I Embrace Lightning~

"Crack!!"

"Rumble~~"

Thunder rolled from afar, drawing closer. In the forest, a group of figures leaped between towering shrubs. As the thunder reached their ears, flashes of lightning illuminated the shadows, making the faces of those within clearer.

"Captain! The thunderclouds are almost upon us. Traveling at night is too dangerous; let's find a place to set up camp first."

"There is still quite a distance to the village. Safety first."

A long scar ran across half of the speaker's face, stretching from the corner of his eye down to his chin. As the middle-aged man spoke, the scar made his features appear all the more ferocious.

"Hmm! Very well. Go set the traps; we shall rest here for the night." The leader seemed to agree with his companion's suggestion. He leaped onto a massive tree branch and gestured for the entire squad to halt.

Turning his head toward his companion, the Konoha forehead protector on his brow reflected a beam of light. He then scanned the surroundings with pale, sightless-looking eyes, letting out a soft sigh of relief only after confirming there were no issues.

"Heh! Understood."

"Whoosh!"

The scarred man responded and vanished in a flash. Shortly after he left, several figures emerged from the woods, gathering around the man with the Byakugan.

This was an expanded ninja squad, and everyone present was a ninja from Konoha. The man in the lead was a ninja from the Hyuga clan, a prominent family in Konoha. This mission was of great importance to Konoha; the Third Hokage had dispatched two four-man elite jonin teams to carry it out, led by Hyuga Daiki of the Hyuga clan.

"Waaaaahhh~" The cry of a child shattered the silence of the night, causing the relaxed group to tense their muscles instantly and drop into combat stances.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry. My little brother woke up." The speaker was a girl of seven or eight, wearing a dirty long-sleeved garment with several holes in the sleeves, revealing her fair skin. Her long red hair partially covered her cheeks, and the Uzumaki crest on the back of her clothes marked the girl's identity.

"Kuming, be good, don't cry~" The girl smiled coaxingly at the infant in her arms, rocking her hands back and forth in an attempt to lull the baby back to sleep. However, her smile was so bitter that it served no purpose other than to make the child cry even louder.

"So, getting struck by lightning doesn't actually hurt at all~"

"It's even kind of tingly and comfortable..."

When Uzumaki Kuming opened his eyes, he realized he wasn't lying in a hospital bed. Logically, someone struck by electricity should have been rushed to the hospital immediately. He didn't know why he was so unlucky as to be struck by lightning on his way to work—a scenario that should only happen in third-rate web novels—yet he had actually encountered it.

When he opened his eyes and realized he wasn't in a hospital bed, he instinctively shouted, only to find that the sound he produced was completely different.

"Kuming, be good, don't cry~" A slightly chubby, baby-faced visage blocked his vision. As the girl whispered her comfort, he suddenly felt his "bed" begin to sway.

"Who am I?"

"Where am I?"

"Who are you?"

The sounds Kuming shouted turned into the wails of an infant, piercing the night sky. Just as he cried out again, another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky in the distance, and seconds later, the rolling thunder reached his ears.

As he was rocked back and forth, Kuming felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. He clearly felt no sleepiness at all, and his mind was exceptionally clear. Yet, despite this, Kuming closed his eyes once more. Even though he wanted to shout loudly, he found himself unable to make a sound.

"Sleep paralysis?"

"What was up with that face just now? It didn't look like a nurse~"

His eyes had been forced shut, and his vision plunged into darkness. Just as he was analyzing the situation and his predicament, a bright light caused the darkness to vanish, replaced by a vast, white expanse.

In an instant, the outline of an infant was sketched out in his mind, and blue lines began to appear across the baby's body. As the blue lines emerged, Kuming seemed to gain control over this body, and a tingling, numb sensation washed over him.

This feeling... it was just like being struck by lightning... very comfortable...

Although he still couldn't open his eyes, his sense of touch, smell, hearing, and other senses had returned. He could clearly hear the conversation outside.

"Captain! The traps have been set." The man with the scar on half his face returned to the group. By the time he arrived, only Uzumaki Kushina and the Hyuga jonin leader remained in the camp. Oh—and the infant in Kushina's arms, Kuming.

"Good, go take watch." Hyuga Daiki nodded and waved his hand.

This time, he had been ordered to go to Uzushio Village in the Land of Whirlpools with the goal of bringing back an Uzumaki clansman suitable for inheriting the Nine-Tails. Uzushio Village had indeed cooperated, allowing him to take two people. He had already examined the older girl with his Byakugan; she was very suitable...

As for the little one, he was just a bonus, so he had brought him along as well.

"Kushina, I can call you that, right?" Hyuga Daiki was very considerate of the girl's emotions, speaking in a soft, gentle tone.

"Yes." Uzumaki Kushina tightened her grip on the child, as if afraid someone might snatch him away.

"Is this child named Kuming? I heard you call him that just now."

"Is he your brother?"

Hyuga Daiki leaned against a tree trunk, speaking casually. As he spoke, a pattering sound began to echo through the forest; rain had started to fall, brushing against the leaves and dripping onto the ground.

The shelter they were currently occupying was a semi-circular structure built using Earth Style, which was excellent at blocking the erosion of the rain.

"Yes, his name is Uzumaki Kuming, my little brother."

"My own brother!"

Uzumaki Kushina now possessed a very strong sense of self-preservation. She was extremely vigilant toward everyone, even though the person before her was a ninja from Konoha, a village that had been on good terms with Uzushio Village for generations.

"Uzumaki Kuming? That must be me."

"Good thing I watched plenty of foreign films, otherwise I wouldn't even understand what these people are saying."

"As for why I can learn languages from watching films while others can't, it's mainly because I watch the ones with actual plots and I never skip the progress bar!"

"Kushina? Why does the name Kushina sound so familiar?"

"Red hair, Uzumaki..."

Uzumaki Kuming had already guessed his current identity. At this moment, the silhouette of the infant in his mind became clear. Within the blue veins of the infant's body, something seemed to be flowing; tiny specks of white light emerged within the veins, beginning to drift along with the flow of the substance inside.

Damn it, it's actually Naruto!

I had both parents, and although I was single, I had a car, a house, and my family home was about to be demolished for redevelopment yet again. My job as a sign language teacher paid well, so why did I have to come to Naruto!

I don't want this!

Kushina held the infant in her arms, using her clothes to form a circle around him, as if to shield Kuming from all the wind. The wind, mixed with rain, rustled the leaves in the forest. The primeval forest, devoid of moonlight, was pitch black; the environment, where one could not even see their own fingers, was suffocating.

The young girl curled up in the earthen bunker had just experienced a massive upheaval not long ago, and now, the only comfort she had left was the child in her arms.

"Uncle Daiki, how much longer until we reach Konoha?" Kushina asked toward the darkness.

"At our current pace, we should arrive by tomorrow afternoon."

"If I carry the child, we could make it by the morning."

Hyuga Daiki's voice drifted out from the darkness. Although the two were only about a meter apart, Kushina's eyesight was completely unable to see him in such an environment.

"Afternoon, then..." Kushina subconsciously avoided the option of letting him carry her younger brother.

The voices fell silent, and the night returned to tranquility once more.