Escape From Konoha

"Interesting, why do you have time to come to my place?"

Mizuki, who works as a manager in a building built among high mountains, was somewhat surprised to see Kakashi coming to see him.

This is the eastern stronghold of Orochimaru's forces. It takes about four days to walk from Otogakure Village. If you run, you can reach it in less than half a day.

Since it was still winter, most of the wild beasts were sleeping in their lairs, making the mountains look extremely empty and deserted.

Because the building is also built in a relatively hidden place among the mountains, it will not be easily noticed. As long as you are not too unlucky, you will basically not encounter any battles here.

Moreover, no one has nothing to do and comes here to find trouble in a barren land.

"I just came here to check on the situation on your side. The ninja world is not peaceful recently."

Kakashi sat on the sofa familiarly, as if he was the manager here, not paying attention to Mizuki's slightly unhappy eyes.

"Chun, please go out first. Just leave this guy to me to entertain him."

After driving away his fiancée who was lingering in the living room, Minato sat down on the sofa opposite Kakashi.

"It seems that you are living a good life here."

Kakashi glanced around and said.

"Huh, it's just a completely abandoned stronghold. The people detained here are ordinary prisoners, or guys who have been forgotten by Orochimaru. They are not even qualified to go to Orochimaru's operating table."

Mizuki sarcastically poured himself a cup of hot water. There was no heating device here, and there was no room to enjoy it.

Being thrown here means that he will not be able to see Orochimaru throughout the year. More often than not, Orochimaru would send envoys over to inspect and see if there were any management problems.

The only time you can see Orochimaru is when the person in charge of the four strongholds goes to Otogakure to report to Orochimaru.

However, due to the abandoned nature of the Eastern Stronghold, he is the least popular among the stronghold managers.

Compared to other stronghold managers, he has the least qualifications here under Orochimaru.

Although he is confident in his strength, he is not inferior to other stronghold managers.

"That's why people here can save a small life."

"So, what about you? What did you find out about Orochimaru?"

Mizuki continued to ask.

Being placed in an abandoned stronghold by Orochimaru means that his work, or mission, will be extremely difficult to complete.

Because the base manager is basically unable to leave the base and move freely without a summons.

Although the position is high and powerful, it also loses the convenience of free movement.

"We have already discovered something, but this guy's ability to dig 'holes' is no worse than the one we are loyal to in the Kingdom of Ghosts. In other words, this is a common problem of superiors, cunning rabbits with three holes. Also Before leaving Konoha, he likes to dig holes everywhere for emergencies."

Kakashi sighed.

It is simply impossible to detect all the branch strongholds of Orochimaru's forces in a short period of time.

These strongholds are far apart, regardless of country or environment. No one knows how many holes Orochimaru has dug in the years since he left Konoha.

Some strongholds are not on the list, but they are more important than the four strongholds in the southeast, northwest and southeast.

The secrets hidden in those strongholds are even more important.

"It doesn't matter, just add my name when the time comes... For example, 'With my best efforts and cooperation regardless of life safety, I discovered most of Orochimaru's secrets.' Similar to this kind of report, I I wouldn’t mind at all.”

Mizuki nodded and asked Kakashi.

"You really don't know how to be polite at all."

Kakashi was speechless.

"There is no way. My talent as a ninja can only be considered mediocre, and there is no blood limit. If I want to climb to a high position, I can only use this method. And with your ability, you might be qualified to compete. That position... I am investing in advance. After all, you are too weak around me."

Mizuki smiled, giving off a sinister and annoying feeling.

Thinking correctly, completing tasks and working hard have always been his life motto.

The promotion path in Konoha has come to an end. In the next path, only Kakashi can support him to take a further step.

Otherwise, with his ability that is neither high nor low, reaching this level, it is basically the end.

But he still has most of his life left, and he doesn't want to be in an embarrassing situation all the time.

Keep forging ahead and fighting for your life.

He also doesn't think his values ​​are shameful.

"It's too early to say such a thing. Besides, it depends on Sasuke's progress."

Kakashi was making tea for himself leisurely, feeling no urgency about what was coming next.

"Speaking of which, can you not watch from Sasuke's side? Orochimaru is a guy who eats people without spitting out bones."

Mizuki asked.

Sasuke is concerned about his promotion possibility, so he should be concerned about it, right?

"He is not a child either... Moreover, in the past year, his strength has improved extremely rapidly. Even when I meet him now, I find it very difficult. It is better to let him have some free space."

After all, he couldn't keep an eye on Sasuke all the time.

Without a sense of crisis, Sasuke's growth rate will also decrease. This is not what Kakashi wants to see, and similarly, Sasuke may not be able to accept such a thing.

Compared to when he just graduated, Sasuke is now a stand-alone ninja who can independently decide the rest of his life. It is no longer appropriate to treat him as a child who needs to be taken care of.

"Is that so? He is truly a ninja who has inherited the title of 'Uchiha'. The Blood Successor Kaikai is such an enviable power... Why didn't my ancestors study the Blood Successor Kaikai?"

Mizuki sighed.

Whether it is secret techniques or blood inheritance limits, they are very powerful inheritances in the ninja world. Compared with ninjas who were born as civilians, they have more background.

Although the former can be relatively popular and does not require the corresponding bloodline to perform, it can also increase the upper limit of a ninja.

Most ninjas are still struggling at the bottom, unable to make any progress.

"This kind of thing depends on fate. If you want to achieve the limit of blood inheritance, it is not impossible. For example, you can fuse two attributes of chakra and create it yourself, or you can voluntarily participate in the wood escape experiment. No matter which one succeeds , will make your strength skyrocket."

The former, as the independent pioneer of the Blood Succession Limits, is equivalent to the source of the Blood Succession Limits. A ninja who can achieve this level cannot be a weakling.

Although there are certain risks in the latter, this technological ghost country is already quite mature and there is no danger to life... but the probability of its birth makes people a little desperate.

Over the years in Konoha, there has only been one awakened person, Tenzo, and the situation in the Kingdom of Demons is not much better.

This is the source of power that fundamentally changes a ninja, and can even be passed on to his descendants... A hundred years later, there will be a miniature blood-inherited limited family. The probability of success is naturally not too high.

The possibility of one in 10,000 is considered high. The real probability is lower than this.

After continuing to chat for a while, Kakashi stood up and left.

"Be careful lately. Kumogakure's ninjas are targeting Orochimaru. They have destroyed several Orochimaru strongholds before. They want to use this as a breakthrough to uncover the information of that organization and retrieve the lost two tails."

After speaking, Kakashi took out a scroll and a white metal pill box.

Mizuki took the scroll and the medicine box and weighed the contents.

"The preparations are really thorough."

Mizuki smiled.

He had also heard a little bit about Kumogakure's actions. Some of Orochimaru's strongholds had been hit by disasters and were almost completely destroyed.

Only the manager guarding the stronghold saw that the situation was not good and escaped from death, but he was also seriously injured and died in the end.

During this period, Orochimaru's power had been reduced a lot because of Kumogakure.

Although his environment here is hidden, there is no guarantee that he will not be investigated by Kumogakure's Anbu.

The intelligence and operational capabilities of these powerful ninja villages cannot be underestimated.

Orochimaru's reputation can only scare those small countries.

"If you, the manager, die, things will be quite troublesome. In addition, with the shrinkage of Orochimaru's power, many managers have been taken over by Kumogakure ninjas. Maybe you will be promoted here by the end of this year. possibility."

Kakashi mentioned the possibility.

Kumogakure's attack resulted in the death of many capable men under Orochimaru. As long as Mizuki could stabilize himself and get promoted, he would be very likely to go to guard key strongholds.

"Then wish me good luck. I also hope Kumogakure's attack will be more intense. It's best if all the branch stronghold managers except me die."

Mizuki put away the scroll and the medicine box, laughed, and cursed the fellow managers.

◎

Sitting on a bench on the park path, Naruto's right arm was wrapped with a bandage, and he stared at the slope in front of him, and the river that ran through the park and extended into the woods, which was now frozen.

Because he was told not to practice in the next half month, and any high-intensity movements were not allowed, Naruto's life was quite boring.

Whenever he has free time, he can't help but practice to make himself stronger.

Now that I am idle and have nothing to do, for a while, I always feel a little empty in my heart.

Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura...

Familiar figures kept passing through his mind. The more he thought of these figures, the more silent his expression became, with a gloomy temperament accumulating on his face.

Even his originally brilliant yellow hair seemed to have dulled and lost its vitality.

At this moment, a water glass came closer.

"Give."

A voice came from the side.

Naruto looked up.

"It's you Shikamaru."

He took the water glass unceremoniously, which contained hot drinks. Naruto just put it in his hand and did not open it to drink immediately.

He lowered his head and continued to stare at the water glass in a daze.

"Are you going to stay this boring forever?"

Shikamaru sat next to Naruto, putting his hands behind his head, his tone full of helplessness.

"..."

Naruto didn't answer, but his expression said so.

"Sigh...Sakura's matter has nothing to do with you. It can only be said that fate has its way. I heard from Mr. Hokage that you want to bring Sakura back to Konoha like Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei... Let's not talk about you first. My intentions and actions are really stupid."

Hearing Shikamaru say this, Naruto's body seemed to tremble, as if he was afraid of Shikamaru's words.

"If you want to target Naruto, then forget all these people. Don't divert your attention. In fact, you know in your heart that it is almost impossible to bring them back to Konoha. Possible things.”

Shikamaru struck without hesitation, regardless of whether Naruto could accept it or not.

He continued:

"Tenzo Jonin should have told you about Kakashi-sensei. Do you think there is really a way to turn back Kakashi-sensei's relationship with the village at this time?"

"...I didn't think so."

Naruto answered in a low voice, which looked like quibbling.

"It doesn't matter whether you think so. What matters is, where do you stand? Is it those guys who defected, or is it the village of Konoha?"

Shikamaru asked.

"……I……"

Naruto only said one word, but couldn't get the rest of the words out.

The atmosphere became silent.

"Think about it."

Shikamaru stood up and prepared to leave.

Behind him, Naruto's voice suddenly sounded:

"Shikamaru."

"Um?"

"Tell me about Sasuke."

Naruto's tone was full of seriousness.

"Sasuke's matter..."

Now, it was Shikamaru's turn to be silent.

He didn't seem to expect that Naruto would ask about Sasuke so suddenly.

"At that time, through the demon fox in my body, I clearly felt the strong hatred and powerful negative consciousness in Sasuke's heart, which made me feel the helpless coldness and pain in Sasuke's heart. Why did he leave Konoha? At that time, Why didn't you tell me anything and just kept calling me a fool? Sasuke is not such an unreasonable person. He must have his own reasons for doing this. He is not the kind of person who can trample on other people's feelings for the sake of power."

Naruto stood up and looked seriously at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto steadily, unable to speak for a moment.

"You always say that I don't know anything and call me a fool, but you just don't tell me the truth of the matter. Whether it's my life experience or Kakashi-sensei's matter, I only know what happened after it happened. Kakuzai knows a little bit. This time, I want to know more clearly what happened. Please, Shikamaru! Please tell me Sasuke's real reason for leaving Konoha!"

Naruto bent down and pleaded to Shikamaru.

He knew that Shikamaru was so smart that he must know many things that he didn't know.

Including the real truth about Sasuke leaving Konoha.

If you were to ask people like Tsunade and Jiraiya who knew the truth, they would definitely refuse to tell him the truth using various excuses.

In the end, all the hard work is in vain.

Therefore, he could only rely on Shikamaru, an insider who was not in their camp.

Apart from Shikamaru, he didn't know who to talk to about this, who to seek answers from.

In this matter, those adults would definitely not be willing to tell him the real truth.

Seeing Naruto's sincere request, Shikamaru was also in a dilemma.

Some regretting why I thought so deeply in the first place, I retaliated and took away the scroll placed in the root.

If this were not the case, he could have said at this time that he did not know the truth of the matter.

However, he can't avoid it now.

The current Naruto is not so easy to prevaricate.

This guy is a fool, but even a fool is a fool who likes to get into trouble.

Never give up until something comes to fruition.

He didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

But it definitely means trouble.

After a long time, Shikamaru slowly exhaled and said with a helpless smile: "You really defeated my army, Naruto. That's right, after experiencing so many things, even a fool will find ways to defeat me." Know how things really are.”

Naruto looked over with burning eyes, hoping Shikamaru would tell him the truth.

"Okay, I lost to you. Let me talk to you."

Shikamaru scratched his head and sat back on the bench as if it was troublesome.

Naruto also sat back, looking like he was listening carefully.

"Before that, I want to ask first, you should know who wiped out the Uchiha clan in Konoha, right?"

Shikamaru asked.

Naruto nodded solemnly.

"I know, it's Sasuke's brother - Itachi Uchiha. He attacked Konoha ninja before and injured Sasuke."

"Now that we know this, it's easier to handle. I'm not particularly clear on the specific situation, but Sasuke's departure from Konoha is probably related to this matter."

"What's the meaning?"

"According to normal development, Sasuke will use the power of Konoha to avenge genocide like Uchiha Itachi. But the real situation is that after learning the truth, Sasuke left Konoha instead. No matter how you think about it, It’s weird.”

"That's right. If Sasuke wants to take revenge on Itachi, I can also help him do it."

Naruto said firmly.

"That's the problem. There's a big problem with Itachi's annihilation of the Uchiha clan. As a bloodline limited family, the family's power is very terrifying. In Konoha, the entire clan was wiped out overnight... How is this? It all looked abnormal. Especially in Danzo's stronghold, a large number of corpses of Sasuke's clan were found, and all their Sharingan were dug out. And I learned from my father that the root leader Danzo had... A lot of Sharingan..."

Shikamaru explained what happened.

Naruto was also lost in thought. He felt something was wrong but couldn't tell him.

Without letting Naruto figure it out, Shikamaru told him the answer directly:

"The only possibility is that the murderer who wiped out the Uchiha clan is not just Uchiha Itachi, Danzo may also have joined him."

"!?"

Naruto's mouth opened wide, too shocked to speak.

"The deceased Sandaime Hokage, including all the current high-level officials of the village, are probably insiders. Uchiha Itachi... is just a knife in their hands. The one who really led the destruction of the Uchiha clan in Konoha was probably the village's High-level.”

"This...this is impossible..."

Naruto couldn't believe this.

The people who destroyed the Uchiha clan and killed Sasuke were the top leaders of Konoha.

The villain who rebelled against Konoha, Uchiha Itachi, was just a sword in the hands of others.

The real murderer is the higher-ups of the village.

This made Naruto unbelievable.

"This is the most credible truth that I have deduced from various side information. There may be some discrepancies, but the Uchiha genocide must have involved the involvement of high-level village officials. Because of this, Sasuke, after learning the truth , will leave Konoha without hesitation. His heart is full of hatred and resentment towards the senior officials who killed the Uchiha people."

Shikamaru continued.

Naruto's expression was completely blank, he was so shocked that he couldn't help himself.

This truth made his mind go blank and he was unable to think about anything.

"Knowing this, Naruto, do you still hope that Sasuke can come back?"

Shikamaru's words were like a heavy hammer, hitting Naruto's heart, causing his heart and lungs to almost stop beating.

"I...I don't know..."

Naruto stared blankly at his palms, his eyes dull and his words incoherent.

…

"You better say it, you brat."

After parting ways with Naruto, Shikamaru's sighing words rang in his ears as he passed by the woods in the park.

His father, Shikaku, was leaning against a tree, his hands in his pockets, staring at him expressionlessly.

Since the matter on the front line was settled, he was free to return to Konoha.

Although he was cursing in a low voice, there was not much blame in his tone. He just felt that this was not something Shikamaru would do, and he must have a headache for it.

I never thought that my extremely smart son would do such a biased thing.

Shikamaru stopped and faced his father Shikaku's 'accusation' with the same expression. There was no fear in his eyes. He answered in a lazy tone:

"I just don't want to live like you, that's all."

"..."

Shikaku's expression froze slightly.

"Because he is the son of the Hokage, the Nine-Tailed Jinchuuriki, or the son of some prophecy, you pay attention to him and take care of him...but I will treat him as an 'individual' Uzumaki Naruto."

"..."

Shikaku opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but he didn't know how to refute Shikamaru's words.

Reasonably, he told himself that Shikamaru's actions were not in Konoha's interests and were too emotional.

This will cause the jinchuriki's inner emotions to surge, causing the tailed beast's chakra to leak.

"You have given him too much meaning, but you have never asked if this is what he wants. You are also thinking now, will my words make Naruto's power run wild again? Bar."

"..."

Shikaku avoided the question.

Shikamaru got to his heart.

"I don't want this friendship to be filled with all kinds of calculations and interests... Moreover, Naruto has gone through so many things, and his heart is not weak. It's just a lack of recognition... But your actions are ostensibly for him. Okay, but in the end, you manipulated his life in the name of his good. Let him become what you expected him to be under your arrangement. You never recognized everything about him, because everything was given to him by you. .”

"This is because……"

"As adults, you can't do it, but you bet all your hopes on a fragile child. You want him to grow up, but you choose not to say anything to him and hide the matter. How can there be such a good thing in the world? .Dad, when did you become such a person? What you adults did is really despicable. So you failed completely in both the war and the education of jinchūriki."

Shikamaru lowered his eyebrows when he said that. When Shikaku raised his head again, he found that Shikamaru had already left here, and his expression was a little dazed for a moment.

It seemed like he was being lectured by his own son.

Shikaku sighed and looked at Naruto, who was still sitting on the bench by the road, with mixed emotions for a moment.

Then, he looked to another corner of the woods.

A figure is also watching all this silently.

The ninja at the root—Sai.

"Do you think so too?"

Shikaku asked him.

Sai touched his chin, thought for a moment, and smiled at Shikaku with his eyes narrowed.

"No, I don't know anything, Mr. Shikaku."

After saying that, he turned around and left here, as if he had never been here before.

"Really, the little devil now is really scary."

Maybe you will become a great person in the future, Shikamaru.

Shikaku was irritated, but also pleased with Shikamaru's growth over the years.

With such complicated emotions, I returned home.