Scroll of Sealing

A swirling, pitch-black vortex suddenly appeared before Qiuyang. He reached his right hand inside and pulled out ten small formation flags.

The flags, much like his Mangekyo, were a mix of black and white, and one could sense an immense, boundless energy contained within them.

The fabric of the flags fluttered without a breeze, appearing indescribably eerie.

Having never seen such a bizarre object in his life, Obito jumped back in a panic, his shuriken-shaped Mangekyo spinning wildly as he cautiously observed the flags in Qiuyang's hand.

As he used the Mangekyo "God-Meeting Machine" to retrieve the flags, Qiuyang had already grasped their usage and was overcome with joy.

It seemed he wouldn't have to die right here!

Taking advantage of the gap while Obito hesitated to approach, Qiuyang immediately cast four flags, throwing them around himself.

Seeing the small flags stand upright on the ground in defiance of common sense, Obito retreated two more steps, even more afraid to close the distance.

Such a coward??

Qiuyang then cast two more small flags, encompassing the corpse of his predecessor, which lay a few meters away.

He then formed the "Tiger" seal with both hands. As the Yin-Yang Bagua Mangekyo in his eyes spun frantically, the formation flags emitted a metallic clanging sound and a blinding white light.

"Not good, it's a teleportation formation."

Obito realized too late. He rushed over, intending to kick away one of the flags to stop Qiuyang from escaping, but he was ultimately a step too late.

After a flash of light, everything within the perimeter defined by the flags vanished, teleported to parts unknown.

A second before disappearing, Qiuyang clutched his stinging eyes with both hands and spat out a threat:

"Uchiha Madara, I will definitely return."

Cursing his own carelessness, Obito hurriedly tried to use his own eyes—which were equally adept at space-time ninjutsu—to track the specific location of Qiuyang's teleportation.

However, he failed to find even the slightest trace. Hearing sounds from outside, he assumed the Anbu had arrived, and he had no choice but to give up.

With a distortion of space, he departed the scene of the Asura-like massacre.

The place where Qiuyang randomly teleported was a primeval forest dozens of kilometers away from Konoha, and he landed high up in a large tree.

As soon as the teleportation formation ended, he fell hard from a height of five meters and slammed into the ground.

Although there was a thicket of grass to cushion the fall, Qiuyang still winced in pain, rolling on the ground for a long time.

Once he caught his breath, he tremblingly leaned against a tree to stand up:

"Ptooey..."

He spat a large mouthful of blood onto the ground. A sharp, intense pain flared in his chest, nearly forcing him back down, but he managed to endure it.

Damn it, I definitely broke a few ribs from that fall.

While cursing the heavens, Qiuyang gathered up the now-dimmed formation flags from the ground.

He shook his head, wanting to take one last look at his predecessor's corpse, only to realize his vision had blurred to the point where he could barely see. This situation, however, did not cause Qiuyang to panic.

He knew this was the side effect of overusing the Mangekyo's ocular power; unless one possessed Hashirama Cells, using these eyes was a step-by-step march toward blindness.

Qiuyang spent about a month in that forest recovering his body and digesting the memories of his predecessor, then spent a full half-year living in a nearby village.

Later, he dyed his hair white and re-entered Konoha as a war refugee, becoming an unremarkable genin.

The so-called safest place is the most dangerous place.

Because as far as he knew, in the original Naruto plot, Obito never appeared in Konoha during the early stages.

Therefore, as long as he didn't expose his Uchiha identity for the time being, this was undoubtedly the safest place to be.

He spent his days completing low-level missions like finding lost cats and dogs or gathering herbs, living in the darkest, dingiest corner, waiting for his moment to take center stage.

--

And now, he had finally gotten his wish.

Pulling his thoughts back from the long memory, Qiuyang jumped off the water tower and returned to the dark, cramped room where he currently lived.

He pulled a damaged small box from under his bed, opened it, and kissed the dozen or so explosive tags he had bought with his saved-up mission earnings.

Whether he could seize the first wave of opportunity depended entirely on these expensive explosive tags.

Ten days later...

Qiuyang wiped away the traces he had left behind, looking with great satisfaction at the small ignition devices he had constructed from three explosive tags and piles of dry grass.

In another ten minutes, these devices would cause quite a stir. Of course, they were just harmless little fires; they would look grand in scale, but in reality, they could be easily extinguished.

Even a ninja who knew a little bit of Water Style could handle them in a few minutes.

Going to such great lengths to create this commotion was merely to entice the Third Hokage to turn his crystal ball "surveillance" toward this area.

In the original plot, the functionality of that crystal ball was simply too overpowered:

It could track and lock onto specific people within a certain range, and it also possessed the ability to zoom in and out for real-time observation. What would he do if he were locked onto indefinitely?

If this damn thing isn't nerfed, how is anyone supposed to play?

Given his current strength, Qiuyang dared not face this thing head-on, which was why he had made these arrangements to divert attention.

He trusted that Old Man Sarutobi, who loved his people like his own children, would immediately turn his crystal ball to see what was happening in the village.

Hmm... that's the plan!

"Transformation Jutsu."

With a poof, Qiuyang transformed into... young Sasuke, with a collar so high it nearly covered his face.

Looking at the reflection in the water, Qiuyang nodded in great satisfaction; he had stalked Sasuke for several days just to get the resemblance this perfect.

Sasuke was worthy of being the second male lead; he was quite handsome, though unfortunately not as handsome as himself, Qiuyang thought smugly.

After finishing this, Qiuyang followed his memory to wait along the path Naruto was bound to take while carrying the Scroll of Sealing.

Given the invisible bond between Second Pillar and Naruto, it would surely make Naruto stop in his tracks.

As for how to make Naruto obediently let him see that thing, well... using a genjutsu would be best, of course!

In an open clearing, Qiuyang began to weave hand signs, focusing his chakra into his left eye...

While Qiuyang's plan proceeded methodically, things were miserable for the Third Hokage, Old Man Sarutobi, on the other side.

Upon discovering that Naruto had snuck in to steal the Scroll of Sealing, he had immediately come out to stop him, but he hadn't expected Naruto, caught red-handed, to use a transformation jutsu.

Poof.

"Naruto, a jutsu like the Transformation Jutsu is... uh... pfft..."

The Third had intended to lecture Naruto that such a jutsu was useless for escaping, but when the smoke cleared, what he saw was a naked, buxom beauty.

A mouthful of blood immediately sprayed from his nose, and he collapsed to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

"Witness the power of my Sexy Jutsu, Grandpa Third Hokage."

Naruto happily flashed a "V" sign at Old Man Sarutobi's body, then strapped the Scroll of Sealing to his back and fled in the direction he had planned beforehand.

According to what Mizuki had told him.

If he could learn the ninjutsu in this book, he would be able to graduate from the ninja academy smoothly and gain the recognition of Iruka!

But while running past a river, he didn't expect to encounter the rival he viewed as a thorn in his side--Sasuke.

"Heh, isn't this the dead-last Naruto?"

It had to be said, Qiuyang's ability to stir up trouble was truly formidable; a single sentence made Naruto temporarily forget his original goal, and he immediately rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight him.

"How dare you call me a dead-last?"