Kakashi doesn't have his Sharingan yet…
That means the war hasn't started yet. Obito hasn't turned to the dark side. Rin is still alive…
From the state of Kakashi's eye, one could deduce many things, or at least establish a timeline. The war hadn't begun, but the seeds had been sown. That was why the old schemer, the Third Hokage, had dispatched Minato Namikaze to destroy the Ryumyaku in the Land of Rōran.
Under the pretext of pursuing the rogue ninja Mukade, he had quietly infiltrated Rōran, avoiding contact with Queen Sara, and waited for an opportunity to strike. In the end, he succeeded in sealing the Ryumyaku. The land lost its energy, turning into a barren wasteland, and was eventually buried by sandstorms, becoming just another desert region within the Land of Wind.
Although the Land of Rōran was ostensibly an independent small country, in reality, it was merely a vassal state to the Land of Wind. Without the prosperous Rōran as a logistical granary for war, Sunagakure's war potential was greatly diminished, leading to a war that devastated its people and ultimately ended in defeat.
Of course, Uchiha Nagi, a man persecuted by the Third Hokage and now suffering from paranoia, might have been imagining all of this. Perhaps the Third Hokage wasn't so evil, and Minato Namikaze truly wasn't here to destroy the Land of Rōran.
Meanwhile, the little blondie, Naruto, had stumbled upon a festival in Rōran. The entire city had gathered to celebrate the bountiful harvest. But what was chilling was that the expressions on many of the commoners' faces were extremely stiff, as if their smiles were forcibly plastered on.
If someone with a Byakugan were to scan the crowd, they would discover that a large portion of them were human puppets, the kind made by Sasori of the Red Sand. These puppets, controlled by countless chakra threads, were mixed into the crowd, pretending to be civilians.
Today was the enthronement ceremony of Princess Sara; she was to become the queen of Rōran and was standing on a high platform to receive blessings.
As the princess stood on the high platform, accepting the blessings and cheers of her people, a hand suddenly pushed her from the tower. Just as she was about to fall to her death, Naruto leaped up in a few bounds, caught her in a princess carry, and saved her.
But the little blondie's hands weren't so well-behaved. As he held her, his hands touched a place they shouldn't have.
SMACK! SMACK!
Princess Sara glared at him, and Naruto clutched his face, aggrieved. He hadn't even known what he was doing! He hadn't even had time to enjoy the feeling before it was over, and getting slapped twice for it was a raw deal.
"You… I saved you, and you hit me!"
"Hmph, pervert! Where were your hands just now…?"
"…"
Naruto clutched his face, feeling utterly wronged. Fortunately, the girl wasn't unreasonable. After hitting Naruto, she came to her senses and realized that he had saved her.
Princess Sara turned away, lowered her head, and said in a small voice, "Just now… thank you for saving me."
Naruto, forgetting the pain in his face, said magnanimously, "It's nothing, it's nothing! What's your name? I'm Uzumaki Naruto. By the way, how did you suddenly fall from up there? And that stone platform was so flimsy. What a coincidence that it all shattered…"
Sara frowned and said in a low voice, "I don't know. It felt like someone pushed me from behind, and then I took two steps forward, and the stone platform just happened to break. Could it be a coincidence?"
"It's no coincidence. It's an assassination attempt. Someone wants to kill you!"
As the voice finished speaking, three Konoha ninja appeared before Naruto and Sara. It was the elite three-man squad from Konoha, led by the tall blondie, Minato Namikaze. Beside him was a burly man, stout yet strong—clearly from the Akimichi clan. The other was completely wrapped up, wearing sunglasses, confirming he was from the Aburame clan.
One for speed, one for reconnaissance, one for offense. And the first two were incredibly versatile ninja. What was this team for? Kakashi Hatake had another mission and wasn't here.
"Huh, it's you guys? You're all Konoha ninja, too! What are you doing here?" Naruto let his guard down upon seeing people from his own village. The attire of the Aburame and Akimichi clans was too easy to recognize, mask or no mask.
"Our mission is to protect Sara and to pursue a fugitive who escaped six years ago. If I'm not mistaken, it's Mukade, who came here through a time-travel jutsu." Minato then began to explain that Mukade had absorbed the Ryumyaku and its sealing formula into his body. Once Mukade was defeated, Naruto could return to his own time.
Just then, a voice dripping with sarcasm cut in.
"How hypocritical. I never thought Minato Namikaze, with his righteous appearance, could be so deceitful, even lying to his own people."
"Who's there?!" Naruto exclaimed, whipping his head around to see Uchiha Nagi emerging from a corner with a sneer.
Nagi was here for one reason: to tear off Konoha's hypocritical mask in front of Naruto. To hell with the Will of Fire. Let Naruto be blackened.
"It's you! Why do you keep bad-mouthing Konoha? Who are you, really?" Naruto asked warily.
"What they dare not say, I will. A mission to protect Sara? Who issued it? Sara's mother has been dead for a long time. It was the Third Hokage, wasn't it?" Uchiha Nagi smiled and turned to Sara.
"Do you know why the Third Hokage of Konoha sent elite ninja from so far away to protect you?"
Princess Sara shook her head blankly.
"Because, as has been passed down for generations in Rōran, only those of your royal bloodline can sever the Ryumyaku. Once the Ryumyaku is severed, it can be destroyed. So the Third Hokage sent Minato Namikaze, who knows sealing jutsu. If he couldn't destroy it, he would seal it. But he didn't expect that fellow Mukade to have spent six years linking the Ryumyaku's energy source to his own body, right?"
Minato remained silent, but Naruto was completely lost.
"But don't we need to cut off the Ryumyaku to capture Mukade? Otherwise, his chakra will be endless, and we won't be able to beat him," Naruto said.
"Fool. The Third Hokage's real goal is to destroy the Land of Rōran by destroying the Ryumyaku," Uchiha Nagi sneered.
"Ah, what…?"
"That's impossible…"
Naruto and Sara stared at Uchiha Nagi in disbelief, then turned to look at Minato.
Minato had already taken out his three-pronged kunai, and the two ninja behind him had also assumed combat stances.
"Who are you? A rogue ninja from the future Uchiha clan?" Minato said gravely.
"What, you don't want me to continue? Naruto, before you traveled here, the Land of Rōran was already in ruins, a barren desert, right? That's the result of the Ryumyaku being sealed or destroyed." Uchiha Nagi didn't flinch, drawing his Nichirin Blade as well. He had had enough of the twenty years of fear and anxiety he had lived through in Konoha. He wanted to vent, to let out a breath of stale air. He would spare no effort in revealing Konoha's dark side to Naruto.
"And in the time I came from, Rōran is also a wasteland. All I can say is, the Third Hokage's plan succeeded. The Ryumyaku was sealed or destroyed, and the Land of Rōran was ruined, hahahaha!"
"Impossible! Why would Grandpa Third do that?" Naruto stared at Minato, dumbfounded, hoping to get the truth from him.
"Because of war, you foolish child. The Land of Rōran is located in the desert of the Land of Wind. Although it's an independent small country, thanks to the power of the Ryumyaku, its land is fertile and its yields are abundant. It's the Land of Wind's largest source of grain imports. Once Rōran is destroyed, the Land of Wind's war potential will be greatly weakened in the future, right? Hahahaha!" Uchiha Nagi laughed wildly.
"This… this…" Naruto's small brain couldn't yet comprehend the dark side of Konoha. He didn't know how to process this information and was at a complete loss.
"You… you're all bad people! I won't let you destroy the Land of Rōran! Never!" Sara stumbled backward in terror and ran away. Clearly, Uchiha Nagi's words had filled her with a profound fear, making her distrust anyone wearing a Konoha headband.
"Sara!" Naruto shouted.
"Naruto, you go protect Sara first," Minato called out.
Naruto looked at the two tense groups, then decided to ignore them. Protecting Sara was more important.
"That's right, Naruto, you have to protect Sara. If she dies, the Ryumyaku can't be severed, you know? And then you won't be able to destroy Rōran…" Uchiha Nagi added with a cheerful smile, not forgetting to twist the knife.
As Naruto chased after Sara, he shot a furious glare at Nagi.
Nagi just smiled. The little blondie's angry face was quite cute. Heh…
"But the tall blondie isn't so cute…" Uchiha Nagi's expression turned solemn as he turned back to Minato.
"I don't know why your future self hates Konoha so much. Are you a rogue ninja?" Minato held his three-pronged kunai, ready for battle. He didn't know what effect killing someone from the future would have on history, but—
An enemy was an enemy. Especially an Uchiha who harbored hatred for Konoha.
"Rogue ninja? What kind do you mean? Does a ninja who was lucky enough to escape after the Third Hokage annihilated his clan count as a rogue ninja?" Uchiha Nagi smiled, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. He couldn't afford to be careless with the tall blondie's speed; he had to face him with his strongest dynamic vision.
"Annihilated? The Third Hokage annihilated the Uchiha clan? How is that possible? And your eyes are… the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Minato said in shock.
"Want to know more? I can tell you. But do you dare to listen? You don't even dare to get too close to Naruto, because you've probably already guessed who he is, haven't you?" Uchiha Nagi sneered.
Naruto, the protagonist of one of Jiraiya's inspirational novels. Minato was a loyal fan of his sensei's work. Even more unbelievably, when he and Kushina were dating, he had said that if they had a son in the future, they should name him after the protagonist of his sensei's book: Naruto.
So, when he saw this blond-haired kid wearing a Konoha headband and named Naruto, he was shocked. He had felt a faint, inexplicable sense of familiarity. That was why, after leaving, he had secretly stayed behind to protect Naruto, to see if Uchiha Nagi would try to kill him.
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