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After questioning Tazuna, Naruto obtained the information he wanted. Tazuna wasn't entirely clear on the exact number of bridges around Konoha, but he knew of 13, with the rest being small bridges he'd never even heard of.
This was enough. Naruto didn't believe he was so unlucky that he couldn't pick the right one with such high odds! After bidding farewell to Tazuna, Naruto returned to the Land of Snow to carry out his plan.
He created 26 Shadow Clones, dividing them into pairs. Each pair transformed into ordinary passersby and searched for bridges according to the information Tazuna provided. If he weren't afraid of making their target too obvious, Naruto would have even made them transform into Akatsuki members.
Haruna's arrival time was different from the original plot, but Naruto believed her teammates would still choose the original location for the hostage exchange with Konoha. Shinobi don't choose locations as casually as Naruto decides where to set up a fishing pond. Their choices are meticulously made, allowing for both attack and retreat, and capable of cutting off enemy reinforcements. Such places are not easy to find.
What Naruto needed to do was ambush them in the vicinity before they chose a location, and before they sent a message to Konoha, infiltrate the crowd, and then go berserk. The main body remained in the Land of Snow, overseeing the entire situation, but grew bored and created a teleportation portal to leave.
Among the three who made the bet in the team: Sakura was tailing Kakashi and Haruna, Sasuke was poring over documents, and Naruto... he was surfing on a wooden board on the sea. With a teleportation portal, he could be as reckless as he liked, going wherever he pleased.
Meanwhile, the shadow clones working in teams encountered some trouble. In the forest, a clone wearing an iron helmet stared at the map, utterly confused: "Hey, stop singing and come here to figure out which way to go?"
As mentioned before, Naruto has no sense of direction, and neither do his clones. Let alone in the forests around Konoha, even if you threw these clones into a clearly marked crossroads and had them spin around, they still wouldn't be able to tell north from south.
Another clone stopped singing and disdainfully said, "Iron Pillar, I told you to stop always thinking about acting; you need to use your brain more, okay?" The dramatic clone wearing the helmet had acquired a resounding name after creating the giant lightning rod: Uzumaki Creation Iron Pillar, but it was shortened to Uzumaki Iron Pillar because it sounded better.
As for who the singing clone was, everyone can probably guess. He was Uzumaki Naruko, referred to as 'he' because he was transformed into a male singer today.
Uzumaki Iron Pillar asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Naruko didn't say much. He took out wire, a fish tank, and water from his inventory. He rubbed the wire on his hair a few times, then placed it on a leaf and put it in the water. A simple compass was complete.
Uzumaki Iron Pillar suddenly understood, and with a sinister expression, he leaned into Naruko's ear and whispered, "Be a good person in your next life." Then, he stabbed him to death.
Other shadow clones, upon receiving the message of Naruko's dissipation, began to follow suit, making simple compasses. Naruto then created another shadow clone to cooperate with Iron Pillar. The new clone remained silent, probably afraid of being stabbed.
The clones traveled quickly. After half a day of travel, they basically reached their respective targets and found an open area to monitor. Naruto's main body, meanwhile, sat on a deserted island he found after surfing all afternoon, wrapping the top half of the Kubikiribocho he had obtained earlier in cloth. Only the upper part of the blade was real; the lower part was a counterfeit he made, and he wrapped it in cloth for fear of being recognized. This was also Naruto's plan: to transform into someone else to attack, caution ensuring no major mistakes. This way, if discovered, he could shift the blame to someone else. After ruling out a large number of powerful shinobi, Naruto decided to transform into Zabuza. Since he had half of the Kubikiribocho, counterfeiting it and cosplaying as Zabuza was the best choice.
I even have the Kubikiribocho, so don't you think I'm Zabuza?
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Before nightfall, Naruto and the pig-feeding shadow clone performed the Body Flicker Technique (teleportation). This involved a chaotic series of shadow clones and teleportation portals, ultimately bringing him back to Konoha.
Leaving a few shadow clones behind, Naruto took Tonton, whose belly was now distended, to the meeting point to find Sakura and Sasuke. The two had been waiting for a while. As soon as Naruto arrived, Sakura began to recount her afternoon's discoveries: "I still stand by my opinion: she likes Kakashi-sensei. Today, I pretended to deliver flowers to them..."
Sakura talked at length, while Sasuke pulled out a few sheets of paper and handed them to each of them: "These are the documents."
Taking the documents, Naruto began, "I also spent the afternoon analyzing the spy. Since she's a spy, she must find a way to transmit information back to her village. So, there are the following methods..." Naruto's analysis style was online again, and a bunch of disorganized analyses left the two of them confused.
Naruto was just making things up. He was destined to lose this little self-directed and self-acted bet, but he was willing to. Losing a small bet to ensure Kakashi's happiness for life was worth it!
After the two were as confused as they could possibly be, Naruto used a clone to send Sakura to the Hokage building, and then took Sasuke back to the small forest.
Around 8 PM, the clones monitoring the 13 bridges finally discovered something abnormal. The ones who found the anomaly were still Uzumaki Iron Pillar's group. Perhaps he had been in contact with Tenten, absorbing her luck, and somehow managed to pick the one-thirteenth chance.
Iron Pillar patted the clone next to him: "Sector A, Marker 1, 50 degrees right, distance 513." He then spat out some saliva and added, "Wind direction right to left, five centimeters per second... see if that's right."
On the bridge, several people were discussing something, seemingly undecided whether to make the trade with Konoha there. They never expected to be ambushed; no one would have imagined an ambush. The location was chosen temporarily; even they weren't sure where it would be beforehand. Moreover, this place wasn't close to Konoha and wasn't within Konoha's patrol range. They never dreamed that Naruto had sent clones to ambush them a long time ago.
"Probably, I saw one of them wearing a straw hat," another shadow clone said. Naruto still remembered the old man with the straw hat who led Haruna's team in the original story. The moon was cooperative tonight; even from this distance, they could vaguely see people.
Iron Pillar pushed his helmet, his face grim: "Then summon the main body." Just as he was about to make a move, a kunai was held to his neck.
"Before, I didn't have a choice. Now, I just want to be a good person."
Uzumaki Iron Pillar was dumbfounded: "It's you, Naru..."
Naruto, who was training in the forest, pinched his temples. His head ached. Why were the clones playing Infernal Affairs with each other?
"Sasuke, that's enough for tonight. I'll go back and study the documents you gave me."
"Mm."
After showering and washing off the scent, Naruto sent Sasuke home. During the trip home, he used another Body Flicker to teleport himself near the bridge. On the other side, Iron Pillar, who had been stabbed to death and then reformed, gnashed his teeth while studying the documents at home.
Naruto, transformed into Zabuza, infiltrated the crowd. Beside him was Naruko, transformed into Haku. Naruto knew there might be the prisoner meant for exchange with Konoha among the people below, but it was too dark to distinguish anyone. He could only silently wish them good luck and fate.
Because he couldn't tell who was who, Naruto decided to adopt the Russian rescue method. The Russian rescue method roughly means:
Bandit:Â Don't shoot, I have hostages.
Police:Â Sniper, in position.
Bang goes the gunshot.
Police:Â Now he has no hostages. Everyone charge!
"Who's there!" A young man in the crowd discovered movement behind him and shouted. Naruto, whose infiltration was clearly subpar, jumped down from the tree and lowered his voice: "It's me, the Great Lord!" Since he'd been discovered, he could only switch to a different infiltration method.
"It's you!!" The young man exclaimed in terror. Naruto was confused. What's with that expression? Were you beaten by Zabuza?
"It's you again!?" The old man wearing the straw hat also exclaimed in terror. What, you too? Were you also beaten by Zabuza?
Since there's a connection, Zabuza, you can take the blame for me.
I spare your life, you take the blame for me. All things considered, you're the one who profits.