Chapter 158: Naruto's Birth, the Nine-Tails' Rampage
The dawn sunlight was warm and gentle. Birds chirped, cicadas sang, and the scent of grass and trees filled the air…
"There's a baby?"
The handsome blond man, his face flushed red, stared blankly as the red-haired young woman nodded excitedly. "There's a baby!"
"I'm going to be a dad!"
"I'm going to be a mom!"
The overjoyed couple kept repeating the news, holding each other tightly. What a pair of blissful fools…
October 10th!
After confirming the timeline, Li Jiexuan smiled and turned away. There were still five full months before the plot officially began—this was also the longest time span he had ever experienced within a storyline.
"But that's fine…"
He took out the Sealing Scroll. "Perfect timing to learn the techniques inside. It'd be too wasteful to master only the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique."
"The next technique is… Flying Thunder God Technique!"
Happy times always passed too quickly. In the blink of an eye, five months were gone, and October 10th—the due date—was drawing near.
"Let my wife, Biwako, stay by your side. Go to the barrier outside the village to give birth!" Hiruzen Sarutobi instructed gravely, addressing Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.
As the sun set, Biwako Sarutobi escorted Kushina toward the barrier outside the village.
Along the way…
"How cute! What's this child's name?"
"Sasuke!"
A fated first encounter!
Only this time, Sasuke was outside, and Naruto was still in the womb…
The plot unfolded steadily, and Li Jiexuan never once made direct contact with the key characters.
"Hahaha…" War orphans played at the village entrance. Li Jiexuan quietly watched Kushina and Biwako leave, nodding inwardly. "The story is finally about to begin!"
"Jiexuan-kun, what are you thinking about? It's your turn to be 'it'!" A cute little girl laughed as she ran off. "Count to one hundred before you come find us!"
Li Jiexuan smiled and nodded. "Alright!"
...
Night fell.
Deep within the river valley, the sealing chamber's sounds were completely contained by barrier techniques. Four ANBU guarded the entrance tightly.
"Ahhh—!"
A long, piercing scream cut through the air. Kushina lay on the bed while Biwako assisted with the delivery. At that very moment, a mysterious man wearing a black-and-yellow mask appeared, silently killed the four ANBU, and slipped into the chamber…
The plot had officially begun!
That's right. Li Jiexuan had chosen neither Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha nor the Star Village side story. Instead, he chose the event that only fully appeared in flashbacks, more than a decade earlier in the timeline:
Naruto's birth. The Nine-Tails' rampage!
With a baby's cry echoing through the chamber, Naruto was born…
Kushina and Minato embraced their newborn child. But before they could enjoy even a few seconds together, Biwako—who had delivered the baby—had her throat slit by the suddenly appearing masked man.
"Lady Biwako!"
The masked man smiled lightly, reaching to take Naruto from Biwako's arms. But at that very moment—
"Got you!"
The "Biwako" holding Naruto suddenly leapt up, grinning fiercely. "Dragon Lightning Cutter!"
A pale bolt of lightning, capable of piercing anything, shot forward!
Unfortunately, at the critical instant, Obito Uchiha activated his Mangekyō Sharingan—Kamui—pulling himself into another dimension.
"Space-time ninjutsu really is cheating…"
Li Jiexuan shook his head helplessly. Activating both Dragon Sage Mode and the Eight Gates—Gate of View, he spun around just in time to block Obito's chained weapon.
At some unknown moment, Obito had used Kamui again to warp behind Li Jiexuan…
Space-time ninjutsu—unpredictable and elusive!
But in the end, he was one step short. With proper vigilance, Kamui alone wasn't enough to snatch something away from Li Jiexuan!
Yet at that moment—
"Ugh—ah!"
Kushina screamed in agony as the Nine-Tails violently battered against the seal. Seeing that Naruto was not in immediate danger, Minato could no longer spare attention elsewhere and focused entirely on suppressing the Nine-Tails with sealing techniques.
Seeing this, Obito had no choice but to abandon the attempt to seize Naruto and charge forward, confronting the Fourth Hokage head-on!
With no one paying attention to him, Li Jiexuan waved casually. "In that case… goodbye."
"What?"
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
It took a full second of delay before Li Jiexuan completed the technique and shifted through space-time.
"Flying Thunder God… truly one of the most powerful techniques in the entire Naruto world!"
Cradling Naruto, Li Jiexuan stepped into the Konoha orphanage, shrugging helplessly. "Five whole months of training, and I still haven't completely mastered it…"
Smiling, he gently placed the swaddled Naruto into a crib.
"This time, Asura's bloodline… let's see where you run!"