Just as Soji was planning to use Naruto to provoke Sasuke into awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, Naruto himself had already left Konoha with Karin under the pretense of going out to train.
Of course, before leaving Konoha, they had definitely informed Minato and Kushina.
As for going to Kusagakure to carry out a mission, at Soji's request, Naruto and Karin had chosen to keep it secret from Minato and Kushina.
Of course, since the plan had originally been devised by Soji and Minato together, the only person truly being kept in the dark was Kushina.
Furthermore, so that Naruto and Karin could have fun, Soji had found an opportunity to send them some cash before they left Konoha.
He had also said that if they went over budget, they could ask him for reimbursement afterward!
With Soji's promise, the siblings Naruto and Karin happily set off.
Thanks to Soji's reminder, Naruto and Karin did not foolishly charge straight toward Kusagakure. Instead, after leaving Konoha, they first traveled around within the Land of Fire.
Then they arrived at the neutral Land of Iron, the nation of samurai!
There, the two experienced the local customs of a land where snow fell all year round.
Since it was a neutral nation, people from every country in the Ninja World could be seen there.
After staying in the Land of Iron for several days, they traveled to the neighboring Land of Waterfall.
Their next step would be to enter the Land of Grass.
To avoid drawing the attention of anyone with ulterior motives, they had spent roughly a month traveling around.
At first, the two had mainly focused on sightseeing.
Since it was an all-expenses-paid trip, they had enjoyed themselves immensely!
They had even started to think about not returning to the village or