Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 729 Rumors
"Hey, did you hear that?"

"What did you hear?"

"It seems that the forbidden technique left by the Second Generation was stolen a while ago."

In a window seat in the barbecue restaurant, Qing Ming was wolfing down the barbecue. Upon hearing this, he paused.

Then, he blocked out the sounds of other people's conversations, pricked up his ears, and listened carefully to the conversation between the two.

That is to say, he was able to do this because of his strong mental strength, and the improvement of his physical fitness in all aspects brought by the improvement of his 'physique' attribute.

Otherwise, it might not be possible to hear clearly what they are saying from such a long distance in such a noisy environment.

Just as he was concentrating, he heard the Konoha ninja being questioned ask in a slightly surprised tone: "The forbidden technique left by the Second Generation? Who did it?"

"I heard that it was done by spies from the Hidden Cloud Village, and it seems that the people have been caught." Another person answered.

However, the person whose interest was aroused shook his head after hearing his words.

Seeing this, the man immediately asked: "What's wrong? Do you have any other news?"

"I don't have any news."

The man who shook his head replied: "However, I know that the forbidden technique studied by the Second Generation must be strictly protected. How could a spy from the Hidden Cloud Village easily access it, let alone steal it? I feel that..."

"Tsk tsk~"

He didn't finish his last words, but the meaning was obvious.

Obviously, he didn't believe that this was done by the spies from the Hidden Cloud Village, or rather, it was not entirely done by him. He thought that maybe someone in the village was helping him.

Understanding what he meant, the Konoha special jonin who first brought up this topic looked around.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to this side, he lowered his voice and said, "Actually, I don't really believe it. I have a little gossip here. Do you want to hear it?"

Hearing this, the Konoha ninja who had questioned immediately said, "What gossip? Don't keep us in suspense!"

Obviously, whether in the past life or this life, whether a supernatural being or an ordinary person, everyone is born with a gossipy heart.

Seemingly satisfied with his companion's reaction, the Konoha Special Jonin first picked up a piece of barbecue with chopsticks, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it for a few times, and swallowed it with great enjoyment before saying slowly, "I heard that this matter seems to involve Lord Orochimaru."

"What? It's so!"

The other person heard this and said in surprise.

······
the other side.

Qing Ming was not surprised at all when he heard the name Orochimaru.

It was simple. This was not the first time he had heard rumors that the other party was involved.

As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire.

Although due to the death of Danzo and the retreat of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the monitoring of Orochimaru was strengthened, which reduced the frequency of his human experiments a lot.

But low frequency does not mean absence.

On the contrary, without Danzo as a qualified "material" provider, Orochimaru chose to obtain materials nearby for the sake of convenience.

Therefore, the number of missing civilians and ninjas in Konoha Village has not decreased, but has shown a subtle upward trend.

Indeed, Orochimaru acted very covertly and did not leave any evidence.

But there is an old saying that goes, If you don't want others to know, don't do it.

And none of those who can become a ninja, especially those who grow into a high-level ninja, are stupid.

Maybe they don't have evidence, but they can more or less guess the truth of some things.

After all, many people knew that Orochimaru conducted human experiments.

However, in the past he had always used prisoners from hostile ninja villages, and during special periods, no one paid much attention to it.

But now it’s different. It is very likely that they are using their own people for experiments.

In this situation, they don't mind adding fuel to the fire and using this incident to cause some trouble for Orochimaru.

That's right, Qingming felt that the news that Orochimaru was involved this time was deliberately spread by these ninjas who were dissatisfied with Orochimaru. Of course, this does not mean that Orochimaru was definitely wronged.

On the contrary, Qingming thinks this possibility is quite high.

In his memory, in another timeline, before Orochimaru defected, he took the initiative to sneak into the secret room where the research materials of Senju Tobirama were kept, and stole the two S-level forbidden techniques of "Immortality Reincarnation" and "Yakitsu".

In this life, because of his existence, Danzo died early, and he lost a partner, and a partner with considerable power, so his development would inevitably not be too smooth.

In this case, there is a high possibility that they have set their sights on this knowledge in advance.

Based on this, it is a good method to leak relevant information to the spies of the Hidden Cloud Village, and then use the other party's behavior to cover up one's own whereabouts and purpose.

Of course, the exact truth is probably only known by Orochimaru himself, Namikaze Minato, Sarutobi Hiruzen and a few others.

Shaking his head secretly, Qing Ming didn't think about it any more. These had little to do with him, and he had no intention of getting involved.

However, from this information, he could speculate that in this life, Orochimaru's defection might come earlier than expected.

There was no way out. Public opinion in the village was gradually becoming unacceptable to him.

In a month or two at the shortest, or a year or two at the longest, Orochimaru will definitely leave.

"I just wonder if Sarutobi Hiruzen will let us go this time?"

This thought flashed through Qingming's mind. He quickly finished the beef on the grill while listening to the conversation of everyone in the store.

If he encounters something that interests him, he will concentrate his attention and listen to it. If he encounters something that does not interest him, he will simply ignore it.

In this way, time passed by minute by minute, until two hours later, near midnight, Qing Ming finally walked out of the barbecue restaurant.

At this time, there were not many people on the street outside, and the vendors who had set up stalls had left one after another.

Walking on the road leading to the Uchiha clan's territory again, Qingming felt relaxed all over, and the fatigue accumulated from days of hard training seemed to have been relieved a little.

However, he still had no plans to continue practicing.

Now that he has decided to relax, he will not change his mind and add more burdens to himself.

Just like that, Qingming returned home while thinking about all sorts of things.

After washing up quickly to get rid of the bad smell on his body, Qingming walked straight into the bedroom, took off his clothes, and went to bed.

Although he just said that he felt less tired, he fell asleep quickly as soon as his body touched the mattress.

After a few breaths, a faint snoring sound was heard in the room, and Qingming fell into a complete sleep.

Silent all night.

······
The next day.

early morning.

When the first ray of sunlight from the horizon shone through the gap in the window and onto Qingming's face, he opened his eyes.

"Hmm~"

Qingming murmured.

Afterwards, he sat up, staring blankly ahead, and was dazed for a while before he finally woke up.

Feeling his clear brain and active thinking, Qing Ming felt all his fatigue gone and he was full of energy.

Kakakka~
There was a sound of bones rubbing against each other.

He stretched out his arms and made a waist-twisting motion.

After counting his breaths, he began to get dressed and wash.

After finishing all this, he packed up his equipment, had a hearty breakfast, and bought a large bag of enhanced ration pills from a store in the village that specialized in selling ninja supplies, then walked out of the village.

After finding an open area, he used Wind Style: Wind Wings and Chakra Feather Robe in succession, flew into the sky, and flew to the island in the south for training.

(End of this chapter)