Evening.
Konoha's commercial street.
After school, Shishou strolled around the streets with Ino and Hinata, shopping and wandering around.
"Hinata, what do you think of this?"
Ino dragged Hinata to a stall selling trinkets and held up a rabbit doll.
Ino, who had spent all her pocket money, treated Shishou as a rich guy but always bought things with restraint. She never bought expensive items, instead opting for small trinkets.
She enjoyed the process of shopping, not the items themselves. Moreover, every time she finished shopping with Shishou, she would bring him a bento box the next day as a thank-you gift.
Shishou told her it wasn't necessary, but Ino insisted.
This made Shishou like her even more.
Well, mainly because the bento made by Ino's mother was delicious.
Thinking about bento, Shishou drooled.
This made his inner scoundrel's desires stir again.
He glanced at Ino in front of him and then tried to suppress those desires within himself.
Unfortunately, for some reason, this scoundrel's heart just couldn't be killed...
"It's very cute."
Hinata touched the rabbit doll, agreeing with Ino's choice.
"Isn't that Naruto?"
Taking his eyes off Ino and Hinata, Shishou looked around and saw Naruto not far away.
At that moment, Naruto was carrying some items, heading somewhere.
Frowning, Shishou suddenly noticed the hidden ANBU members around Naruto.
"Why are ANBU following Naruto again?"
Fortunately, his relationship with Naruto was already very good, so even approaching Naruto wouldn't raise suspicion.
"Naruto, what are you up to?"
Shishou told Ino and Hinata and then approached Naruto.
"Tch."
"It's the old man Hokage making me move to his place."
"It's so annoying."
Naruto put down the items in his hands, speaking in a very displeased tone.
Because the Third Hokage often visited him.
Naruto had a good relationship with the Third Hokage, always referring to him as the old man.
But he didn't like living in the Hokage's house.
Mainly because at the Third Hokage's house, he couldn't do anything without being stopped.
This made the naturally active and mischievous Naruto very uncomfortable.
This also made Naruto dislike going to the Third Hokage's house.
Moreover, thanks to Shishou, Naruto was already very familiar with Shikamaru, Kiba, and Shino, often hanging out with them.
Unlike in the original story, he wasn't lonely.
So, for the current Naruto,
loneliness was only occasional.
Being able to freely do what he liked was his favorite thing.
Seeing Naruto's disdainful expression,
Shishou felt a bit speechless.
He guessed that something must have happened, making the Third Hokage start worrying about Naruto's safety.
That's why he wanted Naruto close to him for protection.
Thinking a bit more, Shishou guessed it was likely because of Uchiha Obito's control over the Three-Tails' attack on the Mist Village.
Because recently, there had been nothing more sensational in the ninja world than this.
And Naruto just happened to be the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Thinking of this, Shishou said:
"The Third Hokage is doing it for your own good."
Because he had promised the Fourth Hokage to look after Naruto,
Shishou also hoped Naruto could stay close to the Third Hokage for protection.
After all, Jiraiya wasn't in the village now, and he also had to leave often, making it impossible to always watch over Naruto.
Naruto pouted, unconvinced, "Who needs him to be good to me."
"Naruto, why does the Third Hokage want you to stay at his place?"
Ino pulled Hinata over to Shishou's side and looked at Naruto curiously.
"Well, I don't really know..."
Naruto scratched his head, puzzled by Ino's question.
"Ino, let's help Naruto move his stuff."
Seeing Naruto's embarrassment, Shishou quickly intervened.
"But I still want to shop..."
Ino was reluctant.
"Ino, we can shop next time."
Hinata, who had been silent, pulled Ino and sided with Shishou.
"Ino, you're just siding with the guy you like. I really misjudged you."
Ino looked at Hinata with mock pain, delivering a verbal blow.
"I..."
Hinata glanced at Shishou and blushed, freezing in place.
"Hehe, let's see if you dare oppose me again."
Ino giggled, hugging Hinata.
She really liked seeing Hinata's shy appearance.
Seeing Ino and Hinata's interaction,
Shishou and Naruto exchanged glances and quietly took the items, leaving.
They didn't want to disturb Ino and Hinata's 'bickering'...
"Hey, wait for us."
By the time Shishou and Naruto had walked quite a distance, Ino realized they had left and hurriedly pulled Hinata to catch up.
Before long,
Naruto led Shishou, Ino, and Hinata to the Third Hokage's residence.
After placing down the items, Shishou, Ino, and Hinata said their goodbyes.
Then they resumed their shopping trip.
Shishou, with many secrets, didn't want to stay in the heavily guarded Hokage's residence.
...
The next day.
Capital of the Land of Fire.
Ninja black market.
Shishou returned to the information house to check for news about Turtle Island in the Hidden Cloud Village and Tsunade.
However, he received negative responses.
"Sigh."
Sighing, Shishou returned to his residence in Fire Source City.
He didn't seek out Mikoto and the others but instead began his own training.
Wood Release, Flying Thunder God, Mangekyo Sharingan, and Chakra Bugs.
These four were Shishou's trump cards.
Among them, the Chakra Bugs didn't require training; they just needed to be fed and bred.
Other bugs were also taken care of in the breeding space.
They were the most worry-free trump card.
For Wood Release, Shishou had already learned all the available jutsu.
Lacking advanced materials, he couldn't further his studies for now.
Mangekyo Sharingan.
Due to the lack of excellent genjutsu masters for guidance, Shishou, with his poor genjutsu foundation, couldn't fully utilize the Mangekyo Sharingan's genjutsu capabilities.
Moreover, because of Mikoto, he no longer needed to find ways to stimulate his emotions to enhance his eye power...
Thus, Shishou temporarily gave up on training the Sharingan's genjutsu.
So, pairing Flying Thunder God with sensory techniques became Shishou's main training focus, aside from Body Flicker Technique and Sky Sword.
After failing to acquire the Kagura Mind's Eye from Karin,
Shishou had no choice but to train sensory techniques on his own.
Although he possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan,
the Sharingan could only see things up close, not far away.
If Shishou relied solely on the Mangekyo Sharingan and didn't train sensory techniques, he wouldn't be able to sense the surroundings of distant Flying Thunder God marks.
This could lead to him teleporting right into an enemy's trap.
With Flying Thunder God not mastered to perfection and still having a one-second cooldown, that could cost him his life.
The Fourth and Second Hokage could excel with Flying Thunder God due to their strong sensory abilities.
In the original story,
both the Second and Fourth Hokage could sense the ongoing Shinobi World War from thousands of kilometers away, even while in Konoha.
This showed the extent of their sensory abilities.