In Konohagakure, no one could stop a ninja who could fly.
Just like when Deva Path Pain flew into the sky and unleashed Super Shinra Tensei — not a single person could stop him. Flight was a domain ordinary ninjas simply couldn't enter.
Even Hashirama couldn't do it…
Below the Hokage building, Hiruzen watched Mizuki fly away, his eyes cold. The surrounding ninjas stood silent, unsure what to say.
Only Asuma walked up to Hiruzen, "Old man, what do we do next? Naruto's identity… If he's taken away, the loss to the village would be catastrophic."
Hiruzen's face darkened, "At his speed, even if we send word now for Kakashi to leave the Land of Waves with his team, it's already too late."
Asuma frowned, "Are we just going to let him take Naruto?"
Hiruzen's expression grew conflicted, as if wrestling with something. A full half minute passed before he exhaled slowly, as though he'd reached a decision.
"The Chūnin Exams are our priority. As for Mizuki, we don't need to waste resources. Just send a small team to track where he settles."
Asuma's eyes widened, "Old man, are you really not going to act? That's a Jinchūriki!"
Hiruzen waved his hand, "I have my reasons."
With that, he walked into the Hokage building and climbed to the top-floor platform.
Looking at the Hokage rock faces destroyed by Mizuki, Hiruzen sighed.
"Don't blame me. This is all I can do now."
After a moment, he descended — not to the temporary office, but toward the ninjutsu scroll storage room.
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After Mizuki flew out of Konohagakure, he didn't descend. He continued flying at maximum speed. Carrying Konohamaru slowed him slightly, but he still reached 250 kilometers per hour.
He was in a hurry!
The chakra consumption was significant — 0.01 ka per second, or 0.6 ka per minute. The Super Food Pills gave him a recovery rate of 0.3 ka per minute, but it couldn't keep up.
The net consumption was 0.3 ka per minute. With his current total of 14.5 ka, he could fly continuously for about fifty minutes, covering over 200 kilometers.
He could also refine chakra while flying. The Super Chakra Refinement Method worked a hundred times faster than ordinary methods. It could sustain the consumption completely.
This way, he could fly all the way to the Land of Waves. The straight-line distance of over 500 kilometers would take just over two hours.
"According to the timeline, the bridge should already be completed. Team 7 might already be heading back."
He flew while checking the roads below. He couldn't afford to miss them.
"Sasuke should be easy to handle. Just reveal the truth about Itachi's clan massacre, and he'll defect immediately. The troublesome one is Naruto."
The way the villagers treated him — those soul-piercing stares would make even adults tremble, let alone a child.
Yet Naruto endured it all. He, who should have turned dark, never did.
Simply inhuman!
He even used his talk-no-jutsu to convince Pain to perform the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, becoming Konoha's savior. Then he convinced Obito to give up being the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, becoming the ninja world's savior.
One word: Impressive, right?
Mizuki felt uncertain.
"It's not impossible, though. In the first episode of the original story, Naruto nearly turned dark under Mizuki's verbal provocation. If not for Iruka's words, the story might have gone differently."
Now, because of his arrival, that plot where Iruka resolved the darkness in Naruto's heart never happened. In other words, the darkness still lurked in his heart — it just hadn't been triggered yet.
Thinking of this, Mizuki smiled.
"If even this doesn't work, I'll just kidnap him directly. Take him back and brainwash him slowly. I don't believe I can't sway him."
As for Sakura, Mizuki barely considered her. Her parents were alive. Unless Hiruzen killed them, she wouldn't defect.
"Maybe I could set something up later… Forget it, I don't want to become the second Danzo. One less Sakura doesn't matter."
The most important ones were Naruto and Sasuke. Both had S-Rank Talents and the highest comprehensive return multipliers. Everyone else could be left behind, but these two had to be taken — no matter what.
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Two hours passed in a blink. Mizuki was already close to the eastern coast of the Land of Fire.
But along the entire route, there was no sign of Team 7.
"What's going on? Did they take a detour?"
When Mizuki reached the coast and saw the great bridge still unfinished in the distance, he felt puzzled.
"When I left the Land of Waves, the bridge only had three days of work left. It's already the fourth day — how is it still not finished?"
He continued flying forward. Upon reaching the Land of Waves, he discovered massive battle traces below that hadn't been there before. The forest had been destroyed on a large scale, and some islands had even sunk.
Compared to this, the destruction from Orochimaru and the ANBU's earlier battle looked like child's play.
"What happened here?" Mizuki's eyes widened. He couldn't make sense of it.
Could a battle between Kakashi and Zabuza cause this level of destruction? Had the Nine-Tails escaped from its seal?
"Naruto and Sasuke, please don't let anything have happened to you!" A bad premonition rising in his chest, he accelerated toward Tazuna's house.
After knocking on the door, Tazuna's daughter Tsunami opened it.
"Mizuki-san, why are you here?"
Mizuki asked urgently, "How are Naruto and the others? Are they all right?"
Tsunami said, "Everyone's here, but Kakashi and Sasuke are injured."
"What happened in the Land of Waves these past few days? Why are there signs of destruction everywhere?"
The people inside recognized Mizuki's voice.
Naruto immediately came out to greet him, "Mizuki-sensei, it's great that you're here!"
Tsunami stepped aside, inviting Mizuki in.
Just then, Sakura's voice rang out, "Naruto, get back!"
She pulled out a kunai, her eyes fixed on Mizuki, full of vigilance.
Naruto, confused, asked, "Hey, Sakura, what are you doing? Don't you recognize Mizuki-sensei?"
Sakura snapped, "Idiot, look at his forehead protector!"
"Forehead protector? What about it?" Naruto stared at Mizuki's forehead protector, puzzled, "Huh, there's an extra scratch mark. That seems… familiar!"
Sakura said, "Dummy, have you already forgotten about Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki who came this morning? Didn't you notice their forehead protectors?"
Naruto's eyes narrowed. The way he looked at Mizuki changed instantly — utterly shocked, bewildered, unable to believe…
"Mizuki-sensei, you… you've become… a Missing-nin?"
The words came out with difficulty. Becoming a Missing-nin meant Mizuki had betrayed Konoha. From now on, he and Konoha were enemies.
Mizuki nodded, "That's right. I've already betrayed Konoha. I'm no longer a ninja of the village."
"Why?"
The "why" from Naruto's mouth was always profound, easily evoking guilt — as if one had done something wrong.
Mizuki said, "Konoha can't tolerate me. The Third wanted to kill me, so I had no choice but to leave."
Naruto immediately shook his head, "The Third Hokage isn't that kind of person. There must be some misunderstanding. I'll go back to the village right now and ask him to clear things up."
He ran toward the door.
Mizuki grabbed him, "It's useless, and there's no time. I came here today to take you and Sasuke away."
Naruto was stunned, "What do you mean? Take me and Sasuke away?"
Sakura shouted, "No way! Sasuke-kun would never become a missing-nin."
The commotion downstairs drew the attention of those upstairs.
Kakashi and Sasuke came down, both looking sickly.
"Mizuki, why are you here? You…" Kakashi stopped mid-sentence when he saw Mizuki's forehead protector. The rest of his words wouldn't come out.
Sasuke saw it too, but his reaction was the smallest. Whether Mizuki was a missing-nin didn't matter to him.
Mizuki said again, "I came here today to take Naruto and Sasuke with me."
"No, absolutely not!" Kakashi refused immediately, "Mizuki, I don't know what happened to you, but your conflict with the Third shouldn't involve Naruto. Besides, you know how important he is. If you take him away, Konoha will hunt you to the ends of the earth."
Mizuki looked at Kakashi and suddenly smiled.
"Kakashi! Can you really bear to watch your teacher's son suffer endless scorn in Konoha, being pointed at wherever he goes? Can you really bear to watch the hero's son suffer unjust treatment, right up until the day he dies in battle for Konoha? Can you really bear to watch him be cursed by the villagers even after death, having those inhumane words 'Son of the Demon Fox' carved on his tombstone?"
The barrage of questions left Kakashi silent.
He looked at Naruto, his eyes full of conflict and reluctance. The smiling faces of Minato and Kushina floated through his mind.
Looking at himself, he saw only coldness, heartlessness, and indifference.
"Mizuki-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, what are you talking about? What hero's son? I don't understand!"
Naruto was sharp. From Mizuki's brief words, he'd already guessed his background wasn't what the villagers claimed.
Mizuki sighed, "Naruto, it's time to tell you about your origins — about your parents' identities."
"Mizuki, you can't…"
"Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi wanted to stop Mizuki, but Naruto had already stepped in front of him, his eyes full of longing and determination.
"Kakashi-sensei, I, Naruto Uzumaki, have the right to know who my parents are!"
Kakashi opened his mouth, but ultimately responded with silence.
"Naruto, your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki. She was a princess of the Uzumaki clan from the now-destroyed Land of Whirlpools, and she was also the previous Nine-Tails Jinchūriki of Konoha. Your father's name was Minato Namikaze. He was the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure — the hero who sacrificed his own life to save the village."
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