Chapter 134: The Intelligence Manual

"Dad has been gone forever," Tenyu said.

Tonbo had been gone nine days.

Tenyu and Maki sat in the back of Ichiraku while Ayame and Tōsei worked through the evening crowd. Their chakra-control practice had already produced three clean bowls, one broken bowl, and a dispute over whether a noodle stolen from the preparation counter counted as payment.

"I want to fly," Maki said. "Mom only lets the woven bird carry us above the yard."

"Dad said we need to read before we learn flying techniques."

"We cannot read all the words."

"Then we need a teacher."

Maki remembered Kiba scratching his head over Tonbo's assignments and regarded the proposal as a threat.

Naruto's face appeared around the doorway before the argument ended.

"What are you doing back here?" Tenyu asked.

"Gathering intelligence."

Naruto searched shelves, counters, and the wall of photographs with a seriousness unsupported by any plan. He wanted the identity of the shinobi who had taught Iruka. Discovering it before Kiba would prove that Naruto possessed the intelligence of a future Hokage and, more importantly, give his classmates one fact they had to obtain from him.

Tenyu and Maki exchanged a glance. They knew the answer.

"Why do you want Iruka-sensei's teacher?" Maki asked.

"Because he invented the worst genjutsu in the Academy. If I find him, everyone will recognize me."

"Finding one person makes you Hokage?"

"No. It is one step. There are many steps."

The twins studied him against the four faces on the Hokage Monument visible through the front window. Naruto's head would disrupt the arrangement, but Hiruzen also had a large nose. Standards were difficult to infer.

"We can help," Tenyu said. "Dad has a manual about intelligence."

"A secret ninja manual?"

"Very secret. Very heavy."

Naruto imagined techniques hidden between black covers, maps marked with enemy routes, and a final page explaining how to earn a forehead protector. "You can join my intelligence squad. But I'm captain."

"Captain Naruto," the twins said together.

The title delighted him enough that he did not question how easily they agreed.

Ayame listened to the plan. "You may go to our house if you stay inside, use the marked route, and keep the monitoring tags on. Naruto, you do not take them anywhere else without asking."

"I'll protect them."

"The house barriers will protect all three of you. Your job is to follow the rule."

Tōsei gave Naruto the key tag and reminded the twins that a Shadow Clone checked the house every half hour. Their independence was supervised, not assumed.

They marched through Konoha as Naruto's first official squad. Tenyu and Maki copied his exaggerated stride. Adults stared at Naruto; some looked away from the twins as though association might be contagious. The twins sensed each change in mood through their monitoring seals but lacked the history to understand it.

Inside Tonbo's study, shelves covered an entire wall.

Naruto's enthusiasm weakened.

The twins searched by memory. Their father organized operational texts by subject and placed children's learning material on the lowest shelves. Tenyu found a thick volume labeled *Field Intelligence: Sources and Verification*.

Naruto opened it.

The first chapter separated collection methods: documents, purchase, interviews, direct observation, physical evidence, surveys, and controlled investigation. Each method included risks of bias, deception, missing context, and illegal access. A diagram showed one rumor dividing into five contradictory reports.

The example concerned a missing supply cart. One witness saw it travel east. Another heard that bandits stole it. A ledger showed the cart had never left the depot, while wheel tracks led north. The manual asked the reader to distinguish fact, claim, and interpretation before selecting a search route.

Naruto chose east because the witness sounded confident. Tenyu chose north because tracks were physical. Maki chose the depot because the ledger and cart could both be checked there.

The answer instructed investigators to secure the depot first, verify whether the tracks belonged to the cart, and interview the witness about where he stood. Confidence alone received no weight.

"The book refuses to choose," Naruto complained.

"It chooses three things," Tenyu said.

"That is too many."

"Maybe real intelligence has more than one step."

Naruto disliked how much the sentence sounded like Iruka.

"Which page has the technique?" Naruto asked.

"This is the technique," Tenyu said.

"It is all words."

"Information is words."

"Sometimes it is footprints," Maki added.

Naruto read the same paragraph three times. The words individually made sense. Together they seemed determined to become sleep.

He tried skipping to illustrations. A chapter on surveillance contained roof diagrams, sight lines, and drawings of people failing to notice obvious observers. Another explained that following someone was less useful if the target knew the follower and deliberately visited false locations. The final illustration showed an investigator standing proudly before an empty safe while the real documents left through a window.

Naruto understood that picture. He also understood that reading the explanation required more patience than breaking into a room and searching it.

"Captain Naruto," Tenyu said, "what information have you obtained?"

"That books are heavier than they need to be."

The twins watched him with open suspicion.

"You don't understand it," Maki said.

"Of course I understand. I just don't need it. I'll go outside and ask people."

"The book says interviews are one method," Tenyu replied. "It also says you choose teammates who can do what you cannot."

Naruto stopped. A Hokage did not personally perform every village task. Hiruzen had ANBU, instructors, advisers, and people carrying stacks of reports wherever he went.

"Then I need a strategist."

"We are already your team," Maki said.

"You can't read the book either."

"We found it."

The distinction survived every argument Naruto attempted. He thought of Sasuke, rejected him for being arrogant, considered Kiba, rejected him for claiming the same office, and arrived at Shikamaru. Kiba called Shikamaru his greatest hidden rival. That meant he was smart even if he spent class staring through windows.

"Shikamaru will say no," Maki predicted.

"He hasn't heard the offer."

"What work does a chief strategist do?" Tenyu asked.

"He makes the plan."

"Then what does the captain do?"

"Leads the plan."

"How?"

Naruto put both hands on his hips. "By being in front."

The twins decided the definition required field testing.

Naruto closed the manual and returned it to the exact shelf after the twins warned that Tonbo could detect moved dust.

"We recruit Shikamaru," he declared.

"How?" Tenyu asked.

"I approve him as my chief strategist."

"What does he receive?"

Naruto had not considered payment, authority, or consent. The manual appeared to have infected the mission despite remaining unread.

"He receives a position when I become Hokage."

Maki looked doubtful. "That sounds like paying later with something you don't have."

"He receives friendship now."

"Does he want it?"

"Everyone wants friends."

Tenyu remembered Tonbo explaining that a benefit chosen by the seller might not be valuable to the buyer. "You should ask."

Naruto grew frustrated with a squad that treated every declaration as a contract negotiation. Still, the advice contained a path forward: invite Shikamaru rather than command him. If he refused, Naruto would find another smart classmate.

The list was short. Shino spoke like the manual and appeared without warning. Chōji seemed friendly but thought about food during mathematics. Sakura was smart and might help if Sasuke asked, which Naruto refused to arrange. Hinata looked away whenever he spoke to her.

Recruiting a team was more difficult than announcing one.

The twins had learned too much from their contract lesson.

Naruto decided friendship, recognition, and the honor of serving the future Hokage would be sufficient. They left the house with the monitoring tags active and the manual safely behind them.

The investigation had acquired a second objective before completing the first.

At Ichiraku, Ayame watched the three monitoring signatures move along the approved route. She trusted the barriers and Naruto's desire to prove responsible, but trust did not require blindness. When the signatures paused outside the Nara district, she sent a woven sparrow to confirm they remained together.

The bird found Naruto rehearsing the phrase *chief strategist* while Tenyu and Maki corrected his posture.