As usual, Konohagakure remained exceptionally quiet tonight. Aside from a few main commercial streets, most areas had already succumbed to darkness.
The ordinary citizens had no idea that the village's most important artifact, the Scroll of Seals, had recently been stolen by a student who had just failed his graduation exam.
At this very moment, every shinobi in the village had been mobilized in an emergency effort to hunt down a fellow named Naruto Uzumaki.
On the surface, it appeared to be a standard case of high-level theft, but in reality, it was a play written, directed, and performed by the powers that be. The Scroll of Seals had been under the constant surveillance of the Anbu; it had never truly left their grasp.
One had to admit, the Third Hokage had chosen a perfect moment.
Since Naruto had failed to graduate and become an official shinobi, he was technically not bound by shinobi regulations. Furthermore, there was a fool named Mizuki to take the fall as the scapegoat. With the Hokage himself stepping in to smooth things over, the matter would likely be settled quietly.
What the old man didn't know, however, was that someone had already seen through his little trick and was hiding in the shadows, prepared to give him a massive surprise.
…
In the woods outside the village, Naruto sat on the ground clutching the Scroll of Seals, which was nearly half his size, muttering in a voice only he could hear: "Let's see, the first jutsu is... Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. What?! Why is the very first one the type I'm worst at!"
Despite his grumbling, he began to practice in earnest, his face masked with pure concentration.
After a short while, he had actually begun to master this forbidden technique, a feat that would leave most shinobi dead from exhaustion. The massive chakra reserves of the Uzumaki lineage were demonstrated in the simplest, most intuitive way through this blond-haired boy.
One must understand that Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu is fundamentally different from a standard Shadow Clone; it is a true Forbidden Jutsu. Not only does it require enough chakra to create a massive number of clones instantaneously, but the user must also withstand the accumulated pain, trauma, and fatigue that snap back to the original body once the clones vanish.
If an ordinary Jonin were to perform it even once, they might be bedridden for half a month.
But Naruto? He had performed it several times in succession and acted as if nothing had happened. And this was before he had even attained the rank of Genin!
The sheer depth of his terrifying talent was undeniable.
"As expected, in this world, bloodline is a more important capital than anything else. Without the lineages of the Uchiha, Hyuga, Uzumaki, or Senju, descendants directly from the Sage of the Six Paths, all the effort in the world is for nothing. In the end, aside from Might Guy who can open the Eighth Gate, not a single one of them can put up a fight," Allen concluded, having reached a startling epiphany while observing from the darkness.
Naruto's early journey emphasized hot-blooded passion and the idea that hard work could change destiny, but as the story progressed into the mid-to-late stages, that sentiment was proven decisively wrong.
The grievances that spanned centuries in the shinobi world were, in essence, the family affairs of Kaguya Otsutsuki, a melodramatic tale of sons turning against their mother, a feud passed down through generations.
Everyone's destiny was effectively a product of manipulation by two masterminds behind the scenes: Black Zetsu and the Sage of the Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Everyone else was merely a pawn on their chessboard.
Just as Allen was silently lamenting the tragic nature of humanity in this world, Naruto Uzumaki finally completed his training of the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Suddenly, a figure descended from above, questioning Naruto with gritted teeth: "Hey! Naruto! Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Hehehehe! You found me! And I only just managed to learn one jutsu."
Naruto scratched the back of his head, an awkward smile plastered on his face. Clearly, this single-minded boy had no grasp of the gravity of the situation.
The moment he revealed who had told him about the Scroll of Seals and its location, a dozen kunai suddenly flew down from the heights. One struck Iruka squarely in the thigh. The searing pain forced the Chunin teacher from the Academy to let out a muffled groan, his face contorted in agony.
"Naruto! Hand over the Scroll of Seals!" Mizuki emerged slowly from the darkness.
"Huh? What's going on? What happened?" Naruto's mouth hung open in shock, completely unable to process the situation.
Iruka, however, endured the pain and shouted, "Naruto! You must not hand over that scroll, even if it costs you your life! It contains terrifying forbidden jutsu that can kill the user. Mizuki used you just to get his hands on it!"
Mizuki, however, was equally silver-tongued. He immediately exposed the secret of the Nine-Tails sealed within Naruto's body, telling him that this was the reason the entire village hated and loathed him. He even claimed that Iruka, the one person who had looked after him, actually harbored deep hatred for him, as Iruka's parents had died during the Nine-Tails' rampage.
Naruto was stunned by the explosive revelation. He stood frozen, not knowing what to do. His greatest wish had always been to become a shinobi and earn the village's acknowledgment by protecting them.
To be told suddenly that his very existence was a sin was a cataclysmic blow to a twelve-year-old child.
Seizing the opportunity, Mizuki wordlessly hurled a massive shuriken, intending to use the sneak attack to kill the annoying brat and reclaim the Scroll of Seals.
But just as the spinning blade was about to strike Naruto, Allen, hiding in the shadows, finally made his move.
The other three present saw only a flash of cold light!
The giant shuriken was sliced clean in two by a blade coated in chakra. With two dull thuds, the halves embedded themselves into a nearby tree trunk.
"Chunin Mizuki... what exactly do you intend to do with the village's vital war machine, the Jinchuriki?"
Wearing his mask and wielding his long blade, Allen questioned him in a voice as cold as ice.
"Root..."
When Mizuki saw that highly recognizable mask, sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, and his breathing became shallow and ragged. To a spy, Danzo's Root organization was a far more terrifying entity than the Anbu or the Intelligence Division.
In contrast, Naruto blinked in confusion. "Jinchuriki? War machine? Is he talking about me?"
"Of course I'm talking about you! Who else did you think? If not for the Nine-Tails sealed inside you, the crime of stealing the Scroll of Seals alone would have seen any other shinobi branded a traitor and executed on the spot. Now, get lost. Don't get in the way."
With that, Allen snatched the Scroll of Seals from Naruto's hands and tossed the boy toward Iruka, slinging the scroll across his own back.
Once finished, he turned to Mizuki with a cold sneer. "Now, you have two choices. One: surrender immediately and confess everything you know. Two: I strike you down here and take your corpse back to have your memories extracted directly. Tell me, which do you choose?"
Knowing full well he was no match for an elite of Root, Mizuki turned to flee without a word.
But Allen had no intention of letting him escape. With a flicker, he appeared instantly before him, his long blade piercing through Mizuki's chest from behind, pinning him directly to a tree.
In an instant!
A torrent of blood erupted from the ruptured heart. The bloody scene left Naruto, witnessing a kill for the first time, feeling a profound sense of shock and terror from the bottom of his soul.