At this moment, Naruto Uzumaki had already arrived in the Land of Haze.
Wearing a cloak, Naruto stood within a secluded valley somewhere in the Land of Haze. He took out a small mirror and angled it toward his lower back. Reflected in it was Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God mark, branded clearly on his waist.
"Kurama, this time I plan to try sealing the Flying Thunder God mark," Naruto said.
Kurama asked in confusion, "Naruto, when did you learn fuinjutsu?"
"When I was in Root, those Root shinobi experimented on me with all kinds of sealing techniques," Naruto explained. "I memorized one of the ones they used most often."
Kurama suddenly understood. "So that's how it is!"
Using a sealing technique to suppress the Flying Thunder God mark was not Naruto's preferred choice—it was his last resort. He had already tried countless methods to erase the mark from his body, but none of them worked.
He even cut away that piece of skin, yet it was still useless. Once new skin grew back, the Flying Thunder God mark reappeared just the same.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Naruto created a solid clone.
The clone gathered chakra at the tips of its five fingers. Five different natures manifested at once—Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth.
"Five Elements Seal!"
The clone slammed its hand forcefully onto Naruto's lower back.
Naruto grimaced in pain, his brows knitting instinctively.
However, the sealing technique quickly took effect. The clone vanished, and the Flying Thunder God mark on Naruto's waist disappeared. In its place was a complex sealing formula.
Naruto wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Finally succeeded. Now I don't have to worry about that guy, Minato Namikaze, discovering me."
Kurama asked, "Naruto, what do you plan to do next?"
Naruto pondered for a moment before replying, "I'm still not at my peak. My body hasn't fully matured yet. Entering Kurama Sage Mode requires a massive amount of senjutsu chakra just to reinforce my physique so I can barely maintain the state."
"Because of that, the amount of senjutsu chakra I can actually use becomes much smaller."
"So I plan to spend some time training my body—pushing my physical condition to its peak—so that Kurama Sage Mode can become a normal, sustainable state."
After a brief pause, Naruto continued, "At the same time, there's something else I want to figure out."
Kurama asked curiously, "Hm? What is it?"
Naruto explained, "When I first entered Kurama Sage Mode, I vaguely sensed that inside my body—besides my own chakra and yours—there was another chakra."
"That chakra felt unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar at the same time…"
Inside the Nine-Tails' inner space, Kurama was utterly shocked.
The moment Kurama and Naruto became fully synchronized, Kurama had already known the origin of that chakra. He simply hadn't expected Naruto to notice it himself so soon.
It was the chakra of Ashura—the son of the Sage of Six Paths.
During the ancient battle between the brothers Ashura and Indra, Kurama had once aided Ashura. Together, they activated the Nine-Tails Mode and defeated Indra.
Because of that, Kurama was extremely familiar with Ashura's chakra.
Kurama hesitated over whether to tell Naruto the truth. Possessing Ashura's chakra meant that Naruto was Asura's reincarnation.
And correspondingly, Indra's reincarnation must also exist somewhere in the shinobi world.
The curse of fate binding Ashura and Indra made Kurama unable to decide whether Naruto should know. After all, Naruto already had far too many enemies.
Watching Naruto immerse himself in training, Kurama sighed softly.
"…I'll tell him later."
Meanwhile, Yosuke had just arrived at the border of the Land of Fire when he learned that the war between Konoha and Sunagakure had already ended—and that Naruto Uzumaki, after killing a large number of Konoha shinobi, had defected.
Looking at the devastated battlefield, Yosuke sighed.
"I still didn't make it in time…"
Originally, Yosuke had intended to reach the front lines of the war between Konoha and Sunagakure and try to recruit Naruto Uzumaki into the Owl Organization. Through gradual influence, he hoped to see whether Naruto could be changed.
But now that Naruto had vanished, the plan had completely fallen apart.
Looking at the small mounds of earth scattered across the ground—clearly makeshift graves where fallen shinobi had been buried on the spot—Yosuke fell silent.
So many graves… who knew how many of them had been killed by Naruto's own hands?
Itachi asked, "Master Yosuke, the war is already over. Where are we going next? Should we search for Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Searching for Naruto directly would be far too difficult," Yosuke replied. "So we'll have to ask someone first."
Yosuke opened a scroll—one used for communication with Minato Namikaze.
He recorded the time and location for a meeting, and then the scroll dissolved into smoke and vanished from his hand.
"All right. Let's head to the Land of Birds."
When they arrived at the agreed location in the Land of Birds, Yosuke spotted Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki from afar.
Worthy of being called the fastest man in the shinobi world—Yosuke had rushed there as quickly as possible, yet he was still a step slower than Minato.
However, when Yosuke reached the couple, he saw the deep worry etched across their faces.
"Minato, Kushina, what's wrong? Why do you both look so troubled?" Yosuke asked.
Minato said anxiously, "We were tracking Naruto through the Flying Thunder God mark earlier, and we managed to follow him to the Land of Birds. But suddenly, the mark we left on him disappeared."
"We've completely lost Naruto's trail."
Yosuke comforted them, "Calm down first. Let's go through everything step by step."
During Naruto's battles with Konoha shinobi, Minato and Kushina had been observing from the shadows, secretly protecting him.
It wasn't until Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared—and Naruto directly questioned him—that Minato and Kushina finally realized just how miserable Naruto's life in Konoha had been.
What was even harder for them to accept was that Naruto's time in Root had actually been authorized by Hiruzen himself.
As Minato and Kushina looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi's face, they had never found him so detestable.
For a brief moment, they had even wanted to join Naruto in taking revenge on Konoha.
But they ultimately restrained themselves—not because of any deep attachment to the village, but because they knew doing so would only make Naruto hate them even more.
Their original plan had been to follow Naruto quietly, slowly and carefully reconnecting with him, hoping one day to earn his forgiveness.
But they never expected Naruto to seal away the Flying Thunder God mark, completely cutting off Minato's ability to track him.
Minato gave Yosuke a concise account of everything that had happened.
Yosuke listened, feeling utterly drained.
Konoha really doesn't do a single decent thing, he thought. If this had happened to me, I might've gone even further than Naruto did.
So Yosuke didn't believe Naruto had done anything wrong.
Still, he had to find Naruto.
After all, Naruto was the Child of Destiny. If Naruto no longer fulfilled that role…
…then Yosuke would have to take his place.
As for whether Konoha continued to exist in the shinobi world—
Honestly, Yosuke felt that didn't matter much at all.
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