Naruto didn't wait for their tempers to cool. Nope. The second that frying pan was raised, he did the only thing a sane person in his position could do—he ran. And not just a casual jog either. He bolted as if his life depended on it. Because, well... it absolutely did.
"This is not how I pictured my graduation day," Naruto muttered under his breath, leaping across the rooftops of Konoha.
Vision, floating beside him like some smug guardian angel, chuckled as another chakra chain whipped past Naruto's shoulder, tearing a tile clean off a rooftop.
"You should've seen your face!" Vision laughed, transparent and utterly unhelpful as Naruto ducked another chain.
Naruto shot him a look that could curdle milk. "It was a joke!" he yelled over the wind, twisting in mid-air as a fireball nearly singed the back of his pants. "A harmless, sexy-jutsu-laced joke!"
From behind him, the voice of doom rang out.
"That wasn't funny at all, young man!" Mikoto Uchiha's voice, usually the epitome of grace and warmth, now sounded like the wrath of a disappointed deity. She appeared in front of him in a burst of speed, eyes narrowed. "Now come along and accept your punishment like a man."
Naruto's boots scraped against the clay tiles as he skidded to a halt. His eyes widened—she was fast.
"Nope!" he muttered, rebounding backward with an acrobatic flip, just narrowly avoiding Mikoto's outstretched hand.
He admired and respected Mikoto—he really did. She was one of the few people in the village who treated him like an actual human being. Over the past two years, she'd been more of a mother to him than his own had been.
They first met by chance, two years ago, at a small ramen stand. Mikoto had brought the Uchiha orphans out for dinner, a rare moment of brightness for those kids, and Naruto had been sitting alone at the corner table—nose buried in a book, his bowl half-eaten and forgotten. He might have ignored the noisy group if not for the tiny shadow that approached him. A little girl, barely four years old, stood by his table, her dark eyes wide with curiosity.
She stared at him for a solid ten seconds before boldly stating, "You look weird." Then she tugged on the sleeve of his orange jumpsuit and added, "This is ugly."
Vision had howled in laughter. Naruto had never wanted to punt a child before that moment. He'd wanted to yell at her for being so blunt, but then—puppy-dog eyes. The lethal kind. His resolve crumbled instantly.
Moments later, an older black-haired boy—probably her brother—rushed over, yanked her away, and mumbled an apology. Naruto thought it'd end there. Just a weird little blip in his day. But then came Mikoto, carrying the little girl on her hip.
She didn't ask. She didn't suggest. Mikoto dragged him out of his lonely corner and forced him to join their table.
It wasn't long before Hanako and Daichi, those same Uchiha kids, started calling him "Nii-san." Even Sasuke, distant and haunted by vengeance, barely spoke to them. But Naruto? He had been adopted into their little world before he even realized it.
He shook off the memory and sprinted toward the edge of the roof, leaping into the air just as another fireball blasted past his side.
"No thank you! I refuse to be grounded on my graduation day!" he called out behind him. Before he could land, a glowing chakra chain shot out like a serpent and coiled tightly around his waist. "Crap—!"
Naruto flailed mid-air, arms and legs kicking uselessly as the chain yanked him backward. His chakra sputtered when he tried to channel it—it felt blocked, like static humming through his coils. Kushina's doing, definitely.
He was hoisted upside down, spinning slightly as he dangled in the air, then lowered until he came face-to-face with the two women.
Kushina's crimson hair billowed around her like a lion's mane, her frying pan gleaming in the sunlight with the promise of retribution. Mikoto stood beside her, hands on her hips, exuding an aura of calm disappointment that was somehow worse than the frying pan.
Naruto sighed, defeated. He could have escaped. Honestly, slipping away wouldn't have been hard—not with his current arsenal of tricks. But running for real would've drawn attention. The wrong kind of attention.
Especially from the figure he'd sensed earlier—silent, still, cloaked in an unsettling, emotionless presence.
Someone was watching. Hidden well, too well. But Naruto knew the feeling of surveillance, and this wasn't just another nosy villager. This one was skilled. Too skilled. He couldn't see them, but he didn't need to.
Root, he thought grimly. Danzo's dogs. And they were watching his every move.
✨🟣🔵🟢🟡🔴🟠✨
Naruto's ass hit the ground with a dull thud right in front of the Hokage's desk. The chakra chains snapped loose with a faint metallic grind before slithering back behind Kushina's back like they'd never existed.
Groaning, Naruto stumbled to his feet, brushing dirt and cracked tile shards off his dark haori, trying his best to ignore the hundreds of eyes burning holes into the back of his skull. He could still smell the lingering tang of iron in the air.
The sight before him nearly made him break character. He wanted to laugh. Kami, he really did.
Almost every person in sight had tissues jammed up their noses like hastily made cotton torpedoes. Even the clan heads. Some still sat slumped against trees or benches, dazed and blushing, while others were giggling like school kids trying not to pass out. The ones not bleeding were either horrified... or too amused to care.
But Naruto held his mask. Barely.
Iruka, bless his overworked heart, stood at the center of the chaos, face twitching as he clutched his clipboard to his chest. His glare could've curdled milk.
"Is there something you want to tell us, Naruto?" Iruka asked, voice tight with barely restrained frustration.
A few loud voices from the crowd chimed in, echoing Iruka's demand. The embarrassment and righteous fury practically radiated from them.
Naruto tilted his head to the side, hands casually shoved into his pockets, and blinked up at Iruka with wide-eyed innocence. "Like what?"
Iruka groaned, dragging a hand down his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly counting to ten in his head. "Aren't you going to apologize for the stunt you just pulled?!"
Naruto didn't miss a beat. "No."
There was a beat of silence.
"...What?" Iruka asked flatly.
Naruto smirked and shrugged. "Not my fault everyone here's a bunch of perverts."
A collective thump sounded as Iruka and several students keeled over anime-style from sheer disbelief. The Hokage nearly dropped his pipe, coughing on smoke as he tried and failed to hold back his laughter. Naruto stood there, smug and composed, hands still buried in his pockets, and thought to himself, Totally worth it.
Over the indignant squawks of the riled-up crowd, a low growl of sheer frustration rumbled from behind Naruto. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was—but he did anyway.
Kushina stood a few feet behind him, her crimson hair once again levitating. A thick vein pulsed visibly on her temple, her expression twisted in fury. She raised a clenched fist in the air as if she was one insult away from launching it at his head.
"That's not an apology, Naruto!" she snapped. "I didn't raise a pervert for a son!"
The easy smile on Naruto's face vanished.
Behind the desk, the Hokage groaned and buried his face in his palm. "Oh... no."
A wave of pure, suffocating killing intent flooded the training ground like a storm cloud dropping all its weight at once. It hit the crowd like a sledgehammer, instantly silencing every whisper, every protest.
Kushina's hair dropped to her shoulders as the fury on her face melted into something much smaller—fear.
Gasps rippled through the students as their legs buckled under the pressure. A few collapsed entirely, their skin pale and breaths shallow, unable to handle the overwhelming force of Naruto's KI. The air itself seemed to still as Naruto slowly turned toward Kushina, his usually warm blue eyes glowing with a terrifying coldness.
His voice came low, controlled, and cutting. "Since when did you raise me?" Every syllable hung in the air like a blade. "You were too busy fawning over your perfect little children... and the almighty Uzumaki Clan... to even glance in my direction. The only time you ever showed your face was when your guilt started gnawing at you."
He took a step forward, and even though his voice didn't rise, the power in it doubled.
"So don't act like you're my mother. Don't stand there and wear that title like you earned it." His gaze swept across the stunned faces in the crowd. "You'd insult every woman in this village who actually earned the right to be called 'Mother.'"
Saying nothing further, Naruto turned his back on Kushina.
She stood frozen in place, one trembling fist clutched tightly against her chest, her eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears. But Naruto didn't look back.
The oppressive weight of his killing intent lifted instantly, like a heavy fog blown away by a sudden breeze. Students gasped for breath, shakily regaining their footing. Some trembled in place, others just stared, wide-eyed and pale. Even Sasuke and Menma were staring at him like they'd just watched someone slap the Hokage himself—raw disbelief flickering in their usually guarded expressions.
Naruto scoffed under his breath and strode over to a tree at the far end of the training ground, not caring that every single pair of eyes followed him. He sank down at its base and stretched his legs out, letting the cool shade drape over him..
Let them stare. He didn't care.
How dare she try to lecture me? Kushina never once cared—not when it actually mattered. So what right did she have now?
A familiar voice spoke calmly beside him. "What happened to staying under the radar?"
Naruto didn't need to open his eyes to know it was Vision. The AI stood beside him, hands neatly clasped behind his back, his crimson features as composed as ever. Despite the words, Naruto didn't sense a hint of judgment in his tone—just observation.
Vision scanned the group of students across the field, some still whispering, others shooting him sideways glances. Fortunately, only Naruto could see him. A floating crimson man in a golden cape? Yeah, that'd go over real well in Konoha.
"Unleashing your KI like that wasn't a smart move," Vision added, his gaze still calmly tracking the field.
Naruto leaned back against the tree, tilting his head up and letting his eyes close. He tuned out the murmurs, focusing instead on the soft rustle of leaves swaying overhead. It was one of the few sounds that didn't make his head throb lately.
"Honestly, I'm too tired to care," he muttered internally. "It might've been reckless, yeah, but I'm just done playing their game."
A moment passed in silence before Vision replied, his voice low and thoughtful. "Then just be ready for the consequences. They may be heavier than you're prepared to bear."
Naruto didn't answer, but his jaw clenched. He was already bearing more than anyone knew.