"Can you tell me what the mission is?" Karin's mother took a deep breath, instinctively shielding her daughter behind her. "May I ask, how many tasks are there?"
The frail woman looked as if a gust of wind could blow her over.
"Two assassination missions! You'll find out more when we get there," the Hidden Grass Village ANBU ninja said, offering no further information.
His gaze moved past Karin's mother and landed on Karin.
"Tch," he clicked his tongue, "you've raised your daughter quite well. She might be useful someday."
"No! Karin is still young!" Uzumaki Fushi quickly protested.
"She won't be for long. We didn't take you and your daughter in to freeload," the ANBU ninja retorted, dragging Karin's mother away.
In the large room, only Karin remained.
She stared blankly at her mother's departing figure and the malicious Grass Village ANBU. With her innate Uzumaki clan-sensing abilities, she knew those masked ninjas were bad people.
But she couldn't do anything.
"I'm so useless..."
...
Late at night.
In a rundown town in the Land of Grass.
Naruto woke up suddenly, having dreamt once again of the "Tailed Beast." The beast kept badmouthing Whitebeard, which enraged Naruto, leading him to argue with it in the sealed space.
Then.
He woke up in anger.
"That annoying fox!" Naruto grumbled. He had come to accept the existence of a "monster" inside him, but that didn't stop him from disliking it.
To Naruto, as long as his dad didn't discriminate against or despise him.
Even if he had nine monsters inside him.
He wouldn't care.
"Every time I dream of that stupid fox, it badmouths Dad and tries to trick me into tearing off that paper." Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Bleh! I'm not a big idiot!"
Though Naruto didn't fully understand what the paper was.
He knew the fox had ill intentions.
"Oh no, I drank too much."
Naruto's face flushed with embarrassment as he quickly crawled out of bed.
He opened the door.
And went looking for the bathroom.
"Whew! Finally found it!" After more than two minutes, he finally saw a building resembling a bathroom. But just as he pushed the door open, he felt a cold touch on his face.
"Eh? Da—mmm mmm mmm—"
"Shh! It's me, Kakashi!" Kakashi quickly covered Naruto's mouth, preventing him from making too much noise.
When Naruto woke up.
Kakashi also woke up.
But Kakashi keenly sensed something was wrong.
The inn they were staying at was too quiet, unnaturally so, without even the sound of footsteps.
It was completely different from when they first arrived.
As a member of the Leaf Village's ANBU Black Ops.
Kakashi immediately became vigilant, following Naruto until he entered the bathroom before revealing himself.
"Naruto, listen!" Kakashi whispered, "Someone might be targeting us. I don't know if they're after you or me."
He loosened his grip on Naruto's mouth.
Naruto's eyes widened: "Kakashi-sensei, are we under attack?"
"I don't know."
Kakashi shook his head. "Let's hope not, but that's probably wishful thinking."
"What about Dad?" Naruto was concerned about Whitebeard.
"Don't worry!"
Kakashi reassured him. "Your dad probably noticed something was wrong before I did. He has a unique sensing ability."
In fact, Kakashi's observation was correct.
Even during his years of suffering from chronic ailments.
Whitebeard's Observation Haki...
It was intermittently effective.
But after the treatment from Tsunade and Shizune, Whitebeard found that his Observation Haki had fully recovered and was as sharp as ever.
If even a non-sensory ninja-like Kakashi could sense, something was wrong.
Then there was no way a battle-hardened Whitebeard, with Observation Haki, wouldn't notice.
...
At that moment, Whitebeard...
I was resting outside.
Unable to fit into the small inn, the innkeeper had to bring out many mattresses, piecing together an enormous bed for Whitebeard to sleep on outside.
Whitebeard was now lying on the makeshift bed, snoring away, with Murakumogiri several meters away.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!!!
Barely audible sounds echoed as several concealed figures appeared on every tree nearby.
One by one, Hidden Grass Village ANBU ninjas emerged silently.
They skillfully sealed off the entire inn.
Their eyes locked on Whitebeard.
Whitebeard's exaggerated size made him impossible to ignore.
Especially since he was sleeping outside the inn.
That made him even more conspicuous.
"This... is the giant the leader mentioned?" A Hidden Grass Village ANBU ninja licked his dry lips.
His self-talk, he believed, was only audible to him: "It's really a giant! How many cuts would it take to sever this thick neck?"
And the giant seemed oblivious to their presence.
So he must be an ordinary big guy.
At most, just because of his size.
He might be stronger.
But against so many ANBU assassins, what good is strength?
Ninjas...
Value strategy!
The Hidden Grass Village ANBU exchanged silent hand signals.
Within less than ten seconds, they had devised their attack plan.
And then.
Each ANBU ninja pulled several shuriken from their pouches. Under the moonlight, the shuriken gleamed faintly green, clearly poisoned.
As soon as one ANBU ninja signaled to strike.
Suddenly!
Killing intent surged!
No one foolishly alerted their target during an assassination. None of the ANBU made a sound.
They decisively hurled their shuriken.
One after another, the shuriken flew through the air.
"Hah! We got him! This giant is just tall, not a real ninja!"
But as they showed joy.
The next moment.
Their faces froze.
As fast as the shuriken flew toward Whitebeard, they were deflected just as quickly.
Whitebeard's skin even sparked slightly.
It seemed like the shuriken collided with his skin.
"What? Is his body made of iron?!"
The shuriken couldn't even pierce his skin, which was unexpected. His chest was bare.
Why couldn't sharp weapons cut through his flesh?!
"Gurararara!"
A sudden laugh, like a death knell, rang in every ANBU's ears: "Where did these ninja brats come from? Chasing me from that broken village of Konoha?"
Whitebeard had opened his eyes.
He sat up, making it seem impossible for any ANBU to escape his "sight."
"How annoying!"
"Brats!"
...
...