After the battle with the Evil Dragons, Goku bid farewell to everyone and left Earth riding on Shenron.
"Shenron, where are we going?"
Lying comfortably on Shenron's back with his hands pillowing his head, Goku asked absentmindedly.
Shenron was silent for a moment, then replied in a low voice,
"Goku, in recognition of your contributions to the world this time, you have the opportunity to travel to another world. I wonder if you would like to go?"
"Another world? Travel?"
Goku blinked, then asked,
"Are there strong people to fight?"
This time, Shenron was silent for even longer.
"Sorry, Goku, I do not know if the world you are going to has anyone as powerful as you."
"But I do know that these worlds have their own unique training systems and fighting styles, which should offer you a fresh experience."
"Is that so."
Hearing this, Goku grinned, showing a simple, honest smile.
"That sounds really interesting."
"Shenron, please send me there."
Naruto World, Year 60 of Konoha.
Team 7, led by Kakashi, had just entered the Land of Waves and was escorting Tazuna to his home.
"Over here!"
"No, over here!"
Naruto was like a lively, hopping rabbit, one moment pouncing into the bushes on the left, the next throwing a kunai at a tree on the right.
"Hey~ Naruto, stop throwing kunai around recklessly, it's dangerous."
Kakashi squinted his eyes, his expression full of helplessness.
Beside him, Sasuke watched the scene expressionlessly and silently, while Sakura was frantic,
"What are you doing, Naruto! There's nothing there!"
"Ahem, let me look again. I definitely saw something just now."
Naruto coughed a few times to cover his embarrassment, then strode forward again.
After Tazuna revealed the full situation, they judged that this was no longer a relatively simple C-rank mission, but a higher-level B-rank mission.
On this mission, they would encounter attacks from shinobi and face unknown dangers.
Having already encountered one such attack earlier, Naruto was very dissatisfied with his own performance.
So now he was trying his hardest to find the next enemy to prove his ability.
"Hmph! I refuse to believe I can't find one!"
Naruto kept walking, muttering to himself while looking around.
THUD!!
Suddenly, he seemed to run into a wall, falling to the ground unexpectedly.
"That hurts!"
He held his head, his mind full of confusion.
He wasn't walking off the path, how could he run into something right here on the road?
Before he could look up to see what was ahead, two figures suddenly appeared beside him. One of them grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him backwards.
"Waaahhh!!!"
After a moment of flailing his limbs, he landed hard on the ground, hitting his rear end.
"What are you doing!"
In the instant he was thrown, he recognized the two people who appeared beside him were Kakashi and Sasuke.
He felt angry for a moment, but the anger quickly dissipated.
Because he saw a strange man standing in front of where he had fallen.
This man had a unique appearance, wearing an orange outfit he had never seen before, and his hair was styled in a crab-like cut he also didn't recognize.
At this moment, the man grinned foolishly as he looked over, scratching his head apologetically:
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you."
He was Son Goku, who had been sent by Shenron to travel to another world.
After restoring him to his adult body and, following his request, changing him into his specified outfit, Shenron sent him to this world.
He had just arrived in this world and happened to appear right in front of Naruto.
Feeling a bit dizzy from the teleportation, he couldn't react in time, so Naruto, who was looking around everywhere, ended up bumping into his heavily trained, rock-hard body.
"Who are you?"
Kakashi looked at the other person with a grave expression.
The other party had appeared suddenly just now, so fast that even he couldn't clearly see the movement, setting off alarm bells in his mind.
'Judging by his attire, he doesn't look like a shinobi.'
'A samurai? Doesn't seem like it either.'
'Then just who is he? Is he here to kill Tazuna?'
While running through a hundred guesses in his mind, he tightly gripped a kunai, only to hear the other person laugh heartily,
"My name is Son Goku!"
'Son Goku?'
Everyone present thought about the name for a moment after hearing it, but found they had never heard it before.
"Hey! Son Goku, right? I forgive you!"
Naruto got up from the ground, patted his butt, and said casually, as if he didn't mind Goku's sudden appearance at all.
"Hey hey~ he might be here to kill Tazuna-san."
Not far from him, Sakura, while protecting Tazuna, whispered with sweat drops on her forehead.
"Huh? Really? Then I can't forgive him after all!"
Naruto's expression instantly changed from smiling to serious. He immediately pulled out a kunai, lowered his stance, and assumed a guarded posture.
Being close by, Goku heard their conversation, so he raised his hands in a placating gesture.
"You guys might have the wrong idea, haha."
After saying that, he scratched his head, looking troubled.
Kakashi, standing in front of Goku, could clearly sense the goodwill emanating from Goku.
So he slowly put away his kunai and signaled for Sasuke to do the same.
But the next moment, he saw Goku's expression turn serious, making his own recently relaxed heart suddenly tense up again.
Immediately after, he understood the reason for the change in Goku's expression.
With a sudden sharp sound of tearing through the air, a large sword came spinning out from the forest, its target aimed directly at Naruto and the other two.
"Watch out! Get down!!"
Kakashi's face changed dramatically as he turned his head and shouted at Naruto and the others.
Sakura, who had remained vigilant, heard Kakashi's shout and, without thinking, threw herself and the bewildered Tazuna to the ground.
Naruto, having felt Goku's goodwill and seen Kakashi lower his guard, had already relaxed.
So his reaction was a beat slow this time.
By the time he realized he needed to hit the deck, the large sword was already whistling towards him, on the verge of cutting him in two.
"Naruto!!"
Kakashi's pupils contracted sharply, but his body couldn't move fast enough to save Naruto.
Sasuke was in the same situation; watching the person he hated most about to die, he felt not a hint of joy, but instead a great fear rose within him.
CLANG!!
At this critical moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Naruto and casually slapped the large sword away.
'I, I'm alive?'
Naruto, frozen stiff by the life-threatening stimulus, stared blankly at the figure in front of him.
The one who saved him was actually Goku, whom they had just met moments ago!
After slapping the sword away, Goku's face returned to its usual grinning expression.
"Are you okay?"
Hearing this question filled with concern, Naruto snapped back to reality, feeling a warm current rise in his heart.
"N-no, I'm fine."
Whoosh!
Kakashi, who arrived a step too late, looked at Goku solemnly and said, "Thank you for saving Naruto."
He was filled with lingering fear.
Not to mention the Third Hokage's order to take good care of Naruto.
Naruto was his student, and he never wanted anything to happen to him no matter what.
After expressing his thanks, he looked in the direction from which the sword had flown, his face serious.
If he wasn't mistaken, that large sword earlier was one of the Seven Ninja Swords of Kirigakure:
The Executioner's Blade.
And its owner was the missing-nin from Kirigakure—
The Demon, Momochi Zabuza!
A few seconds later, a tall, thin figure carrying an exaggeratedly large sword walked out of the forest.
He glared viciously at Goku and said coldly,
"You bastard, how dare you ruin my fun!"