The Master of Breaking Defenses
Fortunately, he had slept well during the day. Even though he had been crouching for most of the night, he didn't feel tired.
Silently hiding in the shadows, Naruto dared not make a sound. He waited until late at night when a quarrel broke out next door, then suddenly opened his eyes.
Using wall-climbing techniques more skilled than Old Wang's, Naruto smoothly slid down the slanted roof.
As he approached the edge of the roof, Naruto, like a puddle of water, silently slid down the wall. His chakra clung tightly to the surface, minimizing any sound.
After jumping over the balcony between two buildings, Naruto leapt onto the window of another inn.
Nothing ever goes perfectly, it's always the result of careful planning. He had already decided on his infiltration route the day before while casually walking around.
Quietly opening the window, Naruto flipped inside the room.
The light in the room was on, but there was no sound. Tsunade's personal secretary was passed out in silence on the tatami, with black stockings sprawled around her.
Kato Shizune, Tsunade's niece, known as "Little Minato" in Konoha, was the daughter of Kato Dan, who had once courted Tsunade but died on the battlefield during the Second Shinobi World War.
Whether it was the bad taste of certain ninjas or some kind of revenge...
The blow was swift and targeted, and the warm-hearted Kato Dan had lost his entire kidney.
Indeed, beautiful women bring trouble.
Fortunately, Shizune was an honest person. From a young age, she had been taken by Tsunade, drifting through various casinos while raising pig-maids. Years of experience had made her extremely capable of accepting whatever came her way.
Naruto nudged the frozen little aunt in black stockings. No response?
A splash of cold water was thrown onto her face. Shizune immediately opened her eyes, sat up straight from the tatami, and immediately recognized Naruto.
She didn't care how Naruto had entered but quickly grabbed his hand, speaking in a panic.
"Quick! Where's Jiraiya-sama? Tsunade-sama went to find Orochimaru alone!"
"He... he's at..." Naruto began, pointing toward a nearby tavern where Jiraiya was snoring on the table.
Shizune and Naruto exchanged glances. Naruto approached and pushed the sleeping Jiraiya, while Shizune dipped her finger in a wine glass, smelling it.
"It looks like he won't wake up anytime soon." Naruto said.
"It's the sleeping medicine Tsunade-sama prepared." Shizune frowned, "At this point, we have no choice but to act quickly."
Seeing Shizune take out a scalpel, Naruto was startled.
"Shizune-sama, this could kill someone, right?"
"It's just letting out a little blood. It'll make him wake up faster. There's no time to make an antidote now." Shizune said urgently. "Tsunade-sama is in danger, and if we don't get there quickly…"
Naruto was persuaded, moved aside, and nodded.
"Please, do whatever it takes."
After some commotion, Jiraiya finally woke up, pale and weak, scanning the room.
"Shizune... it's you?"
"How did I fall asleep here? I was drinking with Tsunade…"
Naruto remained silent. After parting from him, Tsunade had gone to drug Jiraiya. At this moment, it was still dark outside. If they rushed over now, they might still make it.
Shizune didn't have time to say much and only told Naruto to follow her. They would talk more on the way.
Jiraiya was extremely weak, having drunk the drug Tsunade had prepared, and now Shizune was forcing him to lose some blood to revive him. On the way, he looked so pale it was terrifying.
"Hey, perverted sage, your face is so pale."
"Shut up, brat."
"Perverted sage, you're bleeding."
"It's just a small wound..." Jiraiya was gasping for breath when he suddenly stopped, leaning on a tree.
"You go on ahead, leave a marker on the way." Jiraiya said, panting. "I have almost no chakra left, and I won't be able to help much."
"Hang in there, wait for me." Shizune said with a furrowed brow. After hesitating for a moment, she gritted her teeth and agreed.
Not long after, Shizune, holding a pig in her arms, used her keen sense of smell to find Tsunade's location.
"Right up ahead!"
A loud explosion sounded in the distance. Without needing Shizune to explain, Naruto could tell which direction it came from. The nearby plain was filled with deep craters created by Tsunade's battle.
"Tsunade-sama!!"
Shizune rushed in, shooting a poison needle from her wrist to repel the pharmacist Kabuto, who was about to attack Tsunade. Tsunade was covered in blood, trembling as she sat on the ground, terrified.
Hematophobia.
Such a troublesome disease, and she's still out here trying to fight.
While grumbling, Naruto followed behind Shizune, pulling out a sword from the sealing space. He wasn't used to using kunai, so he preferred a longer blade.
The samurai of the Land of Iron wielded swords that, when fast enough, could disrupt a ninja's hand signs.
Naruto wasn't fast enough yet, but he could still interfere with hand signs. He drew his sword without saying a word and aligned it with the rhythm of Shizune's poison needle.
Not giving Kabuto any chance to breathe, Naruto struck when the sword was like a crescent moon, making a clang as it barely collided with Kabuto's kunai.
His other hand swirled with green chakra, seeming to prepare for a chakra scalpel technique.
This was an advanced medical ninjutsu that could sever muscles and blood vessels without bleeding, using chakra to form a scalpel. In combat, even the most skilled medical ninja couldn't make deep wounds with it.
The sharper the blade, the finer and more fragile it became, requiring extreme caution and focus.
But Naruto wasn't going to give Kabuto that opportunity. Strictly speaking, his sword was a blunt one, only capable of cutting the outer layer of muscles to paralyze them.
"Kyuubi."
From the gap between Naruto's raised arm, he saw Kabuto's mocking and vicious face, the round lenses of his glasses faintly reflecting light.
During the Chunin Exams, Kabuto had tried to get close to Team 7 but was thwarted by Naruto. As an intelligence agent, Kabuto naturally knew about Naruto's past, and his calling out "Nine-Tails" was an attempt to provoke him.
But he never expected that Naruto, the cunning one, also knew about Kabuto's secrets. Neither of them had good intentions.
Kabuto was an orphan who was later adopted by Konoha's orphanage. However, due to his poor eyesight, Konoha couldn't afford glasses for him. The glasses he wore were given to him by the orphanage director, the most important person in his life, who later tragically died at his hands.
Even more heartbreaking was that, in the end, the woman, Yano Yu, didn't recognize Kabuto.
Having nothing, Kabuto treasured only those glasses.
Naruto, with no conscience, wasn't going to miss such a perfect opportunity. As they remained locked in combat, Naruto's expression grew more contemptuous, and his mockery intensified.
"Your glasses are ugly, Yano Yu."
In an instant, Kabuto's defense shattered, and the past he desperately tried to suppress surged back to the surface.
"Go die!"
In that moment, the green chakra scalpel surged, and Kabuto nearly went mad.
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