IDKjust
patreon
Chapter 107n
🕑 Added 2025-07-23 17:30:38 +0000 UTCChapter 107n
2-in-1-chapter
-----------------
"If the journey goes smoothly, tomorrow we shouldn’t have to eat in the wild anymore."
Akimichi Chōza was holding a rice bowl at least a size larger than everyone else’s—almost as big as half a cooking pot.
If it weren’t for Naruto being too young and unable to keep up the travel pace, they would have already reached the front lines by now. The mobility of shinobi was simply extraordinary. To be precise, it wasn’t just shinobi—anyone who had refined chakra and infused it into their limbs, even if they couldn’t perform refined operations like walking on trees or water, would instinctively be able to move faster when traveling.
"Tomorrow?"
Naruto’s eyes lit up.
Would he see Fujika tomorrow? He had so many thoughts bottled up, eager to pour them out.
As for possibly going to the battlefield—
He didn’t really understand, so he didn’t care much.
Unconsciously, Kakashi, having finished his dinner, left the fireside and slipped into the nearby forest. He drew his short katana, the blade shining coldly like snow under the moonlight, and ghosted up behind a wandering ninja without a forehead protector. The blade flashed silently, a spray of crimson spattering across the tree trunk, as the lifeless body slumped onto the tree, motionless.
This was only the beginning.
Kakashi became a grim reaper incarnate, ruthlessly reaping the lives of these greedy, reckless fools. They had been hired to ambush and abduct Naruto at night, but because they had received the mission through an underground broker, they didn’t even know who their employer was.
After fruitless interrogation,
Kakashi completely unleashed his killing intent.
These small-time attackers didn’t even have time to throw a single explosive tag before being slaughtered. It wasn’t just Kakashi at work—Uchiha Shisui, cold and efficient, had killed even more than Kakashi. Before long, Akimichi Chōza and Guy’s shadow clones also arrived at the scene of the massacre.
"Shisui, Kakashi, any findings?"
Akimichi Chōza kicked aside a body at his feet, scanning it up and down, but saw no distinctive markings.
"The same as before, we still don’t know who’s behind this."
Shisui answered quietly.
This was already the seventh ambush in two days. Ever since Naruto left the village, the attacks hadn’t ceased. The elite ANBU teams hiding in the shadows had suffered heavy casualties and were now unable to continue their escort duties. Even now, they hadn’t uncovered the mastermind’s true identity.
"It’s either Kumo-nin or Iwa-nin."
Aburame Shibi was present in person.
Their clan’s insect-rearing techniques couldn’t coexist with shadow clones; the insects would consume chakra and destabilize the clone, causing it to collapse even without being attacked.
"The likelihood of Kumo-nin is higher—they’re the most aggressive."
He added.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Some things needed no proof: of the few villages bold enough to target Konoha’s Nine-Tail's Jinchūriki, Suna was still recovering, and Kirigakure’s spies in the Land of Fire had already been purged several times.
That left only Kumo and Iwa.
They had both the ability to trace Naruto’s route and the resources to hire wandering ninja to launch attacks—and even slip skilled fighters among them. Otherwise, ANBU would not have suffered such severe losses; Konoha’s ANBU hadn’t weakened to the point of being overwhelmed by common mercenaries.
"Just one more night to endure. Before we departed, the Hokage sent word to the Uchiha clan head—our reinforcements will arrive tomorrow morning."
Akimichi Chōza encouraged everyone.
Though, truthfully, this was unnecessary.
Other than Naruto, even the youngest present, Uchiha Shisui, was a veteran of the Third Shinobi World War and a renowned fighter. No one here would be frightened by this level of threat.
"Chōza-senpai, don’t worry! Kakashi and I will definitely protect Naruto."
Guy said, pounding his chest energetically.
Then he glanced at Kakashi and added, "Right, Kakashi?"
"...I will protect Naruto with my life." Kakashi couldn’t be bothered with Guy’s periodic outbursts of hot-blooded enthusiasm, but this time he wasn’t wrong. After losing so many precious people, he no longer wanted to lose anyone else.
...............................................
.............................
.
"Another failure."
"Isn’t that to be expected? Even without the Hyūga’s Byakugan or the Yamanaka’s mind-reading techniques, just with that insect-using Aburame clan head present is enough for them not to be ambushed. If it were so easy to succeed, we’d have to suspect it was a trap."
"But time is running out! If Konoha sends reinforcements from the front lines, we’ll lose our chance completely."
Far from the corpse-littered forest, atop a hill,
A group of Kumo-nin gathered.
Aburame Shibi’s speculation was correct—the attackers were indeed Kumo-nin, specifically spies embedded in Konoha and the Land of Fire. Upon learning that the Nine-Tail's Jinchūriki had left the village, they had acted without waiting for orders from the Raikage.
"Still, we can’t act recklessly."
The speaker was a large man, hair graying, face weathered by wind and frost. Clenching his fists, he spoke with firm resolve: "It’s difficult for us alone to deal with the protectors of the Nine-Tail's Jinchūriki. A rash move will only bring unnecessary losses. Until reinforcements from the village arrive, no one is to act."
"What if reinforcements arrive too late?"
Asked a younger subordinate.
"Then that means it wasn’t the right time to capture the Nine-Tail's Jinchūriki. We’ll wait for the next opportunity. Don’t be greedy and think you can achieve everything in one step—you’ll get yourselves killed. If you die, that’s one thing, but wasting the village’s investment in you—that’s the real crime."
The graying man scolded his subordinates coldly.
The reprimanded younger shinobi shrank back, silent. Once the group quieted, the man waved his hand, signaling everyone to return to their posts.
When he was finally alone,
The man’s face revealed deep fatigue. He didn’t know whether his decision was right. He had mobilized nearly all of Kumo’s assets within the Land of Fire and Konoha itself just to capture the Nine-Tail's Jinchūriki. If this operation failed...
He shook his head, forcing himself not to think about it.
A battle might not even break out. If reinforcements from Kumogakure didn’t arrive in time, they would have to retreat without fighting. But if Kumogakure’s reinforcements did arrive on time, then they would have far more confidence in completing their mission.
..................................................
................
.
Black Tide Mountain Castle.
Rēn flipped through the documents he had already read several times, clicking his tongue in admiration. His grandfather really was something else—he had somehow convinced the Fifth Hokage's acting leader to send the Nine-Tail's Jinchūriki to the front lines. Wasn’t this the same old man who always disliked that brat hanging around Fujika? Had he changed his ways?
Yagura sat across from Rēn, holding a pure white shogi piece, waiting for Rēn to make a move.
But no matter how long he waited, Uchiha Rēn didn’t move.
“Clan head Uchiha, are we still playing this game?”
Yagura was angry.
Who just stops playing halfway through?
“What’s the rush? There’s no time limit on this game.” Rēn put the sheet of paper back, picked up a shogi piece, and pondered where to place it. “By the way, Mizukage-sama, are you ready? If nothing unexpected happens, we’ll act today.”
“...Today?”
Yagura furrowed his brow.
“Action today? Why don’t I know anything about this?”
“Didn’t I tell you?”
Rēn placed his piece and looked at Yagura in surprise.
Suppressing the urge to curse, Yagura’s expression shifted several times before he finally held back the words “Like hell you did!” forcing a polite smile instead. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Oh! Then I must have made a mistake. I thought I already told you, Mizukage-sama. My mistake, I sincerely apologize.” Rēn smiled without any sincerity. “But it doesn’t really matter. You don’t have much baggage anyway, just travel light.”
Yagura’s face twitched, but he continued to endure.
Under another’s roof, one must bow their head.
These past few days, he had tried several times to draw on the Three-Tails power, but found he couldn’t at all. The Three-Tails had become like a stone—not only was its power inaccessible, but the beast itself made no response. No matter how much Yagura struggled in the sealing space, the Three-Tails remained motionless.
This gave him a clear understanding of how terrifying the Uchiha clan truly was.
Though the Three-Tails was still sealed inside him,
In reality, it was no longer his, and no longer belonged to Kirigakure either.
“Since we’re moving today, that means our Kirigakure command center has been located?” Yagura held his temper as he placed his piece and asked about the operation. He didn’t have much to pack, but he did need to mentally prepare. He had been thinking about how to most efficiently declare Kirigakure’s defeat, and then announce the alliance with Konoha to pursue the mysterious figure, to all Kirigakure shinobi.
“Of course it’s confirmed. If it wasn’t, how could we use a decapitation tactic?”
Just as Uchiha Obito had manipulated Yagura to decapitate the command of the Eastern Border Defense Corps, Rēn also intended to use the same tactic to end this war.
“When exactly are we moving today?”
As he spoke,
Yagura lifted his gaze beyond the eaves to the sky, a vast sea of clouds. It was around nine or ten in the morning. Judging by Rēn’s relaxed attitude as he played shogi, it likely wasn’t immediate. After lunch? In the evening? Surely not at night?
“Depends on the situation. We’ll leave when the person we’re waiting for arrives.” Rēn gave an unexpected answer.
“Waiting for someone?”
Yagura raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over the stack of documents beside Rēn. “Waiting for your village’s Nine-Tail’s Jinchūriki? Just a single Jinchūriki... is it really worth your time?” He meant it sincerely. He himself was a Jinchūriki, yet even the beast inside him had already fallen under Uchiha control.
One more or one less Jinchūriki shouldn’t matter to Rēn at all.
“Letting the kid see the world. It’s not every day you get to witness a scene like this. If he misses this chance, who knows when the next one will come. And for a Jinchūriki! It’s not a bad thing to see what a battlefield is like early on.”
Rēn said with a smile.
He didn’t really care why the village had decided to send the Nine-Tail's Jinchūriki to him. Now that he had the child in his hands, he would handle things his own way. Frankly speaking, he wasn’t that interested in the Nine-Tails itself—at least for now, the tailed beasts were of little use to him.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left the Three-Tails inside Yagura. Wouldn’t it be better to extract it and use it as a “summoned beast” or a “battery”?
But lack of interest in the Nine-Tails didn’t mean lack of interest in Naruto.
He quite liked this sharp and perceptive Naruto. As for the vague and elusive Asura Chakra, he had a bit of interest, but not much. His greater focus was on Naruto himself.
He wanted to see,
If Naruto could maintain his childhood cleverness as he grew up, what kind of person would he become in the future?
Would he, under the influence of Asura Chakra, still turn out to be that eternally cheerful, sunny boy who almost didn’t seem normal?
Or—
Was Asura Chakra not so great after all, and Naruto would walk a completely different path?
“Training the next generation, huh?”
Yagura clenched the shogi piece in his hand, filled with envy and jealousy.
This was Konoha! A village of successive generations passing on their will. And when he looked at his own Kirigakure... internal strife had nearly bled them dry. Fortunately, among the young people there were still some promising ones—Hōzuki Mangetsu, Terumī Mei, Momochi Zabuza, Hoshigaki Kisame, Ringo Ameyuri. As long as this group of young shinobi could grow steadily, maybe Kirigakure’s future could still hold some hope?
Comments
ZeroLink21
All the people he named are dead or rebelled won't they lol tftc
