Sign in From Naruto

As these uninvited guests walked into Ichiraku Ramen, Uncle Ichiraku's expression changed slightly.

Xu Fan frowned as if he realized something, so he turned his head and glanced at the doorway.

The visitor was wearing a clean uniform and a mask with different shapes on his head.

It was the Root Section of Tuanzou.

Despite the fact that the Dark Sect and the Root Sect were dressed similarly, Xu Fan still recognized the other party.

The masks of the Dark Sections affiliated with Naruto were not all the same, but they were characterized by designs based on animals.

The Root Section, on the other hand, was not. As long as one understood this, one could easily tell them apart.

"The Dark Sect?" Naruto subconsciously looked back as well. Although he had never done well in ninja school, he had been in private contact with the Third Hokage many times.

He had seen people dressed like this a few times.

For his part, the Third Hokage had explained that they were a secret division that took orders directly from him.

And Naruto's instincts told him that they weren't here to eat ramen.

"Lord Danzo wants to see you," the lead Root member said in a low voice, demanding in a commanding tone that Xu Fan leave with them.

"Who's Danzo?" Naruto couldn't help but ask.

"He's a special advisor to the higher-ups of Konoha," Xu Fan said without hesitation.

Danzo was notoriously famous in Naruto.

The great and infamous "Shadow of the Shadows."

It was like, if you knew of the existence of a certain forbidden art but didn't know who created it, blindly guessing Danzo would be correct.

If there's a conspiracy and you don't know who's behind it, pointing a finger at Danzo would also be spot on.

But...

Since Danzo was able to send Root members here to look for him, there were only three possibilities.

First, the Third Hokage knew about this matter and tacitly approved of what Danzo did.

But the possibility was not high.

Second, Danzo wasn't afraid of the Third Hokage knowing about it, and he was inviting Xu Fan over in a dignified manner, wanting to draw him in.

The likelihood was average.

As for the last possibility, maybe Danzo was holding the Third Hokage back so that he wouldn't be able to use the Telescope Technique to observe Xu Fan and Naruto, and then let the members of the Root Section figure out how to deal with Xu Fan.

Not for nothing.

Xu Fan's gaze slightly narrowed. He felt that he wasn't considered particularly smart, and his level of intellectual combat was even at the level of an ordinary person.

But he himself wasn't stupid either. Presupposing the various possibilities in advance and then making a plan against them—this kind of thing he was still capable of doing.

If it was the first two possibilities, then naturally there was nothing to worry about. He could follow the other party, talk to Danzo, and then just go home and sleep.

The world would be peaceful.

As for the last possibility, even if it was the least likely, it needed special attention instead.

And the reason why Xu Fan had such thoughts was mainly because... as early as after the Nine-Tails' attack and Minato's sacrifice, Sarutobi Hiruzen was reappointed as Hokage.

Root, under Danzo's orders, formed a ten-man squad to carry out an assassination mission against the reappointed Sarutobi Hiruzen.

In the middle of the mission, the assassination failed due to Kakashi's defection.

Afterwards, due to various reasons, Sarutobi could only pretend that this incident had never happened.

So, if Danzo even dared to assassinate Sarutobi Hiruzen, what reason would he have to be concerned about Xu Fan?

Simply because he was from the Thousand Hands clan?

Sarutobi Hiruzen was also the leader of the Sarutobi clan and the Third Hokage.

However, Xu Fan felt that he was able to understand Danzo.

After all, judging from his own behavior, he was clearly standing up to the Third Hokage's interest group and attempting to become the successor of the Third Hokage.

In other words, he himself would be the biggest obstacle to Danzo's competition to become the next Hokage.

If the roles were reversed, one would have chosen this time to strike—before the enemy had grown!

If one followed this line of thought, then this Danzo was simply too solid!

But as for the trigger...

Xu Fan subconsciously looked toward Naruto, who also happened to be watching him at this time.

"Uh..." Naruto couldn't help but freeze. His small face instantly turned red, and he hastily turned to the side. "How... what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that..."

"Lord Danzo wants to see you," the Root member repeated, seeing Xu Fan's lack of reaction.

However, there was no sign of impatience in this person's tone.

No... exactly, there was no tone.

The so-called "Root" people had no names and no feelings.

"Tell him to wait. Can't you see I'm eating ramen?" Xu Fan glanced at the man and spoke nonchalantly.

"Xu Fan," Naruto's eyes instantly glowed. He never expected Xu Fan to be so domineering.

Although he didn't know who Danzo was, the status of a Hokage advisor sounded powerful as soon as he heard it.

"Is that okay?" Uncle Ichiraku clasped his hands to his chest and couldn't help but feel a little worried. Unlike Naruto, as an adult, he knew exactly what a Hokage advisor meant.

"This is the first time I've ever treated Naruto to ramen, so who cares if he's Danzo? What does it have to do with me?"

Xu Fan didn't have the slightest intention of restraining himself and even pulled out five hundred ryo from his pocket and slapped it on the table. "Two more bowls of ramen."

"Naruto, today you have only one mission: eat heartily for me, got it?"

"Xu Fan..." Naruto's eyes couldn't help but widen in disbelief. His eyes gradually began to moisten. He had grown up so much, and not to mention someone who didn't even put the Hokage advisor in his eyes for his own sake...

Simply put, no one had ever treated him like this before.

For a while, Naruto was moved to tears.

But in reality, Xu Fan was just testing the Root member's attitude.

The result was the same as he thought. After his obvious stalling, this member of the Root Section directly walked up to yank his arm.

Root members had no feelings, but because of that, Danzo's orders were absolute.

But if Danzo was truly trying to pull his weight, he would never have let the Root member treat Xu Fan so roughly and take him by force.

He was in a hurry.

Snap!

Xu Fan sidestepped, dodging the Root member's grab.

The two sides looked at each other, and the atmosphere between them began to heat up, becoming tense with swords drawn.

Naruto also stopped his movements, looking worried.

"Naruto, it looks like we'll have to stop here for today," Xu Fan said, taking a deep breath. He realized that there was no way for this meal to go smoothly.

However, he had also verified one thing: Danzo was making a fool of himself.

"Xu Fan," Naruto jumped out of his chair with a loud thud.

Before Naruto had a chance to say anything, Xu Fan had already walked up to him, flashed a smile, and stretched out two fingers, resting them against Naruto's forehead.

"Naruto, I'll keep you company next time."

Thud!

"Alright, let's go," Xu Fan said, not caring what Naruto's reaction was, and strutted out of Ichiraku Ramen.

"Sure enough..."

Xu Fan quickly arrived on the street and looked around, but he didn't even see a single pedestrian.

It looked as if someone had deliberately cleared the area.