Naruto?

In the basement of a high tower in the west of Rōran city, the two teams of ninjas from different periods of Konoha stood on both sides of the room, clearly separated. 

In the middle was Queen Sāra, who was placed on a chair and fell into a coma.

A bunch of people stared at each other. Obviously, no one believed anyone else…

"I say…" 

Kakashi scratched his head in annoyance: "How long are we going to stand off like this? Are we going to stop the mission?"

"But we have already introduced ourselves; why don't you believe it?" Minato spread his hands helplessly.

"Hmph! Introduce yourself? Do you guys think we are fools? Not everyone is an idiot like Naruto!" Sasuke sneered disdainfully.

"Right… Wait! Hey! Sasuke, do you want a fight?"

At this time, Minato and the other three had already taken off their masks. In his opinion, these four faces were the best proof.

Minato is the strongest Jōnin of Konoha and a candidate for Hokage, with prestige comparable to the Three Sannins.

Shibi is the new head of the Aburame Clan, and Choza also acts as the head of the Akimichi Clan when Torifu Akimichi is guarding the border. Both of them are well-known elite Jōnin of Konoha.

As for Shiratori… He is the candidate for the head of the Uchiha Clan, or more precisely, the Uchiha hawk faction, and the youngest Jōnin in Konoha.

Just put these four people's faces here; what other proof do you need?

Show you my signature ninjutsu? You must be kidding! We are not circus monkeys… Huh?

Minato turned his head and found that Shiratori was performing hand seals!

As Shiratori formed a seal, Sasuke suddenly took a step back, his hand already on the hilt of the sword.

"Ha! Are you ready to take action now that your lie has been exposed? You guys want to die… What's with that look on your face?" 

Sasuke found that his three companions from team 7 were looking at him speechlessly.

Kakashi and Sakura had already roughly guessed what was going on, and Naruto… Although he didn't know what was going on since everyone was watching, he had to watch it, too. Otherwise, he would seem out of place…

After Kakashi stopped Sasuke with his eyes, he focused on Shiratori's obviously not very skilled hand seal movements.

This seal… It seems…

Sakura, who had always been a low presence, pulled Sasuke aside and whispered: "Sasuke, I've seen that… Kid over there."

She glanced at Shiratori and whispered.

"Have you seen it? Where?"

"In my family's photo album, he… Should really be Shiratori Uchiha!"

There is a photo of Sakura's family. In the photo, his father and mother are squatting on the ground in a row with an uncle with an embarrassed look on his face, while the ten-year-old Shiratori is standing behind them, stretching out his two little hands and pressing them on the heads of the Haruno couple, smiling brightly.

Yes, Shiratori was their Jōnin team leader!

After Sakura had finished explaining, Sasuke remembered it because Sakura's father, Kizashi Haruno, told almost everyone he met about this matter in the days that followed. 

After all, this could barely be considered as a Hokage disciple!

Over there, after interrupting the action twice, Shiratori finally completed the seal with some difficulty. The condensed lightning turned into a lightning ball and was held in his palm. For a moment, the room was filled with the harsh sound of electric current.

Sasuke turned around and fell silent when he heard the voice.

"Lightning Style: Chidori!"

Only three people in Konoha mastered this move, excluding himself and Kakashi-sensei beside him… The identity of the kid opposite is self-evident.

But… This is too weird! Shouldn't that guy be busy plotting in the Hokage's office now? Why is he here? And he has turned into a child…

"It should be okay now…" 

Shiratori was sweating profusely. It was obvious that he was not very familiar with the Chidori, and even maintaining it was difficult for him.

At this moment, a streak of electric arc happened to hit the sleeping Queen Sāra…

Sāra twitched and fell off the chair, and Shiratori was so scared that he quickly canceled the ninjutsu, put his hands behind his back, and looked up at the sky, pretending that nothing had happened…

"It hurts so much…" 

Sāra opened her eyes with a painful expression. She felt pain all over her body. She looked around blankly and seemed to remember something. Just as she was about to scream, the quick-eyed and quick-handed Shiratori covered her mouth.

"Wait a moment!"

Minato watched as Shiratori raised his hand as if preparing to give the other party physical hypnosis again and quickly spoke out to stop him.

After getting a look from Sāra that showed she was willing to cooperate, Minato signaled Shiratori to let go of her hand and explained and comforted her.

A few minutes later…

"No way! How could Mukade-sama do such a thing?" Sāra became visibly agitated.

"But that's the truth." Minato spread his hands. "All the residents of Rōran city have disappeared. Your majesty, what you saw were just puppets controlled by him. Now Rōran… Has become a dead city."

"I can prove that what this big brother said is true!" Naruto patted his chest and guaranteed, almost swearing.

Sāra glanced at Naruto's forehead protector, distrust written all over her face.

You are all ninjas from Konoha; you can't testify at all!

"If that's the case, then the residents of Rōran have already…" Sakura subconsciously covered her mouth.

"It shouldn't be." 

Choza shook his head and said uncertainly: "Puppets cannot completely replace the role of manpower. Since Rōran has been producing puppets continuously during this period, then…"

"Underground!"

Seeing that everyone had guessed almost everything, Shiratori, who had known everything for a long time, announced the answer: "There should be a huge factory under Rōran, and the residents should have been captured there and become slaves."

After thinking about it for a while, everyone agreed.

This should be the most reasonable speculation.

"No… No…" 

Only Sāra seemed to have lost her soul and kept muttering to herself.

Snap!

Sāra turned her head and found that Naruto slapped her on the shoulder with his signature confident smile on his face.

"It's okay; let's go rescue your people together and then defeat that guy named Muka something!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes: "Everything right now is just speculation, you idiot. Don't make decisions for us!"

"Tsk!" 

Naruto glanced at Sasuke with a sidelong glance. His disdainful expression made Sasuke want to hit him. "What brother Shiratori said must be right! I believe in Brother Shiratori!"

Brother… Shiratori?

Shiratori is a little confused… Are we familiar with each other?

"Then let's decide it this way." 

Minato smiled slightly: "We can work together to find the entrance to Rōran's underground, and then-"

"Sorry, Minato, please wait a moment." Shibi Aburame, who had been silent, interrupted Minato: 

"I think… We should split our forces into two groups and explore the depths of Rōran and the place where Mukade is, and… Quickly!"

"Why?"

"Didn't you notice the puppets patrolling outside… Have all disappeared since a while ago?"

Everyone was stunned, as if they realized something.

Outside, it seemed a little too quiet.

Something unexpected must have happened to Mukade!

So, the two parties, mainly Minato and Kakashi, decided on the personnel allocation after a brief discussion:

Choza Akimichi leads Shiratori, Naruto, and Queen Sāra to find the underground entrance.

The rest of the people, after Queen Sāra pointed the way, went to the palace to look for Mukade.

Everyone carefully evacuated the house, with Minato and Kakashi being the last to come.

"Sasuke… Naruto? Naruto…"

Minato softly repeated the two names that the other party accidentally let slip, especially when he said Naruto; the expression on his face was intriguing.