Staring at the dense rainfall outside the cave, Naruto fiddled with the mask in his hand, contemplating how to infiltrate Konoha without being detected.
He had already spent half a month traveling with Tsunade, so he didn't have much time left now. However, if all he needed were some secret documents in Konoha, it shouldn't be too difficult.
After all, information on dissociative identity disorder is not very popular, and it might be lying in some obscure corner of a library gathering dust. However, if it is a top secret, even the most unpopular information would be carefully hidden away.
In order to avoid causing any trouble for himself, Naruto knew he'd have to disguise himself before entering Konoha. Although he usually took on Sasuke's appearance to shoulder the bad karma, it is obviously not appropriate now.
So he decided to create a new persona, Menma.
Anyway, the 'Road to Ninja' is unlikely to appear, and he will not give Obito the opportunity to activate the Limited Tsukuyomi. Anyway, no one would know, so he could just change his appearance, don a mask, and proceed with his mission.
As the rain finally began to subside, Naruto put on the mask and silently thought about his next plan.
When the rain stopped, Naruto didn't hesitate. He stepped out of the cave and continued on his way.
After traveling for some time, he gradually come closer to Konoha. Carefully avoiding the many patrols in Konoha's forest, he noted that tensions between Konoha and the surrounding great countries were high.
With all sides at odds over resources, the atmosphere was tense, like a powder keg ready to explode.
If he charged in recklessly, it would undoubtedly alert Konoha's forces, which might bring unnecessary trouble to his mission. This was something Naruto didn't want, so he chose to bide his time, lying low in the forest outside Konoha.
This part of the Konoha's forest was still quite far from the village itself. Naruto concealed his presence, ensuring that no one could detect him.
He watched silently as teams of Genin and Chunin passed by. The most recent time, he saw a female Chunin passing by without even glancing in his direction.
Naruto continued to wait. This was one of the few roads that led back to Konoha. In this time of war, it wasn't uncommon for Shinobi to return injured.
A day passed, and Naruto occasionally left his spot to scavenge for food before returning to his hiding place to wait. Another day went by, but he still found no suitable opportunities.
Although he had been squatting for two days without finding the right opportunity, he accidentally discovered the corpse of a Jonin when he was choosing a new location to hide.
The body had long since decomposed to a skeleton, leaving only a nearly corroded green flak jacket and a forehead protector.
In this day and age, Jonin weren't as rare as they once were. To Konoha, Shinobi were merely consumables. Although the flak jacket marked this guy as a Jonin, his true abilities might have been that of a Chunin.
After briefly sighing at the sight, Naruto lost interest in examining the skeleton and moved on to find a new place to wait.
Strangely enough, after two days without spotting any injured Shinobi, luck finally struck after discovering the skeleton.
A heavily wounded Chunin suddenly crashed through the forest, covered in blood. Naruto waited quietly for ten minutes. After making sure that no one else was nearby, he stealthily approached the Chunin.
The Chunin was a 15 or 16-year-old man with an ordinary appearance. He was seriously injured and his entire body was soaked in blood. It seemed he knew his end was near as he weakly murmured for help.
Through his blurred vision, he spotted Naruto's figure, and his desire to survive suddenly exploded. Though he was on the brink of death, he somehow managed to open his eyes wide, grabbing onto Naruto's clothes with a grip like a vice.
The boy's hand clamped down on Naruto's collar, staining it with blood, his eyes bulging with fear.
"Save me!!" He gasped.
The instinct to survive unleashed tremendous potential within him. Facing death, the Chunin clung to the faintest glimmer of hope. Even though he didn't know the identity of the strange masked man in front of him, he wanted to survive.
Looking at the young man with blood all over his face, exuding the desire to survive with 'I can't die' written on his face, Naruto's kind-hearted nature suddenly emerged. He looked at the young man, sighed and said, "You are too badly injured, and there is nothing I can do to save you. If you want to live, there is only one way left. But I don't know if you can accept it. If you can't accept it, what should I do?"
"I'll do it!!" The boy, using his last burst of energy, didn't hesitate for a second.
"Alright then, young man, do you believe in the Jashin?" Naruto asked cryptically.
After about thirty seconds, a mechanical chime from the system rang in Naruto's head. A panel popped up, and a row of red fonts appeared in the mission panel.
[Violation: This follower is invalid. Upon host's return in time, the subject will be erased.]
Seeing this, Naruto grinned slightly.
He didn't care whether the follower was valid or not, as long as it worked for now. Once he was done and left, even if the number of follower didn't count, at least this Chunin would survive.
Of course, Naruto wasn't some kind of saint.
He only saved this Chunin because he needed his identity to sneak into Konoha. Watching the boy's wounds gradually heal, Naruto swiftly tossed him into the seal space.
Next, following his memory, Naruto found the Jonin's skeletal remains buried under some leaves. Without hesitation, he performed the Impure World Reincarnation to resurrect the Jonin.
Without saying a word, he sucked the resurrected Jonin into the seal space, and then threw both the healed Chunin and the resurrected jonin into the empty Jashin's Altar.
While he hadn't brought much with him when crossing through time, fortunately, both the seal space and the Jashin's Altar were still functional.
The Chunin, who had just barely escaped death and was now fully recovered, was still disoriented. Before he could grasp the situation, he found himself on the Jashin's Altar, and panic set in.
What frightened him even more was the sudden appearance of a reanimated corpse that fell from the sky and, to his horror, began to move.
The Chunin habitually touched his lower back and was shocked to find that his kunai was gone. Just as he was stunned, a figure wearing a mask appeared above the Jashin's Altar.
Without a word, the masked man immediately beat the boy within an inch of his life. Just when the boy thought he would die, he realized with shock that his wounds were healing again.
Looking up, he saw the mysterious masked man was staring at him.
"Who... who are you?" The boy stammered, his throat dry and his voice trembling.
"You don't need to know that. What you need to do now is tell me everything about yourself." Naruto drew his sword and coldly demanded, "Family members, friends, teachers, classmates, the person you like, your enemies… everything! Every detail, no omissions."
" Otherwise... you'll find out what it truly means to live a life worse than death."
"You! What are you planning to do!" The scrambled backward, knowing full well he was no match for the masked man. "What do you want to do to Konoha?"
"I won't let you learn anything!"
"Heh, your resolve is impressive." Naruto sneered, twirling his blade as he slowly approached the Chunin, "Trust me, you will speak."
"Without me, you would've been dead already."