Naruto, controlling Kazahana Dotō's body, removed the man's robe.
Beneath was the familiar charcoal-black chakra armor, though it only protected the upper body—
even the gauntlets extended only to the elbows.
He tested the chakra reserves in this borrowed body.
It felt awful.
Weak.
But still usable.
Above the throne, Dotō's female bodyguard had already unfurled the chakra armor's wings and lifted herself into the air.
When she saw her "lord" seemingly preparing to fight personally, she dove down and landed protectively before him.
"Lord Dotō! The enemy isn't normal shinobi! We—"
PAK!
A crisp sound.
The woman froze—her eyes widening in disbelief.
A translucent arc of compressed wind flashed past.
Blood sprayed.
She collapsed on the platform, eyes still open.
"What…?"
Sasuke frowned.
Naruto had just collapsed a moment ago—
and then Dotō killed his own guard.
Even with the Sharingan active, Sasuke couldn't make sense of it.
It was too bizarre.
He knew this was Naruto's doing, but not how.
"Fuyuki—!"
Dotō's male guard had been preparing to leap onto the platform.
But when he saw his comrade cut down in an instant—
and by Dotō no less—
he sprang to a wall and clung there, face pale, guard raised.
Then—
His expression twisted into the same disbelief as the dead woman's.
Because "Dotō" jumped off the platform, walked right up to the five intruders—
and began taking apart his own chakra armor piece by piece.
Before he could process this, Sasuke's fingers twitched.
His kunai shot forward.
The guard's heart seized.
He activated the armor's invisible defense wall—
only for the kunai to suddenly curve mid-air at unnatural angles,
each one arcing around the barrier and colliding against the others.
Clink. Clink. Clink!
After several metallic taps, the kunai changed trajectory entirely, embedding themselves in the floor and walls in a perfect geometric pattern.
"…This is…?"
Seeing the kunai scattered all around, the man hesitantly deactivated the barrier.
He had no idea what the enemy was planning—
but alone, with his jutsu poorly suited for this space, he had to conserve chakra and escape.
As he backed up the wall, planning his route—
Something tightened around his neck.
Then around his arms.
Then legs.
Invisible wires snapped taut, binding him like a puppet.
"No—! Steel wire thin enough to be invisible…
Those kunai just now—!"
CRACK!
The core of his chakra armor shattered on his left shoulder.
A screech of cutting electricity split the air.
A hand wreathed in black lightning thrust cleanly through his chest.
Sasuke withdrew his hand, confirmed the man's life had left him, then sliced the wires with a Chidori edge, letting the corpse fall.
After recovering his tools, he approached "Dotō"—
who stood before Naruto's final shadow clone.
"…Naruto?"
It wasn't a question.
Sasuke already knew.
Only Naruto could pull off a mental-invasion technique like this.
Dotō nodded stiffly.
"Uchiha combat… truly elegant."
As soon as he finished, his body collapsed.
Naruto's real body, stepping out from the clone, drove a blade across Dotō's throat in one clean motion.
Sasuke frowned.
"I thought you'd keep him alive.
He could've continued developing chakra armor."
Naruto chuckled lightly.
"He wasn't the developer.
From the memories of the Snow shinobi at that base, the real inventors are still imprisoned in the dungeon."
"Dotō only modified their prototypes for personal use.
He's worthless to us alive."
Sasuke understood at once.
No wonder Naruto had sent that hypnotized Snow shinobi to the underground cells—with several clones in tow.
Naruto had also sent clones to the Snow Country treasury, if Sasuke remembered correctly.
"So what happens to the Snow Country now?"
Naruto dispelled the remaining clones.
"The dungeon clone already arranged everything.
Snow Country will end up much like the Land of Waves."
"We're done here."
Sasuke hesitated.
"…And the Snow shinobi outside?"
Naruto smirked and gripped his shoulder.
"What Snow shinobi?"
A breath later—
They appeared back in the familiar forest where they had trained.
A moment after that, they rose thousands of meters into the air, suspended on chakra armor flight wings.
"Not bad… the flight performance is even better than I expected.
And the chakra consumption isn't too bad either."
Sasuke gazed down at the Land of Waves with genuine exhilaration.
Flying gave him a sense of freedom he'd never known.
Naruto nodded.
"It's decent.
But these bat-wing designs look ugly.
We'll have Snow Country redesign them later."
He angled downward.
"Come on—we're heading back to Konoha."
He plummeted gracefully.
Sasuke lingered a bit longer before descending after him.
Half a year later — Konoha Year 59
"You see those three over there?
I bet they'll get sent back to the Academy by tomorrow!"
"Pfft, only an idiot would take that bet.
Just pray we don't get assigned that teacher."
"Hehehe… poor bastards."
"Rumor has it he's already failed dozens of graduates…"
Today was special:
New student enrollment day, and also the day fresh graduates received their jonin instructors.
On the second-floor balcony of the Academy, many students peeked over the railing, whispering excitedly.
Naruto leaned in the corner with Hinata, Shikamaru, and Choji—an easy, familiar group.
After a moment, Shikamaru nudged him.
"Naruto… think any of us will get that infamous teacher?"
Naruto watched Kakashi lead three new students away.
"What do you think?"
Shikamaru yawned.
"No clue.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind being his student.
But we're not that lucky."
Choji nodded vigorously.
"Yeah! Yeah! Same!"
Hinata flushed, unsure how to respond.
When she turned, she found Naruto already looking her way—
and immediately ducked her head, face pink.
Naruto laughed softly.
"If your dads heard you wishing for extra years of training, they'd lecture you to death.
You're all heirs, remember?"
"Staying behind? Not happening.
Becoming strong is part of your destiny."
Shikamaru propped his chin on his hand.
"Aren't you curious which teacher you'll get?"
Naruto didn't answer.
His gaze dropped to the courtyard—
Where a particularly striking figure had appeared:
Might Guy, the "Blue Beast of Konoha," in his signature bowlcut, green jumpsuit, and orange leg warmers.
But Hinata wasn't looking at Guy.
Her eyes immediately found the boy behind him.
"Neji… brother Neji…"
Land of Waves
Naruto and Sasuke sparred intensely in the forest, each supported by twenty shadow clones fighting alongside them.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
In moments, all of Sasuke's clones had been annihilated.
Only Naruto's ten remained perched in the trees, observing.
After his last clone popped, Sasuke launched several fierce attacks—
but soon leapt back ten meters, breathing heavily.
"I'm using the Sharingan!
Let's go for real!"
Naruto nodded emotionlessly.
He vanished.
BAM!
A fist aimed straight at Sasuke's skull.
Sasuke raised his elbow and blocked, digging in.
But Naruto slid in close—
and two fingers shot toward Sasuke's eyes.
Sasuke jerked his head aside.
His hand snapped open, palm thrusting toward Naruto's sternum.
Naruto pressed down sharply on Sasuke's wrist, diverting the strike—
then twisted his other arm, fingers extended toward Sasuke's throat.
"So ruthless…!"
Sasuke's heart clenched.
He shoved forward, parrying the thrust, then slid in to claw at Naruto's arm.
Naruto dipped low, rotated with Sasuke's movement, and hammered a fist toward Sasuke's lower back.
Sasuke twisted, palm catching the blow—
And instantly regretted it.
The impact hurled him backward.
Naruto followed like a shadow.
Sasuke's pupils shrank—
Naruto's fingers were aimed for his face again.
"Not good!"
He wasn't about to gamble his eyes.
He bent into a full back-bridge and kicked upward.
Naruto blurred sideways, wrapped Sasuke's waist, and spiked him toward the ground.
For one terrifying moment, Sasuke felt his skull about to split open.
"Is he seriously trying to kill me—?!"
POOF!
The body in Naruto's arms turned into a replacement log.
"You really went all out?"
Sasuke crouched nearby, panting heavily.
Naruto tossed the log aside.
"I wasn't even using full force.
You're the one who said to go all out."
His tone made the words feel like mockery.
"You—!"
Sasuke glared, Sharingan searching Naruto's face for any hint of malicious intent.
Finding nothing definite, he shut off the Sharingan and sat to rest.
Naruto walked off to another area.
He didn't need a break.
Instead he created hundreds more clones.
A whip of crackling lightning formed in his hand.
He snapped it upward—
The whip elongated to thirty meters, spiraling through the air before crashing down.
BOOM!
A massive tree exploded.
Naruto nodded.
Then flicked a finger.
A thinner lightning whip appeared, extended, and swept horizontally—
Dozens of trees were sliced clean in half.
Sasuke opened his eyes, teeth gritted.
One day… he'd master that too.
A year ago, Naruto had finally perfected simultaneous fusion of water-nature and lightning-nature chakra—
creating the Kekkei Genkai Storm Release (Ranton).
Naruto had borrowed Sasuke's Sharingan many times during the research.
And once successful, he generously shared every detail of the process.
But Sasuke—lacking water-nature chakra—could only watch in frustration.
If Naruto hadn't later given him methods for awakening additional chakra natures, Sasuke might have given up altogether.
Naruto stopped mid-motion.
Kurama had called him back into the Mirror World—
sounding unusually excited.
"Look, Naruto!
That brat Shukaku's Jinchūriki—
the guy supposedly kills people whenever he's in a bad mood.
Way more arrogant than you."
Kurama pointed at the floating screen showing Gaara.
If the other two tailed beasts weren't busy, they'd have seen Kurama's expression—somewhere between annoyed and delighted.
Naruto only smiled.
His attention was on Kabuto Yakushi.
Orochimaru had shown him Shimura Danzō's letter—
and in less than five days, Kabuto was already a full-fledged Sand shinobi.
A true master spy.
After Kabuto's segment ended, Naruto switched to Hiruzen Sarutobi's memories.
He'd intended to watch those first—
but Kurama had insisted he watch Gaara.
He saw it all:
"Danzō actually approached the Third about holding a Chūnin Exam?
So this time, the 'Konoha Crush' plan becomes a joint scheme between Danzō and Orochimaru?"
In the footage, Hiruzen approved hosting next year's exam.
That very night, Danzō sent Orochimaru a formal alliance letter.
Naruto chuckled.
He'd waited long enough.
As the final scene faded, a masked ANBU delivered a scroll to the Third.
Through Hiruzen's eyes, Naruto read its contents.
"Jiraiya is returning…"
Now that was good news.
Naruto looked upward and grinned.
"Kurama, tell me—
can Shukaku use a Tailed Beast Bomb?"
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