I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 273 The older I get, the more I understand what it means to be able to share one's innermost thoughts with others.

After the battle, Aragaki abandoned his usual slacking-off approach and silently cleaned up the battlefield. This was perhaps the most serious and best he had done since joining the Dark Division.

The earwigs were dealing with the surrounding corpses. Before the earwigs ate the corpse of the Boiling Release rogue ninja, Tatsuma took samples of his body tissues.

Orochimaru's last project, Shikotsumyaku, was only recently initiated, but it was interrupted for a long time due to Tatsuma's situation. It's estimated that the research has only just officially begun. I wonder what his feelings will be when he sees another sample of a bloodline limit.

Tatsuma tricked Orochimaru into researching bloodline limits initially because of the power of the Uzumaki clan, but now it seems that research is unnecessary and doesn't matter.

But Tatsuma still wanted Orochimaru to continue. He didn't like gains that were made without a clear understanding of them. He wanted to know not only what happened, but also why it happened. That was Tatsuma's attitude.

Even ninjutsu requires Tatsuma to thoroughly understand it, let alone the changes in his own body, those unknown cells. Although they don't seem to be harmful now, Tatsuma still regards them as the sword of Damocles.

However, this will be a long process, and Tatsuma is prepared for it. After all, all the villages have been researching these things for so many years, but they still haven't been able to turn bloodline limits into a controllable technology.

Although he felt a sense of urgency, Tatsuma wouldn't do anything out of line. After collecting the samples, he thought that once he returned to the village, he would definitely have Orochimaru do another physical examination.

To collect and analyze data for future use of the severity of injuries to predict the growth rate of unknown cells, once the model is completed, he will know the consequences of his injuries.

Seeing that Tatsuma was deep in thought, Minato walked over to him and asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing, I'm just thinking about something."

Tatsuma didn't tell Minato about the unknown cells. He knew Minato well; Minato couldn't offer any help with his problem, and all he could do was worry unnecessarily after finding out.

Minato had no idea what Tatsuma was thinking. He simply sat down next to him and said, "Tatsuma, I want to know why your emotions have been fluctuating so much lately. I want to hear the truth."

Knowing there were no outsiders present, Minato didn't use Tatsuma's codename, or rather, their codenames were practically meaningless.

When he heard Minato's question, Tatsuma instinctively wanted to give a vague answer, but after hearing Minato's follow-up words, he fell silent for a moment before asking, "What do you think is the reason?"

Minato shook his head and said, "I don't know. Those two years you spent at the research institute were classified, so I couldn't ask you. But I think it might be related to that experiment, or the people involved?"

"You think it was Lord Orochimaru who changed some of my thoughts?"

Minato nodded, not only because he felt it, but also because the Hokage had told him that Tatsuma and Orochimaru had had too much contact because of that experiment.

This led Orochimaru to develop some incorrect ideas, which he then instilled in Tatsuma. The Hokage even asked him to keep a close eye on Tatsuma and prevent him from going astray.

As for the specific concept, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't say, and Minato couldn't guess either.

Seeing Minato nod, Tatsuma remained silent for a moment before saying, "If it weren't for Orochimaru-sama, would you have confided everything to the Third Hokage? Would you have shown him your most authentic self?"

"I will hold back a bit, but I will show him my true self."

After Minato finished answering, Tatsuma also spoke up: "I will only tell the Third Hokage the information I am willing to let him know, and at the same time, I cannot show him my true self."

Why?

"Because I am different from you. The real you is enough to satisfy and gain the trust of the Third Hokage, while I am not. The real me would only make him feel offended."

"what?"

Minato was puzzled, because in his opinion, Tatsuma was a better person than him. How could such a person make the Hokage feel offended?

Chenma shook his head and did not continue to explain. He said, "I've gone off on a tangent. What I want to say is that the me that most people know is just a mask, and that mask is the side that they like and are happy to see."

But that's not the real me. I'm just playing the role that they envision for me. In the process, I have too many negative emotions accumulating and fermenting until they explode at a point when they are out of control.

I'm not as friendly as I appear, nor as violent as I seem; those are just exaggerated versions of myself. Don't worry about anything. After all, I haven't intentionally played any particular role for you.

As Tatsuma spoke, he patted Minato on the shoulder. He was telling the truth; Minato was a trustworthy person, and Tatsuma trusted him completely.

Minato lowered his head, and after a while, he said somewhat uncertainly, "You really haven't acted like this in front of me?"

"Have I ever helped you?"

"I have helped."

"Have I ever wronged you?"

"I've been cheated."

"Have I ever praised you?"

"I praised you."

"Have I ever said anything harsh to you?"

"I've said that before."

"So you still think I'm deliberately being friendly or violent in front of you?"

"I see."

Minato nodded emphatically, his tone becoming more relaxed. Although he still had some doubts, as long as it was Tatsuma, whom he knew, and his best friend, there was no problem.

Chenma didn't explain further. His deliberate act was real, perhaps due to a lack of security. On one hand, he lacked a voice, and on the other hand, he lacked people he could trust.

Because he lacks a voice, when facing those in high positions, he needs to hide the aspects that those people dislike and show them the aspects that they most want to see.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, or even Mito Uzumaki when they first met him, all saw this side of him.

He had very few people he could trust. Apart from Minato, there was only Mito Uzumaki, with whom he had confided, but she had passed away. There was also his teacher Tsunade and Jiraiya.

Of these people, there was none he could fully confide in. Tsunade was too carefree and couldn't understand many subtle things.

However, he and Jiraiya are very different. The essence of sharing is to find someone who understands you. In some aspects, Jiraiya not only cannot understand Tatsuma's thoughts, but may even oppose them. Therefore, Tatsuma does not want to confide in him.

As for Minato, he was indeed someone to whom one could confide everything, but Minato's personality was too kind and he was too considerate of others. Tatsuma didn't want to add to his friend's troubles or exacerbate his mental exhaustion.

Some things, especially negative emotions, are best processed on your own. There's no need to persecute others. Chenma feels that venting occasionally is enough.

After all, even someone as rational as Tobirama Senju would occasionally indulge in the verbal slang of "evil Uchiha."

Tatsuma could certainly use this method, but he couldn't find a suitable target. He couldn't just follow Senju's example and slander the Uchiha clan all day long, could he?

You know, there's a foolish kid in the Uchiha clan who trusts him to the point of blind delusion.

"Achoo~"

A member of the security force in Konoha Village, whose cuffs were patched, was sneezing again.

This operation did not cause serious damage to the surrounding area, so the wild vulture was able to handle it properly, and with the assistance of the earwigs, it was dealt with quickly.

However, it's not time to go back to the village yet. After all, their main purpose for coming out this time was "fishing," and they did catch some fish.

However, the overt task of concealing this purpose has not yet been completed. Although leaving directly would not attract any attention, Tatsuma always likes to be thorough in his work.

Moreover, the task wasn't difficult; it was simply retrieving a confidential document, which could also be described as human delivery.

This method is extremely outdated, and the messages are severely delayed, but its security is unmatched by ninja beasts or high-tech communication equipment.

The probability of ninja beasts delivering messages being intercepted is higher than that of ANBU delivering messages personally. Moreover, if the message is intercepted by the enemy, some ninja beasts do not have the habit or ability to immediately destroy the message, but humans can.

The reason for using high-tech communication equipment is twofold: firstly, there are no lines connecting different countries, and secondly, the probability of interception and decryption is high and the difficulty is low.

After the battle, everyone seemed to be in poor condition, so they didn't try to make their presence known as they had when they arrived. Of course, it would be too suspicious if they were to swagger around after being attacked once.

Therefore, they did not encounter any trouble on the way back to the village after retrieving the documents.

"You're back? Are you alright?"

Inside the Anbu base, Hatake Sakumo personally greeted them. Seeing the four return safely, Hatake Sakumo breathed a sigh of relief.

As the head of the secret service, he naturally knew about Tatsuma's plan and even participated in it. For example, their whereabouts were leaked through Hatake Sakumo's intelligence network.

However, Hatake Sakumo was very worried. He had been waiting for news of the others at the Anbu base for the past few days, and was even fully armed at this moment, clearly ready to go out and provide support at any time.

Seeing the four return, Hatake Sakumo finally breathed a sigh of relief. Tatsuma removed his mask and said with a smile:

"We were attacked, a total of twenty people, but six of them fled without a fight, and two had their brains damaged, so the bodies were not recovered. The rest are here."

As he spoke, he took out the sealing scroll and handed it to Hatake Sakumo. Hatake Sakumo took it and nodded, saying, "I will go to the analysis class and arrange this matter."

"Sakumo-sama."

At this moment, a figure walked over and said, "My father asked me to come and get it, so you don't need to bother coming all the way."

Tatsuma looked in the direction of the voice and was somewhat surprised to see that it was Yamanaka Inoichi. Yamanaka Inoichi was not wearing a mask or ANBU uniform, so he was obviously not an ANBU member. This should be considered a joint operation between departments.

Seeing Tatsuma's expression, Yamanaka Inoichi gritted his teeth and said, "It's all Shikaku's fault for secretly becoming the Hokage's bodyguard."

In an instant, Tatsuma realized that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were supporting each other and progressing side by side, so it was impossible to let one of them get away with it. Choza had probably also been assigned some position by his family.

"Oh, it's you. Then you can go and do it for me."

Hatake Sakumo smiled and handed over the scroll. Yamanaka Inoichi nodded and then asked, "Lord Sakumo, and Tatsuma, do you have any other work to do?"

Upon hearing this, Hatake Sakumo raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Do you remember the Hidden Mist Village ninja that Tatsuma and Lady Tsunade sent before? It's been a while since the ninja was released, and recently they've found quite a few things based on the clues. My father wants to discuss this with you."

(End of this chapter)