Last night, in the blink of an eye, Uzumaki Naruto's life was turned upside down. Mizuki, the traitorous teacher, was sent to prison with a bruised and bloodied face, and Naruto's name was officially added to the list of academy graduates. He had finally reached the rank of Genin. In one night, he learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu, saved Iruka-sensei, and proved his worth by defeating Mizuki. Everything seemed ideal for the start of a new chapter in his life, but not for everyone.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, sat in his office, staring at the blank screen of the crystal ball. Instead of dwelling on Naruto's victory, his mind was fixated on the few seconds the ball had suddenly stopped working. Those few seconds, like a black hole in the heart of the reports, bothered him. It was as if someone had managed to disable the Hokage's surveillance system for a moment, and this was a serious threat to the village's security.
It was early morning, and a thin mist wrapped around the forest floor like a gray curtain. The cold morning air turned one's breath to steam.
Whoosh...
whoosh...
thud..
. thud...
thud...
Three Anbu, in their black uniforms, gray armor, and animal masks, landed silently on the tree branches. Their movements were so smooth and quiet that it was as if they had become one with the branches. Their landing spot was exactly where last night's event had taken place.
Anbu, a group of elite ninjas who were under the direct command of the Hokage, had a hidden identity and their main duty was to protect the village from serious threats. Their presence in such a place meant that something important and dangerous had occurred. The three of them immediately began to inspect the area. Not a single broken leaf, an unclear footprint, or the slightest chakra fluctuation escaped their sharp eyes.
The two Anbu who were in charge of monitoring Naruto last night had been interrogated. They initially reported that nothing unusual had happened and everything was normal. This could have meant that the flaw was in the Hokage's jutsu itself and there was no real danger. But when they were interrogated separately, a strange and identical event was present in both of their stories: "For a moment, I felt like my eyes had gone black, and when I came to, everything was back to normal."
They were immediately checked to see if they had been under a Genjutsu. But this investigation yielded no results. Even if they had been under a Genjutsu, there was no trace of it left. They couldn't remember anything. Just that brief blackness and nothing more. Both claimed that this moment was so short that one couldn't even take a breath in it.
The Anbu captain turned to the other two. "Lord Hokage's jutsu was deactivated for a moment. This is also related to the Jinchuriki guards' report. Look for any clues. Don't leave anything out."
More than ten minutes passed. The Anbu were carefully inspecting every inch of the ground, but they found no signs. Reluctantly, they slightly expanded the search radius. It was at this moment that one of the Anbu knelt down.
"Captain. Come look at this..."
He was running his gloved finger over the soil and carefully inspecting it. "A sign of Earth Release... Someone recently used Earth Release."
The Anbu captain quickly approached him. The soil still had moisture and the marks of pressure. Its color was also a little darker than the surrounding soil.
"It seems we really have a mouse!" The captain said in a serious tone. The other two Anbu looked at each other. It was clear that they were not happy about finding a clue. This meant that last night's incident was not a simple event, and this fact put a heavy weight on their shoulders. A heavy silence fell.
The Anbu captain got up and ordered, "The surveillance tapes... you have to check all the environmental cameras. I'm going to report to the Hokage. We need to re-examine the Forbidden Scroll."
The Hokage, immediately after receiving the report, left his office in a hurry and went to the forbidden archive with the Anbu commander.
The Hokage carefully looked at the Forbidden Scroll and mumbled to himself, "Strange... the scroll is real and completely intact. If someone really intended to steal it, it shouldn't have been returned so easily." Then he turned to the commander and asked, "How is the interrogation of Mizuki going? Did he have an accomplice?"
"He claims he was alone, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage calmly put his pipe in his mouth and took a puff. "So, by sheer coincidence, just when he had planned to use Naruto to steal the scroll, someone else also showed up? It's unbelievable, even in conversation."
The commander confirmed, "Yes."
"Mizuki is an intelligent ninja. It's a shame that he thought of treason." The Hokage took another puff of his pipe and slowly exhaled the smoke. "Try to get him to talk. I'm sure he was in contact with someone from outside the village and that person either infiltrated the village themselves or sent someone to do it. Thank God they apparently didn't succeed, otherwise I don't know what we would have done."
The Anbu captain bowed his head respectfully. "I will do my best, Hokage-sama."
A few hours later.
"Captain, we found something!"
The Anbu captain quickly made his way to the monitoring room. The dim blue light of the screens illuminated the cold, emotionless faces of the Anbu.
"Did you find something?"
One of the Anbu nodded and showed him an image. "This is the camera at the forest entrance." He pressed the video playback button. The image was empty. Only for a moment, one or two leaves slowly fell from the tree. "Look at this second: 23."
He brought up another camera on the monitor. This time, it was an image from the forest's perspective toward the village. A faint shadow passed in front of the camera for a moment. He pressed the pause button again. It was the exact same hour, the same minute, and the same twenty-third second.
"At this moment, someone definitely entered the forest."
The Anbu captain frowned. "Well, what's so strange about that?"
The Anbu activated another camera. "We wanted to find this same time in other cameras, but it seems no one was even in the alleys leading to the forest in the moments before. A shadow appeared in front of the forest from nowhere and went inside! Then we thought that we'd better wait again... and then we saw this!" He brought the second image back up on the monitor and used the control buttons to freeze the image.
The Anbu captain seemed to have realized what they were showing him. He put his hand on the monitor and said, "Zoom in on that glass..."
The Anbu began to zoom in. On the glass, a faint reflection of a black figure could be seen. A figure dressed in a black suit and a mask resembling a crow on its face. The figure's face was in the process of fading. Everyone in the room stood still. The voice of one of the Anbu, involuntarily, broke the silence of the room.
"A crow...?"