After registering his guild at the Adventurers' Guild, Naruto left the Imperial Capital and made his way leisurely toward Wisdom Academy. A day later, he reached the outskirts of the Demon Beast Forest. Gazing at the forest stretching for millions of miles, he sighed. "The forests in this world really are lush. You'd hardly find a forest this big even in the Land of Fire, let alone on Earth in my previous life. No wonder the natural chakra here is so abundant."
After that remark, Naruto took out his map and studied it, muttering to himself, "I just need to cross the outer edge of the forest here to reach the junction of the Three Great Empires. Another day's walk after that will get me to Wisdom Academy. Hmm? Why does it smell like blood up ahead?"
Naruto put away the map and followed the smell of blood. Before long, he spotted a corpse nearby. He walked over and found that its chest had been pierced straight through the heart, apparently by a beast's sharp claws.
Naruto looked around and found extensive damage. There were scorch marks from flames as well as signs of destruction caused by tremendous force. At first glance, it looked as though the man had been attacked by a demon beast and fought back, only to be killed in the end.
Naruto examined the corpse again and found that, apart from the wound over the heart, the rest of the body was completely intact. There was only one fatal wound. He frowned. "No, this man wasn't killed by a demon beast. Someone killed him with a single blow, then pinned it on a demon beast."
The corpse was Sain, whom Sasuke had killed. Sasuke had framed a Seventh Rank demon wolf for the murder, but he