The orange sun slowly set on the horizon of Konoha, casting long shadows. From inside the Ninja Academy, the sounds of cheering and celebration could be heard. But outside, on a swing, a boy sat alone.
Uzumaki Naruto had failed the graduation exam again.
Grief and sadness had taken over his whole being. He no longer paid attention to the sounds of celebration, only recalling the voice of Iruka-sensei telling him, "Naruto, you failed."
The sentence had struck him like a hammer.
He wished the ground would swallow him. He could hear the voices of some of the other kids who, proud to have earned their Konoha forehead protectors, pointed at him among themselves.
"Looks like Naruto failed again."
"I heard he's the only one who failed."
"Good. I can't believe he would be a ninja like us. After all, he's that boy…"
"Shh! We're not allowed to talk about him!"
He saw his future laid out before him: he would never become a ninja, never become Hokage.
Looking at the other students being hugged by their parents, his heart broke.
For a moment, a shadow appeared above him. A voice from behind him said, "Naruto…"
Naruto looked up. It was Mizuki-sensei, with his usual kind smile. "I know how you feel," Mizuki said sympathetically. " Do you really want to become a ninja?"
Naruto, with wide, determined eyes, said, "More than anything."
Mizuki gave a mysterious smile. "There's a way you can graduate immediately…"
As soon as it got dark, a blond teenager in an orange jumpsuit and dark green goggles brazenly entered the Hokage's private archive and stole the Forbidden Scroll.
A little later, numerous figures with green vests, gray clothes, and masks with different animal motifs were seen moving quickly on the rooftops of central Konoha.
Whoosh...
Thud...
Whoosh...
The sound of the wind and swift footsteps constantly echoed above the streets. Watching the Anbu pass, both ninjas and civilians realized that something big was happening tonight.
Meanwhile, a man in black put on a black plague-doctor mask.
The mask could strongly remind others of a crow's head, as if a crow had taken human form. For a moment, the man seemed to sink into the ground and disappear into the darkness.
No one, including the figures jumping on the rooftops to reach the Hokage building's roof, noticed the shadow-like figure that quickly entered the forest.
After an unknown amount of time, until there was no longer any sign of people climbing walls in the central street, and the number of pedestrians in the street became less and less.
The Crow had been following Naruto from the moment he left the Hokage building. Just as he had guessed, the Third Hokage, in addition to his famous crystal ball, had also assigned two Anbu to watch Naruto at all times.
They were so skilled that Naruto had no idea of their presence.
When Uzumaki Naruto opened the Forbidden Scroll, the Crow felt it was time. The Crow's eyes began to turn red.
He calmly began to whistle, a high-pitched and drawn-out whistle that echoed in the silence of the forest and created a deep auditory Genjutsu. Then he turned a dial on his suit and moved forward at high speed.
Inside the Hokage's office, Sarutobi had been watching Naruto through his crystal ball the whole time.
The moment Naruto opened the scroll, the ball went dark! Sarutobi was surprised for a moment. The jutsu had been deactivated.
He tried to activate the jutsu again, but the ball only showed a static, dark image. The environment Naruto was in seemed to have been disconnected from Konoha's chakra network.
He jumped up in fear! Something unexpected had happened.
The Crow rushed forward. The two Anbu made no attempt to stop him, as if they didn't see him. The Crow reached Naruto and stared at him with his red eyes. He took the scroll from Naruto's hand, and Naruto made no resistance against the Crow.
He opened the scroll and quickly looked inside. He nodded in confirmation and returned the scroll to Naruto's hand and disappeared with the same speed he had appeared.
The light that had left Naruto's and the two Anbu's eyes quickly returned. Naruto hadn't even noticed that he had been trapped in a Genjutsu for a moment and, once freed, began to read the forbidden Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The Sandaime stood up and quickly summoned an Anbu to go after Naruto. At that very moment, the light in the ball turned on and showed Naruto again. The scroll was still in Naruto's hand. Nothing had happened.
But the Sandaime felt that an intruder had entered the scene he had set up and had disrupted his show. As a result, he immediately ordered the forest area to be quarantined.
Inside a house in the west of the village, a shadow emerged from the ground. This was his own invention, Earth Release: Hidden Playfield - Koten Kyokutsu, a combination of ninjutsu and the Reverse Summoning Jutsu.
With this jutsu, he could switch places with specific shadows or his opponents within a certain distance.
The Crow immediately unrolled a scroll on the ground. He took off his equipment and placed it on the scroll.
Then he bit his finger and, after a few hand signs, slammed it on the scroll. The equipment was sealed inside the scroll.
Mitsuro finally took off the crow mask with relief. Under the mask, two three-tomoe Sharingan eyes were glowing blood red. He had acquired two important jutsu tonight: one, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, and two, the forbidden Impure World Reincarnation (Edo Tensei) technique.
He really hadn't thought that Edo Tensei would be in that scroll. But the Second Hokage's forbidden scroll truly lived up to its reputation.
Mitsuro immediately took out two scrolls and copied the techniques onto them. He didn't need to rush to learn and perform them. For now, he had to put on his clothes and appear as a teacher.
He quickly put on his long-sleeved dark blue ninja uniform. He put on the green Jonin vest and tied his Konoha forehead protector so that it covered his right eye. He rushed out of the house and went after the other teachers who had gone to the Hokage's office.
He looked at the frowning Chunin-level ninja and asked in a hurry, "What happened?"
The ninja looked at Mitsuro. "They say Naruto stole the Second Hokage's Forbidden Scroll?"
Mitsuro pretended to be shocked. "What?! That's very dangerous! What was the Hokage's order?"
"What do you think it was? All the ninjas who heard the news are looking for him!"
Mitsuro said in a hurry, "Well, where have you looked? Do you know which direction he went?"
"There's no need to worry anymore.
" The Hokage, with his pipe calmly in his mouth, walked toward them. "The scroll is not lost. Naruto will return soon."
Mitsuro smiled inwardly.
"It seems the original plan has been executed just as it should have been. Congratulations, Naruto!"