Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 275 Reunion after a long absence

"Yes, there is." Kakashi nodded as he looked at Neji who had come to him. "But it's a bit troublesome, and we don't know when we'll be able to get in touch with him."

“Then please pass on a message to him,” Neji said. “If he doesn’t come back this time, then he can forget about ever setting foot on the Hyuga clan’s territory again.”

“Alright.” Kakashi nodded. “I’ll let him know what’s happening here as soon as possible and have him come to support you and Sasuke.”

"Then I'll leave it to you." Neji bowed solemnly and said.

……

In the Sage Mode training pool at Mount Myōboku, Naruto, who was sitting cross-legged on a stone slab, suddenly opened his eyes. A layer of red eyeshadow with a golden glow slowly appeared around his eyes.

"Success!" At the edge of the cultivation pool, a look of joy immediately appeared on the face of the immortal Fukasaku.

Naruto leaped up from the stone slab and came to stand in front of everyone. Jiraiya looked Naruto up and down and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad at all. You've just finished training and you're already in the perfect Toad Sage Mode."

"Do you think everyone is like you?" Shima Sage jumped up and hit Jiraiya on the head with her cane. "After all these years, your Sage Mode is still half-baked."

"Boss! Give me some face in front of the kids, okay?" Jiraiya said, while holding the spot where he had been hit.

"Lord Jiraiya, there's an urgent message from Konoha." At that moment, a communication frog hurriedly ran to the training pond and said to Jiraiya.

"An urgent message from Konoha? Requesting me?" Jiraiya asked.

"No, it's for Lord Naruto." The messenger frog handed Naruto a scroll. "It's a letter from Kakashi, the captain of the Konoha Police Force."

"Kakashi-nii is looking for me?" Naruto took the scroll, scratching his head in confusion, but his expression changed drastically after opening it.

"Has something happened in the village?" Jiraiya asked, a serious expression appearing on his face as he looked at Naruto's expression.

"Yes, someone attacked the village and kidnapped Hinata." Naruto's expression turned completely cold. Although he was rather oblivious to matters of the heart, over the years he had come to realize the difference between Hinata and others. Now that Hinata had been kidnapped and Neji had sent him a message asking for help, he had to go back no matter what.

"Grandpa Jiraiya, I'm going back to the village. You and Gaara shouldn't wander around these next few days. If possible, bring him to Mount Myōboku for a couple of days as well," Naruto said.

After saying that, Naruto formed the hand seals to release the reverse summoning.

"Hey! Naruto, wait a minute!" Jiraiya saw this and tried to chase after him, but Naruto had already disappeared from the spot.

After Jiraiya released the reverse summoning, he returned to the camp where he and Gaara had previously set up camp. However, when he returned, Naruto was nowhere to be found, leaving only traces of a large burst of chakra in the original location.

"Gaara, where's Naruto?" Jiraiya asked, turning to Gaara who was tending the campfire.

“He said he had something urgent to attend to and left,” Gaara said.

"Couldn't you have stopped them a little bit?" Jiraiya said.

"How could I stop him? He ran away as soon as he showed up," Gaara said innocently, shrugging his shoulders.

"Forget it, that kid's strength is probably far beyond mine now, so we probably won't be of much help even if we go there." Jiraiya shook his head helplessly, then said to Gaara, "You'll come with me to Mount Myōboku for a few days to wait for him to come back."

“Okay.” Gaara nodded.

……

In just one night, six meteorites fell from the sky, and Uchiha Touko's Susanoo appeared in the sky above Konoha six times. The residents of Konoha went from being panicked at the beginning to sticking their heads out of their windows to watch the commotion whenever it happened, and finally to getting used to it.

Some of the earliest inhabitants of Konoha, who had received the Three Pure Ones' education but never changed their ways, secretly released these meteorites, claiming that Uchiha Touko's tyranny had angered the heavens, and that the heavens had sent down divine punishment.

However, before the public opinion could take hold in the village, these troublemakers were taken away by the police to undergo "Sanqing Re-education".

Uchiha Touko, after dealing with another meteorite that fell from the sky at seven in the morning, squinted and pondered in the direction where the moon had disappeared. According to the intelligence he had sent back from various border areas that night, it seemed that Otsutsuki Toneri was targeting Konoha, as no other place in the ninja world had been attacked by meteorites.

Therefore, Uchiha Touko couldn't help but begin to suspect that the other party might be colluding with some schemers hiding in the shadows.

"Doukaku, should we declare a state of martial law during the day?" Kakashi asked Doukaku, who was waiting for him in the Hokage's office.

“Let’s declare martial law,” Uchiha Touko said. “But this time, let’s be gentler. We’ll have the village ninjas distribute essential supplies to every resident who stays at home. As for the supplies, I’ll have Gato’s trading company prepare them.”

"Yes." Kakashi nodded.

Meanwhile, inside the Scientific Ninja Tools Research Institute, Tenten kept her eyes glued to the screen, searching for signals transmitted from the life monitoring device on Hinata's body.

"Deputy Director! We've received a signal!" At that moment, a loud shout suddenly rang out in the research institute, and a genin carrying a portable screen ran towards Tenten. "The enemy seems to have a special way to block the signal emitted by the life detector, but just now, our detection device received a signal from the southern part of the Land of Rice Fields, but it disappeared very quickly."

"Mark the location on the map!" Tian Tian, ​​who hadn't slept all night, said hurriedly with dark circles under her eyes.

Soon, a location was marked on the electronic map in front of everyone.

"Is this the place?" Neji asked, his gaze fixed on the spot.

"Sorry, Neji, this is the best we can do for now," Tenten said, rubbing her tired eyes.

"It's alright, leave the rest to me." Neji rubbed Tenten's head and said with a forced smile.

"Take this with you." Tenten took out a scroll from a drawer and then took out a grenade-like object. "This thing was recently developed by the research institute from the armor of the artificial human corpse that the Hokage brought back. It can create a force field that decomposes chakra in one second. But you have to be careful when you use it. The range of this thing is 15 meters. Be careful not to come into contact with the force field."

"As for the other equipment, I already maintained it last night. The distance is too far this time, so I can't provide direct support. So, be careful," Tian Tian said.

"Okay." Neji nodded, a hint of tenderness appearing on his face. "Originally, I planned to have my uncle go to your house to propose marriage in the next few days, but this happened suddenly. But don't worry, wait for me..."

As soon as Neji finished speaking, Tenten's expression changed instantly. She reached out and covered Neji's mouth, then pouted and said, "You'd better shut up. Don't just make up these kinds of promises for me!"

"Alright, alright." Neji shook his head helplessly. "I won't say anything more."

"Anyway, bring Hinata back as soon as possible," Tenten said slowly, looking at Neji.

After obtaining the map, Neji, fully armed, went to the Hokage Building to greet Uchiha Touko, and then went to the village entrance, where Sasuke was already waiting.

At this moment, Sasuke's eyes were covered with a white cloth, his waist was adorned with Zidian, and his whole body exuded a strange aura, as if he was nurturing some kind of powerful force.

"Are you... alright?" Neji asked hesitantly, looking at Sasuke's eyes, which were covered by a white cloth.

"It's alright, I'll recover soon," Sasuke said. "Let's go, don't waste any more time."

After walking a distance towards the edge of the village, Neji suddenly stopped and said loudly, "Since you're here, show yourself. There's no point in hiding."

The next instant, a blond figure jumped down from a nearby tree.

"Neji, Sasuke, it's been a long time." Naruto approached the two, forcing an awkward smile.

"Hmph, what are you doing back here?" Sasuke was initially delighted upon sensing Naruto's presence, but then his face hardened as he said, "Aren't you afraid we'll capture you and take you back to the village, you rogue ninja?"

"After receiving Neji's message, I rushed to the village immediately, and I made it in time," Naruto said.

"What kind of help are you asking him for? Our Konoha hasn't fallen so low that we need a rogue ninja to help us, has it?" Sasuke said, turning to Neji.

"Hey! That's going too far! I've been running around all night!" Naruto's face showed dissatisfaction when he saw Sasuke's attitude.

"Humph!"

"Humph!"

The two of them snorted coldly almost simultaneously.

"Alright, alright, stop arguing!" Neji quickly stepped in as a peacemaker, seeing that the two were about to start fighting after almost a year apart. "Give me some face, let's rescue Hinata and Hanabi first, okay?"

“Okay.” Sasuke nodded, then continued, “Once this is over, I’ll break this guy’s legs and drag him back to the village.”

"Hmph, so arrogant! Have you forgotten how you lost to me last time?" Naruto retorted immediately.

"Ugh." Neji rubbed his temples, also having a terrible headache. If it weren't for the fact that this operation to rescue Hinata and Hanabi really needed Naruto's strength, he really wouldn't want to shake him back to the village. "Anyway, our Team 7 has been temporarily reassembled this time."

The two of them still gave Neji, the leader of Team 7, some face, and remained silent as they headed towards their destination.

During a break, Naruto nudged Neji and asked, "What's wrong with this guy's eyes?"

“I don’t know either, but he said it’s fine, so it should be fine,” Neji said. “If you’re really curious, why don’t you go ask him yourself?”

"I don't want to talk to this guy." Naruto pouted.

“However, you don’t seem to be doing very well outside,” Neji said, pointing to Naruto’s unkempt hair and tattered coat.

"It's alright," Naruto waved his hand. "It's still like sleeping in the open, nothing like the conditions in the village."

"How about we go back to the village after this is all over?" Neji suggested.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was also secretly listening nearby.

"No," Naruto shook his head. "I haven't finished what I need to do yet, but if the war starts, I'll come back as soon as possible."

"Hmph, Neji, what are you talking to him about? We comrades are not important to him at all." Sasuke said sinisterly.

"Damn it! What did you say! Do you want to fight?" Naruto immediately stood up and roared.

“Fine, let’s fight! I only held back last time because I didn’t want to hurt you! Do you really think you’re a match for me?” Sasuke said without backing down.

"Shut up, all of you!" Neji couldn't hold back any longer and roared.

"Humph!"

"Humph!"

The rest period passed unpleasantly, and the three continued their journey, soon arriving at the location marked on the map where Hinata's life monitor signal had last appeared by evening.

"Is this the place?" Naruto looked around. "It looks quite ordinary."

“There’s a peculiar chakra fluctuation deep inside that cave.” Neji activated his Byakugan at that moment, surveying his surroundings, and quickly made a discovery.

“Let’s go then.” Naruto nodded, but the next moment, his expression changed drastically, and he shouted, “Watch out! Enemy attack!”

Naruto entered Kurama Mode almost instantly. After grabbing Neji and Sasuke with giant chakra hands that stretched out from behind him, he leaped high into the air.

Just then, from the depths of the cave where Neji had mentioned the unusual chakra fluctuations, a massive beam of chakra shot towards the location where the three had been standing.

The next instant, mounds of earth began to rise from the ground around them, and then one by one they transformed into human shapes.

"Puppets?" Neji saw through the true nature of these figures formed from mud at a glance and exclaimed in surprise, "Puppets that are supported solely by flowing chakra? They don't even have the chakra transmission lines that puppets need inside? No wonder the Byakugan couldn't detect their existence earlier."

"Want to outnumber them? I'm not afraid!" Naruto shouted, using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. Countless Naruto figures, covered in golden chakra aura, descended from the sky, each entangling the puppets that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Lightning Release: Immovable King!" Sasuke, who had been taken to a safe place by Naruto, began to rapidly form hand seals. Although he could not see for the time being, the bolts of lightning that descended from the sky accurately found each puppet that was entangled by Naruto's shadow clones and blasted them into pieces of dirt one by one.

However, Neji, who was looking down at the battlefield from above, noticed that every time the two of them dealt with a puppet, the scattered dirt would quickly coalesce into a new puppet, seemingly endless.

(End of this chapter)