"We can't be far from Kusagakure now, are we?" Naruto asked, breaking the silence.
Naruto had originally set out for Kusagakure Village. Getting into Hozuki Castle had just been an unexpected detour. He figured going to Kusagakure Village before opening the Box of Ultimate Bliss was the smart move. After all, Mui and the Box of Ultimate Bliss weren't going anywhere. As a former Jonin from Kusagakure, Mui naturally knew its location.
"Not far," Mui replied honestly, "Less than half a day's journey." Naruto's question puzzled him, though.
"Good," Naruto said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Find me an escort."
"Alright."
Mui gave the order, and several prison guards quickly arrived. The guard assigned to lead Naruto was Jiro Suzuki. He was around 30 years old, with chakra levels roughly equivalent to an Elite Chunin. In the Five Great Shinobi Villages, this level of strength was insignificant, perhaps little more than enhanced cannon fodder. But at Hozuki Castle, someone like Jiro was captain-level, and in Kusagakure, he could even be a Jonin.
Mui wasn't sure of Naruto's intentions, so he assigned Jiro. Jiro was his confidante, and the assignment was less about guiding Naruto than keeping an eye on him.
Naruto didn't care. All that mattered was getting to Kusagakure. If the guy wanted to watch, fine. Let him look his hearts content.
Jiro, for his part, was quite talkative, rambling on about the customs of the Land of Grass and sharing basic facts about the village. Naruto tuned him out, his attention focused elsewhere, on the presence that had been trailing them for some time.
'A little mouse.'
With Naruto's sensory abilities, hiding was futile. He could have pinpointed a target ten kilometers underground, let alone someone tailing them in the open.
"Sir, Kusagakure is just ahead," Jiro said, pointing toward a cluster of buildings on the horizon that faintly resembled Hozuki Castle.
Naruto nodded, then turned his head to address the seemingly empty woods behind them. "You've been following us for a while," he called out, his voice calm. "Why not show yourself?"
"What?" Startled, Jiro yanked a kunai from his belt, his eyes darting nervously into the trees. The woods were still. Not so much as a rabbit stirred.
"Haha." Naruto chuckled, and then he was gone.
*Boom!*
A sharp sonic boom echoed through the air as a gust of wind kicked up a cloud of dust and leaves. When Jiro opened his eyes, Naruto was back in the same spot, a young woman held effortlessly in his grasp. Naruto, now nearly a man's full height, held her by the back of her collar like a stray cat.
'That speed... that strength...' Jiro swallowed hard, his eyes wide. When he got a clear look at the captive, his expression hardened with recognition.
"Ryuzetsu! It's you!" he snapped. "Mui-sama has already let you off several times, and you still won't give up! And now you're tailing one of his guests?"
While he sounded like he was scolding her, Jiro was actually trying to protect her.
The woman had dusky skin and a delicate face, framed by short white hair. A dark green headband was tied neatly over the top, and a longer lock of hair fell to obscure her right eye. But her most striking feature was her pupils: light purple, with three concentric rings.
From Jiro's words, it was clear the girl's name was Ryuzetsu, and she seemed to have history with Mui. 'Thank Kami, it wasn't Fu from Takigakure, I was worried looking at hair color.'
Ryuzetsu was an Anbu from Kusagakure, apparently. She was in love with Mui's son, Muku, and had some technique called the Dragon Life Reincarnation Jutsu, which could share her life force. To avenge Muku, she'd infiltrated Hozuki Castle to kill Mui.
It seemed she'd been lurking inside for a while, and judging by Jiro's tone, she'd already tried to assassinate Mui several times without success. It made sense. Given Mui's tight control over Hozuki Castle, infiltrating it right under his nose would be next to impossible.
"Let me go! I told you to let me go!" Ryuzetsu shouted, ignoring Jiro completely. She clawed at Naruto's hand, but her struggles were useless against his grip. Like a kitten lifted by the scruff, she could do little more than rage helplessly.
Then, with a flick of her wrist, a kunai slid from her sleeve into her palm. Without a word, she twisted and lunged, aiming the blade at his chest.
"You should have looked more closely."
Before she could process his words, an immense force sent her flying. She crashed into a large tree, the impact sending splinters of wood into the air. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, her kunai lost somewhere on the ground.
"I don't care why you're here," Naruto said, his tone turning cold as his killing intent washed over her. "Get out of my sight before I change my mind. Otherwise..."
He let the threat hang in the air. The pressure was immense, suffocating. If his full presence could cow the Nine-Tails, a kunoichi like her stood no chance. Ryuzetsu trembled, managing to stay upright for only a moment before collapsing to the ground.
"Wait..." Seeing Naruto turn away, Ryuzetsu quickly called out. "Mui is a criminal of Kusagakure," Ryuzetsu warned. "Don't ally yourself with him, or the whole village will come after you."
"Whole Kusagakure Village? Heh." Naruto smiled dismissively, leaning down to look Ryuzetsu in the eye. "So, you're threatening me?"
He never had been one to indulge such things.
A soft, white ball of light enveloped Ryuzetsu's body. A moment later, both the light and the woman were gone.
Naruto stood up, dusting off his hands. "How strange," he murmured to the empty air. "She just vanished."
He turned and walked away without a backward glance.
"Sir, don't listen to that crazy woman's nonsense," Jiro, terrified, scrambled after Naruto, desperate not to anger him. "Mui-sama is a former Jonin of Kusa, he has close ties with the Anbu divisions in the village..."
"Oh," Naruto replied blandly. He couldn't care less about the internal politics of some backwater village. Not every place was worth the effort of playing the long game. Kusa definitely wasn't.
"Sir, what brings you to Kusa?" Jiro asked cautiously.
"Looking for someone," Naruto replied.
Seeing Naruto wasn't interested in saying more, Jiro obediently shut his mouth.
They were both shinobi, and the remaining distance passed quickly. Soon, the gates of the Kusa came into view. It was a far cry from the bustling streets of Konoha. The buildings were of varying heights, the roads uneven. The only notable structure was the main tower, built in the same style as Hozuki Castle. If Konoha was a thriving town, Kusa was little more than a settlement, smaller even than the Uchiha compound had been.
"Who goes there?" A group of ninjas wearing Kusa headbands surrounded them as they approached the gate.
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Meanwhile, not far from the village, a man in a black cloak adorned with red clouds faced another man. This one wore a mask over the lower half of his face, and his eerie green eyes glowed from beneath a drab head covering.
"Kakuzu," the cloaked figure said, his voice resonating with an unnatural calm. "S-rank rogue ninja of Takigakure."
He paused, letting the name settle in the tense air.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name... is Pain."
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Narrator:
Where did Ryuzetsu 'vanish' to? Is it a one-way trip or two-way? Did Ryuzetsu survive being yeeted harder than Konoha's budget after Pain's arc?
How long can Jiro pretend he's important before realizing he's just the Yamcha of this arc?
Is Naruto fighting evil, fate... or just trying to skip side quests?
Will Kusagakure survive Naruto's arrival?
How painful will meeting Pain be for Kakuzu? or will it be a six-paths-of-suffering kind of awkward.
Find out next time on... "Pain Meets Greed: Kakuzu Regrets Logging In Today!"
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