Thanks for the invite, I'm in the Naruto world and on the run!

Not long after Hyuga Daiki departed with the siblings Kushina Uzumaki and Kuming Uzumaki, a thunderous explosion erupted from their original encampment.

Hyuga Daiki, possessing the Byakugan, had actually seen what was happening over there, yet he remained silent as he navigated the dense forests of the Land of Fire with the Uzumaki siblings in tow.

Even while carrying the siblings, Hyuga Daiki moved at an incredible speed. With chakra coating his feet, he leaped from branch to branch, taking care not to leave a single footprint behind.

Although Kuming Uzumaki had kept his eyes closed the entire time, the sound of the explosions reaching his ears made his little heart jump into his throat. Born in an era of peace, who would ever experience an explosion unless they worked in a specialized field? It was only natural for a normal person to feel fear when suddenly encountering such a blast.

While he couldn't open his eyes to see what was happening, he could still hear the exchange between Hyuga Daiki and his teammates. It seemed their escort party to Konoha had been ambushed by enemies.

After all, this was the early world of the Hokage, where war was a common occurrence. For a team transporting a future jinchuriki, encountering an ambush was merely a minor ripple in the grand scheme of things.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The sound of kunai slicing through the air was crystal clear to Kuming Uzumaki at this moment. Immediately after, he heard the metallic "clang, clang, clang" of blades being parried.

Suddenly, an image of the surrounding environment and the people within it manifested in Kuming Uzumaki's mind.

What is this?

The scene within a five-meter radius appeared in Kuming Uzumaki's mind. The vigilant posture of Hyuga Daiki holding Kushina Uzumaki also appeared, though the two figures were merely rough outlines; he could not see their faces, and unlike his own body, he could not see any chakra meridians on them.

While Kuming Uzumaki was marveling at the image appearing in his mind, Hyuga Daiki had already set Kushina Uzumaki down and engaged the attacking ninjas. However, to protect the siblings, Hyuga Daiki ensured his combat zone never strayed more than three meters away from them.

"Who exactly are you people?"

After striking back an enemy with a palm, Hyuga Daiki stood guard in front of the siblings, watching the four masked enemies with a wary expression.

The brief skirmish had left him unable to identify which village the enemies hailed from, and he had already confirmed with his Byakugan that none of these individuals carried any identification marks.

It was also possible that their identification marks were coded in a way he hadn't detected.

One of the four enemies seemed about to speak, but before he could, the leader waved his hand to cut him off. They were on a classified mission; any behavior that might leak their identities was strictly forbidden.

"Kushina, take your brother and run! I've already checked—there are no other enemies within two thousand meters besides these three."

"I will hold them off. Run, and be careful—do not head toward Konoha."

As he spoke, Hyuga Daiki pressed a kunai into Kushina Uzumaki's hand. The enemies did not move during this exchange; in their eyes, once they dealt with the last line of defense, capturing a little girl who wasn't even a ninja would be as easy as reaching for something on a shelf.

"This kunai..."

The kunai Hyuga Daiki handed to Kushina Uzumaki was flowing with strange chakra. The character for "Explode" outlined by that chakra was reflected in Kuming Uzumaki's mind with startling clarity.

"Waaaaah!"

Kuming Uzumaki was triggered. He knew this kunai was definitely not meant for Kushina Uzumaki's self-defense. The fact that the "Explode" character appeared on it meant Hyuga Daiki had tampered with it, and since he hadn't instructed Kushina on how to use it, this kunai was likely prepared specifically to prevent Kushina from falling into the enemy's hands after his death.

"Go!"

Neither Hyuga Daiki nor Kushina Uzumaki had the heart to pay attention to the crying infant. With a gentle push from Hyuga Daiki, Kushina Uzumaki immediately clutched Kuming and fled rapidly. As the siblings left, one of the four enemies broke away, intent on capturing them.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

A powerful blast of air intercepted the pursuer, and Hyuga Daiki took the initiative to charge at the remaining four enemies. A fierce battle erupted in the area, with explosions ringing out incessantly, but all of this was soon left far behind by Kushina Uzumaki.

"Stop crying, please stop crying. If you keep crying, we're both going to die!"

In her panicked flight, Kushina Uzumaki tried her best to comfort the child in her arms, tightening her grip.

The impact of the ambush had caused a shift in Kushina Uzumaki's mindset as she fled. A seven or eight-year-old child, carrying a newborn, weaving through a dense forest while constantly wary of enemies that could appear at any moment.

The overwhelming pressure left Kushina Uzumaki breathless, and the massive physical exertion left her both mentally and physically exhausted. At this moment, her brother's wailing sounded incredibly piercing to her. Regardless of whether Kuming Uzumaki could understand her, Kushina Uzumaki pleaded with a tear-choked voice.

Hearing Kushina Uzumaki's plea, Kuming Uzumaki suddenly realized that in his current state, anything he did would be of no help.

The wailing stopped abruptly, which brought a sliver of comfort to the desperate Kushina. At the very least, her brother was obedient; Kuming Uzumaki's cooperation would increase their chances of survival significantly.

"When?"

Back at the spot where the siblings had parted from Hyuga Daiki, Daiki's body was pierced by kunai from three directions. Somewhere along the line, one of the four-man team had vanished.

"Forget it, this is all I can do!"

Hyuga Daiki struggled to open his eyes as a kunai fell from his body. Attached to the back of the kunai was a paper bomb that had already burned halfway through.

"BOOM!!!"

The massive roar was on an entirely different level from the explosions during the previous battle. This blast was far more violent than any before, and the sound carried much further.

"Hurry! Jiraiya, they've already started fighting over there!"

In the forest, over ten miles away from the explosion site, three figures were moving rapidly through the trees.

"I know, stop rushing me!"

The white-haired figure trailing behind complained, but his pace quickened significantly, immediately overtaking the yellow-haired girl in second place and moving alongside the cold-faced, handsome man.

Kushina Uzumaki didn't know how long she had been running. She only knew that when they had set out for Konoha that morning, the sky was still gray, with faint starlight lingering on one side. But now, the sky she saw through the bushes was very bright; it seemed that dawn had long since broken.

"I can't run anymore. We should have shaken them off by now."

Uzumaki Kushina chose a thicket to stop in and ducked inside. The dense foliage was more than enough to conceal the figures of the two children, but what Kushina did not know was that ninjas did not rely solely on their eyes to track someone.

Uzumaki Kushina finally had a chance to catch her breath. Ever since she had parted ways with Hyuga Daiki, she had been running straight toward the direction of Konoha.

Although Hyuga Daiki had told her not to run toward Konoha, she had thought it over and decided to take the straight path anyway. For one, this route was the shortest, and for another, the enemy had heard Daiki's words as well; she figured they would surely search in other directions and overlook this path.

Even though Uzumaki Kushina was young, she was incredibly clever.

"We should be safe now."

Uzumaki Kuming was also observing the surrounding environment. For some reason, whenever he closed his eyes, he could clearly project the surroundings into his mind. Furthermore, while he previously couldn't see Kushina's face clearly, it was now extremely distinct—even clearer than what he could see with his own eyes.

The surrounding shrubs enveloped the Uzumaki siblings, the hollow space within acting as a natural shelter. In such an environment, having run the entire way, Kushina's eyelids grew heavy as sleepiness washed over her.

A child's stamina was limited to begin with. Having run from the early hours of the morning until now, Kushina's energy had actually bottomed out long ago; the current drowsiness was merely the body's natural protective mechanism.