Cloud Village Envoy Kidnaps Hinata

"Hey, kid, seems like this is your first time here." Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, asked Menma with a squinting smile. "Want me to recommend some popular specialties?"

"This isn't my first time here, Uncle Teuchi." Menma snapped back to his senses and looked at Teuchi beneath his chef's hat and narrowed eyes. Familiarly, he ordered a bowl of ramen. "One Miso Chashu Ramen. No narutomaki, and add extra bamboo shoots."

"Eh?" Teuchi studied the boy before him in confusion, but he had absolutely no recollection of him.

"I'm terribly sorry, customer. Maybe I'm just getting old." Teuchi scratched his head in apology, then smiled again. "Then, as compensation, I'll give you a heaping serving of 'Menma'!"

In Japanese, bamboo shoots were pronounced the same as "Menma," while narutomaki was pronounced the same as "Naruto."

Perhaps due to the influence of the Limited Tsukuyomi World, Menma did not like fish cake either and was particularly fond of bamboo shoots.

While waiting for Teuchi to start cooking the ramen, Menma focused intently on eavesdropping on the conversation between the two Konoha ninja next to him.

However, whether because they had no more information to share or because Menma, an "outsider," was now in the shop, the two Konoha ninja did not continue their previous topic and instead began chatting about daily life and gossip.

They even brought up the newly published adult romance novel from Shueisha next door.

The explosive nature of the conversation made Menma reach out and press Little Nine-Tails, who could not help poking its head out from his fox-fur collar, back down.

"When was Jiraiya's Icha Icha Paradise published again?" Menma remembered that, as the Shinobi World's most famous romance novel, Icha Icha Paradise had become wildly popular as soon as it went on sale. If it had already started publishing, those two ninja should have been discussing that sort of topic too.

"Kid, your Miso Chashu Ramen is ready." As Menma pondered, Uncle Teuchi placed a brimming bowl of ramen in front of him.

Menma looked at the thick layer of bamboo shoots spread over the top, inhaled the fragrant aroma of the broth, picked up a pair of chopsticks, and began enjoying his meal.

He had spent all three years since coming to this world in the Orphanage and had never gone out to eat any other food.

At that moment, Menma was like a prisoner freshly released after serving his sentence, wolfing down the ramen in huge mouthfuls.

He even drew the attention of the two ninja beside him.

But seeing that he was merely a boy without a ninja forehead protector, eating ramen as though he had been reincarnated from a starving ghost, they stopped paying attention.

After finishing the huge bowl of ramen, Menma put down his chopsticks, patted his stomach, and let out a long breath.

Although he had used the Transformation Technique, his true body was still that of a child. Of course he would be stuffed after eating so much.

"As long as you enjoyed it." Uncle Teuchi laughed with narrowed eyes.

As a ramen chef, seeing a customer wear such a satisfied expression after finishing a bowl of ramen was the greatest praise he could receive.

"I left the money." Menma placed a fifty-ryo note on the table, rose, and left.

Teuchi picked up the money and watched his retreating figure, feeling that there was something strange about him.

After leaving Ichiraku Ramen, Menma faced the night wind and slowly made his way toward the Hyuga Compound according to the direction in his memories.

"Now that I'm full, I should get some exercise." As Menma walked, he took out the White Three-Eyed Fox Mask and put it on.

Hyuga Clan residence.

A ninja with his face covered by a cloth silently infiltrated the courtyard of the Hyuga Clan head.

"This is ridiculously easy." Looking at the little girl sleeping soundly in bed, the masked ninja took a handkerchief soaked in sedatives from his robe and used it on her.

Once the sedative took effect, the masked ninja picked up the little girl and swiftly departed.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

Within the Hyuga Compound, the masked ninja sped through the grounds with the little girl in one hand.

Seeing that he was about to escape the Hyuga Compound, the masked ninja grew increasingly excited.

"Just in time. The show's about to begin." A voice suddenly rang out.

The masked ninja jolted in alarm, abruptly stopped, and looked up.

A figure stood atop the courtyard wall ahead, looking down at the masked ninja from above.

"Damn it! Have I been discovered?" The masked ninja looked toward the wall, his expression changing sharply beneath the face covering as he prepared himself to die.

This had originally been part of their plan as well!

"Wait! He isn't a Hyuga ninja?" Suddenly, the masked ninja saw that the person opposite him wore a mask, and his attire completely lacked the forehead protector of a Konoha ninja.

But why was this person here? What was his purpose?

The masked ninja had no time to think, because several figures soon landed around him.

"Who are you? How dare you run wild in the Hyuga Clan!" Hyuga Hiashi appeared with several guards between the masked ninja and the mysterious masked man.

"Hizashi! Hold the masked man off! I'll save Hinata first!" Hyuga Hiashi said to a jonin beside him.

The most urgent priority was to rescue the kidnapped Hinata.

"Yes!" Hizashi Hyuga bowed slightly, veins bulging around his eyes as he activated the Byakugan and charged at the mysterious masked man standing on the courtyard wall.

"You're in such a hurry to fight? Aren't you going to ask what I'm here for?" Uzumaki Menma raised one hand to block Hizashi Hyuga's Gentle Fist strike, calmly avoiding Hizashi Hyuga's attacks atop the wall.

No matter how tricky Hizashi Hyuga's Gentle Fist angles were, the mysterious man always seemed able to predict his movements and techniques, effortlessly evading Hizashi's attacks.

He received all of Hizashi's taijutsu techniques with just one hand.

Yet Hizashi Hyuga grew more alarmed with every exchange. The enemy seemed to know exactly which acupoints his Gentle Fist would strike, protecting them with chakra in advance. When Hizashi's Gentle Fist landed, it was like hitting iron; he simply could not seal the other party's acupoints!

He had never encountered such an enemy in over twenty years!

"Damn it! Why is he so familiar with it?" During the attack, Hizashi Hyuga discovered in shock that the mysterious man opposite him was extremely familiar with his Gentle Fist techniques. It even gave him the illusion that he was sparring with the clan head.

On the street below, Hyuga Hiashi rushed forward and struck the masked ninja with a heavy blow.

His original plan had only been to cripple the other party and then force him to reveal which faction had sent him.

But the masked ninja instead charged forward on his own initiative, driving his fatal point directly into Hiashi's fist.

Bang!

The masked ninja flew backward, and Hiashi rushed forward to catch Hinata, whom he had been holding, the instant she hit the ground.

"Clan Head!" The other guards hurried forward as well, gathering around Hiashi.

"The enemy is dead?" Hiashi handed the unconscious Hinata to a guard, then stepped forward and felt the man's neck, only to discover that he was indeed dead.

Hiashi removed the man's face covering. When he saw the Cloud Village forehead protector on the man's forehead, his expression changed drastically.

"A Cloud Village ninja?"

"Isn't this the Cloud Village envoy who arrived yesterday?"

The two Hyuga guards recognized him as well and looked uneasily toward their clan head.

Why was the Cloud Village envoy, who should have been attending the Third Hokage's banquet right now, inside the Hyuga Compound?

After only a moment of stunned disbelief, Hyuga Hiashi immediately turned his head toward the mysterious masked man fighting Hizashi Hyuga!

"Hizashi! Take him alive!" Veins bulged around Hyuga Hiashi's eyes as he shouted sternly.