The Land of Waves — the unfinished Great Naruto Bridge.
Thick white mist blanketed the area so heavily that one couldn't even see their own hand in front of their face.
Inside that fog, Kakashi Hatake and Zabuza Momochi clashed fiercely once more.
But unlike their first fight, this time Kakashi was completely on the defensive, struggling against Zabuza's relentless attacks.
Elsewhere, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were trapped within Haku's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, being bombarded by countless senbon needles with no way to fight back.
Even Sakura Haruno, who was guarding Tazuna, had no time to rest.
She found herself facing two of Gato's thugs—Zori and Waraji, the same two men who once terrorized Tsunami and Inari.
"It looks like the situation is bad."
Though Tenzo couldn't see through the fog, the sounds of battle told him enough—Team 7 was being completely overwhelmed.
Itsuki, standing beside him, rubbed his chin and remarked.
"The mission's nature has long exceeded Team 7's capabilities. If we intervene now, it shouldn't count as breaking the rules, right?"
"Not exactly," Tenzo answered, then hesitated. "But I'm not sure what Senior Kakashi intends. He might want to use this as a chance to train Naruto and the others in real combat."
"They're not in a life-or-death situation yet. If we intervene recklessly, Kakashi could blame us."
"In that case, why don't I sneak in to check on them—and protect them up close if needed?" Itsuki suggested.
Tenzo thought for a moment before nodding. "Be careful. If things go wrong, don't worry about your identity being exposed."
Itsuki gave him a reassuring gesture, suppressed his chakra presence, and slipped into the mist.
But what Tenzo didn't know… was that Itsuki had no intention of helping.
He simply wanted to watch the battle unfold more closely.
Since Itsuki had already taken action, Tenzo wouldn't step in either.
Which meant the "show" could continue.
In truth, Itsuki hadn't meddled much.
Zabuza and Haku still acted just like they did in the original timeline, except they no longer targeted Tazuna directly.
Their mission was simple: fight Team 7 at full power.
As for Sakura, her fight was purely meant as training.
Over the past few days, Itsuki had spent two to three hours daily guiding her.
Her chakra control was already excellent—she had finished water-walking training and learned several D-rank and even one C-rank genjutsu, all on her own in private.
What Itsuki taught her instead was close-quarters combat.
Of course, in just a few days she couldn't become a taijutsu master.
But at least now, she wasn't a complete burden.
Having put in the effort, Itsuki wanted to see her results firsthand.
Zori and Waraji weren't shinobi, just thugs with a bit of chakra.
Stronger than ordinary bandits, but far from dangerous. In other words, perfect training dummies for Sakura.
As Itsuki entered the mist, he activated both his Sharingan and Kagura's Mind Eye.
It wasn't as all-seeing as the Byakugan against the Hidden Mist Jutsu, but it enhanced his perception enough to clearly observe the fights without getting too close.
There were three battlefields.
Naruto and Sasuke against Haku. Kakashi against Zabuza. No surprises there—just like the original.
But Sakura's performance actually shocked Itsuki.
Facing the ferocious Zori and Waraji, she rushed forward with kunai in hand.
By raw skill, she couldn't possibly beat them.
But with her natural 250% buff effect, she actually held the advantage, fighting two-on-one without immediately collapsing.
[Ino Yamanaka: Huh? This isn't right. Since when did Sakura get this good?]
[Tenten: Relax. It's just average. The enemies are too weak. Don't forget her buff.]
[Ino Yamanaka: No, I mean the way she's fighting. She never learned any taijutsu before.]
[Hinata Hyuga: Didn't she learn from Itsuki-kun? And the buff helps too.]
[Tenten: Yeah… I can see some of Itsuki's influence. Looks like Sakura's been pestering him a lot lately.]
[Karin Uzumaki: Hmph! I haven't seen Itsuki-kun in eight whole days, and Sakura didn't even start a live stream when she met him! How shameless!]
[Ino Yamanaka: Exactly! That damn wide forehead—so despicable!]
[Hinata Hyuga: Still… I'm worried. Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are struggling…]
[Tenten: Don't worry. We still have Itsuki. Even if all the enemies combined, they'd stand no chance against him.]
[Karin Uzumaki: I want to see Itsuki-kun already! Please let him appear on screen soon!!]
…
Konoha — Hokage's Office.
The door slammed open with a loud bang.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was busy working through paperwork, jolted in shock.
"Danzo?!" he blurted out, jaw dropping. "What the hell happened to you—did some girl catch you peeping on her bath?"
The man stumbling in was none other than Danzo Shimura. He limped heavily, leaning on a half-broken cane.
His clothes were shredded. His skin bruised and bleeding all over.
His face was swollen like a pig's head.
The bandage over his right eye was gone, both eyes blackened so badly he could barely open the left one at all.
Bang!
Danzo slammed the cane onto Hiruzen's desk, seething with rage.
"Sarutobi, you'd better give me an explanation for today!!"
"What happened?" Hiruzen's face instantly hardened.
He had never seen Danzo in such a pitiful state.
Not even back when the Second Hokage sacrificed himself against the Hidden Cloud had Danzo looked this humiliated.
"What happened?!" Danzo roared. "This is all thanks to your precious apprentice!!"
"Apprentice? Jiraiya?" Hiruzen blinked, dumbfounded.
At first he assumed it was Jiraiya—only he could cause such chaos.
But then another thought struck him. Could it be Orochimaru? Had he returned? And attacked Danzo?
"It was Tsunade! Tsunade!!" Danzo spat furiously, slamming the desk again.
"She used Anko to lure me out of the village, trapped me inside a barrier with other jōnin, and then beat me half to death with her monstrous strength!"
"She is committing murder and rebellion!!"
His voice cracked as he screamed the last words, his frustration and humiliation laid bare.
"Tsunade?!" Hiruzen was stunned. "That's impossible. Why would she attack you? You've never even had conflict with her."
"And besides, you know she left the village because of her hemophobia. You expect me to believe—"
He glanced at Danzo's bloodied body and almost choked on the irony.
"So… you're telling me the woman who faints at the sight of blood beat you to a pulp?"
"Do you think I'd lie?!" Danzo shouted, slamming his fist onto the desk.
"I don't care what reason she has! The fact is Tsunade secretly returned to Konoha and conspired with several of your jōnin to attack me. Are you going to do something about it or not?!"
Hiruzen massaged his temples, sighing as he wiped Danzo's spit off his face.
"Go back and recover. I'll investigate this matter thoroughly. When I learn the truth, you'll get your explanation."
But inside, Hiruzen was shaken.
What on earth was happening?
Tsunade? Could this really be because of Itsuki? Did she already know about him?
...
Author's Note:
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