Konohagakure.
Uchiha Food Street.
The entrance gate had already been upgraded to an automated system.
Everyone could enter by swiping a card.
Students from the Ninja Academy could get a 20% discount by showing their student ID.
Nearby, tourist shuttles were circulating, dropping off passengers, many of them were students from the Ninja Academy.
Beep... Student ID.
Beep... Student ID.
Naruto and Sasuke walked side by side into the food street.
Far behind them trailed a few Anbu in casual clothing.
There was no choice, Uchiha Food Street did not allow anyone to enter while hiding their appearance.
After all, you couldn't exactly follow them around in full Anbu gear.
Thus, the Anbu had all changed into plain clothes.
Beep...
The constant beeping sound let people enter in an orderly fashion.
Once past the large entrance gate, there was a neat row of food shops.
Anyone who had never entered before would definitely be dazzled by all the signs and neon lights.
Fortunately, every so often there were signboards guiding visitors, ensuring no delicacy would be missed.
Naruto and Sasuke were currently lining up at a stinky tofu shop.
This particular snack was especially popular among the street food options.
Naruto and Sasuke were now 11 years old and would graduate from the Ninja Academy in a year.
Naruto remained cheerful, but because he was hiding things in his heart, he was no longer as loud-mouthed as before.
His golden hair draped down, gradually starting to resemble Minato Namikaze.
Sasuke's once-round face had become sharp and well-defined. Having never experienced the Uchiha Massacre, he didn't have that dark, brooding air, just the pride typical of a clan heir.
Naruto had gradually become aware that he was constantly under surveillance.
Over the years, he had gotten used to the presence of the Anbu. Although their personnel would rotate regularly, every time he entered the food street, it would always be the same group following him inside.
Gradually, he figured out who these people were.
Naruto had been training extremely hard over these years, determined to achieve excellent results before Uchiha Natsuki returned.
Every day, Naruto would go to Sasuke's place, create shadow clones, and train until evening. When his clones dispelled and he returned, he would fall asleep exhausted.
By now, he could skillfully use the Multi Shadow Clone Technique and the A-rank jutsu Rasengan.
Sasuke, after awakening his Sharingan over a year ago, had also been rapidly improving in all aspects. Not long ago, he even learned the A-rank jutsu Chidori.
The two of them were already ranked first and second in their class at the Ninja Academy, but neither of them had revealed that they knew techniques of such high rank.
Even so, they had left the third and fourth places far behind.
However, the two still lacked real combat experience.
Because of the unique nature of Naruto's shadow clones, his growth rate was incredibly fast. He was starting to feel confident that he could steadily defeat Sasuke.
Only the last time he beat Sasuke, Sasuke seemed to become a completely different person, furiously training himself, refusing even to go out to eat.
Naruto was somewhat frightened by Sasuke's obsession, so in their subsequent sparring sessions, Naruto quietly held back. But Sasuke didn't know this.
In their match yesterday, Sasuke had won by a "slight" advantage. Today, since it was a day off, the two came to the food street to relax.
After lining up for a while, they finally bought their beloved stinky tofu.
"Sasuke, when do you think Natsuki-senpai will come back? Ahh.."
Naruto was forking up a piece of black stinky tofu drenched in red chili oil and coriander, stuffing it into his mouth while mumbling.
"I don't know. Teacher Natsuki's been gone for years now. He did say he'd be back before we graduate."
"We've only got a year left. I guess it'll be soon."
Sasuke responded while cutting his tofu into pieces with his fork and soaking them in the sauce.
The two of them walked and ate, the strong aroma of their stinky tofu wafting through the air.
Behind them, two Anbu who liked the smell walked a bit closer, while the other two who disliked it stayed farther back.
Their vigilance wasn't particularly high, after all, over the years, Naruto had become more mature, no longer causing mischief in school or running around making trouble.
Most of the time, he stuck with Sasuke, making it easy for the Anbu to monitor him.
However, none of them realized, in the nearby flower bed, a figure had blended in with the greenery, staring intently at the two boys...
---
Uchiha Clan Forest Border.
As space twisted, a spiral vortex formed.
Obito, wearing his whirlpool mask, appeared here.
"Interesting… so this is the new Uchiha clan district?"
The moment he emerged from the vortex, Obito sensed a wave of chakra sweep over his body.
"A barrier just like Konoha's?"
Obito quickly sensed a team heading in his direction to investigate.
He wondered if any of them had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
While he was thinking this...
He didn't notice that far behind him, a ninja cat was hanging from a tree, quietly observing him.
After matching Obito's outfit and mask to existing intelligence, the ninja cat immediately leaped from the tree.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Three enormous signal flares shot into the sky behind Obito.
The fireworks exploded into bright red, the three flares forming what looked like a massive red cloud hanging in the sky.
Obito raised his head in surprise.
"The Uchiha are this vigilant?"
After launching the flares, the ninja cat vanished with a poof.
Obito sensed the fluctuation and spun around sharply.
There was a summoning technique's transmission ripple, but nothing was left there.
Wave after wave of chakra scanned Obito's body.
Obito chuckled. "Looks like they really think highly of me."
Just as he was about to slip into his Kamui space to escape...
A white light spread out from the Uchiha clan grounds, instantly expanding to the forest's edge.
Obito was enveloped in it.
His expression changed!
Time-Sealing Barrier!
How could the Uchiha have a Time-Sealing Barrier!?
This was a large-scale sealing formation capable of completely blocking space-time techniques like teleportation.
Obito had investigated methods to counter Kamui long ago.
The most famous among them was precisely the Time-Sealing Barrier. But very few people could use this formation nowadays.
Moreover, the barrier had a major flaw, it couldn't last long.
Obito tried to open his Kamui space, a vortex twisted mid-air for a moment before dispersing.
The pitch-black sealing technique on the ground spread from far away, and Obito completely lost his connection to Kamui space.
Looks like they were well-prepared. Clearly, last time's intel leak had been too severe.
Obito's face turned gloomy, another trap.
Given the size of this barrier, it probably wouldn't last more than five minutes.
As Obito lamented how wealthy the Uchiha were, he began moving to the side. As long as he could wait out the time, he could escape.
But waves of barrier detection chakra kept sweeping over him.
Wherever he ran, they would find him.
Obito gave up running. His face darkened.
Even without Kamui, you still can't kill me.
When the Time-Sealing Barrier is lifted, he could leave anytime he wanted.