Moegi Is Kidnapped

"Teach me, please! I want to learn too!"

"That's enough, Konohamaru."

Naruto reached out and pressed a hand on Konohamaru's head. "There are a lot of people from other villages in the village right now. The three of you should stay home and behave yourselves. Don't run around."

"Why?"

"You still haven't shown me your newly developed super ninja technique!"

"Because your identity is sensitive."

Naruto bent down. "There are ninja from other villages moving around everywhere now. Someone with ulterior motives could target you at any time."

Konohamaru blinked, taken aback by Naruto's serious attitude.

His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but seeing Naruto's solemn expression, he swallowed the words back down.

"Okay, I understand, Big Brother."

Naruto nodded. "Then hurry home."

"Moegi, Udon, you two be careful too."

"Okay, Brother Naruto!"

Moegi and Udon answered in unison.

Konohamaru led his two followers off in a light jog toward home. He kept turning back to wave at Naruto, shouting as he ran:

"Big Brother, be careful of that weird red-haired guy from earlier—"

Before he could finish, he nearly tripped over a stone on the ground again.

After the three little ones had run far away, Naruto calmly withdrew his gaze and turned it toward Sasuke, who had been standing beneath a tree the entire time.

He did not even need to look to know Sasuke had been staring at him. Sasuke had not looked away since earlier.

"Sasuke, why are you looking at me like that?"

Naruto turned around.

Sasuke did not avoid Naruto's gaze.

Leaning against the tree trunk with his arms crossed, he stared straight at Naruto with dark eyes, his expression grave.

"Dead last, when did you become this strong?"

He had seen it clearly just now.

From vanishing where he stood to appearing before Kankuro and catching his wrist, Naruto had crossed at least a dozen meters almost instantly.

It was not the Body Flicker Technique. That technique required hand seals, yet Naruto's hands had been hanging naturally at his sides, with no sign of forming seals.

This was pure physical speed.

And at that speed, Sasuke knew he could not do the same right now.

Before he had fallen unconscious, Naruto had still been the dead last who climbed trees half a beat slower than him.

But after he had passed out, Naruto had used some unknown method to break Haku's Ice Crystal Magic Mirror Formation. Later, Sasuke had learned from Kakashi that Naruto had even defeated Haku.

And now, Naruto had subdued an official Sunagakure ninja with a wrist lock.

Even the way he spoke, the way he walked, and the expression he wore when he fought had all changed.

The old Naruto used to bare his teeth and turn red-faced in battle, seeming to want to shout with every punch. The current Naruto did not say a word when he fought, calm as Kakashi.

Sasuke could not understand it.

But he had to know the answer.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke without avoiding the question.

He nodded, his tone casual, neither boastful nor deliberately modest.

"Yeah. After coming back from the Land of Waves, I trained for a while."

"My strength has indeed improved a little compared to before."

Sasuke's brow furrowed even deeper.

Trained for a while?

A few days were enough to go from dead last to this kind of speed?

He wanted to ask more, but the words reached his lips and were swallowed back down.

He was Sasuke Uchiha. He would not ask someone else about their training methods. That was something only the weak would do.

He was a genius, the one who had always walked ahead of Naruto and made Naruto chase after him with all his strength.

But now, he vaguely felt that his place was no longer so secure.

Sasuke said nothing.

He merely lowered his hands from his chest and shoved them back into his shorts pockets, clenching them tightly into fists.

Then he turned around and walked back the way he had come without a word.

His back remained perfectly straight, and his stride still carried the pride unique to the Uchiha clan, but the fists in his pockets were clenched until his knuckles turned white.

Naruto watched Sasuke's retreating figure grow distant. He did not follow him or offer any explanation.

Some things could not be resolved through explanation.

Sasuke was someone who defined the meaning of his existence through his own strength. What he needed had never been comfort or reassurance, but stronger opponents and harsher trials.

Especially at this point in time, with the Chunin Ninja Exams right ahead and Orochimaru about to place the curse mark on Sasuke.

If Naruto went to comfort him now out of softheartedness, slowing his own pace to protect Sasuke's pride, he would only be harming Sasuke instead.

Letting him experience the gap in strength early and face the coming trials with resentment and a sense of crisis would instead give him a better chance of surviving.

As for Orochimaru placing the curse mark on Sasuke during the upcoming Chunin Ninja Exams, Naruto also intended not to stop it. Sasuke needed to walk his own path, and remaining in Konoha might even hinder his growth.

Most importantly, Naruto was not strong enough to stop Orochimaru now. He might instead expose himself and draw Orochimaru's attention.

Still, Naruto intended to change the way Sasuke left.

He could not leave as a deserter.

"But before that, I need to improve my own strength too. I'll act tonight. Time waits for no one!"

With that thought, Naruto turned and headed toward his apartment.

But he had taken fewer than ten steps.

"Ah!"

A scream came from the corner of the street ahead. It was a little girl's voice, sharp and urgent, like a cry that had slipped through the gaps between someone's fingers after her mouth had suddenly been covered.

Naruto recognized Moegi's voice.

He and Sasuke, who was still not far away, stopped almost simultaneously.

The two exchanged a look across dozens of meters, then sprinted toward the sound one after the other.

Naruto was faster. Every point where his feet struck the ground was precisely chosen to maximize forward momentum, and within a few leaps, he had widened the gap by a great deal.

Sasuke followed closely behind. This time, he saw Naruto's method of acceleration clearly: Naruto precisely condensed Chakra beneath his feet. It was not a simple, brute-force burst of propulsion, but an adjustment of Chakra's density and angle at each instant of exertion, using the least consumption for the greatest displacement.

He had seen Kakashi use a similar method before, but he had never expected Naruto to use it even more smoothly than Kakashi.

When Naruto rushed out of the alley, the sight before him made his pupils contract sharply.

A figure in a dark gray cloak was carrying Moegi over his shoulder and darting away from the main road. The figure was not especially fast, but had chosen an exceptionally tricky route, taking concealed alleys between rooftop blind spots and old buildings.

Konohamaru had fallen at the mouth of the alley, his scarf unfurled and dragging along the ground as he struggled to get back up.

"Brother Naruto, that bad guy took Moegi!"

By the time Konohamaru shouted those words, Naruto had already charged out.

He had no time to stop and comfort Konohamaru. His entire body became a blurred golden afterimage as he pursued the cloaked figure along its escape route.