When Naruto woke up early in the morning, the prison was already buzzing with noise. Even before the yard time began, the prisoners were already shouting about killing 'that arrogant Konoha's brat'.
Unless a full-scale riot broke out, the warden, Mui, wouldn't personally step in to suppress it. The jailers didn't dare provoke Naruto, so they took their frustrations out on the other prisoners instead.
Knock, knock, knock!
The wall of the neighboring cell was tapped.
Naruto was washing his face at the sink. Shaking the water off his hands, he walked over to the door. He couldn't see Ryuzetsu's expression from his side, but a hand stretched out and waved, as if signaling something.
Almost instinctively, he reached out and pinched it.
"Ah…!" The hand instantly jerked back, accompanied by a faint sound of anger, "What are you doing!"
"Nothing, you stuck your hand out just to let me pinch you, didn't you? Did I misunderstand?" Naruto asked doubtfully, "Then I'll shout a few times and ask the jailers to come and ask."
"You…!" Ryuzetsu hated nothing more than drawing unnecessary attention, and it seemed like this guy knew it, deliberately provoking her.
Last night, his mention of the word 'secret' had kept her awake almost the entire night. Combined with the already terrible prison conditions, she had barely gotten any rest.
Which was exactly why she hadn't reacted in time this morning when her hand got pinched.
'I should chop off that damn hand of his!' Ryuzetsu seethed internally, cursing Naruto three hundred times in her mind before forcing herself to calm down.
"Why are you calling me so early?" Naruto faced the iron bars, hands on his hips.
"Aren't you worried? Yard time's about to start. The jailers won't interfere too much unless someone dies." Ryuzetsu gritted her teeth as she spoke.
"Worried? Of course I am. There are so many of them. Once things get chaotic, it's easy to get caught in the mess… one extra punch, one stray kick, and things could go bad." Naruto nodded thoughtfully, brows furrowed.
Hearing this, Ryuzetsu secretly let out a sigh of relief, 'So he still has some sense left. He's not completely insane.'
"After yard time, the prison becomes dangerous. Those with ill intentions usually gang up to seek revenge. So after this, you should be careful..."
"Mhm, mhm. So the ones who group up are the ones looking for a fight, right?"
"Uh… you could say that. But if things go too far, the overseers will step in and punish everyone." Ryuzetsu explained. She had some understanding of this prison.
Before accepting this mission, the Anbu had provided her with some intel on the facility.
"This prison holds high-profile criminals from various villages. Unlike ordinary Shinobi, they fight dirty and without restraint." Ryuzetsu reminded.
"Got it. Thanks." Naruto nodded like he already understood. He thought to himself, 'This makes things easier. I could just go find those who stick together and fight them.'
Their thoughts were completely misaligned, yet somehow, the conversation flowed without a hitch. Though their understanding was totally different, both of them felt oddly reassured.
Finally, yard time arrived. The clanging of cell doors opening echoed through the corridors. Naruto cracked his neck and strode out confidently. Ryuzetsu crossed her arms, watching his back for a moment before looking away.
'Idiot. A complete, brainless idiot. In a place as dangerous as this prison, keeping a low profile was the only way to survive. Yet here he was, swaggering around like he owned the place.'
Speaking of walking, the more Ryuzetsu looked at the way Naruto walked, the more she felt like he deserved a beating.
'Does no one on the street ever feel like kicking him a couple of times?'
Suddenly, the other person seemed to stop again, turning around and walking back in her direction. Ryuzetsu froze, staring dumbfounded at Naruto's swaggering, cocky demeanor, and for a moment, she really wanted to just go back to her cell.
He stopped right in front of her.
"What's wrong?" She asked, slightly nervous.
"Nothing much. It's just… there's something I've been holding in all night, and I don't know if I should say it." Naruto said, looking conflicted.
"What? What is it?" Ryuzetsu was on edge, after all, Naruto never followed common sense, "Wh-what do you want to say?"
"I just want to say…!"
"Your disguise as a guy is really terrible!!! Just binding your chest only works on NPCs, you know? At least wrap your bone structure properly if you want to fool the audience!"
"Huh?" Ryuzetsu was dumbfounded, her mind blank.
Naruto, on the other hand, looked incredibly satisfied, finally getting that complain off his chest, 'So refreshing!'
He'd wanted to say it ever since he first saw her as an audience member, 'Did she think people were stupid?'
'If you're going to cross-dress as a guy, at least put some effort into it! At the very least, make it as convincing as the disguises in Detective Conan! Just wrapping your chest? Anyone could tell you were a girl from eight hundred miles away!'
'Come on! Male and female skeletons are completely different! This isn't some cheap 12-episode seasonal anime where the beach episode is mandatory by Episode 7. A long-running series like this should at least put in some effort!'
Ryuzetsu didn't understand a single word. By the time she snapped out of her daze, Naruto was already long gone.
On the exercise yard.
Naruto didn't even glance around as he charged straight into the largest group of prisoners. Even without Chakra, relying purely on his physical strength, he was like a normal person compared to someone like Baki the Grappler… no, more like Raoh from Fist of the North Star compared to these Shinobi.
Six years ago, he could already handle the same training regimen as Lee. The only reason he stopped was that he couldn't learn the Eight Gates!
From then until now, Naruto had achieved everything through his own efforts. System! Activate!
Normally, a Jinchuriki losing their Chakra would be like a bird with broken wings. But there were always freaks like B or Naruto himself who trained both body and mind.
Though compared to B, Naruto had one extra advantage… his system. Even if he lazed around, slept all day, or slacked off, the System never failed him. Day after day, it tempered his body.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Every single one of you here is trash!"
"What?! It's this guy! Brothers, beat him up!"
"Come at me all at once, you worthless scum!" Naruto was practically begging for it. A hot breath escaped his lips as his fist clenched in an instant, and with a single punch, he unleashed a visible shockwave.
Boom!
Like thunder striking the earth, in his heightened excitement, he sent seven or eight prisoners flying with one punch. Then, like an enraged bull, he rampaged across the exercise yard, crashing into anyone in his path.
"Is this guy insane?!"
"Who does he think he is?! Let's teach him a lesson! All together!"
"Get him!"
"Kill him!"
"Bring it on!" Naruto's eyes gleamed with a red light, like a monkey that had just broken free from its mountain, thrilled by the hunt, "Come at me! Your fighting power's weaker than an old man's!"
"What?! You're way too arrogant!"
Naruto stomped the ground, and with a deafening crack, massive fissures spread across the exercise yard, shocking everyone who saw it. The sheer force of his kick sent a shockwave that instantly sobered up most of the death row inmates.
They were just looking for some fun, not to rot away in boredom in this prison… but they definitely weren't trying to get sent straight to the afterlife.
Given the choice between dying now or dying of old age later, anyone with half a brain would pick the latter.
The ones who remained standing at the front, who are too prideful to back down, hesitated.
Naruto grinned and dashed forward, his fist moving so fast it tore through the air with a sonic boom. With a single strike, a dozen men went flying like ragdolls, crashing to the ground with heavy thuds.
He wasn't interested in killing anyone. First, it wasn't his business. Second, who knew who among them was actually a decent person? Playing judge, jury, and executioner was a slippery slope… best not to invite karma's backlash.
After running circles around the yard and making sure no one was left standing, Naruto finally relaxed his fists. Standing tall in the center, he smirked mockingly, like an uncrowned king.
From a distance, Ryuzetsu watched in stunned silence. She was starting to wonder if this guy was even affected by the prison's Heavenly Prison Seal, 'How was he acting like nothing was restraining him? Was he really not using Chakra?'
'No… no way! A normal person couldn't possibly do something like this without Chakra. Just relying on pure physical strength was way too absurd!
'Punching multiple people into the air, creating sonic booms with his fists… was that even humanly possible? Even for a Taijutsu specialist, this was beyond comprehension. He's too terrifying.'
While Ryuzetsu was still lost in her thoughts, the prison warden, Mui, slowly entered the yard with his men.