The Ancestor No One Could Afford to Offend
"That brat..." Danzo's voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, his single eye swirling with extreme fear and resentment, "He's not even human. Hidden Leaf can't tolerate two monsters."
Footsteps sounded outside the door. Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura walked in, stood in front of the stretcher, and looked down at Danzo, whose body was half charred black.
There was a five-second silence.
"Danzo," Koharu said, her voice as cold as iron, "From today onwards, discontinue all surveillance of Naruto Uzumaki and the women around him."
Danzo's one eye suddenly shrank.
"You--"
"This is not a matter for discussion." Mitokado Homura continued, his tone unusually firm. "Look at the mess you've made. Four elite Anbu, all wiped out. Root Base, razed to the ground. That kid's destructive power has exceeded our control. If we provoke him any further, the next time it won't be your pit that's destroyed, it will be the entire Hidden Leaf."
Danzo gritted his teeth. His right arm, beneath the bandages, began to twitch again. The Hashirama Cells, which had been sealed and suppressed, seemed to sense his emotional fluctuations and began to stir once more.
The silence lasted a long time.
Finally, Danzo forced out the most humiliating words of his life through gritted teeth. "Rescind all surveillance on Naruto Uzumaki and the women around him. That kid... is now a patriarch Hidden Leaf can't afford to mess with."
After he finished speaking, he closed his one eye.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura turned and left. After their footsteps faded into the distance, Danji sat in the darkness, his right arm, still trembling beneath the bandage.
But slowly, little by little, a sinister smile crept onto the corners of his mouth.
"No... let that brat continue to be arrogant." He said in a low voice, his voice like shards of glass squeezed from deep in his throat, "Once he leaves Hidden Leaf ... I have my own ways."
Somewhere on the border of the Land of Fire, in a dark basement.
Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his glasses and handed the data on the intense Chakra fluctuations in Hidden Leaf that he had just monitored to the person behind him.
"That Naruto's caused another huge commotion." Kabuto's tone was calm, but his eyes behind his glasses shone with an unnatural light. "This time it's— the Root Base has been razed to the ground. A hundred-meter-deep crater, all ten layers of barriers vaporized, Danzo is seriously injured."
A low, sickly laugh came from the darkness.
Orochimaru stuck out the tip of his tongue and licked his lips, his snake-like eyes flashing in the darkness.
"Heh... The stronger the prey, the more intense the pleasure of devouring it." Orochimaru's voice was languid and dangerous. "Kabuto, how's our 'Yang Release Countermeasure Plan' progressing?"
Dou opened the notebook. It was filled with data from every battle Naruto had fought—peak Chakra output, duration, recovery speed, and the radius of Yang Release burn, accurate to two decimal places.
"We've found a breakthrough." Kabuto adjusted his glasses, his fingertip pointing to a line of red text. "While his Yang Release is powerful, sustained high-intensity output inevitably leads to a period of Chakra depletion. According to data from the battle in the Forest of Death, after activating the Fifth Gate the Eight Gates, his cellular activation reserves were depleted by 37%, requiring at least twelve hours to recover. During this period, his basic Taijutsu output and reaction speed decreased by approximately 20%."
Orochimaru did not interrupt him; his snake-like eyes narrowed slightly.
"And—" He closed the notebook, a chilling smile curving his lips, "That brat is extremely protective of his own. The women around him—Haku, Hinata, Karin —are his best hostages. His judgment plummets the moment they're threatened."
Orochimaru let out a satisfied, low laugh.
"Very good. But there's no rush." Orochimaru stood up from the darkness, his shadow stretching long and twisted on the wall. "The best time for us to close the net will be when Hidden Leaf is leaderless and people are in a state of panic. By the way—how's the reaction to Sasuke's 'Snake Mark'?"
He pulled up another set of monitoring data, his brow furrowing slightly.
"That's strange." For the first time, his tone betrayed confusion. "There are two opposing forces within Sasuke. One is the Yin Release Cursed Seal you planted, and the other is... Yang Release Mark that seems to have been left by Naruto. Currently, the two forces are in balance, but—"
He paused for a moment.
"The Cursed Seal is slowly eroding the Yang Release Mark."
Orochimaru's snake-like eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed.
"Interesting," Orochimaru said in a low voice, "That Naruto ... he's already left a mark on Sasuke."
"Do I need to activate the Cursed Seal beforehand?"
"No." Orochimaru shook his head, a serpentine smile creeping onto his lips. "Let them continue fighting. When Naruto returns, Sasuke's body—will give us a wonderful surprise."
Hidden Leaf. Uzumaki New Residence.
Bai had changed into a maid's outfit and was kneeling in the living room waiting. Her hands were on her knees, her fingertips slightly white from holding the same position for so long, but her expression was calm to the point of being indifferent. Only the occasional ripple in her eyes betrayed her inner unease.
Hinata sat beside her, her hands nervously clutching the hem of her clothes. She secretly activated her Byakugan, sensing Chakra reactions from outside Konoha. Her perception range was pushed to its limit, and the distant horizon was reflected in her silvery-white pupils.
It's confirmed. That powerful, almost Genin Chakra reaction belonging to Naruto is still there. It's stable and intense in the direction of the Land of Fire's border, like an inextinguishable star.
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief, and the fingers that were gripping the hem of her clothes slowly relaxed.
Karin sat in another corner, her red hair obscuring half her face, biting her lower lip tightly. Her senses were sharper than Hinata's, able to detect more subtle fluctuations—she sensed other Chakra reactions in that area. Not Naruto's. Some were fading, some were drifting away.
"Naruto-kun... he..." Karin's voice was soft, filled with suppressed worry, "Will he be in trouble with the Konoha High Command because of what happened tonight...?"
Bai did not answer.
She merely turned her head slightly, her icy blue eyes looking towards the doorway, and then—
"Click."
The door was pushed open.
Naruto walked in with one hand in his pocket, still smelling of gunpowder from the battle. There was a burn mark on the hem of his clothes, but otherwise he was unharmed.
Bai stood up immediately. She picked up a damp towel that she had prepared in advance from the coffee table, walked to Naruto, lowered her head, and carefully wiped the dust off the back of his hand with the towel. Her movements were gentle and practiced, as if she had done it countless times before.
Hinata served hot tea. Her hands were still trembling slightly, but the teacup was placed on the table without making a sound—a result of her long practice.
Karin stood to the side, nervously fidgeting with the hem of her apron. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't know where to begin.
Naruto glanced at them.
Three exquisite maids. One is pure and innocent, one is gentle as water, and one is stubborn and charming. Each has her own beauty and her own goodness, and they all obediently wait for him to return.
A playful smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"What?" He pulled Haku into his arms, and with his other hand ruffled Hinata's hair, the pressure neither too light nor too heavy, carrying an undeniable doting affection. "Are you worried I'll be besieged by the Konoha High Command?"
Haku was suddenly pulled into his arms, her body stiffened for a moment, then softened, leaning against his chest, her icy blue eyes slightly reddening. Hinata's cheeks turned red from being rubbed, but she didn't dodge; instead, she tilted her head slightly and rubbed against his palm.
Karin watched this scene, bit her lip, turned her head away, and her ears burned bright red.
"Don't worry." Naruto's voice lowered, carrying an absolute, unquestionable certainty, "From tonight onwards, no one in Hidden Leaf will dare to mess with me."
He said this in a casual tone, as if stating a fact that didn't need proof.
But all three of them understood the weight behind that understated statement.