There was also the matter of the Byakugan being able to evolve.
Naruto had never heard of such a thing before.
Still, he only found it mildly surprising.
He quickly stopped paying attention to that bombshell revelation.
After all, at Naruto's current level, things like the Byakugan and Sharingan were concepts he only vaguely understood.
He had merely heard of them.
He didn't truly know what those eyes represented.
In fact, compared to the idea of the Byakugan evolving, Naruto cared much more about another statement:
What did it mean that he and Hinata would end up together?
Did that mean he would marry Hinata in the future?
Become a couple with her?
Impossible!
The one who would end up with him was definitely Sakura!
Sure, Sakura was currently deceived by Sasuke and blinded by his charm.
But Naruto firmly believed that one day Sakura would realize he was far better than Sasuke.
How could it possibly be Hinata?
Had that girl ruined his future relationship with Sakura?
How annoying!
[But right now, Hinata is basically invisible in Naruto's eyes.]
[Naruto is Sakura's ultimate simp.]
[And Sakura is Sasuke's ultimate simp. Even after Sasuke gets manipulated by Orochimaru and defects from Konoha, she never changes her feelings.]
[Naruto never really had a chance.]
[Though I do wonder when Orochimaru first set his sights on Sasuke.]
[Even while carrying out something as important as the Konoha Crush Plan, he still made time to personally evaluate Sasuke.]
[Looks like Orochimaru was extremely satisfied with Sasuke's body.]
"Simp?"
Naruto immediately pouted.
The diary made it sound awful.
What simp?
It was called dedication!
As a future Hokage, once he decided on something, of course he had to work hard for it.
A guy was supposed to take the initiative.
Naruto had always enjoyed pursuing Sakura and never once considered it simping.
If anything, he wondered whether Sakura simply hadn't realized how amazing he was yet because he wasn't being enthusiastic enough.
Yeah!
Time for self-reflection!
As for Sakura being a Sasuke simp, Naruto was convinced that she was merely being fooled by Sasuke for the moment.
Eventually she would definitely—
"Huh!?"
Naruto's train of thought abruptly derailed.
His voice jumped an entire octave.
What?!
Sasuke defects from Konoha?
No way!
How could Sasuke ever do something like that?
Sure, Naruto didn't get along with Sasuke.
And yes, he hated how much closer Sakura seemed to be to Sasuke.
But no matter what, Sasuke was still his teammate.
Naruto had never doubted Sasuke's loyalty to Konoha.
Even if he never admitted it aloud, Naruto knew deep down that Sasuke was an excellent ninja.
One of the best among his generation.
Someone like that would never betray the village.
Naruto absolutely refused to believe it.
"Orochimaru again!"
"That guy is the worst!"
When Naruto saw Orochimaru causing trouble once more, he immediately puffed out his cheeks in frustration.
The diary had already mentioned that Orochimaru killed the Third Hokage.
And now he was targeting Sasuke too?
This guy really was a villain!
Naruto simply couldn't understand why the Third Hokage refused to tell him much about Orochimaru.
Whenever Naruto asked, the old man only vaguely said:
"He's a dangerous individual. This isn't something a genin like you needs to know yet."
Of course Naruto wasn't satisfied with that answer.
He had secretly tried investigating on his own.
But how much information could someone in Naruto's social circle really uncover?
When the Third Hokage learned about it, he summoned Naruto and scolded him again.
Only then did Naruto reluctantly give up.
Yet now the diary was mentioning Orochimaru again!
And according to the diary, Orochimaru wanted Sasuke's body?
What did that mean?
Was there something special about Sasuke's body?
Did Orochimaru need it for some forbidden technique or sinister plot?
Damn it!
Why wouldn't the old man tell him anything?
Now he felt completely in the dark.
And what exactly was this "Konoha Crush Plan"?
Was Orochimaru planning to destroy Konoha?
Killing the Hokage, plotting Konoha's collapse, targeting Sasuke—
Who exactly was Orochimaru?
Naruto unconsciously clenched his fists.
"Could this be the secret behind Orochimaru's immortality?"
"Something similar to Zola's mind-transfer technology?"
On another world's diary page, Tony Stark immediately connected some dots.
The diary had previously mentioned that Orochimaru possessed a form of immortality.
But it never explained how it worked.
Now, however, the diary was talking about Orochimaru's interest in Sasuke's body.
That triggered Tony's instincts.
After all, the diary had once discussed Arnim Zola's immortality.
It had even stated that combining Zola's consciousness-transfer technology with Helen Cho's Regeneration Cradle could create true immortality.
The principle was simple:
Transfer the mind into a newly grown body.
The key ingredients?
Consciousness transfer and replacement bodies.
Given that context, Tony couldn't help but make the connection.
So Orochimaru's immortality worked like that?
Taking over other people's bodies?
If so, Orochimaru was definitely bad news.
Then again, the guy had already murdered a Hokage and planned to destroy Konoha.
He practically radiated supervillain energy.
[Doing the math, the Chūnin Exams should be coming up soon, right? Orochimaru has probably already reached a secret agreement with the Hidden Sand Village.]
[Poor Sunagakure. They got completely played by Orochimaru.]
[Not only did they become pawns in his attack against Konoha, but Orochimaru even killed their Kazekage.]
[Though to be fair, he also killed the Hokage, so the Sand Village didn't exactly come away empty-handed.]
[The real loser was the Third Hokage.]
[He deliberately let Orochimaru escape years ago, only to end up dying at the hands of his own student.]
The moment Tony saw the Hidden Sand Village mentioned, his attention sharpened.
This was the second ninja village referenced by the diary after Konoha.
Was it one of the Five Great Ninja Villages?
Given that Orochimaru was using it to attack Konoha, Tony suspected so.
After all, Konoha was apparently the strongest village.
A weak village probably wouldn't dare challenge it.
And judging from the diary's wording, the conspiracy between Orochimaru and the Sand Village resulted in the death of the Hokage.
Could this invasion be the "Konoha Crush Plan" mentioned earlier?
Destroying Konoha would naturally involve eliminating its leader.
The diary never explicitly connected the Third Hokage's death to the Konoha Crush Plan.
But Tony couldn't shake the feeling that they were one and the same event.
Of course, it remained only a theory.
There was no proof.
Still, another detail stood out:
Orochimaru killed the Hokage.
And the Kazekage.
The leaders of two different villages had died because of him.
This guy truly was a top-tier villain.
"Kazekage?"
Naruto scratched his head.
He had only graduated recently.
Most of his missions involved finding lost pets and helping villagers.
He rarely left Konoha.
Naturally, he knew almost nothing about other villages.
He had heard of Sunagakure.
But details?
Not many.
Wasn't the Sand Village supposed to be Konoha's ally?
Yet the diary claimed they joined Orochimaru against Konoha.
Could that really be true?
Still, these issues felt far beyond Naruto's reach.
The only thing he could think of was telling the Third Hokage.
As for Orochimaru killing the Kazekage, Naruto couldn't draw any conclusions.
But if Orochimaru could kill a Kage, then his strength must be terrifying.
"A missing-nin?"
"Orochimaru is a Konoha rogue ninja?"
When Naruto finally learned Orochimaru's true identity, he was stunned.
He had never expected Orochimaru to have once been a Konoha ninja.
More accurately—
A ninja who betrayed Konoha.
How unforgivable.
First he abandoned the village.
Then he teamed up with outsiders to attack it.
And even worse, the diary said the Third Hokage had once let him go.
"Why would Grandpa Hokage do that?"
"Why spare a traitor?"
Naruto felt genuinely upset.
He wanted to run straight to the Hokage's office and demand answers.
But then he remembered something:
The diary had also said Sasuke would one day leave Konoha.
Naruto asked himself honestly:
If Sasuke truly betrayed the village...
Could he kill Sasuke?
Naruto froze.
He couldn't answer.
And in that moment, he gained a small understanding of the Third Hokage's feelings.
Maybe there were circumstances.
Maybe there were reasons.
Still, Orochimaru repaying that mercy by attacking the Hokage was outrageous.
The more Naruto thought about it, the angrier he became.
[Minato Namikaze wasn't any luckier. He died at the hands of his own student, Obito Uchiha.]
[Not only him, but his wife Kushina died as well.]
[Who would have imagined that the mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Disaster was actually the beloved student of the Fourth Hokage?]
[Killing your teacher really is a Konoha tradition.]
[Minato's death was such a tragedy.]
[His Flying Thunder God Technique was famous throughout the ninja world.]
[He could even deal with the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bombs. Completely broken.]
[If he had survived, the Hidden Cloud Village would never have dared cause trouble for Konoha, and Hizashi Hyūga wouldn't have had to die.]
"My father!"
The moment Naruto saw Minato's name, he sat up straight.
The story of the Fourth Hokage was legendary.
His achievements during the Third Great Ninja War were taught in textbooks.
A commoner who became Hokage.
A true legend.
And Naruto's personal hero.
After all, Naruto was a commoner too.
Unlike the First and Second Hokage from the powerful Senju Clan.
Or the Third Hokage from the Sarutobi Clan.
When Naruto first learned Minato was his father, he had been overjoyed.
He reread every single book about Minato again and again.
Now even the mysterious diary was talking about him.
Naruto wanted to know exactly what it had to say.
But soon, his brow furrowed.
His father's student?
Obito Uchiha?
"What is going on?"
Naruto couldn't understand.
Wasn't his father supposed to have died protecting the village from the Nine-Tails?
That's what the Third Hokage had told him.
The fox had rampaged during Naruto's birth.
Minato and Kushina died stopping it.
His father was a hero.
Yet the diary claimed he died because of Obito Uchiha?
An Uchiha?
As far as Naruto knew, Sasuke was the only surviving member of that clan.
So was Obito already dead too?
Naruto's fists clenched tightly.
He couldn't even avenge his father.
Otherwise he would have wanted to hunt Obito down himself.
But why had the Third Hokage never told him any of this?
Clearly there was more to the Nine-Tails attack than Naruto had been told.
He immediately made up his mind.
As soon as this latest round of revelations ended, he was going to demand answers from the Hokage.
Still, one thing had finally become clear.
The "Nine-Tails Disaster" mentioned in the diary and the "Fox Demon Incident" described by the Third Hokage were the same event.
The Nine-Tails was the fox.
"Ten-Tails?"
"What's a Ten-Tails?"
After calming down, Naruto continued reading.
If the Nine-Tails was already that terrifying—strong enough to cost his father his life—
Then what about the Ten-Tails?
A beast with one extra tail?
Wouldn't it be even more powerful?
-----------------------
Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Guys, I've uploaded some High Quality english translated fanfic on my Patreon shop! Feel free to check it out-if you're interested, you can grab a copy and support me there.
Here are a few titles of recently uploaded fanfics:
New Addition
" Marvel: Body of Steel, but Becoming Homelander "
" Marvel & DC: The Laid-Back Daily Life of a Comedy Character "
" Marvel: Eyes of the Black Hole "
" Becoming a God in Marvel "
" Marvel: Invincible Talismans "
" Marvel: Awakening Abstract Abilities at the Beginning "
" Marvel: Fused with Broly at the Start "
" Marvel: Starting as the God of Destruction "
" Superman in Marvel—Will I Get a Copyright Warning? "
many more are available 145+
Your support means a lot-thanks in advance, legends!
patreon.com/SuperTL
(End of Chapter)