The Tyrant Descends
The next morning.
Jiraiya waited outside Naruto's apartment, his keen nose caught a lingering smell of blood and the faint scent of lime from recent repairs on the walls. He glanced at the half-closed gap in the door for half a second, asked no questions, and simply turned to the next page of his book. Naruto emerged from the inside, carrying a simple bag, hands in his pockets, looking no different than usual. Jiraiya suddenly realized that his initial thought of taking a promising student out now seemed absurd to him.
Before setting off, Haku stepped out of the house, clutching a bamboo tube filled with ointment and hemostatic medicine for the journey. Naruto took it, squeezed her hand, and whispered, "Get the house ready, and I'll assign rooms when I get back."
Her Byakugan trembled slightly, and she hummed in response, keeping her head down so he couldn't see her expression. Karin stood in the porch, arms crossed, the tips of her ears turning slightly red, and she looked away, pretending to gaze at the distant rooftops. Jiraiya secretly glanced at her and sighed inwardly: This child, even saying goodbye can make two girls look like this, this talent is more terrifying than Ninjutsu.
On the official road, the two walked out of Konoha Gate, the morning mist still lingering. Jiraiya habitually spoke, wanting to talk about what happened at the apartment last night. Naruto didn't reply, only glancing at him sideways. That look wasn't a warning, just calm, so calm that Jiraiya swallowed back the words that were already on the tip of his tongue.
The two Earth Flow silence for a while, heading south towards the direction where Tsunade was.
Meanwhile, at a border post station in the Land of Fire, 500 kilometers away from Hidden Leaf, the memories of last night overlapped with reality.
Amidst the raging wind and torrential rain, in the dense forest outside the inn, Kabuto Yakushi, along with a dozen elite Hidden Sound Ninja, lay in ambush, preparing to behead Naruto while he was weakened. However, Kabuto's hand, which was adjusting his glasses, suddenly froze; he keenly sensed two other terrifying Chakra that were not concealed at all.
Wearing straw hats and black trench coats with red cloud patterns, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki slowly emerged from the rain. Itachi held a news report card that had just been passed on through a secret agent—the four elite Root sent by Danzo were all wiped out last night. Only one person had made the move. That person was now in the inn right in front of them.
Kisame lazily carried his sharkskin sword behind him, grinning as he looked at the Hidden Sound in the shadows and sneered, "Orochimaru, that stray dog's pet, dares to steal our prey?"
Kabuto Yakushi's expression changed drastically, and he prepared to retreat.
Suddenly, a loud "boom" resounded!
The wall on the second floor of the inn was shattered from the inside out by an immeasurable force! Amidst the flying debris, the blond boy, hands in his pockets, descended into the muddy rainy night like a demon god.
Naruto completely ignored the trembling Hidden Sound Ninja, his condescending gaze locking onto Itachi Uchiha's crimson eyes. His voice carried the arrogance of someone who controlled life and death. "So you're that self-righteous Itachi Uchiha who treated my underlings like dogs? What, you heard you want to teach me a lesson?"
Enraged by Naruto's arrogance, Kisame brandished his massive, bandaged Samehada, unleashing a torrent of Water Release Chakra as it slashed down like a blue meteor. "Arrogant brat, I'll have Samehada shave off your limbs first!"
Facing the slashing Samehada, Naruto neither dodged nor evaded, his Perfect Sage Body energy surging forth like a dragon. He simply stretched out one hand and actually grabbed Samehada's sharp barbs!
The vicious sword, which originally devoured Chakra, trembled and howled like a dying beast the moment it touched Naruto's extremely yang and powerful Sage Blood, and tried to break free and escape!
"What kind of trashy, broken sword do you dare to bring out and embarrass yourself like this?" Naruto sneered, then suddenly exerted force with his five fingers, swinging Kisame and the sword together and slamming them into the woods where Kabuto Yakushi was hiding, just like throwing away trash.
The terrifying shockwave instantly cleared the giant trees within a radius of tens of meters, and more than a dozen Hidden Sound were instantly killed by the aftershocks, their heart meridians shattered!
Extremely suspenseful, a counterattack using Dōjutsu.
Itachi Uchiha's perpetually icy expression finally showed a violent tremor. Without any hesitation, he instantly activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, attempting to unleash his strongest Genjutsu, 'Tsukuyomi,' to drag Naruto into the deepest abyss.
However, the instant their eyes met, a dazzling silver-white light erupted from Naruto's eyes. The reverse mental strangulation Great Evolution Divine Soul Art, combined with the immense spiritual power of the Sage Body, suddenly burst forth!
Itachi Uchiha felt a sudden roar in his mind, and a shocking line of bloody tears uncontrollably flowed from his right eye!
At the border of the Land of Fire, at a post station, torrential rain poured down and the wind tore at the window frames.
Kisame was swung away by Naruto with one hand, sword and all, and slammed into the Kabuto Yakushi hiding like trash. The terrifying shockwave instantly cleared away the giant trees within dozens of meters, and more than a dozen Hidden Sound were instantly killed by the aftershocks, their hearts shattered.
Amidst the falling rubble and rain, the blond boy stood with his hands in his pockets, seemingly floating in mid-air. His deep, aggressive eyes were fixed on Itachi Uchiha's crimson Mangekyou Mangekyō Sharingan, which was dripping with blood tears.
There was no mockery, no outburst of anger. Naruto, unusually, didn't utter a single word; he simply stood in the rain, silently watching him.
This was the first time since becoming missing-nin that Itachi Uchiha had stopped all his actions in front of a Genin. Tsukuyomi had been forcibly twisted, and blood and tears streamed from his right eye, but his eternally unchanging icy face showed no trace of panic. Because in that instant, he saw clearly that the blond boy in front of him did not regard him as an enemy who must be eliminated immediately, but rather as an equal pawn, someone worth stopping to listen to what he had to say.
This silence is more chilling than any outburst of rage.
My thoughts drifted back to last night at 9 PM, in Hidden Leaf, at Uzumaki New Residence.
Four fully armed Root Anbu silently infiltrated the ventilation duct. They were professional, swift, and coordinated perfectly, heading straight for the blond boy with his eyes closed on the sofa.
The Anbu Captain walked to the sofa, swung a specially made iron chain engraved with sealing runes in his hand in an arc, and said in a deep voice, "Naruto Uzumaki, come with us. Danzo requests your presence."
The person on the sofa didn't move. One hand was propping up their chin, the other in their pocket. A thin curve appeared at the corner of their mouth—not a smile, but the relaxed look of a predator confirming the location of its prey.
The captain waited three seconds, but received no response. He then gestured to his left and right. Two Anbu stepped forward simultaneously, heading straight for Naruto's collarbone. This was the fastest way to subdue a high-risk target during Root's special training.
The next second.
"Snap."
"Snap."
Two teeth-grinding cracking sounds. Not from Naruto's bones, but from the wrists of the two Anbu. Naruto's hands darted out of his pocket so fast they barely left a afterimage; he simply grabbed the two outstretched hands, squeezing them casually as if they were two dry twigs. With his monstrous, Sage Body Mode-like Monster Strength, he directly crushed their wrist bones!
Before the two could even scream, Naruto stood up and kicked one of them in the abdomen. The man, accompanied by a shockwave of shattered bricks, pierced through the apartment building's exterior wall, smashed into the street's cobblestones, creating a half-meter-deep crater, rolled over twice, and coughed up blood, his fate unknown.
The remaining three reacted, simultaneously Hand Seals, attempting to use Wind Release to force Naruto away. Something extremely oppressive exploded from Naruto's body—not Chakra fluctuation, but more like some enormous life form suddenly opening its eyes before them. All three simultaneously felt a thin thread in their brains snap, blood seeping from their eyes, ears, and noses, their knees uncontrollably collapsing to the floor, shattering into pieces. Their fingers, which Hand Seals, froze in mid-air, unable to complete a single one.
Naruto walked up to the captain, placing one foot on the Root Anbu Captain's face, applying slight pressure with his foot, accompanied by a chilling cracking sound. His eyes were indifferent, his tone like that of a domineering tyrant, yet casual as if he were making small talk:
"Go back and tell that old sly fellow wrapped in bandages that if he wants tea, he should come over here and pour me some water."
After saying that, he withdrew his foot, clapped his hands, and didn't even glance at them again. The remaining Anbu, along with their crippled captain, fled the courtyard in a sorry state like stray dogs.