"Itachi-san, this village is your hometown, right? Do you miss it?"
Under his straw hat, Hoshigaki Kisame revealed a mouthful of sharp teeth as he stood at the outer railing of Hokage Rock, glancing sideways at Uchiha Itachi, who was dressed similarly.
"No."
Itachi's gaze swept over the devastated village of Konoha, passing over the damaged walls, collapsed houses, and treetops.
Even though the entire Konoha Village was badly damaged, the dense round-roofed houses still looked almost bursting. With their red tiles and yellow walls, surrounded by dense forests, the scenery remained lush.
"It's an ugly place."
Having said that, Itachi slowly turned around and left, stopping for a moment beside Kisame.
"Let's go."
…
Konoha Hospital.
"Please wait a moment." The Chunin in charge of guarding the entrance to the floor checked the procedures and immediately smiled, "Please follow me."
"Mom, are there many people visiting Sasuke?" Ino walked alongside her mother, Rino, down the hospital corridor, and asked casually.
"Not many," Rino replied, "Some clans are in a wait-and-see state. Most clans have no reason to approach the Uchiha Clan's survivor and risk suspicion from the village's higher-ups."
"The Advisors granted us special permission to visit the child."
"Hey, Ino, you like Sasuke, right?" Rino turned around and asked with a chuckle.
"Of course, who doesn't like Sasuke?" Ino said openly while holding her mother's hand, "Sasuke has always been very handsome."
"Indeed, the men of the Uchiha Clan are very charming." Rino said with a chuckle.
On the rooftop of a tall building outside Konoha Hospital.
Itachi stared at Naruto not far away, making hand seals in preparation from a distance. The distance would affect the effect of the Ninjutsu, and the hand seals are needed to concentrate his Chakra.
"The plan to capture the Kyubi unexpectedly went smoothly." Kisame said with a relaxed look, "He's just a little kid, there's no need to be nervous."
"Kisame, the Jinchuriki is waiting for us."
"What?" Kisame's expression changed slightly, "Itachi-san, we entered Konoha without anyone noticing us, right?"
"Yes, that's why it's weird."
"Should we abandon the mission?" Kisame asked, "If we get entangled by the Konoha's Shinobi, things will become troublesome."
"No, now is the best opportunity." Itachi raised his head, and the Sharingan in his pupils started spinning, "It seems that no one except the Jinchuriki has noticed our existence for the time being."
Naruto looked at Itachi and Kisame in the distance. His face is still expressionless, but there's a hint of nervousness.
This might be the first major crisis he had encountered since crossing over. Standing opposite him is Uchiha Itachi. He knew that Itachi would probably come, but he didn't expect him to come so soon.
'It seemed that besides me, no one else had noticed them.'
'Should I shout for help?'
'Or not… It's better to shout for Sasuke to be effective.'
'I was just casually strolling around, how did it come to this? Should I run? It's better to run first. Itachi will not let anyone other than Sasuke go, he's too dangerous.'
The summer breeze blew by, and Naruto decisively turned around and ran.
Itachi's figure also disappeared, almost instantly blocking Naruto's way, as if he is teleporting. He stretched out his hand wrapped in a fishing net combat uniform from his large black cloak with red clouds pattern and grabbed towards Naruto.
Meanwhile, Kisame also approached from behind. Unless something unexpected happened, Naruto's speed and time were simply not enough to form hand seals.
However, there were three ninjutsu systems given by the system that did not require hand seals.
Flying Thunder God, Adamantine Sealing Chains and Four Symbols Seal.
The latter two things wouldn't cause much harm to Itachi and Kisame, whose strength is far greater than that of Naruto now.
Naruto never forgot his original intention and was determined to escape.
As Itachi closed in on Naruto, nearly grabbing him, Naruto activated the Flying Thunder God Technique!
In an instant, he returned to the position where the confrontation began, leaving a few Explosive Tags behind as he vanished.
Itachi's eyes widened slightly and he instantly left the explosion range.
Boom! Boom!
The loud explosions echoed across the skies of Konoha.
The Shinobi on guard duty scattered throughout the village all raised their heads and looked in the direction of the sound.
"Kisame, let's go."
Itachi was almost unharmed, but he still decided to temporarily abandon the plan.
Naruto, who had narrowly escaped, hid in the shadows of an abandoned building. He silently apologized for blowing up a newly constructed building that was set to be sold and was thankful that this era which lacked extensive surveillance systems.
Fortunately, he was well prepared and placed the Flying Thunder God Kunai in a building not far from him. If he had placed it any further, he might have been in real trouble.
"What are you hiding from?"
A familiar voice emerged from the shadows, causing Naruto to spin around, only to see a strange black-haired girl. Her clothes were somewhat worn, and her hair lacked luster.
'But I feel like I've heard this tone before…'
"It's you?"
Naruto was dumbfounded, 'Orochimaru had already run away, so what was Tayuya doing here?'
Tayuya had changed her disguise again, and it seemed that she had used some Ninjutsu. In short, her appearance was somewhat different from the previous two times.
Now, she resembled an ordinary girl from the slums. There was nothing striking about her appearance, and it didn't seem odd for her to be in an abandoned building.
"It seems you recognized me." Tayuya said coldly, "It seems I have no choice but to kill you."
"I'll treat you to a beef bowl."
"Hmph." Tayuya put away her weapon, "If you put it that way... I'll let you live a few more days."
"What flavor do you want to eat?" Naruto asked, propping himself up from the dusty ground. His palms were covered with grime, and there was a musty smell inside the building.
Perhaps due to the long years of disrepair and the lack of light, even though they weren't far apart, they still couldn't see each other's faces clearly. Dirty water dripped from the cracks in the ceiling, landing on Naruto's shoulder.
"I've never had it, but it sounds tasty."
"Then I'll choose for you."
"Can I add an extra ice cream? If you refuse, I'll kill you immediately."
"Of course you can. I just happened to escape a disaster, so it can be considered a celebration." Naruto exhaled, "But if my life is only worth an ice cream, I really can't be happy."
"How about two?"
"Will it upset your stomach?"
"No, I've only gone three days without food."
"You'll die!" Naruto gasped.
"It's just three days." Tayuya displayed a proud expression, lifting her chin slightly with a smirk.
"That isn't something to brag about, is it?" Naruto was exasperated, 'What on earth was this girl doing here? Why would she stay behind? How could Orochimaru have such a stupid subordinate?'
"Let's go." Naruto walked past Tayuya with his hands in his pockets and asked with narrowed eyes, "Where's the exit in this place?"
"It's so dark, I can't see anything at all."