Exhausted, Naruto lay sprawled across Mikoto Uchiha's warm back when a sudden chill ran through her. She shivered instinctively.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing Naruto shudder, Mikoto Uchiha looked back at her with concern.
"Nothing. I'm a little sleepy. I'll sleep for a while."
Naruto shook her head, wrapped her arms around Mikoto Uchiha's neck, and rubbed her cheek against Mikoto Uchiha's shoulder.
Karin watched Naruto asleep on Mikoto Uchiha's back, curiosity in her eyes. After learning that Naruto belonged to the Uzumaki clan, Karin's attitude toward her had made a complete one-eighty. To meet another member of the Uzumaki clan after Uzushiogakure's destruction felt no different from finding family, and her trust in Naruto soared.
If Naruto knew that her bloodline alone had caused such a drastic change in Karin's attitude, she might wonder whether Karin had lost her mind. Hadn't she ever heard the saying?
When fellow townsfolk meet, one stabs the other in the back!
Mikoto Uchiha's News (1/2)
With Obito Uchiha fanning the flames, news that Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, had destroyed Kusagakure spread through the ninja world like it had grown wings in less than a few days. Even the daimyō of various countries had heard of it. For a time, every ninja village kept a closer watch over its own Jinchuriki, which in turn caused those Jinchuriki to suffer even harsher unequal treatment in their villages.
Sleeping soundly, Naruto had no idea that someone intended to use this incident to make her utterly loathe, even hate, the tailed beasts.
"Just as I thought, rumors are only rumors. How could a little girl like this have destroyed Kusagakure? Still, your life is worth quite a lot!"
A band of wandering ninja blocked Naruto's group. The leader sized up Naruto, who had just woken in a daze. To him, Naruto was nothing more than an ordinary blonde girl. If he had to say anything, she was simply a somewhat cute girl.
"Ahh~!"
Naruto yawned and looked at the ninja surrounding them as though she were looking at corpses.
"As the price for waking me up, I'll let you die quickly..."
Before Naruto had even finished speaking, she vanished from Mikoto Uchiha's arms. In the blink of an eye, she appeared before the wandering ninja leader and lightly tapped his chest with a delicate finger.
Wind Release: Finger Gun.
A compressed pellet of Wind Release Chakra pierced through his chest and shredded his internal organs. The wandering ninja leader, who had just been brimming with confidence that he could claim Naruto's bounty, died at Naruto's hands without the slightest ability to resist.
Blood streamed from his seven orifices as he collapsed to the ground. Seeing their leader fall, the surrounding wandering ninja rushed Naruto all at once.
The killing was brief, especially for those overconfident fools who had disturbed her rest. Naruto did not hesitate for a moment and mercilessly killed every one of them.
Naruto looked over the bounty list she found on the wandering ninja leader and saw her own name prominently listed, with a reward as high as fifty million.
"No wonder these guys wanted to kill me. They took me for an easy target..."
In the photo on the list, Naruto looked petite and frail, and it recorded most of her information from Konohagakure. At a glance, she looked like easy prey, and the reward money practically seemed free. Smart ninja naturally would not fall for it, but there were always a few idiots who thought a windfall had dropped into their laps. In the end, they did not get to eat the pie—they were crushed to death by it instead.
While investigating whose hands Haruki Hyuga's eyes had fallen into, Kakashi happened to obtain the latest bounty list from the black market and saw Naruto's name on it.
After reading Naruto's information, Kakashi crumpled the bounty list into a ball. The electrical current formed from Lightning Release Chakra in his hand burned the list to ashes.
Kakashi vaguely felt that a massive conspiracy was unfolding around Naruto, yet there was nothing he could do. He could only watch helplessly as his teacher's child sank deeper into the vortex of hatred.
Crow Mountain, a village built by the Uchiha Clan, had already begun to take shape as a ninja village. The first thing constructed had been the Ninja Academy. The temporary teachers were Rogue Ninja who had come to seek refuge and elderly members of the Uchiha Clan who possessed extensive knowledge.
After all, the Ninja Academy had only just been built, and there were not many students. More teachers would be added once the student body grew.
Even so, the students in the school kept the two teachers busy enough. In particular, Uchiha Raku, already past thirty, rubbed his graying hair and looked in headache at the children sitting obediently in their seats and staring at him.
Fugaku, you really handed me a troublesome job...
Uchiha Raku sighed inwardly, though he wore a kindly smile on the surface.
"Today is your first lesson. Your teacher will tell you what Chakra is!"
Outside the door, Kiryū Kawa listened to Uchiha Raku's lesson while fiddling with a forehead protector bearing a slash. He had once been a ninja from Iwagakure. After failing a mission and being blamed by his teammates, he had killed the companion accusing him in a fit of rage, becoming a Rogue Ninja and fleeing the village.
Taking a deep breath, Kiryū Kawa walked to the training ground outside the school. He pressed both hands to the ground and used Earth Release Chakra to repair the unfinished parts of the field.
"I don't understand why you would let a Rogue Ninja like me become a teacher here. Is that really all right?" Kiryū Kawa turned to look at Fugaku Uchiha as he approached.
"Because I can see through your nature."
Kiryū Kawa watched Fugaku Uchiha's eyes shift from the Three Tomoe Sharingan into another shape, giving him the feeling that everything about him had been seen through.
"Kawa, I'll leave those children to you. They are this village's future." Fugaku Uchiha's eyes returned to black. He walked over to Kiryū Kawa's side and patted his shoulder, his words full of trust.
Shisui Uchiha had returned, bringing with him a batch of ninja tools the village desperately needed. However, in order to receive them as soon as possible, they had paid half again as much as the usual price.
"Itachi, come to the clan head's room later. I have something to tell you all."
"What is it?" Itachi Uchiha, who was helping Sasuke Uchiha train, asked without turning his head.
"It's about your mother."
The two brothers immediately stopped training upon hearing those words. Sasuke Uchiha, especially, ran excitedly before Shisui Uchiha and grabbed his clothes.
"About Mom... Is there news about my mom?!"
Fugaku Uchiha's office was piled high with building blueprints and documents needing attention. Father and sons alike fixed their eyes on Shisui Uchiha.
"I met Sasuke and Itachi's mother."
"How could that be?! Mikoto, she... she... wasn't she..." Fugaku Uchiha could hardly believe the news Shisui Uchiha had brought.
Shisui Uchiha slowly explained what had happened.
"I invited Naruto before, but she refused. She said she didn't want to cause trouble for the Uchiha Clan."
"That Naruto!"
Sasuke Uchiha clenched his little fists, somewhat angry to hear that Naruto had refused Shisui's invitation.
"Leave. I want to be alone for a while."
After Shisui Uchiha and his children had left, Fugaku Uchiha opened a drawer and looked at the photograph of his wife inside. His trembling fingers gently stroked the cheek of Mikoto Uchiha, whose smile in the photograph was so gentle.
"That's wonderful... That's wonderful... Mikoto, you're alive..."
Feeling his body grow weaker by the day, Fugaku Uchiha gazed longingly at his wife's photograph. He knew he might not have much longer to live.
"Mikoto... I hope I can see you once more before I die..."
After leaving Kusagakure, Naruto wanted to find Ryūchi Cave and learn Sage Mode. If she wanted to increase her strength in a short time, relying on herself alone was clearly not enough. Naruto set her sights on Ryūchi Cave, which stood alongside Mount Myōboku and Shikkotsu Forest, and wanted to learn Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode.
"Mikoto, do you know how to get to Ryūchi Cave?"
Before you continue