177. Sealing

Almost the moment Naruto finished testing the medicine's effects, several whooshes came from far away and rapidly drew closer. Amid the surging chakra, two anxious figures appeared beside him like gusts of wind.

"Naruto!" Might Guy grabbed Naruto by the shoulders. "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Teacher Kaido. I'm not hurt..." Naruto grinned. "You're hurting me."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I was worried." Guy quickly let go, then carefully looked Naruto up and down several times. Only after making sure he really was fine did he turn to inspect the signs of battle around them.

While Guy looked around, Naruto's gaze passed over him and met Kakashi's. Kakashi had been standing silently behind Guy.

Kakashi was breathing slightly hard, a few strands of silver hair stuck to his forehead with sweat.

Unlike Guy, Kakashi had first scanned the surroundings warily after landing. Only once he'd confirmed there was no threat did he look at Naruto.

Their eyes met briefly, then parted.

Because of what had happened yesterday, there was still some awkwardness between them.

"..."

Naruto was a little confused.

Why... in Kakashi's eyes just now, besides the same worry and concern he'd seen in Guy's, had he also glimpsed... fear?

But what confused Naruto even more was this:

The resentment he'd felt toward Kakashi had suddenly, inexplicably, faded.

"Naruto, is that the enemy?"

Guy pointed at the headless female corpse beneath the Cold Pool.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "She's the female spy I found this morning. She suddenly attacked me, and I couldn't hold back during the fight, so I had to kill her... But I didn't burn off her head. It exploded on its own after she died."

Ignoring Guy and Kakashi's astonishment, Naruto told them the whole story of what had happened that day, leaving out, of course, that he'd known about Kalifa's background and that Kalifa's expression had suddenly changed.

The latter in particular—Naruto had a vague but powerful intuition that he had to keep it secret. Whatever Kalifa had discovered was definitely related to him, and it concerned whether he lived or died.

As for the Exchange Shop, Kakashi stopped Naruto as soon as he'd begun to explain. He said it was too important to discuss here and that they should wait until they were back in the village.

As Naruto told his story, more Konoha forces gradually arrived.

The Surveillance Squad's Anbu, members of the Inuzuka Clan, Hyuga Shinichi, and additional Anbu squads and the Medical Corps arrived soon after. Before long, more than a dozen people had gathered on the banks of the Cold Pool.

"Wait, Naruto." After Naruto finished, Kakashi finally asked the question that troubled him most besides the Exchange Shop. "You said you can understand what they're saying? You understood both this woman and the man on the phone?"

Why wouldn't I understand? It's the same language, isn't it?

Naruto suppressed the instinctive thought before it could slip out. Without pausing, he said:

"Yeah, I can understand most of what they say, but sometimes I can't... Weird, right?"

By now, Naruto wasn't even sure he'd answered correctly, but judging from Kakashi's reaction, he hadn't made a mistake.

It also made Naruto realize that the Konoha High Command knew some things about the two worlds that he didn't.

Could that be why there was sometimes a slight delay in Kalifa and the others' speech?

"It's fine... There are some things you don't know, Naruto."

Kakashi had his own suspicions, but didn't press him further. Instead, he instructed the Medical Corps to examine Naruto immediately for anything unusual or any hidden injuries.

While the Medical Corps examined him, the Anbu squad began retrieving Kalifa's corpse and surveying the area around the waterfall.

Naturally, they found extensive traces of battle. Drawing on their years of experience and Naruto's account, they gradually reconstructed the one-against-many fight.

Shock and confusion surged through them. They would have believed it if someone had told them the Jinchuriki had the strength of a Jonin. But if they remembered correctly, the Jinchuriki wasn't due to be assigned to a team and photographed as a Ninja until the day after tomorrow.

How had he... suddenly become so strong?

Most of the Anbu present had been assigned to monitor the Jinchuriki, and Uzuki Yugao was among them. That was why the Third Hokage had sent them after Naruto: they knew more of the details than ordinary Anbu, and they were more reliable.

For that very reason, the impact on them was even greater.

After all, not long ago, Uzumaki Naruto had been nothing but a dead-last in their eyes.

How had he suddenly risen so far?

As the Anbu surveyed the area, many Shadow Clones that hadn't been dispelled stood silently in the shadows of the forest. They didn't interfere with the Anbu's work, but remained where they were, watching everything coldly.

Even the Anbu, with their nerves of steel, couldn't help feeling uneasy in their midst. It was hard to believe, and they didn't want to admit it, but the truth was that they had been intimidated by a twelve-year-old Genin—not by his status, but by his strength.

"Naruto, what are you going to do with all these Shadow Clones?" Kakashi asked worriedly. He knew about the side effects of Multi Shadow Clone.

"They'll be fine as long as I don't dispel them all at once." Naruto's voice was calm. "They're dispelling themselves in batches."

"Is that so..."

Kakashi felt a little reassured. He signaled to the Medical Corps, and their supervisor had just finished the examination. She reported that Naruto was not only fine, but that his vital signs didn't look like he'd just finished a battle. They looked more like he'd eaten his fill and woken up after a long, restful sleep. His readings were excellent.

"Is this the Uzumaki Clan's doing... or the Jinchuriki's abilities?"

Kakashi was surprised once again.

In fact, Naruto's condition had a lot to do with the Gift he'd just redeemed. It had not only strengthened his body but also replenished his stamina.

The rapid recovery of his arm injuries, however, was entirely due to his unusual constitution. His arms had already healed almost completely while he was chasing Kalifa.

It had been the same on the journey to the Land of Waves in the original story. Naruto had just stuck a Kunai through the back of his hand to bleed out the poison, yet not long after he pulled it out, the wound had healed...

With the Uzumaki Bloodline, Jinchuriki nature, and Sage Body all combined, Naruto's constitution was a monster's from the start. Otherwise, he could never have endured his suicidal, hellish training these past few days, let alone grown so quickly that even the Anbu couldn't keep up.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

After the Medical Corps withdrew, the Surveillance Squad, which had been watching from the sidelines, finally stepped forward.

Owl spoke bluntly. "Uzumaki Naruto, we'll be taking over from here. Return to Konoha immediately."

As he spoke, he took out a scroll marked with the character for "Seal." His tone was calm, but left no room for argument.

"Additionally, on the instructions of the Konoha Advisory Council... as a precaution, we ask you to accept our sealing measures. Once you've returned to Konoha and we've confirmed that everything is all right, we'll remove them for you."