Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Having made his decision, Naruto withdrew his senses, turned around, and went into the "Ichiraku Ramen" restaurant.

"welcome!"

Inside the ramen shop, the chef and manager, Teji, greeted Naruto warmly.

Naruto randomly chose a seat and sat down.

The daughter of the shop assistant, Ayame, who was in charge of the odd jobs, came to greet them.

"They are guests I've never seen before."

Ayame looked Naruto up and down and confirmed that she had never seen Naruto in the ramen shop before.

She has been running Ichiraku Ramen with her father since she was a child. Thanks to her youthful memory, Ayame has a deeper impression of the customers than her father did when he made them by hand.

"I am not a native of Konoha."

Naruto answered without flinching at Ayame's question.

"Are you a tourist here to watch the Chunin Selection Exams?"

Calamus asked again.

Naruto nodded.

"But the match should start now..."

"There were too many people in the arena, and I couldn't find a good spot to watch the matches, so I just came out... Even though I didn't have time to eat breakfast today in order to get a good spot."

"After all, the third exam hasn't been held for several years. In previous years, the Chunin Selection Exams all stopped at the second exam."

Teuchi also joined the conversation. He had been running a ramen shop in Konoha for decades and could be considered an information expert among ordinary people.

"So today's final can be considered a spectacle that hasn't been seen in many years, so it's normal that you can't get a good spot."

"Yeah, what a disappointment."

Naruto showed signs of dejection.

"Don't be upset, how about I treat you to a bowl of ramen for free!"

The typist generously stated that he wouldn't charge Naruto for his ramen.

As he said this, his hands, which were already busy striking, began to move.

As expected of someone who has dedicated his life to studying the art of ramen, in just a short while, Teji had already prepared a meal for Naruto!

"Try our signature ramen!"

He placed the bowl in front of Naruto.

The bottom of the bowl touched the tabletop with a crisp "bang".

The next second, the sound suddenly turned into a deafening roar that could be heard throughout the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

Bang-!

Along with the sound of the explosion came a sonic vibration similar to an earthquake.

"What happened?!"

In a panic, Shouda shielded Changpu, putting his body around her.

They no longer had the energy to care about Naruto, who was a guest.

Naruto rushed out of Ichiraku Ramen the instant the explosion rang out.

Or, to use a more accurate word, "disappeared," to describe Naruto's departure.

Unlike the aimless typing, Naruto clearly understood what the explosion meant—

Orochimaru's plan to destroy Konoha has begun!

……

The Hokage's office, the secret room containing the Book of Seals.

The ninja guarding the Book of Seals was briefly distracted by the sudden explosion.

Naruto seized the opportunity when the ninjas were distracted.

Using the Flying Thunder God mark previously placed on the Book of Seals, he successfully eliminated all the Root organization members and Hokage ANBU ninjas responsible for guarding the Book of Seals.

The plan is going more smoothly than expected...

Naruto sensed the large amount of chakra that had appeared in Konoha.

Konoha, Otogakure, Sunagakure...

And then there's Orochimaru, who's been exposed again...

This is the opportunity that Naruto has been waiting for.

Although it's not as Naruto originally planned—in the original story, Tsunade succeeded as the Fifth Hokage and sent all the Jonin of Konoha abroad to restore the prestige that Konoha had lost during the Chunin Exams, during this period when Konoha's defenses were at their weakest.

Naruto is now content.

After all, the Book of Seals was right before his eyes.

Next, all I need to do is take the Book of Sealing and leave Konoha using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Naruto reached out and touched the Book of Seals, but at that moment a strange phenomenon occurred.

A large number of black cipher texts suddenly appeared on the Book of Seals!

These ciphertexts were fully formed in the blink of an eye, leaving Naruto no time to react.

The dense, cipher text crawled up Naruto's arm from the hand that touched the Book of Seals—and finally covered his entire body!

Sealing Technique!

The thought immediately flashed through Naruto's mind.

The next instant, Naruto felt his vision spinning.

When Naruto's vision cleared, he was no longer in the secret chamber of the Scroll of Seals.

Instead, it was in a dense forest.

Before they could even figure out why they had suddenly appeared in this unknown dense forest from the secret chamber.

Naruto overheard others making comments about him.

"The Reverse Summoning Technique succeeded! Just as Lord Danzo said, the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki did indeed choose to steal the Scroll of Seals amidst the chaos of the Chunin Exams!"

Chapter 57 Leak

Let's rewind to the second Chunin Exams.

Konoha, the underground base of the "root" organization.

The defensive barrier set up at the headquarters of the "Root" organization led by Danzo is even stronger than the village's protective barrier, leaving invaders nowhere to escape.

However, at this moment, the barrier of the "root" did not perform its intended function at all.

The intruder ignored the barrier and swaggered in front of Danzo.

Two masked Root guards immediately used their bodies to shield Danzo, protecting him while simultaneously assuming a defensive stance against the intruders.

"It's alright, take the root."

Danzo's nonchalant tone put the guards at ease.

Danzo's gaze remained fixed on the intruder, never leaving him for a moment.

"The entire Hidden Leaf Village is searching high and low for you, yet you appear before me at this crucial moment... What are you planning to do, Orochimaru?"

Danzo called out the name of the invader.

Before Danzo stood a man with long black hair, a pale face, and an unusually young appearance—

—It was Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin who had infiltrated Konoha and become a rogue ninja who had left the village.

The barrier failed to work entirely because the person who invaded the "Root" headquarters was Orochimaru, who had previously worked closely with Danzo.

Orochimaru's understanding of the underground base's barrier was almost as thorough as Danzo's.

"It was you who first had 'Root' hiding in the Anbu to monitor the ninjas in my village, and that's why I came as promised."

Orochimaru only glanced at the guard whom Danzo called "Wind" and immediately recognized his identity before joining "Root".

Orochimaru then revealed the identity of another bodyguard of Danzo: "This guy is from the Aburame clan, isn't he?"

The wind in the mountains and the oil woman take the root.

"Does Sarutobi-sensei know that the 'Root' members under your command come from powerful ninja clans in Konoha?"

Orochimaru extended his unusually long tongue from his mouth, flicking it in the air like a snake's tongue, his tone full of mockery.

Danzo remained silent.

Orochimaru wasn't really interested in the answer; he simply wanted to embarrass Danzo.

Make Danzo understand... the positions between the two.

"That's enough joking around—I'm just here to share information with you, and you probably don't know yet—Kabuto Yakushi is dead."

"You killed him?"

“I have no reason to do that. On the contrary, I value him highly. He is talented, understands my thoughts very well, and is easy to manage…”

Orochimaru retracted his tongue into his mouth. "If there's anyone in this world who would regret his death, it's only me."

"So you suspect I killed him?"

Danzo looked directly into Orochimaru's eyes. He had indeed made Kabuto Yakushi, who was a spy and knew too much secret information, and his adoptive mother kill each other in order to prevent Kabuto Yakushi from leaking the information to the enemy.

Orochimaru was also aware of this situation.

Orochimaru shouldn't be the type of person who would deliberately appear before Danzo to interrogate him for the sake of Kabuto.

Faced with Danzo's question, Orochimaru did not respond to Danzo's words, but continued to speak to himself: "Before Kabuto was killed, he told me something very interesting—the Scroll of Seals, which was guarded by the Hokage, was briefly stolen for one night not long ago—and Kabuto died from an unusual 'Body Flicker Technique' attack..."

Before Orochimaru could finish speaking, he was surprised to find that his chakra was severely depleted.

Orochimaru raised his hands, and his originally pale skin turned purple.