Setting Out

"No."

Sakura said firmly, "You've mentioned your parents before, but you've never said who they were."

"That means my parents' identities have no bearing on our relationship."

Naruto smiled. "If you want to put it that way, Sasuke could also be called 'the Uchiha legacy.'"

"Whatever."

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "What did you and that client named Jiraiya think of just now?"

"That has to do with Orochimaru."

Naruto explained, "On the day Sunagakure attacked, Orochimaru used a forbidden jutsu while fighting Grandpa Third, summoning the First and the Second Hokage. When I arrived, I used Sealing Jutsu to seal the two Hokage temporarily. After the battle, the village's leadership recovered them and found a way to temporarily free them from Orochimaru's control. They've been helping Grandpa Third take care of village affairs these past few days."

"Doesn't that mean they've basically come back to life?!"

Sasuke's eyes widened with interest. "What's the price of that forbidden jutsu?"

"A person."

Naruto said calmly, "The jutsu is called Impure World Reincarnation. It requires a living person as the price, summoning the dead person's soul from the Pure Land and binding it to the body of the living."

Sasuke immediately lost interest.

It wasn't that he lacked the heart to kill someone. As a proud Uchiha, he was certain his family and clan members would never agree to sacrifice an innocent person's life to bring them back.

As for those who didn't matter, Sasuke didn't consider them Uchiha, so he wouldn't save them.

"Sasuke, are you sure it's okay to let Itachi go just like that?"

Sakura asked, "Who knows how long it'll be before we see him again?"

"It's fine. It won't be long."

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "He and the organization behind him are after Naruto. As long as we keep traveling with Naruto, we'll run into them eventually."

"More precisely, they're probably after Kurama."

Naruto added, "I mean the Tailed Beast sealed inside me."

"What's a Tailed Beast?"

Sakura had heard another unfamiliar term. "You've never told us about that, either."

"That's because I don't know what they are, either. But I can say for certain that all Tailed Beasts have their own personalities, possess great intelligence, and have lived for a very long time. If you ignore their enormous chakra, you could consider them a kind of summon."

Naruto continued, "Unfortunately, most people only care about the powerful chakra the Tailed Beasts possess and use them as weapons. People like me, who serve as containers for sealed Tailed Beasts, are called Jinchuriki."

"Be careful. Naruto's identity, whether as a Jinchuriki or the Fourth Hokage's son, is a secret that must not be discussed in public in the village."

Kakashi reminded them in time. "It's fine for Naruto to talk about it himself, but don't go telling people."

Just after Kakashi finished speaking, some other people arrived: Anbu.

"What happened here just now?"

The Anbu questioned those present, though their gaze lingered on Kakashi.

"I'll stay and explain."

Kakashi said to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, "You three go to the Hokage Building first."

Naruto nodded, grabbed Sasuke and Sakura, and used Flying Thunder God to teleport.

Meanwhile, far away from Konoha, Itachi and Kisame had already put a great distance between themselves and the village.

"Itachi, your breathing is getting labored. Should we take a break?"

"No. It's too dangerous to stop now. If they catch up, we might not get away."

"True. Setting your younger brother aside, that frail-looking girl had a frightening amount of strength. Is she really human?"

"In any case, Konoha is much more troublesome than we expected, especially the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. If he'd been there just now, we wouldn't have gotten away."

"The Flying Thunder God Technique... I never imagined that the Yellow Flash of Konoha would have an heir, and that he'd be the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

"Take the intel back. Leave the rest to the Leader to decide."

"Understood. But Itachi, tell me when you can't keep going. I can carry you while we run."

"Your jawbone is cracked, isn't it? Your body keeps swaying."

"Ha, nothing gets past you, Itachi."

"Keep running as long as you can. We'll stop when neither of us can go on."

"Whatever you say, Itachi."

In the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage had finished listening to the Anbu's report and had learned from Jiraiya that Itachi belonged to an organization called Akatsuki.

"Is the Ninja World about to fall into chaos again?"

As a veteran of three Ninja World Wars, Hiruzen Sarutobi was better than most at judging the state of the Ninja World. "I approve your request. Bring Tsunade back as soon as possible."

"Hiruzen, wait."

An old woman with a rather sharp expression spoke up beside Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Now that we know there's an organization targeting the Tailed Beasts, we shouldn't let Naruto Uzumaki leave the village. Even if he's mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, we can't guarantee his safety completely."

The Third Hokage was just about to try to persuade her when Naruto shot back first. "Granny, by your logic, I wouldn't be safe even if I stayed in the village. After all, if someone can defeat me and catch me after I use the Flying Thunder God Technique, are you sure the village can deal with them?"

The old woman furrowed her brow. "Then we'll hide you somewhere no one else can find, somewhere absolutely safe."

Naruto grinned. "Like somewhere outside the village, even you don't know about?"

The old woman's blood pressure shot up. "You..."

"Koharu!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his voice. "Just as Naruto said, Konoha isn't currently capable of protecting him. Besides, if Naruto wants to leave, who in the village can stop him?"

After a few seconds of silence, the old woman took a deep breath and said slowly, "Jiraiya, go and come back quickly."

Jiraiya replied cheerfully, "Oh, leave it to me."

Once they'd settled on what to do next, Team 7 sprang into action.

About fifteen minutes later, at the Konoha Gate.

"You're quick. Let's go. I'll tell you about Tsunade's current situation as we travel."

"First, tell us where Granny Tsunade is. It'd be best if you could show us a recent photo of her. We don't even know what she looks like."

"Hmm... According to the intel I got, the last place Tsunade was seen was near Tanzaku Town."

"Tanzaku Town? I remember there are quite a few casinos around there."

"Casinos?"

"Tsunade loves gambling, but she's terrible at both luck and skill, so she's always losing money. Over the years, the casinos have even given her the nickname 'Legendary Sucker.'"

"Pfft! A sucker? Hahaha... How much money did Granny Tsunade lose?!"

"Lady Tsunade hasn't returned to the village in all these years, right? She hasn't been taking missions, so where did she get all that money?"

"She is the First's granddaughter, after all. The Senju Clan must have left behind some property. If she didn't keep losing, she could've lived comfortably without doing missions. As things stand, she probably has plenty of creditors out there."

"Doesn't that mean other people are looking for Granny Tsunade, too?"

"If she wants to run, it'll be hard for anyone else to find her."

"Why?"

"Here's a picture of her."

"Eh, this is Granny Tsunade? She looks so young!"

In the photo Jiraiya showed them, a girl who looked no older than twenty, perhaps only in her teens, stared at the camera with a somewhat hesitant expression.