Chapter 23: Mizuki Comes Knocking
As school was about to end, Iruka stood on the podium, looking at the now-empty seats below with eyes full of emotion and reluctance.
After a long moment, he finally spoke slowly.
"Everyone, all good things must come to an end. I hope you all live well from now on. That's it — class dismissed!"
When Naruto walked out of the classroom, Iruka was still standing in the corridor, leaning against the wall and watching every student leave.
When their eyes met, Iruka's gaze was filled with complicated emotions.
"Naruto, in your eyes… I must have been a really terrible teacher, right?" Iruka's voice was full of loss.
To his surprise, Naruto slowly shook his head.
"You're a good teacher. It's just that your methods don't suit me."
Watching Naruto's departing back, Iruka gave a helpless smile. "Don't suit you, huh…"
But Naruto's answer just now made him feel a little relieved. At least he wasn't completely useless.
After leaving the academy, Naruto walked along the street on his way home.
As he turned a corner, a voice called out from behind him.
"Naruto, wait."
Naruto didn't turn around, but the corner of his mouth curved upward.
As expected, Mizuki had still come looking for him.
Unfortunately, the moment he targeted Naruto, his fate was destined to be even worse than in the original story.
Seeing that Naruto didn't turn back, Mizuki quickly caught up and blocked his path.
He first glanced around cautiously to make sure no one was paying attention, then lowered his voice.
"Naruto, do you want to become stronger? I have a way for you to become strong very quickly. Just nod, and I'll tell you right now!"
Naruto deliberately put on a curious and eager expression. "What's the method?"
Seeing Naruto take the bait, Mizuki revealed a fleeting, scheming glint in his eyes.
"I know a place that contains a scroll recording countless powerful ninjutsu. As long as you get it and learn the powerful techniques inside, you'll definitely become a strong shinobi in no time!"
"Then, you'll be able to do whatever you want, and no one will be able to stop you!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow, pretending to be shocked. "Oh? There's actually something like that? Then why don't you go get it yourself, Mizuki-sensei?"
Mizuki was momentarily stunned by the question, but he quickly recovered.
Of course, he wouldn't tell Naruto that stealing the Scroll of Seals was extremely dangerous. He made up an excuse instead.
"That scroll is called the Scroll of Seals. As a teacher, I'm not allowed to learn from it. But you're different, Naruto. You're so smart — you should understand what I mean, right?"
Naruto put on an expression of sudden realization.
Their entire conversation was overheard by Kakashi and the other two Anbu watching from the shadows.
Poor Mizuki thought he was on the third level, but in this chess game, he was actually at the very bottom.
"Mizuki-sensei, then hurry up and tell me — where is the Scroll of Seals hidden?" Naruto pressed.
Seeing Naruto's interest, Mizuki smiled with satisfaction. "It's hidden in…"
After getting the location of the Scroll of Seals from Mizuki, Naruto first returned home.
Kakashi and the other two Anbu did not stop him the entire time.
Afterward, Yamanaka I went to the Hokage Building to report the matter.
After learning about the situation, he returned to his post.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe and murmured to himself, "So, Naruto… what will you choose?"
At the same time, the Third Hokage was weighing the pros and cons in his mind — whether or not he should move the Scroll of Seals.
Given Naruto's displayed talent and mindset, would letting him obtain the Scroll of Seals be good or bad for Konoha?
This was the habitual way of thinking Hiruzen had developed after becoming Hokage.
Whenever he faced a decision, he would always weigh the benefits and drawbacks and choose what he believed was best for Konoha.
That night, Naruto lay on the sofa, thinking about how he should live his life from now on.
At that moment, there was a knock at the door.
He activated Transparent World. Standing outside were Hinata, Sasuke, and the others.
When Naruto opened the door, Sakura, who was standing at the back, avoided his gaze and looked elsewhere.
Ino cheered, "Naruto, we're planning a graduation party! You always have good ideas — where do you think we should go?"
Naruto thought for a moment and suggested a place.
...
Half an hour later, the group arrived at Konoha's largest hot spring bathhouse.
In his previous life, he had heard that the hot springs in the Land of Sakura had all kinds of interesting varieties, but he never had the chance to try them. Now was the perfect opportunity.
Seeing that Naruto had brought them to a bathhouse, the three girls blushed slightly as they thought of something.
As they entered the hall, there were quite a few middle-aged men and mature women wearing bathrobes.
The bathrobes had very loose collars — no wonder Jiraiya always came to hot springs when he wanted to gather material.
Naruto's arrival unsurprisingly attracted many gazes.
At the front desk stood a seductive, mature woman with a very alluring appearance.
The moment she saw Naruto, she was visibly startled.
Then she put on a charming smile.
That smile made Naruto feel very uncomfortable.
The group of nine booked two private hot spring rooms — one for the boys and one for the girls.
On the way to the private rooms, Kurama's low voice sounded in Naruto's mind.
"Naruto, that woman who smiled at you earlier — her malice toward you is even stronger than her ridiculously large chest."
Naruto's footsteps paused. He turned his head to look behind him.
Sure enough, that woman was still watching him. When she saw Naruto turn around, the venom in her eyes disappeared in an instant, replaced by that same smile.
"Naruto, what's wrong?" Shikamaru asked when he saw Naruto stop.
"Nothing. Let's go."
Once Naruto and the others had disappeared from sight, the woman at the front desk called over a male staff member.
She whispered a few words in his ear. The male staff member nodded and quickly ran off.
Naruto's group first changed into bathrobes, then followed the room numbers to their private bath.
However, a young girl in a white uniform stopped them at the door.
"I'm sorry, this room is still being cleaned. Please wait a moment."
The group had no choice but to stand in the corridor and wait.
Naruto felt increasingly suspicious. He no longer cared that they were in a bathhouse. His eyes flashed as he activated Transparent World and looked inside the private room.
There were indeed people inside, but they weren't cleaning.
Instead, they were tearing open several packets and pouring the powder from them into different parts of the hot spring pool.
Seeing this scene, Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly.
Combined with the woman's strange behavior earlier and the massive malice Kurama had mentioned…
Naruto didn't believe this was some kind of complimentary medicinal bath.
A moment later, the male staff member came out and bowed deeply to the group.
"I'm truly sorry. You may enter now."
Shikamaru and the others didn't suspect anything and walked straight into the private hot spring room.
As soon as they entered, a wave of hot steam hit them. The private bath was filled with thick mist.
Kiba moved the fastest. The moment he stepped inside, he was about to do a flying dog dive, wanting to do a comfortable dog-paddle in the hot spring.
However, while he was still in mid-air, Naruto grabbed his ankle and yanked him back, causing him to fall onto the floor.
After letting out a yelp, Kiba bared his canine teeth and growled at Naruto in confusion, "Naruto! What are you doing?! If you wanted to jump in first, just say so!"
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