A few days later, under the deep night sky, the tall side gate of Konoha cast long shadows.
In the open area before the gate, three unremarkable carriages were parked. Their tarps were worn, their wheels caked with mud, no different from those of ordinary traveling merchants.
Rustle...
As a faint sound echoed from the woods, several figures emerged from the shadows.
Leading the group was Hiruzen Sarutobi, his face marked by a complex expression of loss and melancholy.
Behind him were the composed figures of Hyuga Kawa and Kazuma. Iruka Umino stood nearby, constantly turning back to look at his students with worry and deep reluctance.
Excluding Naruto Uzumaki, the other nine selected students had faces a mix of anxiety over the unknown journey and irrepressible excitement.
Sasuke Uchiha, along with Naruto's desk-mates Karin and Chiba Ryōsuke, were prominently among them.
Within the group, the black cat lay curled up in Naruto's arms. He unconsciously smoothed its soft fur.
He tilted his head slightly, whispering to Sasuke beside him in a voice only the nearby person could catch: "Why did you come along too?"
The Uchiha clan actually agreed to let Sasuke leave Konoha?
In his impression, didn't these clans with Bloodline Limits always protect their geniuses closely?
"Unlike you, I must return after spending a year in the capital city."
Hearing this, Sasuke glanced at him, lowering his voice: "However, do you have some misunderstanding about the Uchiha clan?"
"Uchiha clansmen are never afraid of death or difficulty, moreover..."
"Have you forgotten what my ambition is?"
Sasuke's ambition was never just to become strong; it was to become the Hokage and restore the Uchiha clan's glory.
However, merely possessing great power was far from enough to achieve the Hokage position; it also required political wisdom, the ability to govern the village, and...
—The Daimyo's acknowledgment and support.
These were precisely what the internal structure of the Uchiha clan, as well as Konoha's ninja system focused on combat and missions, could not provide him with.
Only by traveling to the capital could he gain access to this knowledge and establish an early connection with the Daimyo.
Having realized this, the last trace of surprise in Naruto's heart dissipated.
He looked at Sasuke. Their eyes briefly met in the air, and an unspoken understanding flowed between them.
They carried different goals, yet at this moment, they chose the same seemingly intersecting path.
Even if the end of this path was destined to diverge.
"Is that your cat? Is it a ninja beast?"
Sasuke's gaze was drawn to the black cat in Naruto's arms. With a hint of curiosity, he reached out to touch the seemingly smooth fur.
However, before his fingertip could make contact, the black cat slowly raised its head. A single eye opened faintly in the night, staring at him.
A cold glint from a claw, silently extended from a soft paw pad, carried a clear warning, instantly freezing Sasuke's hand in mid-air.
Damn, what a fierce cat.
Just then, Kazuma in the front stopped, turned around, and said to the children with a gentle smile: "We've arrived. Please board the carriages, everyone."
Hyuga Kawa turned around, his gaze warmly settling on Naruto Uzumaki. His eyes, which seemed to contain a nebula, appeared particularly profound in the night.
"Naruto," he gently stroked Naruto's head. "If you encounter a problem you can't solve alone, don't try to be a hero. You can write me a letter."
Looking into Hyuga Kawa's eyes, a warm current surged in Naruto's heart.
He nodded hard, then stepped forward, gently hugged Hyuga Kawa, and whispered: "I'll remember that, Brother Yuncheng."
After they separated, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath of the night air, walked forward, touched Naruto's head one last time, and looked deeply at the other children.
"Be careful on your journey..." A thousand words eventually condensed into a single, weighty instruction: "Remember, Konoha will always be your home."
The children nodded solemnly. Tears were already welling up in the eyes of some emotional girls.
Guided by Kazuma, they boarded the three carriages one by one, their hearts filled with anticipation for the future and reluctance to leave Konoha.
Inside the carriage, Naruto Uzumaki sat quietly in the corner, his eyelids lowered, seemingly resting his eyes, but his mind had already sunk into the seal space within his body.
His consciousness descended once more into the familiar sealed land.
However, when Naruto opened his eyes, the sight before him instantly stunned him.
Unlike the memory of the golden beach and ocean reflecting a false sunlight, the seal space was now entirely submerged beneath a profound, dark night.
The ceiling above was no longer bright but a deep night sky, and within this night curtain, boundless aurorae slowly flowed and changed.
The dazzling, flowing lights were like a beautiful shawl, emanating a mysterious and magnificent aura, illuminating the dark space with strange and shifting colors.
What shocked Naruto the most was the Nine-Tails sitting cross-legged like a human being.
The Nine-Tails' massive body still exuded a suffocating sense of oppression, but its form had undergone a significant change.
Its originally slender limbs were now covered in a layer of grotesque exoskeleton. The bone lines were sharp, gleaming with a metallic, cold luster, giving off a chilling aura.
"Big Fox, what is this..." Naruto looked up, his azure eyes filled with disbelief, and he asked instinctively.
"Hmph!"
The Nine-Tails lowered its head to look at him, letting out a muffled snort, a trace of almost undetectable smugness in its eyes: "Kid, did you think only you were worthy of guidance?"
Hearing this, Naruto was even more surprised. He hadn't expected the mighty Nine-Tails to still be able to grow stronger, and in this manner.
Is it because of Teacher?
Could an existence like the Nine-Tails evolve like this under Teacher's guidance?
"Teacher."
Naruto looked up at the figure sitting on top of the Nine-Tails' head. The azure light in his eyes reflected the dream-like flow of the night sky's aurora. He asked: "What are those lights?"
Kun'shiki slowly opened his eyes and said calmly: "That is the Chakra inside your body."
"The Chakra inside my body?"
Naruto was stunned. Sensing those flowing lights, he could vaguely discern at least three different auras, aside from the Chakra of Asura, which he couldn't identify.
How could there be so many different Chakras inside my body?
"There is your own Chakra there," Kun'shiki began. "And there is the Chakra left behind by your mother and your father."
"If you wish to see them, I can use the Chakra they left behind to let you see them and converse with them, right now."
It was too sudden.
At these words, both the Nine-Tails, who had a look of smugness, and Naruto, who was bewildered, froze.
Meanwhile, in the same carriage, Karin lifted a corner of the window curtain and looked toward Hyuga Kawa, who was watching them leave in the distance.
Sensing her gaze, Hyuga Kawa's eyes met hers in the air. A faint smile appeared on his face, and his lips silently moved a few times.
Seeming to understand what he said, Karin's eyes trembled slightly. She gently lowered the curtain, shutting out the external world.
In the dim light of the carriage, she slowly lowered her head and opened her palm.
In the center of her pale palm, a black, diamond-shaped mark quietly appeared. She slowly clenched her hand into a fist.
Snap!
The sharp crack of a whip echoed in the silent night, sounding particularly jarring.
The coachman lightly swung the long whip. The carriage wheels began to turn slowly, emitting a heavy creaking sound as they rolled across the ground, gradually picking up speed.
The three carriages, carrying the ten young Konoha ninja, gradually blurred into the distance.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood rooted to the spot, only slowly retracting his gaze after a long time, letting out a drawn-out sigh.
He turned, the hem of his Hokage robe fluttering in the night wind, looking at Hyuga Kawa, whose expression was as calm as water beside him.
"Let's go back," Hiruzen Sarutobi looked deeply at him and said. "It is time to discuss the matter of the Five Great Nations jointly subjugating Amegakure and the Akatsuki organization."
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