Two days had passed, and at last, Kyūsei received news about Uzumaki Menma.
The target had appeared in the Land of Wind, crossed through the Land of Rivers, and was now heading in a straight line toward the Land of Whirlpools.
Judging by his pace, he had already crossed more than half of the Land of Fire.
The Land of Whirlpools?
Kyūsei looked at the intelligence report in his hands, deep in thought.
This was one of the benefits of having enough influence.
Once you were in a high enough position, troublesome and thankless tasks like intelligence gathering no longer required your personal involvement—someone would naturally take care of them for you.
Even though Kyūsei held no official power, who would dare treat him carelessly?
But none of that mattered right now.
Uzumaki Menma's target was clearly the Land of Whirlpools.
It couldn't possibly be the Land of Water across the sea, right?
And what was in the Land of Whirlpools?
The first thing Kyūsei thought of was his family's Uzumaki Shrine.
Inside the shrine were countless sealed demons and evil spirits, accumulated over hundreds of years by the Uzumaki clan.
They had been sealed into masks. In times of need, their power could be borrowed in battle.
The Reaper Death Seal was one such technique, drawing upon the so-called God of Death.
Was Menma going there for those masks?
Kyūsei didn't overthink it.
He had to intercept and capture Menma before he left the Land of Fire.
Whether it was the Nine-Tails inside him or the chaos he had caused, Hiruzen would never allow him to leave so easily.
Besides, Kyūsei himself was quite interested in Menma's Nine Masks: Suvāha technique.
That jutsu wasn't recorded in the Scroll of Seals.
How did Kyūsei know?
Because he had read it.
There was no Nine Masks: Suvāha in it—only piles of Tobirama's strange forbidden techniques.
Kyūsei had flipped through it in front of Hiruzen for ages and couldn't find a single technique suitable for himself.
In the end, he had honestly gone back to using Adamantine Sealing Chains.
If he could capture Menma and let the Yamanaka clan search his memories, maybe they could extract that technique.
Menma was a Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
So was he.
There was no reason Menma could use it while he couldn't.
"Ready?"
The blonde girl stood in full combat gear, her expression serious as she looked at her lover.
Based on Konoha's analysis and information from Minato and Kushina seven years ago, the enemy had been identified as a Nine-Tails jinchūriki from another world.
A rival who was in no way inferior to Kyūsei.
"Completely ready."
Kyūsei tightened his forehead protector and replied seriously.
"Good. Let's go."
Kaoru grabbed his hand and activated the Flying Thunder God.
The two vanished instantly.
During the Third Shinobi World War, to prevent surprise attacks, Kaoru had rushed to forge a batch of Flying Thunder God kunai and had them distributed along the Land of Fire's borders.
After the war ended, they were never recovered.
Now, they were finally useful.
Kyūsei felt his vision blur.
A moment ago, he had been in Konoha.
Now, he stood at a border outpost.
Beyond it stretched a vast, endless ocean.
Since they had figured out Menma's destination, they would intercept him on his route.
"Lord Kyūsei, Lady Kaoru ."
A Konoha squad was stationed at the outpost.
They had been ordered to channel chakra into the Flying Thunder God markers to help Kaoru teleport here more easily.
Kaoru didn't take the kunai they offered.
Instead, she spoke gently.
"You can keep this kunai for now."
"And please evacuate this area as soon as possible, until I notify you."
"If nothing goes wrong, a fierce battle will happen here soon."
She was always like this—gentle and considerate toward her comrades.
"Yes."
"We'll withdraw immediately."
Kyūsei ignored the departing squad.
He walked onto the roof of the outpost alone, activated the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, and waited in the salty sea breeze.
If he faced Menma alone, it would probably be a fifty-fifty fight.
But Menma was twenty.
He was only seventeen.
And Menma was Naruto's counterpart.
That alone made Kyūsei cautious.
In the movie The Lost Tower, Menma had clearly held the advantage against Naruto, yet somehow lost due to plot.
Then Obito controlled him and he got beaten again.
With the Mind's Eye activated, everything within dozens of kilometers—every blade of grass, every movement—entered Kyūsei's perception.
Every time he used it, he found it incredible.
Even places he couldn't see were perfectly clear in his mind.
And it caused him no burden at all.
Kaoru joined him and sat beside him, quietly preparing for the coming battle.
This time was different.
Their opponent was another Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
And he was definitely not someone to underestimate.
Whatever his goal was, they had to stop him.
Just destroying Sunagakure alone was unforgivable.
Not to mention that he had forcibly breached the Land of Fire's defenses, provoking conflict between Dawn and Dusk.
Hiruzen would never let him go.
Given his strength, Konoha had sent its strongest lineup.
Kaoru , as a Flying Thunder God user, would cooperate with Kyūsei.
At present, no one else in Konoha was more suitable for fighting alongside him.
It wasn't that others were weak.
Against a jinchūriki with massive destructive power, only another jinchūriki could truly contend.
And her Flying Thunder God could grant even a tailed-beast-mode Kyūsei instant movement.
This would cause a qualitative leap in his combat power.
Time passed slowly.
The sky darkened.
Waves crashed against the shore.
The bright moon rose high, hanging in the night sky.
The salty sea breeze lifted strands of the blonde girl's hair as she leaned against Kyūsei.
Looking at the scene, Kyūsei thought—
If not for Menma, he'd love to light a campfire here and go fishing.
Just then—
A chakra signature entered his sensory range.
Kyūsei narrowed his eyes.
It was enormous.
The largest chakra he had ever sensed.
Not even weaker than his own.
Uzumaki Menma…
had arrived.
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SORRY FOR THIS WRITING HERE BUT I SAW A NOVEL -Konoha: Preparing to defect, the system has arrived. BUT THE LAST AUTHOR HAD DROPPED IT AND I WAS THINKING OF TRANSLATING IT WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE SAY SHOULD I OR SHOULD I NOT I WANT YOUR OPINION PLEASE DO MENTION IN THE COMMENT SECTIONS.