"
Number One and Number Two nodded repeatedly: "Absolutely right!"
"Nonsense!"
Natsuhiko flicked their foreheads, though not too hard.
"I asked you to analyze his illusion, what if you get brainwashed instead?"
The two little ones held their foreheads, crying out in pain but finally snapping back to their senses.
At this moment, Natsuhiko remembered something.
"Hey, why has Number Three been so quiet?"
"Ah, he's over there."
They looked around and quickly saw Number Three sneaking towards the gate.
Seeing them looking over, Number Three showed a resolute expression and charged towards the gate with his short legs, shouting:
"Root forever!!!"
*Snap!*
With the sound of a finger snap, Number Three turned into a wooden ball, rolling on the ground.
"Why can't any of you let me relax," Natsuhiko sighed, rubbing his forehead.
Then he looked at the Anbu, pondering:
"It seems this technique is more effective than I thought."
"Maybe it could be used in schools to improve everyone's learning efficiency, and in future factories..."
So Natsuhiko gave an order:
"Number Two, keep increasing the intensity. Don't let him go until we've fully analyzed this technique."
Number Two showed a mischievous smile: "You said it. If he breaks in, I won't be responsible."
Natsuhiko laughed:
"I doubt he'd be foolish enough to break into a sealing technique ninja's home."
...
Late that night.
"Amou Natsuhiko!!! I—"
A hoarse and desperate voice pierced through the night sky above the southeast corner of the village but quickly fell silent.
Natsuhiko, who had been sleeping, was awakened and saw intrusion alerts and intruder capture completion messages on the interface.
Mumbling, he went back to sleep.
(End of chapter)
Chapter 106 is up on Patreon.
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