“Gahaha! See ya, bitches!”
A thin man with a vicious smirk on his face could be seen running away from a group of shinobi from Kusagakure. He had a huge scar across his face and wore the Otogakure headband. A single woman was laying over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Instead of fear, however, an annoyed expression could be seen on her face.
“Catch that bastard! He is stealing our living med-kit.”
“Gahaha, come at me, bitches! [Water Style: Ascend of the Heaven Devouring Serpent]!”
A massive serpent formed out of the nearby river water and shot towards the chasing Kusa shinobi. They were shocked by the enormous ninjutsu that was suddenly being shot at them and barely had time to prepare their defense. Seeing the people who followed him being washed away by his jutsu, the man’s laughter grew even more boisterous.
“BWAHAHAHA, TAKE THAT!!! OROCHIMARU-SAMA WILL HAVE MUCH BETTER USE FOR THIS WOMAN THAN YOU IMBECILES!!!”
After running away for another hour and finally reaching the border to the Land of Fire, the man stopped moving and allowed the woman he was carrying to stand on her own feet. Before the woman could say anything, the man gestured to her to be quiet for now, and moments later the man’s fingers lit up with chakra and he started to draw seals into the air.
The woman was dumbfounded by the man’s mastery over seals but didn’t say anything for now. She didn’t want to break his concentration after all.
After he was done drawing seals, the array he had drawn around them lit up and then simply vanished into thin air.
The man gave a satisfied nod and then, with a puff of smoke, turned into a young woman with red-blue hair and whiskers on her face.
“Yo, you must be Karin’s mother, Natsuko Uzumaki. I’m Yuna Uzumaki, nice to meet you.”
Karin’s mother, Natsuko, was stunned by that sudden transformation and the realization that such a young girl had just created such a complex sealing array. What stunned her even more, however, was that the young girl, Yuna, did not only know the first name of her and her daughter but even their last name. The shock quickly subsided however, when she heard that Yuna was also an Uzumaki.
‘I see, that is why I felt so secure despite being kidnapped. She is an Uzumaki as well and even seemed to know my daughter. Considering the age of the girl in front of me, they probably met during the chunin exam, but after seeing the power of that jutsu I am not too certain about that.’
“May I know why you have kidnapped me like this?”
“Haha, of course. First of all, no need to speak politely. Second of all, although this has absolutely nothing to do with you or your daughter, a person that was called Karin, no last name, was kidnapped by Orochimaru during the chunin exam. And third, I meet a girl called Karin Uzumaki with quite a powerful sensing ability. It seems like she didn’t like the place where she was living, so I offered her shelter inside Konoha. She insisted that I fetch her mother as well, so I did.
Her mother was apparently living in a forest not far away from Konoha and was definitely not inside the Land of Grass, so I went and fetched her as well. I think you understand what I mean, right?”
Natsuko was rather dumbfounded after hearing that outrageous story. Accepting a shinobi from a different nation inside a hidden village is no casual matter. Although Yuna’s story made it sound like she has been in the Land of Fire for a long time, is it really that easy?
“Is that really okay? Won’t the Hokage become suspicious?”
Yuna, however, only laughed at that.
“Don’t worry about it. I will just combine it with a bunch of even more outrageous stories. He will simply overread that I smuggled someone into Konoha when he reads what I have prepared for him. Oh, before I forget, in case he asks, I picked you up during a bandit subjugation mission near the Land of Tea.”
“…The Land of Tea is literally on the other side of the Land of Fire.”
“Haha, I know. That is why I picked that mission. No way I can kidnap someone from inside the Land of Grass when I am supposed to be near the Land of Tea after all.”
“…right.”
“Anyway, let’s get going. I left a trail behind so people could follow me properly. We need to reach the Land of Sound before I have the trail vanish and then return to the Land of Fire through the Land of Hot Water to make the whole situation even more confusing for the people following us.”
Natsuko had, naturally, no idea how to even answer that. Yuna clearly had everything planned out, but for some reason, Natsuko still felt like she was making everything up on the go. Considering Yuna actually managed to kidnap her out of Kusagakure without anybody noticing until she was already close to the border, she decided to simply trust Yuna for now.
‘At least she is an Uzumaki. My sensing ability might not be as powerful as Karin’s, but I can at least tell that the person in front of me radiates a very reliable aura. For now, I have no reason to doubt her… I guess?’
Meanwhile, inside the Hokage’s office, Naruto was standing in front of Hiruzen with an annoyed expression.
“You are joking, right, old man?”
“Not at all, Naruto. Ebisu is a well-known private teacher for the elite. I am sure he can help you improve your strength. Usually, it would be Kakashi’s job to train you, but he decided to put more time into Sasuke and got a good private teacher for you, instead.”
Before Naruto could answer, the bespectacled person standing next to him stepped forward while adjusting his glasses.
“That’s right, Hokage-sama. I have read through all the reports about Naruto. As far as I can see, he only relies on his instincts while fighting. I am sure that a proper fighting style will significantly increase his strength.”
Naruto rolled his eyes at that.
“Nee-san already tried to teach me a few different styles but said that stuff like that doesn’t fit me.”
“Haha, I am sure I am a better judge of that than a little girl.”
A frown appeared on Naruto’s face, while the temperature in the room immediately dropped a little. Hiruzen could see an image of Ebisu being sent flying through his window, so he quickly intervened.
“*Cough* Let’s not talk about that for now. How about you just give Ebisu a chance, Naruto? If it doesn’t work out, we can still think of something else.”
Although Naruto was clearly annoyed, he decided to simply nod his head for now.
‘What a waste of time. Guess I will just ditch him as soon as things get too annoying. I don’t think he can teach me anything nee-san hasn’t already taught me.’
A while later, Naruto and Ebisu arrived at their training location. One of Konoha’s outdoor baths… As soon as they arrived, Naruto gave Ebisu a suspicious look. Although Ebisu noticed Naruto’s stare, he decided to ignore it.
“*Cough* Let’s test out your basics first. Although Kakashi-san told me that the control you have over your chakra is good, I at least want to confirm this with my own eyes. Show me how well you can walk on warm water and we will see where to go from there.”
Naruto rolled his eyes after hearing about such an easy exercise. He, immediately, jumped towards the pool of hot water and safely landed on the water like it was solid ground.
Ebisu’s eyebrow twitched a little when he saw how effortlessly Naruto landed on the water.
‘Kakashi-san…couldn’t you have been a little more specific? When you said “good”, I assumed you meant “good for someone with such a massive chakra pool”. He landed on the water without even disturbing it, isn’t his chakra control better than my own? You’re making me look like an idiot, Kakashi-san.’
He was just about to attempt to wiggle his way out of the situation when he noticed that Naruto was glaring at something behind him. He turned around and immediately noticed that someone was peeking at the women’s bath.
Without a moment of hesitation, he charges at the peeper.
“I will not forgive such shameless behavior!”
Unfortunately for him, a huge frog appeared under the voyeur and slapped Ebizu away with its tongue, knocking him out instantly.
“Geez, keep quiet. What if I am found out?”
Naruto, meanwhile, could only shake his head. He walked over to Ebisu and gave him a few nudges with his foot, before shaking his head again.
‘I knew he was weak, but he actually got knocked out in one hit, huh.’
Naruto noticed that the man who just knocked out his supposed teacher merrily continued to peek.
“Oi, old pervert, although he was pretty useless, he was still supposed to teach me something, so take responsibility for knocking him out, will ya?”
The peeper only glanced at Naruto, before shooing him away.
“Get lost kid, I have no interest in brats.”
“I see, then you leave me no choice, I guess.”
“Hehe, what can a brat like you do against me, Jiraiya on the Sannin, do y…”
“[Henge no Jutsu]”
Naruto transformed into a young girl, which caused Jiraiya to tilt his head in confusion.
“What is that supposed to do? I have no interest in little…”
Naruto, however, ignored him and took a deep breath.
“KYA!!! A PERVERT IS PEEKING IN OUR BATH!!!”
Jiraiya’s face immediately turned chalk-white.
‘This damn brat actually ratted me out! I need to get out of here!’
Jiraiya bent his legs and was about to jump away from the flock of women that were currently changing at him when something suddenly pulled on one of his feet and caused him to stagger a little. Jiraiya looked at his feet and noticed that a chakra string was attached to it that led to the still transformed Naruto.
Before he could even start cursing, the first woman reached him and started to attack him with a water bucket. The last thing Jiraiya saw before the whole flock descended on him was Naruto transforming back and making a praying gesture with his hands.
Jiraiya’s last thought before losing consciousness was: “That brat is a demon.”
