Chapter 33: Are You Going to Lock Me Up?
"Are you going to lock me up?" Naruto asked coldly.
Hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his hand, wanting to ruffle Naruto's hair.
But Naruto stepped back and dodged it directly. The old man's hand froze awkwardly in mid-air.
After withdrawing his hand, Hiruzen sighed inwardly and put on a kind smile again.
"No, it's not like that. It's just a temporary place for you to lie low and avoid the storm. Once Grandpa resolves the matter, I'll let you out. By then, no one will speak badly about you anymore."
"Trust Grandpa, okay? Grandpa will never harm you."
The Third Hokage spoke with sincere, heartfelt words that he genuinely believed were for Naruto's own good.
Yet they only drew a cold laugh from Naruto.
"Trust you? You won't harm me?"
This sarcastic remark made the Third's heart skip a beat.
Naruto continued, "You're the Hokage, right? Since I was a child, I've been cursed and ostracized by the villagers. Do you dare say none of that happened with your tacit approval?"
"As Hokage, all it would have taken was one order from you to free me from that situation. So what did you do instead?"
"You sent people to monitor me and watched my suffering with indifference. That's what you call 'for my own good'?"
"And now you want me to trust you? Isn't that a bit ridiculous? My dear Hokage!"
Naruto's barrage of sharp questions left the Third momentarily speechless, his breathing slightly faltering.
Only now did he realize that Naruto had already seen through everything long ago.
Especially that last phrase — "My dear Hokage" — which sounded particularly刺耳 to the Third.
He wanted to explain something, but when he met Naruto's cold, indifferent eyes, the words died in his throat.
That gaze made the boy in front of him feel incredibly unfamiliar.
So unfamiliar that it sent a chill through his heart.
He had thought that through his frequent visits over the years, he had built a grandfather-grandson bond with Naruto.
But today, all of that seemed laughably naive.
[Sigh… Danzo has ruined me!] At this point, the Third could only sigh bitterly in his heart.
But once he had made up his mind, it was hard to change. Today, he still had to take Naruto away.
If he allowed Naruto to move freely, it would be mutually destructive — both for Naruto and for the civilians of Konoha.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. I'll give you an explanation for the past later, but today, you must come with Grandpa."
"So, the soft approach didn't work, and now you're going hard?" Naruto's eyes turned completely cold.
He would never hand his fate over to anyone else.
Not Danzo, and certainly not the Third.
The Third's eyes showed exhaustion, as if he had aged even more.
"Take action," he ordered with a helpless tone, closing his eyes.
Outside the house, four Anbu formed a square formation, completely surrounding Naruto's residence.
The four of them rapidly formed hand seals in perfect sync.
Four Red Yang Formation!
As the Anbu completed their seals, a crimson barrier began to enclose the area where Naruto was.
Through Transparent World, Naruto had already seen everything.
The instant the barrier started forming, right under the Third's gaze, Naruto vanished into thin air!
"Wha—what?!" the Third cried out in shock.
Even as the Professor of Ninjutsu, he couldn't react in time.
After a long moment, the Third spoke with a mix of deep astonishment and bitterness:
"Flying Thunder God… In just one month, he has already trained it to this level. What a terrifying talent…"
Naruto's move had completely caught the Third off guard.
Even the brilliant Minato had trained for several years before successfully mastering Flying Thunder God.
The Third simply couldn't understand how Naruto had managed to learn it. After obtaining the Scroll of Seals, there had been no sign that he was practicing it at all.
When exactly had he learned it? And how?
And not only had he learned it — the way he had instantly used Flying Thunder God gave the Third the feeling that Naruto's proficiency was already on par with Minato at his peak.
This heaven-defying talent completely shattered the Third's understanding.
"Minato… just what kind of child did you leave behind…"
After his astonishment came deep worry.
A jinchuriki who could use Flying Thunder God and held no goodwill toward Konoha…
"How should we handle this?"
The Third now deeply regretted his decisions. What on earth had he been doing all these years?!
Why had he listened to Danzo's suggestions? There had already been precedents. He truly had been foolish…
On the Hokage Rock, Naruto appeared out of thin air and landed lightly, stepping onto the carving of Hiruzen Sarutobi.
At the landing point was a string of tadpole-like marks — the Flying Thunder God formula he had secretly carved there earlier.
The Flying Thunder God seal could be placed on any object or even living beings, and it would not fade with time.
He had quietly carved hundreds of such seals all over Konoha during this period, precisely for moments like this.
Although he had guessed that Flying Thunder God could probably escape the Four Red Yang Formation, he didn't want to take the risk.
Why fight head-on when you can move like a dragon?
On the Third's side, the Four Red Yang Formation had been fully deployed.
Nearly a hundred elite Anbu had surrounded Naruto's house completely.
Among them were many who specialized in sealing techniques.
The Third slowly walked out the door. The worry in his eyes was almost overflowing.
On the Hokage Rock, the night wind blew, making Naruto's clothes flutter.
"I've endured for so long. It's time to make a move."
"By the way, how many floors does one bag of rice need to be carried?"
His murmured words drifted away with the wind.
He spread his arms, as if embracing freedom.
His body relaxed, and he leaped straight down from the hundred-meter-high Hokage Rock.
Even the suffocating sensation of freefall felt beautiful.
When he was a few meters from the ground, a massive surge of Wind Release chakra erupted.
Naruto floated in mid-air as if weightless.
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails watched Naruto show off like this and twitched the corner of its mouth.
Both Mind's Eye of the Kagura and Transparent World were activated at the same time. Naruto began searching from the outer edges of Konoha inward.
He had two targets this time.
Go to Root, kill that old bastard Danzo, and collect Hashirama cells!
Root was hidden dozens of meters underground beneath Konoha, so his sensing was mainly focused underground.
On the way, a group of people wearing black mourning clothes blocked his path.
Naruto's attention was on Mind's Eye of the Kagura, so he didn't pay them much mind.
But a sharp voice pulled his gaze over.
In the center of the group, a woman with her hair tied up, wearing the black clothes of a widow, glared at him with eyes full of hatred. Her index finger trembled slightly as she pointed at Naruto.
"Demon fox!! You still want to come out and harm people! I'll kill you… I'll kill you… Pay with your life for my husband!"
The woman's eyes were bloodshot. She pulled out the hairpin from her hair, letting her long black hair fall loose.
Gripping the hairpin, she looked like a madwoman as she screamed and charged at Naruto.
The overwhelming malice was so strong that even without Kurama's warning, Naruto could feel it.
It seemed this widow really loved her husband.
Unlike the female leads in certain widow-themed movies.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. He instantly activated the First Form and turned into a streak of cyan light that flashed through the crowd.
In a single instant, he crossed dozens of meters.
Including the widow, more than ten people on the street were all sent flying, collapsing in a heap.
Blood leaked from their mouths. Their condition was unknown.
The widow's eyes were wide open, her neck twisted at a grotesque angle, yet she still gripped the hairpin tightly.
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