Almost Discovered

(Bring on some White Zetsu support.)

Why was it Mom? Ino jumped in fright. That had scared her half to death just now, QAQ.

"Ino? What are you doing by the streetlight so late at night?"

Ino's mother questioned her. A woman's sixth sense told her that something suspicious was definitely going on.

What should she do?

Should she say something?

Could she say she'd just been spacing out?

Yeah, that was it. That was right, she'd just been spacing out.

Ino came back to her senses, smiled at her mother, and wrapped herself around her arm.

"Didn't I go out to hang out with my classmates? I just got back to the door and was staring blankly at the streetlight."

Was that so?

Ino's mother looked at her precious daughter with a suspicious expression.

Then she looked around at the dark, empty surroundings. There wasn't anyone else in sight.

Only then did she put aside her suspicions.

"Hmph. I bet you were thinking about some cute guy just now."

From the shadows, Josuke had to admit that she had almost guessed right. Not a cute boy, but a handsome man. (Smug or narcissistic.)

That had really been close. If he'd been one step slower, Ino's mother would have seen her precious daughter getting swooped up by a handsome young man.

Ino frantically waved her hands.

"How could that be? You know your daughter. I might really like handsome guys, but I definitely haven't done anything like that!"

Ino's mother didn't care about any of that. She wasn't worried about her daughter; she just wanted to see which pig had tricked her daughter away.

Josuke: ^(*￣(oo)￣)^...

No kissing, no hugging, and no holding hands.

No, puppy love was wrong. She had to utterly despise that kind of behavior.

Ino's mother really had a lot going on in her head.

That's right!!

When her best friends came over later, she had to tell them her daughter was dating too young. She was really naughty, not listening to her parents anymore. She even had to tell the neighbors when she went out.

It would be even better if she had photos. She could show them to all her best friends.

Her daughter must have found a handsome young man.

No, no, how could she be thinking about this?

Fortunately, Ino's mother's words were nothing more than a woman's wild imagination. Still, her imagination was truly something...

Remembering what her daughter had said.

No boyfriend. She was a little disappointed.

"You still haven't found a boyfriend?"

"Huh?"

Ino was the one left speechless instead.

Realizing she had misspoken, Ino's mother hurriedly tried to explain herself.

"What I meant was, it's best if you don't have one. I don't want my precious daughter getting swooped up by some pig."

Josuke suffered another personal attack.

Fine, he really was a pig. Josuke admitted it himself.

After Ino and her mother chatted for a while, they returned home. Once Josuke confirmed there was no one around, he jumped down from the rooftop. That had really been close...

Little incidents in life added a touch of color to it.

Returning to the long-unseen Hidden Leaf Village.

Josuke felt deeply moved. He was about to become an outstanding rogue ninja himself.

?

No, what outstanding rogue ninja, geez~

But when he thought about how the three-year deadline he had agreed upon with Orochimaru was drawing near...

Naruto would definitely come after him, so he had to sneak away while Naruto and the others were out on a mission. That way, he would be less likely to be discovered.

Josuke frantically grabbed at his hair. He had no clue what to do right now.

Maybe during the rescue of Gaara?

Perhaps. He might as well stop thinking so much about it.

The Akatsuki Organization (copied and pasted, with a few changes.)

Its two leaders were Yahiko—who was controlled by Nagato as Pain after his death—and Nagato. When it was first founded, it aimed to bring peace to their country.

Later, due to the scheme of an enraged child—who caused Yahiko's death—Yahiko died, Nagato fell into darkness, and became the true power behind the Akatsuki Organization.

The members wore black cloaks embroidered with red clouds, conical hats hung with wind chimes, and rings marked with their own code names. Their code names were modeled after Chinese constellations. Their nails were painted, and their forehead protectors bore a slash, signifying that they were rogue ninja.

Take off your clothes and you die.

How many floors does a sack of rice have to carry?

The Akatsuki Organization's operation officially began, and their first target was Gaara's One-Tail.

The people of the Hidden Leaf Village received intelligence that Sand Village's leader, Gaara, had been captured by the Akatsuki Organization.

The Akatsuki Organization was a powerful group made up of S-rank rogue ninja from various nations, with every member possessing Kage-level strength.

Taking all circumstances into consideration, Tsunade ordered Team 7 to rescue Gaara.

Upon receiving the mission, Josuke and Naruto both eagerly rolled up their sleeves.

For three years, they hadn't carried out a single mission. They had no idea how strong they had become.

This rescue was the perfect mission.

It would give Naruto and Josuke more practical combat experience.

After rushing along the entire way, they quickly arrived at Sand Village.

What Josuke saw was Sand Village in ruins. Deidara's explosions were truly fierce.

As expected of an artist.

Half the village had been blown to pieces.

The arrival of the four without stopping gave the people of Sand Village a sense of reassurance.

With Sakura's help, the poison in Kankuro's body was quickly treated. Kankuro woke weakly and handed Team 7 an article of Sasori's clothing.

He must have kept it from his previous battle with Sasori.

Josuke also got to see her—the "number one beauty" in Naruto, the wife of countless villagers, Chiyo!

Holy crap.

It had to be said, everyone who played Naruto was into this sort of thing. He had no objections.

With Chiyo joining them as well.

The rescue team for Gaara had grown to five people, making for an incredibly luxurious lineup.

They got straight to work.

Kakashi led Team 7 to a plain before long.

There, they encountered Kisame and Itachi.

More accurately, they were the two men's substitutes. However, Josuke knew that from having thoroughly read the original story, and of course he couldn't just say it outright.

Otherwise, if that brat Danzō found out, wouldn't he drag Josuke off to Root?

That damned little brat Danzō.

He couldn't say it, but that didn't mean Josuke couldn't discover it during battle, right? Hehe.

These two substitutes were nothing like Itachi and Kisame.

They didn't even offer the most basic greeting.

They immediately attacked Kakashi, Josuke, and Naruto.

But the attacks were easily dodged.

Seeing this, Josuke used Sprint to close the distance with the fake Itachi. He condensed Chidori in his hand and shot straight toward the fake Itachi.

The fake Itachi stood there like an idiot.

He was pierced straight through by Chidori. After the fake Itachi died, the substitute technique was released, and only then did everyone realize.

The two had merely been substitutes, with strength who knew how many times inferior to the originals.

Seeing the opportunity, Kakashi did not hesitate any further and swiftly dealt with the small fry.

Might Guy's team also arrived there from the other side.

The two teams joined together and prepared to rescue Gaara.

After tracking them for quite some time, they arrived at the Akatsuki Organization's base.

Neji used the Byakugan to see through the situation inside and told Kakashi everything he saw.

Meanwhile, inside, the Akatsuki Organization was holding a debriefing meeting using cutting-edge 8G technology...