Chapter 21: The Scroll's True Worth
[Ding! Congratulations on receiving a donation from Kushina Uzumaki—Uzumaki Sealing Arts (Complete Set)!]
A woman is weak, but a mother is strong. At this moment, for Naruto's safety, Kushina cast aside all hesitation and offered up all the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan. The sealing arts mastered by the Uzumaki clan were the most powerful in the entire ninja world, bar none. Ever since the fall of the Land of Whirlpools, countless outsiders had coveted their clan's sealing techniques, but they were helpless against the deterrence of Konoha Village.
Ren Arakawa never expected that the danger Mizuki posed to Naruto would bring him such a huge windfall!
"Kushina, don't worry. As long as I'm here, your son will be fine!" Ren was overjoyed after accepting Kushina's gift. Without another word, he took out a wooden kunai and threw it at Mizuki.
As the saying goes, villains die because they talk too much. After dealing Iruka a second heavy blow, Mizuki, believing victory was assured, didn't finish Iruka off immediately. Instead, he stood on a tree branch and began to taunt him, completely unaware of Ren hiding in another large tree.
Wooden kunai make a louder whistling sound when thrown than iron ones! So, when Ren threw the wooden kunai at Mizuki... Mizuki immediately noticed the sharp sound cutting through the air. But when he turned and saw that what was coming at him was actually a piece of wood, he almost laughed out loud.
A wooden weapon? Did they think this was a children's ninja game?
Mizuki didn't take Ren's wooden kunai seriously at all. He didn't even bother to dodge, because if it continued on its current trajectory, it wouldn't hit him anyway. That's right—this was a throwing attack that had gone off course!
However, just as that wooden kunai whizzed past Mizuki's ear, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. It was like a ghost, without the slightest warning!
"Rasengan!"
—Bang!
The incident happened too suddenly. Before Mizuki could react, Ren had already blasted him away with a Rasengan. Mizuki's body flew backward like a cannonball, finally crashing heavily into the small wooden house below. The tremendous impact caused the walls of the wooden house to collapse.
"Ren... Ren?!" Both Iruka and Naruto Uzumaki widened their eyes in unison. They never dreamed that the person coming to their rescue would be Ren.
Ren smiled at the two people slumped on the ground. "Iruka-sensei, Naruto, are you two alright?"
Iruka rubbed his eyes, somewhat incredulous. "Are you really Ren?"
"Would a fake one be worth anything?" Ren smiled faintly at Iruka, then used the Body Flicker Technique to appear directly in front of them.
"What incredible speed!" Iruka's expression changed. Ren's Body Flicker Technique completely surpassed his own!
"By the way, that guy Mizuki..." After recovering from his shock, Iruka suddenly remembered that Mizuki hadn't been completely dealt with yet, so he immediately struggled to his feet, dragging his battered body.
However, when he walked over to the small house and saw Mizuki, he was stunned once again. At this moment, Mizuki was in a truly miserable state. Not only was he foaming at the mouth, but his eyes had also rolled back into his head. A shocking spiral-shaped wound was visible on his abdomen. The clothes around the wound were torn to shreds, and the flesh was twisted and mangled. It was a horrifying sight. If not for the faint breath still escaping him, Iruka would have thought Ren had killed him outright.
"He sent Sasuke, the undisputed top student at the academy, to the hospital during the graduation exam, and now he's taken down a chūnin in one move. Ren's growth is simply astonishing. Is he really the same dead-last student?" Seeing Mizuki lying on the ground, barely alive, Iruka was completely dumbfounded! He found it hard to accept that his student could easily surpass him right after graduation!
"Naruto, could you lend me that Forbidden Scroll for a moment?" Ren walked straight up to Naruto Uzumaki and asked him for the scroll. Actually, his purpose in coming to the forest behind the mountain wasn't just to use Naruto to extort Minato and his wife—it was for this Forbidden Scroll. Kushina Uzumaki's donations were purely an unexpected bonus.
"Here you go." Without much thought, Naruto handed over the Forbidden Scroll. He still trusted Ren a great deal! After all, they had been best friends since childhood!
[Hashirama Senju: To hand over the Forbidden Scroll so easily... like father, like son!]
[Minato Namikaze: First Hokage, what do you mean by that?]
[Hashirama Senju: It's nothing, I was just feeling a bit emotional!]
[Uchiha Madara: Young man, you're in luck. This Forbidden Scroll contains many of Konoha's forbidden techniques and secret arts. If you can learn all the techniques inside, your future achievements will be no less than mine!]
[Uchiha Izuna: Brother, those are all techniques created by Tobirama. Saying that is really boosting their ego!]
[Uchiha Madara: Tobirama might be annoying, but his talent for creating forbidden techniques is undeniable!]
[Hashirama Senju: Madara is right. Every time Tobirama came to me saying he'd created a new ninjutsu, if it wasn't a Water Release technique, I'd immediately seal it into the Forbidden Scroll. I wonder how many techniques are hidden inside that scroll now!]
[Uchiha Madara: However, the other techniques in that scroll are only so-so. The only one that's truly overpowered is that Impure World Reincarnation technique!]
[Uchiha Izuna: Brother, from the sound of it, haven't you learned Tobirama's techniques too?]
[Uchiha Madara: Izuna, do you know why you could never defeat Tobirama?]
[Uchiha Izuna: I don't know.]
[Uchiha Madara: It's because you don't understand your opponent well enough. Remember this: know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be imperiled!]
[Uchiha Izuna: So that's why you went and stole other people's forbidden techniques?]