Chapter 34: Even if Destiny is Full of Twists and Turns
Uchiha Itachi landed on a tree branch with Minato and Kushina, close enough to observe Denki's father from a short distance.
Then came an awkward moment of eye contact with the Anbu who had been secretly protecting Denki's father.
After all, Itachi had once been a member of the Anbu, so he was familiar with most of their covert surveillance techniques. As a result, both he and the Anbu had chosen the exact same tree branch to monitor Denki's father from the shadows.
"..."
The scene grew momentarily awkward.
"You, go report to the Hokage. Leave this to me."
The Anbu captain instructed his subordinate, who didn't hesitate and immediately turned to run.
As an Anbu captain on duty, he was aware of some basic intel about S.H.I.E.L.D., but it was limited to the appearances of the Flaming Cloud Evil God and the Husky.
During this mission, the captain had been clearly instructed: if either of those two showed up, do not engage—just report to the Hokage immediately.
They didn't use the special Anbu signal flare known as the "sky-leaping monkey" because it would summon not only Naruto but also other Anbu members and possibly ill-intentioned individuals. Since S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intel was classified as S-rank, they couldn't afford to let so many people in on it.
"SpongeBob, stop that runner."
To maintain his cover within S.H.I.E.L.D., Itachi could not afford to let even this simple mission fail. That's why he wasn't going to allow the slightest slip-up.
"Mm."
Stopping the fleeing Anbu member was a trivial matter for the former Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato—now known as the Yellow Flash SpongeBob.
In a flicker of light, Minato vanished.
"Flying Thunder God and the Mangekyō Sharingan… this is trouble..."
The Anbu captain, a veteran survivor of the Fourth Great Ninja War, muttered to himself.
Anyone who survived that war was either extremely lucky or incredibly powerful.
The captain kept his head down, not daring to meet Itachi's gaze. But it didn't matter—Itachi could cast a genjutsu on him with a mere flick of his fingers.
"It's done. He's already under my Sharingan's genjutsu."
Itachi stated as he and Kushina remained hidden in the tree, waiting for Minato to return.
...
"Could you wait a moment? I don't want to hurt you."
Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique to effortlessly appear in front of the Anbu agent racing toward the Hokage's office.
"Damn it."
The Anbu agent pulled out a precious item—a pink kunai, a birthday gift from his girlfriend.
Minato sighed, and the fight was about to begin.
"Hey, Boruto, hold up."
Sarada called out from behind as Boruto and Mitsuki ran ahead in a ninja sprint.
Ever since Denki had been kidnapped by the mysterious masked man during the school trip, Boruto had been wracked with guilt. As the class rep for the trip, he felt personally responsible for failing to protect Denki.
Although he had tried asking Naruto for information about the incident, Naruto refused to tell him anything. So, Boruto decided to seek out Denki's father, hoping he might have some answers.
And thus, the trio happened to stumble upon Minato and the Anbu agent.
"That's a Konoha Anbu operative."
Mitsuki, experienced and well-informed, remarked.
"Then whoever's fighting with Konoha Anbu must be the enemy."
Boruto cracked his knuckles, ready to charge in headfirst.
"You kids, hurry! Go find the Hokage and tell him the one who kidnapped Denki has appeared!"
The Anbu agent immediately recognized the three kids.
Well, what could he do? Boruto was the Hokage's son, after all.
But Boruto wasn't listening. He was determined to charge ahead.
"Sarada, go to the Hokage's office. I'll protect Boruto here."
Even though Boruto tended to rush in blindly, Mitsuki remained level-headed. He suspected that the person confronting the Anbu might be an ally of the masked man who had nearly killed him in Kirigakure.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Mitsuki."
Sarada replied, then activated a basic body flicker technique—only slightly faster than a normal person—and sped off.
"She's always meddling. Even without calling that idiot old man, I can take down this guy myself."
"Looks like I'll have to go all-out and defeat him before that dumb old man shows up."
Mitsuki didn't respond to Boruto's bravado. He just narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly.
"Let's go, Mitsuki!"
Boruto charged at the sponge-clad figure ahead, with Mitsuki sticking close by to better protect him during the fight.
Boruto opened with a Shadow Clone Jutsu, splitting into four clones that fanned out and rushed Minato.
Minato just smiled and shook his head. With a reverse grip, he threw a Flying Thunder God kunai. Boruto, completely unaware of what the kunai signified, confidently dodged it and boasted, "Dodging a simple kunai throw like that? Piece of cake!"
"Boruto, watch out!"
Mitsuki, however, instantly realized the kunai was no ordinary weapon.
"Huh? Where did he go?"
Using the Flying Thunder God, Minato vanished from in front of Boruto and suddenly reappeared next to Mitsuki, landing a solid kick to Mitsuki's gut.
"Mitsuki, are you okay?!"
Boruto finally reacted and rushed to the side of his fallen friend.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. Just knocking you out for a while."
Minato, ever loyal to Konoha, would never go so far as to kill its children.
"Damn you, don't act all high and mighty!"
Seeing his friend hurt sent Boruto into an emotional spiral.
"Boruto, don't lose your head. If I'm not mistaken, the jutsu he used was the Flying Thunder God. He can instantly teleport to wherever he's marked with one of those kunai."
"So, we need to be aware of where his kunai land."
Mitsuki grabbed Boruto's hand, trying more to restrain his impulsiveness than anything else. They just needed to stall until Sarada could bring the Hokage.
"Relax, Mitsuki. Now that we know the nature of his weird jutsu, beating him is no problem."
Mitsuki stared at Boruto with a complicated expression.
Knowing how a jutsu works doesn't mean you can beat someone using it—what kind of logic was that?
"Better not get distracted in a fight."
While Boruto and Mitsuki were talking, Minato didn't use the Flying Thunder God. He simply appeared behind Boruto using the Body Flicker Technique, reminded him with a smile, and knocked him out.
Boruto slumped unconscious in Mitsuki's arms.
Even the Anbu agent hadn't reacted in time—it all happened so fast.
"One down. Two more to go."
"Still need to chase down that girl, so I'd better wrap this up quickly."
Though Minato wore a smile he thought looked kind and sunny, to the conscious Anbu agent and Mitsuki, it looked disturbingly cruel.
"You take Boruto and run. I'll… try to hold him off."
The Anbu agent spoke with effort. Truthfully, he had no confidence in stopping someone this fast.
"It's useless. To someone like him, holding him off for ten seconds or one second makes no difference. The only thing we can do now is buy as much time as possible—until Sarada brings the Hokage."
Mitsuki laid the unconscious Boruto gently on the ground as he spoke.
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