After splitting off several chūnin-level chakra portions and sending his shadow clones wandering across the Land of Water, Naruto himself quietly entered Kirigakure.
Unlike Konoha, which was bright, warm, and suspiciously good at pretending everything was fine, Kirigakure was permanently covered in a thick layer of fog.
Standing at the entrance street, Naruto couldn't even see the Mizukage Building clearly in the center of the village.
"Wow," Naruto muttered. "This place looks like someone forgot to turn off the smoke machine."
After wandering around for a while, Naruto gathered quite a bit of useful information.
What impressed him the most was the villagers' attitude toward ninjas.
In Konoha, civilians still had a tiny bit of arrogance when dealing with outsiders and even ninja sometimes.
But in Kirigakure, civilians were simply… afraid.
They secretly cursed the village's ninjas behind closed doors, but when facing them in public, they bowed respectfully like terrified office workers greeting a very violent boss.
After all, in Kirigakure—where strength ruled everything—villagers had the freedom to insult people…
…and ninjas had the freedom to beat the hell out of them for it.
Very balanced system.
Very democratic.
Very "you insult me, I break your ribs."
The environment reminded Naruto of a certain island nation from his previous life.
Unfortunately for Kirigakure, they didn't have the power to play "offshore balancer" in the ninja world. They just had fog, paranoia, and a lot of people with murder issues.
Inside Naruto's mind, Kurama lazily opened one eye.
"This old man hates this place," the Nine-Tails grumbled. "The negative emotions here are even worse than Konoha. Does that old turtle Isobu really live here?"
"Of course," Naruto replied casually. "The only villages with a ninja atmosphere comparable to Konoha are Iwagakure and Kumogakure. And over there, tailed beasts get treated just as badly as their jinchūriki."
"Everywhere else is even worse."
Kurama snorted.
"Then why the hell did you drag me away from Konoha?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Konoha only looks good because every other ninja village is worse."
"That doesn't make it good."
"The ninja world is basically a competition to see who sucks less."
After a short pause, Naruto sighed.
"Of course… if the old Third Hokage had been a little more responsible and had the guts to actually fix things…"
"…maybe I would've stayed in Konoha."
"I might've even aimed to become the Seventh Hokage and slowly reform the village."
Kurama instantly caught the strange detail.
"Why the Seventh Hokage?"
Naruto grinned.
"Because only the Hokage's apprentice ever becomes Hokage."
"The Third Hokage would never accept me as his student."
"So logically speaking, I'd have to become the apprentice of the next Hokage… or the one after that."
"Only then could I eventually take the seat."
Kurama blinked.
"…That's the most complicated promotion ladder I've ever heard."
Naruto shrugged.
"And even if an Uchiha became the Hokage's apprentice…"
"…he'd probably die mysteriously before the promotion."
Kurama sneered.
"You humans are really twisted."
"All these schemes and political traps."
"I actually prefer Kirigakure's style—strength decides everything."
"Maybe this old man should become Mizukage."
Naruto didn't even hesitate.
"And then get controlled by the masked idiot again?"
Kurama's ears twitched irritably.
Naruto's tone became serious.
"According to my investigation, the person who controlled you and the Fourth Mizukage should be the same guy."
"An Uchiha who uses a space-time dōjutsu."
He paused.
"By the way… could the masked man be Madara Uchiha?"
Hearing the name, the soul of Minato Namikaze also appeared nearby.
Naruto's earlier comment—"Hokage's Uchiha apprentices always die mysteriously"—had already made Minato's brain short-circuit.
Now he was even more curious.
After all, if the masked man hadn't appeared that night…
Minato would still be the Fourth Hokage.
Kurama thought for a moment and shook his head.
"He used ordinary genjutsu to control me."
"But he's not Madara Uchiha."
"If Madara were alive…"
"…he could destroy Konoha himself without borrowing my power."
"That monster's level of combat was far beyond what you people imagine."
Remembering the past made Kurama's expression dark.
He would never forget that humiliation.
The strongest tailed beast, treated like a toy.
Manipulated.
Used.
Then sealed inside a woman for decades like some oversized chakra battery.
After calming down, Kurama continued.
"Even if he isn't Madara, he can command White Zetsu."
"White Zetsu are fragments of a creature called the Ten-Tails."
"With the Ten-Tails involved… that masked bastard definitely isn't weak."
"White Zetsu… collecting the nine tailed beasts… resurrecting the Ten-Tails?"
Minato frowned at every word.
He had never imagined the masked man's attack on Konoha was part of something so complicated.
Nor had he realized that Naruto—who should have been peacefully attending ninja academy—had secretly investigated all this.
At Naruto's age, he should have been worrying about homework.
Not the apocalypse.
Minato suddenly felt a deep sense of regret.
If he hadn't died…
If he hadn't chosen to sacrifice himself that night…
Would Naruto have lived a normal childhood?
But regret solved nothing.
Dead men had no right to interfere with the living.
Unless…
Unless someone performed Edo Tensei.
But that technique violated the natural order of life and death.
If the boundary between the living and the dead collapsed, the ninja world would fall into an even greater disaster.
Naruto suddenly looked at Kurama with a mischievous smile.
"So, Kurama…"
"Is the Ten-Tails stronger than you?"
Kurama snorted.
"Technically, the nine of us were split off from the Ten-Tails."
"If we return to it…"
"…the Ten-Tails will revive and transform into the Divine Tree."
"And once that happens, every ninja in the world will fall into an endless dream."
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"So the masked man's target really is the nine tailed beasts."
Kurama hesitated.
Then he revealed almost everything.
He didn't want to damage their fragile partnership through secrecy.
If Naruto lost him, the Ten-Tails might resurrect.
And frankly… Kurama couldn't threaten Naruto anymore.
Even if the Eight Trigrams Seal was broken, Naruto's growing sealing skills could restrain him again.
More importantly…
Kurama wanted to believe the Sage of Six Paths one more time.
That humans and tailed beasts could coexist.
Naruto chuckled after hearing the explanation.
"No wonder you wanted me to collect chakra from the other tailed beasts."
"You're trying to warn them and form an anti-Ten-Tails alliance."
Kurama coughed awkwardly.
"If a jinchūriki loses their tailed beast, they die."
"You're protecting yourself anyway."
"But yes… I do want you to stop the Ten-Tails."
"This concerns the safety of the entire ninja world."
Minato fell into deep thought.
A tailed beast… caring about the ninja world?
Naruto smirked.
"Kurama, I actually liked you better when you were violent and arrogant."
"You used to bare your teeth and threaten to eat people."
"You were much cuter than this chubby philosophical fox."
Kurama's tail flicked angrily.
"Hmph."
At that moment, Naruto suddenly frowned.
His gaze snapped toward the Mizukage Building.
Several black dots were rapidly flying out of the tower, heading toward another district of Kirigakure.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Did Mangetsu Hōzuki and the others start their move early…"
"…or did someone else attack Kirigakure first?"
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